The Nokia Blog: Nokia N97 vs iPhone 3GS Photo Comparison at the Park
yitwave
· 4 months ago
Hi great post!
I'm quite keen on still photography so I have a lot to say about these pictures. The pictures show that on a resized basis, (it would be much much more interesting to see the originals) that... N97 is a substantially better shooter than Iphone 3gs although its not all 1 way. Reasons as follows:
N97 (3): 3GS (1) 1) N97 adopts proper camera exposures: If you notice most of the pictures show that N97 is brighter than the Iphone. The reason it seems this way is that the N97 calculates the exposure with a heavier weighting on the central portion of the photo (which normal cameras do). The iphone seems to take a more equal weighted approach which results in pictures that are blatantly incorrect in exposures except for very evenly bright / dim pictures. 2) N97 has much better dynamic range: Dynamic range is the ability to interpret colours and details at different levels of brightness. This is significantly driven by the sensor so is much less likely to be tweaked. In Rocks & Pebbles, and particularly in Come to mama, the details in the bright parts, like the water reflections or even just the pebbles are gone with the 3GS. Furthermore, you can see the colour is also completely lost in the 3GS and the water becomes white (incorrectly). 3) N97 is significantly sharper & more detailed: As all the pictures are scaled to the same size, the level of detail you see should be the same. This is unfortunately not the case, in virtually all the pictures, if you look at the finer details, there is more information / detail presented for N97. Just look at the surface of rocks, or the leaves, look at the low contrast areas, notice there are much clearer details on the N97, like the big rock on the left in the Rocks & Pebbles. 4) 3GS there isn’t haze: In Empty road, you can see the bright light top right in 3GS which accurately shows the bright white sky whereas the N97 is hazy either due to a dirty lens or due to a bit of smearing as the light seems to create a haze by leaking across the trees. The haze creates a much less realistic picture and can ruin a photo.
Other comments where there are no obvious pros / cons: 1) N97 has wider angle lens - notice you see more in the image than the Iphone 3gs comparatively on a field of view. This is up to personal taste what you prefer. 2) N97 has better background blur – In by the stairs, the background is blurred to a greater degree. This implies a few things, either the sensor is larger, or the lens is faster (lets in more light) especially given that we've established that the N97 has a wider angle lens. This implies that the N97 should have much better low light photos (with a bigger sensor / faster lens), but as these photos are all taken in the best conditions (bright, contrasty colors) we can’t talk much about noise, or low light capability.
Overall, the 3GS is a significantly worse shooter (just from these photos) as compared to N97 for day to day use.
Mark Guim
· 4 months ago
Great analysis! Thanks for the response!
Jonathan Bruha
· 4 months ago
I like some of the colors in the iPhone 3GS's shots better, but a lot of them seemed to really miss the mark. Is it me or does the N97 seem to pick up just a bit more photo real estate then the 3GS?
Ms. Jen
· 4 months ago
Johnny - It is the Zeiss lens on the N97 that gives the photos more 'real estate'. The lens is more wide angle than the iPhone.
Elias
· 4 months ago
iPhone photos just look severely underexposed. The Nokia's a much better camera with much better range. In looking at the first set of pictures, for example, you see much more detail in the pebbles that are in the woman's shadow (the darker part of the photo) yet the lighter parts of the photo (the ocean) also show much more detail. Nice comparisons; thanks for sharing!!
JayMontano
· 4 months ago
Hey Mark,
Nice photos. Totally not a photography buff either. I just know what appeals to my eyes more.
I misread the tags first time around and thought, "hmm the iPhone surprisingly took some better shots than the N97 - brighter, more vibrant colours, better contrast and further focus capturing more of the scene (rocks and pebbles/empty road/looking through/green grass/blue sky) but then that was actually the N97 on the botoom >_<.
In "Thirsty" there's more detail from the N97 but I prefer the iPhone's shot as it just suits the scene better (or maybe I just liked the white dog better than the pomeranian looking one? :p)
Lastly, - in "by the stairs" , do you remember which shot was actually more accurate in colour? I prefer the composition by the N97 (blurred stairs, focused foreground) but the green from the 3GS looks more appealing. -- As for the GPS thing, are you on Ovi Maps 3.0? I know that shouldn't have any effect, but there's a growing correlation between users that have 3.0 and how sucky their GPS signal has gone.
Mark Guim
· 4 months ago
haha... it is a Pomeranian but our parents just tried giving her a haircut making her look funny.
In "By the stairs," I kinda like the iPhone 3GS' photo better because of the richer green and blacks, but the N97 had the more accurate color. I love the bokeh from the N97 too.
acurrie
· 4 months ago
I'd say the iPhone photos are over-saturated. When the exposure is right they appear better because of the deeper, richer colour.
The old Nikon CoolPix also did this (maybe they still do?) -- it's more aesthetically pleasing but not necessarily more accurate.
Giridhar
· 4 months ago
iPhone photos are heavily saturated. and the girl in the pic is pretty
JamesBurland
· 4 months ago
Simple. The iPhone shots are less processed and more natural. I'd take the iPhone shots thank you.
However, I have good reason to believe that Nokia's over processed look will come to an end shortly, this will make a world of difference and swing my opinion back in favour of the Nseries... Probably ^_-
Look at a 100% crop of the "By The Stairs" shot. N97 gets mullered!
Fleksnes
· 4 months ago
lol, either you are a fanboy,or you need to get your eyes check/screen cleaned. Either way: fail!
JamesBurland
· 4 months ago
Ah, the good old 'fanboy' label, thrown in there whenever you need to instantly discredit somebody.
James, seriously, the N97 shots have far more detail. It's clearly obvious. Are you being serious?
JamesBurland
· 4 months ago
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.
napier
· 4 months ago
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.
Name
· 3 months ago
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.
JamesBurland
· 3 months ago
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...
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.
Steve
· 3 months ago
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!
Cris
· 4 months ago
Simple, the 3GS have a build in "curve" which mades the photos more saturated. This also cause the images to lose its dynamic range. In other words, there is some "pre post-processing" done with the photos in 3GS. N97 are taken with a straight curve, that's why the photos looks slightly more flat. if you set the contrast slightly lower with exposure slightly higher on N97 (under User Define) you can get the same image from both camera.
Mark Guim
· 4 months ago
Don't you mean set the contrast higher and increase the exposure on the Nokia N97 to get the same result?
In my opinion, I like the exposure from the N97 already, but would prefer to increase the contrast a little bit. I'm glad we have these settings built-in to Nokia phones.
Carlton
· 4 months ago
Its no big shock that the N97 won, but the iphone did a really good job, i'm hoping to see "nokia e75 vs iphone 3Gs" that should be a really good fight. Great post.
Salvatore Serafino
· 4 months ago
Photos of the Nokia N97 are light years above those of the iPhone.
N97 for ever!!
Guglielmo Altavilla
· 4 months ago
I have downloaded two comparative photos of the sky (original dim), modified levels of the iPhone' photo and this is the result: http://gallery.me.com/guglielmo.altavilla#100090 The N97 is still and overall better, but the iPhone much best has defended than I believed. (I am not a photographer, I modified levels using iPhoto, the default mac photo application)
Peter
· 4 months ago
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)
Karri Anttila
· 4 months ago
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..
raghu
· 4 months ago
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!!
illusionado
· 4 months ago
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..
Lucas
· 3 months ago
well its not just darker , its detailless too . and try to take some photos inside. without Sun light. and night photos
antonioj
· 3 months ago
Any particular reason for not using touch focus on the 3gs..wait, how what´s the name of this blog?
antonioj
· 3 months ago
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?
Mark Guim
· 3 months ago
You don't have to believe me, but I definitely used touch focus/white balance on the proper areas with the iphone.
Aviel
· 3 months ago
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.
tankslappa
· 3 months ago
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.
D@S
· 3 months ago
n97 le rompe el orto (asi de clarito)
Mostafa
· 3 months ago
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.
nokiaceptelefonu
· 3 months ago
iphone really good cell phone. but nokia shots wonderfull !
poohhater
· 3 months ago
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.
RAYDave
· 2 months ago
Images of the N97 are the best!!
myphotographer
· 2 months ago
hi, had the Nokia N97 about two weeks now.
please see some more examples of this phones quality here
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. =)
cuba
· 3 weeks ago
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.
All Comments
I'm quite keen on still photography so I have a lot to say about these pictures. The pictures show that on a resized basis, (it would be much much more interesting to see the originals) that... N97 is a substantially better shooter than Iphone 3gs although its not all 1 way. Reasons as follows:
N97 (3): 3GS (1)
1) N97 adopts proper camera exposures: If you notice most of the pictures show that N97 is brighter than the Iphone. The reason it seems this way is that the N97 calculates the exposure with a heavier weighting on the central portion of the photo (which normal cameras do). The iphone seems to take a more equal weighted approach which results in pictures that are blatantly incorrect in exposures except for very evenly bright / dim pictures.
2) N97 has much better dynamic range: Dynamic range is the ability to interpret colours and details at different levels of brightness. This is significantly driven by the sensor so is much less likely to be tweaked. In Rocks & Pebbles, and particularly in Come to mama, the details in the bright parts, like the water reflections or even just the pebbles are gone with the 3GS. Furthermore, you can see the colour is also completely lost in the 3GS and the water becomes white (incorrectly).
3) N97 is significantly sharper & more detailed: As all the pictures are scaled to the same size, the level of detail you see should be the same. This is unfortunately not the case, in virtually all the pictures, if you look at the finer details, there is more information / detail presented for N97. Just look at the surface of rocks, or the leaves, look at the low contrast areas, notice there are much clearer details on the N97, like the big rock on the left in the Rocks & Pebbles.
4) 3GS there isn’t haze: In Empty road, you can see the bright light top right in 3GS which accurately shows the bright white sky whereas the N97 is hazy either due to a dirty lens or due to a bit of smearing as the light seems to create a haze by leaking across the trees. The haze creates a much less realistic picture and can ruin a photo.
Other comments where there are no obvious pros / cons:
1) N97 has wider angle lens - notice you see more in the image than the Iphone 3gs comparatively on a field of view. This is up to personal taste what you prefer.
2) N97 has better background blur – In by the stairs, the background is blurred to a greater degree. This implies a few things, either the sensor is larger, or the lens is faster (lets in more light) especially given that we've established that the N97 has a wider angle lens. This implies that the N97 should have much better low light photos (with a bigger sensor / faster lens), but as these photos are all taken in the best conditions (bright, contrasty colors) we can’t talk much about noise, or low light capability.
Overall, the 3GS is a significantly worse shooter (just from these photos) as compared to N97 for day to day use.
Nice photos. Totally not a photography buff either. I just know what appeals to my eyes more.
I misread the tags first time around and thought, "hmm the iPhone surprisingly took some better shots than the N97 - brighter, more vibrant colours, better contrast and further focus capturing more of the scene (rocks and pebbles/empty road/looking through/green grass/blue sky) but then that was actually the N97 on the botoom >_<.
In "Thirsty" there's more detail from the N97 but I prefer the iPhone's shot as it just suits the scene better (or maybe I just liked the white dog better than the pomeranian looking one? :p)
Lastly, - in "by the stairs" , do you remember which shot was actually more accurate in colour? I prefer the composition by the N97 (blurred stairs, focused foreground) but the green from the 3GS looks more appealing.
--
As for the GPS thing, are you on Ovi Maps 3.0? I know that shouldn't have any effect, but there's a growing correlation between users that have 3.0 and how sucky their GPS signal has gone.
In "By the stairs," I kinda like the iPhone 3GS' photo better because of the richer green and blacks, but the N97 had the more accurate color. I love the bokeh from the N97 too.
The old Nikon CoolPix also did this (maybe they still do?) -- it's more aesthetically pleasing but not necessarily more accurate.
However, I have good reason to believe that Nokia's over processed look will come to an end shortly, this will make a world of difference and swing my opinion back in favour of the Nseries... Probably ^_-
Look at a 100% crop of the "By The Stairs" shot. N97 gets mullered!
<sigh>
Check out these 100% crops and see for yourself...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesburland/38584...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesburland/38584...
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.
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.
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.
In my opinion, I like the exposure from the N97 already, but would prefer to increase the contrast a little bit. I'm glad we have these settings built-in to Nokia phones.
Great post.
N97 for ever!!
The N97 is still and overall better, but the iPhone much best has defended than I believed.
(I am not a photographer, I modified levels using iPhoto, the default mac photo application)
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..
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!!
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..
and try to take some photos inside. without Sun light. and night photos
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.
Images' brightness and details were better on those of the N97, and that makes it the better "camera" phone.
please see some more examples of this phones quality here
http://myphotographer.posterous.com
thanks
People can email if they know where i can get one cheap. =)
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.