Nokia and Windows Phone camera question

[crash1989]

I was watching the ad that went live recently The Windows Phone Nokia Lumia 928 - the best low-light smartphone camera - YouTube
The ad is great and they are pushing out the right message. I want to ask the owners of 928, do the pics really come out as good as shown in the ad? If they are I will be purchasing a 928/925 as soon as it is available.

I have a lumia 920 and it sometimes can produce awesome low light shots and at other times behaves like it doesn't know what to focus on and produces terrible [ics.
While capturing these my hands very stable, didn't use the camera button (tapped on screen), tried all scene modes but the phone failed to produce a decent shot.

 

[MikeLip]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

I don't know about that, but everyone who reviews the 928 is saying while the pics during the day are so-so, acceptable but not spectacular. They are also saying that it outperforms everything else at night and low light, including the HTC One, which claims to be the night shooter to beat. Looks like it was beaten by a company that never even made a fuss about it.

Oh yeah. You cannot hand hold a camera for long exposure night shots and expect good results. Set it on something or brace it somehow.

 

[nadoj]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

So far I've found the pics on my 928 to be pretty good. Honestly I agree with you and I think the pics in the ads are impossible to reproduce, however it is an awesome camera. Probably about the same quality as the 920.

The only way I can get good low light shots is to stand 100% still and hope it knows what to focus on. It sometimes takes a few tries for an awesome photo. I noticed the camera is pretty good at close range shots (3-10 feet day or night) but struggles a bit on objects further away.

 

[gsquared]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

Looks like rookie pics to me..

 

[Somerichs]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

I don't know about that, but everyone who reviews the 928 is saying while the pics during the day are so-so, acceptable but not spectacular.

I keep hearing that, too, and I find it baffling! How hard is it for even the crappiest phone to take a good pic during the day in good light? I have a Droid x and on a sunny day it takes perfectly fine pics. Not award winners or anything, but I wouldn't call them so-so, either...

Is it engineering it for low light performance that somehow makes it worse for low light?

 

[spaulagain]

My 920 takes great pics during the day all the time. People just expect flawless results every time. Even my $2000 D-SLR and lenses don't pull off great shots every time.

Also, I don't use the same lenses and settings for low light shots on my D-SLR. So I would expect if the phone is engineered for low light, it might not be as good for day light.

Day light, perfectly good shot here...

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=44583D4C847E83BD!825&authkey=!ANL7Ry5fYOkRcpk

Even in snowy overcast...

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=44583D4C847E83BD!620&authkey=!AA2p0ffhzSFamO8

 

[aaa6112]

To the OP, you've showed us the not-so-good photos your L920 took. Now why don't you show us the awesome photos you said it took.

And that street light! You need to clean the camera lens. Do you want viewers to pay attention to that horrible street light? If the answer is no, then why is it right in my face? Try to avoid street lights as much as possible, at least when they're that close.

 

[redeyss]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

+1, I always wipe my lens with my shirt quick before taking pics. Its become like an instinct now and it looks like yours is smudged.

 

[Robinsonmac]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

I found that you can tell the camera what to focus on if you use the screen to take the picture. Wherever you tap on the screen is where it will focus. Also using the screen produced much better pictures. Using the shutter creates more movement.

 

[crash1989]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

2 of the better night pics with 920 as ordered . I did give my phone a lot of leniency, but I guess Nokia kind of showed me smartphone cameras could be even better and I am becoming greedy.
FYI I do clean the lens, but I guess I don't remember if I did so in those pics. But my point is the ADvertisement is way ahead of what the cameras are capable of.

This is a pic at the same location


The much hated light on the pole

 

[crash1989]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

My 920 takes great pics during the day all the time. People just expect flawless results every time. Even my $2000 D-SLR and lenses don't pull off great shots every time.

Also, I don't use the same lenses and settings for low light shots on my D-SLR. So I would expect if the phone is engineered for low light, it might not be as good for day light.

Day light, perfectly good shot here...

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=44583D4C847E83BD!825&authkey=!ANL7Ry5fYOkRcpk

Even in snowy overcast...

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=44583D4C847E83BD!620&authkey=!AA2p0ffhzSFamO8

I don't have any problems with days shots unless I am moving or screwed up with the settings (Auto setting doesn't always work for me). I followed a Nokia conversations blog post on how to take better pics with 920 and it has certainly enhanced the pics I take. But it's the night I have a problem with and ads try to show me how insanely awesome it can be, but in reality isn't .

 

[squire777]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

As others have said you need to get that large light out of your view.

Also, some of your shots had subjects moving closely by the camera which may have ruined your focus if you were focusing on a distant object. There is some hand-shake in some of the pictures as well - is OIS on by default?

 

[Brandon Riesenbeck]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

If you're going to point your camera right at street lights, you need to lower your ISO settings to around 200.

 

[crash1989]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

As others have said you need to get that large light out of your view.

Also, some of your shots had subjects moving closely by the camera which may have ruined your focus if you were focusing on a distant object. There is some hand-shake in some of the pictures as well - is OIS on by default?

Is there a way to switch off OIS? Yes it was on.

The first pic had very few moving objects, but I think I have to agree that stupid light was screwing things up. but again my question was about the AD and if 928 was any better at than 920.

 

[crash1989]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

If you're going to point your camera right at street lights, you need to lower your ISO settings to around 200.

I wanted to just get the entire area covered on one shot. I tweak the ISO and exposure a lot. But it's always a hit and miss. It takes me 3 - 4 shots to get a decent capture.

 

[Huime]

Re: Nokia and Windows Phone false advertising?

You cant switch off OIS. Its a passive lens spring damper.
However you must understand how camera works. There is no magic making it motion freeze. Either you have a super huge sensor to grab the scene within a split of a second and digitally illuminate the result or prolong the exposure.

The first scene is a very busy place albeit you also point it towards a street light to make the cam work harder. People moving around and you probably release your hand right after clicking.
Remember those are tiny spring in the OIS. They form a high frequency damper. So rather than saying is cancel shakes, more precisely it damps out vibration. Shake is as you intentional move your hand, vibration as in the invertible "shake" when you try to hold still.

So, when you take a night pic, do it slow.

 

[aaa6112]

Things that can improve your low-light photographs:
1. Tripod - with slow shutter speeds, tripods get rid of any movement, hence minimizing blur.

2. Apps that allow you to set a timer between when you click the camera button and when the photo is taken. ProShot app, for instance. Again, this is so that the small amount of movement that happens when you click the camera button doesn't affect the photo quality.

3. Study this thread for various tips, it offers a ton of wealth - http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-apps/215564-loving-proshot-camera-app.html

 

[WanderingTraveler]

Whoa. Looks like Dave spotted the thread title and cleaned it up.

Anyway, the Lumia 92x series has been praised for its low-light camera. Even if you say it's a hoax, it's been backed up by claims of hundreds of satisfied users on WPCentral (just take a good long look at the thread where people show their 920 photos)
So, If I were you, I'd recognize that no camera is perfect

 

[ttsoldier]

Pics taken by aaa6112 https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=2d5b842e2667b4aa&id=2D5B842E2667B4AA!918&authkey=!AIf6hhksJj7AWjw

These are awesome pics and look like they could be in an advertisement.

As mentioned above, holding the camera and pressing the shutter will not give you the shot you are looking for. There is a lot more to it if you want to reproduce these awesome photos.

 

[crash1989]

Pics taken by aaa6112 https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=2d5b842e2667b4aa&id=2D5B842E2667B4AA%21918&authkey=!AIf6hhksJj7AWjw

These are awesome pics and look like they could be in an advertisement.

As mentioned above, holding the camera and pressing the shutter will not give you the shot you are looking for. There is a lot more to it if you want to reproduce these awesome photos.

awesome pics, I will give proshot a chance and try to make better of what I have