Crazy phone cam

Nexus · 28 Jun 2012 at 12:08

ManCuBuS said:
No the resolution is necessary for how they plan to use it.

It will offer as close to some optical zoom as you will find anywhere without a moving lens, essentially offering a lossless zoom facility which is about the last thing missing from mobile phones.

Its a massive leap in tech terms for the mobile industry but it will also have implications for the compact camera industry as well as it may well be the final nail in the coffin for them.

Its also got huge potential for Nokia as a revenue stream because this phone is no doubt nothing but a platform to demo the tech. If they have patented the technology correctly (and I'm sure they have) then just about everybody that sticks a camera on a phone, or tablet is going to be interested in what it can do.

But for some reason you seem to be dismissing the tech because of the '41mp headline' without actually reading whats behind that headline.

No, like I said before, as a Photographer, I'm just not interested in that in a camera phone. Perhaps somebody who isn't really a photographer and takes all their shots on a camera phone, I can see how it might appeal more to them.

Also, the 'lossless zoom' is pretty much just cropping a huge image with some fancy sensor tech.

An Exception · 28 Jun 2012 at 12:44

^^^
You make it sound like such sensor tech is a bad thing lol. And tbh, it looks like it blows most compact cameras out of the water.
Looks to me like you need micro 4/3 for better performance, TZ10's and the like can't hold a candle...

DanF · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:06

Nexus said:
Read the summary of the review, it was far too long.

And then made a load of assumptions and put then on the internez woohoo

Nexus said:
It might be a better lens than your usual camera phone, but its still got nothing on a decent compact or better. Which again is why Im against the fact that it shoots such a ridiculous amount of resolution, its unnecessary.

And the bit I quoted showed that Carl Zeiss are saying the lens in this camera can capture more res than their own 50/2 ZM prime which is about what £650? which means it's got the ability to capture more res than probably 90% of what DSLR users shove in front of their sensor

and you can get this in something subsidised by your phone company and will always have it with you. You do know that you don't need to lug around a massive DSLR and lens to capture good images right?

Nexus · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:17

DanF said:
And then made a load of assumptions and put then on the internez woohoo

*Yawn*
Its my opinion.
I still don't think its necessary in a camera phone.
Not to mention the huge space requirements that full resolution images require.

Perhaps just agree to disagree with my opinion?
You seem to be taking it personally, do you work for Nokia or something?

And the bit I quoted showed that Carl Zeiss are saying the lens in this camera can capture more res than their own 50/2 ZM prime which is about what £650? which means it's got the ability to capture more res than probably 90% of what DSLR users shove in front of their sensor and you can get this in something subsidised by your phone company and will always have it with you. You do know that you don't need to lug around a massive DSLR and lens to capture good images right?

It has a higher resolution than my DSLR yes.
Do I need that though? Nope.

bam0 · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:19

Nexus said:
Which again is why Im against the fact that it shoots such a ridiculous amount of resolution, its unnecessary.

It's not supposed to be used at full resolution, go and read about how it's used for oversampling.
And for an interesting comparison the size of the photosites is the same as in the iPhone 4S.

One · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:24

Mr Jones said:
Check this image out
http://www.flickr.com/photos/janole/7419456894/in/pool-nokia808

Download the full original and zoomed 1:1, it's ridiculous how the colour reproduction, clearity and sharp it is!! If this is coming to W8 Phones, I'd gladly dump my Lumia 800 for a sign up end of this year!

This image

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7269/7419456894_fafb2f828c_o.jpg

Nexus · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:24

bam0 said:
It's not supposed to be used at full resolution, go and read about how it's used for oversampling.

But if you take a photo without using zoom, you are therefore taking it a full resolution, hence huge file size... no?

James J · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:26

DanF said:
And then made a load of assumptions and put then on the internez woohoo

And the bit I quoted showed that Carl Zeiss are saying the lens in this camera can capture more res than their own 50/2 ZM prime which is about what £650? which means it's got the ability to capture more res than probably 90% of what DSLR users shove in front of their sensor and you can get this in something subsidised by your phone company and will always have it with you. You do know that you don't need to lug around a massive DSLR and lens to capture good images right?

You need one to capture great images though as you have no control with a mobile phone camera. They are just snapshot cameras, nothing more. Try do wildlife photography with a mobile phone or sports. Hell because they can't even use lens filters, doing proper landscape photos are also impossible unless your idea of good is infact "average".

Cuchulain · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:27

According to engadget, no UK carriers are going to stock this phone so you'll have to cough up to import it (if you fancy using a creaky symbian phone)

bam0 · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:28

Nexus said:
But if you take a photo without using zoom, you are therefore taking it a full resolution, hence huge file size... no?

No, seriously, oversampling. That is one of the main reasons for the high MP count. The default output size is 5MP from this. Here's the PDF from Nokia talking about the technology; http://i.nokia.com/blob/view/-/1486928/data/2/-/PureView-imaging-technology-whitepaper.pdf

One · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:29

Nexus said:
But if you take a photo without using zoom, you are therefore taking it a full resolution, hence huge file size... no?

No. It takes the 41 mp picture and turns 7 pixels into a 'super pixel' (i.e. it normalizes them using some nifty algorithms into 1 pixel) giving you a 5mp picture with better colour and sharpness. It's only the sensor that is dealing with 41mp.

DanF · 28 Jun 2012 at 13:42

James J said:
You need one to capture great images though as you have no control with a mobile phone camera. They are just snapshot cameras, nothing more. Try do wildlife photography with a mobile phone or sports. Hell because they can't even use lens filters, doing proper landscape photos are also impossible unless your idea of good is infact "average".

You can point it at things and take pictures which so far look pretty damn good, what more do you need

of course you need specialised kit for specific tasks just like you wouldn't use a 20mm for shooting snow leopards, the camera/lens are just tools to get a job done.