[sophace]

While the original poster appears to know his stuff about continuous focus, the whole post is a complete waste of time as it does not apply to the camera in the Bold 9900. It's misleading and it should be removed.

The new Bold uses a fixed focus lens (EDoF) and has no mechanical movement whatsoever. It doesn't anticipate future motion or anything like that. The sad fact is the camera lens in the new Bold is more akin to the $10 disposable film cameras that one used to buy and throw away. Those also had a fixed lens, the only real difference is the quality of the lens and the software the bold uses to enhance the picture. But, both are fixed lenses with no autofocus.

While EDoF lenses may work well in the majority of situations, it's pure make believe to say it is an improvement over previous generations auto focus cameras. RIM has to own up and people need to realize that at the end of the day, RIM valued the thinness of the phone over the quality of the camera. That's not to say the new Bold won't take decent if not good pictures, it can. But it will never take the range and quality of shots the auto focus lense could achieve, especially for portrait and close up macro shots, which a lot of people use the phone for.

In my personal opinion, RIM should have stepped up and engineered a way to keep the phone thin and have an autofocus camera. All this being said, I still use and like the new Bold.

Sophace

[The Garfield]

Thanks for the informative post but.....that does not change the fact that the camera cannot take a decent close up pic of any object no matter what settings you do.

this is in no way continuous focus, it is NO FOCUS according to the crappy pics produced.

This topic is a complete FAIL, I dont care about the technology uses or the high tech terms, the 9900 camera is not for taking serious pics, end of the story. lets not try to make up excuses or justifications

[Gorli92]

First of all - thank you - couldn't say more .

The only thing I miss compared to my 9500 is the B/W mode - is there such thing on the 9900? Of course I can change colors later on but hey - sometimes it would be a nice to have.

[Mustafa_1969]

I rarely if ever use my camera except for reciepts but after going through your post I'll definitely try some experimenting. Great Post

[market58]

The camera on my 9930 is adequate. It will take decent pictures at the right distance. Close up......no way. Regardless of changing the scene mode. It will not pickup minute details of fine print or images. The up close mode worked well on my 9650 for text but the 9930 does not do that well. But I very rarely use the up close feature so it's irrelevant to me.
Great post, very well written, it was enjoyable to read.

[experiment 626]

This thread should have been named "BOLD 9900 CAMERA TALK- Admit It, RIM Cut Corners.....Again."

[belfastdispatcher]

No need for a new thread, read this one first with plenty photo examples:

http://forums.crackberry.com/blackbe...-world-638430/

[belfastdispatcher]

For those that think the 9900 camera is not an improvement, please show me how you can take photos like these with an Autofocus Camera

[mjs416]

I feel confident in saying that anyone who just cant seem to snap a decent pick with this camera needs to put their blackberry down and promptly proceed to the nearest iphone.

My 9930 snaps awesome picks of my 3 year old running around, failed sections of a printed circuit board and any other scene that requires my attention throughout the day. It takes way better pics than my 9650 used to. Also - quicker shutter speed = win.

[N2Shift]

While the original poster appears to know his stuff about continuous focus, the whole post is a complete waste of time as it does not apply to the camera in the Bold 9900. It's misleading and it should be removed.

The new Bold uses a fixed focus lens (EDoF) and has no mechanical movement whatsoever. It doesn't anticipate future motion or anything like that. The sad fact is the camera lens in the new Bold is more akin to the $10 disposable film cameras that one used to buy and throw away. Those also had a fixed lens, the only real difference is the quality of the lens and the software the bold uses to enhance the picture. But, both are fixed lenses with no autofocus.

While EDoF lenses may work well in the majority of situations, it's pure make believe to say it is an improvement over previous generations auto focus cameras. RIM has to own up and people need to realize that at the end of the day, RIM valued the thinness of the phone over the quality of the camera. That's not to say the new Bold won't take decent if not good pictures, it can. But it will never take the range and quality of shots the auto focus lense could achieve, especially for portrait and close up macro shots, which a lot of people use the phone for.

In my personal opinion, RIM should have stepped up and engineered a way to keep the phone thin and have an autofocus camera. All this being said, I still use and like the new Bold.

Sophace

Correct! The initial post is completely misleading and misinformed.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[guerllamo7]

I agree with this because when I consider the fact that 99% of my pictures are of my three fast moving, restless children. I realize that I've missed many really cute moments because of the delay in AF cameras. The new CF features takes the pictures much, much faster at great resolution.
I also agree that I can't take as good a picture of a cigarette label or something really small but frankly, I just don't do that. So, although a true professional photographer may prefer the AF, I am a big fan of CF because it takes great pictures fast. I think it is an improvement for what I, and I suspect most people, do with the camera.

[togardergrosse]

Correct! The initial post is completely misleading and misinformed.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I was curious since this thread is featured on CB but in the end, but actually even RIM already acknowledge that the lens is some kinda EDOF.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900 has an always in focus 5MP camera (also known as EDOF, Extended Depth of Field) which allows for excellent image quality and it has an ultra thin footprint, which allowed us to achieve the thinnest BlackBerry smartphone to date. The EDOF camera keeps subject matter in focus while offering high quality images and 720p HD video capture.

And a better explanation about EDOF

A. Standing for Extended Depth of Field, this fixed focus camera has a specially malformed lens, such that the Red, Green and Blue components of the image are focussed at different points. Special software algorithms then combine the R, G and B 'images' to produce a composite that's effectively in focus from a metre away to infinity.

From my experience, EDOF is better than standard fixed focus camera.
The trick is to distance between u and the object when taking the pictures.

[Statehouse]

i think the camera looks great.

[JasW]

For those that think the 9900 camera is not an improvement, please show me how you can take photos like these with an Autofocus Camera

You really should email Kevin and see if you can get the title under your username changed to "Official 9900 Camera Apologist."

Very nice pics of your daughter. But I can indeed take amazing pics like that of my daughter in action without any blurring simply by turning autofocus off on my 9810.

And I can also take amazing close up pictures of her beautiful face from within about a foot or so (30 cm).

Can you do that?

Nope.

End of thread.

[wh01sl1k360d]

Thank you for all the info, and like anything, once you use the camera a bit you get used to how it works and figure out the tricks to taking a good picture. I am happy with my Bold 9900, by far the best BB yet and the best smartphone I have ever used.

[chiefbroski]

So, can the Bold 9900 focus with "close focusing" on focus as close as the 9860??

[belfastdispatcher]

You really should email Kevin and see if you can get the title under your username changed to "Official 9900 Camera Apologist."

Very nice pics of your daughter. But I can indeed take amazing pics like that of my daughter in action without any blurring simply by turning autofocus off on my 9810.

And I can also take amazing close up pictures of her beautiful face from within about a foot or so (30 cm).

Can you do that?

Nope.

End of thread.

Can you really? Why don't you prove it, my 9700 never could, maybe I would get 1 decent shot out of 10 but by that time the moment would pass. Let the pictures speak.

Here's a night shot at 80mph

[lase532]

This post is clearly trying to justify the purchase of the phone by making excuses for an inferior camera. I had one on trial, and it is pathetic against my 9650. No way could I take a photo of doc, shipping label, dataplate, etc. If you don't use your phone as a business tool and just take pictures of your car and kids, you will be happy. If you have depended on your BB to send important info, that sometimes includes closeups, you will be disappointed. I returned it and will stay with my 9650 until they release something else. I fail to see how this is the best Bold ever. It has bad camera and bad bat life to say the least. Its funny how RIM cant even seem to compete with themselves anymore. I am going to try the new 9850 torch next.

[[email protected]]

The confusion lies with peoples' misunderstanding of cameras and the focussing systems used by cameras. Just because RIM removed the autofocus feature doesn't mean you aren't getting any autofocus in your images.

It is unwise to suggest that the 9900 has an inferior camera because that feature is gone. Quite contrary in my view. Autofocus has not been lost. The camera is still focussing but in continuous mode.

For the most part people don't yet realize the difference between autofocus and continuous focus. This leads to the confusion.

Interesting to read the difference between continuous focus and EDoF, which we all know to be no-focus. That's common sense.

My ONLY reservation is the potential inability to read QR codes. Since this doesn't 'focus' but stays 'focused all the time' (or no-focus), should this be an issue? Even with a macro mode or text, someone please show us some success via screen capture that shows this working and tell us how long it took to capture the QR code.

And no QR code haters. Haters gonna hate.

[JasW]

Can you really? Why don't you prove it, my 9700 never could, maybe I would get 1 decent shot out of 10 but by that time the moment would pass. Let the pictures speak.

Here's a night shot at 80mph

I've had much better luck than 1 in 10, but I'm not posting pictures of my daughter here, even with her face pixelated. Yet since you have no such qualms, why not post a close up of your daughter's face taken from a foot away, and then with a straight face tell everyone again how the 9900 camera is an "improvement"?

Don't worry, you won't have to pixelate her face -- the 9900 will blur it just fine.

[experiment 626]

But shouldn't the Bold,being RIM's flagship device, have a better camera than the Curve 93xx's? Why should a Bold 99xx buyer have to compromise features in comparison to an entry-level device from the same manufacturer?

[belfastdispatcher]

Interesting to read the difference between continuous focus and EDoF, which we all know to be no-focus. That's common sense.

My ONLY reservation is the potential inability to read QR codes. Since this doesn't 'focus' but stays 'focused all the time' (or no-focus), should this be an issue? Even with a macro mode or text, someone please show us some success via screen capture that shows this working and tell us how long it took to capture the QR code.

And no QR code haters. Haters gonna hate.

I used my 9900 to scan a bbm qr code from an old BB 8800 and it worked no problem, even better then my 9700, I think it uses the videocamera instead, instead of focusing as with the 9700 autofocus you see some red dots appearing at key points on the qr code.

[123berryaddicted]

QUICK TIP for close-ups. I read this in one of the many 99xx camera threads. This tip will in NO WAY make your up close text photos as crisp as they were with the 5mp AF (9800, 9780, etc)... But it will enable you to be able to own a 99xx and use it for the things you NEEDed to in the past (Price tags, labels, etc).

TIP for 'clearer' up close photos:
1. Set your camera to "close-up"
2. Position your camera approx 12-24inches away from desired tag/text/etc
3. Use your beautiful touch screen to zoom in to approx 75% zoom.
4. Snap the photo (make sure to be still, as you are zoomed in and motion is magnified)
5. Examine your photo, although NOT as clear as an AF could do, your text in the photo is fairly clear and certainly legible enough to continue using it for your job (most occupations).

Enjoy your 99xx, its the best bb yet! Way to go RIM!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[lase532]

yep, it's just like my new truck. Although it gets "less" miles per gallons, slower to accelerate, and cant take turns as well, it does have a nice "big" steering wheel. Best ever, I love it!

[maccauk]

great post.agree with everything said