This is where Ian Burley, DPNow's editor and founder, shares his unique thoughts and impressions on subjects that he hopes will be of interest to others on the subjects of digital photography and other related or loosely related topics! You can follow DPNow Editor's blog on Facebook and Twitter, too.
Tablet computers - do they need cameras?
Posted 26-01-12 at 08:05 PM by Ian
I will declare my view - I don't really see the point of a camera on a tablet apart from a front-facing one to enable video conferencing. I have seen people taking photos with tablets and they look very silly. Cameras in phones - why not? Cameras in tablets? Come on!
Apart from pointing the back of a big flat object at someone or something, which does look very weird and doesn't appear to be very natural or easy, don't most of us now have smartphones with cameras? What is the advantage of using a tablet computer to take photos? The camera modules in tablets are basically the same as those in camera phones.
I have seen comments by prospective tablet purchasers ruling out a particular tablet computer - because it didn't have a rear-facing camera. The new Amazon Kindle Fire is a good example. It's a stripped down inexpensive Android tablet for reading books and ordering your Amazon stuff. Anything else is a bonus.
I can hear some of you saying - well what about augmented reality, where the tablet overlays a live view of an object or a scene with information and graphics based on a visual recognition of what the camera is seeing. Fine, but you can do that on smartphones now, so isn't it just duplication again?
Would the absence of a camera on a tablet be a deal-breaker for you?
Apart from pointing the back of a big flat object at someone or something, which does look very weird and doesn't appear to be very natural or easy, don't most of us now have smartphones with cameras? What is the advantage of using a tablet computer to take photos? The camera modules in tablets are basically the same as those in camera phones.
I have seen comments by prospective tablet purchasers ruling out a particular tablet computer - because it didn't have a rear-facing camera. The new Amazon Kindle Fire is a good example. It's a stripped down inexpensive Android tablet for reading books and ordering your Amazon stuff. Anything else is a bonus.
I can hear some of you saying - well what about augmented reality, where the tablet overlays a live view of an object or a scene with information and graphics based on a visual recognition of what the camera is seeing. Fine, but you can do that on smartphones now, so isn't it just duplication again?
Would the absence of a camera on a tablet be a deal-breaker for you?
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