Manual Focus: An Interesting Touch Screen Innovation

A Tweet, I tweeted the other day:

LG Viewty Smart & Samsung Pixon will do it, will Nokia & Apple do it? Choosing camera focus with touch: http://tinyurl.com/touchfocus

Honestly the most interesting bit of the new camera phones that LG and Samsung have coming out in Q2 & Q4 is not the 8.1 megapixels on the LG Viewty Smart nor the 12 megapixels on the Samsung Pixon, but the fact that both of them will be using the touch screen to introduce a "manual" focus to camera phones. By touching the area of the view screen, you can choose what part of the photo that you want the camera to focus on. This is very exciting.

I am *shocked* that the Apple UX geniuses did not first come up with this innovative use of the touch screen as applied to camera phones, but then again, I am not really shocked, as the camera is just an after thought on the iPhone.

When I had my 45 minute trial of the Nokia N97 at SXSW where I compared its photos to the photos that my Nokia N95 took, my biggest complaint about the Nokia N97's photos is that the focus was off. It would be great if the N97 had the touch focus feature on it, as then I could have chosen where or who I wanted the camera to focus on rather than have sharp backgrounds and slightly blurry subjects.

Hey Nokia! That first firmware update for the Nokia N97... The update you will most likely release in July? Make sure that touch screen camera "manual/auto" focus is a part of that update, as it is too brilliant and and too useful to be left out.

This bit of mobile camera phone opinion is brought to you by Ms. Jen of blackphoebe.com.

Comments

[Leonard Low]

Yes - it's SUCH a great idea.

I'd even like a camera manufacturer to incorporate this innovation into a digital SLR - even the very latest and most expensive cameras don't have this great feature!

[Ms. Jen]

What would be nice on top of the touch screen "manual" focus is if you could choose what f-stop you wanted the camera to shoot at, thus if you choose 2.8 then everything but what you tapped on the touch screen would be out of focus or if 11 then everything would be sharp but what you touched would be really sharp.

I love the idea of a tap of the touch screen as a way to control the lens programmically rather than with the twist of the lens.

[Scott Gill]

Am i missing something here?

You say it's exciting Samsung and LG are announcing this feature in Q2 and Q4 respectively yet didn't Apple just announce this already in the refreshed iPhone 3G S?

http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3g-s/photos.html

[Ms. Jen]

Hi Scott,

The only thing that is missing here, is that LG and Samsung announced their innovation of the manual focus a couple of months ago for phones about to be released this quarter (which ends in two weeks) or next.

Apple is actually behind the LG / Samsung ball by announcing it this week at the end of Q2. And the phone is still not out.

Thus, if we are going to give the innovation prize to the company who announced the feature / idea first, then LG gets first and Apple gets third place.

;o)