The Camera Gap turns out bigger than expected

In the run-up to SEE 2009, I'd been mulling over which smartphones to take for blogging purposes - and one of my requirements, obviously, had to be something with a camera that was good enough. Below are my thoughts and findings, in which I discover that one of my own theories wasn't necessarily true...

You'll remember a series I did called 'Camera Nitty Gritty', in which I examined certain aspects of phone camera performance in detail. In particular, 'The Megapixel Myth' postulated that a decent 3 megapixel phone camera could produce results that were comparable, at normal viewing sizes and resolutions, with those from an 8 megapixel camera (for example).

But I did warn at the time that there were many other factors that should be borne in mind: the quality of a photo from a camera phone also depends on the lens size and quality (i.e. the optics), the (physical) size and quality of the CMOS sensor and the quality of the software algorithms that decode the raw data from the sensor into sensibly sized JPGs that you or I can save, view and print. And, arguably, on the cleanliness and condition of the external camera glass.

And so we come to my somewhat anecdotal dilemma for covering the show, which I include here for interest's sake. My original plan was to bring along the trusty Nokia E75, with the benefit of the great QWERTY keyboard. Perfect for snapping new phones and stands and then firing off the images, with descriptions, to the live AAS show feed.

Now, the E75 has a non-branded (i.e. not Carl Zeiss) lens and a 3 megapixel sensor. It's the same hardware as in the E90, has a decent lens size (meaning good-ish performance, even away from bright sunlight) and mature software algorithms (hence the better photos when compared to those from the E90). And, to be honest, for casual use I've been more than happy with the E75's photos, when viewed in isolation.

However, it occurred to me to check the quality of its output against that from the current Nokia imaging flagship, the N86 8MP. I knew, of course, that the N86's photos would be better, but the real question was how much better. After correcting (resampling down) for actual resolution (which is rarely needed at full 8MP), in this case down to 750 pixels wide for viewing on the page on All About Symbian, I was expecting the E75's photos to be in the same ballpark, at least, as those from the N86. As you'll see from the examples below, I was wrong.

My aim was to capture some of the glorious Autumn colours (I love this time of year) in a bit of rare UK sunshine. It's the sort of situation where you're out and about and come across something really picturesque - you want to capture the scene and its colours for posterity and your phone is the device you have with you. Yes, the E75 does an acceptable job of recording the moment and I don't want you to think I'm slamming it - after all, it's a messaging phone first and foremost and having a good camera is just a nice bonus. 

BUT - look at the colour differences between the results from the E75 (first, in each case) and then the N86 (second, obviously):

Far more (naturally) vivid, far more satisfying and far more memorable. Let's take some other examples from my Autumn foray:

...and another:

By this time, I was somewhat in awe of how well the N86's camera was doing, in terms of interpreting the autumn colours and matching what my eyes were seeing. And yes, I've talked before of how one's eyes and perception of colours are always an illusion in the first place, but I'd rate the latter photos as far more accurate - from my own point of view.

In fact, I regretted not taking along one of the Nokia 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss camera phones, such as the N97 or N95, for comparison - my gut feeling is that these would produce results halfway between the example sets above.

The moral of the tale though is that, although the Megapixel Myth is true as far as sheer resolution goes, the use of higher spec lenses and sensors does produce significantly better photos. As one might expect, though I think I've demonstrated above that when the light levels in a scene are very high (e.g. in full sunlight and with high contrast) then the results are dramatically better than you might even guess.

And yes, this short piece is also yet another vote of confidence in the Nokia N86 8MP as a camera phone - it's certainly limited by its QVGA screen and the use of S60 3rd Edition, but if taking high quality photos is your bag then it's still surely got to be on the shortlist.

As for me, heading off for SEE 2009 tomorrow, I've plumped for the N97 for photoblogging duties, with its Carl Zeiss lens getting good enough colours into my photos while also providing the QWERTY keyboard for composing the words.

And what of the N86 itself? As superb as its stills are, its videos are better. The sound and visuals taken when capturing video with the N86 are so good that it's going to be my main video interviewing tool.

Steve Litchfield, All About Symbian, 25 October 2009

Published by Steve Litchfield at 16:32 UTC, October 25th

Categories: Miscellaneous, Editorial Thoughts
Platforms: General, S60 3rd Edition

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