
Lumia 920 low-light shootout with iPhone 5, HTC One X and Galaxy S III - ashishgandhi
http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/26/lumia-920-low-light-shootout
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sergiotapia
"The 920 took the cake, without question, but the iPhone didn't fare too
poorly itself, snatching up nearly as much light as the Nokia device"

How can anybody take this article seriously? The difference between the Lumia
and the IPhone 5 is night and day! Lumia looks very clear and bright, while
the IPhone picture looks like a screenshot from Night of The Comet.

[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-unWVjA7__B0/Tpsek1bA9-I/AAAAAAAAGZ...](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-unWVjA7__B0/Tpsek1bA9-I/AAAAAAAAGZc/1cpYjV9YBc0/s1600/2.jpg)

~~~
Mythbusters
This one compares it to iPhone 4s, but the difference is day and night here:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFhhBJ1URCg>

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mtgx
The difference is a lot smaller when Galaxy S3 and One X use "night mode", so
they are both _capable_ of doing much better in the night (sorry for the weird
link - it's from Google).

[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iL605sRTn_Y/UEy2V15bD9I/AAAAAAAARm...](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iL605sRTn_Y/UEy2V15bD9I/AAAAAAAARmo/PZLCRCFTW-k/s1600/After+the+scandal,+Nokia+conducting+the+actual+test+low-
light+shooting+on+the+Lumia+920.jpg)

The question is why don't they do that automatically like the Lumia 920?
Perhaps to save energy?

~~~
notJim
Can you link to the article you took this from? Looks like The Verge, but I
couldn't find it.

~~~
callumjones
The source is [http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/7/3299784/nokia-
lumia-920-pur...](http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/7/3299784/nokia-
lumia-920-pureview-camera-hi-res-photos)

~~~
notJim
Awesome, thanks.

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Apreche
I think we are all pretty convinced by now that the Lumia has the best camera.
Too bad it's also a phone.

~~~
ernesth
On the bright side, it also has the best GPS. Too bad it is a smartphone.

~~~
barista
and the best screen and the best OS too...

~~~
tsahyt
Does it? I mean, is WP really on par with Android or iOS? I haven't ever used
it, so I can't really make a statement here, that's why I'm asking.

~~~
rkwz
>is WP really on par with Android or iOS

Yes.

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ghshephard
I almost wonder if the original article with the "faked video" wasn't a plant,
and that they actually knew the results would be good, and this controversy
would basically keep the Lumia 920 constantly in the press. Remember - this is
a phone that has not yet been shipped yet.

~~~
stan_rogers
The "faked" shots (apart from the image stabilization simulation -- which all
of the major camera makers have done in ads at one time or another) were done
with actual hardware/firmware prototypes, so although they weren't done with
production samples (which didn't exist at the time), they were "real" in the
sense that they used the same sensor, processing pipeline and optics as the
production camera.

~~~
lwat
Source?

~~~
Mythbusters
I think he is referring to the photos that they displayed on the day it was
revealed. The pictures are there on nokia site and are equaly impressive.
<http://www.nokia.com/global/products/pureview/>

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mstank
Still cannot believe they didn't foresee the PR shitstorm they would create by
faking the original pictures. Especially since the actual camera is pretty
damn decent.

~~~
MBCook
That's the thing. If the camera is anything near what they were claiming, they
didn't _need_ to fake the pictures. The reason you fake pictures (or setup
unrealistic test conditions) is to make your product look better than it
actually is.

But the decided to, reportedly because the software wasn't ready. Not only was
the camera actually that good, but they faked it to make a _paper launch_ ,
where they didn't even announce a release date.

~~~
forgottenpaswrd
"If the camera is anything near what they were claiming, they didn't need to
fake the pictures"

They need, at the end of the day, it is a phone stabilization. Nothing
compared with a real $200 video camera from Sony yet.

The Iphone technology in the works could be better than that, don't forget
that this camera is just a prototype in the lab. In fact they are telling the
competition when their puck is going to be.

------
Anchor
Related discussion on the OIS performance earlier today:
<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4575816>

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addflip
Wow Nokia's stepping their game up.

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tsahyt
The 920 actually performs really well here. Another strong point of this
phone. I really wish Nokia a proper comeback in the smartphone market. Maybe
I'm just nostalgic about what they used to be. However, the 920 seems to be
the kind of phone that could manage just that, even though I'm a little
skeptical about the choice of OS (have only read about it though).

~~~
rkwz
> even though I'm a little skeptical about the choice of OS (have only read
> about it though).

I'm using WP7 as my primary phone - It's a really good OS. You can try it out
in a nearby shop if you have time.

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jrockway
So this thing ships with Symbian? Didn't Nokia agree to only ship Windows
Phones or something?

~~~
Gravityloss
nope, all Lumias are Windows, and this is win8. The first pureview
phone/camera with a huge sensor was with Symbian.

~~~
jrockway
Ah, so Engadget's little infobox at the bottom is just wrong.

~~~
disordinary
The infobox for the 808 says Symbian, the info box for the Lumia says Windows
8. Nothing wrong there.

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borlak
do all these phones automatically vignette their pictures?

~~~
stan_rogers
Pretty much, unless you use digital zoom (cropping) to get in tighter. It's
not so much "automatic vignetting" as it is the result of using a lens that
just barely covers the sensor with its image circle -- to avoid vignetting,
they'd need to use either a much smaller aperture (and run into diffraction
problems) or a much larger and more complex lens that wouldn't fit the phone
form factor very well.

------
chenster
I'm still getting the iPhone.

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forgottenpaswrd
Could could a company like Nokia have so bad marketing staff?

If you have a good camera on a phone, please don't show me Finland in Autumn
weather!! It is f*cking depressing!!

Don't show me the streets in the night, don't show me the geek's house in the
dark, don't show me a frigging cold calibration test.

Now it is Spring in Argentina or New Zealand!

Show me great places, show me light, show me flowers, show me colors, show me
people, show me life!!

Apple gets it, Nokia does not.

~~~
jsnell
Um... You do understand that Engadget isn't on the payroll of Nokia, right?
These are not marketing photos. They're photos taken by tech journalists who
were visiting Finland, and were given a chance to get some try the camera out.
Which is something they'd clearly be delighted to do, since due to the earlier
controversy this makes for easy to sell news.

What exactly did you expect Nokia to do? Pass on this opportunity to set the
record straight on the controversy from a few weeks ago? Tell them that
they're only allowed to publish pictures of something appropriately vibrant
and photogenic?

And your complaint about is ridiculous on another level. If you've ever seen
actual Nokia marketing photos, e.g. for the N8 or the 808, they tend to be
exactly what you asked for. Dramatic, colorful, lively photos from awesome
locations all around the world. But such shots from Nokia marketing aren't
particularly relevant in this case. First, the authenticity of their photos is
questionable right now. Second, such photos aren't a particularly good way of
highlighting the unique selling point of low light performance.

