Quartz compares the Nokia 9, Light L16 and iPhone XS cameras

Quartz made an interesting short comparison between the daylight camera capabilities of the Nokia 9, Light’s L16 camera and the iPhone XS. While we are already familiar with the Nokia 9, it’s good to remember that the “multi-camera” solutions the device features, more precisely the processing chip/pipeline and the IP behind stitching are from Light and L16 was Light’s first product – a digital camera featuring 16 cameras and working on a similar principle (computational photography) as the Nokia 9.

The comparison was made in daylight conditions and the results show the Nokia 9 holding very well, having natural color reproduction, good dynamic range and capturing more details in the macro shot than the Light camera and iPhone XS. Nokia 9’s Achilles’ heel in terms of imaging is low-light photography, especially in conditions where “Night mode” solutions from competitors truly shine, but that wasn’t included in this particular comparison. Other technical drawbacks of the Nokia 9 are the slow photo processing, stability and fingerprint issues that HMD has been patching with updates.

You can check the whole comparison at QZ.com.

It’s a shame the Nokia 9 was released on the market with unpolished software, because failing in (ultra) low light conditions isn’t as a major deal as stability or fingerprint issues that are more important for the customer experience. HMD has been fixing these issues with updates and a lot of Nokia 9 users are satisfied with their devices, so the company will probably keep improving the experience. Adding a night mode could also be smart considering that all the competition adopted it.

Thanks Usernew54 for the tip. 🙂