Phonescoping with the new Nokia 6280

Phonescoping is basically digiscoping but involves using a cameraphone instead of a compact digital camera to obtain images through a field scope (a Kowa 821 in my case). Quality is obviously lower but I find it much more fun without the hassle of adaptors and doesn’t interfere with normal birding… and remember your little piece of technology is primarily a phone! Phonescoped images are perfectly acceptable for display on web pages but until the optical quality and image size increases you probably won’t want to print off most of your results.

I received my free phone upgrade on Wednesday. Having used the Nokia 6630 for nearly a year I went for the new Nokia 6280 which has the benefit of a 2 megapixel camera (1.3 MP on the 6630) and the latest 262,144-color display (320 x 420 pixels). A quick lunch break in Regent’s Park in central London allowed me to grab the shots below. Initial impressions reveal that the images are better with the 6280 than the older 6630. If I have time I may post some comparison shots at a later date.

Even though the displays are of similar size on both models, the 6280 functions in landscape mode (during camera operation – the mobile is turned length-ways on its side) and the entire screen becomes the viewfinder (unlike the 6630). I uploaded some of my DSLR photos to the phone to use as wallpaper and they look stunning…at least on par with a PC monitor.

Nokia site with info on the 6280