Do you think the photos taken with iPhones are not perfect?

[Soda]

A lot of people saying those phone cameras are limited and can't replace DSLR cameras. I agreed with this but I still can't see why there aren't great. People on instagram take beautiful pictures and I don't think it's that inferior.
I would like to know what can be better in professional camera.
Can you give the imperfect aspects over these photos?
http://instagram.com/p/dFKSR9QqjT/
http://instagram.com/p/c8995OQqi4/
http://instagram.com/p/dCjQ-rQqjz/

[Contented]

My opinion is that cell phone cameras are for very casual picture taking.
A good digital camera with interchangeable filters and lens produces good photographs.
I shoot in RAW to retain the digital negative and use Elements 11 to convert to jpeg. Phone cameras cannot do this and the resolution, in my opinion, is poor.

[joedlh]

Whether or not a picture is perfect -- and very few of them are -- depends mostly on the skill and attention of the photographer. A gifted photographer will be able to make a masterpiece with a cell phone camera. An unskilled photographer will not approach this level even if using a $20,000 Hasselblad. Be that as it may, the very small sensor sizes of cell phones will produce photos with known and insurmountable weaknesses compared to larger sensor cameras. But the technical aspect of an image is only one contribution to excellence.

[American Idle]

Not every photo on Instagram was taken with an iPhone.

Most of the serious bloggers/instagrammers(?) shoot with a DSLR, and then transfer their images (either via a computer or the cloud) to their phone to upload to instagram.

The Instagram photographer you linked to appears to be using a real camera - not just because his photos are technically better than any I've seen from an iPhone (notice the lack of noise in shadows/low light that is so prevalent with the iPhone), but because in at least on picture you can clearly see him holding his phone and in another he mentions using a DSLR.

[injanier]

The only technical flaw I see in any of those is the lack of shadow detail in the first one.

No one is saying you can't take beautiful pictures with a camera phone. In particular, when the photos are reduced to screen size, their optical limitations (chromatic aberration, lack of corner sharpness, etc.) are not obvious. However, these cameras can't compete with DSLRs in adaptability, nor in the amount of control offered over the picture-taking process. The DSLR can also get quality images in lighting conditions where the iPhone's camera can't. On the other hand, having a camera in one's pocket all the time is a great convenience, and means you will get pictures you would otherwise have missed.

[deep blue2]

They are ok at taking reasonable snapshots in good light.

Where they struggle is under poor lighting conditions, when a DSLR would easily outperform an iPhone.

Also they do not have the ability to shoot in raw - which means the photographer has no control over post processing - the camera is doing it all.