Apple's Iphone Billboard Campaign

Billboards use a halftone process, which is a series of dots that create the illusion of continuous tone. Up close you can see the dots very clearly, but they are not noticeable at billboard viewing distances.

Not to be confused with jpeg artifacts and inkjet printing.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

Here is a technical specification of a typical modern Billboard printer: Print Resolution: Vinyl flex billboards at 360 dpi in 4-color process. Inks: Our inks are made with automotive-grade pigments designed to resist fading for 2 years.

First the iPhone image is converted to cymk and the printer itself handles any up-sampling. Although for serious advertising like an iphone there is a team of experts involved. All inkjet printers print at the resolution of the number of nozzles in the print head. Under excellent lighting conditions an iphone can capture very sharp images. It all starts with a very sharp image. I have professional photographer friends that print very large 4'x6' images at 100dpi and look incredible. Edwin Land, the famous optics scientist figured out the human eye losses the ability to perceive "dots" in an image at a viewing distance (20/20 vision) of approximately 20" and beyond at 92dpi.... I have other artist friends that print 8'x10' 4GB image files.

the viewing rule is 300 ppi to the foot.

Inversed

so at 3 feet the print can be 100 ppi.

at 25 feet 12 ppi, or something like that for billboards.

300 ppi is for magazines where you have your face 1 foot from the page.

Dave

Billboard "standard" is 1-10 dots per inch, which is just fine.


Dan Turner
Dan Turner's Seven Keys to Selling Art Online

They are also running full page magazine ads. Funny how the camera function of a phone is the most important feature to push these days.

I guess because the new phones all handle the other features - actually making calls, texting, Internet, running apps - the same way? Hard to say my phone sends a text better than your phone.

Thanks Stephen

b. It was taken with an iphone 6 and since they are at least 30 feet in the air, you will not notice the quality loss.

This

As said, under very good lighting conditions cell images can and do capture some very good and very usable images that can print large. I myself have several listed on here up to 30 and I think one at 36 inches. Under GREAT light. That is emphasized as when that light is gone, say, 1 second after sunset the image quality falls and falls fast. Even a cloudy day can really ruin the size you can print said images. I sold a couple phone pictures over the weekend and they looked great at 5x7 but the key in that statement is at 5x7.

I think IPhone is emphasizing their camera because it SUCKED in previous models. The images were noisy and they lacked controls such as adjusting exposure. (Not dead sure about the exposure issue as maybe I just couldn't find it but the image quality on a 4S absolutely paled when compared to my Galaxy S3.)

Billboards print at 50dpi on average, so B.

I had an iPhone 4 and it was awful!

My wife went through two iPhones (battery life sucked), then went with a Samsung Galaxy 4S. Nice phone.

I like my Iphone6 . I even use it for stock sometimes.

The tv ads that iPhone are running are fantastic....and I'm not talking just about quality...I am talking about concept......you just don't need fancy equipment to capture great photographs.
AND vice versa, great equipment is not going to give anyone great photographs.

All you need is an artist's eye.
Feel free to enjoy my portfolio of photographs taken with my iPhone.
I love how things have changed..I was afraid ot mention it a year ago.....today I am proud of it!

Thanks for the math lesson, David.
Yes, Abbie, the camera on the 4 and before sucked - not the case with the 6, but it is still no canon.
Edward commented that there are magazine ads, thanks, I will examine them when I run across one.

The images that result from a cell phone will always be a different animal than those taken on a DSLR. Just like a view camera has different characteristics then a medium format camera, DSLR or mirrorless.

Comes down to physics. When the lens sits right on top of a sensor like in a cell phone you can't get the same characteristics such as depth of field that you can with a DSLR.

Phone cameras have extensive depth of field (objects near and far are both in focus) compared to regular cameras because their sensors are so small. This is even more pronounced in the iPhone 6 because it has a wide angle lens.


Nice thing about everyone ditching their cameras for cell phones is that professional level cameras will stand out. Can't imagine hiring a wedding photographer and having the person show up with a cell phone.

BTW - here is what a billboard looks like up close:

Magazine: