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September 21, 2006
[ YOU CALL THAT A PHONE CAMERA, MR TRACY? ]
THE PHONE CAMERA HAS COME OF AGE. It has now officially made the transition from Dick Tracy gadget to useful photographic tool.
The transformation of the phone camera has been in the improvement in the optics. Resolution has gone up to 3.2 megapixels and that helps, but the most important improvement has been in the lens.
Imaging has been trying two new phones -- the Nokia N80 ($1100) and the Sony Ericsson Cybershot K800i ($830). The Nokia has a 3 mp sensor and the Sony Ericsson has 3.2 -- an insignificant difference in resolution.
Where the two cameras differ most fundamentally is in their lenses. The Nokia uses the old technology of a fixed focus, extreme wide angle lens with a rough switch for selecting between macro and infinity modes. Although the N80 has a million more pixels than the much cheaper Nokia 6280 there is little to choose between them in picture quality.
The Sony Ericsson has a true auto-focus lens. The result of the added focussing mechanism is much sharper pictures which are also better exposed. In fact the output from the 800i is consistently outstanding.
Some new Nokia phones also have auto-focus lenses and we hope to test them in future but at the moment there is no contest between the N80 and the K800i.
Both phones have infra red transmitters and we were able to make prints directly on the Canon iP6700D (see the review) using Canon’s Photo Paper Pro and the results from the Sony Ericsson are very good indeed. The Nokia pictures, by comparison, lack sharpness and detail and are poorly exposed.
The next necessary development in phone camera technology is in true optical zoom lenses. At the moment phone cameras come with digital zooms which work by enlarging a small section of the image. An optical zoom exposes the whole sensor area but if it has a mechanical action it needs room in which to move and room inside a mobile phone is at a premium.
The Nokia N93 fits a 3x optical zoom and a 3.2mp sensor across the body width rather than through the body depth -- clever lateral thinking. The N93 is the true competitor for the K800i.
One possible solution to the problem of fitting an optical zoom in a small space is the liquid lens being developed by the French company, Varioptic. In July the company announced plans to begin mass production of the liquid lens in collaboration with a Taiwanese company.
The liquid zoom consists of a drop of oil and a drop of water in a cone, sandwiched between two thin sheets of glass. When an electric charge is passed through the liquid the surface tension of the water changes and the water drop bulges or contracts which in turn alters the focal length of the “lens”.
Once the optics of the phone camera match those of an ordinary compact camera most people may find they don’t need to carry two separate devices. With phones these days also doing service as MP3 players and personal organisers one gadget will do the work of three…not to mention the FM radio, video camera, TV receiver, email client and web browser built into the latest G3 phones. Mr Tracy, eat your heart out!
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Posted by terry at September 21, 2006 12:24 AM
Worth Checking Out
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Comments
i was thinking of getting the N80 becouse of the camera 3.2M and the WiFi and other niftys on the phone.
now i have to re-think SE or nokia or even Samsang has a 3.2m camera phone.
Posted by: gto-pontiac at September 21, 2006 01:41 AM
Nokia N80 is better than Sony.
Posted by: praveen at December 21, 2008 03:34 PM