A quick low light camera test of Nokia 8.3, Huawei P40 Pro, Nokia 5.3 and Nokia 2.4

Nokia 8.3 5G is finally with us, and I must say that it was worth of waiting. Not that I’m crazy in love with its hardware design, but I’m surprised how well the camera, the main sensor, performers. I must say I didn’t expect it to be ready for the comparison with the best in the smartphone business, but it really is. So, Stipe and I gathered for a drink, put on the table the phones we had on us, and did a quick low light camera test. The players are Huawei P40Pro, Nokia 8.3 5G, Nokia 5.3, and Nokia 2.4. We were sitting in a bar and just saw an ideal night scenery, a bit of street light, some store banners, dark passage, a lot of objects where we can see how the cameras perform.
I reduced the resolution of the photos to conserve the server space but didn’t edit them in any way. You can check the photos in full resolution on our Flickr page.

Let’s hit it with the regular shot taken by just opening the app, maybe focusing (we might not do that with 5.3, but unfortunately were taking just one shot per test). Photos are in this order: Huawei P40Pro, Nokia 8.3 5G, Nokia 5.3, Nokia 2.4. Just a few tidbits about the main shooters of the used devices. P40 Pro has 50 MP, f/1.9 camera, Nokia 8.3 a 64 MP, f/1.9 shooter, Nokia 5.3 has 13 MP, f/1.8, while Nokia 2.4 has a 13 MP camera.

You can see that Huawei P40Pro clearly has the best low light algorithms, and you should consider that P40 Pro is the current best that Huawei can offer (OK, Mate 40 is now out). The details are nice, light level realistic, you can see the numbers and letters on a registration plate of the car across the road, but Nokia 8.3 5G also did a great job. The photo taken by 8.3 looks nice on a large computer monitor, has a bit of yellowish hue, but in general, it is nicely done. The real difference between P40 Pro and 8.3 5G is noticed when you crop the photo, which is something not many will do. Nokia 5.3 did a poor job, maybe because the camera lost focus or hands were shaking, but you’ll be surprised with the night mode on that phone. Nokia 2.4 just can’t match bigger players here, but its camera is doing a wonderful job regarding its price tag.

Then we went for a Night mode, and improvements can also be seen there. Huawei did even better, as we all might expect, but Nokia 8.3 is on track there too. When you crop the image you see a lot of noise, especially at the end of the photo, but in general, the night mode on the Noia 8.3 camera app is performing well, except it lasts long. Nokia 5.3, on the other hand, did a great job for the price range. The photo is crisp, which is great for the 13 MP shooter, and its night mode does improve the quality of the low light imaging on that device. The night mode on Nokia 2.4 didn’t change much the light level on the photo, but that phone is an entry one, so nobody expects it to create photos as 8.3.

I must say that Nokia mobile finally made a huge step forward in the camera segment, but there is still a lot to be done or improved in the software part. The photos could be a little less artificially sharp, which will result in less noise, but there is a pro mode that can take care of a lot of things. But, regular users of mobile phones just wish the camera to perform well when they reach for it, and Nokia 8.3 can definitely satisfy that need.

Just check this photo which I took when was exiting the building. It was a point and shoot photo which you couldn’t do before with some Nokia device. Nokia 8.3 5G could very well be the best camera smartphone that Nokia mobile launched. I just wish I wrote this article in April 2020.
What do you think of this, guys and gals?