New Lumia Flash Innovation

[Great deal]

Looks cool and solves lots of issues we all have

BBC News - Microsoft phones get flash trick for low light snaps

 

[worldspy99]

I can definitely see using this trick. Engadget has a nice GIF to demo this as well.

 

[HeyCori]

I never use flash. Maybe now I'll at least try, lol.

 

[EspHack]

if all 'pureview' phones had xenon flash we wouldn't need this function at all

 

[Cleavitt76]

if all 'pureview' phones had xenon flash we wouldn't need this function at all

A real xenon flash (as opposed to an LED "flash" light) helps, but it doesn't really solve the problem that this solves. Balancing ambient and "flash" lighting in photography is a challenge even for an experienced photographer. The average user doesn't even understand the concepts of photography well enough to know which settings to change. Even for someone that knows, the adjustments have to be made in advance and there is often some trial and error involved. However, this method captures both extremes automatically and lets pretty much anyone find a good balance after the image is captured by using a simple slider UI control.