Nokia N8 – closer quality to a digital camera than your iPhone 4. Closer to reality colours and higher detail.
That’s according to CNET who have done a quick test on the camera comparing with a Fuji Finepix j15ow and iPhone 4.
You may have seen engadget’s Nokia N8 versus iPhone 4 camera tests. The one where non full resolution shots are used (hidden away in zip – WHICH btw is the WORST batch of Nokia N8 sample photos I have ever seen. N82 and N900 have taken better) which have all been passed through watermarker (not untouched).
It is important to consider MANY sources in terms of testing if there are no standardised criteria. (Motion blurs, faulty focus due to human error greatly impacts the resulting photo). So here’s an alternative set from CNET. (Will update as I get more sources)
- N8 has more natural colours – closer to a good compact camera
- N8 has wider angle lens (capturing more in a scene – great for scenery and getting more friends/family in the frame)
- N8 has much more detail
- N8 kills in supreme low light XENON flash test (versus LED)
Let’s take a closer look at 1 and 3 (as there’s no samples to compare 2 and 4)
N8 has more natural colours – closer to a good compact camera
Cartoon like colours or something similar to your digital camera where it captures close to what your eyes see? Imagine trying to remember a colour of a certain car – it helps if the digital camera captures it as close to reality instead of jazzing it up to something ridiculous.
HOWEVER – contrasting this are those who may prefer the unnatural, more vibrant popping colours. It works in certain situations. It just depends on your taste. f you want something similar, the N8′s extensive camera features colour settings to change the photos to produce something more vivid. But I’m guessing, if you’re after the N8, you want a good all-situation camera with natural colours.
Let’s take a look at this random crop. 1064×784 selection. N8 first, then Fuji cam, then iPhone 4. Look at the accuracy of the skin tone colour. On the iPhone 4, the poor guy seems to have a heat rash. This is obvious in CNET and Engadget’s samples.
“First, here’s a picture of nature’s bounty in a well-lit, controlled environment, against a plain white table. In this environment, the N8 did a great job of capturing the correct colours and exposures. We would have a hard time telling the N8′s picture from that of a compact camera. “
CNET
Note, CNET are not pro Nokia, actually the rest of their “review” was pretty harsh on the N8 (not even considering many other important features and being slapped 3/5) Anyway…N8 first, then Fuji cam, then iPhone 4.
N8 has much more detail
Another crop. Same photo and region. N8 first, iPhone then Fuji cam. Same photo example. Look at the intricate groves in the skin with the N8. If you look closer at the full res shots there seem to be lots of random black dots scattered on the fuji shot.
Now using the set below
Nokia N8 above, iPhone 4 below. Just look at it. This is why you get usable digital zoom with the N8. You have more pixels to play with.
And with the set below. There’s a tiny SANYO box mid right, but only from the N8 can you read the label Sanyo (FUJI, N8, iPhone)
Now Xenon flash tests. I haven’t got any comparison samples at my disposal but the sheer lack of Xenon in the iPhone 4 means it pretty much loses by default for those low light, indoor people photos. Pubs/clubs/parties etc – Xenon captures those moments, freezing any motion and brighting up the darkest of rooms.
I look forward to more rigorous testing of the N8′s camera.
Category: Nokia
let’s put it this way. if everything is black n white, there will be less fun in this world. let the anti nokia people have their fun, and we will have ours…
i agree let them have their fun , who knows maybe i will be somewhere in the next few weeks and take out my n8 and have someone tell me their iphone takes better pictures cause Engadget told them. i will die laughing my ass off.
also i like this article, just for this line
”WHICH btw is the WORST batch of Nokia N8 sample photos I have ever seen”
i hate to go up the hole paranoid tree again but really i could not have taken pictures with the N8 that bad if i had tried…..it makes you wonder sometimes.
In an attempt to repeat engadget’s N8 camera findings, any human being could not have taken worse pics even if they had smeared butter on the N8 camera.
GUYS – if you think CNET’s and Engadget’s (and others) reviews are biased against Nokia/Symbian (which they obviously are – the reviewers are finding it impossible to get the pro-iPhone/Android love out of their blood) then it’s really encouraging to read the comments – there are MANY people correcting the review, pointing out the bias, and setting the record straight.
please send this over to engadget, their comments section is so iPhone biased.
It’s no use, just leave them alone.
Nobody searching for Nokia news would look for them in engadget-like sites anyway – let’s say they just do not focus on many aspects an average Nokia buyer is interested in.
Posting comments there just increases their web traffic, thereby encouraging them to write even more flamebait articles
.
oh, the engadget folks suck!!!
I didn’t notice the extremely reddened hand in the picture before but now I can’t help but notice it. Once pointed out, you don’t see anything else and it just looks really bad. The hand is probably the best indication of which camera is best because the hand in the N8′s picture looks so much better than the other two.
The iPhone 4′s over saturation may work in overcast London conditions but i’d like them to come down to Aus and take the pictures. One problem the iPhone will have, and they admitted it, is that it can’t take harsh light well, unlike the N8 which handles it very well. I’ve noticed on overcast days that one of the biggest issues. My dad’s old N95 handled harsh light really well and had natural colours so anything close is great for me, but we all know this is way better than even the N95′s camera.
raw meat zombie claw man ? yea i think he will haunt my nightmares forever more XD
All of your comparisons from the CNET review are valid, except for the part where you compare the focused banana closeup from the N8 to the unfocused shot from iPhone4. Both the iPhone and the Compact focused on the background and not the subject, the banana.
True. This highlights what engadget has done again and again with those samples with either improper focusing or failing to focus properly on N8 thus misleading the results.
heaters will hate, its a law in the life, any way nokia N8 is better…N8 can do vivid colors pictures just going to settings….but…IP4 can change withe balance and color settings…let me see…..mmmm….errr… NO! #NOKIAwin
Typical CNET garbage. Always Apple loyalist. Apple can do no wrong with them. Yet the people who bought the Iphone 4 are constantly complaining about how they got screwed. Stick with my N900 until Meego gets release but love the N8
LOL. Engadget did their best to avoid people from seeing the iPhone get owned: they didn’t take night pics, they avoided close up shots of people’s face (specifically the skin, which would make the over-saturation of the colors so much more obvious) and they cropped the N8 pics much closer in the cropped comparison. AND they didn’t provide originals from the iPhone (which they did for the N8 pics).
Engadget once again showed how biased and dishonest they are.
Apple is all about reality distortion. Steve understands the fashion conscious crowd… kids want bright and colorful pics not reality reflecting colors.
Apple products are about 1)pleasing average joe’s eyes and 2)functional for average joe’s brains.
hey! I’m a kid too…but I like natural colours and Nokia phones. And I never ever loved or even though about liking an Apple device. They are pricey and have low quality as compared to others.
[...] Shared My Nokia Blog. [...]
The pics made by the N8 will look great.That I know for sure judging from what we’ve all seen so far.That bulge on the N8′s back is there for a reason. By the way for those in the US – GOOD NEWS! Nokia USA main page says it will begin shipping next week. Availability is now changed to “Early October”. Have a good one guys!
Nokia N8 Review: Camera – Includes 75 Photo Samples
By the handheld blog
http://thehandheldblog.com/2010/09/30/nokia-n8-review-camera-includes-75-camera-samples/
I think that the Engadget’s N8 photos were taken with a dirty/smudged lens. Most likely on purpose. I mean compare them to the samples in the Handheld Blog. Quite a difference.
i know , even just simple stuff like people have already said they avoided close up pictures of people where the skin colour would have looked way off on the iphone , and they got lucky since it was just a dim and dull day in london , if it was a bright and clear day , you would have seen how the iphone pictures make bright colours are all very saturated.
Biggest joke was to aviod any night time shots , xenon for the win
Engadet want to damage nokia n8 reputation
Ah well, give a random bad photographer a $10.000,- DSLR and an experienced photographer will beat him with a polaroid.
[...] [...]
Well no surprises there with Engadget’s comparisons. I can see why people would like the pics taken by the iPhone 4 though they look ridiculously bright and average people would instantly recognise it as the best,in a way it is a way to disguise an inferior camera, at the end of the day we all know the camera on the N8 is better than on the iPhone so does Engadget. Let them and the rest of the iPhone loving media hate on the N8, we will enjoy it and frankly thats all that matter I don’t live my life according to other people’s weird opinions
The iPhone 4 weren’t just ridiculously over saturated, the batch from the Nokia N8 was incredibly shit. It was like there’s something smeared on the lens, too many out of focus samples and the online stuff they put severely reduced the quality down.
Simply cropping pixel for pixel shows how much more detail is in the N8 than iPhone 4.
I’m more disgusted by the amounts of people reblogging engadget’s hack job of a phone fight.
I bet if we labelled a Canon EOS 7D as a Nokia (somehow, just go with me here), engadget will find a way to make all the shots look shitty with eventual pro iPhone result.
[...] Nokia N8 – closer quality to a digital camera than your iPhone 4. Closer to reality colours a… That’s according to CNET who have done a quick test on the camera comparing with a Fuji Finepix j15ow and iPhone 4 [...] [...]
Thanks for the being the voice of balance and reason. I noticed something was amiss when I checked the EXIF data on the N8 images, and the pics weren’t taken in Auto mode. I don’t know if it has image stabilization, but it didn’t look like it was on.
I believe Engadget purposely did this to get massive readership. I see no reason they didn’t just use Auto mode and fire away on both devices. I also am suspicious as to why only the N8 images were downloadable and not the iPhone4′s. I bet the iPhone’s were all taken with Auto settings, and not with the flash turned off.
But I think your test showed more substance. I’m looking forward to your low light tests as well, and appreciate, again, someone willing to tell the truth. The iPhone4 is in fact a great cameraphone, but certainly not in the league with the iPhone.
Cheers Chris.
These tests are not produced by me, (this one by CNET who hate S^3) if I had N8 myself though I would be testing the fuck out of its camera and showing exactly what the N8 is really capable of on a FAIR basis. Not the falsified shit that engadget has put up.
But there are many, many resources online other than engadget (though woefully no where near the same presence and influence in US) that show up all the lies engadget has spewed.
[...] Nokia N8 – closer quality to a digital camera than your iPhone 4. Closer to reality colours and hi… [...]
[...] Nokia N8 – closer quality to a digital camera than your iPhone 4. Closer to reality colours and hi… [...]
[...] actions) http://mynokiablog.com/2010/10/03/the-truth-about-engadgets-nokia-n8-versus-iphone-4 Nokia N8 – closer quality to a digital camera than your iPhone 4. Closer to reality colours and hi…Gallery: Nokia N8 versus Canon IXUS 130 – 9MP vs 10MP shots – witness the N8′s [...]
Funny stuff. All of you accusing Engadget and it’s readers of Apple fanboyism do realize you are posting exclusively pro-Nokia comments on mynokiablog.com?
Just my two cents.
For disclosure, I am a former iPhone 3GS and a current iPhone 4 user from Nokia-land. I like it’s camera and do agree that the N8′s camera is technically better. Can’t comment on it’s usability since I haven’t used it. Also, I cannot understand how someone managed to produce those horrible hand shots.
wait a minute, i think `Engadget` took the pict with brand new N8 and forget to remove the back camera shield protection. lol
N8 has the biggest sensor(1/1.83) ever used in a cameraphone, which is bigger than most of the digital cameras(1/2.8-1/2) equal to its price. And Carl Zeiss lens….
Nothing can take better shots than N8 unless it has a bigger sensor, better resolution. But noting can be better than a Zeiss lens.