How far?

[RaRa85]

On this #tbt I'd like to take a look back at one of my favorite smartphone cameras of all time. The legendary Nokia Lumia 1020. Looking at it now its easy to see some of the hardware limitations of the phone but some aspects of the hardware like the huge 41mp sensor for one are still unmatched.(today's software makes up a lot of ground however) I love the fact that it also has a real xenon flash like what you would find a proper camera or DSLR. After watching this old video on YouTube I wanted to try and replicate the experience. https://youtu.be/BBdzknfFCwU I just thought it was cool and I tried it amd it actually works. I used it to take some closer pictures of the custom skin on my V20. But with that in mind how far would you like to see manufacturers push this space? I really love the focus peaking on the V20 and rhe range of manual control in both video and still photography. I would be on board for a xenon flash(I'm probably in the very small minority here) and a larger sensor on future LG V series phones. I just find it neat to push the possibilities even if its not widely popular. But then the business side comes into it and sales and marketing but anyway, let me know your thoughts about what you'd like to see. Here are the pics of my DIY flash reflector I used to fire a stationary flash in slave mode.

 

[Mooncatt]

Interesting idea, but if I'm going to drag out studio equipment, my DSLR is coming too. (I actually don't have any studio equipment, but that's beside the point. Lol)

What I'd like to see would be a larger sensor for larger pixels and better light performance and perhaps an optical zoom. A brighter flash would be good too. A bulb mode would be great since I like light painting.

With OIS being popular, I wonder if something like Pentax's Astrotracer could be implemented. Bulb mode, plus using GPS to shift the sensor to follow the stars would open up more Astro photography opportunities without needing a special tripod.

 

[RaRa85]

Wow. Now that's a wild idea. I'm all for a bulb mode and the xenon flash is the most realistic since its been done.

 

[Mooncatt]

Wow. Now that's a wild idea. I'm all for a bulb mode and the xenon flash is the most realistic since its been done.

The only reason I know about that is because I've been looking hard at the Pentax K3 ii, which had Astrotracer and GPS built in.

 

[RaRa85]

I'll have to check that out as I'm not familiar with that one.

 

[Mooncatt]

I'll have to check that out as I'm not familiar with that one.

http://www.ricoh-imaging.co.jp/english/products/k-3-2/

It's a petty sweet looking piece of kit. There's not many reviews of Astrotracer on it specifically, but some of their other cameras have it as an option if you buy the GPS sensor separately. Those shots are nothing short of phenomenal. This one has GPS built in, sacrificing the pop-up flash to house it. The Pixel Shift function for stills is also getting rave reviews (it shifts the sensor so each of the four pixel groups get full RGB exposure instead of only one color channel). In other words, no compute interpolation between pixels.

 

[Mooncatt]

Speaking of flashes, diffusing one would be nice on a phone, but I doubt there's any soft boxes that would work on them. Lol

 

[RaRa85]

Speaking of flashes, diffusing one would be nice on a phone, but I doubt there's any soft boxes that would work on them. Lol

When you say diffusing one in which way are you referring to? But on the subject of flashes it would be cool(and this is impractical unless we could get a true phone/camera hybrid) if a manufacturer made a usb type c transmitter that could used to trigger up to two off camera flashes. But the fact that this can semi be done using the Lumia 1020 is pretty cool in itself.

 

[Mooncatt]

When you say diffusing one in which way are you referring to?

Softening the output so the shadows aren't so harsh

 

[RaRa85]

Softening the output so the shadows aren't so harsh

This! That would be a welcomed and more seemingly next step in smartphone photography. When the LG V20 meters correctly though the flash is pretty darn impressive.

 

[Mooncatt]

After watching this old video on YouTube I wanted to try and replicate the experience. https://youtu.be/BBdzknfFCwU I just thought it was cool and I tried it amd it actually works. I used it to take some closer pictures of the custom skin on my V20.

I just got a Neweer Speelite for Christmas and remembered you posting this technique. Now I'm tempted to try it. Thankfully the normal lens on the V20 is furthest away from the flash, so I have more room to work with.

 

[RaRa85]

I just got a Neweer Speelite for Christmas and remembered you posting this technique. Now I'm tempted to try it. Thankfully the normal lens on the V20 is furthest away from the flash, so I have more room to work with.

Let me know if it works with a regular flash. I wasn't sure if it would recognize it or not since the L1020 has a xenon flash.

 

[RaRa85]

I just tried to trigger the flash with the V20 and my flash doesn't respond to it unfortunately. Would be cool to get it to work though.

 

[Mooncatt]

I just tried to trigger the flash with the V20 and my flash doesn't respond to it unfortunately. Would be cool to get it to work though.

I haven't tried it and I'm new to off camera flashes, so I wasn't sure if it would work or even if the timing would be correct.

 

[RaRa85]

I haven't tried it and I'm new to off camera flashes, so I wasn't sure if it would work or even if the timing would be correct.

With most off camera flashes in slave mode they recognize a bright enough light and fire off. A refular LED flash will not be enough to sync with the flash in this mode. You need a real xenon flash to trigger the flash to fire off with the shutter on time.

 

[Mooncatt]

With most off camera flashes in slave mode they recognize a bright enough light and fire off. A refular LED flash will not be enough to sync with the flash in this mode. You need a real xenon flash to trigger the flash to fire off with the shutter on time.

That's kind of what I thought, but get this...

Yes, I couldn't even trigger the flash when the phone LED was right against the sensor. But I also have LED bulbs in my kitchen ceiling light, and those were setting off the flash despite being further away and I thought dimmer than the phone's LED up close.

 

[RaRa85]

That's kind of what I thought, but get this...

Yes, I couldn't even trigger the flash when the phone LED was right against the sensor. But I also have LED bulbs in my kitchen ceiling light, and those were setting off the flash despite being further away and I thought dimmer than the phone's LED up close.

Yeah that's weird. I noticed mine went off a couple times with no apparent light source setting it off while I shot directly at it and couldn't trigger it either.