The idea of having a pocketable DSLR is what kicked of the conception of Nokia 9 Pureview in 2018. When it was first released in market back then, many were left wondering how would the penta lenses perform against higher megapixel phones out there. While we were all reminded that the Nokia 9 Pureview is targeted for the photography enthusiast out there, the wallet friendly price and the hunger for benchmarking the next Pureview devices among the casual users eventually lead to the poor impressions of the device in general.
Understandably, the Nokia 9 Pureview has serious issues with its imaging stability, which is the ultimate reason for its demise. But, it was the first attempt of achieving a DSLR quality output in an extremely compact form factor , with no camera bumps on the rear! Up until then, it was all about having good imaging, but nothing to touch the realms of DSLR and mirrorless camera’s output.
But, the few that stood with the device, allowing themselves to learn around what it can and cannot do would prove you otherwise, that there is no other device quite like it in the market. That is until the Sony Xperia Pro-I was released , 3 years later.
The Xperia Pro -I was not just made to achieve a DSLR level of quality, it literally uses high end compact camera sensor, the ones that you find in the RX 100 camera and combines the controls from their Alpha line of cameras. The 1 inch sensor here is the Exmor RS CMOS , a 21MP sensor , out of which only a portion is used for its 12MP output in the Xperia Pro-I.
The Xperia Pro -I is definitely far more superior and versatile compared to the older Nokia 9 Pureview. But there are still many similarities among them. Both these devices uses a dedicated chip for image processing, the Light coprocessor chip for Nokia 9 Pureview and Bionz X processing chip for Xperia device. They both also uses lenses from Zeiss, and the ones on the Xperia has the Zeiss T coating for less lens flare. Both are designed to achieve a DSLR/mirrorless level of bokeh and also RAW image capture to truly bring out the best of what you captured.
Being familiar with Nokia 9 Pureview, I took some time to learn how to use the Xperia Pro-I. The Nokia 9 Pureview has a rather simple solution. You can choose to shoot in either jpg or jpg + RAW. You can also shoot in pro mode and have all the parameters under your control. On the contrary, the Sony allows you to shoot in basic mode which the phone decides what is best for you, or you can also shoot it in the manual mode , the way it is meant to use and harness the power of the 1 inch sensor with dual aperture setup. The Sony has an impressive autofocus capability, and also features face and eye detection which is among their defining features. The display on the Xperia is also calibrated so , what you actually see, is what you would actually get in the end.
It seems to be a tough battle, comparing the 2018 Nokia 9 Pureview against a device that is truly made to show the best of what Sony can do in the imaging department. In my Part 2, I will be sharing the photo samples from both these devices, both jpg and RAW. So, do stay tuned for that.
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