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Nokia Lumia 1020 packs 41-megapixel camera whopper

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Re: Nokia Lumia 1020 packs 41-megapixel camera whopper

#161
post #14

They ruined the design of the old Lumia for the benefit of a better camera. Who's really clamoring for that? And who's willing to pay $299.99 with 2 year contract for it? Nokia really doesn't know what they're doing.

> And who's willing to pay $299.99 with 2 year contract for it?

It's got 32GB of storage, so it matches the iPhone 5 price at that size.

Re: Nokia Lumia 1020 packs 41-megapixel camera whopper

#164
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Long time ago I had an old Windows phone, HTC Diamond and some other wierd pda/phone type thing that was awful. Since that I went "Android" - I've used HTC Hero, Desire, Xperia Arc and Xperia S. Now I'm using Lumia 920 I got from my workplace. I used to think that Google Maps was great, but after using Nokia's HERE maps I have to say, HERE is better. Not sure if it's the hardware, but first of all it's A LOT faster t…

Offline maps has been available since at least 2 years. I think you had to long tap a point, choose Save offline from the menu, choose the dimensions of the square that pops up and the square becomes available offline.

Yes, but that downloaded map data is useless. You cannot search in it, find any routes in it or anything. You have to use the net and query Google. So it's more caching of the view than actual map data.

Re: Nokia Lumia 1020 packs 41-megapixel camera whopper

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about the camera, it's about presenting Nokia as a producer of a premium phone, so that other versions of Nokia look better in comparison. No one cares about Windows Phone, but when Nokia makes headlines for 41-megapixels, the general populace that doesn't really get that they don't need 41-megapixels will nevertheless notice, and think 'wow, that is a lot, does my iPhone have that?'. 99.9% of people who wil…

>> 99.9% of people who will buy this phone will never have a need for 41 megapixels. Nokia's really screwing up the messaging on this, as people are fixating on the megapixel count -- they are missing the forest for the trees. The best images you will get out of this phone will actually be the oversampled images, which have significantly fewer megapixels.

I do believe Nokia has been very clear that the high megapixels is meant to be used as supersampling to reduce noise in normal sized pictures. They are after all targeting the enthusiast photographer who likes to (believe he) understands how camera's work.

Also, from an engineering point of view it's pretty neat: if the idea is to downsize the final picture to 5 mp, while using cropping on the pre-downsampled image to zoom, that means you can focus on having a high optical resolution in the centre of a fixed focal lens, and worry less about the edges. That has lots of advantages: a fixed focal lens is less complicated than a zoom lens, which has the side effect of making it easier to keep the lense flat,and getting a higher optical resolution in the centre is easier to do from an optics standpoint.

Re: Nokia Lumia 1020 packs 41-megapixel camera whopper

#166
post #62
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The camera is definitely the most used app on my phone. I would say it's the same for about 50-70% of my friends.

I find that hard to believe. Nearly everyone I see using a phone is txting.

I think he might be on to something. Instagram/Tweeting pictures of random stuff is quite big.

Re: Nokia Lumia 1020 packs 41-megapixel camera whopper

#167
Anyone wanna comment on what one is supposed to do with a 41-megapixel picture taken under the optical limits of a camera crammed in just a few cubic millimeters?

We're talking resolutions way beyond what's needed for most prints, and laughable on any electronic display. Even a stunning near-futuristic 4K display is just 9MP; need to reach 8K to start being useful. Flip side, anything needing that level of resolution is going to demand some darned good (i.e.: big) glass in front of it.

I appreciate the view that "what could you possibly need X for?" often has good answers, but there are outer limits of human perception.

Only use I see is digital zoom (a la cropping), and that better prove stunning.

Re: Nokia Lumia 1020 packs 41-megapixel camera whopper

#168
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably the individual pixel size is smaller though? So where's the true advantage here vs having fewer larger pixels which would presumably have less noise anyway.

There are a few ways this is advantageous. Modern camera sensors have a bayer filter in front of them - a RGB grid basically. This allows each pixel to see only one color of light. The resulting image is "demosaiced" with an algorithm, where by each pixel determines the two colors it's missing by borrowing from nearby pixels. This can cause some artifacts. By squeezing more pixels into the same space, effectively eac…

Thanks -- I hadn't thought of that. I have read recently that there's a push away from Bayer filters, e.g.

http://www.43rumors.com/detailed-panasonic-colour-splitter-s...

But I imagine that's a long way off from appearing in smartphones...

Re: Nokia Lumia 1020 packs 41-megapixel camera whopper

#169
post #126
post #2

As someone who takes a lot of photos with my phone, this interests me a lot. Though as someone who has previously used Windows Phone, I'm very skeptical about going back to it. This is the first device that makes me wonder about Nokia's WP-exclusive decision. They didn't go with Android to avoid becoming "yet another" Android manufacturer, and I agree with that sentiment (look at how few are turning a profit). Howeve…

If you can wait until the fall, there are rumors that the next Nexus will feature some fancy pants camera.

I doubt it can top this though.

Re: Nokia Lumia 1020 packs 41-megapixel camera whopper

#170
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

41 megapixels can't be nice on a crappy sensor and lenses system. 41 megapixels would be interesting on a real camera unless someone wants to print oversampled stuff.

You don't need to print to see the improvements the oversampled images provide. You should see much cleaner images, especially in low light. These are noticeable even at Facebook level resolutions. Anyone who has used a real camera would know that.

There's completely no point in such sensor if lens are not providing equally high resolution image too. Unless you're into shooting Airy disks (though, I don't think the phone will provide raw sensor data).

That is, the whole 41MP thing is, mostly, PR bullshit.

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