Is Nokia 9 Pureview really that bad in low light photography?

| 17/03/2019 | Nokia, Phones | 3 Comments

Some reviews and blog posts mentioned that Nokia 9 Pureview struggles with low light photography. Some folks went that far by saying that the device is not worthy of a review until the low light photography algorithms are fixed. HMD did say that the next software update will bring many improvements to the various bugs and some could probably address the issues with the camera. But then came Karol Mattila, who is responsible for the public policy & government relations at Nokia (so not a photographer or a reviewer), who published these photos you see below taken by Nokia 9 Pureview in low light conditions.

There were not the first I saw that looked surprisingly good, totally opposite of what some guys posted previously. OK, there is a lot of light there coming from the street lamps, neon signs but we can call it a low light conditions. Photos shared by Mattila over Twitter were not edited, but rather a result of automatic settings.

Furthermore, the great camera reviewer Juan Bagnell posted a video where he says that the Nokia 9 Pureview camera review is still not done, but that the camera isn’t that bad. He mentioned in the video that this could be the best camera that he worked with since it gives him a lot of data to edit later on. He also said one other thing I agree with that a lot of people (me included) don’t actually understand how the smartphone camera, or camera in general work, and that for the good low light shots you should have steady hands or a tripod and a bit of knowledge.

Well, this is actually the main problem of Nokia 9 Pureview camera and the software it is operating it. Nokia 9 Pureview is a device for the camera enthusiasts and people who know what to do with the RAW file. Take for example out Zlatko who creates unbelievably wonderful photos by his Nokia 6 (2017) and Nokia 7 Plus.

I can try to simulate his work, but my shots will never be as good as his. So, most of us are probably aware that we are not the greatest phonographers out there, but the automatic settings should help us take great shots. HMD should dedicate more effort on tuning up the automatic settings to wake up the inner photographer in every user of Nokia 9 Pureview. Later on, those folks will eventually move to manual controls and start playing with all of the features that Nokia 9 Pureview camera (cameras) have.

The question here is who suck more, the photography skills of the average Nokia 9 Pureview user or the device itself? I think that software of 9 Pureview needs to be improved, but this phone won’t make the National Geographic photographers of us. Or maybe it should :).

 

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