Lumia 930 Review – Cool and Iconic

Camera, User Interface, Features and Lenses

Camera UI, Features and Lenses

Windows Phone comes with its native camera app but OEMs also add their proprietary camera apps in their builds. Just like that Nokia built their Nokia Camera app for their Lumia devices which is now under Microsoft’s ownership but still they seem to be working in this department. Nokia Camera, which has now been replaced with “Lumia Camera” branding, comes pre-built in Lumia 930

The User Interface of Lumia Camera app is no different than found on other Windows Phone devices but have some variations according to the capability of the hardware. Via the UI, in Lumia 930, you can manually control focus, ISO sensitivity, shutter speed and exposure value. In settings you can set aspect ratio to 16:9 or 4:3. Can set to take 5MP + 18MP Raw image as well as 5MP + 18MP jpeg images.

Additionally you can turn-on “Capture living images” which along with every your image, captures a short clip just before the image. Whenever you preview this image on the phone, the clip plays just before and ends up at the frame actually you shot. It was interesting in the phone to show off.

In video mode, you can set to record 720p or 1080p videos as well as you can set audio bass filter to 100 or 200 Hz, or you can turn it off. Dolby digital sound can be turned on or off.

Auto and Expert modes:

Still photo can be shot in auto and expert modes. Other interfaces include Video and Smart Cam.

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When shooting in auto mode, Lumia 930 controls everything and chooses best values according to the lighting conditions you are shooting in. On the other hand the expert mode provides full access to you to control anything you want as you want.

Expert mode:

In this mode all the controls are provided right above the screen in a row with the buttons where you tap and the control-circles appears right under your thumb which you can move along the circle to quickly change the values. Another way to open all the control-circles at once is to tap the on-screen camera shutter button and slightly drag to left. This will open all the circles and let you move them one by one.

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Video Interface:

User interface for video recording also provides a set of options on the screen as well you can work with a few more options in settings which include resolution/aspect ratio, audio bass filter, Dolby Digital sound etc.

Smart Cam Interface:

Smart Cam, in Lumia 930, takes multiple frames in around 2 seconds and provides you with a set of interfaces to perform. Best Shot, Motion Focus and Action Shot. I love the Motion Focus more than any other but you can read more about Smart Cam in good detail.

A panning shot with Lumia 930 using Smart Cam’s Motion Focus feature.

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Settings and Lenses:

You can set timer and bracketing right from the menu and for more options you can go to settings for still pictures and video options. Lenses can be access also right from the main menu.

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Note: When Cortana is activated in your Lumia device, the Search key on the navigation buttons takes you to Cortana. To access the old Bing vision you need to go through Camera app and choose Bing vision from lenses

Lumia Refocus:

Lumia Refocus (aka Nokia Refocus) is purposely used to perform post-processing on the image. You can use it refocus objects in the image on different depth of fields. Checkout a review of Nokia Refocus.

Lumia Panorama:

Taking panoramas on Lumia 930 is still lacking something that I think it should have brought till now. Unlike the impressive panoramas from iPhone and Android devices, Lumia 930 is still behind in taking high resolution panoramas.

Let’s continue to take an overview of 20 megapixel sensor at technical side as well as look at some samples shots and compare them along.