Is the camera a deal breaker for anyone?

[jimmyjunk30]

So I literally love everything about the L900 except the damned camera.

I have an 8 month old daughter and would like to have a nice camera in my phone on hand to capture special moments, and the L900 just doesnt cut it.

I do hope Nokia comes out with a software update, but I question how much that will be able to do. It doesnt have a BSI sensor so its never going to be great in low light. Ive tried a bunch of other photo apps with their own camera software, and while better none of them are what i would call good indoors.

My buddy has a Titan II and my wife has an iPhone 4, and both are so much better as far as taking pictures goes. The iPhone 4 especially. I feel like I have to fight with the L900 to get a half decent picture, but on the iPhone it feels so easy, especially with the HDR option.

Problem is, with the rebate I've been basically paid 30 dollars for this phone. If I want to get something else Im going to have to pay. I guess I just have to decide if a better camera is worth it.

Anyone else thinking about returning due to the camera?

 

[eastbayrae]

Software won't fix the lacking hardware, especially no BSI. Get an Titan II or some other device such a real camera.

 

[HeyCori]

Some people are reporting that using a different camera app dramatically improves picture quality. If it's just a software issue then a fix could very well be in the works. I was very tempted to switch from my Titan I to a Lumia for better wifi performance. But then I realized I'm more depending on camera performance than I am wifi.

 

[jimmyjunk30]

Other camera apps are a bit better. The default camera app really struggles with white balance and to a lesser extent focus.

However, Figure 8 is correct in saying that the lack of BSI is what really hurts the camera performance.

I will probably have to get a Titan II because I love WP7 so much and cannot go back to IOS, but I will sure miss the L9's screen.

 

[HeyCori]

Other camera apps are a bit better. The default camera app really struggles with white balance and to a lesser extent focus.

However, Figure 8 is correct in saying that the lack of BSI is what really hurts the camera performance.

I will probably have to get a Titan II because I love WP7 so much and cannot go back to IOS, but I will sure miss the L9's screen.

Technically that was eastbayrae that mentioned the BSI, but I agree nonetheless.

 

[jimmyjunk30]

Technically that was eastbayrae that mentioned the BSI, but I agree nonetheless.

Woops...

 

[properbostonian]

Other camera apps are a bit better. The default camera app really struggles with white balance and to a lesser extent focus.

However, Figure 8 is correct in saying that the lack of BSI is what really hurts the camera performance.

I will probably have to get a Titan II because I love WP7 so much and cannot go back to IOS, but I will sure miss the L9's screen.

jimmy, what camera apps are you referring to? I would like to give them a try. Thank you.

 

[jimmyjunk30]

jimmy, what camera apps are you referring to? I would like to give them a try. Thank you.

Some that I have tried

Creative Studio - This is a nokia app that you can download for free. Its strange, when you take the pic and view it in the app itself, it looks good, but when you save the pic to the camera roll a lot of noise in introduced

SophieCam - This takes good pics, but at a very low resolution.

Fhotoroom - This is a pretty nice app, it lets you tap to focus without taking the picture, and also lets you set the Exposure point.

Turbo Camera - the burst feature here is nice, especially when taking pictures of kids or pets, but the quality isnt much better than the stock app.

 

[sting7k]

Other camera apps are a bit better. The default camera app really struggles with white balance and to a lesser extent focus.

However, Figure 8 is correct in saying that the lack of BSI is what really hurts the camera performance.

I will probably have to get a Titan II because I love WP7 so much and cannot go back to IOS, but I will sure miss the L9's screen.

Yes it should have been a BSI sensor, no excuse these days. The lesser but BSI sensor on the iPhone 4 is still better than the Lumia's camera.

 

[KingCrimson]

I would never rely on a smartphone camera to capture "special moments", that's what a DSLR is for.

 

[jimmyjunk30]

KingCrimson, I have a Nikon D3100 that takes awesome pics.

I also keep that camera in its bag in the closet downstairs, not in my pocket.

When I wake up first thing in the morning and am playing with my daughter in her upstairs bedroom and want to take a pic, it would be nice to be able to use my phone, which is always with me, to capture a half decent impromptu pic.

Makes sense, no?

 

[invertme]

If the 900 was a "permanent" phone for me it might be a deal break. I however plan to upgrade to whatever Apollo phone comes out in October that has the best camera.

 

[danwc]

Yeah. The camera is one of two issues giving me real pause about locking in a commitment on this phone. (the other issue being that the phone seems to have some sort of memory issue where it locks up or freezes, seeming to really struggle for a few moments. I've been trying to figure if it app specific or a more general issue). But like you, this is a free or even better deal than that for some phone. I understand your dilemma, is it better to pay now for a better, decent camera or take the free phone and wait till the Apollo devices hit. I think in part it depends on your plans in the fall. Are you going to upgrade to an Apollo device and how are you going to do it? If you are planning to upgrade, there is a strong incentive to take this phone and wait it out. You can sell this phone then or use another line's upgrade to get the Apollo device at that time. If you're not planning to upgrade I'd seriously consider switching phones. The titan 2 is an an option. Or the HTC one x coming out next week looks to be an android phone with a great camera, if you're willing to switch OS.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

 

[lloydizzle13]

The pictures I've seen taken from a lumia 900 are not that bad at all, they actually look pretty good. I have to say the image quality is still miles better than my samsung omnia 7 so I will definitely get a lumia 900 when it comes to the uk. Maybe the camera isn't as good as other 8mp cameras or maybe its a software issue, either way if I truly and only cared about image quality then i'd wait for the nokia 808

 

[jbjtkbw007]

Nope. My camera takes great photos. I must be the minority.

 

[jimmyjunk30]

Thats a good point about the Apollo phones coming out in October.

It may make sense to use this phone until then, hopefully sell it in October for maybe around 250 or so and kick in the rest and buy an Apollo phone off contract.

Imagine, Apollo with a pure view camera!

 

[theefman]

Battery life is the biggest negative for me, havent taken that many pictures so far and the ones I have just playing around look ok.

 

[mdintx]

It's a total deal breaker for me. A smartphone is the only digital camera I own. It needs to be able to take good low light snapshots. I'm not bringing out a SLR for that. I currently have a Sony X10 (droid) phone and while the OS has been a total kludge, the camera has been really good. After reading the reviews, I ordered the Focus S.

 

[CDG]

It's a total deal breaker for me. A smartphone is the only digital camera I own. It needs to be able to take good low light snapshots. I'm not bringing out a SLR for that. I currently have a Sony X10 (droid) phone and while the OS has been a total kludge, the camera has been really good. After reading the reviews, I ordered the Focus S.

Interesting how opinions differ, I had the the X10 and was very disappointed in the the camera specially for indoor shots, the "spotlight" was a sorry excuse for a flash. When I went to the Atrix, it was so much better but the camera was not a high point of the Atrix. I then had the Vivid and it had an excellent camera, better than the 4s in my opinion.

Now I have the 900 and yes the camera isn't the greatest but I don't see that as a deal breaker for myself. The pictures I have taken with it are of acceptable quality for a cellphone camera, I would say that it is on par with my Atrix.

 

[RiseAgainst94]

If you see my topic "Major Camera Problem" you'll see how poor the camera performance can be on the Lumia 900. In good lighting it does a pretty nice job. The white balance is way off (turns image blue) and there is a yellow spot in the middle of picture taken of a white subject, so without the correct lighting the camera definitely disappoints. I use Thumba photo editor and though it can't fix washing out and the blue tint it does dramatically improve camera quality.
Here are two pics before and after using Thumba photo editor:
Before:

After:

Note* I don't know much about picture editing so I had no idea what I was doing, but I think it looks much better.