Can your cellphone replace a camera?

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LancelotSA

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This "argument" comes up repeatedly on this forum.

Those who profess to be professional photographers will claim that no phone can compare to their mid to top of the range DSLR camera, and of course they would be right, but what about those of us who are satisfied having a phone that can replace the trusty point and shoot that may be kept in the cubby hole to catch those unexpected shots.

The link shows some images taken with the Nokia N8 and the Canon IXUS 130 camera (priced at around R2000 online).

http://www.fonearena.com/blog/24096/nokia-n8-vs-canon-ixus-130-camera-comparison.html

The winner is obvious to me.
 
My phones have replaced my stand alone cameras long ago. Didnt get a new camera since i got a SE K750i some years ago. Since then ive only selecetd camera phones (decent camera phones). Moved onto a N73, samsung S8300, SE satio etc. I am no professional photographer, but i do need to take photos on the building sites i visit for record purposes. It beats carrying a stand alone camera any day. For 'normal everyday' photography, yes it can. For specialised purposes, no it will and sould not.
 
Rands said:
My phones have replaced my stand alone cameras long ago. Didnt get a new camera since i got a SE K750i some years ago. Since then ive only selecetd camera phones (decent camera phones). Moved onto a N73, samsung S8300, SE satio etc. I am no professional photographer, but i do need to take photos on the building sites i visit for record purposes. It beats carrying a stand alone camera any day. For 'normal everyday' photography, yes it can. For specialised purposes, no it will and sould not.
Click to expand...

I have thousands on images (literally) on PC that would not have been taken had it not been for me having a decent, in fact great, cellphone camera with me. Some of those are images of moments that cannot be captured again. My cellphone is never very far away, usually in my pocket, to have a standalone camera in the other pocket would not be feasible.

Of course I would not be shooting someone's wedding with a cellphone camera but for most other purposes a great cellphone camera is more than adequate! Here you have the images of the N8 being shown to be far superior to that of a Canon point and shoot worth R2000! I get my phone on contract, with free airtime thrown in, and I get a better camera than that, plus a Garmin GPS unit, plus a music player replacement, plus a game console, plus a media player, plus plus plus plus.....

Of course we can argue all day that certain standalone versions would be superior to the cell phone one but unless you are a professional the version provided by the cell phone, well a great one like the N8 at least, would be more than adequate!
 
I have neither and don't care *too* much - but a few questions :

What about the flash strength and intensity of a dedicated vs phone?
How manual is each? custom ISO and various modes?
Zoom?
Night photos?
 
Gee . . . That phone is out of this world? Aren't the pictures fake or something? No cellphone can take pictures like that. Is more like a camera with a phone facility. I bet that phone costs same as 5 point and shoot cameras. A quick search on the net shows the phone is very new on the market. Technology is advancing quick this days. My old cell has a camera too, never bothered with it though. Perhaps I should :D
 
Dolby said:
I have neither and don't care *too* much - but a few questions :

What about the flash strength and intensity of a dedicated vs phone?
How manual is each? custom ISO and various modes?
Zoom?
Night photos?
Click to expand...

My first response is to question how many people that use point and shoot cameras actually bother with ISO settings etc? The idea of a point and shoot is to do just that.

I have been rather insistent about the superiority of my N82 when it comes to discussing camera phones. This is for a number of reasons but partly because of the presence of a proper Xenon flash and not an LED light! This proper flash has more than served it's purpose in both low light and backlit conditions.

Zoom is indeed something that could be argued in favour of a stand alone but the majority of photos I have taken over the years mean that I am close enough to the subject to snap without a zoom lens. Also with 12 megapixels at your disposal if the subject happens to be a little too far you have a fair bit of room to manoeuvre with cropping. I'll add here that a once in a lifetime shot caught with the camera on your phone is your pocket is always going to be far superior to the one missed with the 4x optical zoom camera that you have left in your bag at home, or in the car.

There are numerous modes available on cell phone cameras. My N82 has close up mode, portrait, landscape, sports, night, night portrait as well as user defined (which allows you to change various settings. You can also adjust white balance, exposure compensation, sharpness, contrast as well as ISO (the option of low, medium and high are given).
 
Grhardt said:
Gee . . . That phone is out of this world? Aren't the pictures fake or something? No cellphone can take pictures like that. Is more like a camera with a phone facility. I bet that phone costs same as 5 point and shoot cameras. A quick search on the net shows the phone is very new on the market. Technology is advancing quick this days. My old cell has a camera too, never bothered with it though. Perhaps I should :D
Click to expand...

The N8 is indeed a marvel! And photos are just one of the things it apparently does very well... :D

Nokia have been using Carl Zeiss lenses for a while and the N8 has one of the largest sensors on a cell phone (image sensor of the N8 measures exactly 1/1.83″)
 
Yeah 12MP is a third more then my fuji 8.1MP has got. I absolutely agree - point and shoot is exactly that. No fiddling with settings or anything. I see now, my oldish nokia has only a 3MP camera on the back. My daughter just showed me how easy actually is to snap a pic. The flash is weird though. Is more like a very bright light then a camera flash (as I know them.) My Fuji definitely takes better pics then my cell. I am not sure the pics are any better then the N8's. I wonder how long will take until we see a cell which takes hidef videos? 1920x1080p @60 fps will be perfect.
 
When my phone can start doing 10X optical zoom, it'll replace my point and shoot.

Until then, no.
 
EtienneK said:
When my phone can start doing 10X optical zoom, it'll replace my point and shoot.

Until then, no.
Click to expand...
The fixed focal length (28mm equiv) and fixed aperture (f/2.8) are two glaring omissions that even the most basic p&s has. Optical zoom is always better than cropping.

Another thought is that they've crammed in a lot of pixels on a [still] small sensor which might impress some people but it doesn't bode well for low light use.
 
I don't think my phone will ever replace an actual camera. Simple reasons - speed of shooting, decent flash battery life and of course quality. A cellphone camera lens cannot compare to that of a decent camera (not including DSLR's)
 
I actually got a Pixon last year because my camera broke down (one of the sony point n clicks). The Pixon was superior to the sony in some respects, however low light shooting and zoom were definitely a problem. But my wife has a basic Kodak camera with no optical zoom and a weak flash but also 8 megapixels and the pixon blows it out of the water in almost every regard.

So although it is fantastic to have a high quality camera built into phone, to capture moments that can't be replicated, it is preferable to also own a good quality standalone camera for staged shots and for detail shots.
 
It won't be as good as a dedicated camera until they manage to include an optical zoom, without bloating the size of the device. As good as the N8's digital zoom is, it's still no match for an optical one.
 
LancelotSA said:
Yip, I have seen that "phone" but as stated it is the other features that add value too. Can that thing even make, and not drop, calls?

Also you should know that it is not all about megapixels.... ;)
Click to expand...

Looking at that lens and the fact it has optical zoom, I'd expect it to beat the N8s camera. Of course for all we know it could be a crap phone.
The N8 isn't exactly amazing in other respects though, besides a few cool features.
 
LancelotSA said:
I get my phone on contract, with free airtime thrown in, and I get a better camera than that, plus a Garmin GPS unit, plus a music player replacement, plus a game console, plus a media player, plus plus plus plus.....

Of course we can argue all day that certain standalone versions would be superior to the cell phone one but unless you are a professional the version provided by the cell phone, well a great one like the N8 at least, would be more than adequate!
Click to expand...

Converged devices :D

This is how I justify spending so much on a cellphone. It really does replace about 3 or 4 other gadgets. Sure, bespoke toys will always be better, but the cellphone compromise is a great trade off.

Mine does (among other things)

1. phone/sms/mms/chat (standard for most phones)
2. email
3. pictures
4. video (bad quality- upgrade to SGS or Desire HD will allow 720p recordings)
5. skype/VOIP
6. Music Player (don't need iPod)
7. Video Player (subtitled anime :))
8. GPS (voice guided= Garmin)
9. Games (average, seldom used function though)
10. 3G dongle for laptop/desktop
11. Wireless gateway for shared internet
12. USB storage device (limited capacity for now, but a 32GB SD card is great)

plus plus plus.

Awesome.

Afterthought: the only thing missing to complete most smart phones is ~3x Optical Zoom on the built in cameras. This, @8Mp res. kills all low end point and shoots.
 
How can your phone be a wireless access point? A few years back I've paid for my wireless access point close to $100. Do you actually mean - your cell can access a previously setup wifi network? Which phone are we talking about anyway? My oldish Nokia only has bluetooth :( but I know you get some with wifi.
 
Grhardt said:
How can your phone be a wireless access point? A few years back I've paid for my wireless access point close to $100. Do you actually mean - your cell can access a previously setup wifi network? Which phone are we talking about anyway? My oldish Nokia only has bluetooth :( but I know you get some with wifi.
Click to expand...

Standard feature on many of the latest Android phones, others can do it via 3rd party apps. For Symbian there is a paid app for it, can't remember the name (it has a free version which lacks encryption).
And for the iPhone I believe you need to jailbreak it since Apple doesn't allow it (or has this changed?).
Don't know about Windows mobile but there must be a way.
 
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