Trying to decide: Camera on L920 - asking for user experience/advice.

[Zerveone]

(It might look long, but please bear with me )

Hey guys,

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I wanted to ask You some questions about Lumia 920 camera. I hope my thread is in the right place.

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Firstly, I'll try to explain You why I'm asking most of my questions:

I've been living with my L800 quite happily, very pleased with possibilities it offers. But i do like taking photos, what doesn't mean I have much knowledge about taking photos. Most (95%) of my shots come from my bike travels, so I'm mostly shooting nature, often close up photos but countryside/panoramas as well.

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I was lurking around Lumia 920 forums quite a long time, watching mostly Your pictures theard and camera reviews. I can say that i love those shots and overall camera performance (i'm talking about smartphones category)., It's performs much better than my L800.

But I'm having a great dilema:

Most of my friends ask me: Why won't You buy a DSLR, which offers better quality pictures? And here is my reasoning:
I love the practicality of a smartphone. When I'm riding a bike and I see something i want a picture of, I just stop, reach out to my pocket, pulling my L800 and taking a shot. It's fast and convenient. Sure, quality is nowhere close to a DSLR pictures, but I'm not planning to compete in any contests with my pictures. It's mostly for me, friends and family. I use it to capture the atmosphere of a place.

It's hard for me to imagine me stopping, dropping my backpack (includes unpinning two safety belts to take it off), unzipping it and then reaching for a DSLR which would be probably stored in another case and then prepare to take the shot. After that packing it again and going off just to see something interesting after 10-15 minutes of riding and doing all that again. Another thing is I'd be worried about that camera in case of a crash (i could easily break it if i fall of my bike).

That's why I wanted to ask You for Your opinion, coming from Your experience (i hope some photographers would read that and try not to laugh btw). Is it worth to buy a DSLR instead of a Lumia? Does it take much longer to set up for a good shot? And how hard is it to get the basics? Are most of those camera shock resistant? Is it easy to break one?

Of course price is some concern too. Where I live I can buy a new Lumia for about ~360-400 ?. I'm worried that a decent DSLR + any kind of lens would cost me much more.
It's hard for me to express my doubts... I know it's stupid to ask You about comparison of L920 and a decent camera so i'm going to ask differently:
Is it worth sacrificing so much picture quality for so much practicality and ease of use? Is Lumia capable of working for ~6 hours as a music player non stop + logging my track with GPS and in addition to that shooting some photos?
I'm aware that having an optical zoom and general additions that DSLR offers, gives me much more options to take a good picture...

Last but not least: should I be considering L925 just because it has one more lens? I like the 920 much more because of the design and built in wireless charging, but it's stated clear that L925 will last much longer on one charge. I asume that L920 will get the same software update upgrading it's camera algorithms (AFAIK it wasn't mentioned on the L925 conference).

To sum things up: If you consider me as a heavy bike riding guy, taking casual photos (but loving to take those, i treat it as a hobby), is it worth investing a Lumia or something more professional?

Thanks for bearing with what i wrote here and i would love to hear your opinions.

 

[Jazmac]

Your friends don't know Windows Phone. Do you know DSLR camera's and have used them? No disrespect but from the post it doesn't sound like you have had a lot of experience with them. I haven't used them myself but like you, I have friends that suggest I go that route too.

My position on camera phones is this, I insist on my phone having the ability to take great photos. They must look great to the eye, have adequate color saturation and white balance and not blur out to where you have to delete an otherwise great shot. Not to mention a shot you won't be able to capture a second time.

This is what I get, almost flawlessly with my Lumia 920. It takes great point n shoot pictures.

Having said that, if I want pictures great enough for framing, I have taken great shots with my Lumia 920 that very well can be enlarged to a portrait quality photograph, there certainly are enough pixels there. I personally have never tried it but I'm certain people have and are satisfied with the results. If you must ZOOM in on photos, then you can't get that from a phone without support. There is a lens you can get for the Lumia to attach to get distance shots but it isn't what a camera phone is designed to do. Especially Windows Phone. The Microsoft vision is about families, close relationships and such. At least that is how they began the Windows Phone push. Your friends don't know Windows Phone. They need to learn.

 

[Zerveone]

Thanks for Your input. I do really appreciate the feedback!

Yes, to be honest i never had any decent DSLRs in my hands, that's why I'm asking You guys, hoping You have more experience than me

Anyone else care to share his opinion?

 

[Kellzea]

Just get the 920.

A professional grade camera is great if you are wanting to sink lots of time and effort (not to mention money) into it.

You will need multiple lenses, multiple filters and lots of data cards, battery packs and a serious photo editing suite. Otherwise a pro camera is a waste of cash.

The 920 will shoot the type of shot you want time and time again. It wont ever beat a pro grade camera with the correct lens and photoshopped raw.

But they are not for the same thing.

You are a cyclist that takes photos, not a photographer that cycles.

You don't need an f1 car, you need a people carrier.

Get the 920.