1520 Initial Thoughts and Nokia Camera Questions

wsrobert

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Switched over from the 920 to the 1520 and so far am loving most about it. As a daily driver I was worried about the size of the device, as most are I assume, but it hasnt yet to pose a problem. Though I think when summer rolls around that might change. With the cold/winter setting in, I've always got a jacket on which gives me a place for the device. But it does seem to fit well enough in my jeans. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

I've been spending a LOT of time with the camera since thats obviously one of the big selling points and have so far been impressed. I dont have my 920 anymore but do have a Nexus 5 at the moment that I've also been shooting with and doing quite a bit of comparisons (only way to get anything close to the image quality of the 1520 on the nexus is to always shoot in HDR+ mode - and it still falls short in most situations). I've got a couple observations and a few questions though surrounding the camera. Disclaimer: I'm no photographer. But do enjoy nice photography.

Observations:

  • It seems as if the auto mode doesnt quite capture as much light as my 920. Almost as if the software on the 1520 defaults to a darker image/lower iso/faster shutter speed. Not really sure. If I take it out of auto and start to tinker, I can do a little better. Its also noticeable if you're shooting in low light and take one photo using Nokia Camera and then one with the stock Camera app. After using the 1520 in tandem with the nexus 5 and because of the limitation of only being able to view a 5 meg sample on your device (touched on below) I really find myself wishing the camera app had an HDR+ mode.
  • One small issue (or large?) is that the quick review ability from within the camera itself, the small circle that shows a preview of your last shot, shows the image as being much more soft/not as sharp as what was actually captured. Its actually really weird. As soon as you view an image from within, you can see it as being sharp but then it reverts to a bit soft. If you view the image within the regular photos app its the opposite. Which is expected. Select an image to be viewed and when enlarged within the photo app you see it as a bit soft at first and then comes in very sharp and stays that way. I started taking shots and then using the quick review feature within the camera but kept getting frustrated because it made it appear as if i wasnt capturing whatever I was shooting in focus. Anyone else notice this? Its pretty hard to spot but on the giant screen its made a bit easier.
  • I hear people complain that you cant take shots quickly with the 1020/1520. While playing tonight and shooting a bunch of photos, I realized that you can hold the shutter button down and it literally just keeps firing. Almost instantaneously . Maybe I'm late to this party but was happy to see.

  • One thing that's frustrating is, because you can only view the lower res 5 meg shot on your device, it seems as if the camera sometimes isnt quite up to par with other devices. Example - I take the same shot on my 1520 and on the Nexus 5 but when reviewing them, given the differences in screens, the 1520 image will sometimes appear of lesser quality (i'll email the image to myself from either device to compare on like screens). Especially if you try to zoom even a little on the device. I sense that this might be why some reviews - especially at the verge - have dinged the camera. I mean, the 1020 still captures a 8 meg image. But on the 1520 that same image is only 5 megs and being viewed on an even larger screen.

Questions
  • The default camera app is still available on the device. Anyone know at what res images shot with that app are?
 

Blacklac

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If you go to your gallery and click "open in Nokia camera" (directly under the image) it should open the high res images, I believe.

The App phriz.be can access and send the full resolution images. You can only send to your existing contacts, so if you wish to send to someone else, you should sign up using a secondary email address, for yourself, and then add your main address to your contacts. That way you can send it to yourself and then forward to anyone not in your contact list.

I actually can't say that app works with the 1520 for sure though. I have a 1020. I'm sure if it doesn't yet, it soon will.
 

wsrobert

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Well how about that.

But. That presents one of the issues I touched on above. Any time you open an image in nokia camera whether via the option you just detailed or via the circular thumbnail preview, you can see that the sharpness of the image is lost. Its very odd to say the least. Especially now that I know that I'm technically viewing the super high res version of the image.
 

Blacklac

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Well, you can shoot RAW/dng. :D. Hope you have an SD card... Lol

There's alot of complaints about this with the 1020 also. If I'm understanding you correctly. I figured having Black firmware, this would be greatly improved or completely gone. That's too bad its not.
 

Kissanviikset

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Observations:

  • It seems as if the auto mode doesnt quite capture as much light as my 920. Almost as if the software on the 1520 defaults to a darker image/lower iso/faster shutter speed. Not really sure. If I take it out of auto and start to tinker, I can do a little better. Its also noticeable if you're shooting in low light and take one photo using Nokia Camera and then one with the stock Camera app. After using the 1520 in tandem with the nexus 5 and because of the limitation of only being able to view a 5 meg sample on your device (touched on below) I really find myself wishing the camera app had an HDR+ mode.
That's a matter of personal taste if you want photos look brighter or closer to real life. I personally don't like how 920 brightens up whole scene and doesn't look like i see it. I always ended up lowering EV value to almost -3. All light sources otherwise blows up out of proportion. Photos from 1520 look much more closer to real life exposure during low light. You can always raise EV for brighter shots.

This time around Nokia wanted to photos have more realistic exposure for low light shots. It is good change IMO and should help in camera shootouts.
 

wsrobert

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Well, you can shoot RAW/dng. :D. Hope you have an SD card... Lol

There's alot of complaints about this with the 1020 also. If I'm understanding you correctly. I figured having Black firmware, this would be greatly improved or completely gone. That's too bad its not.

Yeah. I mean, I dont have THAT much time to tinker. I can appreciate a great photo. But prefer to capture them on my device and then do very minimal (if at all) retouching on my computer.

That interesting. So you do what I'm saying at least? Was hoping I was describing it well enough. Its just frustrating that the 5 meg image captured thats viewed in the photos app, appears sharper than the full high res image viewed in the nokia camera app.
 

wsrobert

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That's a matter of personal taste if you want photos look brighter or closer to real life. I personally don't like how 920 brightens up whole scene and doesn't look like i see it. I always ended up lowering EV value to almost -3. All light sources otherwise blows up out of proportion. Photos from 1520 look much more closer to real life exposure during low light. You can always raise EV for brighter shots.

This time around Nokia wanted to photos have more realistic exposure for low light shots. It is good change IMO and should help in camera shootouts.

True.

Oh. Another question. The quick "auto fix" feature available within the "crop, rotate, auto-fix" app/option - what exactly does the auto fix do? Of course it always appears to enhance/brighten the photo but via what methods is it doing that? Just curious. I'm relatively new to photography in general. If that wasnt obvious already.
 

kevm14

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  • One thing that's frustrating is, because you can only view the lower res 5 meg shot on your device, it seems as if the camera sometimes isnt quite up to par with other devices. Example - I take the same shot on my 1520 and on the Nexus 5 but when reviewing them, given the differences in screens, the 1520 image will sometimes appear of lesser quality (i'll email the image to myself from either device to compare on like screens). Especially if you try to zoom even a little on the device. I sense that this might be why some reviews - especially at the verge - have dinged the camera. I mean, the 1020 still captures a 8 meg image. But on the 1520 that same image is only 5 megs and being viewed on an even larger screen.


My god, if The Verge was just comparing shots on the phone itself to other phones and concluding it's not as good (as the iPhone 5S for example) then that would be infuriating.
 

wsrobert

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Yeah, well did you read Dan Seiferts review? I mean, super amateur. I'm not what I consider to a be fan boy, but it was one of the most unprofessional reviews of a device I've come across.
 

Shockwave78

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Good info here,

Anyway..where is that feature i saw that you could have one scene and have the same person in different positions throughout it? I can't find it anywhere on the phone or in the app store. Probably just overlooking it but i want to check it out.
 

Kissanviikset

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Good info here,

Anyway..where is that feature i saw that you could have one scene and have the same person in different positions throughout it? I can't find it anywhere on the phone or in the app store. Probably just overlooking it but i want to check it out.

It is built in to Nokia camera. You can find it from same place where you change to video capture mode.
 

michail71

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That's a matter of personal taste if you want photos look brighter or closer to real life. I personally don't like how 920 brightens up whole scene and doesn't look like i see it. I always ended up lowering EV value to almost -3. All light sources otherwise blows up out of proportion. Photos from 1520 look much more closer to real life exposure during low light. You can always raise EV for brighter shots.

This time around Nokia wanted to photos have more realistic exposure for low light shots. It is good change IMO and should help in camera shootouts.

I agree, the 920 did some unnatural brightening (over exposing) night time shots.
 

Dude Virus

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[*]One small issue (or large?) is that the quick review ability from within the camera itself, the small circle that shows a preview of your last shot, shows the image as being much more soft/not as sharp as what was actually captured. Its actually really weird. As soon as you view an image from within, you can see it as being sharp but then it reverts to a bit soft. If you view the image within the regular photos app its the opposite. Which is expected. Select an image to be viewed and when enlarged within the photo app you see it as a bit soft at first and then comes in very sharp and stays that way. I started taking shots and then using the quick review feature within the camera but kept getting frustrated because it made it appear as if i wasnt capturing whatever I was shooting in focus. Anyone else notice this? Its pretty hard to spot but on the giant screen its made a bit easier.

I agree to this point, even i have noticed this while capturing photos. I have compared taking macro shots using my note 2 and the Lumia 1520 and I found the note 2 shots being much more better and sharp in detail. The 1520 adds a softness and the photo looks dull. I am unsure as to how to change that because when the photo is clicked at that point the sharpness is visible, its only post processing that this softness appears.
 

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