I was out with some people Sunday night (yay for holidays), and somebody mentioned a page they’d seen that took EXIF data from photos uploaded to Flickr to compile a list of the most popular cameras and brands of cameras used on the site. I’m sure this isn’t new, but it was the first I’d heard of it, and I was curious to see how cameraphones compared to standalone digital cameras.
I tracked down the page, and it’s a little interesting: of the top 100 cameras in the last week, just two are cameraphones. Of the top camera brands, Nokia clocks in at number 9, Sony Ericsson at 11, Motorola at 16 and there are plenty of others in the top 100.
I’m surprised, though, that there aren’t more cameraphones in the top 100. I’d imagine that Flickr’s user base has something to do with that, though what in particular I’m not sure. Perhaps there aren’t as many people uploading their mobile images as I expected, or maybe they’re using other platforms. Or maybe it’s just that Flickr users are particularly devoted to their generally higher quality standalone cameras.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the two phones that made the cut, the Sony Ericsson K750i and the Nokia N70, both have pretty good cameras, in relative terms — it’s not particularly compelling to share crappy, blurry photos (case in point: MMS). I’m surprised to see the K750i higher (number 26 last week) than the N70 (36), given how much easier uploading photos can be from the N70, with tools like ShoZu that can reside in the background of S60 devices and upload photos automatically.
What’s I’m left wondering is something of a chicken-and-egg situation. Did these users go after these phones because they wanted a device that was good for Flickr, with a good camera and uploading possibilities? Or were they drawn to use Flickr because their devices had good cameras and could upload? I’d suspect, given the general switched-on-ness level of Flickr users, it’s more likely the former. Any more thoughts out there?
[tags]mobile, flickr, moblogging, moblogs, cameraphones[/tags]
How many cameraphone cameras embed EXIF data? I’ve got tons of cameraphone pics on my flickr page, but I’m pretty sure my HTC device’s camera/software simply doesn’t use EXIF.
As a Flickr and Sony K750i user, I don’t fall in any of your categories. Simply said, the K750i is the only camera I have in this moment… using Flickr makes me want to buy a new one soon, thouhg
I’ve been playing with camera phones for a while now and also noticed, like Adam, that a lot of phones don’t support EXIF
Perhaps it has something to do with the cost of uploading high-quality pictures OTA. I know that is the reason I don’t use a cameraphone at the moment.
There’s another possible reason, yet arguable: There are many more models of cameraphones than cameras. Not believable as the only factor, but this might contribute. I also believe in the lack-of-EXIF issue, but wouldn’t that show up somehow as “unknown”?
See this effect at getjar.com: Even though I’m sure games are downloaded in truck loads the most popular downloads are applications, because there are so few application “models” to choose from. There’s e.g. only one good Java browser (Opera Mini) so it will lead in that segment etc etc.
It’s of course anyway a good thing that so many users add functionality to their phones via downloads from GetJar. A trend in itself no doubt. That doesn’t have anything to do with the topic of the blog entry though, so I’ll shut up now :).
I started with Flickr on a lark some time after I got my Nokia 6600 because Flickr had the combination of features I wanted. Now I bought an N73 because I got hooked on moblogging.
As the big players Nokia/Sony Ericsson add better phones in the next year I wonder if this will change