On cameraphones and DSLRs

Mirror, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Ceiling, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Today I remembered the heated discussion generated by Nokia's Anssi Vanjoki saying that camera phones will in a couple of years kill off the DSLRs. This happened in April, 2010. I'm not sure whether is any closer to killing DSLRs. At least my Nokia E90 isn't.

However, here are two photographs taken with the E90. I didn't have the Panasonic LX3 with me, otherwise I wouldn't have resorted to the E90. You did notice that I wasn't using the LX3, didn't you?

In fact, the quality of the 3.2 megapixel camera almost managed to impress me today. (Given how weak it usually is.) However, the usability of the E90 was as awful as it ever was.

It takes several seconds for the camera software to start up. And when you press the shutter button, it takes anything between 1...5 seconds for the photograph to be taken. Sometimes the screen freezes and you think that you have a photograph, only to note that it wasn't so, and you get a photograph of whatever the camera was pointing to when you were moving it. This happens to me in almost half of the attempts.

So, the lesson (if anyone listens): make the camera respond to the user, and the controls such that the user actually gets what he/she expects. But I don't expect much from Nokia or any other mobile phone company in this regard.