Take a Look Inside the Nokia Lumia 920 Camera

PureView

The 8.7-megapixel camera in the Lumia 920 carries Nokia’s PureView label, a name the company first introduced in the 41-megapixel Nokia 808 PureView handset earlier this year.

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There’s no denying that the Nokia Lumia 920 has one of the best smartphone cameras out there. Along with our Lumia 920 review unit, Nokia sent us the phone's camera sensor so we could see exactly what’s going on inside the phone.

The 8.7-megapixel camera carries Nokia’s PureView label, a name the company first introduced in the 41-megapixel Nokia 808 PureView handset earlier this year.

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PureView cameras use BSI (backside illuminated) sensors rather than the FSI (front-side illumiated) sensors that are used in older smartphones. The difference between the two lies primarily in the path that light takes to reach the photosensitive area of the sensor. With BSI, light isn’t restricted in the same way as an FSI sensor, allowing more light to get through and photos to look noticeably better in low-light situations.

While most smartphones today use a BSI sensor for improved low-light performance, the Lumia 920 also has a fixed f/2.0 camera aperture in its PureView cameras. The unusually large aperture lets in more light than camparable cameras -- very useful when such light is scarce.

SEE ALSO: Nokia Lumia 920: A Big Phone With a Killer Camera   The camera also includes optical image stabilization, which compensates for unintended movement and eliminates camera shake in videos and photos. Rather than shift a single lens to compensate for movement, Nokia’s PureView cameras shift the entire optical assembly in the camera to help eliminate shake, giving it an advantage over other smartphone cameras out there -- even ones with "normal" image stabilization.

Optical Image Stabilization helps improve pictures in low-light situations, as well as times when you’re trying to shoot photos one-handed and need a little help to keep the shot steady.

With Windows Phone 8 Nokia is taking its PureView technology a step further. Working along with Microsoft, Windows Phone 8 introduces a new algorithm for reducing visual noise and improving the camera’s low-light performance while maintaining a natural look in photos, theoretically further improving pictures taken in challenging situations.

Take a look at some low-light pictures we took with the Lumia 920 below, and let us know what you think of the smartphone’s camera in the comments.

Great in Low Light

All of the photos in this gallery were taken using the automatic settings in the Lumia 920 at night.
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This story originally published on Mashable here.