30 December 2007

Night and Low Light Digital Photography!
Xenon Flash vs. LED Flash?

You have no idea how long I have wanted Xenon flash, it is something that I have been praying and waiting on for over the past five years, since the beginning, since I bought my very first Smartphone, the famous Nokia 7650.

The mega pixel race on the digital cameras of the last years seems to have settled down now but in the mobile phone world it seems that there is a completely different trend. Mobile phone manufactures just pump mega pixels while the optics and sensor size basically remain the same and therefore this trend has a terrible effect on photo quality in my personal opinion.

Modern camera phones comes with more megapixels, brand name lenses, better image-processing software and even image stabilization feature, but area that lags behind is the power and energy of the flash for taking pictures in low light, at least it is the case with the Smartphone.

Because of the some minor benefits (xenon needs, 1000 to 2000 times the power of the LED Flash, led is smaller, it can be used for enlightening the video and as a torch as well) phone manufactures force this solution since the beginning, although light energy that we can get from this source is completely insufficient for the small and not that sensitive sensors like we have in the mobile phones nowadays.

Through all these years I have already appealed few times to Nokia to produce a phone with flash that can take clear pictures in low light or bad conditions, such as in restaurants, bars clubs or other places where people socialize and where we want to use our lovely camera phones in the proper way, just like the standard point and shoot cameras.

Xenon flash lamp being fired.

Personally, xenon flash is the more than welcome addition and should provide a real boost to mobile photography, definitely a critical technology to enhance the performance of high-end mobile phone cameras.

Xenon flash provides 1000 times’ greater brightness than typical LEDs in consumer photography applications and enables greater than 100 times faster shutter speed and shorter exposure time than with LEDs which is more than noticeable on below samples. 5Last but not the least, Xenon Flash technology provides a wider and more uniform light distribution than LEDs as well as a color temperature closer to natural sunlight.

Considering that shooting digital images at night or in low light situations can produce terribly disappointing results and fact that regular users mostly use their phone for taking indoor photos Xenon becomes even more important, a simply must have equipment. I thought that Nokia would know this, and that they listen to our whishes and I have expected that xenon flash will implemented long time ago and therefore they have truly disappointed me with the Nokia N95 and especially its successor Nokia N95 8GB edition that also lacks xenon and features an inferior LED flash.

Finally we got it with just released Nokia N82, the latest Nokia photography related device, the first Nokia and first Smartphone that boasts fully functional Xenon flash instead of a low quality LED flash seen in almost all other camera phones, undoubtedly great phone that’s simply does it all.

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Anyway, three weeks ago at the Nokia World event in Amsterdam I managed to get my hands on a brand new Nokia N82 and put it to the test against my Nokia N95 and its Led flash.

Also my friend Marty was lucky enough to get the N82 for trialing and he provided me few more samples so test definitely looks more reliable.

So what to say? Nothing beside that I am totally speechless, Xenon flash simply rocks, just as I thought! It boosts mobile phone photography on the new level that is very close to the standalone point and shoot cameras, sure there are room for improvements, especially in the sensor part.

Speaking of the test, it’s hard to say anything, two completely different worlds that are very hard to compare, almost impossible the advantage of the xenon flash is more than noticeable and doesn’t requires further explanation.

An age-old saying states "a picture is worth more than a thousand words", so let's let the photos speak for themselves.

Indoor, extremely low light
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...

Indoor, extremely low light
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...

Indoor, extremely low light
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...

Indoor, very low light situation
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...

Indoor, medium light situation
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...

Outside, Garden 5am very dark
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...

Outside, Garden 5am very dark
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...

Indoor, roomlight
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...

Indoor, roomlight
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us... or right click and save target us...

*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...

*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...
*click to enlarge or right click and save target us...

One more thing, I would like to shortly inform you that my friend Marty working on the detailed Nokia N82 review that will be published in next few days, so stick around.

SF Review: Night and Low Light Digital Photography!
Originally posted: 30.12.2007
Last Updated: 30.12.2007
Author: Teo Bartulovic (AKA Apoc)
Copyright: Symbian Freak 2007; all rights reserved