Topic: Official 3DS video camera discussion?

[BranDonk Kong]

Can I do this? Anyway, I just installed the software update the other day, partially excited to try out the new functionality...only to find out that it's basically the worst thing ever. The 3DS is *horrible* for taking pictures, and it's even worse for recording videos. I've read early impressions where people felt dizzy when playing the 3DS (talking games here), and that never happened to me - until I tried to use the video camera. The camera on the 3DS is good for AR games, and nothing else (maybe reading QR codes). What a waste of 40 minutes installing the update.

[ejamer]

I agree that the 3DS camera is very nearly useless... but (to some degree) that depends on your expectations and what you want to accomplish.


The photo quality isn't good enough that I would use it for anything serious. But it's not bad for snapping low-quality photos for Twitter purposes (note: Twitter works well with the built-in web browser) or taking quick impromptu videos to laugh at friends or entertain children. So as a camera it fails, but as a toy it's just barely passable.


Personally, the grainy video seemed more entertaining than barely-recognizable photos... surely that's worth something?  It does make you wonder why Nintendo didn't spring for better camera hardware.

[nickmitch]

I simply don't enjoy sharing my 3DS photos because the cameras are so shitty. The novelty of taking pictures of a Mii of me in real life places should not have worn off so quickly, but it did.

[leahsdad]

I agree that the 3DS camera is very nearly useless... but (to some degree) that depends on your expectations and what you want to accomplish.

You know, I took my 3DS with me to Legoland today with my daughter, and we were taking a bunch of pictures and video.  The pictures came out fine, not fantastic, but alright with good 3D effects if the subject of the photo was less than 10 feet away.   

But the video was horrible.   Really, really horrible.  Granted, it was sunny, and outdoors, but I filmed the entirety of this lego fairytale boat ride and just viewed the footage after we got home.  Every time a lego sculpture came into view the 3D hurt my eyes.  A lot!  With horrible and extreme ghosting, all the time.

 In fact, it gave my my first 3D headache since getting my 3DS on launch day, and I'm a guy who plays a lot of 3DS, with the 3D turned up all the way, all the time!

[TheFleece]

I will admit that the camera results are very poor quality I want to note that I've actually taken some very nice photos with it. For one thing if a picture comes out crappy there are a few things you can do like toggle the light settings. This may help if only slightly, but that might be all it needs. Also for some reason the best results I've had were on the street taking pictures of public places while riding around in a car. I should post some because while they're poor quality they are surprisingly clear and look better than what one would expect from a 3DS. I took some videos a few weeks ago and the results were half and half. One I took was in a train station in clear lighting and it looks ok, but the sound quality is poor and the second one was at night in a dark place and since I didn't get the settings right it came out poor.

I'm not sure what results anyone really expects, but it's ultimately not a bad tool to have at hand. It's not going to compare to any smartphone camera or anything that can be bought for a PSP or Vita. I'm not saying I even rely on the 3DS camera as my main camera because like everyone else I have a better camera, but it's alright for sending pictures to other 3DS players and maybe that's the best we need it for. I'll keep experimenting with the features and trying to get the best results possible.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I took a few videos @ Disneyland over the past 2 days. Never thought I would need an SD card larger than the one that came in the system.... but I ran out of video recording space

I got a portion of the light show @ California Adventure "World of Color", a ride on a roller coaster "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad" and the Disney Xmas Parade.

The Parade is in several smaller chunks since I was running out of space and knew the parade was longer than the 10 minute limit, but I'm sure i can find a way to splice it all together if anyone is interested in watching it.