The Nokia Lumia 1020 in 2013 was the first of its kind smartphone with a 41-megapixel camera, a first for smartphones. It was a unique telephone for its ability to snap a full-resolution 38-megapixel photo and a lower 5-megapixel one at the same time. The camera’s downsampling capability offered “lossless” digital zoom, so that individuals could zoom in on an image without significantly losing image quality. This aspect was groundbreaking during its time, giving consumers the freedom to retouch their images after they had taken them without compromising on quality.
However, in comparison with modern Android devices like the OnePlus 12, the Lumia 1020’s camera capabilities are quite lacking. The OnePlus 12 features a multi-camera setup, which is a 50MP primary sensor, a 64MP tele camera with optical zoom of 3x, and a 48MP ultrawide lens. This configuration gives a greater range of alternatives for photography like optical zoom and ultrawide images, something the Lumia 1020 cannot provide using its solitary lens.
Despite its flaws, the Lumia 1020 camera is still impressive with the ability to capture high-resolution images. The use of a back-side illuminated (BSI) CMOS sensor and optical image stabilization (OIS) avoids noise and blurring, enabling it to capture images in low light. The edge sharpness is not well preserved, and the lens is not sharp edge to edge, which creates the potential for the corners to become soft in the image.
In terms of speed, the Lumia 1020 is not as fast as modern smartphones. It takes 6.1 seconds to launch the camera app and take a photo, with around 0.7 seconds of shutter lag. The delay can be reduced to 0.1 seconds if pre-focusing the shutter, but doesn’t have features like burst mode or a self-timer.
In comparison to OnePlus 12, the Lumia 1020’s camera excels in a few aspects, such as maintaining image quality through digital zoom. However, the OnePlus 12’s telephoto lens excels with superior optical zooming ability, which includes up to 6x in-sensor zoom without compromising on image quality. This enhances the OnePlus 12 for capturing far-off objects or achieving a particular framing effect.
In short, while the Lumia 1020 was a groundbreaking phone at the time, its camera capabilities are a bit old-fashioned compared to the advanced functions and versatility of modern-day Android smartphones. However, the Lumia 1020 is an interesting piece of history, giving us a glimpse of the leading-edge camera capabilities that Nokia brought to the table over a decade ago. Its unique features, such as the capability to take high and low-resolution photos simultaneously, continue to fascinate photography enthusiasts, even if they are no longer competitive with the capabilities of modern smartphones.
