I want a camera with a phone attached, or do I?
Comments(10) I have promised myself a new camera sometime this year as a special treat. Not an SLR – because, frankly, my abilities are more than catered for with my trusty D70.
I just fancy having something a little more portable – but also something with a bit of decent image quality.
Anyway, that’s where I started – and my shortlist was down to the Canon G9 (general good reviews and lots of excellent use of them on Flickr), or the Ricoh Caplio GX-100 (because Bowbrick has one – and the 24mm lens could come in handy).
Now I’m having second thoughts – should I be trading a bit of camera quality for connectivity? In particular with this camera, it’s not just that I can carry it anywhere, but also that I can send stuff off to Flickr asap.
In other words – should I look for the best possible Camera with a phone attached?
Now, the immediate choice would be a Nokia N95…but it just feels like such a waste to have all that additional functionality and not use it (I’ve just gone to all the effort of swapping a phone+ blackberry for just a Curve..and I don’t want to go back)0
….someone told me yesterday that 8MP cameraphones are coming in the summer…
…decisions…decisions…
I have a Nokia N95 and do not enjoy using the camera. The spec is great but I sort of hate it. Definitely encourage you to play around with one in a shop or borrow one from a friend even for five minutes. (The best thing about the N95 is that I can use Qik for video – full disclosure: Qik gave me the N95 for free – but otherwise not a fan.)
I’ve got an N95 and the camera isn’t the strong suit. It’s a great PDA / iPod / web browser / games console / TV, but the camera interface is lousy in a way it’s hard to pin down. Difficult to use, options poorly thought out (so things like zoom are non-intuitive to get going but messing up the colour balance is easy as pie) and the autofocus just doesn’t really work that well.
OK – so no N95…it’s back to the Canon, me thinks…now, when will they put a sim card in it..?
What about using a Wi-Fi SD card like eye.fi ?
Just because there are 8mp cameraphones coming soon, that doesn’t mean they’ll be any good. I still think we’re a fair way off a true camera built into a phone – at least if you’re after a really good camera.
I don’t have the G9, but have its predecessor, the G7 and it’s an amazing camera. There is no way any mobile is going to come close to these cameras any time soon. They are serious cameras that put even most other compacts to shame.
To my mind, most current cameraphones can be matched by sub £100 compact cameras without any difficulty.
That said, you might want to read the review of the new Sigma DP1 in this week’s Amateur Photographer. It’s significantly more expensive though…
Oh my god – that Sigma looks tempting. And, yes – thanks everyone for putting me straight on the whole cameraphone thing..
And yes, Jamie – never heard of the Eye.fi – but that could do the job..
Thanks all
Nikon has a WiFi camera which it touts as ideal for Flickr, Picasa etc. The S51C. Not sure that’s the kind you want though.
The N95′s big problem is battery life – especially when you switch the camera on. It makes it almost unusable. Ten or a dozen shots and your finished. I call mine the slug…
The problem is taking pictures and getting them to flickr ASAP.
Sure, the UI of the N95 camera interface needs an overhaul, but its still the best solution to the problem.
Open the slide to unlock phone, hold down camera button, focus and click. Its pretty simple once you get the hang of it.
If you set up zonetag, its one click away to flickr.
If you set up shozu, you don’t even have to press a button to upload, it can do it automatically.
Also, your photos can be geotagged with those apps. That’s a super popular feature nowadays.
Amazon and Dell Small Business have great deals on the N95 8GB NAM (fast 3G on at&t)
Camera phones are glorified pin hole cameras although I’d argue pinhole cameras have a better user interface. I use my N95 for ‘visual shorthand’, reminding myself of exhibitions or things I see in the paper or quite often books or things I want to look up online. It’s fine for that but don’t expect printable images, despite Zeiss ‘optics’, it’s a phone and subject to the form constraints of the handset.
It’s all about fitness for purpose, the Canon and Ricoh are both excellent choices but I think the Ricoh edges it at higher ISOs.