i8910 'Omnia' HD sample photos - landscape/macro + comparisons

8 replies · 10,971 views · Started 14 June 2009

rleader 14 Jun 2009, 16:32

Been out today - quit the city, and headed into the English countryside. Had the i8910 in my pocket, so decided to test how it performed as a 'point & shoot' camera, in a practical way...

Ok, we sat in field having a picnic with friends; I took out i8910, unlocked handset, clicked camera button to fire up the camera app. Set scene mode to landscape & took the first shot. Here it is. A view across the Chiltern Hills.

I then reached down beside me, picked a buttercup (*ahhh* isn't that sweet *barf*), selected macro mode, just held it in finger and thumb, moved it away from i8910's lens until it looked sharp, and click, click. Two shots. No tripod, no nothing.
I am impressed. Look at the hairs on the stalk of the buttercup! The whole buttercup is ~2 cm in diameter.

More importantly, the missus is impressed and I then had to hand over the i8910 to her *argh!* so she can take more shots as we walk about! So, I was without the handset for the rest of the afternoon :tongue:

The biggest issue here is that in bright sunlight you can't see very easily what you are doing... always having to cup the screen with your left hand - such is one of the disadvantages of OLED. We can't have it all, eh!

NB I have had to compress these images to get them up on the site (393kb max upload). The original 6MP(Widescreen) mode of the landscape shot is not 1920x1080, 32634 x 1836 pixels but 3.3 mb in size! (I am shooting in 6MP widescreen, rather than 8MP (max res) as 6MP comes up via DLNA to fit my LCDTV more easily afterwards!

The two macro shots are a 1:1 (i.e. 100%; uncropped) and the closest I could get 'in the field' in a matter of 10 seconds. I've also had to force an extra 12% .jpg compression on them via Irfanview, so i could get size down to upload them here. I guess holding the i8910 in a some form of tripod, without any wind/weather, and decent studio lighting & you'll get better. But then you'll be using your super DSLR Canon 😊

Conclusion: As a point and shoot stills camera, even for close-up macro work; great results in a matter of seconds... from a mobile phone!

PS didn't take any HD movies, as... erm... no point IMHO (8 kHz AMR) and I have my Canon HD camcorder anyway (I put it in my bad for this very reason, the i8910 isn�t yet developed enough for me to enjoy HD-ready movie-making, even for a few seconds).

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rleader 14 Jun 2009, 17:09

In the context of a �point&shoot� camera i.e. remove from pocket; take shot; switch on, replace into pocket�.
Now, to give the i8910 a fighting chance, because it is not fair to compare such a relatively small lens on the i8910 with the much larger glass of a Powershot lens, I have cropped both images, then halved the resolutions (i.e. removed four times the recorded data):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numerical_aperture#General_optics
�A lens with a larger numerical aperture will be able to visualize finer details than a lens with a smaller numerical aperture�
Etc. etc. all classic knowledge I am sure you know.

So� the original resolution images will be much better for the Canon, and marginally better for the i8910. I also do not have to reapply .jpg compression to upload them to allaboutsymbian (AAS)! I am working on a better comparison for another post later.
I obviously did not stand in exactly the same position!

Looking at the two images, even at this low resolution, the Canon resolves more detail e.g. the gravel of the path behind, the tone of the statue/stone, the water spray. The i8910 over accentuates the edges of objects, and the contrast level is lower.
All to be expected. Mobile phone v. dedicated Canon powershot.
Well, I�m no camera reviewer, but perhaps it�s of interest.
Next up� look at my hot pixels!

PS in the last post, one value should have been 3264 x 1836, sorry

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jApi NL 14 Jun 2009, 17:12

The stills camera looks like a big plus . I expected a wider view angle in panorama , though . Thank you for the review .

😊 Regards jApi NL

rleader 14 Jun 2009, 17:22

Cheers, thanks. The above shot is not panorama mode; it is the 6MP w/s mode without digital zoom, & shows the field of view the i8910 lens. Panorama mode gives you a massive 180 degrees, but unfortunately it is limited by the i8910 to be a series of 8 x (640x480) images... Not really usable for printing, bit of a gimmick IMO.

rleader 14 Jun 2009, 18:03

It�s a little bit difficult to understand this photo, shot in a dark room � so, read on:

1) I attach the Nokia CA75-U TV-out cable � yay! It works! Cheers to Vladthemilkman! = the i8910 screen�s 640x360 pixels spread out over 46� of 1920x1080 LCD TV. [I love interpolation artefacts! 🙄 - I�ll post more shots in Vlad�s post]
2) I start the i8910 camera & switch off the lights in the room � I hold the i8910 (in bottom left of this photo) using my left hand, & aim its lens at the LED clock of my DVD recorder (hence the 0:19 time). So, the time is in the middle of my LCD TV & also in the middle of my i8910�s screen, as well as being visible as being on the DVD recorder itself; this is because:
3) I have taken a shot of this whole situation with my Powershot, held in my right hand.

I�ve done this to show you as clearly as I can that on the (now much magnified) live feed image from the i8910 onto my LCD TV that there are 4 bright artefact spots! In fact, they can be seen on any photo taken with my i8910 in the dark, if you hunt for them.

What do we have here then, Samsung? White �hot� pixel clusters within the 8MP CCD array itself� (I have circled them in image 2, to aid you)
Interesting to note my i8910 camera�s quality and one of its low-light limitations. Perhaps the onboard camera has been calibrated to diminish the effects of these pixels (?) but I doubt it & I�m no expert.
http://webpages.charter.net/bbiggers/DCExperiments/html/hot_pixel_facts.html

Anyone else have hot pixels on their CCDs? Or am I just unlucky?

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rleader 14 Jun 2009, 18:56

Testing the i8910 in a practical sense - had to be quick to nab a shot of this sucker!
Both my Powershot and the i8910 were set to 6MP w/s mode; 3264x1832; & both shots were taken about ~5 cm away from the fly. Yes, this was the fly that didn't decide to fly away 🙄

I've cropped at 100% (i.e. 1:1 no resampling) a 600x600 pixel square around the fly. It did move up the leaf whilst I switched to Powershot - The i8910 took the first shot, then I grabbed the Powershot. I did have to re-jpg out after cropping, but I choose the lowest setting I could but one - both original images have better inherent resolution (just).

Less definition re: the i8910, and the colours are a little less vibrant, but then green is a tricky one & the angle of the sunlight doesn't help the i8910 either in this particular shot (this isn't helped by the fact it's hard to hold the i8910 as opposed to a proper camera).
All in all, I find the i8910 remarkable, considering it's small lens, versus the Canon.

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Jules_N93 14 Jun 2009, 22:59

Thank you for a very interesting read! I too am disappointed with the video and happy with the still camera.

niccomania 31 Jul 2009, 12:25

can anyone help me about gettin msn on omnia hd thank u=)

rleader 13 Aug 2009, 16:13

Don't do much virtual social networking myself, but I understand that Fring (who are, I believe, a young Israel-based service) that integrates Skype, MSN (etc) accounts under one over-arching application and I found that did install for me ok (during one of my 'reflashing' adventures with my i8910, I don;t use it now). Look up some threads/posts for Fring and S60v5. Good luck. I don't know about any dedicated MSN apps for i8910 (S60v5) but I'm sure they exist.
http://www.fring.com/privacy/