Although it had been previously rumored via image leaks, video leaks, and insider information that Nokia’s 2019 flagship would pack a ridiculous number of camera sensors on the rear, a good number of people doubted if a Penta-camera Nokia 9 could be a thing. The Nokia 9 is now live with five cameras on its rear and we’d be taking a look at the individual components that make up its rear penta-camera setup, how (and why) it stands up from flagships from rival brands with badass cameras, as well as some image samples taken with the Nokia 9. Let’s go
Five-Eyed View
To think that the Nokia brand was “dead” for a couple of months but now boasts of headline-grabbing products is an indication of the good work HMD Global has done with the brand. Still talking about good work, it’s a smart move by HMD Global to release the Nokia 9 at a time when cameras seem to be the “in-thing” in the smartphone ecosystem. With five-cameras on the rear, the Nokia 9 wears a lot of crowns: the most premium Nokia-branded smartphone, the first Nokia smartphone to have five-cameras on the rear, the world’s first smartphone to have five cameras on the rear etc. The device’s penta-camera setup consists of two (2) RGB lens (located in the middle and bottom) and three monochrome lenses. All the five sensors of the device, however, are rated 12-megapixels and all have the same aperture (f/1.8). And unlike other multi-sensor smartphones, the Nokia 9 PureView is unique in that all the lenses capture an image at the same time and uses Light’s (Nokia’s partner company) algorithm to combine information from all the sensors and produce a single, high-end photograph as the end result. HMD Global, before the release of the device, hinted that the device was meant for photographers. The fact that the device can capture uncompressed, high-quality RAW DNG files and shoot up to 240 megapixels of data seems to be an attestation to the device being focused towards photographers. Speaking to Gadgets360, HMD Global’s Director on Global Portfolio Strategy & Planning, Pranav Shroff says; Interestingly enough, while you cannot shoot with each lens individually, activating Monochrome mode in the camera app allows you take (true black and white) photos with the (three) Monochrome lenses only. And these monochrome sensors can captures light three times better than the RGB lenses and ten time better than the average smartphone camera. The overall advantage of this over the cameras of rival phones is that HMD Global’s Nokia 9 PureView will take better low-light photos. Comparing the Nokia 9 PureView to one of the best camera-smartphone in 2019, however, DigitalTrends concludes that, camera-wise, the Nokia 9 is just as good as the Google Pixel 3.
Trypophobia-Inducing Arrangement?
The five optics of this device are weirdly (yet neatly) circularly-aligned together with the proximity sensor and LED flash to form a pistol revolver-like pattern. It’s a way better arrangement when compared to the quad camera Galaxy A9 (2018) but a recent report suggests that the Nokia 9 PureView’s camera arrangement is triggering Trypophobia among certain users. According to a ScienceAlert, the pistol revolver-like pattern of the Nokia 9 has the capibility to trigger trypophobia. It furthers goes on to state that while people with this phobia may not be able to entirely avoid having their photos taken with the Nokia 9, they surely would not buy the latest Nokia flagship. Will this camera arrangement/pattern cost Nokia a lot? Did Nokia shoot itself in the leg with this supposed design flaw? Most likely not. I mean, the trypophobic effect of the Nokia 9 PureView will most definitely not affect sales as the flagship is a Limited Edition device. Though Nokia didn’t specify how many units of the device it produced, the OEM may not be producing new units of the device when it gets sold out.
Camera Samples
Just like we did with the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus when we talked about features of all its five cameras, we’ll provide some photo samples taken with the Nokia 9’s rear penta-camera we gathered from the web. What are your thoughts on the Nokia 9 Penta-camera? Do you think HMD Global killed it with this one or five cameras on the rear of a smartphone is absolutely unnecessary and the company went overboard? Image Credit: Chris Velazco/Engadget
