Nokia N95/N95 8GB :: Mobilna telefonija ~ Operateri ~ Servisiranje ~ Smartphone

The N95's camera quality? It just got better...

Some commentators have reported that the camera photo quality on a Nokia N95 that's been updated to v20 firmware is worse than on one that still runs v12 firmware - I disagree, and here's why: the N95's camera is now capturing an image that's closer to real life and not presenting an artificially sharpened view of the world. Read on...

Taking an image with a digital camera is a tricky business. Of course, it was always tricky with traditional film as well, but the difficulties are mainly different. We'll leave aside the focussing and light gathering side of things here, as we're looking at comparing performance from two identical bits of hardware, but suffice it to say that the Carl Zeiss lensed camera in the Nokia N95 set a very high standard in the smartphone world and one that is only just now starting to be beaten by other flagship models.

So the CMOS sensor and electronics in the N95's camera has done their job and presented a raw image to the phone's processor and Camera application. What happens next is that the image is resampled, if necessary (according to the resolution chosen), colour corrected, if necessary (according to the white balance chosen) and so on, before being finally encoded as a JPG file on your memory card. In other words, there's a whole heap of computer processing between image capture and file creation.

Speaking to an industry insider, I've been told that there are distinct differences across the world in how users like their photos to appear. So, for example, those in the Far East prefer (almost unnaturally) vivid colours whereas in Europe we prefer something sharper but 'cooler'. Manufacturers know this and tweak their algorithms accordingly.

When the N95 first came out there was such a high degree of unnatural image sharpening (taking edges and detail and enhancing the differences between neighbouring shades) that the photos were almost unusable. This was soon fixed in firmware, although a bug meant that extreme image sharpening still got applied if you got ambitious and changed the Scene mode. v12 firmware fixed this and on the whole most people have been quite happy, image wise, with photos appearing gorgeously clear and sharp.

But the trouble is that these photos, although appearing 'real world crisp' to the naked eye, were all actually fakes. Which sounds a bit dramatic, but the sharpening and edge-enhancement algorithms produce detail that often isn't there in real life. For example, a red/blue on white lettered sign will have dark 'edges' added around each letter (see below, an example from the Sony Ericsson P990's camera, normally considered the best 2 megapixel camera phone) - the edges make the photo look clearer and 'better', but it's an illusion - as the N93-shot fragment underneath gives a perfect representation of how the sign looks in real life.

This is a dramatic example, but the same edge enhancement is at the heart of the sharpening that the N95 v12's camera software was prone to apply. At first glance the photos look superb but then you look closely, you compare them to real life and, if you're being very, very picky, you think "Hang on a minute....".

For the camera software in the N95 8GB, Nokia made quite a few changes under the hood. In addition to tweaks to the interface and much faster presentation of the final image, the amount of artificial sharpening was reduced (I'm speculating that part of the speed increase was that there was less processing to do?), resulting in more natural images that didn't appear as crisp to the naked eye.

The same software was then introduced to the Nokia N95 'classic' in its v20 firmware upgrade, to a negative reaction in some quarters. But, as I've got v12 and v20 N95s here at the moment, let's take a moment to demonstrate the change graphically. I should emphasise that the differences are VERY small, most folks wouldn't notice any difference whatsoever. But differences are there.

Take this indoor flash photo of a mantelpiece ornament:

Zoom right in, and I mean right in and you can see a difference in how the edge of the blackboard is handled:

The detail on the right is from the N95 with v12 firmware, note the slightly darker edge and note the less mottled areas of solid colour in the left hand photo with v20 firmware.

Take another example, an extremely zoomed in detail from a garden scene. The rails of a child's slide in the medium distance, pure silver, should show up with very little 'edge':

This time, the v12 N95 camera is on the left, and shows distinctly more edge enhancement than on the right hand image fragment, taken with the new v20 firmware. In addition, there's less mottling in the areas of solid colour.

Give photos from each firmware generation to a casual passer by and they'd probably pick out the ones taken by the N95 v12 as 'better'. Give the photos to someone prepared to put time into analysing the minutest details and they'd conclude that the v20 photos were better, especially if they had access to the original subject and scene.

Steve Litchfield, AllAboutSymbian, 2 Dec 2007

PS. Interestingly, the N95 8GB camera is different again by virtue of the main protective lens glass being exposed all the time (rather than being hidden behind a shutter) and subsequently picking up dust and finger grease. Even if you fastidiously wipe the glass on your sleeve or a handkerchief (well, not that fastidious then...) before taking a photo, the glass is simply not going to be as optically clean as on the N95 'classic'. If I had to grade the cameras in all three units, I'd say the N95 classic with v20 firmware produced best results, followed by the N95 8GB, and then the N95 with v12 firmware - but I cannot emphasise enough that we're talking tiny, tiny percentages and differences. If you're sitting there wondering that all the fuss is about then congratulations, you're not as obsessive as I am and you probably lead a more balanced life!

PPS. Just for completeness, a couple of images taken on the Nokia N95 with new v20 firmware. Click on each top open it full size, as usual:

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