We know a lot of you have been itching for some low-light camera samples from the Nokia Lumia 1020, a device that should be landing on your doorsteps as early as today if you pre-ordered from AT&T.
Last night, we hopped into mid-town Manhattan to grab some samples with the 41MP beast and they’re posted below. We also have four samples comparing to the Lumia 920 and Lumia 925, so you can see the differences therein and two video clips as well.
The images have been resized for the web (click to enlarge) but as always, we’ll give you the full resolution ones here on our SkyDrive (link, 149MB ZIP), should you want to pixel peep...
Lumia 1020 at night
The following photos are just some random pics we took while perambulating around the city. All were taken with the Lumia 1020 set on Auto except the one with the taxi and blur, where we had purposefully set a long exposure (1/4 second).
Once again, it should be clear: the Lumia 1020 is much sharper and provides greater detail. It’s still no full-frame DSLR shooting at f/1.4 but then again, it’s not supposed to be. Likewise, the Lumia 925 prevailed over the Lumia 920, which is probably a combination of Nokia’s Amber update and that sixth lens element to improve sharpness.
We also used the PD-95G camera grip with outstanding results. We shot for roughly 3.5 hours, often with the display on for extended periods and just toying around. By 1AM we were still at 100% battery on our Lumia 1020, which was a pleasant surprise after shooting so much. As you may recall, the PD-95G has an extra 1020mAh that discharges to keep your Lumia 1020 peaked on juice. It also has a larger shutter button and tripod mount in addition to the convenient grip.
Also, some to seem to think that the Lumia 1020 produces more noise. We haven’t seen that per se, especially when compared to the Lumia 920 and Lumia 925, but with the ability to shoot at 3200 ISO, that shouldn’t be a surprise either.
Lumia 1020 night video
In addition to the above photo samples we also shot two, short videos. These were set at 24FPS to give them more of a cinematic look (we’ll be doing more a more in-depth look at the 1020’s video capabilities later).
Like the photos above, the clarity, detail and color representation are quite accurate. In short, it looks real good to us.
Lumia 1020 vs. 920 vs. 925
Finally, for those who have the Lumia 920 or 925, you can finally see some direct comparison shots between them and the Lumia 1020 (make sure to click to enlarge).
It should be clear that the Lumia 1020 brings more details to night images than the other two devices with better colors and white balance. At least that is our interpretation and experience thus far.
Don’t get us wrong, both the Lumia 920 and 925 do a stellar job in these adverse conditions and we’d gladly take the Lumia 925 anywhere, anytime. But the Lumia 1020, as expected, trumps them. Does that matter to you? Well it depends on how much imaging is important to your routine. Part of the problem is that the Lumia 920/925 are “good enough” for the average consumer, which is why they’re so awesome.
But for the non-average consumer who wants more? Then the Nokia Lumia 1020 is your answer.
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