Single-use or multi-use?
Space Needle reflections | Photo by Laurie Blundell
Recently I’ve made the switch recently from a hacked G1 (Google) cellphone to my wife’s old iPhone 3G.
And in making the switch to the phone I’ve been comparing the quality of photos and videos that both phones offer.
It’s crazy to think that the cameras that come on most cellphones these days have better quality than the first digital camera I bought 10 years ago.
And while the convenience is great, the quality isn’t always the best — so I still prefer having a separate device for both video and still photography.
I still prefer my Nikon D40 when taking photos and my Flip UltraHD when shooting video.
Of course the simplest route would be to minimize the number of devices I have all around the house (including electronics) but in this case I still see huge value in these single-use devises.
I’ll share some comparisons below — but what about you? Have switched to a single device for video and photo, or maybe an all in one option with your cellphone?
Are there other single-use devices you’ve held on to instead of combining them into one multi-use device?
As an added thought…
If you’re thinking about replacing your current cellphone, be sure and check with friends and family members to see if they have any used phones sitting around.
When I dropped my BlackBerry and it stopped working a friend gave me the G1 for free that had been sitting in his closet for several months. And more recently my wife gave me her old iPhone when we upgraded her phone to the latest version. You may never know what your friends and family might have sitting around the house if you don’t ask.
G1 video:
iPhone video:
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I haven’t had a dedicated video camera for years.
I have some reservations about the quality of the iPhone3G photos and video but having got a lovely new iPhone 4 the quality of the photos and video has taken a massive step forward.
I think with another evolution cell phones will replace low end video cameras and stills cameras almost completely.
But I’ll still want my 8mp Fuji if I’m going somewhere photogenic.
Thanks for the input Stewart!
I never owned an analog video camera at all. My first camcorder was the original Flip camera (Pure Digital) and my next one was a BlackBerry
.
Doing video work from time to time the phone just doesn’t cut it but that’s why I love the size of the Flip UltraHD.
I think if I had a next generation phone (iPhone 4, Droid X, Samsung Galaxy S etc.) with HD video and HDMI output my Flip would see less and less action.
Just having the camcorder on my phone with 3G has made a big improvement. Since I don’t have to worry with copying the video to my computer for decent upload ability – it’s much easier to pull out the phone, hit record and post it within minutes to YouTube… (as long as it doesn’t post my video upside down like it did last week
).
Like you said, as phones continue to evolve, I think a lot of devices are going to be replaced.