Product Test: Nokia Lumia Icon (Verizon Wireless) - Retirement Party

My specialty as a photographer lies in in events. I got my start in photography with sports teams (shoutout to the Division BMX Stunt Team based in Milwaukee!). Because of the quick action shots that I had to learn how to take, I quickly became versed in speed and being able to capture the shot quickly and efficiently. This translated well to events, where being able to take a quick shot was much needed. (I'll do more of an "About Me" and how I got started a little later)

The first event I shot with this phone was my dad's retirement party. What better place than a dimly lit bar/restaurant with a lot of people moving around to test the capabilities of this device. And so I did. Overall, the photos weren't too bad. (Camera settings were on auto again)

 

The largest turnout this place has ever had for a party. Everyone loves my dad. He's awesome :)

 

The flash on the camera isn't too bad. Decent lighting, but it seems to have a delay to it.

The guys bought my dad a shot. It was hilarious.

This phone has some pretty neat editing capabilities. In terms of filters and coloring and the like. Though I don't remember what filters, etc I used for this shot, I think it turned out pretty darn neat :)

Product Test: Nokia Lumia Icon (Verizon Wireless) - Misc Shots

I decided to take a few test shots with the camera to get a feel for how it worked and operated. This is a Windows-based phone, which I am not at ALL familiar. What I like is that on the home screen, you're able to customize the tiles and how they're set for you. I thought that was nice, as I'm used to customizing my other devices (both Android and Apple). However, since I've never used the interface before, it took a little getting used to. I ended up being able to pick it up pretty quickly though. 

  

The camera was easy to focus, and quickly auto-focused to what I wanted it to. For the test shots, I left all the settings on auto (though they are customizable: more on that later).

 

One thing I noticed as I was scrolling through photos on the phone after I had taken a few shots, was the difference! Every shot I took (or very nearly every one!) had a double. I was very confused at first. Then realized they had different names they were saved under. While each shot had the same beginning of the name, the ending was different. One was "Pro" and the other was "Pro High Res". And I could immediately see which was which. The clarity and crispness of the PHR photo was AMAZING. And while the Pro image was great, it couldn't hold a candle to the quality of the PHR photos. 

Pro

Pro High Res

One thing I thought was interesting was this was NOT the case for EVERY doubled photo. 

Pro - looks clearer

Pro High Res - doesn't look as crisp

Product Preview: Nokia Lumia Icon (Verizon Wireless)

A few weeks back I was contacted by a good friend of mine, Chelsey from Core Creative, and as asked if I would be interesting in product testing a phone for Verizon Wireless, to test the photography capabilities of it. She knows me as a photographer through quite a few mutual friends, and thought of me. I was honored and thrilled! We got together, and she showed me the beauty: the Nokia Lumia Icon.

I was impressed. This this is gorgeous. The styling of it (me being a very aesthetic person, I tend to notice the physical design of things first) I fell in love with. It's very lightweight, has a nice large screen, easy to access buttons. Everything physically is something I like and would enjoy having in a phone (I personally have a Samsung Galaxy S4, and I'm in LOVE with that! :) )

More tests (and images) to come!


Here's some basic tech specs for you (straight from Nokia's website, the more detailed specs are available on the site):

• Main camera sensor: 20 MP, PureView
• Display size: 5''
• Display resolution: Full HD (1920 x 1080)
• Processor name: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 800
• Maximum talk time (3G): 16.4h
• Battery capacity: 2420mAh
• Wireless charging: Built-in (Qi standard)

• • Main camera
    • Main camera sensor: 20 MP, PureView 
    • ZEISS optics: Yes 
    • Sensor size: 1/2.5 inch 
    • Main camera f-number/aperture: f/2.4 
    • Camera focal length: 26 mm
    • Camera minimum focus range: 10 cm
    • Camera image formats: JPEG/Exif 
    • Flash type: Dual LED flash 
    • Flash operating range: 3.0 m
    • Flash modes: Off, Automatic
  • Main camera features
    • Main camera - other features: 6-lens optics, Backside-illuminated image sensor, High resolution zoom 2x, Optical image stabilization, PureView
    • Digital camera add-ons: Panorama lens, Bing vision, Cinemagraph lens, Creative Studio, Nokia Camera
  • Photography apps
    • Nokia Camera7: Nokia Camera brings together the features from Nokia Pro Cam and Nokia Smart Cam modes into one application. It gives you the whole exclusive Nokia camera experience with fast access to editing and sharing. 
    • Creative Studio: Get more out of your pictures with this quick and easy photo editor. Creative Studio’s editing tools let you quickly adjust color balance, remove red eye and apply filters. Then, share your pictures directly on Facebook and Twitter. 
    • Cinemagraph: A magical blend of photo and movie-like animation, creating pictures that seem almost alive. Helpful on-screen assistance lets you select the animated area of your picture and easily create and edit a cinemagraph. You can share your cinemagraph with friends via social media, email and messaging. 
    • Panorama: Get the bigger picture with Nokia’s easy-to-use Panorama app. Simply take your pictures and the app automatically stitches them into a picture-perfect view. Once you’re done, share your panorama directly to Twitter and Facebook. 
    • Nokia Storyteller: Nokia Storyteller organizes your photos into stories on an interactive HERE map by time and place. Cinemagraphs and smart photos play automatically. See points of interest around the photos taken and pull up contact info, call or email directly from Storyteller, enabling you to authentically re-experience your entire journey when the time comes. 
  • Image capturing
    • Capture modes: Video 
    • Scene modes: Automatic, Sports, Night
    • White balance modes: Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Daylight
    • Light sensitivity: Automatic, ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800, ISO 1600, ISO 3200, ISO 4000
    • Photos viewed by: Month, Photo editor, Album, Timeline, Camera Roll, Favorites, Nokia Storyteller, Photos from social networks
  • Secondary camera
    • Secondary camera resolution: 1280 x 960 pixels
    • Secondary camera - other features: Video recording, HD 1.2 MP wide angle, Still image capture, Video call

Whoa.

Here I am, deciding to BLOG again! WHAAAAAT?! Let's hope it goes better this time! :)

This will be a forum for me to show off tested products, current projects I have going on, and some things that I just like! 

So, here we go!