Nokia N8 camera tips by Damian Dinning

On the day preceding the Royal Wedding, along with a few other bloggers I was invited by WW/N to a mysterious little event held London. There, in collaboration with Nokia, a selected group of CNN iReporters were given out Nokia N8’s to capture the big day. And the best part – everyone attending got a quick briefing on the N8 camera features by Damian Dinning himself!

After finally meeting Damian in person for the first time ever, I basically came to two solid conclusions that: A) Damian is  an awesome and knowledgeable guy that is really passionate about pushing the boundaries of cameras in Nokia phones, and that B) he (and I assume Nokia in turn) has heard user complaints regarding the EDoF cameras in the latest Symbian^3  handsets.

Actually, there was little to no surprise coming from Damian: it’s clear he’s well in the know about the people’s dislike towards the (mis)direction Nokia has taken with EDoF cameras lately. I would also hope that it means we will see EDoF or ‘Full-Focus’ cameras less frequently on higher end Nokia phones, especially with the upcoming Nokia Windows Phones. It shouldn’t be about compromises or extremes – consistent, reliable performance is what I’m (and hopefully others as well) looking for in mobile phone cameras. Last but not least, Damien also shared my enthusiasm towards the design of Nokia E7, and how great it would be to have it running with Windows Phone OS. A hint, perhaps?

The video embedded below is a shorter, Youtube friendly version of the almost 40 minutes briefing with Damian. I also think many of the mentioned N8 camera tips and tricks (like focusing on difficult areas or combating high-contract situations) might prove useful for mobile photography in general.

I certainly found it quite interesting and insightful, despite having more than 5 years worth of experience with mobile phone AF cams. The technology, as we know it, is constantly evolving and expanding with broader set of possibilities that in turn allows us to be more resourceful and daring with mobile phone cameras than ever before. The growth sometimes is as subtle as it can be, but it’s still there. And at the end of the day, it’s up to us to embrace the technology as we see fit.

While we’re at it, perhaps we could share some of our own mobile photography tips here in the comments section? With summer on our doorstep (for some of us it’s already here), I think the timing couldn’t be any better!

Thanks, and best of luck!

Tags: featured

Category: Nokia, Nseries, Symbian, Symbian^3