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Has Your Nseries Replaced Your Digital Camera?

By The Guru on March 5, 2008

Nokia’s Nseries handsets are easily regarded as imaging and video powerhouses. From the venerable N93(i) to the current N95 and N82, and the upcoming N96, Nokia’s flagship Nseries handsets are sporting higher quality cameras and flashes, and are also being optimized for speed. The N82 had a team of people whose sole responsibility was to make the camera application operate quicker than previous models, and both Driving with the Guru and the Smartphones Show are filmed entirely on Nseries devices.

James Burland, at NokiaCreative, has been doing some pondering over the future of video specifically on mobile handsets, and the idea of HD video recording coming along sometime soon. James is looking at the Kodak V1253, a relatively cheap digital camera capable of recording HD video, and the V1253 is likely to offer similar features/quality as the first HD-recording camera phone.

Further, in the comments,  reader Paul wonders how many N95 users have completely ditched their point-and-shoot camera in favor of giving the full-time imaging position to the smartphone. Personally, the only reason I ever use a standalone digital camera is when taking photos for use here on Symbian-Guru or on MobileBurn.com. Aside from professional instances, I use my N95-3 for everything, both video and still.

What about you? Have you ditched your standalone digicam for your Nseries?

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The Guru

The Guru, aka Ricky Cadden, started Symbian-Guru.com in November 2006, out of his excitement for the S60 3rd Edition version of Symella. The Guru has used Symbian devices since the Nokia 6620, and is known for his perspective as a power user. You can follow The Guru on Twitter at @Rcadden

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  • Alexandr3

    Totally! Since the N73 that a gave my digicam to my mum. By then I knew I would be loosing on dark pics quality, but it was ok to just have one gadget with me. Now with the n82 that’s soved too. It completely obsoletes a digicam unless your some kind of uber critic about the pixels in the photo that the majority of the people simply don’t care.

    I use the N82 to do as manythings as the battery allows me. Videos, Pictures, Music, Games, Messenger, Email….

  • Alexandr3

    Totally! Since the N73 that a gave my digicam to my mum. By then I knew I would be loosing on dark pics quality, but it was ok to just have one gadget with me. Now with the n82 that’s soved too. It completely obsoletes a digicam unless your some kind of uber critic about the pixels in the photo that the majority of the people simply don’t care.

    I use the N82 to do as manythings as the battery allows me. Videos, Pictures, Music, Games, Messenger, Email….

  • http://picasaweb.google.com/Neil264/ Neil Hoskins

    Not at all. Some of the photos in the Flickr N95 Group are stunning, but when you look at them, they’re limited in their scope. The very wide-angle lens in particular lends itself to big skies and landscapes, and you can do nice compositions with bright colours if you have good light. But for anything that’s a distance away, you need a good optical zoom and more flexibility with exposure. Wildlife shots are probably the best example. For that I use a Canon Powershot S2. If you look at my picasa page, most of the ‘Smart Tour’ shots were taken with my N95 (we were travelling light) but most of the ‘Kenya’ shots were taken with my Canon, and simply wouldn’t have been possible on the N95. Having said that, I did take some nice shots with the N95 in Kenya so that I could post them directly to a moblog for family & friends to see (eg the ‘truckstop’ one).

  • http://picasaweb.google.com/Neil264/ Neil Hoskins

    Not at all. Some of the photos in the Flickr N95 Group are stunning, but when you look at them, they’re limited in their scope. The very wide-angle lens in particular lends itself to big skies and landscapes, and you can do nice compositions with bright colours if you have good light. But for anything that’s a distance away, you need a good optical zoom and more flexibility with exposure. Wildlife shots are probably the best example. For that I use a Canon Powershot S2. If you look at my picasa page, most of the ‘Smart Tour’ shots were taken with my N95 (we were travelling light) but most of the ‘Kenya’ shots were taken with my Canon, and simply wouldn’t have been possible on the N95. Having said that, I did take some nice shots with the N95 in Kenya so that I could post them directly to a moblog for family & friends to see (eg the ‘truckstop’ one).

  • http://nztechfreak.vox.com/ NZtechfreak

    Hey Ricky,

    My N95 is my only imaging device, which is why I’m looking forward to getting a Black N82 soon (the low-light and night photography aspect is tiresome in the N95) and probably the Samsung G810 later in the year. So convenient to always have it on you, to mention nothing of the integration with Flickr and so forth.

  • http://nztechfreak.vox.com NZtechfreak

    Hey Ricky,

    My N95 is my only imaging device, which is why I’m looking forward to getting a Black N82 soon (the low-light and night photography aspect is tiresome in the N95) and probably the Samsung G810 later in the year. So convenient to always have it on you, to mention nothing of the integration with Flickr and so forth.

  • Stephen

    Yes, my n73 i use for music, camera, internet, email, youtube, games everything. I even found out how to play GBA games on it.

  • Stephen

    Yes, my n73 i use for music, camera, internet, email, youtube, games everything. I even found out how to play GBA games on it.

  • Bruce

    Yes, both my wife and I have ditched digital cameras in favor of our N95s. No, they’re not perfect, but they shoot very nice photos for our purposes and the fact that we have them with us 24/7 means we’re shooting more pictures than ever.

  • Bruce

    Yes, both my wife and I have ditched digital cameras in favor of our N95s. No, they’re not perfect, but they shoot very nice photos for our purposes and the fact that we have them with us 24/7 means we’re shooting more pictures than ever.

  • Paisano

    Yes. Back when i had N95-3 no, cause the camera is too slow. But now with N82, with its very fast camera, I dont carry any more a digital camera.

  • Paisano

    Yes. Back when i had N95-3 no, cause the camera is too slow. But now with N82, with its very fast camera, I dont carry any more a digital camera.

  • http://www.womworld.com/nseries/2008/03/05/nseries-leading-the-way-on-video-and-imaging/ Nseries WOM World » Blog Archive » Nseries leading the way on video and imaging?

    [...] has also led Symbian Guru Ricky Cadden to ask whether people are now using their Nseries to replace a digital camera in day-to-day circumstances. Are you? Jump over to leave a comment on Ricky’s [...]

  • bazza

    Yes I do use my N95 as my main imaging device. On the rare occasions I have my Digicam with me, I use that because its faster and has a higher megapixel count. Otherwise, its always my N95 for everything, and my trusty Proporta charger for support, cos’ those shots suck battery power like a hooker trawling for crack money.

  • bazza

    Yes I do use my N95 as my main imaging device. On the rare occasions I have my Digicam with me, I use that because its faster and has a higher megapixel count. Otherwise, its always my N95 for everything, and my trusty Proporta charger for support, cos’ those shots suck battery power like a hooker trawling for crack money.

  • http://maticek.wordpress.com/ MaTiCeK

    Yes! It all started with the N70 and continued with the N73, with which I shot some incredible photos. My current N95 made me completely forget about my digicam + with the recent flickr compatibility and geotagging it also brought to live the Flickr Love that I had hidding in me :)

    As far as I’m concerned, great photo quality is one of the main reasons to own the N95 or N82.

  • http://maticek.wordpress.com MaTiCeK

    Yes! It all started with the N70 and continued with the N73, with which I shot some incredible photos. My current N95 made me completely forget about my digicam + with the recent flickr compatibility and geotagging it also brought to live the Flickr Love that I had hidding in me :)

    As far as I’m concerned, great photo quality is one of the main reasons to own the N95 or N82.

  • http://symbian-life.blogspot.com/ Symbian-Life Blog

    Agreed,During the time of my N95 trial I figured it out.Its great for some features,Specifically for me the macro mode worked well.But I don’t think that (yet) it has managed to get it going in all the modes,Specially Wide angle and long distant photos have some major issues regarding the quality.But still it can be considered as a good replacement.Heres what I’ve found out with macro,

    http://symbian-life.blogspot.com/2008/02/macro-how-close-you-are-to-your.html

  • http://symbian-life.blogspot.com Symbian-Life Blog

    Agreed,During the time of my N95 trial I figured it out.Its great for some features,Specifically for me the macro mode worked well.But I don’t think that (yet) it has managed to get it going in all the modes,Specially Wide angle and long distant photos have some major issues regarding the quality.But still it can be considered as a good replacement.Heres what I’ve found out with macro,

    http://symbian-life.blogspot.com/2008/02/macro-how-close-you-are-to-your.html

  • zr

    It’s replaced digital and 35mm point and shoots… I reserve the right to carry my DSLR when I know I’m serious about taking pictures.

  • zr

    It’s replaced digital and 35mm point and shoots… I reserve the right to carry my DSLR when I know I’m serious about taking pictures.

  • http://sionide.net/ Sionide

    Yes definitely. But saying that, my Nokia 6680 came with a better spec camera than my old digital camera.. If only for the portability of the thing, it’s always with me so if I ever see something I want to grab a photo of, I will. Then Shozu (www.shozu.com) uploads it straight to Facebook if I want. I’m not too fussed about amazingly high quality photos.. The 5 megapixels on my N95 is more than enough.

  • http://sionide.net/ Sionide

    Yes definitely. But saying that, my Nokia 6680 came with a better spec camera than my old digital camera.. If only for the portability of the thing, it’s always with me so if I ever see something I want to grab a photo of, I will. Then Shozu (www.shozu.com) uploads it straight to Facebook if I want. I’m not too fussed about amazingly high quality photos.. The 5 megapixels on my N95 is more than enough.

  • http://sionide.net/ Sionide

    Yes definitely. But saying that, my Nokia 6680 came with a better spec camera than my old digital camera.. If only for the portability of the thing, it’s always with me so if I ever see something I want to grab a photo of, I will. Then Shozu (www.shozu.com) uploads it straight to Facebook if I want. I’m not too fussed about amazingly high quality photos.. The 5 megapixels on my N95 is more than enough.

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