Five Wi-Fi cameras: Price, features and more

BANGALORE, INDIA: Will good old cameras survive the smartphone/tablets on-slot? The answer seems to be an 'Yes' as cameras are getting smarter day-by-day.

The new generation of Wi-Fi enabled cameras not only make image sharing easy, but they also enable seamless image capture process. Wi-Fi cameras of Samsung, Cannon and Nikon can be controlled by your smartphone to select zoom, focus and shoot from a distance apart from instant social media upload feature.

Olympus and Cannon are both looking at launching a slew of new cameras and have hinted Wi-Fi capabilities too. Although WiFi-enabled cameras haven't completely caught up, many technology experts believe they will be a hit in the near future (Source: PCWorld)

For now, the offerings are slim, but as the cost of production goes down, some day WiFi would be a common a feature as red-eye reduction.

As with any new technology, Wi-Fi in cameras has advantages and disadvantages in equal measure. Here are some of them:

Benefits:

• Quick access to storage
• Share albums and photos a click away
• Selecting/delete photos as and when uploaded. Don't have to worry about a full SD card

Downsides:

• With WiFi, battery power can be unreliable (lithium drain)
• Lack of WiFi connect to upload pictures
• WiFi connections aren't always reliable, so there may be the risk that your photos won't upload properly
• Some public networks require Wi-Fi camera users to agree to the terms of service, which means camera comes with some sort of mini browser and has backup software and OS compatibility issues (Panasonic and Samsung's s/W works with Windows, Canon Wi-Fi cameras with iOS apps only and Nikon only has an Android app)

Here are five Wi-Fi cameras available in India market:

1) Samsung Galaxy Camera

Unveiled at IFA 2012, Samsung Galaxy Camera features a 16.3-megapixel sensor with a f/2.8 aperture and 23mm-480mm lens that has 21x of optical zoom. The camera is powered by a 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos processor, as found in the Galaxy S III smartphone. Samsung Galaxy Camera runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean).

Other features:

4.8-inch S-LCD display
1280X720 pixels (308 ppi)
1,650 mAh battery, 7 hrs back-up
8GB of internal storage
32GB of expandable memory with microSD support
Connectivity: 3G (HSPA+ 21Mbps), HDMI 1.4, WiFi a/b/g/n, WiFi HT40, Bluetooth 4.0 and GPS
micro-SIM

Price: Rs. 26,520

2) Nikon Coolpix S800c

The Nikon Android-based camera runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread). Nikon Coolpix S800C features a 10x optical zoom lens, 16-megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, 3.5-inch OLED WVGA touchscreen. The camera comes with 1.7GB of internal storage.

Price: Rs. 20,950

3) Panasonic Lumix DMC-SZ5 comes with built-in Wi-Fi and you can use your smartphone as a controller to zoom, focus and shoot from a distance - all over Wi-Fi.

Other features:
14-megapixel CCD sensor
10x optical zoom
Record 720p HD videos at 30p in MP4 format
Supports SD, SDHC and SDXC memory cards

Price: Rs: 13,500

4)Samsung NX1000 has in-built Wi-Fi and comes with 'i-Function button,' which allows users to control the camera functions such as shutter speed, aperture, EV, WB, and ISO using the focus ring.

Other features:
Mirror-less compact system camera
20.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor
High speed capture and fast auto focusing
8 frames per second in a continuous shooting mode
1080p HD movie
1,030mAH battery.
plastic-body
3-inch LCD screen
222 grams (without the battery and memory card)
Price: Rs. 34,900

5) Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-WX200

Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-WX200 Wi-Fi-enabled camera features 18-megapixels Exmor R CMOS sensor and comes with 10x zoom. This camera comes with the Optical SteadyShot feature of Exmor R CMOS models, it is able to reduce the effects of camera shake for crisp, blur-free images. One can record full-HD movies with the help of this camera. The camera weighs105 grams (without the battery and memory card) and is just 17.5mm thick.

Price: Rs. 14,990

To conclude, we can say there is still lots of action to be witnessed in this segment. Do you think Wi-Fi cameras are worth the money you have to shell out?Do drop us a line.