What scale? All modern cell

What scale?

All modern cell cameras are good, but for me in N  scale, the placement of the iPhone camera in the upper corner in the back is unbeatable,. It can get down to near eye level in either landscape or portrait mode, which no phone with a camera in the middle of the back can do. I love using mine like that!

CameraPixels

The CameraPixels app allows you to take multiple images so you can do photo stacking and get great depth of field.

I know about the photo

I know about the photo stacking software like Helicon and others. What I am looking for is a cell camera that has the capability of greater depth of field approaching that of a SLR camera with a f22 stop. Most cell cameras only stop down to f8. The ideal is to avoid multiple shots followed by software manipulation of the images. I was hoping some newer cell phones have the stacking software incorporated into the electronics.

I don't think you're going to

I don't think you're going to find that without the longer lenses afforded by a DSLR. Physics is a limiting factor!

12 mp

from

from my Galaxy S-10+

a close up

 and from 30"

I find my S-10 takes a better job taking Videos of my models than my Canon and Minolta  DSLRs.

I hope this helps.

Bob Harris 

Upper end phones will shoot raw

Some are even controllable for aperture and shutter.

Thanks Bob! That's what I'm

Thanks Bob! That's what I'm looking for, sharp focus from front to back on the layout. I'll be checking out the S10.

Two pics

I looked up the specs on my Samsung Galaxy A71 - it's a mid-range phone, but the camera specs for the rear are:

Main: 64MP, F1.8 Depth: 5MP, F2.2 Macro: 5MP, F2.4 Ultra-wide: 12MP, F2.2

I took a pair of test shots with two different settings. I don't know what these settings are called or mean. One has an icon of a big tree in front of a small tree. The other icon has a big tree in front of two small trees, one on either side. Whatever that's supposed to mean. 

I'm compressing them by half, originals were 1600x1200. Scroll to find the tape measure. 

Below is the first pic with the two-tree icon. Not so good for DOF, but the foreground is a little sharper.

Below is the second three-tree icon, lots better. The chair is another 3' beyond the end of the desk and the window is 5' from the front of the desk, and you can kind of make out some of the junk in the corner of my desk. There's a pen refill, and a phone charger, a post it note viewed edge-on, and other detritus. I didn't intend to capture any of it, actually, but there it is.

Although you can't really make out all the numbers on the tape measure because of the angle, I'd say that chair is still in pretty good focus.

See the black dot on the curtain? I keep seeing that in person out the corner of my eye and thinking that's a bug. It's actually a shadow, because the overhead light is casting a shadow with the rod used for pulling the curtain, the black spot corresponds to the bottom of the pull rod.

I'm not going to claim that I took the pictures from the same spot, I moved the camera in between and both were hand-held, they are roughly from the same spot only. This was just a quick test.

Probably already covered.......

but here goes anyway.

I don't know of a cell phone that can achieve a one shot, fully in focus, from the front of the lens to infinity type of shot........knowing how fast technology moves these days it might exist and I just haven't heard of it yet!

Yes, 12 MP is very important.

You don't want to use a "long" lens.....a "short" lens has the best depth of field and widest viewing angle. The Iphone I use has a wide angle that's approx. 26-28mm equiv.

Camera Pixels is the schnizzle. I was a beta tester for them and they worked hard to get that app working properly.

For many years I used an old Canon T-1 film camera with lenses that I modified to achieve f stops well over 100. DOF for days and days but it demanded a huge amount of light and long exposures to get a winning image. 

Cell phone shot: The photo below was taken a couple of years ago and probably used photo stacking but I just don't remember.

Great scene Rick

I look forward to your upcoming TMTV episode. Thanks to everyone's input on cell cameras. I did some more research on Youtube and ended up ordering a refurbished S10+ from Walmart for $300 with a 90 day warranty. "Mrwhosetheboss" on Youtube does an excellent job doing phone comparisons. He mounts three phones in a jig and shows how they perform photographing the same scene via a three way split screen.

@Rick

Rick, as usual, your photography skills are second to none (not to mention your modeling skills).

Off topic question regarding your chain link fence with barbed wire.  Is that a kit, or scratchbuilt?  Or maybe you've addressed this before?  At any rate, very realistic job.  

Al Carter, Mount Vernon, WA

My next...

I will upgrade to the new Motorola g200 next year. It sure sets the bar for cell phone cameras in an affordable housing.

@Al

The fence in the photo on page 1 is a flat brass kit from Alkem. 

here's a link where I just "parked" a few more pictures of fences.

https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/43946#comment-493748