Non smart phone camera phones - schools projects questions

[basalt]

Hi
Everyone I know with some sort of camera phone has a smart phone. I'm trying to set up a schools project involving time lapse photography and need to come up with basic ideas for rigs made mostly out of cardboard and tape for kids to make.

With a smartphone it's simple - just download a free timelapse app and don't move the phone ( as if kids these days can leave their phone alone for an hour or two ).

With a basic phone though I'm not so sure - it'll be a question of manually pressing a button every few minutes but do basic camera phones generally have a single shutter button to press or a menu system to navigate? It's important as the less fiddling with the phone, the less wobbly the final result.

The basic project is plant movement - something that'll be capturable in a couple of hours rather than days.

 

[SUroot]

Some of the Sony Ericsson and Maybe even Samsung have dedicated Camera buttons.

Im sure the mother in law got a feature phone from samsung only last week with dedicated camera button.

 

[breadnatty08]

I'm curious why you need to use a phone and not a dedicated camera? Generally, you can save a boat load of money AND have a much better quality photo.

 

[basalt]

Cool, with a dedicated camera button there's less fiddling. I do think most smart phones could do with one anyway.

I'll be using my D3100, macro plus time lapse controller & light tent but I need a way that uses the most basic possible kit as I'm dealing with kids all over the world many of whom won't have access to even half decent setups but will still want to participate - I'll be going as basic as projecting a silhouette and drawing round it.

 

[SUroot]

Actually, dreadnatty has a point.

 

[breadnatty08]

Actually, dreadnatty has a point.

I guess the only reason to go with phones is for instant upload. But if you're using feature phones it'll be a lot harder if there's no data connection.

 

[basalt]

There's no 'going with' one system or another - I'm not providing anyone with phones or cameras at all - just coming up with a variety of ways in which kids can do this with what they might already have.

 

[breadnatty08]

There's no 'going with' one system or another - I'm not providing anyone with phones or cameras at all - just coming up with a variety of ways in which kids can do this with what they might already have.

So are you looking for a phone yourself or something to recommend to the kids?

 

[Doit2it]

I looked at two of my old feature phones:

Moto Razr V3c
It has a button above the send key to open the camera
Then press the select key (center nav button) to take the photo
Then press the left soft key to save the image

LG VX8300
Camera button on right side of phone to open camera
Multiple press of the camera button just switches between camera/video
Then press the select key (center nav button) to take the photo
Then press the left soft key to save the image

I couldn't find my LG Dare but it had a camera button on the right side of the phone that was also the focus/shutter release.

So EVERY feature phone has it's differences. Good luck with your project!