Vic Gundotra – Senior Vice President of Engineering at Google – is frequently active on Google+ discussing a wide range of topics, from internet memes to his family.
A couple of days ago, he raised an interesting question about a trip to the mountains and packing his DSLR camera. The question goes something like this:
Still packing for my trip to the mountains. I’ve been struggling with which camera equipment to take. Obviously I’m taking my Android phone and Google Glass. But should I take my DSLR?
In the end, the DSLR won out and was packed for his trip. However, during the conversation Vic made an interesting comment about the camera quality on Nexus Phones.
The camera quality on Nexus phones has long been a hot topic, with some users decidng against a purchase based on the quality. The Nexus 4 saw a substantial increase in quality over the Galaxy Nexus — while this was a step in the right direction, it’s fair to say the Nexus 4 still doesn’t have a comparable quality camera to its peers.
I’m quite interested to see what Google has in store for us with the next Nexus, and seeing comments like this from senior Google officials gives me hope that we could see some big improvements in the future.
How good do you think a phone camera can be? Would you consider leaving your DSLR at home on your next family vacation? LEt us know in the comments!
In regards to the Nexus 4 Camera, I’m disappointed with it having come from a One XL. Otherwise it’s a fantastic smartphone.
They will never be comparable without optical zoom. But I do find my DSLR and lenses to be cumbersome. So I often opt for the phone
Without USB OTG or a uSD card having a great camera is not that great…
Ummm … optical zoom?
Phone cameras can be far better than they are now, but it requires a complete revamp of some of our expectations of what phones should be like today. Sensor sizes ought to go way up; the Nokia 808 has its reputation for image quality simply because it has an image sensor far larger than anything else out there. That means manufacturers not being obsessed with making their devices ever thinner; there needs to be space for optics, that’s how the laws of physics work. I’d prefer a hardware camera shutter button, too – manufacturers seem to be losing them and… Read more »
+1 for camera shutter
manual focus FTW
You’ve pretty much summed it up perfectly
Smartphones cameras are pretty amazing when you put the size of the device (and all the other functionality you get) in retrospective to SLRs/DSLRs. You no longer have just a camera, you have a camera which you can *instantly* share the picture with *anyone* around the world (via the internet). THAT in itself is a feat of innovation. It’s something that is really taken for granted imo. Obviously if you say “I want to take an amazing photograph of X” you would use a SLR/DSLR, but carrying one isn’t always an option. I’m happy with the Nexus 4’s camera quality.… Read more »