Camera Phones vs. Cameras

Michael Gartenberg | May 18, 2007, 06:22 PM

I've been talking a lot about the issues of convergence lately and one of the key questions still seems to be around the issue of whether converged devices replaces dedicated ones. We've argued for some time that it's not about a single device taking over the whole world. We have shown year over year consumer willingness to carry multiple devices, we know what those limits are and what devices they will carry.

 Still, there's still an argument that gets made. Lately, I've been hearing folks talk about how current generations of camera phones will displace lower end point and shoot cameras. I decided to take a closer look and compare the best camera phone on the market, the Nokia N95 to a pretty good point and shoot model, the Canon SD800. I think it's a pretty fair comparison. The Nokia boasts a 5MP resolution, has a Carl Zeiss lens and features such as autofocus. It retails for $750 and you also get a media player. a GPS and of course, a phone. The Canon SD800 goes for less than $300 US and has 7.1 MP resolution.

In my real world tests, it wasn't even close. As good as the Nokia is (and it's really good, surpassing where most dedicated cameras were a short time ago) it just wasn't good enough. Here are some of the big differences.

1. Start up and shutter lag - The Nokia takes way too long to power up and way to long to cycle between shots. Both of these were non issues on the Canon. Power up was virtually instantaneous and there was no shutter lag. Canon's burst mode meant I could keep shooting for as long as I could hold the button down and there was room on the card. Not even close.

2. Flash - Again, not even close. While both devices have a relatively small flash due to their form factors, the Canon's "real" flash made a hug difference.

3. Lens and Zoom - The Nokia boasts a Carl Zeiss lens and the quality shows. What's missing of course, is a real optical zoom. While both cameras can use a "digital zoom" to get closer to the action, this type of interpolation leads to image deterioration and generally isn't recommended. That's where the Canon's 3.8x optical zoom comes in handy.

4. Image Stabilization and Face Detection - This is one area where the camera vendors have leaped ahead. Image stabilization is one of the best features to come along in photography in years. What is does is stabilize the camera and compensate for motion shake. What does this mean? That you can take pictures indoors without a flash and not get a blurry mess when you do. It makes the camera far more versatile and you get pictures you simply couldn't get before. Likewise, face detection can pick out faces and make sure those are in perfect focus. It works amazingly well and again, let's you get shots you couldn't get before. Neither of these features is available in any camera phone an not likely to be there in the near future.

I could go on but at every turn, the Canon simply proves to be the better choice. Does this mean that camera phones serve no purpose? Of course not! Context defines the value of functionality and there are plenty of times you might not want to carry even a small digital camera at which point, the worst camera you have on your phone is going to be better than the best camera you have back in your house or hotel room.

Converged devices have their place in the market and represent real value to consumers but we're not likely to see converged devices replace the core value proposition of the standalone device anytime soon. It's not about this or that. It's about this, that and the other thing too. Next up, some discussion around music phones.