HTC Desire good enough to replace snapshot camera?

decobydesign

decobydesign

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Alex
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The subject line says it all, really. I'm a keen amateur - usually take my Olympus E500 and kit lens with me on holiday and use it pretty much wherever I go. But for those occasions I can't be bothered, I'll generally take an old Panasonic Lumix with me (DMC-LZ7). Here's the thing though - my wife's snapshot camera needs replaced as it's started eating batteries, so I'm thinking of recycling the Lumix to her (it's a good camera) and using the Desire as my snapshot camera.

Has anyone else here done this already? What were your experiences? Did you miss the zoom, or the megapixels? Or did you revel in your favourite camera apps?

Apologies if this is a recurring theme - I did a search on HTC Desire and didn't come up with anything similar.
 
The quality of photos from the htc desire are not great. Personally it would drive me mad having to mess around with my phone to take pictures. Nothing can beat the feel of a real camera in your hand.
 
no i have 2 of the them and both cameras are pants pics always come out washy no matter time of day or weather. Plus i find it fiddly to try and zoom and then shooting can be a nightmare. Keep a proper camera
 
I tried and ended up back with my limos tz7, I got sick of those little shots that, although snapshots, used to be good shots, now being crap.

Unfortunately a phone cannot replace a point and shoot of any merit.

Saying that, the desire takes better shots than my old point and shoot from circa 5yrs ago, so maybe my expectations are too high now?
 
Best cameras in a phone are made by nokia. Sadly the best phones aren't! N86 took great photos. So does the N8 (when the chuffing thing works). Iphone 4 pics aren't too bad. There was a decent samsung one floating about but can't remember which one. Several of them don't have flash at all. I think LG often make ones with decent cameras.

I'd have a look on flickr for what kind of photos they're taking and compare.
 
I would have to agree with the concensus above. As much as I like my HTC desire (and wouldn't be without it now) in terms of its photographic ability it is pretty poor to be honest.

To start with I thought it was me being the weakest link so I spent some time trying to optimise settings etc and yes this helped a bit but it is still pretty poor tbh.

I'm about to purchase an old Pansonic TZ7 as a low cost alternative for when I can't use my D300.

Great phone in all other aspects though! :)
 
I find that the Desire is *just* good enough for work snaps to remind me of things I've seen, and small shots in a site report. Nothing special though, and not even close to the results I got with an N95.

If you want a decent snapshot for family holidays, etc I'd stick with a small compact. If the current one is a battery eater, investigate better rechargeable batteries before replacing it. One of the advantages of a compact camera that takes AA batteries over a manufacturer specific branded box/wafer is that you can always replace/upgrade the batteries in the future.
 
Thanks for all your feedback. Looks the other half's Fuji A345 is getting replaced by a new compact, and I'll keep the Panasonic.
 
Agree with everything said, the Desire's camera is one of its own faults.
 
I went thru a phase of having a compact, but it never clicked for me. Ended up always using my phone, and tbh, I find my iPhone 4 absolutely fine.

Sent from my iPhone 4 using TP Forums
 
I love (actually no, i LOVE) my desire with a massive passion. Its great, really great (can you tell i love it!!) but its only great as a smartphone. The camera is pretty pants. I dont actually own a compact camera (unless you count a bridge camera as a compact) and i find my phones camers is sufficient to replace a compact but definately not better than one. Find it really useful when its chucking down and dont want to get your SLR out, just fire off a quick recce shot with my phone and come back when the rains calmed down a bit. What makes it slightly better than a compact though are the cool camera apps you can download, like fish eye effects lenses and things like that, always worth a play :). The zoom on it is pretty pants as well though but again, its just sufficient.

All the best

Si
 
I love my HTC Desire HD, but I hardly ever use the camera on it, but then I hardly used it with previous phones either. Phone cameras are getting better, and I'm sure mobile phones will eventually rival many digital compact cameras, but the Desire HD one certainly doesn't. The Nokia N8 is as good a phone camera as I've seen but the phone is still tied to Nokias creaking Symbian system which they've recently finally decided to give up on in favour of a Windows OS.

At the moment it seems to be a choice of whether you want a decent smart phone or a camera.
 
I had the HTC Desire its a very nice phone but the camera is poor imo even based on phone standards,
Since the Desire have moved onto the iPhone 4 which is a much better camera in comparison but i still take along my P&S even though iPhone has a good phone camera.
 
I have a Desire Z, and would agree with most of what's been said... the pics are pretty much only good enough to remember soemething by. That said it's leagues above the Wildfire I had below, which had terrible colour casts that were unwavering regardless of settings.

The other halfs N97 takes great photos in good light tho. Damn Nokia! Android vs Symbian is a total no-brainer tho...
 
i use my google nexus one (basically a HTC desire) alot and find aslong as the picture doesn't get blow up its good quality!...until you zoom! all is lost!
 
The camera itself isn't that bad. The issue is the plastic cover over it. Take the back cover off of your phone, and see the difference in quality of the photos from it. Course, you can't use it without a cover lol. So you either remove the plastic piece protecting just the camera, or just continue with the Digital Cam. Having said that, the camera application itself isn't as easy to use as a proper camera would be, so I'd stick with it :p
 
I love my htc desire hd its my best smart phone so far, pictures can come out good if you do not use the zoom.
 
I use my Desire all the time for snapshots.

If you do a bit of Googling there is a thread showing the MASSIVE difference you get when you take the plastic cover off the outer case of the phone (the back plastic cover), exposing the camera fully without the often-scratched perspex cover in front of the lens.

Some shots from a few of the various apps I use, Vignette, Camera 360, and so on.

C360_2010-11-27_12-43-23.jpg

c360_2011-03-07_18-16-40.jpg

C360_2010-11-28_08-46-03.jpg

IMAG0062.jpg
 
srichards said:
Best cameras in a phone are made by nokia. Sadly the best phones aren't! N86 took great photos. So does the N8 (when the chuffing thing works). Iphone 4 pics aren't too bad. There was a decent samsung one floating about but can't remember which one. Several of them don't have flash at all. I think LG often make ones with decent cameras.

I'd have a look on flickr for what kind of photos they're taking and compare.
Click to expand...

My previous phone was a Samsung Jet, it had a 5mp camera and was on of the best camera phone's I've ever use crisp and clean images... Infact, here's one of them!


Daffodil by AdamPriseman, on Flickr
 
I've had the Desire since it was first released I have to agree with the majority here that the camera is pretty poor. I find all photos to be washed out and the zoom is very poor. It's fine for fun silly snaps to upload to facebook but I'd definitely keep a P+S handy for 'proper' photos.
 
Desire HD here and although the camera is pretty good, it sucks in low-light and can never really replace a proper camera IMO.
 
Not bad for snapshots when you dont have a real camera with you, cant replace a real camera though.

A few snaps taken with my HTC Desire.


HTC Desire test photo - King Billy, Hull by Mark G. in England, on Flickr
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Tea Break at a customers house... by Mark G. in England, on Flickr

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Beer and Wine - it features in my life :) by Mark G. in England, on Flickr



I wish someone would make a decent compact camera with a sim card slot :)

I dont need MP3 players and you tube on a phone, just need a small camera that can make phone calls. :)

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If you want a small camera that can make phone calls then get a nokia N8 :) You can delete any of the useless other apps.
 
I don't think the desire will replace a snappycam, but it certainly does a good enough job as a facebook uploader :p I had a nokia 5800 before and that was a good bit of kit for quick pics. Paul
 
Guys, may I ask what the HTC Desire is like for taking close up shots?
My wife's getting one as an upgrade and she has decided -bless her - to give it to me :D


I often take snaps of articles in newspapers, books, magazines that are of interest.

So, how's its close-up ability please?

Big thanks to the original poster as I had totally forgot about the camera quality of the phone
 
sonny said:
Guys, may I ask what the HTC Desire is like for taking close up shots?
My wife's getting one as an upgrade and she has decided -bless her - to give it to me :D


I often take snaps of articles in newspapers, books, magazines that are of interest.

So, how's its close-up ability please?

Big thanks to the original poster as I had totally forgot about the camera quality of the phone
Click to expand...

Not a Desire but a Desire HD (I know the video is different, but not sure about stills) this is about the best close up I have achieved so far.

IMAG0156.jpg
 
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