Nokia 808 PureView: Just How Good Do the Images Look in Real Life?
With a 41-megapixel sensor, what sort of image quality can be expected from the Nokia 808 PureView in real-world usage? We hit the streets with the 41MP cameraphone and brought along a Nikon D800 for the ride as well to find out.
A Day Out with the Nokia 808 Pureview and Nikon D800
Nokia surprised the mobile phone industry (and probably the world as well) when it announced the 808 PureView. Sporting a whopping 41-megapixel sensor, we explained in a previous article what's to be expected from a smartphone camera that has more megapixels than a digital compact camera. But theory aside, just what sort of image quality do we expect from the 808 PureView?
And since we were at it, we felt it would be interesting to see how images from the 808 PureView’s 41-megapixel sensor stack-up against the 36.3-megapixel images from the Nikon D800. We are aware it’s comparing apples to oranges; after all, we do know it's unfair to compare a top tier DSLR camera to a smartphone camera. But blame it on our curiosity. Do take note this isn't an image quality comparison between the Nokia 808 PureView and Nikon D800, but rather a look into how image sensor size is probably the biggest factor in image quality instead of raw megapixel count.
Nokia 808 PureView | Nikon D800 with 24-120mm Lens | |
Sensor | 1/1.2-inch sensor with Nokia Pureview Pro imaging technology and Carl Zeiss optics | 35.9 x 24.0mm CMOS sensor (Nikon FX format) |
Total Resolution | 41 megapixels | 36.8 megapixels |
Effective Resolution | 36 megapixels (4:3) | 36.3 megapixels |
Focal Length | 26mm (16:9), 28mm (4:3) [36mm equivalent] | 24-120mm |
F-Number | f/2.4 | f/4 |
Light Sensitivity | ISO 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1600 | ISO 100 to 6400 (expandable to ISO 50 to ISO 25600) |
Indoor Photography
So how does the 808 PureView fare when shooting indoors? Thankfully it allows for adjustment of ISO values, and surprisingly it does a decent job of shooting in low light. In fact, if the indoor lighting is passable, you might even get away with shooting at ISO100, and thus have cleaner images. Though this means the camera will shoot at its widest aperture, so be prepared for a shallower depth-of-field.
Nokia 808 PureView
Shot at ISO400, and aspect ratio 4:3. This results in the highest resolution possible by the PureView, at 38 megapixels. You will notice the auto white balance is slightly off high, with a tad too much blue. However noise is well-controlled and the image is pretty sharp around the area of focus (the cup). Once you blow the image up past 50% of its resolution, you will notice that it's the down-sampling at work, and that noise is very apparent if you view past 50% of its original resolution.
Shot at ISO100, aspect ratio 16:9. This results in a 36-megapixel image as compared to shooting with an aspect ratio of 4:3. Here the auto white balance seems to have got it right, and oddly noise seems to be more well controlled too despite the lower ISO setting. Similar to the previous image, noise is very apparent if viewed at original resolution. But if the image is going online (and thus be scaled down), it will be more than sufficient in terms of sharpness.
Nikon D800
A shot from the Nikon D800 at ISO400, and 36-megapixel resolution. As you can see, the colors are more saturated and image is much sharper at the point of focus (the cup). However, for a mobile phone camera, the 808 PureView performs admirably well in an indoor environment.
Nokia 808 PureView and Nikon D800 - 100% Crop
Taken from the higher resolution 38-megapixel image, you will notice noise is very much present in the 100% crop from the 808 PureView.
The D800 shows that noise is well controlled, and the image is still sharp at the area of focus (the lines on the cup)
Outdoor Photography
Once we were done with the 808 PureView indoors, it was time to bring it out, especially when it was bright and sunny outside. Shooting in Auto mode, the 808 PureView will allow the camera to determine the best settings, so we opted to go with the "Creative" mode which allows for more manual controls. Unfortunately, the 808 PureView suffers from a problem common to most digital cameras offering manual controls, and that is images are underexposed under bright sunlight as it's very tricky to get metering correct. One way to work around this is to use the exposure compensation, which is also found on the 808 PureView.
Nokia 808 PureView
Shot at ISO100 and 4:3 aspect ratio. While it was bright and sunny, the auto metering got it a bit off and the image turned out to be slightly under exposed.
ISO100, and at an aspect ratio fo 16:9.
Nikon D800
Over here it seems based on just standard web images the D800 image seems to look similar to the ones taken by the 808 PureView. Let's take a closer look then.
Nokia 808 PureView and Nikon D800 - 100% Crop
At 100% crop, noise is obvious even in daylight, and the 808 PureView seems unable to capture a lot of details.
A 100% crop from the D800 photos reveal that the image is still sharp, and not much noise is displayed. The detail level between both products are a world apart when zoomed in, but hardly differ when scaled down to web usage resolutions.
Macro Photography - Nature
Nokia 808 PureView
The 808 PureView allows for close-up focus, so let's check out how well this focus mode works with some flower shots.
The 808 PureView has managed to convince us so far that even a mobile phone camera can take good shots, and that the camera tech for mobile phones is advancing to a stage where image quality is probably on a par with some digital compact cameras.
Here's the same shot with a 16:9 aspect ratio. As with most smaller camera sensors, sufficient ambient light is crucial to getting good shots. With sufficient ambient light, ISO values can be kept low and shutter speeds can be set relatively fast, which will result in less noisy and blurred images.
Nikon D800
The D800's larger sensor manages to get a more balanced exposure here, with saturated colors. Most digital compact cameras tend to under expose slightly when it's bright and sunny, and the images from the 808 PureView has shown that it suffers from this as well. This can be rectified with exposure compensation, which thankfully, the 808 PureView offers.
Nokia 808 PureView and Nikon D800 - 100% Crop
You can still make out the details on the petals, which is impressive considering this image is taken with a smartphone camera. And do bear in mind, an average person will not zoom in this level, thus the images are more than enough for web use or even small prints.
The level of detail here is good, and would have definitely been better if we had shot with a dedicated macro lens for the Nikon D800.
Macro Photography - Food
Nokia 808 PureView
Food photography is one of most popular types of photography, so we decided to give it a go with our humble dinner. For this we also utilized the close-up focus mode to enable a shallower depth-of-field.
We used the close-up mode for this shot, which allowed us to place the lens closer to the subject. The aspect ratio here is 4:3, with a resolution of 38 megapixels and ISO400. If you're not intending to blow up the image and it's just going to be shared online, the image quality is more than enough for this purpose.
At a resolution of 33 megapixels and an aspect ratio of 16:9, the 808 PureView surprised us when we shot this image at a light sensitivity setting of ISO100. While it looks good at this size, let's take a closer look at the 100% crop.
Nikon D800
Shooting at ISO400, the D800 manages to achieve a very shallow depth-of-field and good noise control. Color here is similar to the images from the 808 PureView, so let's take a look at their 100% crops to examine the level of detail.
Nokia 808 PureView and Nikon D800 - 100% Crop
The low light forced us to bump the 808 PureView's light sensitivity up to ISO400, and the 100% crop revealed that noise is very obvious here, with a loss of detail as well.
The D800 shows that a larger sensor does indeed help greatly in low light situations. Shooting at ISO400 still retains a great deal of detail and keeps noise levels low.
Wrapping Things Up
A day of shooting has showed that while camera manufacturers try to fit in more megapixels in their camera sensors, size still matters. A larger camera sensor will generally result in better image quality as it's easier to keep image noise suppressed when shooting in low light and at higher light sensitivity settings (ISO values). Having a large megapixel count sounds very good on paper, but not all camera sensors can take advantage of all those pixels and put them to good use. So what do we think of the Nokia 808 PureView's performance?
For night shots, as long as they are going online or printed at small sizes, the Nokia 808 PureView is still able to capture good night shots at higher ISO settings (provided there is still sufficient ambient light). This was taken at ISO800.
A 100% crop reveals excessive noise as well as image processing, which results in the image looking like a watercolor painting if you zoom in too much. Thus while still able to shoot at higher ISO settings, it's best to keep the images small for actual use and sharing.
If you're comparing it to a digital compact camera, then the 808 PureView is somewhat comparable, or may even outperform some compacts in terms of image quality. And if you do not intend to pixel-peep or print your images at large sizes, then the noise and loss of detail is definitely not a deal-breaker, especially when a digital compact camera would probably exhibit the same flaws when it comes to low light performance (though the actual extent of differences will definitely vary from model to model). And while the Nokia 808 PureView is handy (it is after all a mobile phone first and foremost), don't forget that digital compact cameras offer more manual controls as well as better handling due to their dedicated physical controls.
At the end of the day, the Nokia 808 Pureview is quite an interesting convergence device melding the best traits of a smartphone and compact camera, while pandering towards more casual users who might like the idea of a single do-it-all device. As a smartphone, it's bulkier than any others in the market, but if you prefer to do away with a dedicated camera, then the Pureview 808's proposition stands out pretty strongly - only if you don't care much for the platform driving the phone.
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.