Light & Camera: Then We'll Have Action!
As many - and when I say "many" of course I mean "2" of you know, I've recently picked up a new cell phone - a
Nokia 3650 camera phone. I've gotten a kick out of this thing. And I would post some of the photos I've taken with the camera phone to this site except that @#@%!!!ing Yahoo! hosting won't let me upload any more pictures.
Quick aside: Anyone know where I can find some cheap web or especially image hosting?
Please, let me know.
Anyway, check out my
Photoblog thing if you want to see some of those pictures.
Anyway,
Martin Little on the
Mobitopia site had an interesting post about camera phones.
It went a little something like this:
There seems to be no doubt that cameraphones are currently and will continue to sell like hotcakes. Somewhat unsurprisingly, cameraphones are even outselling digital cameras, almost simply because when you go to buy a new phone, there's an extremely good chance the camera function will already be integrated.
Over the coming months and years, we are near-guaranteed a gradual rise in image capture resolution, from one megapixel to two megapixel to X megapixels. We'll move to phone (and WiFi?) networks that make sending and receiving large image files cheaper and easier than at the moment.
.... So, where is the fly in the ointment? Lighting. We're simply not getting it. Looking at my own moblog, there are far too many pictures on there that are just too dark, and there are plenty lying unpublished due to a lack of light. The reduced light modes offered on many cameraphones do help slightly, but what we really need is some focus(!) on this area.
Is the future looking bright?
....
Read the
Rest of his post here.
I've had the Nokia 3650 camera phone for 6 weeks or more now. Long enough to receive my first bill at least :)
And I find many of my behaviours and wishes echoing Martin Little's thoughts.
I was never much of a regular cell phone user before, but thanks to the camera the 3650 includes, I find myself taking the phone with me, and using it, far more often than I ever used my cell phone before. You never know when there might be a great opportunity to snap a pic!
That's the life of a private detective (license, monkey partner and cadillac convertible all pending) for you though: You have to be prepared. Prepared to cut the shit and solve the crime at a moment's notice. Ready! At the first sign of a cheating spouse or a fluttering skirt to whip out that cell phone and snap a photo, danger or propriety or privacy be damned! The weeds of crime bear bitter fruit as we all know too well. And a private detective without a cell phone/digital camera these days, well, he's just dick.
Ha ha. A little private detective humor there.
So, what I'm trying to say is that I love my cell phone more than I hate crime itself. But like crack cocaine ... sweet, sweet crack cocaine ... ah, wonderful crack cocaine ... I find myself quickly unsatisfied with what is available. Where is the auto focus, I shout out late in the night, standing in my apartment complex parking lot in the pouring rain, wearing nothing by my Incredible Hulk boxer shorts, one sock and a smile. Where is the flash! Where is the sweet, sweet flash!! Damn your eyes!!! My kingdom (that would be Iretria) for some flash!!!
Sure, you may say. "Mr. Private Detective, maybe it's because you don't know your cell phone as well as you ought!"
Balderdash, I say! Balderdash, you heinous beast.
Okay.
Maybe you have a point.
And a counterpoint: I was showing off the phone this weekend in a bar and a couple of us were trying to figure out how to change the default contrast or contrast settings on the phone, but gave up. I seem to take most of my photos when I'm out at night, and in bars, oddly enough. Maybe it was because we were out at a bar, but none of us stumbled onto the fact that you could adjust the phone to a 'night' setting. (I've figured that out now ...)
While I'm busy prattling away, I wouldbe remiss if I didn't point out this Nokia-sponsored sweepstakes I just came across:
https://www.nokiaconnections.com/PickAPhoneSweeps/PickAPhoneSweeps.aspx
Winners of this contest will be able to pick from 10 phones, and they'll get 3 months of service, and the chance to win some cash... I think the cash grand prize is $1000.
There are pretty good deals on most of these phones through carriers, I think, but still ... a free phone and one thousand bucks is a free phone and one thousand bucks.
Here are the phones included in the sweepstakes:
2285, 3300, 3560, 3586i, 3595, 3600, 3650, 6800, 6610, 7210.
Oh, and one more Nokia contest:
This one to win a trip to the Sugar Bowl
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