Really technology?

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Shot on my phone.

My PHONE.



Not only can I talk on it, I can use it as a throttle, I can use it as a railfan recon device, and now, I can even use it to take model photos.

I'm wowed.

[dougnelson]

Nice pic, but does that mean you don't have the Brostache app yet?

Doug.

[Dave V]

That's all kinds of crazy!

[Mark5]

Not quite making the camera obsolete, but very impressive!

[sirenwerks]

Lucky shot!  ;D

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I use my Windows Phone for train convention photos:


And some weekend update photos:


Modern cell phone cameras have moving parts unlike the ones two-three years ago. Since the lens is so small, they actually have a decent depth of field. As long as there is a lot of light, photos are OK. There are some new camera units coming out from Sony and others that shuld have really good quality sensors able to reduce noise on low light shots. Eventually we will see Carl Zeiss coatings on high quality optics.

It will never be as good as a bad point and shoot, but it is much more convienent shooting with a camera phone than a full sized DSLR at shows.

[wm3798]

What kind of res?  Not ready for print, I'm guessing...  But very nice just the same.
L

[up1950s]

That's cool Ed , some things new are better . Ok not knowing a thing about camera/lens things is this at all logical/doable . Take a double bank mirror shot to get the printed stuff right ways , and aim the camera at the second mirror . Will the camera focal length equal the distance from the camera to the second mirror , or the combined 3 distances from the camera to mirror 2 then to mirror 1 then to the object ? Is there an advantage in doing that ?

[DKS]

Take a double bank mirror shot to get the printed stuff right ways , and aim the camera at the second mirror . Will the camera focal length equal the distance from the camera to the second mirror , or the combined 3 distances from the camera to mirror 2 then to mirror 1 then to the object ? Is there an advantage in doing that ?

Focal distance will always be from the camera to the object, following the light path, regardless if it's straight, an L or a Z.



Two mirrors don't afford any real advantage, since it's one click to flip the image right-reading. If you want to try using mirrors, use a first-surface mirror; you can get them from stained glass suppliers.

[Chris333]

Phones pics can be hard to focus when hand holding:

[Ian MacMillan]

What kind of res?  Not ready for print, I'm guessing...  But very nice just the same.
L

Actually yes. Most Android and iPhones on the market now, along with HP WebOS have cameras with rez that could qualify for the model mags.

[sirenwerks]

Chris,

It's in situations like yours where smart phones becomes dumb. There's no distinct centered object to 'focus' on and the phone can't figure out what to do, and fails. A lot of cameras do to, but I would wager that phone camera manufacturers are relying largely on the aim-center-shoot mentality of phone camera use and developing a center-focused and center-weighted metering system that has deploying a very narrow band to do both.

So when I said lucky shot earlier, I was only half joking. Cell phones don't have the capacity to perform off-center focus and metering, or doing so using a zone feature, or don't allow control of aperture or shutter speed to perform pan shots or the like. I don't they will for a long time, if ever. The P&S phone camera market is relatively uneducated, in terms of photography (not saying editing, but that's not photography).

I have to ask - Zeiss coatings? I haven't been involved in photography in some time, but back in the 80s when I was Zeiss was known for its optics. Are cell phone lens nothing but coatings, like Crystal Klear?

[justTRAINcRaZy]

I haven't kept up. Which phone do you have now? I recently got a Droid Incredible 2 and the guy was like Oh it has an 8 megapixel camera, but I haven't tried any closeups. Did download the Throttle app a while back but haven't set up wireless to try and use it.

KB

[DKS]

I have to ask - Zeiss coatings? I haven't been involved in photography in some time, but back in the 80s when I was Zeiss was known for its optics. Are cell phone lens nothing but coatings, like Crystal Klear?

Coatings are one aspect of the whole field of optics. So, likely the phone has some generic lens coated with a material developed by Zeiss, who offer a whole range of coatings for various applications, such as anti-glare for eyeglasses. Most camera lens coatings are designed to reduce chromatic aberration.

Not only can I talk on it, I can use it as a throttle, I can use it as a railfan recon device, and now, I can even use it to take model photos.

But does it cook you bacon? Now, that would be wow-worthy.

[up1950s]

Thanks David .