N95 8GB vs. N82 The real battle begins Part 1: Low-Light camera performance

Now that I finally received my N95 8GB the real battle will begin! I will be doing a series of tests directly comparing the N95 8GB to the N82 and in the end hope to come to a conclusion, something I know I is going to be dreadfully difficult. Something I prefer not to do, but it’s something that just has to be done. So I kick this series of with “low-light camera performance”.  I’m going to focus on low-light because of two reasons: first of all my friend Mark from the Nokia Blog confirmed that that the differences between the N95 8GB and the N82 in outdoor conditions with plenty of light are minimal and second of all with such quality cameras on these phones it’s going to take demanding low-light conditions for them to break a sweat. So what do we know so far? From tests I’ve done so far with the N82 regarding ISO and Flash performance, I came to the conclusion that the N82’s performance is remarkable, in particular it’s clean ISO performance when compared to other camera phones and the impressive flash performance. Although some stand-alone digital cameras perform better, it can fill the place of a point-and-shooter. So it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the N82 is going to win this battle. If we already know this, why go ahead with this test? Well, the point is to figure out how much camera quality are you giving up when you get the N95 8GB instead of the N82. I know some people just want that huge screen on the N95 8GB, its media keys and IR-port.  How much are they giving to get these extra goodies?

ISO performance

In short: a camera phone’s ISO performance is very important for low-light photography. ISO speed is a numeric representation of the camera’s sensitivity to light.  The higher the ISO speed, the higher the sensitivity to light is increased. This will allow you to shoot images in dark conditions without flash creating more natural-looking night-time pictures. Sometimes it’s the only options as in some situations flash-photography might be prohibited. And lastly a high enough ISO setting can combat the effects of camera-shake. On the other hand if the ISO performance is poor your images will come out with lots of image noise. How do they perform? First of all it’s important to know that the product manager confirmed that N82 uses the same camera module as the N95 and N95 8GB so hardware-wise there shouldn’t be any differences, any difference we see in the pictures are due to the way the camera processes the image through the use of things such as edge and color enhancements and noise reduction. 

Here are the differences I see (Click the image on the right):

-N95 8GB is noise reduction happy and uses it quite extensively, as a result its images don’t have the characteristic image noise, but at the same time a lot of details have been lost and the images look washed-out. The N82 uses the noise reduction a lot less, as result it retains a lot more detail.

-The color reproduction on the N82 is much truer to the original scene. This is evident from the truer blacks and reds. 

-The edges on the N82’s images are sharper. (Could be the result of moderate use of noise reduction, but also smarter and more effective edge enhancement).

In the second ISO test it’s important to note that the squares in the image have small dots. The N82 retains these across the board, while the N95 8GB also shows them in the lowest ISO setting, pushing things any higher on the N95 8GB and the details start to disappear: in this case you would never know with the N95 8GB that these squares are made of out of small dots. Seeing that at a lower ISO the N95 8GB can retain the details I suspect that it can produce images close to the N82, but they need to work on the image processing. So here I can conclude:

-The N82 uses a “smarter” noise reduction when compared to the N95 8GB. We know that for a fact that it’s there, but uses it in a matter that a lot of the original detail is retained.

-Again it’s evident what approach the N95 8GB takes: use lots of noise reduction across the image creating almost a blurring effect.  In the process a lot of details are lost.

Flash

The N95 8GB’s LED flash is worse than the N82’s Xenon flash, nothing new there, but based on these tests the N82 does not only produce a lot more light allowing you to take pictures from a longer distance, it’s also clear that from the close-up shot of the mouse and from the plants it produces flash-lit images that look more natural. The N95 8GB’s flash has the tendency to change the colors. The N95 8GB cannot “throttle down” its flash like the N82, producing images with too much harsh flash light. The N82 is able to “throttle down” its flash and properly light up Macro shots with natural looking light. (N82 on the left, N95 8GB on the right)

Night shots without flash

Now that we’ve closely analyzed the images, how would they perform in the real world?

To test these devices in a real-world scenario I decided to take some hand-held (no tripod) night-time shots of Dutch Colonial styled buildings in the heart of Willemstad, the capital of Curacao. In these night-shots not only is a high ISO necessary to keep a steady shot, but it’s also necessary to brighten up the scene. To keep the images clean and the colors right, a good image processing algorithm is going to have to do the rest of the job. But seeing the results after we got of closely analyzing the images we should expect exactly the same, but would these problems be visible on a full-size image? I have to answer this question with a definite: YES.(N82 on the left, N95 8GB on the right)

 

Looking at these images we can see the following:

-The N82 produces truer colors

-The N82 produces images with lots of details

-The N95 8GB’s images have a blurred effect due to the aggressive noise reduction.

-If you compare both to other camera phones image noise is pretty low, compared to digital camera they still have some work to do

Conclusion

Despite the fact that the N95 8GB and the N82 have the same 5megapixel camera module, the N82 produces cleaner images with more detail and truer colors. There’s no other way to explain this other than that Nokia is using a new and improved image processing algorithm. The differences between the N95 8GB and the N82 are dramatic and a lot more than I would have expected. The difference between the a two can be described as the following: The N95 8GB is one of the best camera phones, the N82 is a true camera replacement.

Comments

erm sry tis is not abt the camera.. but do u guys think the small buttons of n82 will spoil easily becos of more sms sending ?

gud job....i liked it...

[Dark_bboy]

does they have image stabilizator ? or how do u call it to make a clear photo of an moving object ? how do they compare at video quality at night ?
one more think i had a sony k800i and hes flash in poor light condition(not total darkness , a street light or sometink like this) wasn't so grate ! how doest this 2 to the job in those conditions ?

[moolz]

What about the sound quality with the stereo speakers?
i really need a loud phone with a loud clear ringtone(MP3s).
Does this phone lets say... match up to the sound quality of the nokia 6233 in terms of sound clarity and sound loudness?
Plz get back at me on this thnkx,
moolz

[Nokia fan]

Great review - best I've found
Thanks a lot

[BoyBawang]

Nice review. N82 wins in PICUTRES. What about VIDEO comparison? :)

[Ravi kiran]

Hey,

Thanks a lot dude; from last 2 week i was searching the net to get the best b/w n95 and n82. You work made end to my search. Thank a lot dude.

[jun]

it's a very nice review. but i wonder if the n82 can compete the n95 8gb in browsing fact? Or in other factor? is it true that the n82 is the successor of n95.

[Devin Balentina]

andreas
Even without the flash the N82 pics a truer to the real thing, also it has less noise. If you look above the pics of the buildings were taken without flash.

[Hammer]

How are the difference between N95 8GB and N82 when it comes to photos in conditions without using flash. Can N95 8GB compete with N82 ?

[andreas]

hey man i love you work!!!! i am thinkin getting a n95 8gb but i prefer n82, i just love his design,but i also think of the nokia make a new version of the n82 !!!!! think about it n82 8gb!!!!!!!!

[mrshyguy]

This was the review I have been looking for. I have been having sleepless nights comparing which phone to purchase and the bottom line is that I want a "camera replacement" and not just the "camera phone". The N82 may be my choice. Thanks for the detailed analysis!

[Everfocus]

I think Nokia didn't add xenon flash to the N95 8gb on purpose as part of its sales strategy
If the N95 8gb camera is as goos as N82, while anyone would be interested in buying the N82

what Nokia and all other mobile vendors is to smartly put features on all its module so they can satisfy the market segments with all its phones

[David]

Wow, Great demo of photos.

N82 it is :-D

[javier]

excellent review
this is the way to do things
perfect
n82 its ugly but its the girl to marry
with, she has everything

cant nokia just add on a xeon flash accessory? haha!

[symbianaddict]

wow this is one of the most useful reviews i've read in awhile. i love taking pictures with my phone, but even with the n95 i find myself carrying around another camera in the evening and at night. i'm thinking about getting an n82 instead. i love the form factor so much more than the n95, but i will miss the larger screen. and thats about it.

[Rita El Khoury]

Great comparison. I am considering upgrading my phone and still torn between the huge screen and IR of N95 and the great image quality and speed of N82...

[Ultraman666]

To bad the N95 8gb doesnt have that xenon flash then my phone would be perfect, I really dont take all that many low light photos, but its nice to know the difference the flash really makes, hopefully they will figure that out for the next upgrade.

[James @ Nokia Creative]

This is very interesting... I’ll be honest, I never experienced that level of difference between devices during my tests. I think I my have to revisit this subject.

Great post!

[Mhmmd]

The Nokia N82 Rocks in Everything exept the small screeen!!!!
but if there was N82 8-GB i thibk it will be the Best