Pictures + Videos Taken With My Lumia 830

[stocktiki]

Just grabbed an 830. Great device and a big upgrade from the iPhone. But I am struggling with the camera.
I've shot photos outside with the 830 (auto everything) and a Canon SD4000 POS side-by-side. The white balance on the 830 seems pretty far off. Pinks look purple -- and the whole scene looks too "cold" leaning toward white. The Canon photos look better -- which is a bit disappointing since I was hoping my PureView would let me leave my POS at home.

But then I see these amazing shots you guys are getting -- so I think my problems are "operator error."

Couple of questions:
1. I'm guessing this is a white balance issue -- but do you guys getting these awesome shots always set white balance manually? So with each shot, you should look at the lighting and change the white balance? What about with mixed lighting -- say a classroom that might have fluorescent bars on one side but incandescent bulbs nearby? Is there a way to help the "auto" setting make a better choice?

2. Do the Lumia Camera apps and Nokia Camera apps choose white balance and other settings differently. Is it better to use one or the other?

3. Is post processing required to get good results?

Hoping to get some help!
Thanks!

 

[HaibaneReki]

I almost always set WB manually if I care about the photo. Usually very little post processing.

IMO on auto, the phone tries to get the whites as white as possible - resulting in distorted colors vs. reality.. You'll get into it soon enough.

 

[longcipher]

Right from the camera, no post processing.

 

[Sachin A]

 

[JasonSCarter]

 

[stocktiki]

Thanks to some pointers from this forum, found out how to handle the Lumia 830 and get some good shots out of it. Wanted to share a few of my findings:

1. Don't fixate on the app. Lumia Camera and MIcrosoft Camera appear to be the same engine -- just with a different front end. Their UIs are the only things that separate them. They both seem to do the same things -- but the way you do those things are different. Choose the one you like. I chose Microsoft Camera because it appears to be a bit faster in saving images and allowing for faster shot-to-shot.

2. White balance is everything. My photos from the Lumia were disappointing to me at first because the colors were way off. The resolution and clarity was great. The answer is simple: Don't trust the auto white balance (it makes things too white). I've found that the "daylight" setting is usually the best most of the time. I set daylight as my default. That way, when the camera fires up, it's on daylight. If that's wrong, you can adjust. Hoping Microsoft fixes this so the camera selects the best white balance setting. But was thrilled with the accuracy of the color of this shot (on daylight WB):



Still struggling with the nighttime shots. Below, the top photo is from my Canon POS and the second is the Lumia 830. Any suggestion on how to do it better next time?

Canon



Lumia 830

 

[Marty89]

You have to focus on the lights. If you let autofocus do the job, the camera will try to lighten up the scene too much and the lights will look like on your photo. But if you focus on the lights, the camera will try to get them as good as possible, but with darker scene.

 

[HaibaneReki]

Still struggling with the night-time shots. Below, the top photo is from my Canon POS and the second is the Lumia 830. Any suggestion on how to do it better next time?

what settings have You used? At night I often find myself using ISO 100-200 + man. exposure, WB cloudy when shooting for example in parks with orange-ish street lights. Other than that I play around with WB + stick with lowest possible ISO and long exposure times.



I had to resize the heck out of the first pic. For some reason the boards won't upload any files bigger than 2MB taken by ProShot, smh..

 

[Marty89]

Theater in my hometown...
ISO 200, 0,55 sec., WB fluorescent

 

[Tengku Fendy]

nice pic guys

 

[Noahma]

Here are a few of mine. Taken at the Denver light the lights celebration. The court house is all lit for the holidays.

 

[Mr Lebowski]

Will the 830 get DNG with the upcoming forever waiting for 'NEW' Lumia Camera ?

 

[Sachin A]

 

[Marty89]

Extremely beautiful pictures. You are very talented!

 

[Ejay Lozano]

Low light shot of my AE86

 

[oshea]

Here is one of a behind the scene shot of my brother shooting a short film for school.
Again, 5 photo bracketing in Nokia Camera, Then mixed in photomatrix.

 

[Likwidz]

<---- n00b ph0t0grapher....got the 920 on release, 925, now 830 and ashamed to say I never really took full advantage of my handheld-cameras. Planning on changing that with my 830. Amazing pics from you guys!

 

[udayk]

This chandelier totally stumped me. Took a bunch of photos with varying ISO and shutter speed and I thought the above two were best out of the lot. Anything else i could have done to make it better?

 

[Marty89]

Christmas markets in Prague.

 

[HaibaneReki]

Anything else i could have done to make it better?

wipe your lenses before shooting - LOL :wink: