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Camera Tests: Nokia N82 vs Samsung Innov8 vs Nokia N97 vs Nokia N86

| June 25, 2009 | 9 Replies
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Nokia and Carl Zeiss have bestowed upon the N86 imaging enhancements beyond just upping the resolution from 5MP to 8MP; wide angle, improved latency, large aperture, better sensor in general all resulting (at least on paper) in improved image quality.

CAM TEST 2

Check out full size photos from AAS

As you can see from Rafe’s test, the N86 is superior in all conditions, except low light, where the N82 and its Xenon flash show exactly how to freeze time in .jpeg format.

CAM TEST 1

Check out full size photos from AAS

When there’s a low light scene however, and no flash is used, the N86 is leaps and bounds beyond the other three in the tests. That’s great for:

  • low light situations where  xenon flash would not help because the subject is too far away
  • Situations where you’re not allowed to use flash (although it would really help) – e.g. in an art gallery or music/sport event.
  • when flash would produce too much gastly reflections (e.g. trying to take a photo through glass)
  • when you want to take quick successive shots in low light (xenon flash takes a second or two to charge up)
  • taking pictures of your pets/other animals [in low light] – they may not enjoy the sudden bright flash, of either xenon or dual led.
  • [insert other reason for not using flash]

As you can see when the scene was pitch black – the N82 was able to light it up and produce vivid reds of the car, the Innov8 and N97 poorly just bouncing off reflections, but the N86 – although only dual LED, with the combination of improved sensor,  illuminates the scene, though not to the standard of the N82.

However, as pointed out in the AAS podcast by Steve Litchfield, though it can light up the scene a bit more than usual dual LED, it doesn’t freeze it like Xenon, so expect some blurs if you’re taking pictures of say…erm…people…in low light situations.

nj7 sums up best what I think of the N86:
…..:( Without a Xenon flash it´s not possible to have a great all situation camera.
It’s a shame really, that with the Xenon flash, the N86 could have been the best still-photo cameraphone for all lighting conditions.
Don’t even get me started on how dreadful the low light pics of the N97 are (when you remember it’s meant to be the over all king and flagship and the price, you get more p’d off). Seems that I’ll have to start bringing a compact cam or switch back to the N82 for nights out and other occasions where I’m taking photos indoors. :(!
Oh well – tis your “Nokia thing” to upset the geeks and leave out a feature that we think is obvious to keep, justifying it with excuses of either space constraints or best option economically. Neither excuses fly in a world that’s starting to expect more from their phones.
Is Nokia playing too safe and making the wrong cuts and compromises? It may work out best business wise, but each “almost there” phone does not help Nokia’s, and particularly Nseries’ reputation amongst consumers.
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Category: 3rd edition, Nokia, Nseries, Photos, S60

About the Author ()

Hey, thanks for reading my post. My name is Jay and I'm a medical student at the University of Manchester. When I can, I blog here at mynokiablog.com and tweet now and again @jaymontano. We also have a twitter and facebook accounts @mynokiablog and  Facebook.com/mynokiablog. Check out the tips, guides and rules for commenting >>click<< Contact us at tips(@)mynokiablog.com or email me directly on jay[at]mynokiablog.com
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