Enchanting arrangement of all points over the Lumia 1020 or what a real camera phone with RAW support should be

It's time to collect in one place all-all-all myths and revelations of one of the most controversial from the point of view of camera phones readers - Lumia 1020. ( Attention, many photos , beautiful photos)

As well as the highlight of the program, for the first time in Habré, in front of everyone: working with RAW sources from 1020 , and processing them.

Sit back, we start;)
What questions most often come to mind when the reader hears the expression: “Lumia 1020 camera with a 41 megapixel camera”?
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1. 41 megapixels, how does it fit there?
2. Does the rest of the iron correspond to the declared level of the photo module?
3. And yet, is there really so many megapixels?
4. Yes, even if so much, what is the use of them? Why so much?
5. Suppose that this makes sense, but the RAW in a smartphone is the same overkill, the sense of it from such a matrix? !!
6. Anyway, SLR is better!

PS Yes, the author still has a seizure of “People love offended” and he is still desperately trying to regain the honor of the Finnish engineers, whose achievements, in the author’s opinion, were unfairly ignored in the light of recent events.


Let's go in order.

1. 41 megapixels, how does it fit there?

The 41-megapixel Lumia 1020 matrix has a size of 1 / 1.5 ", the pixel size is 1.12 microns. The total resolution: 7712 × 5360, some pixels are needed for the photo module to work, so when shooting in 4: 3 format, the resolution of the image is 7136 × 5360 px (38 MP ), and 16: 9 - 7712 × 4352 px (33.5 MP). Explanation of this phenomenon.

The Zeiss lens has a fixed focal length of 26 mm and an aperture of f / 2.2. Given the large size of the sensor and such a high-aperture lens, the camera is capable of producing a fairly good bokeh, which is now so fashionable in photography.

Due to the large size of the matrix and a good high-aperture lens, one can observe a quality bokeh effect. Download RAW.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), the laws of physics cannot be overcome yet, so to achieve such high performance, engineers had to compromise and make the device in one place a little more than usual. The thickness of the Lumia 1020 at its widest point is 10.4 mm.



In my opinion, this is not a critical indicator, given the opportunities offered by this camera phone. Nokia designers tried to beat this ledge as accurately as possible. In life, the smartphone does not look as scary as it may seem on the renderers presented on the sites.







Also, if 1020 is put on the table “back”, then the smartphone will lie slightly at an angle, as a result, the optics will not touch the surface.


PS Now you can upgrade your smartphone to Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview and enjoy the new features of the new OS. Actually for readers who were irritated by the monotonous color of the tiles on the screen.

2. Does the rest of the iron correspond to the declared level of the photo module?

The smartphone runs on SOC Snapdragon S4 with 2 GB of RAM, 32 GB of fast memory is installed on board, there is no support for flash cards. It is probably correct, when working with such huge snapshots, the system needs very fast memory with a short response time. Not all SD cards on the market meet these requirements. Also on board there is a xenon flash, which, together with the LED, perfectly copes with its task.

Screen. It deserves special mention. Even more, a separate photo shoot! For the sake of demonstrating AMOLED display capabilities alone! And all because this technology, in conjunction with Nokia ClearBlack, produces an incredibly beautiful picture and, most importantly, a damn deep black color that creates the illusion that the display completely merges with the glass. Someone may argue that AMOLED produces acid colors, I do not agree with this statement, moreover, in Lumia 1020 you can independently calibrate colors and shades to your taste.

Take a short pause. Take a closer look at this beautiful blend of art and technology.










Glance Screen. Just a modest screensaver with a clock, but very necessary in the daily turmoil.


And, as always, the font content of the Windows Phone interface is perfectly combined with the appearance of the Lumia 1020.

3. And yet, is there really so many megapixels?

Surprisingly, yes. It just so happened that I live not far from the Exhibition of Economic Achievements, and I don’t know another place where I could take pictures of letters from a long distance, I’ll repeat the picture from a sensational perspective.

Only with one BUT. Many readers were excited about the new Lumia 1020 feature — taking photos in RAW. Looking ahead, I’ll introduce to you what is the difference between JPEG, issued by smartphone automation, from RAW, processed in a couple of clicks.

Compare:


Photo captured in cloudy weather, processed by smartphone automatic for optimal auto-exposure of elements below the horizon line. (The sky is overexposed)


The same frame, only saved by the phone in RAW format and processed later in Camera RAW.


And yes, even from such a distance, the letters can still be safely read.

I suggest that you also study the 41-megapixel RAW file of this frame, perhaps you will be able to process it better: download.

4. Yes, even if so much, what is the use of them? Why so much?

First , having a megapixel margin, the camera can produce oversampling from a 41 megapixel frame to 5 (resolution suitable for everyday needs and printing).


The system analyzes 5-6 noisy pixels and combines them into one “clean” pixel with a stable color and brightness indicator.

Secondly , you have a wide scope for experiments with framing and zoom, the benefit of the matrix has a large supply of pixels.


4x digital zoom without loss of quality. And 6x zoom when shooting at 720r.

Here's what it looks like when shooting a 720p video.


Download original 720p video from Yandex.Disk.

When shooting in 1080r zoom is limited to 4.


But in this case, the result keeps the bar of quality. Download original 1080p video from Yandex.Disk.

But the most important advantage of this technology over optical zoom is the ability to rezum, see the frame completely after the shooting.

Suppose you decide to capture an art macro, take a 4x zoom, focus, click, and the frame is ready.



But at home, you realize that it was possible to frame another way, for the integrity of the composition, and maybe even completely leave the frame without zoom. Having a device with an optical zoom, you would have to come to terms with the irreparable. But the owners of Lumia 1020 have an excellent cheat. You just open the original and see the whole scene. After taking pictures, when it is already dark outside the window and you are sitting in your armchair by the computer and studying the photos accumulated during the day.



I do not claim to be a professional in the field of processing RAW-photos, in this area there is no limit to perfection, and you will download the original RAW-file and play with it. Download from Yandex.Disk.

5. Suppose that there is a benefit in this, but RAW in a smartphone is the same overkill, the sense of it from such a matrix? !!

It is known that photographers never work with JPEG, as it is very difficult to handle. All filmed in RAW. And yes, everyone does post-processing to achieve the best quality. Automation is not able to predict your preferences in artistic photography. Partly because of the support of RAW, DSLRs are rated at a completely different level than simple soap dishes. Of course, the ability to change lenses and a large matrix are the main priorities, but without RAW you cannot unleash the full potential of hardware.

What is RAW? This is a format that contains the whole range of data obtained by the matrix at the time of shooting. In JPEG, most of this data is missing. Obviously, the more data, the larger the file size. Usually the weight of a RAW file is comparable to the number of the number of megapixels of the matrix. So, for example, RAW from Canon 5D Mark III with 23.4 MP module weighs 23.3 megabytes. Lumia 1020 has 41 megapixels, RAW weighs ~ 41.6 megabytes.

Now we will go through all the steps of creating an art picture, starting directly from the settings of photo parameters, cropping, and ending with post-processing in Camera RAW. For professionals in photography, this material will seem too simple, but for beginners it can be a good starting point.

So, you have found an interesting frame, when shooting in the daytime it is recommended to set the ISO 100 sensitivity to light, the exposure can be corrected by 0.3 EV.


5-megapixel photo processed by smartphone automation. Not bad, but in the clouds there is a small overexposure (loss of detail, continuous filling with white), the roof is also lit up on the ship, buildings are underexposed. Let's try to improve it by enhancing the colors and adjusting the brightness in the right areas.

We drop RAW from the phone ( Download from Yandex.Disk ) and open it in Adobe Camera RAW (included in any modern Photoshop package).


Hello, I am a Camera RAW, and I should not be afraid.

To begin, set the white balance (the first subsection of White Balance). Here everyone is free to experiment and select indicators that he likes more. The first slider adjusts the image temperature directly, the second allows you to remove the purple or green hues. It is also possible to set the BB automatically using the "pipette". It's simple, take a pipette, click on the area, which, in our opinion, should have a neutral gray tint, and the program will automatically adjust the BB. Of course, professionals use this function together with special gray plates made of expensive high-quality material, but in the field it is possible to choose the best BB in this way.


I like cool colors more. In this case, I put the BB on a gray shade on the clouds with a tool.

Next, proceed to the basic setting of exposure, light and shadows. At this stage of the first acquaintance with Camera RAW, it is enough just to intuitively move the sliders, to feel what it is responsible for. In short: Exposure brightens or darkens the frame completely. Contrast enhances the difference between transitions, Highlights and Shadows are responsible for adjusting the midtones (light gray and dark gray shades), Black and Whites directly adjust the saturation of the white and black areas of the photo.

During processing, it is highly desirable to try to avoid over-highlights and under-highlights, when a fragment of a photograph is filled with a solid white / black color, information is lost. Unless, of course, this is not your artistic idea. To track this effect, press the U and O keys (to track the black and white points, respectively).


Photoshop itself will tell you when you have gone too far with exposure and risk losing details.

The last section of the sliders allows you to adjust the clarity, color and saturation. Very useful features, but the main thing - do not overdo it and do not give acid colors. You can always press the “P” key (or a tick Preview at the top) in order to compare the original image and the result of your work in this section.


The first stage is completed.

Next, go to the third tab «Detail». Here we will work on noise and sharpness. All cameras have some level of noise. When working with RAW, you have the opportunity to do a very delicate job of reducing noise. Remember that noise processing and focusing is always a search for a compromise.

Set the scale to 100%. First, reset all the sliders in the “Sharpening” and “Noise Reduction” blocks. First of all, remove the noise. Refer to the slider "Color", which is responsible for the color noise. Typically, the “Color Detail” and “Color Smoothness” indicators do an excellent job with their levels of about 50%. Move the first Color slider until we remove the color noise.

Next, proceed to the light noise. Again, in this case, you need to experiment a lot and select it using the “spear method”, determining by eye an acceptable level of noise smoothing. For convenience, you can hold down the "Alt" key, in shades of gray it is easier to determine the details and the degree of noise. Also, do not forget that we still have to work with sharpness ahead, so you will return to the adjustment of noise.


Before and after cleaning color and light noise.

Now let's work on sharpness. To see how the sharpness filter works, temporarily set the Amount slider to maximum.
We hold Alt again and start moving the sliders in turn. Radius - is responsible for the radius of the halo contrast transitions. Detail - adds detail throughout the image. Masking - a mask that hides the filter effect in places where it is not needed, for example, in the sky. When the “Alt” key is pressed, the filter operation zones are displayed in white, the filter will not be applied in black areas. After that, you can adjust the effect of the whole Sharpness filter by returning the Amount slider to an acceptable level.


Before and after processing noise and focusing.

In the fourth tab HSL / Grayscale, you can very finely adjust the brightness, tone, saturation of specific colors. Again, move the sliders and select the most interesting picture to your taste. For example, there is a lot of blue in the frame (water, sky). You can make it more contrast.



At this you can stop. This basic knowledge of working in RAW is enough to carry out the first stage of photo processing. At most, you can even the level of the horizon, use the tool "Straighten tool". In this case, the landmark can serve as a statue and its platform.



Compare what happened in the end.


Photo taken in automatic mode.


Photo after manual RAW processing.

This is my vision of a photograph; to some it may seem supersaturated with a cold shade, no one bothers you to treat it differently, to your taste. As you can see, the possibilities of RAW are quite wide. This is what the Lumia 1020 can give out in the capable hands of the photographer Dmitry Beketov .







Someone will argue that it is too long and dreary - to engage in photo processing. For social networks, there have long been applications with instagram filters, for these cases and ordinary everyday photos, the auto mode is also quite suitable. If you decide to shoot an art story or accidentally notice a decent shot while walking in the park, nothing prevents you from capturing an instant on the Lumia 1020 and later making it a worthy imprint thanks to RAW processing.

6. Anyway, the SLR is better!

So we got to one of the most common theses, which can be heard as opposed to the advantages of the Lumia 1020 over the rest of smartphones and soap cases.

The only problem is that no one quotes her as a DSLR killer. Yes, the matrix is ​​bigger in the DSLR, yes, the SLR can change lenses, but the Lumia 1020 41 megapixel is not installed for spitting in the garden of the DSLRs, a la “And we have more!”. This is a necessary measure to enable zoom and alternative noise reduction technology through oversampling within a single compact device.

But for that matter, let's make a small comparison.


The average SLR can not be thrust into your pocket, gathering for an evening walk around the city. At the same time, as you know, the most interesting shots and ideas appear completely spontaneously. If you are even interested in a little photography, this happened to you when they saw an incredibly beautiful composition, and there is nothing to photograph. And considering the RAW capabilities of the Lumia 1020, you can not worry about the limitations of the automation of the smartphone. At home you can bring your idea to the end.


The 1020 lens is much smaller than any glass for DSLRs.

In this case, you can spend an interesting test. Lumia 1020 can be purchased at the official Nokia N-store.ru store for 19,900 rubles. If you limit the purchase of a SLR to this budget , then you can buy an average budget SLR of 16 MP, with a whale lens, focal length of 18-55 and aperture ratio of 3.5-5.6. In this case, the last figure for Lumia is 2.2. And you know what?


Scale 100%, pixel to pixel. Download the original Lumia , DSLR.

Yes, if you put a good expensive lens on the SLR, you can expect an increase in the indicators of detail, color, contrast, but our comparison budget does not allow . Yes, the DSLR has a wider dynamic range due to the larger matrix size, while the Lumia 1020 boasts compactness and quite serious possibilities for its size.

Of course, the number of megapixels is not the only indicator of the quality of photographic equipment, and this test is just a joking echo of holivars hovering around 1020, but if you learn to use them wisely, you can get a very impressive result.

Lumia 1020 is remarkable in that it is perfect for any class of users. If you are new to photography, then in auto-mode, this camera phone will produce better results than any other smartphones. On top of that, this is a great opportunity to touch the world of photography at a higher level.


It is worth a day for you to experiment with another Lumia 1020 and you will already begin to understand and feel what exposure, photosensitivity, exposure, white balance and many others are for, thereby increasing your overall level of skills in photography. With a DSLR camera, you don’t look like every day, and the camera phone is always in your pocket and ready for experiments. And as you know, knowledge comes with experience.

If you are a professional and want more control over the process, please, and here the Lumia 1020 shows itself as a very subtle tool that allows you to bring your artistic idea to life as accurately as possible. In addition to the basic settings of the above-described shooting parameters, you have an excellent opportunity to control literally every pixel from the RAW source, expanding the boundaries of what is permitted. While on the smartphone market, I have not met a single device that provides such great opportunities.

Thanks for attention.