camera | Stuff-Review

Nokia 808 PureView passes by the FCC, opens up to show its 41-megapixel powers

May 9, 2012 at 8:30 am

Nokia’s 41-megapixel PureView camera module is a thing to behold. The technology that drew inspiration from satellite imaging first found its way into Nokia’s 808 Symbian Belle handset.

The PureView camera module is made up of an oversized (at least according to smartphone standards) 1/1.2 inch sensor and a Carl Zeiss f/2.4 lens. We’ve already seen images of the sensor but it wasn’t clear just how much internal real estate the camera module demanded.
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HTC shows off its ImageSense smartphone camera technology (pictures)

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March 11, 2012 at 5:50 pm

With all the attention Nokia’s 41-megapixel PureView camera (found in the 808 smartphone) has been getting, HTC is feeling kinda left out. The Taiwanese company wants you to know that it’s done its homework on smartphone cameras and the result of its efforts is the new ImageSense imaging technology that can be found in the HTC One smartphone series.

ImageSense comes in two parts, the camera and a companion chip. The HTC ImageSense camera is made up of a pretty standard 8-megapixel 1/1.2-inch sensor but has a new fast f/2.0 28mm lens. The new lens will allow more light into the sensor, improving low-light performance and allowing for shallower depth of field. The module’s own image processing chip takes over all picture taking duties from the regular processor and allows for 0.7-second shoot times and 0.2-second autofocus.
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No Nokia 808 PureView for the US, but the 41-megapixel camera technology is coming soon to Windows Phone devices

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March 5, 2012 at 1:35 pm

One of the most exciting devices presented at this year’s MWC in Barcelona was the Nokia 808 PureView. The Symbian Belle smartphone turned heads with it’s 41-megapixel camera. As we’ve explained in our initial coverage the PureView technology entails both a larger sensor (1/1.2-inch against the typical 1/3.2-inch found in most phones), Carl Zeiss optics and, most importantly, the ability to oversample pixels by combining seven pixels into one, resulting in a sharper and cleaner image.
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Nokia 808 PureView 41-megapixel sensor sized-up and explained (sample pictures)

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February 29, 2012 at 1:18 pm

One of the most interesting devices to come out of this year’s Mobile World Congress is the Nokia 808 PureView. The 808 runs Symbian Belle over the company’s current crop of smartphones running Windows Phone. What makes it special is the new 41-megapixel camera sensor — no that’s not a typo — paired with Carl Zeiss optics, which Nokia has aptly named PureView.

Nokia hasn’t gone completely crazy, jamming more pixels into a tiny sensor and letting you handle crappy 41-megapixel files. First of all the sensor size is 1/1.2 inch, about five times larger than the typical 1/3.2-inch sensor found in most mobile phones. Because the sensor is bigger, the pixel size is still 1.4µm, the same as most current phones. You can actually see the 808 PureView sensor below at the bottom right, compared to an 8-megapixel and a 5-megapixel sensor this thing looks enormous. When you combine the Carl Zeiss f/2.4 lens and a Xenon flash the entire camera array takes a substantial amount of real estate.
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Fujifilm FinePix X100 gets firmware update to v1.10

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June 24, 2011 at 4:54 pm

If you are one of the very lucky owners of the FinePix X100 camera, or are considering to buy one, you’ll be happy to know that Fujifilm has made available an updated firmware for the very capable camera.

The FinePix X100 features a large APS-C sensor, super-sharp fixed focal length lens, in a compact, very solid and very beautiful body. Nonetheless there have been some qualms regarding the usability of the camera and Fujifilm is addressing a number of these issues in this update.

Firmware v1.10 brings a total of 22 fixes and add-ons; with the list of fixes/additions after the break together with a link to download the firmware and a how-to update the camera guide.
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Nokia N9 claims ‘fastest image-capturing phone’; we test: HTC Sensation faster still

News

June 22, 2011 at 12:17 pm

As we’ve had some nightmarish experiences with phone cameras in the past we were very pleasantly surprised by the camera shooting speed of the HTC Sensation while we were testing it. So after reading the following today on Nokia’s official blog, pared with the graph above, regarding the new Nokia N9 camera we wanted run own comparison.

From Nokia’s blog:

Jens continues from here to explain the speed of the camera.
Jens Wilke: Once you press the on-screen camera key, the image is taken immediately. It’s the fastest image-capturing phone on the market. In order to take a photo, a series of events must occur: the camera is turned on, viewfinder is ready, focus on the subject and the image is captured. On the Nokia N9, this all happens in 2.6 seconds – much faster than our competitors. The HTC HD7 does all this in 8.3 seconds, the Samsung i5500 Galaxy 5 takes 5.8 seconds and the Apple iPhone 4 does this in 3 seconds. We’ve made sure the camera experience is as smooth and as fast as possible.