Categories: travel photography, Uncategorized

A tryst with cell-phone camera & photography in Hampi.

I was at Hampi last weekend, leading a photography tour to capture the heritage sites and landscapes of the ancient town. While I was there, I decided to use a cell-phone camera seriously for the first time to see if it can be a viable tool for photography during impromptu situations. Here is a collection of images I made during the three days, and my analysis on using a cell-phone camera.

I used a Samsung Galaxy SIII for this shoot, but this isn’t meant to be review of this specific phone camera. Also, some of these images were also shot using digital zoom, which deteriorates the quality of images considerably. These images are not meant to be assumed as a demo of phone-camera’s image quality in general.

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A sunrise in Hampi, captured with a cell-phone camera.

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Another sunrise image, captured with a cell-phone camera.

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A witness to some beautiful phenomenon of light filtering through the atmosphere? Nope. It is just lens flare we are talking about!

Pros of Cell Phone Camera

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Watching the landscapes of Hampi. Captured on a cell-phone camera.

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Landscapes of Hampi, captured on a cell-phone camera.

Cons of Cell Phone Camera

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The monuments of Hampi, photographed with a phone-camera.

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Lotus Mahal, Hampi, photographed using a cell-phone camera.

Conclusion

Cell-phone cameras are a handy portable tool that can be used in situations where you don’t have a camera or can’t carry a camera. It can be used in situations where large cameras can create trouble and attract unwanted attention. The images quality of cell-phone cameras today is not too bad, and are acceptable for most casual and non-professional uses. But they can get nowhere close to the quality of larger cameras and do not offer much flexibility. I wouldn’t use a cell-phone camera in situations where quality of images matter to me, but otherwise wouldn’t mind clicking some photos here and there.

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