Best cell phone camera?

July 28, 2011 3:53 PM

What's the best cell phone camera out there today? prefer a zoom lens (I really miss having one). Currently I have an LG "chocolate" and it's not very good (in many ways). I-phone, as we know, has a decent camera but no zoom.
posted by DMelanogaster to Technology (16 answers total)

I had a Motorola ZN5 that had a 5MP camera with zoom that took good pictures. The zoom itself wasn't that great, though--those pictures tended to be blurry. (zoom, no zoom. I've got a no zoom picture or two in that Berlin set taken in the day, but Flickr is being really slow.) That said, it won't do you much good if you want a smart phone or a qwerty keyboard. They look to be quite pricey, though. I've just replaced it as it was giving up the ghost after 2 years. (It's not the best phone camera I've ever seen, but probably the second best.)

I believe Nokia have some phones with good cameras in, as well.
posted by hoyland at 4:04 PM on July 28, 2011

Not sure about older models, but the iPhone 4 does have zoom.
posted by litnerd at 4:09 PM on July 28, 2011

Are you looking for a optical or digital zoom, most phones have adigital zoom but it makes the pictures noticably worse because a digital zoom just crops the picture.
posted by dstopps at 4:31 PM on July 28, 2011

Response by poster: Well I guess an optical zoom, if it exists in a phone.
posted by DMelanogaster at 5:10 PM on July 28, 2011

I don't have experience with many cellphone cameras, but I will tell you, the photos my HTC Droid Incredible 2 takes have garnered raves from friends and coworkers. Here's one of the first ones I took (cropped—the original photos are quite large, actually, for being taken on a cellphone). Here are a couple more.
posted by limeonaire at 5:13 PM on July 28, 2011

Oh, and it has optical zoom.
posted by limeonaire at 5:14 PM on July 28, 2011

I have an old Nokia N95, which I have to say has a fantastic camera. However, it is an older phone, with an operating system that's nearly dead. And sadly, only digital zoom, which is really not zoom at all. All that said, it's my primary phone and camera and I love it.
posted by daboo at 9:21 PM on July 28, 2011

I have a Regza T01C, which has a nice 12MP camera, and takes pretty decent photos, good enough for always-on-you camera. Alas, no optical zoom, as is with most phone cameras.
posted by lundman at 10:25 PM on July 28, 2011

The iphone 4 camera is GREAT and its hdr settings helps a lot with some weird lighting problems that cell phone cameras usually have.
posted by majortom1981 at 4:32 AM on July 29, 2011

I have an iPhone 4 and the Camera+ app. it's pretty damn good. But indoors in low light, digital zoom is pretty bad. Outdoors in bright light you still have to hold it steady. Otherwise, I no longer carry a separate camera with me.
posted by Splunge at 7:06 AM on July 29, 2011

Response by poster: limeonaire, I'm seeing that the Incredible 2 has only digital zoom.
posted by DMelanogaster at 5:58 AM on July 30, 2011

The ZN5 does have a really nice camera - but it's fixed (the 'zoom' is digital). It just might have the best (5MP) camera at under $90 unlocked.

As far as optical zoom cameras go, the Nokia N8 looks like a contender.
posted by unmake at 6:46 AM on July 31, 2011

Others: Samsung W880 (3x zoom), Samsung M8910 Pixon12 (fixed).
posted by unmake at 7:05 AM on July 31, 2011

limeonaire, I'm seeing that the Incredible 2 has only digital zoom.

I can actually hear a little bitty tiny click whenever the lens zooms or refocuses, and I just watched it move ever-so-slightly beneath its protective glass as I zoomed in and out with one finger on the screen, so something physical is actually happening there. Many sites out there are saying that it only has digital zoom, but HTC's specs don't actually say that—they don't specify beyond that it's an auto-focus camera.

I'm guessing most reviewers who look at it are assuming that because there's no lens protruding beyond the camera's protective glass, it's only digital zoom, but I don't think that's correct; the lens actually moves, just beneath the glass.
posted by limeonaire at 12:48 PM on August 7, 2011

Oh, and actually, my bad; I linked to HTC Droid Incredible specs, where I should've linked to HTC's Droid Incredible 2 specs. Still, same goes; the specs mention that the camera is an 8-megapixel autofocus and dual-flash model, but nowhere does it say that it's digital zoom.
posted by limeonaire at 12:55 PM on August 7, 2011

As another data point, looking through HTC's phone descriptions, the company does specify if a camera is only fixed-focus (presumably then with digital zoom), as in the case of the T-Mobile Dash 3G. So the fact that it mentions the autofocus in the case of the Incredible line makes me think that's meant to imply that the camera has physical/optical zoom.

And again, wording aside, I've seen the actual lens move!
posted by limeonaire at 12:59 PM on August 7, 2011