Lumia Users: Take Better Selfies with a Nokia Treasure Tag

As you may know, I’m no fan of selfie sticks. But if you have a Lumia smart phone, there’s a better way to take a blur-free selfie: you can use a fun accessory from Microsoft called the Nokia Treasure Tag to remotely trigger the camera shutter.

Treasure Tag uses NFC to pair with your smart phone, and then an app called Treasure Tag for Windows Phone 8 or 8.1 to tag your stuff so you don’t lose it. For example, you can attach Tag to your keychain so you can find your keys. Or you could put a tag in your car so you can find it in a busy parking lot.

tag-it

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I’ll be writing a bit more about this cute and fun accessory soon. But you can buy Treasure Tag for just $29.99 from Amazon.com. I grabbed a classic Lumia cyan blue version, but it’s available in black, yellow and white too. (What, no orange or green?) So let’s focus on today’s topic: Using Tag to remotely trigger the camera shutter for blur-free selfies.

Ah, selfies. They’re the bane of my existence in many ways, and as I traveled around last year I was amazed to see how many people, oblivious of those around them, would jam their camera-mounted selfie sticks in front of them so that they could photograph themselves in front of a fountain, statue or other sight.

You don’t need a selfie stick to take a selfie, of course: You can just hold the phone out in front of you, switch to the rear camera, and then use the phone’s screen to set up the shot. This approach has a few issues, however. First, these shots are often blurry. And second, many smart phones, including newer Lumias, don’t even have a hardware camera button, which makes taking the shot even harder.

Cue Treasure Tag.

Using this clever little accessory and Microsoft’s Lumia Selfie app—which is available only to users of its Lumia smart phones—you can remotely trigger selfie shots while keeping your phone steady. You can do so with the phone in your hand, or you can place the phone on a steady surface for even better shots.

It’s automatic, too: When you run the Lumia Selfie app, it will indicate that it has detected the Tag.

app

Then, just press the button on the face of the Tag to take pictures. I’ve instagrammed this one up because, you know, selfies.

selfie

This works brilliantly. In fact, I’d love to see this functionality added to Lumia Camera for blur-free normal photos as well.

Folks, remember: friends don’t let friends use selfie-sticks. There is a better way.

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Conversation 4 comments

  • Andrew Lawrence

    17 January, 2015 - 6:08 am

    Which FFC is that from, the Lumia 535?

  • Richard Gregg

    17 January, 2015 - 6:35 am

    Cool! And the Selfie app works with either the front or back camera, so can also use with a little tripod we have for better photos while travelling.

  • CyberAngel

    17 January, 2015 - 8:32 am

    Optical Image Stabilization!
    When does it reach the front cam?

  • Richard McFarlane

    17 January, 2015 - 2:24 pm

    I am not a big fan of selfies either, but this seems like a neat solution and a touch more discreet.

    Great website Paul! Congratulations on your new venture.

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