Wednesday, April 21, 2010

More about Nokia killing off the DSLR


Black and gray, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Reflect, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

I wrote yesterday about how Nokia intends to kill off the DSLR with their camera phones. I'm sceptical, because I think the comparison is misleading.

But at the same time, the claim is good marketing, especially in Finland where Nokia is considered with a kind of reverence, it being the ultimate example of a globally successful Finnish company. Comparing a camera phone to a DSLR makes the point: a good enough image quality in a pocketable package, and especially in the device which you most probably carry with you always. This reminds you of the bother of carrying a DSLR with you, compared for example with having - well - just your phone.

What the camera phone may kill is the compact camera, and the hobbyist DSLR. Of course, this very much depends on how easy it is to get reasonably good photographs with a camera phone. I have very bad experiences of this with the Nokia phones, but perhaps things are about to change. Maybe phones will be able to take good enough photographs without too much difficulty in operating the device.

But what about the DSLRs? I think the micro 4/3 cameras are an interesting direction, an (almost) pocketable version of the DSLR. That might convince a hobbyist to get one, instead of - well - instead of just using his/her camera phone. And then there are cameras like the LX3, which are small but have excellent controls for operating the camera. Small enough, good enough.

Update: I was linked to by TOP, generating a lot of extra visits. TOP also brought up an excellent write-up of future cameras by Thom.

Update 2: Nokia's stock price crashed -15% today, due to results which were below expectations. I guess Nokia has a lot of talking to do to restore faith in the company.

3 comments:

Markus Spring said...

Both of today's images are speaking to me. I like those clear graphics in #1 and that change of mood when the eye adapts to that submerged situation of the leaves. Fine.

But N's brazen attempt to make it into the headlines doesn' impress me that much. Maybe I am just conservative, but the world is probably a bit bigger than what can be stuffed into a cellphone ;). I have to admit however that their phone phones (phones which you use as a phone, not a game/internet/music/video/database/geo/and-everything-else-but-nothing-right widget) are usable and durable tools.

Q said...

Congratulations on the TOP link.

:-)

Juha Haataja said...

My Nokia E90 is really an awful photography tool, and as a phone it serves ok. The cheap Nokia phones seem to be best in terms of value/price, those not having a camera.