Taking pictures with your mobile phoneUsing your video phone

A phone with swivel screen for video

Taking video using your phone

Recording video on your camera phone is usually done by setting your handset to camera mode (see Using your camera phone) and then switching from still photo to video mode. There’s usually a fairly obvious way of doing this either on-screen or from the main camera menu – look for an icon symbolising either a movie camera or a frame of celluloid film.

Starting and stopping video recording is more often than not a question of pressing the Enter button on the phone’s main keypad, though if there’s a dedicated photo shutter button on the phone this may work too.

Lenses

Some camera phones feature two lenses, one on the front of the phone just above the screen and one on the rear. As a general rule of thumb, the lens on the front is for video phone calls (see below), while the one on the rear is usually reserved for higher quality videos and still photos.

Saving video

Your camera phone may automatically save your video as soon as you stop recording. If it doesn’t, check the main menu for a Save option.

Video uses up even more memory than still photos, so you should definitely consider a memory card if you’re planning on recording a lot of moving pictures. See the page 'Using your camera phone' for more details on memory cards.

Sharing video

Video messaging

Most mobile networks offer a video messaging service, which works like a video version of picture messaging. After you have recorded a clip, there should be a Send shortcut available. If not, navigate to where your video is saved, select your clip and choose Send from there. As with photos, there are costs involved and your recipient’s phone will need to be capable of both receiving multimedia messages and playing back video.

If you have set up an email account on your mobile phone you will be able to send your video this way too. Again, there will be additional costs involved.

Emailing video

Transfer your video clips to a computer (see below) and you’ll be able to attach them to emails. However, if your recipient doesn’t have broadband, even a short video clip attachment may take a long time to download. There are also compatibility issues to bear in mind with video files, which might mean that the person you send the clip to won’t be able to view it.

Mobile photos and video look blocky on TVs

Sharing video on YouTube

Mobile phone video clips tend to look pretty bad when blown up to full TV screen size, so we don’t recommend using your computer to create a DVD movie. 

Instead, one way to ensure your friends and family can all see something is to upload it to a video sharing website such as YouTube. It’s fairly easy to do this, and you can either make your clip accessible only to people you know or allow the whole world to watch it.

Uploading video to your computer

Physically transferring video clips from your phone to your computer requires either a wired (USB) connection or a wireless (Bluetooth) link. If you use a memory card in your phone, you may also be able to transfer your clips by inserting the card into your computer. See the page 'Using your camera phone' for more on how to transfer data between a camera phone and a computer.

Video file formats

Once you get your clips onto your computer, however, you may find you have problems viewing them. There are several different mobile video file formats about, but the most common one is the 3GP format. Apple’s QuickTime player can playback 3GP files, so if you don’t already have it installed, go to www.apple.com/uk/quicktime/ to download it  free of charge.

Making a video call

Making a video call is pretty easy. Usually it just involves selecting a number from your contacts and selecting Make video call (or similar) from the menu. Video calls usually cost more than normal voice calls, however.

3G

Check signal strength before a video call

To successfully carry out a video call, both you and the person you are calling will need 3G-compatible phones.

3G network coverage

Be aware that even if you have a 3G phone, you may not always have full 3G coverage. Check the signal strength bars on your mobile before making a video call.