Nokia 808 PureView Review
The Nokia 808 PureView is quite simply, in a class of its own when it comes to its photographic abilties. The highest-resolution capture mode (the 38MP figure that grabbed the headlines when it was released) is only part of the story. PureView oversampling means that the 808 gives truly excellent image quality in its 3, 5 and 8MP capture modes, and we love the amount of manual control over shooting parameters. The 808 is let down by less than perfect color and white balance, and occasional focus issues.
Excellent detail resolution in all modes; Very good image quality - detailed, colorful JPEGs; Impressive photographic feature set - controllable ISO, WB, scene modes et al; Generally reliable AF and metering; Automatic white balance works well in all but the trickiest of light; PureView allows 'zoom' without penalty in image quality; Excellent video quality (and sound);
Highlight clipping problematic in scenes with wide tonal range; No automatic HDR/dynamic range expansion function (but bracketing is available); Metering can be rather wayward in bright light; On-screen histogram only available while exposure compensation dialog is open; Interface somewhat dense in 'creative' mode; Obscure on-screen icons for ND filter and white balance in creative mode; On-screen ISO indication just shows 'M' when any setting other than Auto is selected; Non-optical 'zooming' doesn't allow control over depth of field; No image stabilization in still capture mode; Red-eye can be an issue in flash shots (but red-eye reduction works well);