At MWC, one of the more interesting phones was the Nokia 808 PureView which features a 41-megapixel sensor. The sensor really is 41 megapixels. No tricks.
Full frame DSLRs have about half that resolution. How does it work? The pixels are combined for better low light. It enable continuous zoom from the sensor. The graphic (below) shows the size of the Nokia image sensor in relation to other camera sensors.
Most point and shoot cameras have smaller sensors (between 1/1.7″ and 1/2.3″). The Nokia 808 PureView features an ultra sharp glass lens. Nokia says the big sensor also enables 4 x loss-less zoom as fast as your finger can move. You can also shoot smooth Full HD video at 30 frames per second at 4 times zoom.
Nokia’s chief camera experts Damian Dinning (above) has a walkthrough of the technology. The 808 doesn’t try to create an image of the same quality, 5 times bigger than normal camera phones. Instead it oversamples the image and then interpolates down to a smaller size, explains DP Review, though there is a special ‘creative’ shooting mode if you want the full resolution. It has a dedicated graphics chip.
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