I have something to admit. I have a crush. A big one.
I’m completely smitten with the camera that’s built into my Samsung Epic 4g “cell phone.” “Cell phone” is in quotation marks because to me, what I have is a camera that also happens to function as a cell phone and run Android apps.
If you’re a regular reader of my blog or Food for Thought (my Posterous account), you’ll know that I enjoy taking photos of things I run across as I experience my days. I especially like taking extreme closeups of flowers.
Today was a day for experimentation. I chose to venture out on a floral photo safari with only my “cell phone” camera; my Canon PowerShot stayed at home. I wanted to see how far I could push the macro setting on my Samsung Epic. Could it take the same kind of floral photos I usually take?
So I decided to go visit Hollis Garden in my community of Lakeland, FL. It was supposed to open at 10 a.m., but no one showed up to open the gates. I gave up and left at 10:30, but I spent a few minutes with the roses outside the locked gates before I went into my office at Southeastern University. Actually, I probably spent longer with the roses than I normally would have. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise?
After a few hours in my office, I returned to Hollis Garden and was able to go in to explore. I wandered around for an hour and took about 85 photos. In the slideshow below, you can see 30 of my favorite photos taken today. Which ones do you like best?
Bottom Line: The Samsung Epic 5-megapixel camera is stellar for my floral photography. With the macro setting, I can take closeups at least as crisp and clear as on my Canon PowerShot. My one wish is that it would be a little quicker to take several photos in a row. But I can live with that, knowing that since I will always have my Samsung Epic in my pocket or purse, anytime a beautiful bloom beckons me, I’ll be able to capture it.
The Line Below the Bottom Line: Many, many thanks to the MobilePhotoVideo blog for sharing a thorough tutorial on using the many settings of the Samsung Epic. I never even realized that it had a macro setting until I read its review.
These shots are absolutely breathtakingly beautiful! Viewing them really cheered me up on a morning where I’m entering week 4 of recovering/rehab from major hip surgery. Thanks for sharing!
Love this ‘phone’! 🙂 My soon to be husband works at Verizon in town and keeps me up to date with the latest phones. It’s amazing what these phones can do now. I remember my first cell phone, it was a bag phone that plugged in my car. It had a long curly cord and was only to be used for emergencies. Ha! My how we have come a long way! What did we ever do without them??
Wow!! Barbara those pictures are beautiful! I can’t believe that you took them with your cell phone! You’re right, your “camera” surely does double as a cell phone! (not visa versa) I can’t wait to trial this phone and check out the awesome camera on it! I, like you, enjoy taking pictures in everyday life and I think that it is awesome that this camera has the capabilities to take such beautiful pictures! I also like Margaret’s idea in the comment above of taking a picture of a quote that you know you will forget if you don’t write down! How nice to know that you will have such a fabulous camera with you, all the time! Thanks for sharing God’s natural beauty in nature!
Wow! Those are some really nice shots. I have a friend who’s into photography too and I think I’ll have to recommend that camera phone to her. It’s amazing how far technology has come these days. My own Motorola Rival may not have the capability to take photos that are nearly as nice, but I’ve found that having a camera on my phone comes in handy at times. For example, when you see that quote that you absolutely love but know you’ll never remember later. Now, instead of writing it down all I have to do is pull out my phone. Or when I see a combination of colors that I want to put into a painting I no longer have to rely solely on my memory, I can take a picture to jog it.
Wow! Those pictures are so amazing that I have a hard time believing they were taken with a cell phone. I also love macro shots of flowers, but if I were to take some of those pictures with my LG Shine (http://bit.ly/9T0Xvw) they’d look like nothing more than a pink or yellow blur. I love all the pictures, but my absolute favorite is the first one in the slideshow. Thanks for sharing!