Lets talk about Smartphone Photography

[maverick786us]

Nokia always has been a pioneer in smartphone cameras. It started with first ever 1MP camera 7610 followed by first ever 2MP camera with autofocus (N90). Then came revolutionary N95, first ever 5MP camera.

But the real thing started with N8. Which is a 12MP camera with amazing image quality. Followed by 808 that can bring any standalone point of shoot camera on its knees, 920 first ever OIS and finally 1020 with implementation of Windows and OIS into 808.

When we compare an 808 and 1020. 808 has a bigger sensor, compared to 1020. But still the daylight photographs are same. I believe there are few factors, that made 1020 produce the same daylight quality pic over 808, even with a smaller sensor. Some of those factors could be...

1) better processor,
2) some image processing mechanism
3) Aperture size
4) focal length

Since I am not an expert in optics. So these are my guess.

Technically is it possible, that in future Nokia reduce the thickness of camera hump, make it similar to 925, 1520 and produce the same image quality like 1020 and have same features like 3-5X lossless zoom, by reducing the sensor size, but with a better processor and other factors that, I've mentioned above.

Please share your opinion.

 

[azcruz]

Where is photography?

 

[tgr42]

Personally I think the hump size of the 1020 is acceptable. Sure it'd be nice for it to be smaller but that's very very low priority in my opinion, and not worth sacrificing anything to get. My wishlist for the camera, using the 1020 as a starting point, is as follows:

• reduce sensor noise - particularly when shooting video
• improve performance of camera startup time and shot capture/processing time
• work out the camera/photo-related software problems with both Nokia software and WP in general - mainly lack of flexibility but also some poor UI, bugs, and limitations on third party camera apps
• improve the auto behavior - mainly white balance
• improve optics/sensor size
• improve power consumption

And of course, I'm looking forward to getting the RAW support that has been announced. There's some great potential there. If Nokia really wanted to take that to the next level, they'd back it up with software on both the phone and the computer to help move RAW from the realm of advanced users more towards amateurs. Why not let anyone take advantage of the benefits that come with shooting in RAW? I think it'd be a natural extension of their efforts with reframing, although they still need to make that more solid and less like a 1.0 release.

 

[ejb222]

I dont think reducing the sensor size is a good thing. Much rather a larger sensor, but maybe advancement in lenses and such in order to thin the phone out abit. But Honestly, I don't care too much about thickness. As long as it's not as thick as War and Peace

 

[sdc1]

For me the 1020 is the current pinnacle and the best combination of phone/camera available. The form factor is good but not perfect, the hump unbalances the phone but it's a pay off. I love it and I hope that Nokia, in whatever form the company may be, keeps pushing forward with smartphone cameras.

 

[liamjanin]

I wouldn't say the 1020 has a better processor. Because of the limitations of WP8, nokia has to process the images using software. On the 808 there is a custom imaging chip to process the images. Thats why, running on old symbian hardware, the 808 takes photos way faster than the 1020. I just hope that the tradeoff for using software processing means it will continue to be updated in future.

 

[maverick786us]

I wouldn't say the 1020 has a better processor. Because of the limitations of WP8, nokia has to process the images using software. On the 808 there is a custom imaging chip to process the images. Thats why, running on old symbian hardware, the 808 takes photos way faster than the 1020. I just hope that the tradeoff for using software processing means it will continue to be updated in future.

I agree with your point. I would totally blame MS for this. If Nokia would have released 1020 along with 1520, they would have implemented latest hardwares. My purpose of creating this thread is not to point out loopholes in 1020. I wanted to create a knowledge based thread, where I want your views and openion on evolution of smartphone photorgraphy, and its technological advancement in fiture.