Camera Phones to replace digital cameras

[tim]

According to some Americans sampled for this story (LINK) (http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=7499).


Today, Snapfish released the results of a new national survey of 500 Americans who own or intend to buy a camera phone in the next 12 months. The independently conducted national survey, reveals dozens of key findings on the use of and opinions regarding camera phones. Results include the finding that 56% of those surveyed think camera phones will replace digital and film cameras within the next two decades.


I'd be very happy if they could get a camera like the 20D inside a phone, which should seem quaint in 20 years. Alas I don't think it's feasible with the technology on the current radar screen.

[nosquare2003]

I'd be very happy if they could get a camera like the 20D inside a phone, which should seem quaint in 20 years. Alas I don't think it's feasible with the technology on the current radar screen.

I don't want a phone that BIG!

[tim]

I assume they'll be smaller by then, though I doubt they'll fit a 70-200 lens in a phone ;)

[Ikinaa]

Why not add a phone to the 20D (or like...)?
I'd be happy... I need the cam more often than the phone.
I only have the phone for when I really need it, and that's about for two calls in a month...
Anyway... remove the body from the phone and you're left with 10 grams of antenna and a chip... the cam has a battery, so ...

[kb244]

the smaller sensor size alone will kill the quality.

[tim]

Live preview also helps reduce quality... I rekon if they remove the screen and replace it with a sensor and lens that might do the job ;)

[EXA1a]

This forum is about photography. The post is about snapshooting. Wrong forum here.

[nosquare2003]

The research firm collected data from 500 people who either own a camera phone or intend to buy one in the next 12 months. Greenfield is based in Wilton, Conn.

It should be noted how the research samples were selected.

It would be different if samples are collected here.

Anyway, it would be interested to see a phone with a hot shoe.

[Tom W]

I wonder what the results would be if the firm collected data from 500 photographers. ;)

[Tom W]

It should be noted how the research samples were selected.

It would be different if samples are collected here.

Anyway, it would be interested to see a phone with a hot shoe.

Imagine putting a phone to your ear -- with Bigma attached! :)

[karusel]

Phone thakes shots like 20D.


Laws of physics disagree. :D

[tim]

Laws of physics disagree. :D

I'm not sure who you quoted but it wasn't me, plus i'm not sure I understand your point.

[Nic]

I read somewhere that the manufacturers are going to restrict the phones to 5MPx - hopefully!!

I don't want a phone to compete against my 1DMkII or my 20D!!!

I don't think there will ever be a phone which can take several lenses - maybe a 1DMkIII equiped with a celphone!!!???

[karusel]

Tim: I retorted your I'd be very happy if they could get a camera like the 20D inside a phone, which should seem quaint in 20 years.

And my reply means that because of laws of physics, specially those about light would not allow a miniscule sensor and miniscule lens to produce photographs equal to those produced by 20D. :)

[pradeep1]

Yeah, I read something along the same lines a while back ago. I can see it happening. At least, I can see camera phones displacing pretty much all of the low end consumer digicams up to the 5 MP range around the world. For the average snapshooter, getting a free phone and free camera just makes for a better deal.

I guess this is good and bad news. Good news that more people will be taking photos and we may have the opportunity to see interesting cultural effects from that. The bad news is that mediocrity in equipment will become more of a norm than it currently is.

Fortunately, I think we'll still have SLRs or some type of similar camera creature that photographers will demand.

Such is life...

[Longwatcher]

Just pulling this from the top of my head, which means no doubt I will not have the math/physics correct.

Given the size of the 20D sensor and that it has room to grow a bit, I suspect it will eventually be possible to put a 20MP sensor into a cell phone sized object. The technology that will be needed will primarily be lens technology, getting light to bend corectly to the sensor. But from a size perspective, I think you could get one that big in a cell phone, with an SD card and still be able to use it as a phone. On the other hand a FF 35mm size sensor will not fit within the constraints of a Cell phone unless they came up with a way of doing it conformally on the exterior of the phone. Also zoom lenses will be extremely limited if they are there at all.

I think it even more likely that another technology will take over from cell phones before they get to this point anyway.

Just my opinion,

[gramps]

will this new phone have a red ring around it??????

[Fills]

Liquid Lens seems to be the new technology that will make this possible. I've read a bit on it, and it is supposed to replace glass using a mix of water and oil with electrodes. In camera phones by 2005....

[robertwgross]

I can just visualize this on a phone camera. You have to call the AT&T operator and ask to have the Mirror Lockup enabled for a fee.

---Bob Gross---

[Tom W]

MLU can be gotten as a package deal with call waiting, ISO 1600, and caller ID.

[roanjohn]

I can just visualize this on a phone camera. You have to call the AT&T operator and ask to have the Mirror Lockup enabled for a fee.

---Bob Gross---
Why pay??? You know the hack will just be around the corner......

Ro1

[VegasGeorge]

The problem with camera/phones is that they are being outlawed in lots of places for privacy and/or security reasons. Cell phones are obnoxious enough as is, I can't wait for them to have a built in camera flash! :rolleyes:

[Bodryn]

Yeah, and a recent Swedish study claims that despite what we've been told, cell phones may indeed be hazardous to your health. (Just to muddy the discussion even more...) :(

[CoolToolGuy]

So let me get this straight - If I have my 10MP camera phone in Washington state, and I want to take a Canadian landscape shot, will I have to pay an international long-distance charge? :rolleyes: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Have Fun,

[FlyingPete]

Steering back to the original statement that was that Camera Phone will replace digicams, I hate these broad dumb statements. Someone is always ready to put their had up and say a given technology is 'dead' examples:

-Vinyl - CD's replaced those remember?
-The paperless office (yeah right)
-Backup tape (not audio tape, that is almost dead!) vs disk (don't get me started here!)
-Film (I can guarantee diehards will still be suing this for years to come, imagine simular arguments to the vinyl vs CD/Valve vs transistor debate)

We even still etch stone tablets! Paper still hasn't killed that one. Granted this example and many of the others above are going to narrow right down to specialised applications, but they are a long way from being 'dead'

[gramps]

So let me get this straight - If I have my 10MP camera phone in Washington state, and I want to take a Canadian landscape shot, will I have to pay an international long-distance charge? :rolleyes: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Have Fun,
Not only Long distance charges but also customs duty and taxes.

[Tom W]

Not only Long distance charges but also customs duty and taxes.

You can probably save on customs duty by declaring the image a "gift". :)

[Tom W]

Steering back to the original statement that was that Camera Phone will replace digicams, I hate these broad dumb statements. Someone is always ready to put their had up and say a given technology is 'dead' examples:

-Vinyl - CD's replaced those remember?

Well they did, except for the 240 or so vinyl albums I still have laying around. I'm confident that some day, I'll record them all on CD for the purpose of preservation. :)
-The paperless office (yeah right)

They're still pushing that one at the office. Why, I don't know. It's like a solution looking for a problem.

-Backup tape (not audio tape, that is almost dead!) vs disk (don't get me started here!)

I haven't put any digital information on tape since the early 1990's. But, I'm not the computer backup expert either.

-Film (I can guarantee diehards will still be suing this for years to come, imagine simular arguments to the vinyl vs CD/Valve vs transistor debate)

But Vacuum tubes "sound" better than transistors (that's what they were saying 20 years ago). :) J/K - film will slowly fade into oblivion, but we're only at the early stages of digital photography. Its going to take a number of years before film shares the realm of vacuum tubes (or valves as you call them) where only a handful of exoteric holdouts will possess them. Think very large frame film plates for film, everything else digital.

We even still etch stone tablets! Paper still hasn't killed that one. Granted this example and many of the others above are going to narrow right down to specialised applications, but they are a long way from being 'dead'

Well, there really hasn't been a suitable replacement for stone tablets yet. I know that I don't want a CD or a piece of paper laid over my grave when I pass on - nope, make it stone. Not that it matters much, as I will merely be joining the numerous masses that have experienced their share of life.

As for the camera phone, I think that it will become the next generation of Kodak Instamatic-type cameras. Fixed focus, dummy-proof operation, and mediocre quality.

[Moppie]

As for the camera phone, I think that it will become the next generation of Kodak Instamatic-type cameras. Fixed focus, dummy-proof operation, and mediocre quality.

I totaly agree.
There is a limit to how small you can make a camera, and how large you can make a cell phone, forunatly the two are not compatable.

Unforunatly it will take a few years for people to catch on to the low quality of cell phone cameras, even if they are 4MP+. Once the novelty value wears off people will realise how low quality they are, untill then I just have to nod my head and go "yes" when my friend tries to tell me the 1MP camera in his phone is taking a good quality photo.




Interesting things are happening with cell phones though, I remember reading something in a local paper about 5 years ago, they mentioned that cell phone technology had reached a point were they could make phones so small you couldn't actualy use them. i.e. they would be to hard to hold, and not reach your ear or your mouth. Think the size of your little finger.
As a result cell phone manufactors have to find ways of justifing to the public the large size of modern cell phones, and add more and more extra crap to make them special from the model that went before.
The continued combination of PDA and cell phone will be the next big move, especialy as data transmission formats like T3 become avliable around the world.

[Andy_T]

Well there you are:

Samsung SPH-S-2300

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0407/samsungsph2300.jpg

3.2 MP, 3x optical zoom and flash ... and you can call people with it...

Best regards,
Andy

Best regards,
Andy

[Tom W]

Mine's bigger!

http://www.pbase.com/photosbytom/image/38888733.jpg

I'm thinking of getting an earpod for it though.

[Illegally_Alive]

Well there you are:

Samsung SPH-S-2300

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0407/samsungsph2300.jpg

3.2 MP, 3x optical zoom and flash ... and you can call people with it...

Best regards,
Andy

Best regards,
Andy

Yeah, but who'd want to walk around with a camera attached to their ear?!

[cmM]

hey the lens on my sonyericsson has a max aperture f/2.8 :)... no IS though :-P

Tom, that's funny. I'd sport a phone like that :D

[Andy_T]

Tom,

great design!

Finally something for those who always complain that they lose the 'live preview' on a DSLR.

Best regards,
Andy

[CyberDyneSystems]

Right up there with the "tablet PC" ;)

[pradeep1]

We even still etch stone tablets!

I am in the business of monuments and yes, stone etching and stone tablets will probably never go away. :D

[gramps]

Mine's bigger!

http://www.pbase.com/photosbytom/image/38888733.jpg

I'm thinking of getting an earpod for it though.

I'm glad it has a red ring around it and it's white.