Take a Digital Picture


What started as somewhat of a gimmick has turned into a truly useful feature that many people can't do without, including me. I'm referring to the digital cameras included in many mobile phones, including the Treo smartphone. With the digital camera in the Treo, you can take digital pictures up to VGA resolution, which is 640x480, or 0.3 megapixels. Granted, this resolution isn't so great by digital camera standards, but it's not bad at all by mobile phone standards. Keep in mind that not everyone has unlimited data on his or her service plan, in which case sending hefty high-resolution images would put a serious strain on your phone bill.

Although you can certainly take pictures on your Treo device without a memory card, if you get serious about it, I'd recommend buying a card at some point to beef up the storage capabilities. For now, however, you just want to learn how the camera works and take a few pictures to get your feet wet. To take a digital picture with your Treo, follow these steps:

1.

Press the Application button to open the main application screen.

2.

Press the C key to jump near the Camera application, and then navigate with the five-way navigator to select the Camera application.

3.

Press the Center button to launch the Camera application. The digital camera immediately turns on, and the screen becomes the virtual lens for the camera (see Figure 2.20). The camera lens is located on the back of the device in the upper-left corneraim the lens at the target you want to photograph.

Figure 2.20. A large portion of the screen in the Camera application serves as a virtual camera lens for the digital camera.


Note

The Treo 650 adds support for capturing video with the onboard digital camera. Capturing video is practically the same process as shooting a still picture; you just operate the camera in video mode instead of camera mode. Chapter 12, "Taking and Sharing Digital Pictures and Videos," tells you everything you need to know about shooting and sharing pictures and videos with your Treo.

4.

Zoom in and out on the picture by pressing the Up and Down buttons on the five-way navigator. (There are only two zoom levels.)

5.

When you're ready to take a picture, just press the Center button. You hear a shutter sound and the picture is displayed, along with a series of buttons at the bottom of the screen for deciding what to do with the picture (see Figure 2.21).

Figure 2.21. The picture preview screen in the Camera application gives you an opportunity to decide what to do with a freshly taken picture.


6.

To save the picture, tap the Save button on the toolbar, which is the first button with a floppy disk icon. If you want to delete the picture and try again, tap the Delete button, which has a trashcan icon.

Tip

You might notice a little round mirror positioned adjacent to the camera lens on the back of your device. This mirror enables you to aim the camera at yourself for taking self-portraits or pictures of yourself with friends and family. Just make sure you can see yourself in the mirror when you snap the picture!

7.

To view a picture after you've taken it, tap the Pics&Videos button in the lower left of the Camera screen, which has four small squares to indicate several pictures. Figure 2.22 shows the Pics&Videos screen, which provides access to all the pictures and videos stored on your device.

Figure 2.22. The Pics&Videos screen serves as a file viewer for pictures and videos and allows you to organize, edit, and send them to others.


You can do all kinds of interesting things with a picture after you've taken it, such as sending it as part of a multimedia message, organizing it into a photo album, and viewing it as part of a slide show. All these topics are covered in detail in Chapter 12, "Taking and Sharing Digital Pictures and Videos."



    TREO essentials
    Treo Essentials
    ISBN: 0789733285
    EAN: 2147483647
    Year: 2005
    Pages: 189

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