Photo contest against the Nokia Lumia 920 shows how the Galaxy S III and iPhone 4S shoot in the dark

posted by Daniel P. / Sep 06, 2012, 3:32 AM

Photo contest against the Nokia Lumia 920 shows how the Galaxy S III and iPhone 4S shoot in the dark

Nokia explained yesterday that what the Lumia 920 carries in its camera it calls PureView Phase 2, where a special emphasis has been given to improve on the Achilles heel of smartphones - low-light photography. This is in contrast to the more pro-centric Phase 1 in the Nokia 808 PureView, where the giant 41MP sensor is used for the maximum level of detail and sharpness possible, and lossless zoom capabilities.

The Finns had staged an impromptu studio yesterday, where you try and shoot a barely visible vase, which is just sitting in the dark across a peephole. The Nokia Lumia 920 was used in the video below to snap a photo of the vase, followed by the Samsung Galaxy S III and the iPhone 4S, which have excellent cameras by today's smartphone standards, but both fared much worse capturing the object at hand.

Granted, the AF assist light of the 920 shaped a picture, whose quality is boosted by many element not present on other phones, such as true optical image stabilization allowing up to 8x longer shutter speeds, a large f/2.0 aperture, and a proprietary sensor/optics combo built from the onset with low-light photography in mind, but still the results are impressive, considering that no flash was involved in the shot.

Nokia has been right so far touting the quality of its N8 and 808 PureView cameraphones so far, so we hope its first PureView phone with a modern smartphone OS will deliver as well when we take the retail unit for a photography spin.

source: WPCentral & Pocket-lint

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83 Comments

1. fatun

Posts: 3; Member since: Aug 09, 2012

totaly fake, sgs3 iz da best

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 3:38 AM 14

3. bbblader

Posts: 590; Member since: Oct 24, 2011

even the most android obsessed fanboy's cant say that in camera the sgs3 is the best but it is one of the best

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 3:41 AM 29

14. pikapowerize

Posts: 1869; Member since: May 03, 2012

i was suppose to thump you up!!! s3 might be a beast but its camera is still not good!!! so i think samsung should make a phone with its camera sensor on its digicam!!! i think samsung fans will also dream that the newly announce galaxy camera has phone functionality and less bulky..

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 3:48 AM 17

78. joseph98

Posts: 167; Member since: Feb 03, 2012

We all know about the fake video but did you know guys about the fake photos of this new lumia 920. follow the link and see how nokia is so fake. no wounder why there stock got beaten so bad. Very bad nokia.www.sefsar.com/nokia-faked-the-still-photos-too

posted on Sep 08, 2012, 1:16 AM 0

10. haseebzahid

Posts: 1853; Member since: Feb 22, 2012

why not admit the vedio untill u or someone u know try it out to verfiy till then dont just falsify just because SGS3 is ur favourite choice

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 3:46 AM 2

73. badini007

Posts: 18; Member since: Jul 02, 2012

I am a samsung fan and I am really impressed by Lumia 920 camera and I totally agree with you, YOU HAVE TO TRY IT FIRST.

posted on Sep 07, 2012, 2:04 AM 1

21. 12Danny123

Posts: 87; Member since: Aug 18, 2012

In your dreams. The 920 camera killed the s3

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 3:57 AM 16

55. sid07desai

Posts: 290; Member since: May 03, 2012

yeah but who clicks THAT kind of shots?

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 6:12 AM 3

24. Mittal

Posts: 494; Member since: Dec 14, 2011

I understand brother... But u must learn to move on ..

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 4:00 AM 4

28. MeoCao unregistered

This is unfair, 920 took picture under light, may be not flash but still light while GS3 and iPhone took pictures in complete darkness. Typical Nokia style.

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 4:03 AM 8

39. neutralguy

Posts: 1152; Member since: Apr 30, 2012

I have a theory here, hear me out first. As I was watching the video, I can't help but be amazed with the photo taken from nokia lumia 920. It's like a photo taken in a well lit studio. Compared to samsung's s3 and Apple's 4s, the difference is so damn big that it's like they we're made 10 years apart. So, here's the theory I'm talking about. Did you see when apple and samsung devices took the photo? It's a pitch dark studio. But when Lumia's turn, the demo guy told us that the light flashed by the phone was used to focus the camera. The thing is, why flash light? After thinking and thinking, I came to a conclusion that while the phone was focusing the camera with a flash of light, it's already taking some photos. And that well lit photo is then combined to the photo that's later taken without a flash to create a good contrast ratio. I don't have evidences to support my case. I made this by my own observation. This is my own opinion, so please, try to understand first what I'm talking about before bashing me.

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 4:36 AM 11

46. ogy_dogy

Posts: 453; Member since: Jun 29, 2012

Wow, all those letters for nothing, you trolls should do some research before posting. my lumia 710 uses flash also to focus before shooting and if flash is turned off it takes a lousy dark photo. the gs3 and iphone have been owned and you people cant face the truth...

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 4:56 AM 7

48. MeoCao unregistered

The question is why should we turn off the flash? I think Nokia now combine flash to autofocus with lighting flash, a clever small improvement but nothing more.

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 5:06 AM 2

49. neutralguy

Posts: 1152; Member since: Apr 30, 2012

okay, maybe I'm wrong, but at least, I'm thinking. Or maybe, lumia 920 uses longer shutter speed and optimize it together with OIS to take a light-rich blur-less photo. Troll? Haha. I'm a nokia fan. I'm just stating what I just thought of. I love nokia devices, I'm just amazed on how they do things. I'm accept that this phone owned the current top-end phones. So, stating a theory of my own makes me a troll?

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 5:14 AM 4

74. ogy_dogy

Posts: 453; Member since: Jun 29, 2012

You have no right to state your opinion :D lol sorry, i cant stand these droid boys and ifans trolling about something thats revolutionary and might benefit us all.

posted on Sep 07, 2012, 3:29 AM 0

47. MeoCao unregistered

Haha, may be Nokia has some special technology but then this is surely not the proper way to show it. I lost trust in Nokia after it began adopting Ballmer's style of advertisement: exaggeration, so I think Nokia has some new small improvement and now they try to make it much bigger than it actually is.

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 5:01 AM 1

52. amehtab

Posts: 8; Member since: Aug 15, 2012

if this is true , this is called innovation my friend :) welcome to Nokia !!

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 5:47 AM 4

59. champ_vl

Posts: 44; Member since: Aug 31, 2012

I totally agree !! There is something unusual with that flash thing and the fact that the iPhone and Galaxy took pictures separately from the Lumia and not immediately. Another Nokia desperate attempt to impress us by dirty scams.

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 6:29 AM 2

69. cncrim

Posts: 1586; Member since: Aug 15, 2011

+1, I was thinking the same thing why flash was on Nokia and iphone and S3 flash was off. I really don't see the big brag here, Iphone and S3 can twist it in the software and will do the same unless I missing something here.

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 11:26 AM 0

83. dexter_jdr

Posts: 1163; Member since: Jun 28, 2012

LOL. because nokia is actually thinking. android and iphone doesnt know anything about cameras. cameras actually use flashes to focus the subject but not actually using it to light the whole picture.you know the red light on your camera before you capture? that is the focus assist lamp (n8 has one i think). since 920 has no red lamp to focus, they use the Led instead.clever. (also, flash has around 3meters of lighting for the subject) so if shot on landscape night mode, 920 is the best to light surroundings. last part is my opinion.

posted on Sep 23, 2012, 2:24 AM 0

81. EspHack

Posts: 70; Member since: Sep 04, 2012

my N97 does the same, if i set "night mode" it uses the flash anyway when you focus something BUT it takes the pic without flash when you end pressing the camera buttom

posted on Sep 09, 2012, 12:26 PM 0

82. dru4you

Posts: 10; Member since: Jun 08, 2011

dude i was thinking the SAME exact thing!! taking multiple shots then combining it.. hdr like.

posted on Sep 22, 2012, 2:07 PM 0

70. housecat

Posts: 8; Member since: Sep 06, 2012

Meh, it looks like HDR with flash. It's a bit limited, everything must be still or you'll get blur. The f2.0 aperture and OIS is nice, but on a 1/3 inch sensor (the same size sensor on most other phones) you'll still get noisy low light pictures.

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 2:42 PM 0

34. 09wbd03516

Posts: 140; Member since: May 30, 2012

Your spelling just show your trollness

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 4:15 AM 2

40. pokharkarsaga

Posts: 547; Member since: Feb 23, 2012

Nokia lumia 920 took the photo using flash while iphone 4S & galaxy s3 captured photo in pitch dark.this is totally unfair.

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 4:45 AM 1

60. ahmed_ali_yossef2010

Posts: 164; Member since: Jul 26, 2012

can i ask you a question did you see the camera of lumia 920???????????????????

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 6:55 AM 0

62. AeroPrime

Posts: 175; Member since: Feb 21, 2011

What's so good about the S3.... please don't give claims that S3 camera is the best... is s**tty... S3 needs a quad core chip to run that smooth? Are you freaking serious? what kind of engineering is that?

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 7:25 AM 3

66. -box-

Posts: 3991; Member since: Jan 04, 2012

Anyone else think the iphone looks like a kid's toy next to the Nokia and Samsung? Looks so cheap and toy-like, especially with the tiny screen...

posted on Sep 06, 2012, 8:40 AM 1

77. joseph98

Posts: 167; Member since: Feb 03, 2012

www.sefsar.com/nokia-faked-the-still-photos-too

posted on Sep 08, 2012, 1:14 AM 0

80. hgvenom

Posts: 11; Member since: Jul 05, 2012

I own a s3 and before that a n8, yeah, the s3 is a monster talking about hardware, but doesn't come even close to my old n8 camera quality. The n8 still the best cameraphone around there, since the 808 didn't sell much and this 920 isn't yet on sell.

posted on Sep 08, 2012, 5:10 AM 0

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