First video with my Nokia N82 five megapixel, 30 fps camera phone

Yesterday I posted some of my first photos from the Nokia N82 five megapixel camera phone, and very early this morning — when it was still dark outside and raining — I shot my first video with the phone (see below).

I shot it with the best quality (“TV high quality” and “video stabilization”) at 30 frames per second.  I didn’t get a manual with the N82, so I wonder if video stabilization reduces the quality in any way.  I’ll have to check. 

There aren’t too many parameters to set.  I could have changed the settings from “auto” to “night” and used white balance settings of sunny, cloudy, incandescent and fluorescent.

I could also have changed the color balance from normal to sepia, black and white, vivid or negative.  The N82 has a Xenon flash, that’s especially good for taking photographs.

Xenon versus LCD

But for shooting videos, another new Nokia camera phone, the N96, has two LCDs LEDs, rather than the typical one LCD flash or Xenon.  As I wrote last month when I was at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Nokia told me the two LCDs LEDs provide lighting that’s better for videos. 

The N96 will be commercially available later in the year.

Comments

[Thomas]

The N96 has 2 led flash, not lcd flash :-)

[Alan A. Reiter]

Thomas,

Oops! You are correct. When I posted the article very early in the morning, I guess my mind wasn't working properly!

Thanks very much. I have changed the information.

[Ed Goto]

Not bad video, all considering. Not as good as a dedicated video camera, of course, but definitely a sign of things to come. Certainly web-worthy, far better than the tiny, grainy CIF (?) resolution my old S710a can muster.

My only complaint about the N82 (and yes, I do want my cake and eat it too) is after reading the glowing reviews of the 6210 Navigator with a built-in electronic compass, is that all Nokia's GPS devices should come with a compass. More gadgetry! Yeah! and don't ask me how many Swiss Army knives I own...

[Alan A. Reiter]

Hi Ed,

Well, the video is probably one of the worst I'm going to take with the N82. It is my first video, taken at night with relatively little light....and rain! I was concerned the lens would get soaked, but the slight recess of the lens protected it for the minute or so I was recording.

The N82 could be the best phone for video recording that Nokia makes. The new N96 could be better, but that won't be available until later this year. Of course, with every model, Nokia often tweaks the software even if the lens module is the same.

As for the Nokia 6120 Navigator, I want it, too! I have no sense of direction and I always turn in the wrong direction when entering a subway or train station. From what I saw at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the 6120 seems great. I want it integrated into the best camera phone as well.

Nokia develops handsets for specific target markets so the market for high-end video recording could be different from the market for pedestrian/compass needs. Perhaps in a year Nokia will indeed integrate the compass into its high-end camera phones. I hope so. I already carry a BlackBerry Curve 8320 and, currently, the N82, and I don't want to have to take the 6120 as well!

[Ed Goto]

This thread reminds me of a question: What is the relation between the megapixels of a still-camera and the resolution of its video recording? When Nokia announced VGA video resolution on the 5-MP N95, I guessed that VGA could only be achieved with a 5-MP still camera. However, I'm seeing at least one published spec that claims VGA video with a 3-MP camera (I think the Mokia 6220). Whether or not the spec is correct, does video resolution depend on the megapixels in the camera, or is there a processor/software issue? Heck, I've got an old Sony vidcam that has only a megapixel's worth of resolution - could my S710a's 1-MP camera get theoretically souped-up to VGA quality?