Rumor: Night camera mode in development for Nokia smartphones
For a few years now, photography in low light conditions has been benchmarked the most when it comes to cameras on our smartphones. We can say that it all started with the Lumia 920, the first smartphone with OIS, which allowed the device to take better pictures (by using longer shutter speed and good algorithms) in low light.
Google with its Pixel devices made a huge impact in this area by using a new approach to the “low-light” question. Instead of taking a single picture and relying on OIS and bigger sensor, Google opted for a software-oriented approach that takes multiple photos and stitches them together. A lot of companies adopted this approach and now in the market almost every bigger phone company has a “night sight” mode on their devices. Slashgear has a nice article about Google’s Night Sight that, if you want to learn more, can check here.
Is Nokia 9 Pureview really that bad in low light photography?
Night Sight is impressive. You get better photos in low-light than what you see with your own eyes and it isn’t surprising that users are attracted to such features. HMD’s cameraphone Nokia 9 turned out to be really bad in the really low light conditions, right where the competition with Night Sight shines. Of course, Nokia 9 has other attributes like probably the most realistic color reproduction on the market, the “biggest” RAW files and crazy amount of depth info in pictures, but lacking a “night mode” makes the device practically unusable in conditions where the competition is giving results.
Night mode ?for Nokia is in development.#nokia #Nokia9PureView #hmd #night
— Nokia anew (@nokia_anew) May 7, 2019
The latest rumor coming from Nokia Anew via Twitter suggests that HMD is working on a night mode for Nokia smartphones. Better low-light is needed if the company wants to stay on the market, considering consumers want it, reviews focus on it and others are providing it. It will be interesting to see if HMD will just use the one camera like others do or maybe do something on devices like Nokia 9 with its penta-camera system for even better results.
Keep in mind that this is a rumor and nothing official has been announced. It’s obvious that the feature is needed and it would make sense for HMD to be in the process of developing it. Time will tell if we will see a dedicated night mode on Nokia smartphones.
