Close Up Photos with Flash

[peterpphoto]

I have noticed that when you shoot a close up the flash doesn't seem to illuminate the object. I tested close ups with flash on my iphone and it works so I'm not sure if this is a bug with the phone or something nokia decided against but the flash still fires it just doesn't illuminate close up until you back up to a certain distance. It comes in handy when you are taking a close up of something in the dark.

 

[lordofthereef]

Serious question... why are you using flash on closeups? Flash is not meant for closups. It will overflood the image with light bouncing back and just look crappy. iPhone will flash. The pics also look God awful in that case.

 

[peterpphoto]

Working full time as a photographer I know on camera flash on closeups is not optimal. But I have had to take photos of serial numbers in PC's, Vin Numbers at night, and other low light close up photos for reference purposes so having the flash work in close ups is needed.

 

[anon(5370748)]

This has to do with the flash being optimized to illuminate subjects probably ~5ft away (mostly people at parties, etc). It's not a dedicated macro camera, and you can't direct the beam or increase the light cone, so it's directing the light past the image area of the lens when you have it very close to your subject (essentially creating a very bright hotspot far off to the right of the area you can capture at the MFD). I can think of two solutions to this.
1. Get a pocket flashlight and illuminate the area manually
2. Back up a bit, shoot the serials/vins/etc and then do a center crop. The camera in Lumia is good enough to product legible text in a small portion of the sensor. (edit) - Make sure you get the numbers as close to the center of the frame as possible - I've noticed a lot of sharpness falloff toward the edges of the frame.

 

[peterpphoto]

I've used off camera flash all the time for close ups (PNC Photography | Close-up | Photo 4). On the iphone there was an app called camera+ that let you turn the flash on like a flash light and you could capture photos at the same time and it was less harsh. It's not a useless feature. I actually think that if the lumia 920 had this feature coupled with the OIS it would greatly improve it's photos by adding a little light but still utilizing the long exposure you would be able to take really nice portraits at night.

 

[peterpphoto]

I've used off camera flash all the time for close ups (PNC Photography | Close-up | Photo 4). On the iphone there was an app called camera+ that let you turn the flash on like a flash light and you could capture photos at the same time and it was less harsh. It's not a useless feature. I actually think that if the lumia 920 had this feature coupled with the OIS it would greatly improve it's photos by adding a little light but still utilizing the long exposure you would be able to take really nice portraits at night.

Just went to best buy and exchanged my Nokia and I no longer have this issue, must of been a defect