User:Jim.henderson/Camera phone

About a Billion smartphones are in use. They contain a personal computer, GPS receiver, and camera, and fit in a pocket. They outnumber all the devices that only have one of those functions. Since about 2010 the camera is able to get good pictures in most environments. You can use them to get pictures for Commons, using various apps to help find targets and upload the pictures.

Wherever you are, apps can find Wikipedia articles. For example, Geoflow shows a map of articles that are nearby. You can tap on the symbol, bring up the article, and see whether it already has a good picture. The Commons app and WikiShootMe provide an easier way than Upload Wizard to upload pictures from a smartphone.

Homemade camera

Excerpt from a March 2023 E-mailː

Sort of a homemade camera, yes. The thing that most annoys me about the camera market is, they only include a computer that cannot install different software apps. Whatever mix of software features the manufacturer wanted to put in each model of camera, that’s what it has. There’s no mix and match as there is for a smartphone.

So, I started thinking, why do I want a real camera? For its optical superiority over a camera phone, yes. Sharper focus across the whole frame, less noise when there isn’t much light, longer zoom range, control over depth of field. However, some of those optical advantages don’t much matter for my usual kinds of pictures, and others have become rather small because camera phones have been getting better every year. So, maybe I should just accept those shortcomings and settle for the camera phone.

Another advantage of a real camera is mechanical. It has a bigger body that can be gripped more reliably, with a tripod screw. It has a strap to hang it on my neck for quicker access. It has more and bigger buttons and dials. Mode dial, exposure compensation, a bigger zoom rocker and shutter release.

Well, there are grips made for a camera phone. As with the point-and-shoot camera, they give more to hang onto, plus various buttons such as the ones I mentioned. Some have even a hotshoe for a better flash. Alas, it doesn’t make the camera phone operate mechanically as smoothly and easily as the real camera, but the disadvantage is not great in this department either.

In return, the camera phone has much more electronic versatility and software compatibility. GPS is built in, and highly reliable. It runs the same software as other Android phones, such as the Wikimedia Commons App that I use to upload Wikiphotos. Also geotag adjusters, retouchers, etc. These features make a faster, easier workflow. Older mid-range camera phones like mine only make JPG compressed photos that have trouble with high contrast, but last year’s high end models make RAW and convert automatically to TIFF or DNG or other uncompressed or less-compressed formats. And the newer ones have a real zoom lens built in.

So, just attaching a good grip that has additional mechanical features can give my old Moto phone much of what I expect in a real camera, and putting the grip on a modern high end phone will leave only a small gap between the capabilities of a camera phone and a real (small) camera.

Maybe I’ll give up on buying a better camera, and build my own out of a camera phone, an electronically loaded grip, and various downloaded phone apps.