Treo Camera Tricks and Tips

[RichC]

I'm not entirely pleased with the camera on my Treo 700p, but compared to most cell phone cameras in the US it is much better. (plenty of room to improve)

I'm starting this thread as a place to help get the best possible photos from your Treo. Add a few tips and tricks, include appropriately sized photos help us get the best from our cell phone cameras.

Tips:
* midlevel lighting ... not super bright sunlight and not dim light
* use normal not 2x settings when possible
* hold the phone as steady has possible
* shoot at highest resolution and sized down for web posting
* use photoshop or online services like www.preloadr.com to tweak

I'll start with what I like: I have found that the Treo 700p does a great job of taking sunset and sky photos. It provides enhanced contrast and color that looks okay.

[skoenig]

RichC,

How did I miss this...

Thanks for the tips! Great pics. I can't believe those came from a Treo!

Did you colour blaance and contrast the pics in Photoshop?

~ Steph

[RichC]

I might have tweaked that first one, but most of the recent ones I've been clicking directly to my blog without photoshopping. (not that I do it often) I did a few from my vacation while enroute and some were ok ... others yuck. Brightness and blue sky sort of made things hyper blue and washed out.

Here's one while sitting at a bench in Kona, Hawaii ... you can check out the sharpnesss with this larger version, but you'll see what I mean about average lighting doing the best job. Not too bright, not to dark.

[newbiedoc]

Wow those really very nice. Here's a question though, after I take the picture on the Treo how to I get it on to my PC?? (ps - I don't have a data plan to email it to myself)

[RichC]

Sync with your computer or use a SD card.

[RichC]

In keeping with photos with the treo, I used Preloadr with my Flickr free photo account today to quickly crop a second photo for this post on my blog. It's a nice way to work on the fly BUT I haven't figure out a way to doing the photo edit on the Treo yet???

[RichC]

Adding another photo to my blog via Treo Versamail and Camera and since it was a night photo thought I would include it here. (also figured its been a while since we've seen $1.97 gasoline in many areas???)


No editting of the photo ... straight from the Treo.

[skoenig]

Wow mine just com eout blurry as all hell. I'm gonna head over to my loca gas station and make sure I'm not crazy.

~ Steph

[RichC]

Speaking of 'blurry,' ... I've been wondering how to copy a page of type with enough clarity to read. Obviously the lens on the Treo doesn't support macro photography so I tried sticking a pair of reading glasses in front of the lens to see if it improved the focus. It does ... nothing spectacular, but in a pinch you could copy a bunch of text to phone quickly "if" you need reading glasses. Try it! (it would be nice to have a little flip switch for close ups)

The photo below was a quick block of text from my voter information postcard that came in the mail today. I cropped the personal stuff off, but left the poor quality ... BUT READABLE 9 pt text.

[RichC]

Nothing spectacular here ... but as I was sitting on my front porch sipping my coffee before work I was curious as to the difference in quality between an untouched 1x photo (first) and an untouched 2x of the same scene and lighting. The photos were upload directly from my Palm Treo 700p to Flickr in largest size but posted the 500px wide version.
1x - click this link for a .2 sharpness and slight graduation curve change from Preloadr.

2x - click this link for a .4 sharpness and slight graduation curve change from Preloadr.