Thoughts and impressions of the Nokia Lumia 920’s PureView camera

Lumia 920

The Nokia Lumia 920

Of all of the announcements today by Nokia, the 920'due south PureView camera is probably ane of the more than impressive. Nosotros told you what we thought it meant and we weren't too far off. Today we had a chance to non only play around with information technology but in talking with Ilari Nurmi, VP of Product Marketing for Nokia, nosotros were able to learn a fleck more behind the engineering science as well.

Beginning, allow's talk most the specifications and what they mean to you, the consumer…

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As many of you know, a few of us here at Windows Telephone Central are camera enthusiasts. That'southward why nosotros're very excited about the 920: it really is a game changer. Hither are the camera specs:

F/ii.0 aperture
BSI sensor
1/3 inch sensor size
8.7MP
Floating lens

Allow'southward pause that down for everyone: the F/2.0 aperture is the everyman establish whatever smartphone. Think of aperture as how "open" a lens can get—the more open, the more than low-cal comes in. That's crucial every bit light is what photographic camera'due south require and is the primal to getting a expert epitome. You want to buy an expensive lens for your DSLR? Search for one with an F/i.4 aperture—basically the lower the number, the meliorate. Reaching F/2.0 on a photographic camera-phone is a pretty large deal, make no mistake about it. It will also profoundly assist to brand your photos better as the shutter speed tin can get faster.

We've discussed back-side illuminated sensors (BSI) earlier—it's what is plant on the iPhone, Titan II and many Samsung phones. It puts the wires behind the sensor, assuasive more light to be received and once again, making brighter photos. Nosotros've wanted Nokia to exercise this for a very long fourth dimension and at present they have.

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The Lumia 900, Lumia 920 and 808 PureView

Sensor size is also crucial. Here, the bigger the better and the fact is, nigh smartphones have tiny sensors. Why practice some "pro" DSLRs cost so much? It'due south because they accept a behemothic sensor (it'due south also why they're so big). The Lumia 920 sports a 1/3 inch sensor that beats many phones who roll with a smaller one. That brings us to megapixels…

Photographers hate megapixel discussions because it'due south all consumers focus on, instead of all of the above. It's oftentimes the least of import attribute equally those pixels won't meliorate your photo much. It'due south good for cropping, aye, but other than that?

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Nokia informed u.s.a. they could have added more than the 8.7MP to that 1/1.4" sensor, every bit some of their competitors have on their devices. Merely every bit nosotros mentioned last night, jamming more megapixels on a sensor can have negative consequences, like reduce image quality. The more pixels on a sensor, the more calorie-free yous need to illuminate them all. In plow, cameras with high megapixel count tend to accept worse low-light operation. That'southward right folks, putting 16MP or 32MP into a camera can be a bad affair, especially if information technology'southward on a small sensor.

No, Nokia took the good route here—the i that photographers would have preferred: larger, BSI sensor with less megapixels so there is less noise in depression light conditions.

Throw in their whole "Floating lens", which is a mechanical form of image stabilization (aka meliorate than software based) and nosotros're talking a whole new category of a camera telephone. We've seen some of the images so far, we really like what nosotros see.

What nigh the Lumia 820? While information technology lacks the PureView engineering, it does accept a better sensor and Nokia's coveted photo algorithms for image sharpness and reduced noise. From what they told united states, the 820's camera is a skillful if non better than any top camera phone on the market today, while the 920 just hurdles over everything.

So while nosotros still demand to see the finished product, to photograph-enthusiasts everywhere, Nokia spoke our language today. They got it correct, they focused on the right photographic camera aspects and we like what nosotros see.

Finally, while we saw a few of those Nokia Lenses, that was simply a gustation of the Scalado conquering. Look more in the time to come.