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The Fascinating Nokia Lumia 1020 Camera

Nokia recently launched Nokia Lumia 1020 which is also listed on company’s India site which means we will surely see it in India sooner rather than later. This USP of this phone is its state of art, magnificent 41 MP cameras which gives you amazing details and will leave you dumbfounded.In its white paper on the Nokia Lumia 1020, Nokia has pointed out that sharpness of an image is more than just Megapixels, it’s about bringing together the best camera software and adding in the camera optics, image sensor, and the algorithms to make a satisfying whole.

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Lens Assembly Design and OIS

To begin with the lens assembly has 6 lens elements stacked on top of each other. Each optimum quality lens is manufactured by ZEISS. ZEISS is known for producing only high end lenses with impressively sharp focusing ring and superb built quality. The first 5 lens are made of plastic and the outermost is made of glass. The outside camera detail is made of aluminum and has a black matt finish regardless of the main body color. Nokia claims aluminum was used for durability and quality. The PureView is Nokia’s technology for Optical image stabilization. Even in DSLR camera only one lens is adjusted for Optical Image Stabilization which off sets the vibrations from camera shake and prevents blurring of image, but in Lumia 1020 entire lens assembly is adjusted by to achieve this, even ball bearings have been added to camera assembly which makes it quite stable.

Dual Capture feature

The PureView Camera can capture a 16:9 aspect ratio image of 34 MB and also a 4:3 Aspect ratio image of 38MP. You will get amazing details in both these pictures, but the awe-inspiring feature is its ability to capture 5MP Oversampled images (Dual capture feature) in which 7 pixels around each pixel are used to oversample the pixel with additional data to ensure sharper and more natural image with minimum noise. Thus Nokia Lumia 1020 uses the extra pixels from 41 MP sensors to give you better quality pixels. This 5 MP picture comes with amazing details and can be shared easily across other devices and internet and can also be printed on A3 sheet.

3X Zoom

Let’s now talk about its awesome zoom features of this smartphone. Nokia Lumia 1020 offers 3x optical zoom and even at full optical zoom the image quality doesn’t suffer. The details and sharpness remain intact. This camera comes with a constant F2.2 aperture which is quite wide. But the interesting thing is even when you zoom the aperture does not change like it does in conventional cameras. In most conventional cameras the zoomed images are upscaled to compensate the loss of pixels which results in blurry edges but this does not happen in Lumia 1020. The magnificent 1/1/5” sensor allows you to zoom in and click the image, and then un zoom to see the entire picture without losing details.


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Xenon Flash

This camera comes with Xenon Flash for still images and and LED flash for videos. The xenon flash present is of high quality capable of illuminating objects up to 3 meters away for sufficient period of time so as to give you natural images. The minimum shutter speed in Lumia 1020 is 1/16,000 of a second and this flash allows enough Ambient light in this interval.

Nokia Pro Cam App

The new Pro Camera App on Nokia Lumia 1020 gives you a user friendly interface to aid your photography skills and enhance your experience to professional level. It is the default camera app in Lumia 1020 and allows you to swipe and adjust settings like shutter speed, white balance, ISO, Exposure and focus. Many other developers like Hipstamatic, Path, Yelp and CNN have also announced camera app for Lumia 1020

Accessories

Nokia has announced two advantageous accessories along with the official launch of this device, the Nokia camera Grip and the Snap-on wireless charger. Nokia camera grip comes with a 1020 mAh battery , two step shutter release buttons to give you more of a camera feel, and tripod mount. You can also add Wireless Charging to your Nokia Lumia 1020 using a wireless charging jacket similar to the one seen in Nokia Lumia 720 and Lumia 825.

Nokia finally has a device capable of competing with other high end devices from big brands. People will be willing let go of their prejudices and overlook various shortcomings of Windows O.s., to pay for this magnificent camera phone with a beautiful built quality and admirable specifications. The key issues will be the pricing and the durability of the lens assembly. The front display is resistant to abuse owing to the corning gorilla glass 3, but can the same be said about the lens assembly? All these questions will be answered once the device hits Indian market which is expected to be some time in q4.

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Deepak Singh

The Author spent a significant chunk of his formative years resisting technology. He now keeps an eye on where the world is heading to, and drives a passive pleasure from this indulgence. His passion to write, learn and improve drives him each day. When his day ends, he enjoys the pleasant languor and detoxifies with family. You can connect with him on and Twitter