Engadget Nokia N8 vs. iPhone 4: camera showdown

J

Judd

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I know this should be in the N8 thread but it may get lost in there (I did post it in there as well)

Engadget just posted a comparison of both cameras and so far for a 12 megapixel camera vs a 5 im a little disappointed in the N8 if I go according to the comparison.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/30/nokia-n8-vs-iphone-4-camera-showdown/

Im sure software updates can help a little but Nokia was saying this would change how camera phones are looked at.

Even vids seem a little better and less jerky with the iphone even if more realistic on the N8 in terms of color

Guess it may come down to not how many pixels you have but how you use them. Dont get me wrong I dislike the iPhone very much but if this is going to be Nokias big thing they still have lots of work to do before I start using one again.For it to be in my view a close call in terms of quality when comparing specs between the two cameras I find it a little hard to understand
 
As I said in the N8 thread.

I always wondered why my relatives iPhone 4's photos I would take seemed odd from the reality shooting into my peepers. I figured it was just my monitor.

Oversaturated, ******** comes out of the iPhone 4. Clear as a overcast London Day.

... to add, White balance is completely off.

My N97 has Color Tone and Wh. balance controls, I wonder if the N8 will. Maybe I can make the photos I shoot with the N8 look "as good" (read:bad) as the iPhone 4 if I mess with those settings... lol

Someone needs to do a serious review against a DSLR/Prosumer/P&S. I wonder if dpreview will do one.

Just run the N8 images through photoshop and you can puke out that crap the iPhone 4 is spewing out. Or just show the photos on most of the "consumer" TV LCDs
 
For sure... I'm no purist, but I think Cameras, on any device, should take realistic photos.

You can tweak them in any number of image editing/management programs later. It's not that hard to oversaturate a photo afterwards.

In my opinion, for a real comparison you do need to throw in a real camera...

PS If Nokia does this crap to the N8 in a software update I would dump it. The camera is one of the few selling points.
 
In the mass market, the one with the more vibrant colors is going to win.

For those that aren't in this segment, while you can easily tweak a picture from the N8 to look like one from an iPhone 4, but it'd be harder (and worse) to do the same from an iPhone 4 :P

As far as the video recording goes, both seem pretty good, definitely the 2 best 720p recorders I've seen on phones outside of korea/japan.
 
That explains TVs...

Here's one thing you can say Nokia wasn't lying about. Damian Dinning has said numerous times that his/their goal with the camera was to create the best natural images.

Symbian^1 may suck hard... I'll reserve judgment on Symbian^3, but I'm not expecting the UI to be much better. Maybe user experience with getting rid of all the damn tapping you have to do. But kudos on the Camera. Job well done.

PS Read through Engadget's comments and note the people who actually live in London and see what they say. If you can't tell by your own eyes that the white balance and colors are off on the iPhone 4, they "confirm" it.
 
Spot on. I'm not saying the iPhone 4's photos are visually displeasing.. I'm just saying if I'm taking an image from a camera, it needs to capture reality. Output/Display or postprocessing can deal with altering the colors.

Also, apparently you can probably make the N8 capture photos like the iPhone 4. From Nokia's specs:
Still camera manual controls for white balance, scene mode, exposure compensation, colour tone, viewfinder framing grid, sharpness, contrast, flash control, light sensitivity (ISO), self-timer, face detection
 
Just to add one more comment... for now....

People saying that oversaturation is a matter of preference, like on Endgadget, is like saying its okay if Nokia's Microphones synthesize/alter voices to make them sound better. Perhaps, bring those "high talkers" down a bit.

Don't capture bullcrap, because then you only have bullcrap to work with.
 
On the contrary, the iPhone 4's photos are exceptionally pleasing to the eye. Damian Dinning addressed this in some Nokia Conversations posts. A lot of cameras and camera phones make the "best" of their limited capabilities by oversaturating colors and applying both sharpening and edge-enhancing filters. This gives a vibrant-looking image with an apparent high level of detail at the cost of lost information and inaccurate rendering the the scene. The iPhone does this on purpose. It does to pictures as BOSE does to music and the result is one that the vast majority of people prefer. It's just not a true representation.

The real bottom line, as mentioned above, is that in doing this the iPhone 4 permanently loses detail that the N8 does not.

More importantly, Engadget is being disingenuous with its comparison of the photos because it's delivering a 100% pixel crop for 2 sensors of widely differing resolution. This creates a magnification effect (12Mpix/5Mpix = 2.4x?), plainly visible in the side-by-side comparisons, that results in a greater degree of detail being shown in the N8. This detail is more scrutinized by the eye and delivers the perception of a worse image. It's like viewing a lens or your car's paint job under off-axis lighting - a lot of debris and scratches and whatever become visible but this is not representative of the actual quality or state of repair of the lens/paint.

IMO, the correct way to handle this would have been to scale the N8's photos down to match the iPhone's resolution and then show the 100% crop or to take photos on the N8 at 5Mpix.

What's evident regardless is that the N8 delivers images with less noise, greater detail and less processing in spite of the deck being stacked against them in an off hand visual comparison, so to speak. The videos are absolutely wonderful - more detail and less tearing during pans. The audio recording from the videos is also excellent - the noise cancelling is really well implemented.
 
Good analogy.

I know I hate BOSE too. lol.

It looks like the N8 can do what the iPhone, but not vice versa. It also looks like the iPhone alters contrast.

Like I said, it isn't unpleasing except when you want realistic colors, not overblown reds, greens, and yellows. But ANY camera at default settings should capture reality. If any dedicated camera pulled this crap it would be reamed. Now, any good camera should have modes capable of compensating for differences in lighting or if you do want to have that oversaturation effect, but it shouldn't do it by default. Which I don't think is too much to ask. If the iPhone wants a "vivid" mode and "normal" mode, then go for it.

To put the iPhone's photography abilities in the same field as the N8 is just insane.

They aren't even in the same league. Style over substance, form over function, go figure.
 
The point I think that is being missed here, is that the N8's claim to fame IS the camera...what else? It can't compare to anroid or the Iphone in OS and ease of use from what I see so far..so if the N8 falls short in any minor way with the camera function..it's really curtains for the N8
 
Lmao that's the same thing I though when i first clicked the engadget link, even on this pic http://www.engadget.com/photos/nokia-n8-sample-photos/#3421503 - my N85 and X6 could perfectly focus on these pictures..


Anyone who is skeptic of any Nokia phone cameras, especially the later Nseries models i believe everyone should visit this thread and skim through it at least..
(note; there are over 50 pics on this page of the following link might not want to click on it on your phone)
http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/808233-Nokia-Picture-amp-Video-of-the-day-Thread/page130

Even the pictures on the cnet review could be way better. The pictures on both reviews seem like they were shot by someone who's never held a camera in their hands before. I'm not a photographer nor do i take it seriously but i love to take cool pictures, but if you look through the Nokia picture of the day thread you'll see some amazing 'random' shots from people(a lot of my pictures there too) you'd think they were taken with SLR's..
 
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