September 18, 2009

Nokia E72 Full Review - Part 2: Camera



They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And in this case, I believe all you’re interested in is to see how good the pictures taken by the E72 really are. So I’m posting around 30 thousand words worth of pictures and going to be bed early tonight.



For those of you who’d rather read than look at photos, I’m squeezing in an additonal thousand words towards the end of the review.

Enjoy!

Close-up shot with no flash on



Close-up shots with both the flash on then off





Shot taken outside, around 6 pm, 45 minutes before sunset


Shot taken in the morning around 9, showing some good level of detail. Clearly, this final one is grainy, something you’ll notice in all snaps taken with the E72


E71 versus E72: crops from shots taken by the two phones, starting with the E71 on the left.

Besides traffic piling up in the second photo, the colors are actually better, the level of detail is higher, and the whole thing looks real. The E71’s shot looks like it’s been taken with a transparent sheet plastered on the camera lens.


E71’s photo looks smooth but lacks the details while the E72’s photo is superb with a bit of extra sharpness.


No Comment


5-meg shots comparison between the N97, N82, and E72 respectively. I’ll let you be the judge of this. Note that pics are resized at 35% of their original size.

N97


N82


E72


Finally, the big rumble. Contenders are, in order, as follows: Nokia E71, E72, N82, N97. Mr Smiley, my desk companion, gets a free photoshoot. You can see the effect that the flash of each phone has on the color of the pictures

E71


E72


N82


N97



The following set is taken outside with no flash on. Switching Night Mode on and off on both Eseries devices but not on Nseries devices, because, well, you rarely need to.

E71 - night mode off


E71 - night mode on - still sucks


E72 - night mode off


E72 - night mode on


N82 - night mode off


N97 - night mode off



REVIEW

One of the things that all E71 users and most Nokia lovers have been waiting for is the camera of the E72. I was excited too, and despite all the improvements over the E71 that were brought to the table, the camera is the clincher. In other terms, I believe that the camera alone could make some ditch the E71 in favor of the E72. So I’ve dedicated this second part of my Full Review for the camera of the E72.

For starters, I’d like to remind you that the current phone that I have is an early proto running a crazy firmware (which seems to be doing well so far), and I’m pretty sure the camera software will get many updates with new firmware versions, just like the E71 did. After all, the E71 seemed like it grew a new camera on the back with the last 2 updates. This made me love it even more. What needs to be done to improve the E72's camera is to reduce the sharpness of the pictures while reducing their size at the same time. One thing I’ve noticed is that the E72’s photos are awfully large in size, averaging 1.5MB per shot, while the rest of the 5-megapixel herd averaged 900KB per shot.

So the verdict? The E72’s camera is great. But if you’d like to know why, here are some facts:

- The lens is no Carl Zeiss but it’s damn good
- It’s an AF (auto-focus) camera, unlike the E52’s
- Live images on the viewfinder look way better
- Toolbar is customizable
- Panorama mode is here
- It shoots video at 15 frames per second, VGA resolution
- Secondary (front) cam can be used

The toolbar that appears on the right-hand side can be customized with 16 shortcuts, which are:

- Switch to video mode
- Scene modes
- Flash mode
- Self-timer
- Sequence mode
- Panorama mode
- Go to photos
- Color tone
- Viewfinder
- White balance
- Exposure
- Sharpness
- Contrast
- Brightness
- Light sensitivity
- Edit toolbar (for easier access to this menu, without having to go through options -> customize toolbar)

Zooming can either be done by pressing up on the d-pad (and down for zooming out) or by using the side volume keys.

In order to let the camera focus, you have to fully press the middle button of the d-pad – the Navi Key – and when you get a lock (frame turns green) you release your thumb and the camera takes the photo. It’s easier than using the “T” letter like it’s the case with the E71.

After you take the photo, the side toolbar shows 6 new shortcuts:

- Send
- Sing in to share online
- Go to photos
- Add to album
- Details
- Delete

The coolest out of these has got to be the “details” shortcut which allows you to add tags, a description, alter the title, and check the name of the album this pic belongs to (if any) and the resolution (which is the setting you’ve made prior to shooting).

Clicking options (left soft-key) brings up a menu which lets you send “to printer or kiosk” (via WLAN or Bluetooth of course), upload, set as wallpaper, assign to contact, or rename.

The battery bars on the top right corner have now a shaded background for better visibility; it’s the same one that appears on top when you bring out the toolbar from the side.

As far as I'm concerned, the E72's camera performs very, very well. It might not be up to the standards of Nokia's true 5-meg warriros - the N82 and the N97 - but it gets the job done. In all conditions. The LED flash is powerful enough and works great with close-up shots, fair with objects/people at a distance, but doesn't perform that well, say, across a room. But then again, the E72 is not a cam-phone, so we ought to let the cons slide out the window.

I believe that most of us think the E71 is the closest to being the perfect device. I could forgive the 2.5mm audio jack, the standard charging port, the absence of the accelerometer, but the camera was real frustrating at times. If I were asked to change one thing on the E71, I'd definitely choose to replace its cam with the E72's.

The concludes my second part of the Full Review. If there's any shot which you'd like to see taken with the E72's camera please let me know; I'll update the blog with the requested photos. Stay tuned for the remaining parts of this review.



UPDATE: Here-below is the plant shot taken again today. Fuzziness totally gone. Seems like a totally different camera taking the shot today. What I've done was wait till I got some shade and took the photo. It seems to me that the sensors on the N82 and N97 can handle bright lighting conditions better than the E72's. As you can see from the wall behind the plant, the sunlight was pretty intense in the first shot, so much that the wall was shining. Again, note that I'm only using a prototype so this might be due to it. I took 3 consecutive shots today as well and as you can see, nothing's wrong with the camera. Shall be doing the same tomorrow with more sunlight to see if that's the main issue.

31 comments:

  1. in pictures i would say the n82 is the cam phone love it's pictures
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  2. You're right, the oldest phone on test and the camera still rules. I believe it's the closest a phone can get to a compact camera. Even next to the N86, some of the N82's pics turned out better.
    ReplyDelete
  3. What happened to the pictures of the plant with the E72. Seems like the camera lens was smudged or something, the picture is al fuzzy, while all other pictures are cristal sharp... Is there an explanation for this?
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  4. I kept the picture as is. That's the weird part. I tried taking the picture several times and the fuzziness was always there. If it's a bug, I'm sure it'll be fixed in upcoming firmware versions. However, I'm waiting for the same time today and will try to do another photoshoot session. Will upload new pics if anything better comes up.
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  5. Does geotagging pictures work with the E72 prototype? How does the feature work?
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  6. First of all I'm proud of this website and this review live from Beirut, what I wanna know, is it available in Beirut market now?
    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks Ayham, yes it's good to be able to review gadgets from the heart of Lebanon.
    The phone is not yet available. Will update all readers on the availability as soon as I get the green light from the Levant team. So far, mid October seems to be a solid date. Let's hope so...
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  8. Wow, thansk for the update with the new picture, this one looks pretty good! What a difference with that sun. The E72 must have calibrated its opening on the basis of the sunlight in the back.
    ReplyDelete
  9. I'd like to think so. I'm doing more tests in the morning. Shall update you further more.
    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi,

    Excellent review! I was thinking more and more about upgrading to this phone.

    One more thing, could you post some full-size photos taken with the Nokia E72, including night photos? I would like to compare if its good enough to replace my N95 8GB as my main camera phone. Thanks!


    Cheers,
    Rem
    ReplyDelete
  11. I will surely do that in this upcoming post. Thanks for the support!
    ReplyDelete
  12. which one is better..
    e72 or n86 8mp... in camera, battery back up,n handelling...
    plz help,
    ReplyDelete
  13. if difference of camera is not considered while comparing e71 to e72 than is there any drastic reason to leave e71 and shift to e72
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  14. I read all comments and am a great phone lover .... this E 72 is truly amazing. extraordianry features and style .... just in love with it.

    buy nintendo dsi r4
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  15. On the E72, the 'processing' message remains for as much as 3-4 seconds after a pic is taken. On the E71 it takes less than a second. What gives????
    ReplyDelete
  16. Nice reviews ! Congratulations and thanks
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  17. I have an E72 in my hands right now and focus does not work. The t button worked fine on the E71 now the so called improved model instantly takes a blurry photo as soon as I press the navi key. However touching the navi button appears to put the E72 into an attempted focus mode which doesn't work. The sound when the photo is taken stutters too like the CPU is overworked. Really disappointing
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  18. Photos taken with E72 may be good in bright sun light but as far as indoor snaps are concern the picture quality is very poor cosidering the 5MP resolution. I think the problem is with its censor.Yesterday I purchased E72, but disapointed with its camera performance. I have another Nokia mobile pdone -N73, and i think its cameras performance is far better than E72.
    J.P. Darmora
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  19. Inside the room picture quality of E-72 is very poor....even worst than Nokia-5322 having camera of 2MP. :(
    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow, really great review! Thanks Ayham!
    What I'm really curious is about taking photos of words, i.e in magazine, posters.
    Since my current phone is E71, its pic quality for words is so blurry and can't see the words totally.. How about E72, is it the same ?
    I'm really looking forward to buying E72 one, but afraid of the camera quality regardless of its 5MP resolution.
    Thanks in advance.
    ReplyDelete
  21. Although there are lot of good comments for E-72, but touch wood I am totally dissatisfied with the photo quality while using it. The quality looks same as 1.3 MP. Could any body advise, if there is any setting while taking still photo?
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  22. I am Saifullah from Bangladesh! Does anyone know my sweet country? OK I need a guideline, I want to purchase a nokia which camera performance must be very good in indoor, and i also need Office file reader, and I am also want to long lasting while I will brows the internet! So which Nokia will be better for me?
    Thank All of You!!.......
    ReplyDelete
  23. i need to ask something
    how can u activate the light beside the front camera in the E72 phone i need it plz help
    ReplyDelete
  24. I just got the Nokia E72 and after the software updated dated March 2010, the camera quality became really really bad. That's why it confuses me how people who bought the phone months ago say that the camera is great when it's not.
    ReplyDelete
  25. can u let me know if the shutter sound of the camera can be switched off in Nokia E-72?
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  26. Salam and thank you for the photo comparisons, i saw comments on other sites saying that the camera quality of the e72 was not much different from the e71, thanks to you that is now a question that is confirmed, the e72 IS better camera quality. Lot of people out there talk rubbish and confuse prospective buyers. Thanks
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  27. Hi Ant1.

    I have just discovered your site and I find it extremely useful. Thank you for great work. Indeed.

    And the 'neccessary' question, yet it is a phone blog. :)

    I am using a 6220 classic and thinking about an upgrade to E72.
    Have you ever used 6220c before?
    Nearly the same features than in E72 but in a cheap looking plastic body. (5 mp Carl Zeiss, xenon,...)

    What do you thing about E72's battery life?

    Thanks again your great work.

    Best regards
    Andras Loke
    Hungary
    ReplyDelete
  28. JA IMAM "NOKIJA X6" I PREZADOVOLJAN SAM SA NJIM, IMA ISTO KAMERU 5 MEGAPIKSELA, I IMAM SVE POHVALE
    ReplyDelete
  29. Th N97 is far better than all the other models, there's no doubt about that!
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  30. Nokia is such a awesome brand for mobile. I like its service very much... Thanks for sharing with us..
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  31. Well what can i tell, from the start nokia does not have the best cellphones cameras, samsung does, but well every phone have something hat you just like so, so enjoy your cellphone.
    ReplyDelete