Dedicated image sensor vs Floating lens

[gravage]

Hey, guys. I'm anxiously awaiting November for the new crop of Windows Phones. I'm definitely getting one, but given HTC's announcement, my original choice (Lumia 920) isn't quite as clear.

I actually prefer a slightly smaller phone, as I have tablets. But the Lumia 820 isn't really an option (too many compromises). The HTC 8x looks really good. I like the form factor, style, and specs. It basically seems like it might be an HTC One X with WP8 on it.

It comes down to the camera, for me. Which do you think will be better overall? HTC One X took decent shots and I love the zero lag shutter. If we can get something like that on WP8, it would be awesome. However, Nokia is known for making good cameras and the floating lens is compelling.

Do you think the shot-to-shot time will be slow on the Lumia 920, like it is with current Windows Phones (in comparison to other phones, like the Galaxy Nexus and HTC One X)? Will the image chip give the 8X a distinct advantage in that department, or do you think it's more of a gimmick?

I'm turning this into a poll to see which feature you think matters more: The Dedicated image chip or the floating lens, but I'd be curious to see what your take is on which phone may have the better camera.

 

[Winterfang]

I'll wait for reviews, Nokia hasn't had a good camera on any Windows Phone, Htc only mentioned improvements on the FFC.

 

[independentvolume]

I'll wait for reviews, Nokia hasn't had a good camera on any Windows Phone, Htc only mentioned improvements on the FFC.

Yeppers. I remember them hyping up the 900 and it was average at best.

 

[phirefly]

The Lumia 900 actually has a very fast shot time that rivals the others. The main issue with the 900 is low light performance in my opinion. I can take excellent shots of my kids riding the scrambler and they turn out perfect and blur free. In low light using the pureview technology I really hope Nokia got it right this time and so far it looks like they did. With OIS they can leave the shutter open longer to get a nice pretty picture without nasty blur from even slight hand movements. Watching the demos they took it real far and it even withstands rather large hand movements. So I for 1 am very hopeful about OIS and pureview

 

[PG2G]

Do you think the shot-to-shot time will be slow on the Lumia 920, like it is with current Windows Phones (in comparison to other phones, like the Galaxy Nexus and HTC One X)? Will the image chip give the 8X a distinct advantage in that department, or do you think it's more of a gimmick?

At the Nokia event, didn't they show a Lense that took a bunch of photos back to back?

 

[gravage]

The Lumia 900 actually has a very fast shot time that rivals the others. The main issue with the 900 is low light performance in my opinion. I can take excellent shots of my kids riding the scrambler and they turn out perfect and blur free. In low light using the pureview technology I really hope Nokia got it right this time and so far it looks like they did. With OIS they can leave the shutter open longer to get a nice pretty picture without nasty blur from even slight hand movements. Watching the demos they took it real far and it even withstands rather large hand movements. So I for 1 am very hopeful about OIS and pureview

I'm not sure what you mean. I have the Lumia 900 and it's not fast at all. Compared to my HTC One X and Galaxy Nexus, it's flat-out slow. And the shutter speed is so slow that any movement causes a blurred picture. It's faster than older devices, sure, but nothing on par with current offerings.

 

[Winterfang]

He probably compared it to the other Windows Phones. It takes a solid 3 seconds for me to take a picture in low light with my Optimus.

 

[Villain]

I was super pumped when I heard about the floating lens BUT after a bit I realized... I rarely take any videos lol

I do in fact hate a slow camera soooo I'm starting to lean towards the X8 more and more

 

[Winterfang]

The camera is pretty freaking fast.

First hands-on with the Windows Phone 8X and 8S by HTC - YouTube

And the phone is gorgeous

 

[brmiller1976]

It's a bit premature to say until we get reviews of actual production units.

 

[cedarlog]

Floating Lens more important for me

 

[Villain]

The camera is pretty freaking fast.

First hands-on with the Windows Phone 8X and 8S by HTC - YouTube

And the phone is gorgeous

yeah seen a few videos and it seems lightening fast

 

[jdevenberg]

I was really into the floating lens when Nokia announced it, and still think it is a really great camera phone innovation. But, I realized that speed of images (dedicated image sensor) is more important to me, as I am usually in low light, trying to capture a perfect moment of my baby girl. It doesn't matter how clear a picture is if it comes too slowly to capture the moment I want. I'd rather have a slightly blurry or grainy picture of the moment I wanted to capture than to miss that moment entirely. Plus now that I know Windows Phone 8 supports dedicated image processors for the camera, I'm irritated Nokia didn't see fit to include one. They did it on the 808, why not the 920?

 

[PG2G]

Plus now that I know Windows Phone 8 supports dedicated image processors for the camera, I'm irritated Nokia didn't see fit to include one. They did it on the 808, why not the 920?

Because the 41 megapixel camera on the 808 needed one and the 8.7 megapixel camera on the 920 doesn't? The S4 can handle images up to 20 megapixels.

 

[anon(5335877)]

Because the 41 megapixel camera on the 808 needed one and the 8.7 megapixel camera on the 920 doesn't? The S4 can handle images up to 20 megapixels.

Wait, huh? I think you're confused. He asked about the dedicated image processor, not the 41MP sensor.

 

[blehblehbleh]

Wait, huh? I think you're confused. He asked about the dedicated image processor, not the 41MP sensor.

Nah man it's cuz jdevenberg was saying, "Why couldn't the 920 have a dedicated chip when they shoved one in the 808?" and PG2G is saying, "Cuz the 41 MP sensor needed one but the 920 has the S4 already" while implying the 808's SoC can't handle image processing of the 808 or something along those lines.

 

[tissotti]

I was super pumped when I heard about the floating lens BUT after a bit I realized... I rarely take any videos lol

I do in fact hate a slow camera soooo I'm starting to lean towards the X8 more and more

Idea of the floating lens is that it makes it possible to keep the shutter longer open, that results to better low light images.
Of course it helps videos as well.

It doesn't matter how clear a picture is if it comes too slowly to capture the moment I want.

Are there videos of Lumia 920 taking pics and how long it takes? When it comes to slower shutter speed thanks to OIS we are talking about milliseconds.

Also i would be surprised if Nokia did not have dedicated image processing on Lumia 920.
http://i.nokia.com/blob/view/-/1824212/data/2/-/Download-pureview-820.pdf

I would be surprised if ATIV S didn't have one either.

Nah man it's cuz jdevenberg was saying, "Why couldn't the 920 have a dedicated chip when they shoved one in the 808?" and PG2G is saying, "Cuz the 41 MP sensor needed one but the 920 has the S4 already" while implying the 808's SoC can't handle image processing of the 808 or something along those lines.

There's no SoC in the world that can handle 41MP. Nokia 808 PureView has custom SoC that has one more extra dedicated GPU (not just dedicated camera image sensor) on the camera module itself that works kind of as the first buffer.

 

[SnailUK]

I need both.

Having young kids, i need to be able to take quick pictures, but i also don't have the luxury of making sure theres perfect light, i just get one opportunity to take half my pictures.

My videos are really shaky, so i really need the best of both worlds.

 

[cp2_4eva]

This is one of those things you dont truly know until you test it yourself. Lumia has bragged about their camera before and it failed us. I am actually surprised that people are still seeing this as a strong point without even taking the pictures themselves. On the other hand, out of the 3 HTC phones I've ever owned (Droid Inc2, Rezound, Titan 2) I've never had a bad camera. If HTC claims the pictures are like that of the One X, then I'll probably go with HTC. They don't talk about their camera tech alot through the years, but their pics normally turn out good. Nokia on the other hand had all these commercials blasting about their camera, and even still after the update on the L900, their camera still isn't up to par with the Titan 2. I really hope the Nokia camera actually works out this time so we all can have the phones we want without sacrificing camera quality.

 

[cckgz4]

I doubt it'll be as fast as the 8x but I'm sure it'll be fast enough. Tap to focus is always slow in most cases