Nokia N90 Cell Phone

Have you noticed the ad on this site for the new Nokia N90 cell phone.

With a 2MB digital camera and a Zeiss lens, one wonders for how much

longer cell phone cameras will be "alternative".

I hope the low light/high ISO performance is OK.The Sony Ericsson K750 seems to be quite capable in the dark.

How could you not see this ad. I really dislike having to click through a ad to get to a forum posting.

Any way you look at it, its a camera, what hath we wrought.

taking pix with cell phones is probably more expensive than taking pix with film. see...digital in this case is not a money saver! talk about nickel and diming...

With many cell phones you can just use a USB cable; and download the images with your usb 1 or 2 port. One of my cellphones has 16 megabytes of memory; for videos and images. you can uplaod or download images and videos from your camera to your PC. One can set white balance to many settings with many cell cameras now. Many cell phones have made up resolution specs. the image is often upsized in the camera; the sensor's real resolution 1/2 or 1/4 of the flashy decal marketing uses. One can take apart a cell camera; place it on a test bench; and shine a diffraction limited image from a 8mm or 16mm camera; and test the system. Often the real limit is not the lens at all. The Zeiss lens cannot make info that is not there; in the typical upsized situation. Many cell cameras are already sensor limited in the center of the image; a perfect lens can make the corners sometimes better; but it cannot fix the upsizing situation.

Cell cameras are selling at a brisker rate than other digital cameras; according to the WSJ back in Dec 2004.

Cell phone cameras are ideal for visual diary photographing. And check out the work at the <a href="http://zz.textamerica.com/">Zone Zero Moblog.</a> Some of the photos are just wonderful.

Jeff, is there anyway to know if all these images are really from cell phone cams? I only wonder because some of them are truly outstanding in terms of detail.

Kelly: Well duh! :) More cell phones are being sold than digital cameras and since it is damn near impossible these days to get a phone without a camera... But that doesn't mean people buy them for the cameras, I don't know anyone who ever said: "cool, now I don't need to buy a camera to take pictures when I go on holiday."

Bas; a huge user group of cell camera users is teenage girls. Many create diaries; like Jeff mentioned. Alot of girls keep images alwys on their cell cameras; thus many phones now have a saved images area. They also upload to the cell camera images from other friends; so the camera phone then is a mini photo album. Most images are just emailed at home; saved on the computer; and never printed much. This not printing scares the old inkjet makers; who fail to understand how these new tools are used by teenagers.

Michael, I'm with you. It's bloody annoying to constantly dodge pop-up ads and the like. IMHO, cell phones with cameras are ridiculous, but that doesn't stop my 14 year old daughter from wanting one. Jeez, what's next? Where else are they going to put a camera?

There is an interesting series on BBC4 in the UK at the moment, where established photographers are given varying degrees of digital equipment (cellphone, p&s, high end DSLR) and challenged to come up with something interesting.

 

The most amusing moment for me was watching landscape photographer Joe Cornish (who usually shoots 5x4) trying to get decent landscapes with a 2MP phone. In the end he managed to clamp it to his tripod to get a steady shot.

 

The main problems seem to be those that plagued earlier digital point and shoots; slow shutter response and lack of exposure controls. The former will no doubt improve, but the latter is probably only of interest to the enthusiast and is less likely to be addressed. Even now, though, it is not uncommon to see tourists shooting on cellphones. It's a bit of a shame; personally, I think one of the pleasures of snapshot photography is discovering a shoebox of twenty year old prints and going through them to discover that some of the "failures" are now fascinating documents of the time.

<i>Jeff, is there anyway to know if all these images are really from cell phone cams? I only wonder because some of them are truly outstanding in terms of detail.</i><p>

 

There's no way to tell absolutely, but I just got a new phone (Sony Ericsson 710) which gives quality as good as, and maybe better than, the best photos there. I'll try to take something beyond a simple test photo with it and post over the weekend.

<i> I don't know anyone who ever said: "cool, now I don't need to buy a camera to take pictures when I go on holiday."</i><p>

 

It doesn't sound like you are around teenagers much. And I do see tourists in San Francisco using cell phone cameras around the local sites.

<I>"I'll try to take something beyond a simple test photo with it and post over the weekend.</I>

<P>

Great, I'd be interested in seeing it. I was quite surpised by what I saw a that site, both in terms of image quality and content.

I was standing on the street the other day, trying to figure out how to get my cell-phone to turn on with dead batteries. I had not yet figured out that the batteries were dead. A woman came over and said, were you photographing my a$$? I had no idea what she was talking about. She said cause if you was people pay me money for shots like that so I don't want no one cheating me. It was at this moment I realized that the phone's batteries were dead. I showed her the phone, and she left. Oh lordy how I love NYC.

Was she good looking?

Jorn, LOL, i guess she was hoping you did that.

I just look at press promo images taken with N90 and N70 <br>

Exif 2.0 file info show:<br>

<br>

1. For Nokia N90 > Nokia model 9999 <br>

FocalLength = 5.5mm, f2.9, ISO 10000, sRGB - YCbCr = Centered etc..<br>

<pr>

It show corect exposition value like 1/420 or 1/122s but aperture seems to be lock to f3.2 on all pics.<br>

<pr>

<br>

2.For nokia N70 > nokia model 9999 <br>

Focal lenght = 4.5mm, f3.2, ISO 10000, sRGB - YCbCr = Centered etc..<br>

But it show incorrect shuter speed and lock aperture to f3.2. <br>

<pr>

You can draw some conclusions... :)

Brian, is this forum an archival forum or does it have a one week shelf life?