Discussing cameras and the future of Windows Phone with Nokia's Juha Alakarhu

Although Nokia was not announcing any new Lumia Windows Phones hither at CES 2022 in Las Vegas, they were notwithstanding present hither making sure people know that they hateful business.

Luckily for united states their photograph guru, Juha Alakarhu, was at that place to take our questions regarding cameras and the time to come of mobile camerawork. Being in charge of Nokia'southward imaging for their Lumia line gives him special insight into the field and since nosotros're photograph enthusiasts ourselves, we had a lot to discuss.

Most of our conversation full-bodied on chatting about their current cream of the crop, the Nokia Lumia 920 just who could besides ignore that 808 Pureview with its 41MP image sensor? Not us. So both imaging technologies were discussed in tandem as well every bit what Nokia is thinking almost what'southward coming next. Join us after the break for some interesting tidbits backside Nokia's photographic magic.

On those missing photographic camera settings…

One of the big complaints some of us had regarding the Lumia 920 (and Windows Telephone viii devices in general) is the more limited attribute of manipulating photographic camera settings. In curt, the Lumia 920 while an outstanding slice of technology is missing such basic things as sharpening, contrast and metering options.

So the reason they are not there? To keep it unproblematic for the user. This is in contrast to the 808 Pureview, which has iii dissimilar modes for taking photos and each with a respective group of settings (something we prefer).

In that location is a debate of sorts at Nokia between those who believe you should simply worry virtually shooting now and if you want to adjust things, practise it afterwards versus those who want to adjust things on the wing. Nokia appears to be leaning towards the shoot-now, adjust-later on mode which is why things like Creative Studio for mail-processing is oftentimes emphasized.

That's not to say it will always be like this as Nokia in the past has had different menus settings in their various phones. But as of correct now there doesn't seem similar there will be any significant changes to that menu system on the 920 or other Windows Phone viii Lumias.

Light metering on the Lumia 920

For those curious, the Lumia 920 uses Matrix style metering for determining exposure values when snapping a photo. For those who don't know, cameras normally have three methods for measuring the light in a scene: Spot, Middle-weighted averaged and Matrix.

Spot measures the lite source at a very specific area of the photo, ordinarily the center, ignoring the residuum while Matrix is at the other end of the spectrum measuring all of the light in the scene from dark corners to a bright lamp—it and so tries to balance the 2 extremes to give proper exposure.  The third method is basically in between—information technology's Spot just it also measures the firsthand areas around the specific area for low-cal data.

From our experience the Samsung ATIV South uses a heart-balanced light metering technique while Nokia's is more comprehensive, measuring everything i.e Matrix which nosotros confirmed. This seems to be more of import for depression-light photography for the average user, which is why Nokia chose it over Spot or Proximity.

Why is the viewfinder on the 920 and then night when compared to the after shot?

Nosotros hear this complaint a lot with the Lumia 920: when taking a photo, the viewfinder is very nighttime, making it hard to see things but after one snaps the photo, it's so much brighter (information technology too results in that "wow" issue of before and after).

Nokia is of course aware of the contrast and they may try to brighten the viewfinder in the hereafter but the master reason for the effect is a technical limitation: the viewfinder is "seeing" the scene at 30FPS, which of grade translates into a 1/30 shutter time. Compare this with the longer exposure shots that the 920 takes with optical image stabilization(OIS) and the lens can let a lot more than light in to the sensor, resulting in it being brighter.

So no, Nokia didn't do information technology on purpose to make the experience of taking a low-lite photo more "extreme" simply it is rather just a technical oddity.

Does the Lumia 920 take anti-aliasing (optical lowpass filter)?

Anti-aliasing filters are oftentimes found on loftier stop cameras and it serves a specific function: to reduce jagged edges in photos, especially those with lower resolution. Information technology'southward quite a niche thing in photography but you may exist surprised to learn that Nokia has in fact experimented with such engineering.

Alas, they didn't intendance for the results as well much so as of now, the tool is non included in the Lumia 920 and probably won't exist used anytime shortly. But hey, nosotros think it's absurd that they've even explored that aspect for mobile photography.

Variable aperture—will information technology happen with mobile phones?

Aperture refers to the iris in the lens and how open (or closed) information technology can exist when taking photos. When the iris is opened to the max, it results in a lower F-Finish, which on the Lumia 920 is a F2.0.  The more open the iris, the more light it lets in, which is what we need for low-light photography.  The downside is a lower F-terminate results in a softer image with less sharpness.

Most "real" cameras have this number as a variable ranging from F2.0 up to F16 or something in between and information technology automatically increase when y'all zoom in on your subject. Loftier stop DSLRs often shoot at F1.4, though those lenses are very expensive.

Merely when it comes to mobile phones, fixed apertures are the norm despite advantages of beingness able to dispense that setting e.g. mural shots in the centre of the day, where a higher F-stop gives you a sharper image. Like anything else though there are tradeoffs when it comes to mobile and then far Nokia does not see physical variable apertures happening anytime soon due issues with sharpness and other complications.

The time to come of optical zoom for mobile cameras?

Optical zoom, the concept of adding more elements to a lens resulting in a variable range of focus is as erstwhile as the telescope. The problem with doing information technology mobile though gets compounded past the fragility of such a system.

For instance, we've all seen the Lumia 920 in tests dropped and battered around just to come away working and mostly unscathed. When you toss on moving lens component with diverse lens elements (specially if protruding), that aspect of the telephone becomes very fragile and information technology probably won't survive the most common, everyday drops or bumps.

Because of that, Nokia doesn't seen physical zoom lenses coming anytime soon to our mobile phones. Instead, they'd rather concentrate on things like the 808 Pureview and its 41MP sensor. With that many megapixels, cropping a minor portion of the image nevertheless results in an astounding image and cropping is technically a form of "zoom".  Because it has no moving parts and information technology can be manipulated in post-processing, Nokia is betting on that technology over a physical moving lens for the firsthand hereafter.

You also don't get the variable aperture problem equally noted above with an increasing F-finish significant you can yet take low-calorie-free photos only crop-to-zoom when necessary.

If Juha had i wish for mobile photography technology, what would it exist?

We asked Juha if we could grant him any technology to put in mobile phones to greatly improve operation what would he wish to be possible. He concluded up choosing the one go-to that all photographers know about: image sensor size. Namely bigger is always better.

What separates a cheap betoken-n-shoot from a $2K DSLR is the utilize of a much larger image sensor in the latter. A few of u.s.a. hither on the site use full-sensor cameras, similar the Nikon D700, and it results in a far superior image due to the sensor beingness so massive.

In short the larger sensor the better the image quality because the light hitting information technology has a larger surface. This is not to be confused with "megapixels" which has to do with resolution. Adjacent, a 10MP total-frame sensor will notwithstanding destroy a 20MP phone-sized sensor any twenty-four hour period, information technology's non even close. And most photographers worth their salt know that annihilation more than than vi or 8MP does not brand a ameliorate photo. In fact cramming more pixels on a small-scale sensor can actual degrade the image and increase noise. (Though encounter the argument above for higher megapixels as a solution for optical zoom in mobile).

And so for Nokia, trying to get the largest sensor in the phone is still the preferred method for increasing paradigm quality. Of form pricing comes into play in add-on to the available silicon.

Juha's custom DIY 808 Pureview with external lens

Calculation external lenses to the camera?

A few months ago at Windows Telephone Central nosotros demonstrated how well magnetic lenses work on the Lumia 920, noting that although they are cheap and a bit gimmicky the issue was really quite impressive (see a recent music video shot using this technique). So we had to ask Nokia if they accept considered something along the aforementioned lines.

The bad news is Nokia doesn't appear to be getting fix to adopt this strategy just that's non to say they aren't toying with the notion. In fact, when nosotros brought up the idea Juha's face beamed with a grin as he excitedly fetched a fresh 808 Pureview from his bag.

The device looked similar any other 808 except this had a custom DIY ("do it yourself") lens attachment, allowing it to have a broad bending lens that could even take a hood attachment to cake extraneous light from causing lens flare.

Now we demand to emphasize that this is non some Nokia prototype merely purely Juha'due south own pet project. But it should at to the lowest degree demonstrate that the man behind Nokia'due south imaging technologies is even experimenting with such embellishments.

Will we e'er see such trimmings for future Lumia PureView phones? We're not certain but we strongly encourage Nokia to consider the thought.

What about a mechanical shutter?

Nokia has actually used mechanical shutters earlier—like those constitute in genuine cameras. The Nokia N8, 808 and other high end phones did take such technology on board making the improver to a Windows Telephone in the future quite plausible.

Mechanical shutters don't have a universal advantage for everyday photos but they do have i big benefit: eliminating motion skew.

What's movement skew? If you have ever taken a photo of fast moving objects or you yourself were moving while taking a photo, y'all may discover sure elongated objects become wavy in the resultant photograph eastward.g. trees look like they're bending. Mechanical shutters (equally opposed to a rolling, digital one) eliminate those instances and are the preferred choice for photographers.

So regarding if we will encounter mechanical shutters in a Windows Pureview phones, history tells u.s. that Nokia is quite familiar with the knowhow and will apply it when warranted in futurity devices.

Wrapping it up

While our conversation with Nokia's Juha Alakarhu was only xxx minutes, nosotros actually covered a lot of ground in mobile photography.

The one thing we tin take away from Nokia is they are definitely experimenting with every aspect of the field to bring the best and latest to our phones. From anti-aliasing to optical zoom to larger sensors to mechanical shutters, we know of no other mobile manufacturer that has such a wide range of engineers experimenting with mobile photography. Having said that companies like  Samsung are clearly trying to cut into Nokia's market and if at that place was ane potential threat, we would worry it was them (see Samsung'south hybrid Android-indicate and shoot equally an example).

Nokia's Chris Weber and Juah Alakkarhu were both mum on futurity products but they did say numerous times that the Lumia 920 (and Pureview 808) were just the starting time. Come up early 2022 and we'll begin to see Nokia really unleash their photographic prowess on the market.

Our bet? We'll see some new hardware from Nokia next month at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Of course we'll be there to cover it live if and when that happens. Needless to say nosotros're excited about the prospect and then should you.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/discussing-cameras-nokias-juha-alakarhu

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