Camera
The absolute beginner’s guide to film photography: Color slide film
A 1960’s magazine ad for Kodak’s various lines of slide film. Image courtesy of Nesster |
Slide film, otherwise known as positive, reversal or transparency film (and occasionally as ‘E-6’ for its development process), was the choice of ‘pro’ shooters back in the pre-digital film photography days. What’s the difference between slide and print film? Simply, print film produces a negative image, while slide film produces a positive image.
Individual frames of developed slide film can be mounted in sealed sleeves and projected onto a screen. Color slide film produces brighter, more vibrant images than can be produced with color print film. (Black and white slide film exists, but is less common.)
Color slide film produced brighter, more vibrant images than color print film
The downside to slide film is that it’s more difficult to work with. Slide film has very little exposure latitude, meaning the exposure must be spot on to get a good image. Getting positive results (pun intended) requires a camera with proper exposure controls, as opposed to an inexpensive fixed-exposure camera, and a photographer who understands how to meter a scene properly. You have to know what you’re doing to shoot slides, which is why it was (and still is) regarded as a ‘professional’ film.
Climbers approach the alpenglow-illuminated summit of California’s Mt. Shasta. (Kodak Ektachrome 100VS) Photo: Dale Baskin |
An Oversimplified Explanation of Color Slide Film Works
Color slide film works much like color print film, with layers of emulsions, each sensitive to a different color of light, and chemicals called dye couplers. When the film is developed, the interaction of the emulsion and the developer produces a positive image, which is (usually) cut and mounted in plastic or cardboard sleeves which can be fit into a carrier for a slide projector.
All slide film sold today uses the E-6 process. Kodak Kodachrome, a predecessor to E-6 slide film, used a different process (K-14) in which the color dyes were introduced during the development process. Kodachrome was discontinued in 2009 and the last Kodachrome processor shut down in 2010.
Types of Color Slide Film
Photo: Dale Baskin |
Because slide film cannot be color-corrected in processing, the film must be balanced for the type of light you are shooting. Today, most slide film is daylight balanced, and it reproduces incandescent lights as a reddish-brown. In the past, it was possible to buy tungsten-balanced slide film (which rendered incandescent lights properly but showed daylight as pale blue), but tungsten slide film is not (currently) available. For indoor, tungsten-lit photography with slide film, you can either use a 85A cooling filter or use a flash.
Because slide film cannot be color-corrected in processing, the film must be balanced for the type of light you are shooting
Among daylight films, there are notable variations in color rendition. Kodakchrome (now discontinued) was known for its warm reds and yellows, while Ektachrome emphasizes colder blue and green tones. Fujichrome Velvia makes colors pop – especially blues and greens, which made it a favorite of landscape photographers.
As with other types of film, the speed of slide film is specified as an ISO (a.k.a. ASA) number. Higher ISO film is more sensitive to light and therefore requires less exposure (smaller aperture or a quicker shutter speed). Color slide film is generally found in 50 to 400 ISO ranges, and the exposure required mimics that of our digital cameras: ISO 50 or 100 film requires a sunny day, while 400 speed film is better suited to cloudy conditions. Film can be ‘pushed’ to a higher speed (if your processing lab will agree to develop it accordingly), but this will generally increase grain.
How Much Does Color Slide Film Cost?
Slide film is the most expensive of all film types. 35mm slide film typically ranges from $15 to $20 per 36-exposure roll. 120-size slide film for medium-format cameras is usually sold in five-roll packs priced in the $45 to $55 range, but many vendors will sell individual rolls for $10-$12.
Developing Color Slide Film
Just as it is pricier than color print film to buy, color slide film is often (but not always) slightly more expensive to process. Conversely, with slide film you don’t have to worry about the cost of prints. Most labs will cut and mount your slides in cardboard or plastic unless you tell them not to. Slide scanning services are also available.
The downside to slide film is that it’s more difficult to work with. Slide film has very little exposure latitude, meaning the exposure must be spot on to get a good image
Like color negative film, color slide film can be developed at home using an E-6 processing kit. Compared to the C-41 color print process, E-6 has more steps and therefore more chemicals. Like C-41 (and unlike B&W developing), E-6 is very sensitive to time and temperature, and getting either one wrong (even slightly) can result in undesirable color shifts. The extra chemicals make E-6 kits more expensive, and while home developing is still cheaper than lab developing, the price difference is narrower than with other types of film.
It used to be possible to make photographic prints from slides using a process called Cibachrome (later known as Ilfochrome), but the supplies are no longer available. Color slide film can be scanned, but it looks best when projected. If you’re scanning, you may as well save money by shooting print film, unless you’re really after the ‘look’ of a particular slide film stock.
Training climbers to extricate themselves from a glacial crevasse on Mt. Rainier’s Nisqually glacier. (Fujichrome Provia 400F) Photo: Dale Baskin |
About
Our ‘Absolute beginner’s guide to film photography’ is an educational series of articles focused on demystifying the ins and outs of analog photography. Geared toward those discovering (or re-discovering) film, the series will cover everything from gear, to technique and more. View all of the articles in our guide here.
Leave a Reply
Camera
Gear of the Year – Mitchell's choice: ThinkTank Retrospective 30 V2
The Retrospective 30 V2 is a big ‘ol bag. |
The ThinkTank Retrospective 30 V2 is not a new product by any means, but it’s new to me. Earlier this year, I went looking for a camera bag to replace the one I had since high school and landed on the Retrospective 30; the largest option in ThinkTank’s well-known lineup of canvas shoulder camera bags.
While anyone can make a messenger bag with a few dividers and call it a day, it feels like this bag was really designed and refined by and for photographers. All its velcro flaps can be covered or tucked away to silence them if you don’t want to draw attention to yourself while shooting on the street or at an event like a wedding. The top can be zippered closed for maximum protection or left open to let you quickly access gear, and it has what I think is just the right ratio of open space to built-in organization.
Some of the velcro patches have covers to keep you from ruining a quiet moment by ripping them open.
Photo: Mitchell Clark |
There are also subtle touches that I’ve found really useful: one of the front pockets has a bright red fabric loop that I clip my keys to so I always know where they are, the water bottle pocket can be cinched tight when you’re not using it and there are plenty of places to hook carabiners onto if I need to hang additional gear on the outside of the bag.
I also just like how it looks. The olive green fabric matches the antique-looking metal hardware well.
My favorite thing about this bag, though, is that it’s monstrous. It’s the station wagon – nay, Honda Odyssey – of messenger-style camera bags. I’ve used it to carry two camera bodies, a few lenses, a 14-inch MacBook Pro, an iPad, and a bunch of other bits and bobs like a notebook, an army of SD cards, a Clif bar or two, power adapters and rain jacket. Is that a sign of overpacking? Perhaps, but it’s part of the job; I’m frequently testing out one camera for a review and using another to shoot a sample gallery of some variety.
Even when my camera load isn’t as heavy, I’ve found the Retrospective 30 useful as a commuter. I live in Spokane, Washington, but travel to DPReview’s offices in Seattle relatively frequently. Because I keep my entire photographic life in it – my SD cards, various cables, white balance cards and rolling shutter tester – I can just pick it up and go without having to run around making sure everything I’ll need for the next week is packed.
I took a bit of a chance buying this bag: DPReview was sending me to Japan as a freelancer to cover what ended up being the Panasonic S9 announcement, and I knew the Lowepro bag I’d gotten with my first camera in high school was on its very last legs. I hoped to turn reviewing cameras into my full-time job, but I wasn’t 100% sure I was cut out for it.
Me, very tired, returning home from Japan.
Photo: Mitchell Clark |
If it turned out I wasn’t, the 30 would be way larger than I’d ever need; my personal camera consists of a Fujifilm X-T3 and two lenses, which would get absolutely swallowed by this bag. But if I did end up at DPReview, I worried that a smaller bag might not be able to carry all the gear I assumed I’d be carting around.
I was also concerned about the price at the time: at $240, it’s far from the spendiest bag out there, but I still didn’t feel great telling my wife that I wanted to spend that much on anything when I’d been largely unemployed for the last year – I’d quit my job as a news writer at The Verge in April 2023 to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. I spent some time working at a ski shop after I got back and did various odd jobs, but it’d been a long time since I’d meaningfully contributed to our household’s budget.
But I went for it anyway; the prospect of going on a press trip and juggling cameras in a backpack that’s not at all designed for them seemed like a nightmare. And obviously, it worked out: I’m working at DPReview now, and am reminded pretty much every day that it was a good idea to get something with this much capacity.
Despite its carrying capacity, the Retrospective 30 is a reasonable size to carry around on a photo walk.
Photo: Mitchell Clark |
Of course, I have a few nitpicks. No bag is perfect, which is why the market for them is nearly infinite. I haven’t figured out a graceful way to attach a tripod to it, even one as small as the Peak Design Travel model, the main zipper can be a bit hard to start closing if it’s all the way open, and I needed a tutorial video to figure out how to use the included rain cover. I’d rather the bag’s top flap was made out of waterproof material, though the canvas alone has been enough to protect my gear through short walks in light rain – phew!
The bag can also rub a bit uncomfortably on my hip when it’s fully loaded, but I suspect that’s more of a limitation with the messenger bag form factor as a whole. Realistically, if you’re carrying over 7kg (15+lbs) of gear, you should be doing it on your back, not slung over one shoulder.
Despite my complaints, I still love this bag, and I suspect I’ll continue using it for years to come. The same’s true for the job, by the way – and if I’m lucky enough for that to happen, I’ll have the Retrospective 30 as a reminder of where it all began.
Camera
Magic skies: See the Northern Lights Photographer of the Year winning photos
Northern Lights Photographer of the Year winners
Capture the Atlas has announced the winners of its 2024 Northern Lights Photographer of the Year awards in the seventh edition of its annual photo contest.
This year was an exciting year for aurora photography – both the aurora borealis and the aurora australis – as we close in on the solar maximum of the current solar cycle. Throughout 2024, increased solar activity has resulted in aurora being visible further away from the poles than in recent years, which can be seen among the winners.
This year, the competition awarded 25 photos from photographers representing 15 nationalities. We’ve picked our ten favorite images from the set to share here.
Want to be ready to photograph the aurora if it suddenly becomes visible in your area? Read our article on how to photograph the northern lights to learn how.
Carpe Diem: Adrian Cormier
Photographer: Adrian Cormier
Location: Crater Lake National Park, USA
Caption: May 10, 2024, began like any other new moon cycle for me. I was shooting at one of my favorite spots along the Sonoma coastline. Around 2:30 a.m., I was surprised to feel my phone buzz with a notification, as my location had sporadic cell coverage. The alert was one I never expected—and will never forget! A fellow Sony Alpha photographer, who was in Nepal at the time, messaged me: “Get as far north as you can by sunset, it’s going down tonight!” A historic geomagnetic storm, possibly peaking at G5, was predicted.
I immediately drove home to grab my Atlas pack full of cold weather gear. My gut told me to head to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. Shortly into the drive, I learned the CLNP Rim Road was completely closed due to 7 feet of recent snowfall. Fortunately, I was prepared for deep snow conditions and pressed on.
Confident and armed with snowshoes, I settled on a spot along the South Rim, east of the Crater Lake Lodge, which was closed due to the extreme snow levels. My image, “Carpe Diem,” reflects the magnificent display of geomagnetic energy that weekend, set against the iconic and unforgettable alpine landscape.
Copyright Adrian Cormier
Looking North: Lynsey Schroeder
Photographer: Lynsey Schroeder
Location: Arizona, USA
Caption: It’s not every day that the Northern Lights make it as far south as Southern Arizona! I’ve been captivated by the aurora ever since I first saw it in Iceland in 2018, so when I heard there was a chance to witness it here, I didn’t hesitate to grab my gear and head into the desert with a couple of friends.
My expectations were low, but the show completely exceeded them! As soon as we stepped out of the car, we could clearly see a pink glow on the horizon, occasionally pulsing with shimmering pillars as the night went on. I achieved a photography goal I never imagined I’d accomplish: capturing the aurora shining over the beautiful saguaros of the Sonoran Desert.
Copyright Lynsey Schroeder
In the Rays of the Solar Wind: Sergey Korolev
Photographer: Sergey Korolev
Location: Rybachy Peninsula, Russia
Caption: After a melt, we had a flash freeze with extremely cold temperatures and a clear blue sky. I was driving by a ditch on the side of a road that had been filled with water and had to stop and look (as we photographers do, can’t pass a ditch without investigating). This is what I found. Great textures and patterns, tones and flow, with lovely graphic lines creating a dynamic, abstract designs. I love this type of work – it’s so much fun, yet challenging to find just the right composition.
Copyright Sergey Korolev
Magic of the North: Josh Beames
Photographer: Josh Beames
Location: Iceland
Caption: I’ve dreamed of capturing this shot for years, and this year, everything aligned perfectly! During my annual Iceland workshop, our group witnessed the sheer power of nature as Iceland’s most recent active volcano erupted just days before.
After spending hours shooting and soaking in the incredible scene, we started to wrap up and head back to the car. Then, to our amazement, the Northern Lights began dancing across the sky! I quickly launched the drone, sending it on a mission to capture this wild spectacle.
Navigating through the wind, heat, and low visibility surrounding the volcano, I managed to capture a vertical panorama just as the volcanic smoke and ash shifted to the side. Moments later, the dreaded battery warning sounded, and I began the tense journey back. By this point, the wind had really picked up, and I honestly thought the drone was a goner… but with only 1% battery left, it somehow limped back to safety!
Copyright Josh Beames
Devil’s Lights: Forest Barkdoll-Weil
Photographer: Forest Barkdoll-Weil
Location: Wyoming, USA
Caption: May 10, 2024: Aurora forecasts promised an incredible display, so I drove to Devils Tower, Wyoming, to witness the event. The solar storm delivered, reaching a historic KP9, with auroras visible worldwide. As the vibrant lights danced overhead, my father was undergoing emergency surgery two thousand miles away in Maine. It was a surreal night—awed by the celestial beauty above, yet grappling with worry for my dad.
The aurora offered a strange sense of comfort amidst the turmoil, grounding me in the moment as I captured this incredible phenomenon. My father, a photographer for over 50 years and the person who introduced me to this art, thankfully survived surgery and recovered after several days in the ICU. Although he missed this display, six months later, on October 10, we shared an even stronger solar storm together as a family—a memory I’ll always treasure.
Copyright Forest Barkdoll-Weil
Coronal Mass Eruption: Matt Haynie
Photographer: Matt Haynie
Location: California, USA
Caption: After finally capturing the elusive Northern Lights in mid-latitudes on May 10th, 2024, I was hooked. I realized there was more to predicting the aurora’s appearance than just relying on the KP forecast, so I learned how to read the charts that determine when the lights can reach mid-latitudes.
This photo is from the sixth time I’ve had the opportunity to capture them since that unforgettable night. Lassen Volcanic National Park, in Northern California, was the best option, as smoke and clouds threatened to obscure views in most nearby locations. I stayed on top of a ridge until 3 a.m., enduring frigid winds that cut through my layers, but witnessing two significant substorms made all the discomfort worthwhile.
Copyright Matt Haynie
Paddling Under the Aurora: Herry Himanshu
Photographer: Herry Himanshu
Location: Banff National Park, Canada
Caption: I live in Saskatchewan, Canada, so I’ve seen and captured the aurora hundreds of times before, but that night in Banff National Park, Alberta, was unlike any other.
As luck would have it, I was in Banff for a wedding that weekend when massive CMEs were predicted to hit Earth directly. As soon as it got dark, the aurora came out swinging, with vivid hues of reds, pinks, and purples dancing across the sky.
I had three camera setups running timelapses in different directions, but even that wasn’t enough. One brave friend took a standup paddleboard out on the lake and modeled for us beneath the insane light show. She was the perfect complement to the aurora and the mountainous landscape.
We were all in pure disbelief at the colors and patterns unfolding above us. Those shared moments of joy are what I’ll remember forever. I stayed up all night, driving hundreds of kilometers through Banff to iconic spots, capturing some of my best photos and timelapses ever.
Copyright Herry Himanshu
Cosmic Explosion: Uroš Fink
Photographer: Uroš Fink
Location: Istria, Croatia
Caption: On the night of the Perseid meteor shower, I was treated to a “multi-course menu” of the night sky. I captured the Milky Way arch with Orion, the Aurora (a first for me), the Zodiacal light, and the Perseid meteors. As if that wasn’t enough, the sky gifted me with one of the most stunning greenish airglows I’ve ever seen. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention the close conjunction of Jupiter and Mars, right along the path of the Zodiacal light.
In the center of the panorama is the Cap Marlera lighthouse, built in 1880 at the southeastern tip of the Istrian Peninsula. The rugged coastline, at the entrance to Kvarner, attracts fish and dolphins. This area is also home to the Mediterranean bear, though I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting one.
Meteors rained down throughout the night, and I captured 75 of them using three cameras. I used the RegiStar software to seamlessly insert the meteors to the panorama in the exactly same spots as they appeared in the sky this night.
It was an extraordinary, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime event, and I’m grateful and happy to have been part of it.
Copyright Uroš Fink
Aurora Australis: Marc Adamus
Photographer: Marc Adamus
Location: Patagonia Fjords, Chile
Caption: I’m not sure if an aurora had ever been recorded in Patagonia before, but we got incredibly lucky on the night of May 10, 2024, when a G5 storm hit. We were camped on an iceberg beach, deep in the wilderness of the Patagonia Fjords, when the incredible display unfolded.
Copyright Marc Adamus
28° Aurora: Efrén Yanes
Photographer: Efrén Yanes
Location: Tenerife, Spain
Caption: The night of May 10th was one of the most unforgettable moments since I became a photographer. I went to Teide National Park in Tenerife with the intention of capturing a circumpolar shot with the endemic tajines in bloom. After setting up my camera and finding the perfect composition, I hit the shutter. To my surprise, the camera screen showed a strange red color on the horizon. It wasn’t light pollution, but something I had never seen before.
Suddenly, I remembered hearing about a recent large-magnitude solar storm and the possibility of Northern Lights at lower latitudes. My heart raced as I scrolled through social media and saw others sharing photos of the Aurora from the Iberian Peninsula. I realized I was witnessing this extraordinary event from the Canary Islands. It was a magical experience that happened entirely by chance, and I feel incredibly lucky to have been a part of it.
Copyright Efrén Yanes
Camera
25 Years of DPReview: 6 camera features that didn't make the cut
Images: Samsung |
In the twenty-five years since DPReview was founded, camera companies have tried many things to differentiate their products from the competition. This was especially true for compact cameras, where manufacturers threw everything at the wall to see what stuck.
Here are six features camera makers tried that didn’t find long-term success.
Swiveling lenses
The legendary Nikon Coolpix 950
Photo: Jeff Keller |
The Nikon Coolpix 950 was one of the most iconic cameras released in the late 1990s. While its features were top-end, it was the design that turned heads. The lens could rotate 270 degrees, so you could place the camera up high, on the ground, or even use it for – gasp – selfies. (The 950 wasn’t actually Nikon’s first swivel camera; that honor belongs to the Coolpix 900.)
Nikon wasn’t the only company in the swivel lens game. As we’ll see a bit later, Casio produced many cameras with them, including the QV-10A, the first consumer digital camera. Sony used the ‘inner swivel’ design on several cameras, such as the DSC-F88. (Sony’s DSC-F505 and successors had more of a ‘swivel body’ than a ‘swivel lens.’)
In my opinion, the coolest swivel lens camera was the Minolta DiMAGE V (not to be mistaken for the DiMAGE 5). While the photo above makes it look wireless, the camera and lens were attached by a ‘lens extension cable’. This was 1997, after all.
The swivel lens faded into obscurity as fully articulating LCDs became more common. It’s possible that weather sealing and durability also played a role in the swivel lens’ demise. It was while it lasted, though.
Jump Shot
Photo: iStock/Carles Iturbe Ferre |
About 10-15 years ago, ‘jump shots’ like the one shown above were popular, especially with teens and young adults. Taking a jump photo wasn’t easy, though. You’d need to leave out someone in your group, use a tripod, or find a stranger with a good trigger finger.
The engineers at Panasonic developed a feature for its smartphone Image App known as Jump Snap that solves two of those problems. The app lets you adjust the ‘sensitivity’, and then it’s jumping time (with the phone in hand, of course). When the app notices the upward motion from the phone’s gyroscope, it snaps the picture right at the peak of the jump.
There was just one problem that Jump Snap didn’t solve: you still needed a tripod.
Casio’s bells and whistles
The Casio QV-7000SX had the company’s ‘famous’ rotating lens and IR blaster for sharing photos with a select number of cameras and printers.
Photo: Digital Camera Museum/Boris Jakubaschk |
I have a real soft spot for Casio. In fact, I wrote an article about the company. While it was a big seller in Japan, the brand never took off in the US. What made Casio cameras great was their selection of unique modes that you wouldn’t find elsewhere at the time.
“What made Casio cameras great was their selection of unique modes that you wouldn’t find elsewhere at the time.”
Take 1998’s Exilim QV-7000SX, for example. It had an infrared transmitter, the ability to create HTML photo albums, in-camera panorama stitching and dozens of scene modes. The QV-7000SX’s support for the IrDA infrared protocol allowed it to slowly send pictures to a very small collection of compatible devices, such as the Fujifilm Z20fd or Canon SELPHY photo printers.
The photo album feature was very handy since few people knew how to make an interactive gallery in the late 90s. (These galleries were made for viewing from your CF card, not online.) You could view slideshows, see larger versions of pictures, and examine Exif data.
The Coupling Shot feature lets you combine two separate photos into one.
Images: Casio |
It takes two photos and assists you in lining up the background, like in a panorama. |
Moving on, one more Casio feature worth mentioning is its Best Shot (scene) modes. The cameras had at least thirty Best Shot modes, with some cameras having seventy more on an included CD-ROM – and you could create your own! Some of the notable Best Shot modes were autumn leaves, food, eBay, and business cards. There were also several multiple exposure modes, which allowed you to add people to photos, kind of like smartphones that came 20 years later.
The MP3 player
The Fujifilm Finepix 40i with its wired remote and earbuds.
Photo: DPReview |
Portable music players, along with music ‘sharing’ services like Napster, gained popularity around the turn of the century. While the first iPod wouldn’t ship until 2001, camera manufacturers were already at it, like Fujifilm. The FinePix 40i shown above had a slick design and compact body but was limited by a fixed 36mm lens, a so-so SuperCCD sensor, and a hefty price tag. Music was loaded onto the camera’s SmartMedia card via proprietary software.
The Kodak mc3 is a very mediocre camera and mp3 player in one.
Original image source unknown |
To the best of my knowledge, there was only one camera I never reviewed due to its quality, and it was the Kodak mc3. While it was a fairly capable music player, the camera side was so bad that I couldn’t bring myself to invest the time raking Kodak over the coals.
The mc3 was a plastic camera with a fixed 37mm-equivalent F2.8 lens and a reflective LCD that could only be seen in bright outdoor light (Kodak wasn’t the only one to do this). It captured VGA-sized photos and QVGA videos with monaural sound. It lacked a remote control, so you’d have to use the hard-to-view screen to change songs. The only nice thing I can say is that it was relatively inexpensive at $299.
MP3 cameras didn’t last long, as the iPod and cheap knockoffs let cameras be cameras again.
Printer docks
One of Kodak’s many printer docks (camera usually not included).
Photo: Kodak |
Printer docks were accessories that I genuinely wanted to succeed. For families and older folks, they were incredibly convenient, though expensive to operate. Just pop the camera on top, pick the photo(s) you want to print using the topside controls, and let the printer do its thing for a few minutes. It could also charge the batteries in your camera.
The most famous manufacturer of printer docks was Kodak by a long shot. Kodak used dye sublimation thermal printing, and a pack of 20 sheets (the ink was ‘inside’ the paper) set you back around $15. Kodak’s printers could crank out a 4×6 print in 60-90 seconds, charge your camera’s batteries, and let you view your photos on TV.
HP’s Photosmart A447 camera on its printer dock
Photo: HP |
The HP pictured above could output 4×6 or 4×12-inch (panoramic) prints and used a tri-color ink cartridge (yep, no black ink). It had a button for redeye removal, which got rid of the annoyance that was common on compact cameras.
Unlike the other products in this article, the printer dock didn’t die; it just adapted to the times. Kodak, Canon, HP, and Fujifilm all make compact photo printers designed for use with smartphones. The difference is how you connect; instead of putting the camera on a dock, it’s all done wirelessly using Bluetooth.
A Fujifilm Instax Link Wide wireless photo printer. In this case, ‘wide’ means 6.1 x 9.9 cm (2.4 by 3.9 inches).
Image: Fujifilm |
Instant printers like Fujifilm’s Instax lineup produce card-sized, square, and wide prints, often with special effects and templates. Unlike the printer docks that use ink or dye sublimation, Instax printers work like old Polaroid instant film, so it takes a little while for your print to appear.
Android cameras
It’s 2013, and smartphone sales are taking off while consumers are starting to lose interest in compact cameras. Nikon, Samsung and even Zeiss tried giving people the best of both worlds: the ease of use and large app library of Android with photo capabilities that smartphones could not yet match.
Nikon was first out of the gate with its Coolpix 800c, which ran a version of Android (v2.3) that was already out of date. It had a 16 Megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, 10X optical zoom (25-250mm equiv.), 2GB of internal storage and a giant 3.5″ touchscreen to take advantage of Android. It had an SD card slot and a removable battery. Since battery life was dismal, having a spare on hand was a necessity.
“While a clever idea, the Coolpix 800c was not a great product.”
Aside from being unable to make calls, you could use the 800c just as you would a smartphone and nearly every Android app was at your disposal. Who knew that one day, you could e-mail your friends or browse DPReview from your camera?
While a clever idea, the Coolpix 800c was not a great product. The photo quality was lousy, it took 30 seconds to start up, it was buggy, etc. This was the last camera review I wrote for my website, DCResource. What a way to go out.
The Samsung Galaxy Camera with its 4.8″ touchscreen running Android 4.
Photo: Samsung |
If there was one company that should have been able to do Android cameras right, it was Samsung. It actually made two Android cameras at the opposing sides of the spectrum: the compact Galaxy Camera pictured above and the Galaxy NX, a mirrorless camera that used Samsung’s NX-mount (RIP).
The Galaxy Camera (GC) was based on Samsung’s Galaxy S III smartphone and came in two flavors: Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G/4G. Unlike the Coolpix 800c, the Galaxy Camera ran a much more modern version of Android (v4.1), and it had plenty of horsepower courtesy of a quad-core processor. It couldn’t make calls, but there was nothing to stop you from using something like Skype to chat with friends.
“If there was one company that should have been able to do Android cameras right, it was Samsung.”
Like the Nikon, the GC had a 16 Megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, but the lens was longer at 23-481mm equiv. It had a giant 4.8″ touchscreen display, making it a lot more usable than the Coolpix. As with that camera, the GC could run virtually any Android app. Samsung included three of its own for photo and video editing.
The Galaxy Camera had a slick shooting interface with virtual dials. |
The Galaxy Camera was the better of the two compact Android cameras. Image quality wasn’t great, but it was more responsive, battery life was much longer, and the 3G/4G option made it usable from anywhere.
The GC apparently sold well enough for Samsung to make a sequel. The Galaxy Camera 2 had a faster processor, more RAM, NFC, and a higher-capacity battery.
Samsung exited the digital camera business in 2015, taking with it the two Galaxy Cameras and the Galaxy NX. The company sold 320 million smartphones that year.
The $6000, Android-powered Zeiss ZX1 came with Adobe Lightroom built-in. You could even use it to surf the internet.
Photo: Dan Bracaglia |
On the other end of the spectrum was the Zeiss ZX1. It was introduced in 2018 but didn’t actually ship until the end of 2020. As you’d expect it was extraordinarily expensive ($6000) and everything was high end. It had a 37 Megapixel full-frame sensor, 35mm F2 lens, large LCD, hybrid autofocus system, and top-notch build quality. Perhaps the most interesting feature about the ZX1 is that it had Adobe Lightroom Mobile built-in. The ZX1 was unable to download other Android apps, though the target audience probably didn’t mind.
Can you think of any features from compact, DSLR or mirrorless cameras that didn’t survive beyond a generation or two? Let us know in the comments below.
-
Solar Energy3 years ago
DLR testing the use of molten salt in a solar power plant in Portugal
-
world news1 year ago
Gulf, France aid Gaza, Russia evacuates citizens
-
Camera1 year ago
DJI Air 3 vs. Mini 4 Pro: which compact drone is best?
-
world news1 year ago
Strong majority of Americans support Israel-Hamas hostage deal
-
Camera4 years ago
Charles ‘Chuck’ Geschke, co-founder of Adobe and inventor of the PDF, dies at 81
-
Solar Energy1 year ago
Glencore eyes options on battery recycling project
-
Camera1 year ago
Sony a9 III: what you need to know
-
TOP SCEINCE8 months ago
Can animals count?
Pingback: Intrepid launches new compact Enlarger on Kickstarter for 35mm and 120 film