Nokia N86 8MP Review - Part 2 - The Camera/Camcorder

why didnt you compare its detail with the innov8???
many other websites have claimed it to have less detail than the other 8mp cam phones

the n86 is not a lot better than the n82. In fact, the n82 is better in some aspects.

Same can be said about the n97 vs the n95.

Seems like nokia is moving more sideways than forward.

Maybe nokia is too big for their own good.

Thanks Steve. Can you tell us about fan photos, how accurate is carpet color in N86? Also can you give us some more photos of moving objects (pets, kids..) as they are quite difficult to capture, so we can see this motion blur, variable aperture, fast focus at work. Cheers, Miki

Hi Steve, can you please tell us more about scene modes (close-up, sport, night mode..) does it make a difference?. This part of camera features haven't been touched at all.

symbiote wrote:why didnt you compare its detail with the innov8???
many other websites have claimed it to have less detail than the other 8mp cam phones

Because it's a 28mm cam and captures a wider field when taking photos at the same location, hence by having lesser details...?

Good phone and reasonable upgrade IMO.

Everyone should remember that not everyone finds its feasible (or necessary) to upgrade their phone everytime a new one is released. Hence, not many many people that buy the n86 will not necessarily be upgrading from the n95 or the n82. If you compare the n86 to the many options available out there, it still comes out as a good phone to switch to, especially for people who dont switch very frequently.

miki69 wrote:Hi Steve, can you please tell us more about scene modes (close-up, sport..) does it make a difference?. This part of camera features hasn't been touched at all.

Camera Nitty Gritty time for you, I say!

Thanks, I've read that article :icon14: . However my question is if there are any N86 improvements in this scene mode area. BR

I think the N86 did surprisingly well in the fan test, so that was nice. But it's nothing that will make me rush out and buy the device.

But the details of the pictures captured by Pixon12 are far better than the N86. The guys over at GSMarena criticised N86 a lot, saying that it is worse than Innov8. Is this true?

Unregistered wrote:But the details of the pictures captured by Pixon12 are far better than the N86. The guys over at GSMarena criticised N86 a lot, saying that it is worse than Innov8. Is this true?

Mostly true due to immature software algorithms. Expect this to improve once Nokia gets moving and releases updates.

The noise reduction is also much more aggressive in the N86 8MP results, eradicating all fine detail and giving the photos a distinct oil-painting look. The photos however aren't any less noisy than the INNOV8, which either means that the N86 sensor isn't as good in this aspect or the algorithm is a total failure. Either way, the Samsung INNOV8 snatches a point here as well.

smellati wrote:the n86 is not a lot better than the n82. In fact, the n82 is better in some aspects.

Same can be said about the n97 vs the n95.

Seems like nokia is moving more sideways than forward.

Maybe nokia is too big for their own good.

Agree! And the big question is, why N82 and it�s Xenon flash as keep away of test? Because the interior and low light photos are far away better then the ones of N86? It�s the case? I think it is... it�s because of that, that the DSC makers, like Canon, Nikon and others, don�t do an DSC with LED instead of Xenon flash.
Nokia are on sideways, with the same boring, really boring, screen resolution. I already try one N86, and it�s the same phone, like previous ones, with low light photos of interior magazine, worst that the ones of N82 and it�s a heavy phone. For that, without Xenon Flash, I think that N95 8G it�s better...
Let�s see witch it�s the next one...

nj7 wrote:Agree! And the big question is, why N82 and it�s Xenon flash as keep away of test? Because the interior and low light photos are far away better then the ones of N86? It�s the case? I think it is... it�s because of that, that the DSC makers, like Canon, Nikon and others, don�t do an DSC with LED instead of Xenon flash.
Nokia are on sideways, with the same boring, really boring, screen resolution. I already try one N86, and it�s the same phone, like previous ones, with low light photos of interior magazine, worst that the ones of N82 and it�s a heavy phone. For that, without Xenon Flash, I think that N95 8G it�s better...
Let�s see witch it�s the next one...

Really? Please look at the battery life advantage the N86 has over the N95 8GB.

It's heavy because of all the premium materials used, what with a glass screen and all.

Xenon is good for photographs, but you sure don't see any Videos using Xenon. You'd melt the phone before 1 min of footage.

N82 being unused - What use is Xenon in broad day light? It's specifically mentioned to be a non flash based shoot out. Also, N82 WAS tested. http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/reviews/item/Camera_group_test_Nokia_N86_8MP_N97_N82_and_Samsung_I8510.php

Also, Xenon tends to be far too bright sometimes, with TREMENDOUS reflections. It's a PITA to take photo's with when there's a reflective surface near...

http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/Camera_Nitty_Gritty-part_2.php wrote:Having then presented the pros and cons of LED/dual-LED/Xenon flash-equipped phones, the decision is, as usual, not really clear cut. If low light photos are common for you (an active night social life?) then having a Xenon flash on board really is essential, despite the hits on cost and battery life.

If flash-snaps are only an occasional thing then a dual LED flash will do nicely - I've hopefully demonstrated above how much better a dual LED unit is than a single. And it should be noted that technology is improving LED flashes all the time - I'd lay a safe bet that the individual LEDs in the N79's dual unit are each quite a bit brighter than the one in the Nokia N95, which in turn is a lot brighter than the pitiful LED in the N93.

PLEASE, READ THE F--KING SITE BEFORE COMMENTING. And do try to use good English. At least keep the sentence structure, if not the grammar of your sentences correct...

Really?

Yes, really, look at the price also!

PLEASE, READ THE F--KING SITE BEFORE COMMENTING.
I read, all... for so many years...

And do try to use good English.
Try read and write with 7 different languages, and English, of course it�s not my native one...

Hi Steve,

This was a very interesting article that very clearly demonstrates how good N86 camera is. I thought the keyboard article was great too other than the E71 score being completely off.

I really don't know where else to post this but as long as it gets to you I guess it doesn't matter.

Would it be possible to do an in depth comparison of browser performance of the recent phones (n97,5800, any Google phone, iPhone, n86 ?). Having used e71 browser I find it adequate only with JS and flash disabled 😊 and I've seen plenty of 5800 videos where the reviewer did a quick demo of the browser and then went 'there is always opera mini' 😊.

Considering that all of these phones use the same engine it would be interesting to see just how different they are. I understand Nokia is using a very dated version of Webkit. After Apple shower their very impressive SunSpider benchmark results I tried it on my e71 and ,well, it doesn't get very far before giving up(obviously JS back on ). I'm only asking because I care (plus I find it a little frustrating that you put Nokia's browser on par with iPhone's as it may mislead potential buyers into spending a large sum of money on a device that underperforms).

nj7 wrote:Yes, really, look at the price also!

If you want a fair comparison, compare the launch prices of both the phones. And if you are unwilling to spend the current amount asked for the n86, wait till the price drops - which will not be too long.

Steve/Rafe,

Can you elaborate on your thoughts on Nokia using essentially the same camera interface they have been for the last few years. I know it does the job and Nokia regulars will be used to it but when I have used SE and Samsung phones in camera mode the experience replicates standard point and shoot camera's and give a better all round experience. I think even if they are close to the best in terms of image quality I think this is an area I would like to see improvements.

yade wrote:Steve/Rafe,

Can you elaborate on your thoughts on Nokia using essentially the same camera interface they have been for the last few years. I know it does the job and Nokia regulars will be used to it but when I have used SE and Samsung phones in camera mode the experience replicates standard point and shoot camera's and give a better all round experience. I think even if they are close to the best in terms of image quality I think this is an area I would like to see improvements.

To be fair, the application whilst on the surface shares a lot of ressemlence to that first introduced with the N73/93 We did make a fairly significant change in the latter part of last year where we enabled full customisation of the items that appear in the toolbar and the order they are placed. Very few, if any provide such customisation. This allows you to decide which features you use the most and then have them only a click or two away. Whilst I understand that others may use glitzy looking icons and therefore appear more upto date I think the model we use is still one of the easiest to use out there.

These comments are in regard to S60 3.2 based products. However, with N97 the UI solution is a little different and to many will look more up to date. Have you had the chance to use either the N97 or 5800 camera UI?

Having said all that we are looking seriously into future development of the camera interface and would therefore be very interested in hearing specific requests. Please don't take this the wrong way, but sorry to say that having a UI which looks more like that of a digital camera is not a request, as what's to say we can't deliever something better than those? I have yet to see a dedicated digital camera UI which I look at and think wow that works really well. So, please share with us what you'd like to see. What you think works well and what doesn't for you.

br

I smiled when I read the part about the bloodline of N93 to N82 to N86. I owned both the N93 (what a shame that was, both the still camera and Nokia's pathetic support of a very expensive phone) then the N82 (love this thing. Adore it, actually.) and, budget willing, will soon have the 86. I will look at the Pixon12 if I don't own the 86 by then, but I'm a Nokia guy. I'd be lost on Sammy.

Hello Steve, Rafe, thanks for doing the yeoman's work on checking out the phone.
I don't own an N series phone nor have I found an answer to this question so I'm hoping you have an answer or can try this on the N86.

Once the camera is launched, does the accelerometer enable functionality to automagically switch from portrait to landscape or vice versa by simply rotating the phone?

Brian_CaB wrote:Once the camera is launched, does the accelerometer enable functionality to automagically switch from portrait to landscape or vice versa by simply rotating the phone?

You really dont need the accelerometer for that. The camera will anyways click in whichever mode you hold the phone - landscape or portrait. And the photo app on the phone will display the photo in the mode it was clicked. Ditto for most image viewing applications on a pc.

I can understand if there is some method to manually switch between a default portrait or landscape mode similar to a rotate button in a pic viewer in a PC app.
With my current phone and camera, the orientation may be chosen.
Without that, or the accelerometer, wouldn't the pic have a default portrait or landscape orientation?
How can the camera know which side is down without an accelerometer, some other type of sensor or an analysis algorithm to decide if the short or long side will be down?

Nokia got to stop thinking that because of there good name they used to have,that all there phones are the best ,since the N95 an N95 8gb they have shown no improvement at all in there "N" series mobiles,the N96 was a let down the N85 had a wobbly slide after a couple of weeks,an the N86 shows they do not want compete in the Top Class Camera mobiles even the reviewer on www.mobile-review.com stated that in is review of the N86,i thought the N86 would be a good upgrade from my N95 8gb but My N95 8gb is a loads better than the N86 ,i had 3 N86s in 5 days an all went FAULTY So will keep my N95 8gb till something better is released,Nokia will lose of customers if they do not change there way of thinking as Samsung an the others are all laughing at Nokia, because they release better top class mobiles than Nokia as Nokia only want to release mid-range mobiles nowdays

Dear Rafe and Steve,

My new N97 produced quite startling phot shhot outs.
With LED flash set on automatic mode, I took pictures at night in my house with lightings on. But the pictures resulted in having whitish smoky effect on the left half of these pictures taken. Why is that so? Appreciate your expert comments a lot. Is it due to my faulty new unit that had to be sent for repair? Thanks.

I would also like to know how the color accuracy of the N86 in the fan/flash photo compares to that of the N82. Steve, could you please comment? Thanks.

Hey, even the Nokia 5700 (released circa March 2007) has panorama mode! Are you saying that it was discontinued after that, and reintroduced now?
I think SE phones have a better pano mode in their cams.. At least they get the overlapping borders right!

Brian_CaB wrote:Hello Steve, Rafe, thanks for doing the yeoman's work on checking out the phone.
I don't own an N series phone nor have I found an answer to this question so I'm hoping you have an answer or can try this on the N86.

Once the camera is launched, does the accelerometer enable functionality to automagically switch from portrait to landscape or vice versa by simply rotating the phone?

Here are your options:

In the camera app it will ALWAYS be in landscape orientation, so the display orientation matches that of the sensor orientation. There is a setting (default is on) in the camera where the accelerometer is used to determine the orientation of the device when you captured the image. It then saves the image in this orientation so when you view it in any SW it will be the right way up.

There is then an auto rotate UI option which works in most applications where the UI is rotated according to the orientation of the device. You can turn this function off if you prefer.

Finally, if you have the auto rotate UI setting off and you slide open the the secondary slide setting (multimedia controls) then the UI switches to landscape.

i had 3 N86s in 5 days an all went FAULTY

Can you share with us what was their fault? Some hardware issues?

Steve,

You probably know this already, but it isn't apparent in your article...

I think you'll find that the flash doesn't have anything much to do with the ability to freeze motion - that would be shutter speed.

A brighter flash just allows the shutter to be open for a shorter time, but so does a larger aperture (more light at the cost of depth-of-field) and higher ISO (sensor is more sensitive, but more grainy too).

I can't help but wonder if some of these other things are effecting your shots. Without manual settings, it's difficult to tell.

Max.