Lumia 930 faulty camera (low light)?

[Virgil Wilsterman]

Received my 930 yesterday and I thought the camera would be better than my Lumia 920. I made two low light videos to compare the two. Do you think I have defective camera in my 930 or do you think I am going to have to live with this ?

Lumia 920:

Lumia 930:

I am also seeing these strange purple flashes in videos when I move the phone to fast you can see that in these videos. The first video is shot from my Lumia 930. The second video shows the screen of my 930 you can see it lighting up when I move the phone.

 

[crimpy]

I have now 3rd L930 with same problem... Seems to be HW bug on all 930.

 

[Coreldan]

Or then it's not a bug, but just the fact they are different cameras. 920 was marketed specifically with good low light imaging. I would think though that this could at least be improved upon with software.

 

[Virgil Wilsterman]

Or then it's not a bug, but just the fact they are different cameras. 920 was marketed specifically with good low light imaging. I would think though that this could at least be improved upon with software.

I hope so cause this is really bad

 

[MrWhiteman]

I have this problem also. low light is also grainy. My gf has a 920, I will momentarily post comparison pics.
920
930
920
930

Appalling results with 930 with flourescent light and low light

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

Your 920 will ALWAYS have better lowlight performance than 930/1520. The aperture is smaller, so it brings in less light. The only way to "help" solve that problem is using longer exposure times.

 

[MrWhiteman]

Your 920 will ALWAYS have better lowlight performance than 930/1520. The aperture is smaller, so it brings in less light. The only way to "help" solve that problem is using longer exposure times.

I for one am absolutely gutted, I bought the 930 because I thought the camera was superior. After looking on Tom's Hardware, it does look like the camera is inferior to the 920.

 

[AJE1]

I for one am absolutely gutted, I bought the 930 because I thought the camera was superior. After looking on Tom's Hardware, it does look like the camera is inferior to the 920.

The 920 camera is better in a few situations, the 930 camera is better in more situations.

 

[MrWhiteman]

Here's a comparison with the flash, tell me which one you prefer:
1.
2.

 

[Stephen Vogel]

I think I prefer the bottom pic, colours seem a bit more natural to me.

 

[Nijaz Turdaliev]

(ISO-800, exposure time 0.5 sec., WB - tungsten)
Lumia 920


Lumia 930

 

[KllR007]

Nijaz Turdaliev - 920 - green tint in picture. So in this one 930 wins at least for me.

MrWhiteman- botton one, better colors. Which on is it ?

 

[Kissanviikset]

bottom one flash shot is better and it is taken with 930. Brighter photo is not always better. 920 looks washed out and lacks contrast. 930 shot is also sharper. I gave some hints to you MrWhiteman in here http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-930/286159-pics-videos-taken-your-lumia-930-a.html

 

[jirkahtc]

Here's a comparison with the flash, tell me which one you prefer:
1. View attachment 72529
2. View attachment 72530

No doubt 2.

 

[Coreldan]

I don't think there are any "no doubt" options there for me. In some pics 920 looks better, in some 930 seems to do nicer for my preference.

 

[Mizmo]

I for one am absolutely gutted, I bought the 930 because I thought the camera was superior. After looking on Tom's Hardware, it does look like the camera is inferior to the 920.

it's not inferior, they just have different strengths. lumia 930 is better in daylight, 920 better in lowlight. these things were known already before launch or the first tests just by looking at the specs....

but the difference is, you can get similiar results than 920 with the 930 by using manual settings because of the improved OIS, but you can't get better daylight shots with the 920. overall the 930 has in my opinion the better camera.

small comparison with low light

920 auto
​

920 manual


930 auto


930 manual
​

all 4 pictures are too bright. 920 auto result is good, with manual settings it was possible to lower the noise (good visible in top left of the picture). 930 auto clearly worse than 920 but with manual settings it looks as good as 920 or even a little bit better. but the exposure time is with 1.2s quite high I can understand why they don't wanna use it with auto mode

 

[TheOzgun]

Seriously, after my 925 this camera is a joke at low-light. I don't remember a single situation that I needed the flash with my 925, but with 930 you definitely need it, even with medium light. Also it's incredibly noisy.

 

[Jim Bob4]

This is important to know. I have a 521 and a decent low light camera is an important feature for me in getting a new phone.

 

[Bernhard Koenig]

I also had issues with the 930 camera in daylight. Most noticeable in photographs against the light, but the more I was using it, the more I was sure something was terribly wrong - every photo had some noticeable white haze all over it, the colors looked washed out and the photos never were really sharp. Even in best light conditions. I was very disappointed.

Until today, I went into the local store and took the chance to use the demo device there to shoot some comparison pictures (exact same firmware version). The difference was amazing ... comparing the same motives side by side, the 930 can shoot very decent photos. This won't help in low light conditions, but if any of you also have problems in daylight ... try to find a comparison device to see if it's you or your device.

I'd say the issue is most likely a wrongly aligned lens (lens groups).

 

[zipro]

Received my 930 yesterday and I thought the camera would be better than my Lumia 920. I made two low light videos to compare the two. Do you think I have defective camera in my 930 or do you think I am going to have to live with this ?

Lumia 920:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxU5jylh100&list=UUvk5KJvk4jLXV_QqVWgaRlQ

Lumia 930:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2uvzwtX7V8&list=UUvk5KJvk4jLXV_QqVWgaRlQ

I am also seeing these strange purple flashes in videos when I move the phone to fast you can see that in these videos. The first video is shot from my Lumia 930. The second video shows the screen of my 930 you can see it lighting up when I move the phone.

http://youtu.be/5-_Dfni7BiE

http://youtu.be/72bYyZ0AcmM

It has the same crappy camera as the 1520 and shoots the same crappy low-light images - not much of a surprise, tbh.