Best camera phone for taking night pictures

[tlcwaterfall]

I currently have a Iphone 3gs which I will replace soon. I do not want another Iphone.

 

What I would like is a good smart phone with a good camera for taking night time pictures.

 

I have a digital camera and a tablet but for convenience sake want to to be able to take pictures at night  with my phone camera.

 

Any helpful recommendations would be much appreciated.

 

 

[Lhasa]

Best of  the best at the moment are the Nokia Lumia 1020 which has a 41million megapixel camera. Ofcourse you should never rely on megapixels to much but still. It makes some of the best pictures you can get of a Phone at the moment.

Nokia runs on windows though, which in my opinion sucks.

Then the Sony Xperia Z1 comes in with a 20,7 Megapixel camera.

These 2 are the phones competing at the moment when it comes down to the camera

 

Why Nokia Lumia over Sony Xperia Z1

 

- Better dynamic range

- Better depth of field effect

- Better camera UI and apps

- Better videos at low light

- Better Flash

- More confident autofocus

- Better panorama images

- Better zoom

 

Why Sony Xperia Z1 over Nokia Lumia 1020

 

- Much faster camera operation

- Ability to click high resolution images while recording

- Slimmer body

- Shooting underwater is possible (The Phone is water resistant, shatter resistant and dust resistant.)

- Ability to shoot closer objects

- Superior auto mode

- HDR mode

- Time shift burst mode (61 images in 2 seconds)

 

If you would choose your Phone just over the camera i personally think the Nokia would be better.

If you are looking for an allround better device and still shoot very high definition pictures the Z1.

The Z1 basicly has Nokia beat on all fronts except the camera.

But the Z1 still shoots 1080p high definition videos and extremely high quality pictures.

Plus the shatter resistant and water resistant features of the Sony are awesome.

Or wait 2 months and by then the Sony Xperia Z2 will be available......

[hoopbhoy]

Thing to remember is you're not going to get anything in a camera phone that takes great night time pictures. The sensor sizes are generally just too small but the sensor size in the nokia 1020 is much bigger than that in any other camera phone and even better than that in most but the higher end compact cameras. So if you really want to stick with a phone camera then for low light shooting that's what I'd go with.

[bedbandit]

One of the things I like about my Sony is during Songkran you can use your phone , takes great pics<br />Funny thing .... Last year when the Thais saw I had a phone out during Songkran 99% threw water away from my phone .....the farangs aimed for it <br /><br />Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk<br /><br />

[ctm]

For a cheap phone, imobile IQ series take good night pictures

 

Samsung has a phone with a real built in camera (real as opposed to the normal tiny lens)

[Woofiee]

Or, you can use your Android or iOS device and just use an iBlazr:

 

 

That's from their Kickstarter campaign - I bought mine back then and have been playing with it for the past month. DAMN bright...no worries about not getting enough light to fill a room, and it came with a silicon diffuser. Plus, it's tiny - so it's nothing extra to carry but it makes the phone far more useful. 

[scotch_and_dry]

It's a shame there aren't any current android smartphones out there currently with a Xenon flash. I have an old Sony Ericcson C905 that takes great night shots especially in the bars and clubs around Patts as it has a Xenon flash. Puts my current smartphone to shame due to the xenon flash.

 

That iblazr gadget looks pretty interesting though.

 

S'n'D

[airwolf]

the new galaxy s5 is coming out and they have camera where you can get better quality after the shot so even when your picture is blurred or bad you can fix it after the fact check iot out

[Lhasa]

Photo's of the Samsung Galaxy devices are oversaturated and it looks fake to me. It just does not look natural...

Only thing i found interesting about Samsung's reveal/conference yesterday was their ultra power saving mode.

After effects on photo's are not all that new in the smartphone world.

When it comes to photo's. Seriously, stick to Nokia and Sony.

Nokia and Sony also revealed their new flagships yesterday.

My HTC device is getting old and im now considering the Xperia Z2. Not for the photo's but just for the device overall.

[Little Evil]

This is a great video comparison of some of the heavyweights.  From this footage, I'd give it to Nokia 1020 on least amount of noise and most accurate representation.  

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UU25QbTq58EYBGf2_PDTqzFQ&v=fiifyrXWWPA#t=101

 

Nokia also has the 1520 coming out soon, right? Would be interested in seeing that one as well. 

[phowa1]

Take a look at the HTC One

[happy888]

Or, you can use your Android or iOS device and just use an iBlazr:

 

That's from their Kickstarter campaign - I bought mine back then and have been playing with it for the past month. DAMN bright...no worries about not getting enough light to fill a room, and it came with a silicon diffuser. Plus, it's tiny - so it's nothing extra to carry but it makes the phone far more useful. 

Thanks for the info!! Definitely worth looking into.

Off the Topic, but if anyone needs a fisheye lens or better macro for iphone, the OLLOCLIP is really fantastic.

Only drawback is if you have a screen protector...as this will be lifted during fitting of the OClip......which is really easy to attach and carry.

 

Cheers

 

H888

[wjin]

LG G2

[Woofiee]

the new galaxy s5 is coming out and they have camera where you can get better quality after the shot so even when your picture is blurred or bad you can fix it after the fact check iot out

 

Just read that 8GB of the internal ram is used by the OS, even before you turn it on for the first time and set it up.. a 16GB S5 would only have 7.86GB free. You'd have to use the slower external memory to save to once the phone fills up, slowing the photo taking. 

[Flargarble]

the new galaxy s5 is coming out and they have camera where you can get better quality after the shot so even when your picture is blurred or bad you can fix it after the fact check iot out

 

I think you are confusing some terms. The only camera (that I'm aware of) that can focus after the shot has been taken is a plenoptic camera, and the only one on the market is made by a company called lytro.  The only thing that the galaxy s5 has that is similar is their depth of field effect, which just takes a normal picture, and then applies a blurred vignette around whatever area of the image you select. 

 

The Lumia 1020 probably has the best in phone camera out of anything on the market. I personally love the windows phone UI, but the lack of apps is kinda a bummer. 

[Little Evil]

I think you are confusing some terms. The only camera (that I'm aware of) that can focus after the shot has been taken is a plenoptic camera, and the only one on the market is made by a company called lytro.  The only thing that the galaxy s5 has that is similar is their depth of field effect, which just takes a normal picture, and then applies a blurred vignette around whatever area of the image you select. 

 

The Lumia 1020 probably has the best in phone camera out of anything on the market. I personally love the windows phone UI, but the lack of apps is kinda a bummer. 

 

Nokia has that feature on their Lumia line. It's called "Refocus".  Actually had it before S5.  Not sure how it works, as the Nokia one does tricks that appear a little more complex than just blur vignette to a single frame. I think it must be like how they process HDR, with a few pictures that are stitched together. The example shots have such a wide range of depth that it would be very difficult to achieve with just one picture (ie. refocusing on a hand that is inches away from lens, or a city backdrop that is hundreds of yards in the distance, and both be razor sharp).  

[Flargarble]

Nokia has that feature on their Lumia line. It's called "Refocus".  Actually had it before S5.  Not sure how it works, as the Nokia one does tricks that appear a little more complex than just blur vignette to a single frame. I think it must be like how they process HDR, with a few pictures that are stitched together. The example shots have such a wide range of depth that it would be very difficult to achieve with just one picture (ie. refocusing on a hand that is inches away from lens, or a city backdrop that is hundreds of yards in the distance, and both be razor sharp).  

 

I hadn't thought of that. I just downloaded it on my 920 and it seems like you are right. It takes a series of photos and compiles them, and uses some software magic for the effect. Pretty cool!

 

The demo of the s5 I watched didnt seem like the same thing, it might be a different feature.