Sony Ericsson S710 Camera Phone Review
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The Sony Ericsson S700 is a triple-band GSM/GPRS phone. A 1.3 megapixel digital camera with 8X digital zoom and swivel-action mobile phone. In horizontal mode, you have the camera. Vertically held, it has the look and feel of a mini organizer with the combination of being a phone, gaming and messaging device.
The S710 is the American version of the European phone – S700. The difference between the two phones is that the S700i has an FM Radio and the S710a does not because it contains Edge (allows faster data transfer).
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The Specs
Camera Resolution: 1.3 MP, 1280x960 pixels, video. 8X digital zoom
Memory Shared memory for storage: 64MB External memory: Up to 128MB Memory Stick Duo
Display Type: LCD (Color)
Weight 137g
Dimensions 107.5 x 49 x 24.5 mm |
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In our continuing series of articles, we are looking at the potential and techniques of Phonescoping. View the links in the left hand menu to see reviews of other camera phones and more articles on phonescoping.
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| The Sony S710's Swivel Action and horizontal camera mode. |
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The last phone we reviewed was the Nokia 7610 and the results were surprisingly impressive. This time, we took the Sony Ericsson S710 for a test run to the local marsh and it also performed very well. Weather was overcast but decent.
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| Phonescoping with the Nokia 7610 |
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The Sony is roughly the same size and weight as the Nokia and fits easily in the palm of your hand, allowing for easy zooming with one hand and focus of the scope with the other. An adaptor would be very useful to minimize camera shake but you can still get some pretty good results hand-held.
The camera is a slightly better resolution than the Nokia at 1.3 megapixels. I was really pleased with how quickly the images saved to the phone's memory, enabling me to fire off successive shots at once. Settings on the phone also allow you to shoot in continuous mode "Burst 4" which allows you to take four pictures in rapid succession. In terms of memory, I took about 100 photos and still had 8MB memory left so didn't even need to use the included memory stick.
Other useful controls allow you to adjust brightness, white balance, a night mode for longer exposure and spot
photometry (to adjust the exposure with reference to the center of the subject of the picture). Look at the results below.
If you are using a camera phone, please don't forget to send your photos to us. You can even send them from your phone whilst in the field! We have a World Phonescoping Gallery for photos of basically anything from the natural world and we also have a UK Rarities Phonescoping Gallery.
The Results
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| Mourning Dove - CA, USA May 05 (4x zoom with 30x scope) |
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| Mourning Dove - CA, USA May 05 (4x zoom with 30x scope) |
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| Mourning Dove - CA, USA May 05 (6x zoom with 30x scope) |
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| Ruddy Duck - CA, USA May 05 (4x zoom with 30x scope) |
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| Ruddy Duck - CA, USA May 05 (4x zoom with 30x scope) |
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| Orange Bishop - CA, USA May 05 - distant shot with no zoom and see below for the results of the 4x zoom |
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