Photo samples from the Nokia Lumia 1020’s 41-megapixel camera

By Sam Sabri
last updated

The Nokia Lumia 1020 is finally here. It’s the first Windows Phone device with 41 million pixels on a sensor. It takes the best from Nokia’s past and present camera tech to make the future. Here are some sample images from Nokia showing the prowess of Nokia, Zeiss, and all those pixels. 

The images we're putting in this post aren't even the full resolution samples. We'd break the web if we tried that. So you'll need to enjoy these highlights on our site. Then hit up the source link below to go see the full samples, be sure to zoom in and be blown away by how much detail you retain. 

Seriously, go check the larger versions of these images below. They're crazy detailed. Don't forget to catch up on the Nokia Zoom event and learn more about the Lumia 1020. 

Source: Nokia

Sam Sabri
Sam Sabri
91 Comments
  • These,are incredible
  • Oeeeeehhhhh
  • Detail in some of those city pictures is insane.
  • I want to take full res panorama with it. If only that was possible.
  • Wouldn't you be able to use photosynth to do so? Plus out of all the apps they are creating I'm sure one has to be for panorama.  
  • the photosynth and other panorama apps don't capture each of the constituent images in the maximum resolution supported by the camera..they use scaled down resolutions, so that the net picture remains "viewable" from the device.
    imagine a 1020 creating a photosynth with about 20-25 41mp images..that's gonna blow your phone up!
  • Dude just take as many shots as you want with regular mode then import to.computer and stich with photoshop cs6 (i think cs4 and above has stich) then your good to go.
  • Take my money! Is this going to be on Rogers?
  • I'll take $700. Do you have Paypal?
  • I would not think its coming anytime soon, Canada doesnt even show on the 1020 page to even check for availability to send info to you when it comes available.
  • For me it's.. Welcome Nokia. Goodbye HTC.
  • :D
  • ^ That.
  • One thing that really came out of nowhere to me was manual focus. That to me is the absolute winner.
    Seeing it used live on some of the hands-on videos has been nothing else than amazing. Can't wait!
  • Maybe I'll get lucky and Nokia will make a 1028 for Verizon ;)
  • it'll be great if Nokia makes Lumia 1024 :p
  • would like to see the Lumia 1338 :) 
  • Lumia 1360 and 768 is more preferable :p
  • Can someone please confirm if the black area on the cam and the buttons are still made of ceramic like that of my 920?
     
    Thanks!
  • The button is still ceramic (I don't really know if its really that same material on Lumia 920 though, maybe its better) but the camera housing are made from polycarbonate
  • Wow!
  • Thank you :)
    My next yellow phone :)
    Think I have to polish it though... ;)
  • Ive been ready to give up my htc 8X for a while now. As a photographer I want want WANT this phone.
  • Absolutely Stunning
  • Amazing!!!
  • Hi-res pics are nuts. She didn't put any hot pepper on her pizza.
  • Is it me, or the lens bends  the far background outwards?
  • its evident in the statue of liberty photo, check out the top right hand corner in that photo.
  • Damn... it really is spectacular. I really want one big time... but screw you AT&T on the pricing.
     
    Now I'm stuck waiting until Fall to see what the holidays bring in terms of GDR3 upgrades and holiday pricing.
  • Don't blame AT&T for the price. It's a $700 phone AT&T is subsidising $400. That's $50 more than they pitched in for the 920.
     
    That said, it will probably come down in a few months.
  • That being said, I wish MS had stepped in and subsidise some.  I'd imagine that anyone on the fence about getting an Iphone 5, GS4 or this phone would have jumped on this had it been between $99-$150.  Even the media would have jumped on this like crazy therefore giving this phone some free publicity.  At least from the latter they would have saved some money.
  • Price will go down from other places like Amazon or wirefly. Just watch
  • At one point AT&T was doing a promotion where you could turn in any smartphone that was 3 years old or newer and instantly receive at minimum $100 off a new phone with a 2 year contract.  If that is still going on then it might make getting this a little bit easier.
  • Oh really, cool.  Thanks for that, hoped on with ATT and checked into it.  I might try to turn in my wife's old Focus (already got her a 920) so I can afford the 1020 ^_^
    Here's the site you can check the tradein value at: https://tradein-program.att.com
  • What is the highest resolution you can take?
  • 38mp 4:3
    35mp 16:9
  • Does anyone know, what is the 41 MPX sensor good for, when the lens simply won't let through enough information to make such resolution capability useful? Or that's the information I've got about technology in photocameras. Maybe I am misinformed. I really believe, that 41MPX is beyond resolution, that any lens is capable of. So? Can someone who really knows what is he talking about explain that to me? Thanks :) 
  • Read the Nokia whitepaper, it will answer your questions and you might learn something. 
    http://i.nokia.com/blob/view/-/2723846/data/1/-/Lumia1020-whitepaper.pdf
  • Thanks, but I still wasn't able to find an answer to my question. Maybe my information are a bit old, but by what I know about optics, there is maximum amount of something, that could be translated to english as "lines per mm". That's the maximum of information, that the lens is able to let through... and 41 MPX resolution is beyond that... or say, 38MPX.
  • Ok, I checked the sensor seize once again and maybe that's not that unrealitic. 
  • What is it good for?  Zoom in on this sample picture:
    http://press.nokia.com/wp-content/uploads/mediaplugin/photo/nokia-lumia-1020-pro-highres-1.jpg Also, when your sensor allows you to capture a huge amount of meaninful data (not just noise), new technologies become available.  Digital image stabilization becomes usefull, which can be combined with optical image stabilization.  Digital zooming becomes useful because your typical display resolution is far inferior to 41MP, so digital zooming appears to be lossless.
  • Yes, but the ability of lossless-likedigital zoom is possible only if the lens is good enough to let through that information. And the capability of lens was my concern. 40MPX is up to the limits of technology. And in Nokia Lumia you have plastic lens (and 6th made of glass, i know).
    I don't say that those sample pics aren't f****** awesome. I just wonder whether same quality pics can't be made with 20MP camera. 
  • 20MP camera with optical zoom maybe. But the point of this is ditching the bulk of moving lenses and bringing that same quality to this form factor on a PHONE. Mind you, this isn't a dedicated P&S but it sure as hell acting like one. And I think the lenses are fairly capable. I trust ZEISS enough.
  • Holy *BLEEP*, Batman! Wasn't quite expecting such an incredible close-up when I clicked the zoom tool on it. Wow.
     
    There's quite a few people out there who keep talking about how this camera can't do what it is obviously doing. I mean, really...the proof is in the pudding.
     
  • All the 808 owners are *yawning*. Lol, but not to be smug. We already knew this was going to be a good camera. Kinda old news.
  • Although this one has a big improvement: OIS
  • Really? I hadn't noticed.
  • i think 808 had also some kind of OIS but im not sure about that. what's the best thing about 1080 is that it has amazing camera and amazing os
  • Nope, the 808 has no OIS.
  • Yikes those are damn sharp for a cellphone this may spell the end of point and shoots.
  • I encourage you guys to look at the hi-res photos of these samples... especially the 5th photo down (the one of buildings in New York and the Narrows Bridge).  You can read the green sign on the highway/interstate.  Unreal.
     
    Here's a link to it:
    http://press.nokia.com/wp-content/uploads/mediaplugin/photo/nokia-lumia-1020-pro-highres-16.jpg
     
    edit:  A comparisson photo has been made... I still can't get over how crazy this is
     
  • ON THE FAR LEFT SIDE!!! written on the road beside four cars it says "STOP" CLEARLY!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Downloaded the Brooklyn Bridge photo and saw the word PUTO scrawled on the roof top of a building when zoomed in. Crazy detailed indeed!
  • What, is this Nokia 1020 day or something
  • Nope not, at all!
  • Think that there is no Nokia. How would be today's news for WP central?
  • Its hard to tell unless you see them in person. Look like any other pic in the article.
  • Lmao
  • Anyone know the type of files the 41mp image is? Is it JUST a jpeg or is it in a RAW format. As a photographer, I'd rather have the dynamic range over image size any day of the week!
  • I was wondering the same thing.  Trying to get an idea of the file size of a photo in full res to see how far 32GB of storage will go.  I have downloaded a few of the photos from the Nokia Press site and the JPEG's that I downloaded range between 10 and 15 MB.  I'm wondering if those files are directly from the Lumia 1020 or if they have been compressed any to get a smaller files size to post on the press site.
  • All indications point to the 10-15mb size as the full sized photos (so no RAW). That coupled with the 2MB average size for the 5MP images and you get 14.5MB per picture taken ( (10+15/2)+2 =14.5). So it looks like you be able to get about 70 snaps per GB.
     
    Hope that helps.
  • The city picture is 33.5mp ... Far as I have read it can read up to 38mp, so there is atleast some compression on that one. you will have to check for yourself on th rest.
     
    mp = height * width / 1,024,000
  • No...the wide angle shots are 34MP and the 4:3 shots are 38MP. The total sensor size is 41, but the corners can't be used. They have a diagram of how this works. The sensor is such that they can go from wide to 4:3 without changing the size of the pixels be used.
  • This phone better come to Canada!
  • Lol just loading up one full res shot on my 920 takes an age :)
  • Lol on my 925 I quit in the middle
  • FOR ME soon:   GOOD BYE  IPHONE 4S ,  HELLO LUMIA 1020 !    
     
    As a hobby photographer, there is no way not to buy this smartphone.  hope its coming soon to Switzerland.
     
     
  • Ok. Im totally sold now. Wonder when Best Buy is getting theirs as i figure i might as well utilize my free $50 that i get for upgrading this year.
  • Damn the 24 month phone contract. Love my 920, but that phone is sweet.
  • want! anyone wants to buy my lumia 900 cyan?
  • Lol
  • The hump is so ugly but after seeing these pictures this might be my upgrade from the 520. Unless they're releasing another version of this with better hardware when 8.1 phones release
  • dont expect another 10** phone this holiday season....the 1020 itself will go into wider distribution next quarter so all you can expect in november is a 930-940. If you're looking for camera, then no need to wait
  • +1020
  • My Ti calculator can take better pictures than this
  • Crazyyyyyyyyyyyyy
  • I think Nokia is really hitting a home run with this phone. With everyone taking pictures and video of everything from their breakfast to their bar mitzvahs an excellent camera/phone is going to draw people. Just so happens to be on an awesome OS like WP8, which will get them into the windows app ecosystem. Now if only they could announce the arrival of an official Instagram app so everyone can take awesome 41mp photos, screw them up, and then send them to strangers!
  • Those images, I saw them and just couldn't believe my eyes. Artistry marrying camera tech
  • Those images are really amazing. When I'm done with my 920 I'll be getting the WP9 version of this, hopefully they will keep this model around as the top notch Lumia.
  • Has Nokia had any demonstrations showing how the 1020 compares to the 920 in taking low light images?
  • Wow, beautiful :D
  • I like the background blur of the baseball pic. Good stuff, especially for a phone camera. Bokehlicious!
  • I'm a BIG Android fan, currently using both the Nexus 4 and Samsung Galaxy S4 (multiple roms).
    But I want this phone. The camera looks absolutely amazing, and I appreciate Windows Phone 8; however, I just couldn't commit to it because of several key apps. However, I'm willing to overlook those with this camera.
    ....I mean honestly, this camera, that baseball and seeing those invidividual sand grains did it.
     
    Sand grains...
  • Those key apps will soon be available in Windows Phone 8. Just look at Path for example; it will come to WP8 ASAP. Anyway, welcome abroad to Windows Phone!
  • This is bloody amazing! Gotta say I'm impressed. Though since I am no photographer, or something, I wouldn't dispose of my newly-acquired 925 for anything! Not to mention I must be one of the few to own this beauty here in Brazil
  • Compared to the 808 you can see that the pictures are less sharp, contain more noise and more artefacts. Not really surprising because of the much smaller sensor. Pictures are of course way better than the 9xx series. But if you want a camera phone and care a lot about the pictures the 808 still beats the 1020.
  • My upgrade path from the 920 is now crystal clear.
  • Sam what color 1020 & grip ru thinking?
  • :o
  • One of those photos was taking in a bagel shop in my old neighbodhood. I miss the ol' 'hood - sad. 
  • Can I see the full resolution images? PLEASE?!?!?!