The Great Big Vita Camera Test
The Vita isn’t just a great dedicated handheld gaming device, it’s also a camera – but is it a good camera? To find out, we took one of our Vitas on a trip across London, testing out how it responded to different lighting levels and various scenarios.
To truly test out how the Vita could handle close-up detail, as well as long-distance crowds, we started off at Portobello Market, home of odd trinkets and overpriced clothing. From there we took a trip past St Paul’s Cathedral and across the Thames, where the Vita really struggled with low light conditions, eventually coming to the Tate Modern, home of modern ‘art’ that is presented in various light levels, and made up of shapes with different contours and fabrics – making it perfect for photography. From there, we looped back to St Paul’s to say hello to the Occupy London protesters who were playing music and sporting the Anonymous flag.
As you can see in the photos, the Vita’s 640×480 back camera is grainy, and can’t handle low light at all, something made worse by the lack of any flash or light. Colors are also drained – just look at how the tomato is more pink than red. Another gripe is that after each photo you have to wait a good 10 seconds for it to save. You can’t turn off the loud “Chhck” camera sound either, so don’t plan on any secret photography. Despite plans for a Skype app, there’s no option to record videos, which is annoying.
You may notice that some of the pictures are of a different ratio – you can choose 3 ratios: widescreen, a square and what looks like the ratio of a print photo.
But you probably won’t want to print these photos – the Vita camera is no replacement for a smartphone, let alone an actual camera. Sure it’ll do in a pinch, but we suggest bringing something else with you if you feel like capturing your memories for all time. But luckily, before you begin to declare the death of the Vita, the fact that the camera captures at 120fps means that it is perfectly suited for augmented reality games, with Little Deviants looking pretty good.
7 Responses to “The Great Big Vita Camera Test”
Honestly, for the price they’re charging they should have put a decent 8mp camera on there, it’s not like those are expensive anymore. the 640X480 cameras are like 3 bucks now. Way to cheap of a camera for the hardware.
Thing is, does anyone actually plan on using the Vita as a camera in everyday use? I certainly won’t be at 640 x 480. My phone has a 5MP camera, and I only use that for images for Twitter etc. If I want to take a *decent* image of anything, I’ve got a proper digital camera, which no mobile device will ever replace.
The camera on the Vita is there primarily for use in games. As long as it serves *that* purpose properly, that’s all I care about.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a dual purpose device where I actually use the secondary purpose except as a novelty.
wait for US firmware, you’ll be able to turn off the camera sound then. I believe there is(was) a law in Japan that required/s a noise when taking pictures. iPhone, even in Japan doesn’t follow this law, so that is why I question if it is still upheld. many phones/camera still make noise so I think it just became novelty, many people customize the noise as they would a text message sound.
Not surprising, but damn I wish they would have put in a better sensor. I’m only going to be using the camera for games anyway.
Camera sucks, and it isn’t intended to be your replacement for your current camera. It’s used mainly for the games.
Decent shots taken at night. I didn’t expect that.