Report: Camera fix for the Lumia 920 coming from Nokia this month

The Lumia 920 has impressed many with the PureView camera technology Nokia has installed inside the Windows Phone. The optical image stabilisation (OIS), software enhancements and Carl Zeiss lens are just a few features that work together to create some truly astonishing magic when taking shots in low light.

However, there's an issue with photographs taken in good amounts light. Lack of detail, sharpness and while it's not a deal breaker, it does cause alarm especially when low light shots are that good. Thankfully, Nokia is set to release a firmware update to address problems raised by consumers.

We've taken a second look at the Lumia 920 camera and concluded that while the low light performance was nothing short of incredible, there was room for improvement. When taking shots that weren't at night (or in a dark room), one would notice a lack of detail and blurriness. This could be rectified through post-capture editing, but we'd expect such a superior camera to have little issue.

The image above compares quality between the Lumia 920 prior the update and with it applied. Our George Ponder went into some detail when looking at the current state of the camera:

"Low-light performance is remarkable but the camera is hindered by a few in-camera settings. Settings that leave images slightly soft. Nothing to make you scream and the softness is easily corrected with post-processing software. We feel that this softness can easily be fixed with a firmware update to allow the Lumia 920 to reach its full potential."

We've always believed Nokia would release an update (or rather bundle it with an OS OTA update) soon enough to iron out any creases in the camera software for the production of sharper, clear images to be possible. This is turning to reality with the update in the works and well on the way. Engadget obtained a number of photos taken with two Lumia 920s (one is visible above with the cats). One Lumia 920 (left) is using existing firmware - PR1.0, while the second is running the upcoming version - PR1.1.

The Lumia 920's camera and housing

It's clear from analysing the photos supplied that Nokia has made strong progress on fixing the Lumia 920 camera to make results sharper and more clear. While it's not perfect, we're sure the company will continue to work on adding improvements when possible - we saw a software update released for the Lumia 900 that improved the camera quality greatly.

The update is expected to be bundled with Microsoft's upcoming 'Portico' release for Windows Phone 8. For Lumia 920 owners, this OTA update will not only contain the camera fix (as well as other software enhancements), but also the constant WiFi connection and will address the random reset issue, SMS drafts and call rejection functionality to name but a handful of features that are on their way.

If you'd like to read up more on how to effectively use the camera on the Lumia 920, be sure to read up on our in-depth guide to all the features and functionality.

via: Engadget

Rich Edmonds is Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him over on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.

132 Comments

No fix for the lumia 8xx series? They suffer the same softness/fuzziness
That's up to HTC to fix.
he said lumia, not htc.
Is that supposed to be sarcasm?
Lol what? I said Lumia. Also said 8xx. Lumia as in made by Nokia. So it would be the 810, 820, 822. I did not say Htc 8x.
LOL...It's amazing how all 3 of them jumped right in to comment and completely missed the "lumia" and the extra x.
Now if Nokia could just fix the heat problem with the top of the 920 the phone would be perfect
I can only hope that if I am ever stuck outside in the cold that I can use my Lumia's excessive heat to keep me alive.
Heating and freezing is probably bad SoC
Laziness trumps Literacy... every time.
Lol, love that quote! Gonna have to use it.
Hoping for significant sharpening but that image still looks soft to me :/
Yeah my titan took ridiculously more sharper pictures than my 920. Nokia has yet to impress me with their cameras. Still love the phone though
Really? Low light, video and audio recording fails to impress you with the 920? Huh.
I know right
Yea, what he said, really?
99% of the time I take pictures in the daylight. Daylight pictures on the 920, as they stand, suck. I stand by the OP on this one. Good low light pictues and audio recording doesn't make up for sh*tty daylight shots.

The pictures after the update look better, still look soft, but better.
No, it just says something about the OP who is only judging the quality of Nokia's camera by one standard. If I asked a friend for his thoughts on a car and he only considered it by one condition, I wouldn't be impressed with his opinion.
If a car doesn't have leather interior, its total garbage.... Yeah I see your point.
To some people one aspect is more important than two others. If you guys think good night shots are more important than good day shots, great. That's not what's important to me.

If I bought a car without working brakes, I'd be pretty upset. Regarless of how good the cigarette lighter and headlights are. To me, good brakes are more important. Got it?
I totally get that day shots are more important to you and you're disappointed with the 920's camera because of that, that's legit. But to take that and say that the rest of the camera's abilities, even if you don't use them, are not impressive is a bit of stretch.
I didnt say "not impressive" in the sense that they're garbage. I said "not impressive" as in It doesn't stand head n shoulders above competition. I take more well-lit photos with the titan... and they come out sharper. Simple as that. I thought Nokia was going to be the messiah as far as camera-capabilities go in a phone but they're just another competitor, in my eyes.
basically... in the future, the camera Nokia touts is not going to be the deciding factor anymore in me choosing my next phone.
Is there any particular reason why you kept the Lumia 920 instead of purchasing another device that has a camera that provides you with daylight photos that you find satisfactory?
I kept it because I like it. I never said the 920 didn't take satisfactory pictures. I simply said the pictures the Titan takes are more sharp. What do you think the purpose of this patch is for?!?!?! Nokia recognized the issue themselves.
You can only drive the car at night, it's a good car though. ;-)
That's like saying the 920 can only take pictures at night which is ridiculous.
That's like saying the Lumia 920 can only take pictures at night, which is a ridiculous statement and not relevant to the 920.
I think his scenario is perfectly valid if he only ever takes photos in the daytime it seems irrelevant mentioning its ability to take pictures in the dark.
Right ^
Uh no, do you own a 920? I dont think you do, the daylight shots are not garbage they can vary from ok to very good. Its a software issue because it does have the hardware.
I own a white 920. And I never ever.... ever... said the daylight shots are garbage. Learn to read and not assume folks.
good answer well done
That's weird...everybody I know asks me to take pictures then send it to them because my Lumia 920 pics come out way better than theirs. Friends have HTC, Samsung and iPhone 5.
The 920 takes better pics than the phones you mentioned. But my "HTC" Titan def was a camera beast in its own right.
lol Titan 1 has a beast camera?
So what is so impressive from Titan's camera? A camera beast? Don't make me laught, Titan camera is worse compared to 8X and 8X camera is worse compared to Lumia 920. Titan II? Same sensor but stuffing more megapixels. That's what you call impressive? What a pathetic attempt for HTC. HTC is never known and will never been known for quality camera, almost every review of their phone said that their camera totally sucks compared to the competition.
You seem to have a disdain for HTC in general
And why'd you put HTC in quotes?
Yes Daniel, it doesn't impress me. Going from a Dell Venue pro to a Titan... I was impressed. It was an obvious jump in quality... Going from a Titan to a Lumia920... I wasn't impressed. Good photos sure... but it didn't "impress" me. Do note, the exact definition of impress is "1.affect or please somebody greatly: to have a strong, usually favorable effect on the mind or feelings of somebody". Impress =/= is good. It means that it is good to the point of having a marginally better effect than what was previously experienced.
@jfVigor , seriously? You're not impressed with low lighting photo or video?
I am impressed by the low lighting and video. In fact very blown away by how some low light photos come out. But I rarely ever use video... ever
I take pictures more often when there is good lighting... and the titan continuously impressed me. I'm talking about the titan 1... I never demoed the titan 2.
No other camera has the "option" of low light photography with results this impressive. Maybe if you had a phone with the option you'd opt to use it more since, well, since now you have that option to do so.
What you say may certainly be correct. I'm happy with my Lumia920 but my original post stands... the Titan takes visibly sharper photos
This is great news! The only question that US AT&T users have to ask now is... will we get this update in a timely fashion - will it still drop on our phones this month? I'd love to have this update in hand before I head back south for vacation on the 25th...
Hopefully tomorrow. Microsoft likes to release patches on Tuesday. Tuesday makes sense to me. Monday you come back from the weekend, do a few more rounds of tests, then Tuesday you can release and still have 3 days left to shut things down if a big bug pops up.

I really hope for Microsoft's sake that this patch comes out quickly for MS. I know a few who are having the rebooting phone issue. It is hard to be super happy with your phone if it randomly reboots on you.

I personally am really looking forward to the reply to call with SMS.

In addition if MS can get this on all phones on all providers within 30 days of release it will make all of the tech people happy. iPhone still rules with the day 1 patch release. Android is the worst. If Microsoft can show that all WP8 devices can expect the update within 30 days of release -- that would be great.
The patch hasn't been released the KB articles haven't been populated and the unlocked 8X was a test run
Cool idea, however "PAtch Tuesday" already occured last week and it's a monthly thing.
I think ideally, yes WP8 would follow a normal patch tuesday cycle. However clearly this is some what of a rush job and MS has to push this out ASAP. Word of mouth about randomly rebooting phones will kill the brand faster than all of the good reviews they are getting (Consumer Reports rated the HTC 8X only 1 point below the iPhone 5).
Dude, patch Tuesday isn't happening on the phone system, Microsoft has no way to directly patch the OS without going through the carriers (no recent mention of the enthusiast program) and updates spend at least a month or two in carrier testing. I would love for that to happen but we probably won't need four weeks of updates either, mobile OS is much less complex.
We'll be lucky to have it before March. Seriously.
Yes!!!
Just got my Lumia yesterday, and I'm in love. This update coming so soon is terrific. Can't wait to see all the tweaks in action.
Yesss! couldn't wait :)
The article says its not perfect. Is it not sharp enough? What's not perfect?
Engadget was complaining about the white balance. WWhich they say was still not fixed.
These photos do not reveal the issue. Take photos in day or night of distant scenery. This is where the soft focus really shows up. Compare daytime distant scenery shots with an iPhone and it becomes very obvious. The 920 looks like its a 7.5MP at a distance.
The photos are in general, absolutely atrocious for demonstrating anything about the camera. Regardless, the *point* is Nokia is updating the firmware for the camera and optimizing it, meaning it should greatly improve. Until we get our hands on it though, it's hard to discern to which degree. But seeing how Nokia improved the 900's camera significantly, we have faith that they will do the same with the 920.
The amount of MP don't make that big of a difference (relatively speaking). It could have a 6 MP sensor and still take better pictures than something at 8 MP. In fact, having a lower number of MP in certain situations can result in much better pictures.
7.5 or 8.7 MP has nothing to do with the problem
I have a 1.5 "megapixel" flip phone camera that was better than this 920. Jk
I'm saying the quality looks like it came from a 7.5 mp camera and not an 8.7. Take a 7.5 (or less) photo and rescale it to 8.7 and its about what the 920 quality level is. Just an analogy. The real issue is focus.
I don't think it has anything to do with focus, its to do with post processing surely
Ok see what you mean.
Waiting impatiently! Curious when they're going to explain how rollouts will work. Can AT&T interfere?
Yes, and rest assured they will. Still want that enthusiast program!
The cat picture looks like poop on my 920. I hope they don't apply too much sharpening where the images look crispy . I still font understand how apple can achieve such great images . Its basically night and day between the 920 and iPhone 4s/5
That would be because Apple does to their photos what Bose does to sound, process it in a way that it appears pleasant to a human being which is not the same as providing you with actual true to life images.
That may be true, but look at the comparison (here on wpcentral) of the 920, a DSLR, and the 8X. The 8X does much better overall than the 920! If you can't claim better than the 8X then you surely are not living up to claims/hype.
The thing is George and I both have the HTC 8X and we're photo buffs. It's not a choice for us, the Lumia 920 is our preferred camera.
I bought the 920 on the hype/promise of the best camera phone. How did the prototype do different? If the camera was as good as I hoped (simply better than my 4s under most conditions) I would be the ultimate 920 fanboy, but....
Cannot wait for it.
I don't know about you guys but I find that when taking a photo, for a second it looks nice and sharp but then immediately it softens and loses the focus, hope this is what they have fixed here
Yes. I'm not sure why that is, but I've seen that elsewhere. Not just the 920. This may happen regardless of a camera fix probably due to the differences in how the view is rendered at screen resolution versus a rescaled photo.
I noticed the exact same behavior
I think what you are seeing is the transition from viewfinder image to the actual photo and therein lies the issue. The image is showing you what the photo could look like but once the software massages the actual capture and fuzzes it all up with whatever Pureview algorithms are supposed to be helping, you see the softness appear. I think that softening of the image is what Nokia will be fixing. I can't wait because that really is the only thing that I find disappointing about the camera.
So the fix is so good that it changed cat's color? Damn..
Yes...i'd be fairly annoyed if my grey cat suddenly turns a murky brown, because of an os update...
Just saying...
I think I'll wait until portico has been released to all regions before I buy the 920. I want it for more than the camera, but the cameras performance plays a part of wanting the phone. Fortunately, I have a n8, I just didnt want to carry around 2 phones with 1 being the designated picture taker. I still think I might have to
My N8 is sidelined after purchasing my Lumia 900 a few weeks ago. Neither the Lumia 900 nor the Lumia 920 can best the N8 at 12MP, but I took most of my N8 photos at 9M/16:9 ratio. While having the option of 12MP is nice, I opted for 9M and the Lumia 900 while not quite the quality, comes close enough for my use. The N8 cannot best the Lumia 920 with regards to video, nor night time photos, however, I don't film much or snap at night, so I opted for the Lumia 900.

The next gen Lumia's a year from now, I think, will be the best balance with regards to their Pureview technology, and that is when I will make another purchase; but my N8(and Symbian) has been benched!
Too many people trying to bash the 920 camera, ignoring the fact that a FIX is actually coming. So in the meantime, more cats!
I admit I'm bashing, but that's because I feel betrayed by Nokia whom I love. Only a fix that makes the camera better than my 4s at a distance will make me happy. Until then, I'm keeping it real and not providing false hope. If they do fix it to expectations they will regain a Nokia evangelist.
Betrayed?! Too strong a word to use isn't it? You make it sound like Nokia is intentionally trying to cheat you. Is it too hard to believe that it is an unintentional mistake and let them have a chance to fix the problem instead of bashing them even before you have a chance to test the fix and see the results for yourself? And I cannot understand that if you really love Nokia as you say then why is there such a lack of trust and negativity on their ability to resolve the issue? And if it ends up being a hardware issue that they weren't able to fix, you can alway return the phone. And if then you still can't get rid of the feeling of being betrayed and lied to, you can always take legal action. Its not as you'll be the first to sue Nokia in the past few months.
Betrayed, eh. If you watched the launch of the Lumia 920, Nokia touted the low light photography and OIS - this was the highlight of their camera demo. They did not tout that daylight photos were the best - how could they? That crown belongs to the Nokia 808!

At the end of the day, you and anyone else feeling betrayed or disappointed with daylight photos had plenty of time to return the product for a full refund...no sure why some held on to the device only to bash the camera/other functionality.
Maybe you're missing the point. If everyone clapped their hands and said "good job Nokia" then there would be no update. I love my Lumia. But the camera issue is a thorn in my side. And I'll keep bitching about it until it's fixed. Keep in mind that if they don't fix it, it is a serious fail on their part. I can paste numerous links that show how bad it is, and you will find that I'm one of many who are not a happy with the camera. That said, I (and others) did not return the phone out of hope for a fix, and also the fact that asdie from the camera issues it's a really awesome device overall. The only thing that would have stopped me from buying an 8X instead is that Nokia does provide better app support (like Nokia Drive).
Good. :) So, when L920 finally arrives in Croatia next year it will come with all "childhood illnesses" safely behind it. :) That being said, I'd rather have a sick L920 now. :)
Whats scary is that this flaw wasnt picked up on prior to release. Come on Nokia, you are up against the ropes; cant be making these types of mistakes. Apple's more recent record (with maps for example) has not been amazing either; but they can afford to make mistakes (with their $120billion in the bank)
Apple has 4 phones at best to worry about.. Nokia has like 40 or more.
Thats Nokias decision so thats no excuse. Don't release more phones than you can handle.
Well it is up to you to buy or not buy..
BTW do you knoww about purple pictures with IPhone.. or 'you are not holding it properly' issue?
Well hey, a lot of people saw reviews of pre-production 920s where the camera performed great as well as believed Nokias Pureview marketing didn't exclude daytime photography. Obviously poor execution to not only fake the OIS-video demonstration but also release the phone with pre-mature image software/settings.
Wouldnt it be great if investors and customers were that patient/understanding: "My phone's camera doesn't work as it should, but its ok, because Nokia has to manage over 100 phones and apple only has to manage 4". "We've lost boatloads of $$$ in our Nokia stock, but that's ok, its not Nokia's fault. They have to manage over 100 phones while Apple only has to manage 4. So let me continue to invest in Nokia." Get my point? Only the end-result matters. Nokia cannot be making mistakes in their most crucial time. Reasons aren't important.
Nokia has been very good with updates... My wife's iphone still has purple pics...
I'm looking forward to this update because from what I've read there are improvements that can be made to processing. However, when I look at a phone and compare its lense size to say something like this http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Nikon-Products/Product/Camera-Lenses/2196/AF-... "real" lens, I can't believe what people actually expect from a phone camera.
I'm a photographer and love gadgets, therefore having a camera on my phone that takes decent pictures is a good thing eventhough I know it will never replace my DSLR camera. And, I don't expect it to.
What I hope they don't do is over sharpen the pictures to make it "look nice". As a photographer, I know that if I have a soft picture I can sharpen it in post processing. If I have an over sharpen picture, I'm stuck with it. As I photographer I also know that if I don't have the details at capture time, I can't add them later in post processing. Fixing that "lost of details" that sometimes appears to happen is what I'm really looking forward to before I start using my L920.
In the reivew (http://www.neowin.net/news/review-nokia-lumia-920) of the L920 at Neowin, Tim complained about the camera. In the comments you can find some comments from "Jaybot". He posted a link (http://jaybotography.tumblr.com/) to some photos he's taken with the L920. Hmmm. Maybe what they say in the photography world is right "Is not the camera, is the photographer" that makes the picture.
And, before you ask for my pictures, I don't have my L920 yet. That's coming next week, you know on the 25th.
I wish they would fix the weird pinkness that shows up in the center of some photos, but mostly on 900s
Well I'm certainly impressed by the camera already, and knowing this fix is on the way is even more impressive. Quick turn around, and continuing to improve their products. Very nice. This is how one knows they made the right choice.
Totally agree
Well so far ive been really impressed with the camera on my 920, coming from a htc mozart i guess thats no surprise! But if nokia want to make it even better then who am i to argue! Bring it on.......
I personally do not want them to fix the softness. That way when I take pictures of me and my wife, you don't see the wrinkles.
;-)
Don't worry, Creative Studio can still help you "fix that". :)
Are they still gon do a notification center? That's one thing missing.
What up with the cats in the middle of the road? Are ya'll near a pet cemetery?
Any word on fixing the front facing camera quality? Those pictures take blurry to a new level.
How can i post selfies on facebook if its all blurry? ;-)
You better not be a guy
Here's an idea... turn camera, smile, press button.
Haha i am a guy. I dont actually take that many pictures of myself (that i will admit to). However, this issue in particular stopped my wife from trading in her iphone for this phone. Turning the phone around and taking a picture of yourself is extremely cumbersome with the lumia -- pressing button is not ideal and worst of all, you can't tell if you've certered it correctly. give it a try, its possible, but far less ideal that using a frontfacing camera. That and video is pretty much the whole point of FF camera. It looks like Nokia completely overelooked making it work well for the pictures.
Mighty funny I do not have a problem with blurriness with the facing camera.. I'm happy with it.
The picture re-posted here does not really give you a good comparison. Go over to Engadget and look at more shots there. The one showing a 100% crop comparison shows a clearly sharper image. On the other shots it is harder to tell because the captures are not large enough, but even at that level you can see more detail. This is a much preferrable solution than just dialing up the sharpness using Creative Studio.
My Lumia 920 had great photos on it, but it bricked up and I had to send it back to Nokia, on monday the 10th of December. I still haven't received notification of Nokia receiving my broken lumia or them sending a replacement. If anyone that knows nokia well, could contact me that would be MUCHO APPRECIATED. thanks windows phone pros.
If you hold the power button and volume+down button for 10 secs, it fixes most "bricked Lumias". Sorry you found out so late :/
Call them yourself, it propably took a longer time to write that comment than a phone call would have taken...
I actually did contact them (via web chat) last week, and I have yet to hear anything back even though it resulted in escalation.
I'd really like to see some option for the amount of compression applied to the pictures. Personally I'd like a little less compression on my pictures, I be happy with images up to 5mb rather than the 2.5mb that they are now, theoretically they would contain more detail.
Yes, betrayed. Betrayed by their claims: "Best camera in a smartphone."
During the glory days of N9x series, Nokia really delivered. Even though symbian became antiquated quickly, they still delivered on my expectations. If you're a camera, or camera phone enthusiast, you are no doubt disappointed, and therefore disapointed in Nokia releasing this device with the hype they are making.
I have plenty of friends and colleagues interested in the Lumia, but I cannot in good faith endorse it with that level of 'mistake'. Reading some of the articles, I'm very curious why it supposedly took better photos as a prototype. And my real concern is that this issue is no fixable via software. :( Adding more 'sharpness' to post process is not a fix. I can understand Nokia remaining quiet about this in order to not draw too much attention to the flaw, but in my opinion, this is huge, and they should be throwing everything at it. Again, if they fix it so it has clear focus at a distance (reguardless of the poor white balance and oversaturation) I will be very happy and satisified. Until then, betrayal is an appropriate word.
I'd still say that it is arguably the best camera in a smartphone.
Yay!!!!
This is the worst camera I've ever used on a smart phone. Every single picture is blurry, and the auto focus is just plain bogus. When you hype your camera as one of your main features and it becomes obvious that it sucks. Who is going to take you seriously as a major competitor in the smartphone industry? Nokia spent months hyping this crap? And people need to stop comparing the iPhone 5 maps blunder with the Nokia camera fraud, Apple has an excellent google maps app to fall back on!
You are more of a fraud. Stop trolling.. Learn how to use a camera on a phone. Every picture you take. Please!!!!
Obviously your response indicates your immaturity, I've used several phones, and gauging your response, probably several before you were born. A cellphone camera is designed for convenience, if you can't snap off shots in a normal setting and get at least a decent photo your camera probably sucks! If the camera didn't suck, we wouldn't have over 100 postings saying otherwise, sprinkled with a few fan boy postings like yours.
If your cameraphone is broken you should return it to the shop.
Nothing wrong with my maturity.. Like the one person said if your phone is broken get it replace.. Every picture you take being blurry means something is obviously wrong with your phone and you should exchange it. Nobody has complained on this sight that every picture they take is blurry. They complain about the softer images and the daytime pictures might not be as good as the iPhone 5. I have a 920 and the pictures I took are far from blurry.
Wouldn't it be cool if they let you shoot in RAW format? A person can dream..
+1
Obviously your response indicates your immaturity, I've used several phones, and gauging your response, probably several before you were born. A cellphone camera is designed for convenience, if you can't snap off shots in a normal setting and get at least a decent photo your camera probably sucks! If the camera didn't suck, we wouldn't have over 100 postings saying otherwise, sprinkled with a few fan boy postings like yours.