I was out with some people Sunday night (yay for holidays), and somebody mentioned a page they’d seen that took EXIF data from photos uploaded to Flickr to compile a list of the most popular cameras and brands of cameras used on the site. I’m sure this isn’t new, but it was the first I’d heard of it, and I was curious to see how cameraphones compared to standalone digital cameras.
I tracked down the page, and it’s a little interesting: of the top 100 cameras in the last week, just two are cameraphones. Of the top camera brands, Nokia clocks in at number 9, Sony Ericsson at 11, Motorola at 16 and there are plenty of others in the top 100.
I’m surprised, though, that there aren’t more cameraphones in the top 100. I’d imagine that Flickr’s user base has something to do with that, though what in particular I’m not sure. Perhaps there aren’t as many people uploading their mobile images as I expected, or maybe they’re using other platforms. Or maybe it’s just that Flickr users are particularly devoted to their generally higher quality standalone cameras.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the two phones that made the cut, the Sony Ericsson K750i and the Nokia N70, both have pretty good cameras, in relative terms — it’s not particularly compelling to share crappy, blurry photos (case in point: MMS). I’m surprised to see the K750i higher (number 26 last week) than the N70 (36), given how much easier uploading photos can be from the N70, with tools like ShoZu that can reside in the background of S60 devices and upload photos automatically.
What’s I’m left wondering is something of a chicken-and-egg situation. Did these users go after these phones because they wanted a device that was good for Flickr, with a good camera and uploading possibilities? Or were they drawn to use Flickr because their devices had good cameras and could upload? I’d suspect, given the general switched-on-ness level of Flickr users, it’s more likely the former. Any more thoughts out there?
[tags]mobile, flickr, moblogging, moblogs, cameraphones[/tags]
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