Camera Review & Comparison of Nokia N97 vs N97 Mini vs E72 vs Sony Cyber-Shot
Today we will cover a comparison about the cameras of three smart phones from Nokia. We have the N97 Classic, N97 Mini, & E72. With the three smart phones that I currently have now I just can’t stop myself comparing the three with their respective camera performances. Plus an important note is that this comparison/review is not as scientific & technical as other comparisons, I will just deliver this into the manner of a simple comparison (so forget those focal length, f-stops etc). And also we have special guest, the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-V1, to enlighten us on how much did the camera phones and smart phones achieved compare to the point-and-shoot cameras back at the old days (some sections of the review only).
Although three phones have 5MP, the E72 is not on the same section as the N97s are and it only has one LED flash. Eseries, just like E72 focuses more on the messaging and orientations in business functions and we all know Nseries are on top of the company line up for multimedia & mobile computing. But it is still better to have a comparison between the two flagship devices against a top-notch Eseries handset so we will know which devices will fit in your daily life as a good snapper whilst answering your smart phone needs. So my important point of this review is merely on E72 and its camera performance.
Note that most of the images taken with these cameraphones/smartphones are in automatic settings or in default mode because most people are using their camera phones without tweaking the settings. And if you would like some camera phones guide and tips for photography just check my N97 Tips & Guides in Mobile Photography.
Just click on the red highlighted words for full resolution of the images.
Outdoor/Close-up
- Automatic
The settings are all automatic and the result for N97s were perfect because it really captured the object on close-up mode, whilst on E72 and Sony they got just a normal focus on the flowers. Well, this is the point where N97s outdo the Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-V1.
One thing I want to add from my experienced with E72′s camera performance, E72 was very hard to use during in macro or close-up mode. The phone can’t give a nice focus even the settings are already tweaked and I hope the remedy for this will be on the next FW. We can’t expect that on an Eseries phone, but what is the use of the close-up mode when you can’t use it to capture small objects?
*N97 * N97 Mini * E72 * Sony
Landscape/Outdoor Test
- Automatic
The scene here was sunny and a bright blue sky.Talking about the results, I was shocked when I saw the file size of E72 to be 2.98MB(pc) whilst the N97s only got 1.8MB, and Sony got 2.3MB. The clear shot that is near Sony’s performance was N97 Mini with a small difference to the Classic. Rendering for the light for Sony was brighter, but look at the sky, the N97s got it perfect for a blue one whilst the E72 gave a more sunny effect. Well, it depends on what you need.
Indoor
- Automatic
This is an indoor shot, but the whole room was in bright lighting because I opened all windows. Shot of E72 used flash while the N97s didn’t bother to use their flashes. N97 Mini(no flash) almost got the same with Sony(no flash) whilst the E72(flash) image was more on real colors and also for N97(no flash).
*N97 * N97 Mini * E72 * Sony
Outdoor/Stairway
- Automatic
The result of N97s are almost the same to each other, but on E72 the image was a little bit darker giving a plain blue sky whilst the N97s have a blended blue sky (lighter from tree).
Indoor with no lights/Flash Test
Well, here is another shocking twist for the E72 it got brighter flash effect on the image whilst the N97 Classic give a more yellowish effect on the scene. I think the Mini and E72 outdo the Classic here. In the file size review, the E72 again took a 1.98MB file size and both N97s got an average file size of 750KB. *Note that E72 has one LED flash/video light only.
Eseries & Nseries
- Tweaked the settings for first scene (Macro, Cloudy, Vivid)
- Automatic for the 2nd and 3rd scenes
- E72 (left) & N97 Mini (right)
What can you say about these last test? See full gallery at OviShare.
Video mode/LEDs on
- Automatic
Thoughts…
Narrowing down the fight between Eseries & Nseries, each has its representative on their own series, but it is just fair to put the E72 in the camera test against these devices? Let’s see on my thoughts below.
For me these hightlights are important and I want them to share to everybody (this is a personal POV):
- Optical NaviWheel on E72 is not the best way to use for taking images
- On E72, sometimes full exposure of the camera settings + messy optical navi wheel will result to a black screen to live screen blinking during camera mode
- For E72 during Close-Up mode it is hard to correctly focus the object and will always give you an anti-centered-focus shot
- Next flagship should have an enhanced DLED just like on N86 8MP and much better if we get both Xenon and LEDs
- Eseries is eseries, but they deserve some 30fps video recording and not a choppy one
- If you can’t put a better navi wheel then put a dedicated camera key
- Focus feature is badly needed on video recording now a days and everyone deserves to have it
- They are not your camera phone flagship/s, but they deserve some decent camera spec naming. Mpix is cool for some, but does it sound like your instant camera? How about some Carl Zeiss, too? I know that it will eat some space, but they just deserve have it.
- N97s deserve to have a successor that will have a better camera features
- Belated Happy 120th Birthday to Carl Zeiss wishing you all the best
As a business-oriented phone, E72 has just some good taste on being a good snapper. It is a smart phone with a not-so-killer camera spec, but really performed well on this review and comparison. Proved to be not a mediocre and it’s always ready to match those 5MP shooter. It is just fair to compare E72 because it performs well and can outdo some points against other devices. You’re just lucky that I can’t afford those BlackBerry and Apple, and I can’t compare it with the E72. 
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