[r.santa1]

UBIZMO is right on...What I dont agree with is RIM's ability to make sound decsions for marketing purposes. Flagship device should have had auto focus, even if a hair thicker.

That is their problem, way to many phones and Iterations of this and that. Scale it down to 3 models period. High end, middle and new user models.

Then, i really, really want a 9790 and IT AINT IN THE USA still! I had the 9930 and sold it...great phone but i miss the size of the 9780 for my personal phone. My I4S is cool but I had to turn off SIRI to save batt life and rarely use the camera or video..

Might buy from Rogers - 9790

[Nashstruck]

For me, I carry an ultracompact Nikon point and shoot that fits in my purse. For fantastic pictures I have my Nikon dSLR.

u sound quite well-versed with the nikon line-up!
Slightly off-topic, but have u heard of the nikon j-1? Any thoughts on that?

[waukeshaberry]

Here are some shots I took for my food blog. Low light and no flash.

Smidgen and Morsels: Prosciutto and Onion Confit Wrap Salad with Garlic Ranch

[grover5]

I'm so utterly disappointed in the garbage camera on my 9900. My old 9700 had twice the camera on it, and my 9780 had ten times the camera. I can't believe, though I don't know why because RIM never fails to disappoint, that BlackBerry would consider this at all acceptable. They not only aren't keeping up, but they're actually going in reverse. No autofocus? 5mp that is as clear and good a quality as my moms 1.3mp flip phone, and sadly that's not an exaggeration. Pure tle.

Sent from my SGH-T849 using Tapatalk

As an owner of both a 9700 and a 9900...and unfortunately several manufacturers devices loaded with android...I disagree. I suspect user error. Best of luck though.

[toldyoso30]

I'm so utterly disappointed in the garbage camera on my 9900. My old 9700 had twice the camera on it, and my 9780 had ten times the camera. I can't believe, though I don't know why because RIM never fails to disappoint, that BlackBerry would consider this at all acceptable. They not only aren't keeping up, but they're actually going in reverse. No autofocus? 5mp that is as clear and good a quality as my moms 1.3mp flip phone, and sadly that's not an exaggeration. Pure tle.

Sent from my SGH-T849 using Tapatalk

I agree! This camera sucks! And I see some people still keep justifying it with the same old "Cell phones are not for taking pictures" excuse. This type of backwards mentality is what has gotten RIM downhill!
Compare this 5 mp camera with any other 5 mp camera on any other phone and you'll see that it's really inferior.
When you're getting an upgrade, you should really feel you're upgrading. RIM shouldn't upgrade a few features just to downgrade others!

[malgpz900]

If you want a great camera buy a canon.

Totally agree.

Malcolm.

[killer007]

than just upgrade to a point and shoot camera for pocket size....

[07thking]

Close up shots aren't good, however, I do get great shots while in motion. Nine out of ten times I don't need to suddenly stop in the middle of the street to take a photo, the camera functions well in that area, its very fast. HD video recording is also impressive. I have some really crisp clear recordings. It's not the best camera, however, it's no way near as horrible as some here have described and does a darn good job for the average camera phone user.

[olblueyez]

I agree! This camera sucks! And I see some people still keep justifying it with the same old "Cell phones are not for taking pictures" excuse. This type of backwards mentality is what has gotten RIM downhill!
Compare this 5 mp camera with any other 5 mp camera on any other phone and you'll see that it's really inferior.
When you're getting an upgrade, you should really feel you're upgrading. RIM shouldn't upgrade a few features just to downgrade others!

You didn't know the others have AF and this one didn't? You didn't know the iPhone and some of the Androids had better cameras? You didn't know people have posted 99XX pictures here at Crackberry For you to look at? Who is doing the rationalizing?

[newshutr]

It's a shame that on this whole world wide web there isn't one site that gives you any research options on the Blackberry 9900/9930.

If only someone would have come up with the idea of having somewhere to go to possibly look up the specifications of said phone..and then give the probable consumer reference and information..

Oh well....maybe someday...maybe..

[nah.uhh]

Rim screwed up by mascarading like the 9900 was the top device when it was really in second place to the torch(s) just because of the camera. Its not horrible but the difference is BARELY NOTICABLE when compared with pictures I took on MY CURVE 8310 and BOLD 9000 with their 2mp cams. The 9900s camers is worse than the 3.2 autofocus from the 9700. I own both a 9810 and a 9900 I don't know how anybody thinks there's a comparison, I don't have to lie to myself, the 9810 has a great camera. The 9900 does not. I don't need a canon (although I have a pretty good one I never use) because I have a 9800 and 9810 that take pics just as well. The canon only comes out if I'm shooting pics from 100+feet away. The 9900 never comes out

[conker]

Agree 100%. Totally embarrassing.

I'm so utterly disappointed in the garbage camera on my 9900. My old 9700 had twice the camera on it, and my 9780 had ten times the camera. I can't believe, though I don't know why because RIM never fails to disappoint, that BlackBerry would consider this at all acceptable. They not only aren't keeping up, but they're actually going in reverse. No autofocus? 5mp that is as clear and good a quality as my moms 1.3mp flip phone, and sadly that's not an exaggeration. Pure tle.

Sent from my SGH-T849 using Tapatalk

[conker]

Also agree 100% - There is so much "old guard", "old school" - narrowly minded people on these forums. It's like they went to the school of Jim and Mike. What's wrong with demanding more from the companies we care about? We aren't asking for much, just asking for god damn feature parity so that the company can stay competitive, and not continue to fall behind. Sheesh.

I agree! This camera sucks! And I see some people still keep justifying it with the same old "Cell phones are not for taking pictures" excuse. This type of backwards mentality is what has gotten RIM downhill!
Compare this 5 mp camera with any other 5 mp camera on any other phone and you'll see that it's really inferior.
When you're getting an upgrade, you should really feel you're upgrading. RIM shouldn't upgrade a few features just to downgrade others!

[elgolfman]

If you want a great camera buy a canon.

X2

10 char

[conker]

what a cop out.

X2

10 char

[Matt J]

What's wrong with the 9900 camera? Seems to work just fine.

[JosephRuff]

Mine at a Sixers basketball game took a better quicker picture and uploaded to facebook faster than my brother s iPhone4s. Don't care who believes me or doesn't, it happened and he agreed his sucked. He used to have an 8530 and says the iphone is a fun toy but his 8530 got things done. So i'm sorry to the professional photographers who want an SLR on your cellphone but honestly for quick HQ pics the 9930 crushes. For a portrait of your grandmother get a real camera... Call it a copout I don't care, I use it for snowboarding video (yes while riding down the mountain with 9930 in hand), and i use it for facebook and whatever else I need a quick shot for. Thanks everyone who posted in this as talking down on the camera and find something else to complain about. Oh and to the people who say older cameras were better, my 9650 3.2MP with autofocus sucked comparatively.

[irkan]

its not the best camera i agree, ... but it isnt THAT bad also

i found it perform well in good natural lightning conditions, ... if the lighting conditions are bad, .. then the quality of the image is relatively bad.

[Slash82]

I know what the OTA means...
He isn�t that wrong!
I came from the 8900 which had a 3Mpx. camera WITH autofocus.
Don`t care about the number of pixel - it counts what I see on my computerscreen...

And the 8900 really made awesome pictures!
Crisp, clear, great colors and unbelievable great close up pics!
Have been using it for almost 4 years.

Now, I changed to the 9900 and the result is very disappointing.
I can live with that, but it�s not that much fun taking pics.
Now I don`t make half that many pictures

Also HD recording feature on the 9900 is great - but only with bright light!
In rooms, clubs, bars, you can forget it - you even could see more on the old 8900 VGA video camera.

It�s sad, but I can understand his frustration.
But no doubt, that the screen and keyboard on the 9900 are awesome.

I don�t want a canon, I but when you were used to something great and you have to step down, it�s always not much fun.

[Chrisy]

than just upgrade to a point and shoot camera for pocket size....

The 99xx camera looks more than adequate for quick pics for sharing.

For a decent point and shoot under $100, what better a Nikon or Canon? Mainly for bright outdoor pictures.

[toldyoso30]

You didn't know the others have AF and this one didn't? You didn't know the iPhone and some of the Androids had better cameras? You didn't know people have posted 99XX pictures here at Crackberry For you to look at? Who is doing the rationalizing?

So, looking at other people pictures is going to make my camera better? LOL Looking at other people pics just reinforces my opinion that the camera is inferior and that a curve 8900 takes better pics than this.

If you're happy with it, good for you, but don't expect everyone to be happy with less.

[JosephRuff]

slash82, this is a video from last night with my 9930, its kinda shaky, sorry 10min tool song and drunk doesn't help, however audio and video are pretty decent. Oh and this is digitally zoomed cause unfortunately i was back a little ways. So if you tell me thats worse than vga on the 8900, i might just openly laugh at your horrid eyesight.

[YT]
[/YT]

[Slash82]

Hey Joseph!
Thank you for sharing that link!
Cool intro btw!

That are different lowlight conditions that I mean.
Can you do me a favor and test it in a different way?
Try the camera at night, when you are at home with low light or at a bar or something like that.
I mean that typical "warm" (more yellow) light that light bulbs give you.

There you get a gritty, nosy video which you don�t have (or not that much) on the 8900.

In a concert the sensor mostly makes differences between "black and white" (dark and bright).
The video you posted is from a stage which is exposed with LED (green, red, blue and combined) lights and very strong spotlights which makes it easier for the sensor record and detect that colors.
Especially LED light gives a "clear" color.

A low light bulb makes it very, very harder.


EDIT:

Some pics of both devices at very, very low light:
Tried to take the same pictures, both in "automatic mod" - first four 8900 and the last four 9900

The resolution on the 9900 is higher but quality in areas with low light much worse

EDIT 2:

Here are the "lowlight" videos I meant:

First the 8900 - lower resolution, but not that gritty:


Here the 9900 video (please make sure to watch it in HD):


So, please tell me if my eyes are bad, buddy!

[tilhasbb]

A 4 year old low end blackberry curve, seems to have better camera than the highest end latest model from blackberry. The Bold 9900.

FAIL

[JosephRuff]

I'll give you close pictures take some finagling, but video wise using the 720p setting definitely takes better video. 3gp video is a horrid compression and if used probably would give crappier quality. However using a better compression codec makes all the difference. But I bet with a matter of seconds I could take all those pictures with my 9930 better than your 8900. I have hundreds of random photos that look great. Again thought I must stress that I don't think expect slr from a phone. And you won't convince me the iPhone takes slr quality pics after my brother and I did quick side by side shots and mine was not only faster than a 4s but took as good if not better pic. Futher more my buddy has video he shot with his 4s from the same concert that a fellow iPhone users (the guys brother) said was inferior to mine.

So in summation 8900 aside, with the current "king" of the market my 9930 holds up if not supersedes the competition.