Nokia N8 camera updated – get some 30fps videos with continuous autofocus [REVIEW]

Yesterday’s camera update to the Nokia N8 was off to a foul start and was quickly recalled. Today, we finally got the real deal from the Nokia beta labs and we’re happy to report on how it changes the already great video camera of the phone. The update is exclusive to Anna-running N8s but it’s an important one, so we tested it as well.

A few words on how we applied the camera update – it’s not a part of Anna as it wasn’t finished on time, so it’s not updated over the usual channels (it’s in experimental testing stages too).

So, you have to download a dedicated app from Nokia Beta Labs (you’d need a registration), then follow the installation instructions. Note that the update only applies to phones running Anna, so do that update first.

Camera – 30fps videos and continuous autofocus

The Nokia N8 camera update promises three things – a better interface for the camera, continuous auto-focus during video shooting and smooth 30fps video clips (instead of 24fps). The functionality of the still camera has been left untouched for the most part.

Damian Dining himself (the camera guru behind the N8) has taken the time to write a lengthy blog post on Nokia Conversations about this update. We’ll try to be brief here but you can check his post for more details.

The user interface has been reworked and while it’s not perfect, it’s better than the old setup. A Settings shortcut has worked its way into the toolbar so it’s easier to access and
selecting a new Scene mode now takes two taps less than before.

Old camera interface

New camera interface – can you spot the difference?

The two major changes to video recording – frame rate was bumped up to 30fps (up from 24 fps) and continuous autofocus has been enabled.

Until now, the Nokia N8 used an Active Hyperfocal System for capturing videos, which meant that anything from about 60cm away from the camera is always in focus, but anything closer is out of focus.

The update adds a Close up mode to the video camera, which enables proper autofocus. This is a poor choice of a name, since it focuses on far-away objects too. The Automatic mode seems to be using the old hyperfocal system and doesn’t change the focus as the video is being recorded.

Anyway, we enabled Close up mode and shot a few test videos. The camera allows you to focus before starting the recording, which is nice (the Galaxy S II, for example, would always autofocus in the first second of video, which is quite annoying).

In the first video you can see how the camera adjusts the focus – it reacts fairly quickly but finding the focus takes longer than we would have liked and it goes back and forth too visibly. Still, for a first outing it’s not bad and we expect Nokia’s team will optimize it before releasing it to all users.

Source:http://blog.gsmarena.com/nokia-n8-camera-updated-have-some-30fps-videos-with-continuous-autofocus-review/