The 8-megapixel camera is the standout feature on the Nokia N86 8MP, and the key upgrade over the older Nokia N85. Even Nokia's flagship Nokia N97 uses a 5-megapixel sensor, making this phone Nokia's leading pugilist in the megapixel match-ups. Nokia's only real competitor in the U.S. market is the Sony Ericsson C905 on AT&T and the Samsung Memoir on T-Mobile. Of the three 8-megapixel cameras on the U.S. market, we think the Nokia N86 8MP took the best looking pictures, and they were the best looking images we've seen from a cameraphone to date.
Images weren't perfect. A great point-and-shoot camera will still produce better images. But the Nokia N86 makes a fine replacement if you want to lug around only one device. The best images we got from the N86 were certainly print-worthy, and the camera even did a nice job handling close-up shots and providing some interesting depth of field effects. The panorama was kind of a letdown, though the Nokia N86 takes the largest panorama shots we've seen from a cameraphone. We were quite impressed by the dual-LED flash, which managed to light up a nearby scene at night and also keep from washing out with the deathly blue haze that other cameras can't avoid.
We wish the camera mode on the Nokia N86 behaved more like a camera. We'd like options like multiple auto focus points, which would let us keep our subjects locked when the camera wants to focus on the larger backdrop. We'd like easier control over white balance, and some fine tuning for ISO sensitivity and maybe shutter speed. While we're adding camera functions, how about a real camera menu, too. As we've mentioned frequently, the Symbian S60 interface isn't pleasing anyone, and we think an interface designed around the shooting, like on Sony Ericsson's CyberShot phones, would be helpful. Check out our image samples below for the pics from our testing time with the Nokia N86 8MP.
Sunny shots
Elvis on the Boardwalk
The Giant
Empty Rides
Sunny Dunes
Close-ups and beach shots
Clam Shell with water
Shells and Sand in Close-Up Mode
Beach Warning Sign
Dunes
Glass Vase, out of focus
Sunrise at the Ocean City, Md, Boardwalk
Boardwalk and Lights
Shark, Believe It
Shark, Or Not
Horizon
Rides at Sunrise
With the Flash, Panorama
Self Portrait at Night with LED flash
Country Club Sign at Night, with LED flash
Panorama sample
At 8-megapixels, the Sony Ericsson C905 instantly takes its place in the rarified strata of high-megapixel phones on the market. The C905 leapfrogs the rest of AT&T's lineup, and sits among an elite few truly dedicated camera phones. The phone is well designed for camera use. When you slide open the lens cover on the back, the camera comes to life, and shortcut buttons all over the phone light up soft blue. There are buttons on top to switch to camcorder mode or to launch the photo gallery. On the front of the phone, two buttons up top help navigate the scene modes and shooting preferences. Hidden icons on the 4-way button let you adjust flash, macro mode, white balance and the self-timer in a hurry. We hardly see this level of shortcut control on a dedicated compact camera, let alone a camera phone.
Of course, all of these controls would do little good without impressive image quality to back them up, and we're happy to say that in most respects, the Sony Ericsson C905 delivers. With more and more 8-megapixel shooters on the market, we're starting to get a feel for what to expect from these lenses. The C905 does a great job in broad daylight, with crystal clear images that show great color and depth of field. The camera does its best work close up, and though landscape shots looked good, at full crop you'll notice a lack of detail in the grass and the trees.
Indoors, the Sony Ericsson C905 held its own, but even in a sunlit room, colors looked pale and washed out. Details also grew fuzzy, especially up close. The flash did a fine job lighting up our shots, and the Xenon flash on the C905 does a much better job than the LED flash you'll find on other cameras.
For shooting modes, the Sony Ericsson C905 gets a nice mix, but nothing too extensive. There is a macro mode for close-ups, a panorama mode to stitch together 3 frames into one long image, and scene modes for sports or for photographing text on a document. For shooting, the camera has a "Smart Contrast" mode that brightens up underexposed areas, especially in shots with a dominating backlight. This definitely helped in a pinch, but it gave our pics a very washed out look. To help correct some of these issues, the Sony Ericsson C905 also has PhotoDJ software, which allows for some retouching and some automatic level-setting in images. The camera also has face detection built in to make sure faces stay in focus against the background.
In the end, the Sony Ericsson C905 won't compete with the best compact cameras on the market, but it could certainly give you a reason to leave your compact at home if you're going to be outside, or if you just don't need great image quality enough to carry two devices. Photos from the C905 were definitely good enough to print at an 8 by 10 inch size, and were more than adequate for any online use. Check out our image samples below for some of the best pics we got out of the Sony Ericsson C905 in our test run.
Texas Sunflower
Wildflower and tiny bee
End of Spring flowers
Landscape path
Seed pod and bugs
Self Portrait
Amid the tall grass
Panorama shot
Buttercup close up
Rusty lock
Firehouse Subs
4th of July Fireworks
Yellow Light Cycle
Orchids, with flash
Indoor Orchid close up
Under the best lighting conditions, the Samsung Memoir's camera did a fine job, though there were still glaring problems. Pictures were definitely print worthy, which is a rarity on cameraphones, but even a mediocre 8-megapixel point-and-shoot camera will produce better results. If you're looking to pick up a cheap extra camera, as a sidearm for a more advanced DSLR, perhaps, this wouldn't be a bad choice though. Check out our image samples below.
One Room Schoolhouse
This is a good, clear shot taken on a bright, sunny day. There is some evidence of oversharpening, especially in the bricks and the high branches, and there's more color noise than we'd like to see in the blue sky. Still, a noble effort.
Schoolhouse Front
The bright sky has destroyed this picture. Not only in the branches at the top, which have exploded with purple fringing to a degree we would never find acceptable in even a cheap point-and-shoot. Even the rich, red bricks are washed out and hazy looking here.
Macro Bricks
Great close-up work here. We wish we could have gotten even closer, as we were still a few inches from the subject, but the detail is excellent, especially in the focal center.
Antique Windows
Dog Indoors
The indoor dog shot is okay until we zoom into a full crop. The fur still has some fine detail, but as we work out way to the end of the picture, as it were, we start to see not only noise, but also some strange, cartoonish greens and pinks showing up incorrectly in the dogs haunches.
Dog Outdoors
Our dog doesn't like hydrants, at least not in that special dog way. The camera, on the other hand, did a nice job of exposing the freshly-painted bright red. This is actually an accurate representation – the hydrant really is that color.
Needles
Under natural sunlight, the Samsung Memoir completely overexposes the center of this evergreen bush. There's some nice depth of field here, but this would have been a much better shot if the camera hadn't blown the subject and lost all detail to bright light.
Sunny Self Portrait
A good enough self portrait. We're still disappointed with the lack of detail in our scraggly beard hairs and fuzzy, cashmere cap.
Vegetables
Peppers
Tangerines
Inside, our local Whole Foods market has dramatic lighting for the produce, and the Samsung Memoir just couldn't handle the effect. The carrots in the first shot and the yellow peppers in the second are overexposed and bright white. On the periphery of the peppers, the tomatoes are drab and brown looking, which is not how they were in person.
Night Portrait at 1600 ISO
Night Portrait with Flash
Without the flash, we cranked up the ISO sensitivity on the Samsung Memoir to the alleged 1600 level, and this shot is the best we could get. We were standing near a street lamp at the time, which makes this all the more confusing, as the sensor seems to have hardly picked us up at all. With the Xenon flash turned on, we're a bit pale, but the camera at least captured our deer-in-headlights stare. Still, that green jacket is actually light beige in person.
Tiny Scene in Light Tent
eBay Shot
Set to automatic white balance, this shot was rendered unacceptably yellow. Since we were using studio fluorescent lamps, we set the white balance to fluorescent, and instead got these pics, both of which are warm to the point of being nearly purple. The first shot was more of a problem, and we think the pink figurine might have screwed up the color even further.
The eBay shot, on the other hand, is among the best we've seen with a cameraphone. The Samsung Memoir captured a great level of detail, including plenty of scuffs and scratches that are difficult to see with the naked eye.
The Samsung Memoir has a panorama mode, but it failed in our tests. After a full day of shooting, none of our panorama images were present among the sample shots we took.
Photo Management – Mediocre
Though the Samsung Memoir boasts a nice selection of photo uploading and management options, in practice these were hardly worth bragging about since they were mostly confusing or they simply failed to work. The phone uses two separate photo viewers. One is accessible from the camera itself, and one you can reach from the main menus or widgets screen. This seemed redundant, and the two viewers shared some features and split some features between them.
We tried e-mailing pics and sending them to our personal Flickr page. Though the phone claims to be able to handle both these tasks, neither worked properly. Our pictures never arrived in our inbox, and never showed up on our Flickr photostream.
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