Disillusioned: Can my 1020's camera ever compete with my [old] 920 in low-light?

[waqqas31]

I read Dan's review on the 1020's camera and felt like it was the upgrade to my 920 that I was waiting for.

However, about 5 days into my life with the 1020, I can't believe how this product's camera has attracted any loyal following.

Coming from a 920, here are my main gripes:

1. Yellow/green/blue tint on photos.

People complained about it happening with the flash. Others said it happened in low-light. I want to add that it happened to me on the sunniest of days when taking a picture of my son inside the car.

For a camera phone that is this celebrated, you would think this problem would never exist, let alone need fixing via a firmware update. That said, it's still not fixed (and never existed on my 920)!

2. Camera's low-light "performance":

Some said 920 was better in this department, but I didn't know it totally pummeled the 1020. Low-light pictures are close to horrendous.

I can no longer take night-time pictures that accurately capture the beauty of the scene I was experiencing, nor can I capture meaningful detail in an otherwise dark situation (e.g. crawling between servers in a lab to take a picture of the serial number sticker that you would never be able to see otherwise).

I am on the verge of picking up another 920 and putting my 1020 up for sale.

Am I being too hasty? Is there still any hope of the 1020 redeeming itself in the above scenarios?

TIA

 

[Jrexxx]

Just upgraded from a 920 to a 1520. Lowlight pics on the 1520 aren't as good as on the 920, but the difference isn't as huge as you're describing. When it comes to normal shots, I found the 1520 to take marginally better photos.

 

[Ma1dere]

Tint is a real problem, the only other issue I have with low-light problem is the fact that in full auto 1020 tends to over expose the low light scene what makes the pic a bit blurry.

 

[Blacklac]

Have you played with shutter speed? Just look at the 1020 picture sticky. It is capable of some incredible night shots.

While I still occasionally get pictures with a warm tone, I haven't really noticed the white balance being any worse than any other smartphone camera.

 

[carlosrdd]

I went from a 920 to a 1020 and to be completely honest everything is about the same expect for wireless charging and the camera.

The camera like many have said takes a lot of time to learn all the settings and which ones are best at different lighting. That being said I do miss my 920 in my opinion its a more complete phone and in terms of camera I can just grab it and shoot no pre messing with settings.

I will say if the 1020 would get an update to save settings like picture profiles. That would make my experience much better.

 

[waqqas31]

Have you played with shutter speed? Just look at the 1020 picture sticky. It is capable of some incredible night shots.

While I still occasionally get pictures with a warm tone, I haven't really noticed the white balance being any worse than any other smartphone camera.

Tried it, and just like [D]SLR's, one would require a pretty steady hand (or a tripod) to make good use of the slower shutter speeds. That's what I found incredible about the 920. One tap and you get the same result as having a tripod.

 

[waqqas31]

I went from a 920 to a 1020 and to be completely honest everything is about the same expect for wireless charging and the camera.

The camera like many have said takes a lot of time to learn all the settings and which ones are best at different lighting. That being said I do miss my 920 in my opinion its a more complete phone and in terms of camera I can just grab it and shoot no pre messing with settings.

I will say if the 1020 would get an update to save settings like picture profiles. That would make my experience much better.

Actually, I can go one further and tell you what I liked more about the 1020 over the 920:

1. Dust-free FFC.
2. AMOLED screen is superb in the dark (glance screen) as well as in direct sunlight.
3. Ergonomics.
4. Refined design details (lanyard loop, "CE" logo, much better USB port fitting, quality SIM-tray).

I could even forego wireless charging in the long run (despite having two wireless chargers)--but not being able to capture the kind of pictures I got used to--that I can't get over, especially since this was supposed to have "the best" camera. I could settle for doing more work to get the same result, but not being able to do it at all made me very disappointed.

 

[bijak_riyandi]

Rule #1 in using Nokia Lumia 1020: use the manual settings