Cameras of the Lumia 920 and the N8 Compared.

A week or so ago I posted on my blog Wright On N9 some camera comparisons between the latest and greatest Nokia smartphone camera, the Lumia 920, and the 2010 Camera phone champion the N8. Well, here I am going to post a few more shots comparing the performance of both cameras, in slightly different scene modes. Click on the pictures to see them in full size.

First up, a shot probably best taken in “Scene Mode” but as the Lumia 920 doesn’t have a specific setting for this, I left them on Auto.

My Verdict

As is usual with shots taken on the Lumia 920, colour saturation seems to be set on High, and while it makes for a really nice warm shot, when looking at the tomb stone and other areas of stone and brick, colours seem a touch too green. That said, some of these gravestones are very old, and have moss growing on them. Pictures seem a bit sharper on shots taken on the Nokia N8 most noticeable when zoomed in close.

Next up, taken near Dusk, the skyline of the current town I call home in Wiltshire, England.

My Verdict

I actually have a really tough time distinguishing between the two shots. Both took very similar pictures. Colours were near identical, details on a par with each other. I’d be very interested to hear your views on this one, and the churchyard snaps as well of course.

Summery

It is difficult to deny that in a lot of circumstances, the Nokia N8 will give a more detailed and usually more colour accurate result. That said, it is interesting to think how people have changed how they use photographs these days. In a situation where where you are going to print out the photo and put it in an album, or in a frame then the warm colours found on the Lumia 920 probably make the better picture. But when you want to zoom in on shots and get accurate reproductions of colours, then the N8 is the clear winner. So, which is preferable for sharing to FaceBook? That is of course what most people do with the pictures taken on their phone.

Which ever phone you think produces the better pictures, one thing which I think these comparisons show is just how ahead of its time the Nokia N8 camera was. Even now, with the exception of the 808,, there are few smartphones with a camera as good as the N8. That said, a smartphone is more than a camera, and while many enjoy using Nokia Belle, when you are used to the speed and smoothness of other platforms, the N8 can at times seem a bit slow and sluggish.