LG Fathom Camera Performance – Quick Look

The LG Fathom is pretty much the latest WinMo phone to hit Verizon this year. It’s a decent phone, a slider with full keyboard and a nice design overall. It’s been a while though since I’ve posted anything about cameras, so I figured why not post one today.

LG Fathom

In today’s 24/7, jet–setting business world, forget being chained to a desk, and get ready to meet the new productivity. Powerful Windows Mobile puts your desktop in your pocket. Full QWERTY keyboard and touch screen optimize workflow. And with Wi–Fi, USB, and global roaming, your office is open for business whenever and wherever you are. Upgrade to the stylish LG Fathom, and get ready to make the world your office.

DESIGN:
    * 3.2″ WVGA touch screen display
    * Slide–Out QWERTY Keyboard and Virtual QWERTY Keyboard
    * Dedicated Task Manager Key — quickly access Task Manager at the touch of a button

CAMERA/VIDEO:
    * 3.2 Megapixel Autofocus Camera and Camcorder
    * Dedicated Camera /Video Key
    * Camera Resolutions: 2048 x 1536, 1600 x 1200, 1024 x 768, 640 x 480, and 320 x 240 pixels
    * Scene Mode: Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Night
    * Color Effect: Off, Sepia, Mono, Negative, Solarize
    * White Balance: Auto, Incandescent, Sunny, Fluorescent, Cloudy
    * Self Timer: Off, 3, 5, or 10 seconds
    * Shot Mode: Normal, Continuous Shot, Panorama
    * Preview Style: Full Screen and Full Image
    * ISO: Auto, 100, 200, 400, and 800
    * Image Quality: Super Fine, Fine, Normal
    * Shutter Sound Selection
    * Digital Zoom
    * Video Resolutions: 640 x 480, 320 x 240, and 176 x 144 pixels

SPECIFICATIONS:
-Windows Mobile 6.5 Professional
-Dimensions: 4.53″ (H) x 2.20″ (W) x 0.65″ (D)
-Weight: 5.36 ounces
-Usage Time: Up 420 minutes OR
-Standby Time: Up to 475 hours
-Display: 262K Color TFT, 800 x 480 Pixels, 3.2″

The LG Fathom isn’t a bad WinMo phone, but the old WinMo OS has seen better days, once 7 gets here things will change I’m sure. It’s a nice business centric phone really, with some entertainment stuffs tossed in there as well. It’s WinMo so you can change it as you’d like of course, but frankly I’ll stick with my Android for now..

Sadly there’s no flash on this phone.. In this day and age, you’d think higher end phones all would come with a flash, but amazingly they don’t.

The camera on the LG Fathom is a 3.2Mp, which is a bit low when compared to other phones out there I know, but who needs all those megapixels really? Seriously are you going to be printing 8×10 and higher or a picture taken with a camera phone? I highly doubt it…

The pictures taken outdoors in natural light are excellent, and in these little camera phone featurettes, you normally won’t see me focusing on outdoor photos or even giving you an example of them unless they’re bad. I take most of my pictures indoors and I think most other people do as well, so that’s what I focus on for these, that and the interface itself.

When you go to take a picture you’ll see option on both sides of the viewfinder. Three small icons on the left and then four on the right side.

When you press the settings button it opens up a wheel style menu, which I thought was kind of neat. The dial resembles what you might find on a regular digital camera, and you can just touch the screen to turn the dial.

So here’s all the options, I’m not going to list them all individually when you can easily see then right here:

So there’s a ton of options for you to play with to.

The camera is an auto focus one, which is nice.

These were taken indoors in a well lit room with light coming in from outside. A normal daytime setting basically.

Not bad, but even in bright lighting it still looks a bit dark overall. The colors though are good.

Close ups aren’t bad at all, but you can’t get any closer than this or they get blurry. There really isn’t  a Macro mode, it’s just straight auto focus.

Here’s a few more:

Then here’s some of the effects:

That’s it, nice and quick and to the point. Not bad, but not great either. It’s acceptable for the most part.

All the pictures were taken on the default settings, you can of course go into the settings and adjust some things to make your pictures come out better. I honestly don’t think many people actually go into the settings and adjust things to get their pictures looking as good as they should be. Yes I know there are people out there who treat their phones like a camera, and actually use their phones as a replacement for their camera, but those are few and far between I think..

Ok, two quick questions…

How many of you out there actually take the time to go into the settings on your phone and use all of the adjustments? Or any of the adjustments in an attempt to make your pictures better?

Like if your indoors do you go in and change the settings to indoors? Or do you just leave it at default or auto?

Next question would be, how many of you have replaced or attempted to replace their regular camera with their phone?