Ever since phones with camera LED’s hit the market, users debated if the LED’s really had any ‘reson-d-etre’ except acting as a torch. The images below were made with a Nokia N71 in a room approximately 10m wide; and are uploaded in an unaltered fashion(click for full version):
Night mode
With flash
Without flash
Normal mode
With flash
Without flash
In the end, none of the four pictures can really compete with a digital camera – but that’s not what a mobile phone camera is intended to do IMHO. The images shot in normal mode are almost worthless; the LED flash barely managed to light up my suit 1.5m away. Night mode images still have very high noise levels(see fullsize images); but are bright enough to be at least barely usable. The LED flash did nothing except distort the colors of my suit.
Thus, today’s lesson is: if you can keep the camera steady long enough, use night mode – your images will become significantly better! The LED flash did not show beneficial effects anywhere – let’s just keep using it as torch…
Related posts: