Is The iPhone More Epic Than The RED Epic?

We all know that the iPhone has a pretty awesome camera for recording 1080p video and 8-megapixel stills. But how does it stack up to a $60,000 RED Epic? Surprisingly well, actually. A recent anonymous poll was taken asking participants to rate nine cameras including some pretty high end cameras like the RED Epic, Sony F63 and Arri Alexa. The test also included a couple lower end cameras such as the iPhone 4S and Panasonic Lumix GH2.

Participants were shown videos by each of the nine cameras and were asked which they thought provided the best overall viewing experience. Before the test, the participants were not told what camera was being used to film the clip; however, they were given a letter that identified each camera. We have included the list below:

Camera A – Sony F3 ($16,000)
Camera B – Panasonic GH2 ($700)
Camera C – Red Epic ($58,000)
Camera D – Apple iPhone 4S ($199/$599 unsubsidized)
Camera E – Canon C300 ($16,000)
Camera F – Arri Alexa ($60,000)
Camera G – Canon 7D ($1500)
Camera H – Sony F65 ($65,000)
Camera I – Sony FS100 ($5,000)

After observing the prices and brand names, you probably think the most chosen camera was one of the $50,000+ options. At least that’s what I thought at first. But boy, how wrong I was. The camera that took first place was actually the $700 Panasonic GH2. Surprising, right? Another interesting thing about the study is that the iPhone scored higher than the $5,000 Sony FS100 and scored relatively close to the RED Epic. If you’d like to view the full list of cameras and how they scored, take a quick look at the graph that we uploaded at the top of the post.

To me, the fact that the iPhone 4S was even chosen once on the list surprises me when compared to cameras that cost close to $70,000. This truly shows how far smartphone cameras have come in the past few years.

Source: Doddle

Andrew is a geek, Apple enthusiast, blogger and coffee lover from Chicago.