A day of shooting with the HTC RE camera

A day of shooting with the HTC RE camera

HTC's RE camera is a big departure from the company's usual offerings. The tiny handheld 'lifestyle' camera is armed with a 16MP f/2.2 lens and a single shutter button for photos and videos. That's it, no viewfinder, no flash module, no options menu. It's the epitome of point and shoot. We took it out for a day in New York.

Before we start, here's a closer look at the RE. The device measures 96.7 x 26.5mm and weighs 65.5g, making it about the same size and weight as a small portable power bank. Despite its small size I was able to comfortably wrap four fingers around the RE, although if you have bigger hands you might have to leave your pinky finger hanging off the edge.

The large silver button on the back of the RE is the shutter button. Press it once for a picture, or long press it to start recording video.

On the front of the RE, a smaller secondary button lets you activate slow-motion recording. Press and hold it and a blue LED indicator will light up to indicate that you're shooting in slow motion.

The RE doesn't have any other buttons; a built-in grip sensor activates the camera as soon as you pick it up, eliminating the need for a power button. When you pick it up the LED notification light on the front will flash green, for when the battery has more than 20 percent charge left, or red if your battery is under 20 percent.

For storage, the RE has a micro-SD card slot in its base, which supports cards up to 128GB. All REs will also come supplied with an 8GB micro-SD card. On the base, you'll also find a micro-USB port for recharging the RE. According to HTC, the RE can take 1,200 16MP pictures on one complete charge, or 1 hour and 40 minutes of continuous Full HD recording.

Specs-wise, the RE's large camera module sports a 16MP f/2.2 146 degree wide angle lens. There's no flash module so don't expect the RE to perform all that well in low-light conditions.

 

While HTC is billing the RE as a 'lifestyle' camera, rather than a competitor to action cameras like the Go Pro, there will be a number of accessories for the device to let you use it as an action camera of sorts, including a bike mount and a hat mount. The RE is also IP57 rated against dust and water, making it fully capable of taking underwater shots and video, and it can survive full submersion in 1m of water for up to 30 minutes.

Sample photos

While the RE's ultra wide angle lens makes it easy to capture everything in the shot, it takes a bit of getting used to and, without a viewfinder, you just have to trust that the RE is capturing the footage you want. You can of course sync your RE to your smartphone and use its display as a viewfinder but, in that case, you might as well just use your smartphone camera.

For this shoot, HTC was kind enough to take us to Studio 450 in New York, where we were able to test the RE out shooting some professional New York City dancers. All pictures are unedited except for some cropping and re-sizing.

Sample video

We also had a chance to test out the RE's slow motion capabilities:

Play

Conclusion

The RE is definitely not a camera for anyone who enjoys framing their shot, or for anyone who cares about things like the rule of thirds. The Go Pro doesn't need a viewfinder because its primary purpose is to shoot action video, where framing isn't really that important, especially if you helmet mount it and want to look around to capture your surroundings. The RE on the other hand is designed as a camera first, and a video recorder second. Photography requires a viewfinder, because without one, you're stuck blindly shooting at your subject and hoping for the best. As a result, you end up having to volume shoot with the RE, but without a burst mode, and with a one second or so delay in between shots, it's very easy to miss the moment, something that HTC says they designed the RE to eliminate. For the record, I shot about 400 shots with the RE today, and about half of them were unusable, either because they were blurry, I missed the shot, or they were simply poorly framed.

Having said that, the portability of the RE, and its ease of use, makes it a very nice gadget for quickly documenting your life. Pull it out of your pocket and it's ready to go as soon as you point it at your subject. Its ultra wide angle lens is great for group selfies, although you'll need to sync it to a smartphone to check that everyone looks good in your shot, and we can also see it being good for people who normally shy away from cameras (such as elderly relatives), as it's probably the simplest point and shoot camera around. We can also see it being a nice alternative to a Go Pro for those who don't indulge in extreme enough activities to warrant one, and for those who want something smaller and easier to use.

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