Comments on: Nokia N97 vs iPhone 3GS Photos Comparison at the Park

By: planetf1

planetf1 — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 04:00:37 +0000

The N97's photos look far more natural, bright, detailed. Much more lifelike.

I currently have an N96 and are looking at NOkia N900 and Nexus 1/Droid, although the photo quality/video makes me wonder whether I should stick with the N96 for a generation.

By: planetf1

planetf1 — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:00:37 +0000

The N97's photos look far more natural, bright, detailed. Much more lifelike.

I currently have an N96 and are looking at NOkia N900 and Nexus 1/Droid, although the photo quality/video makes me wonder whether I should stick with the N96 for a generation.

By: Healthcare98

Healthcare98 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:26:31 +0000

Nice picture's, amazing and excellent thanks.

By: Healthcare98

Healthcare98 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 06:26:31 +0000

Nice picture's, amazing and excellent thanks.

By: cuba

cuba — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:34:51 +0000

hi folks,

I love nokia's phones, but it's clear, once more, that it hasn't the 'touch' with cameras-even with Carl Zeiss optics. You can clearly see the difference in sharpness of far objects(like in the 'by the stairs' photo); certainly the iphone's are darker but I wonder whether there are some options to improve that.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:11:21 +0000

I like the Nokia n97 photos better. Some of the iphone pictures are good but the Nokia n97 photo's colours look more true to life and it looks like it handles dark and light conditions better. I really want a Nokia n97! =D
People can email if they know where i can get one cheap. =)

By: myphotographer

myphotographer — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:58:47 +0000

hi, had the Nokia N97 about two weeks now.

please see some more examples of this phones quality here

http://myphotographer.posterous.com

thanks

By: RAYDave

RAYDave — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:04:32 +0000

Images of the N97 are the best!!

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:08:08 +0000

The iPhone has blown out highlights and crushed shadow in the same image! This isn't bad exposure, otherwise it would be one or the other, it's a restricted dynamic range!

By: poohhater

poohhater — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:55:30 +0000

im not suprised that the 3 megapixel iphone 3gs lost to a 5 megapixel nokia n97. i for some reason like the iphone 3gs better because it has a touch to focus option.

By: nokiaceptelefonu

nokiaceptelefonu — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:58:48 +0000

iphone really good cell phone. but nokia shots wonderfull !

By: nokiaceptelefonu

nokiaceptelefonu — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 23:56:48 +0000

iphone really good cell phone. but nokia shots wonderfull !

By: JamesBurland

JamesBurland — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 13:13:06 +0000

The 'crushed blacks' and 'blown out highlights' is more about exposure control than anything else, which leads me to another point. Had Mark simply pointed at other parts of the scene using the 3GS's touch spot metering feature he could have totally changed the tonal level of everyone of these photos. Those blown out highlights would have been present and the crushed blacks could be nice and open had Mark had a bit more experience with the phone, using the powerful (but very narrow) feature set.

Do you have any observations about the two example photos that I featured in a comment below?

I love the Nseries, and I've spent hundreds of hours poring over amazing photos taken by the N95 and N82 in order to judge this competition...

http://tinyurl.com/nsoh83

I cannot state enough how brilliant these devices are at capturing scenes in all kinds of conditions. But when viewed at 100% size they do exhibit nasty characteristics due to processing which hasn't really changed much since the introduction of the N82.

By: Name

Name — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 12:05:08 +0000

i don't think the iphone shots are any less processed to be honest. The colours of the iphone shots are far more processed than that of the n97. The iphone suffers from blown out highlights in some of its pictures, and crushed blacks, due to its colour processing. The overall result may look more pleasing to the eye but details in these areas are lost and cannot be recovered.
The details of the n97 may be more processed than the iphone, but the colours of the iphone are more processed than the n97.
Hence I don't think it would be right to claim that the n97 shots are over processed compared to the iphone shots.

By: Mostafa

Mostafa — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:54:26 +0000

Although I like the iPhone 3GS better, those 2 MP do make a difference!
Images' brightness and details were better on those of the N97, and that makes it the better “camera” phone.

By: D@S

D@S — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 01:15:25 +0000

n97 le rompe el orto (asi de clarito)

By: tankslappa

tankslappa — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:41:35 +0000

I've not had any problem with the N97's GPS and geotagging with V11. I even get GPS lock from inside my house. Does the iPhone have it's GPS turned on all the time, as the N97 only turns it on when you need it. This can cause it to have a slight delay before it managed to get the lock it needs to Geotag. There is an icon on the screen to let you know when it's got it. It only takes a couple of seconds normally.
As for the pictures, I think the N97 has a better dynamic range. The iPhone seems to loose details in the highlight and the shadow.
Where the SIM is doesn't matter. GPS is calculated from the satellite signals, not from the cell. Only assisted GPS uses cell and other information to assist. It's not essential.

By: acorchia

acorchia — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:58:26 +0000

actually, for some reason it seems the iphone photos are better looking, i dunno, it's darker alright, but it looks more alive, yet i agree on night photos it comes against it, the quality there is horrible, yet here i think it's better.

By: Mark Guim

Mark Guim — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:56:39 +0000

You don't have to believe me, but I definitely used touch focus/white balance on the proper areas with the iphone.

By: Nokia N97 & iPhone 3GS: una nuova prova mette a confronto le fotocamere dei due dispositivi

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:32:40 +0000

[...] TheNokiaBlog ha recentemente pubblicato una serie di immagini comparative tra la fotocamera dell’iPhone 3GS e quella del Nokia N97. [...]

By: antonioj

antonioj — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:11:32 +0000

Just to complete my coment – the 3gs photos arent´s exposed properly, because he didn´t use the touch focus feature to expose the focused areas properly. That´s all. This makes the 3gs camera look alot worse…my question is…was it intentional or just ignorance?

By: antonioj

antonioj — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:08:16 +0000

Any particular reason for not using touch focus on the 3gs..wait, how what´s the name of this blog?

By: Lucas

Lucas — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 18:35:12 +0000

well its not just darker , its detailless too .
and try to take some photos inside. without Sun light. and night photos

By: illusionado

illusionado — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:49:55 +0000

iPhone and N97 have different auto focus and light control, they definitely have different approach…but talking on outdoors…n97 will sure win.

n97 have exact light contrast and brightness while iPhone just got 1 photos to make it a good phone..

its smaller resolution so the image will be sure look fixed well compare to a higher reso..

By: napier

napier — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:00:31 +0000

O.K. I just don't see it. The iphone pic looks so fuzzy and blurred that to say it's reproducing anything correctly seems like a stretch to me. I guess it just comes down to personal preference.

By: JamesBurland

JamesBurland — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:09:00 +0000

Just to clarify, I never said that the iPhone shots had more detail.

I've spent a good portion of my adult life employed to ensure that photographs are reproduced correctly in print. The N97 shots, indeed all Nseries shots, have an over processed look. Take a look again at the 100% crops that I posted above, look at Mark's wife's leg and arm. There is clearly colour banding present, also where her ankle meets the floorboard you can make out a halo (an unnatural change in tone).

I'm sure that N97 will soundly thrash the iPhone is low light situations, and I expect the N97 to improve with each firmware revision, but right now, I prefer the look of the iPhone shots.

By: raghu

raghu — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 03:32:05 +0000

I seemed to notice that my N97 had faster GPS lock on times when i had v10 installed… ever since the upgrade to v11 & subsequent v12 the lock on times r pathetic…. i compared it to a classic N95 & the N95 was faster…

i also have issues with the pictures not displaying in the favourites list on the home screen & the gallery & the videos app gets stuck from time to time

hope the upcoming firmware update fixes everything…

keep up the great work mark!!

By: Karri Anttila

Karri Anttila — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:42:49 +0000

I have to say that I am really impressed about the iPhone photos. It does not have as good camera as the N97, but if you think it's only 3mpix (and change) camera, it does produce really good photos. I'd love to see comparison between iPhone 3GS and Nokia with equal mpix camera.

All in all I feel that N97 and iPhone have different approach towards smartphone. I like both, but both have flaws.. I do like my N97, but it's not the ultimate phone. I like the iPhone, but I am still using my N97..

By: Peter

Peter — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:28:53 +0000

My old K790 cybershot takes better pictures that the iphone 3GS or N97, that camera has cellphone included, my old K790…….. I miss you so much!!!!!! (I have nokia N95 8GB v32.2.001)

By: napier

napier — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:07:13 +0000

James, seriously, the N97 shots have far more detail. It's clearly obvious. Are you being serious?