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We’ve had the Nokia N97 Mini in our hands for a while now here on ZCJ. And being such imaging buffs, we couldnt help checking out its 5 Megapixel Carl Zeiss Camera First.
Equipped with a Dual LED Flash setup, lets see how well this thing does its job.
Note: The Nokia N97 Mini we used for our Camera Review was on Firmware v10.0.020 , which was the latest available firmware at the time of this post. Camera Quality might improve or change in future firmwares, but this post shows you what you should basically expect from the N97 Mini.
The Interface :
The N97 uses Symbian S60 v5, just like the 5800 XpressMusic before it, and hence the Camera Interface is almost exactly the same as the Nokia 5800 Interface.
Since we’ve already talked about the S60 V5 Camera Interface before, we wont go over it again. Nothing has really changed in the Camera UI from the 5800 to the Nokia N97. GPS Geo-Tagging, Variable Quality settings, its all still in there.
You can check out the Following Video on the Camera on the Nokia N97 Mini, to get a brief idea of what the Camera UI is like :
Close up/ Macro Images :-
The camera was set to “Close up” mode for these pictures.
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As you can see the N97 Mini doesnt really have a problem focussing in close-distances (like the ol’ N96 did on its older firmware). You cant go in as close as you can with the Nokia N82 though, but its pretty decent. The colors were almost always spot-on. No color tints seem appear either.
Normal Distance shots :
The Camera was set to “Auto” mode for these pictures.
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Again we see the N97 Mini has no problems in focusing. The colors are mostly correct, but a tiny bit washed out in many cases. Hopefully that’ll be fixed in a future firmware update. There’s also light management problems in some cases, where certain object in the image appear smudgy. But otherwise, pretty decent. And a whole lot better than the Original N97 on its first firmware.
Far-away distance shots :
The Camera was set to “Auto” mode for these pictures.
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Once again, color reproduction is mostly correct but yet completely wrong is some cases. Some images have the same washed-out color problem. The light management seems to be a bit bad in a couple shots too. Still, the N97 Mini camera comes out with some very decent shots in most cases.
Dual LED flash samples :
The camera was set to “auto” for this segment. All pictures were taken in low/no light conditions.
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The Dual LED Flash of the N97 Mini seems to be pretty okay. Its a far far cry from an Actual Xenon Flash, but it gets the job done. The Dual LED Flash can handle Close range shots pretty well. Anything even remotely far away though, wont really make it into the picture, because the Dual LED flash cant go very far. The N97 Mini seems to have pretty decent low-light management skills though.
Video Recording samples :
The camera was set to “Auto” in video mode for the following segments.
Video is recorded at a gorgeous WQGA (640 x 480 pixels) resolution at 30fps. Nokia calls it “Dvd like” recording. As you can see, it does the job, although I’ve noticed that the camera seems more ‘zoomed in’ to the object in video mode than it is in camera image mode though. Weirdness.
Here’s a short video sample. Keep in mind, Flickr.com might degrade the quality a bit :-
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Performance in low-light videos is pretty decent but has a bit of noise. A step down from the N82 video quality in that section. The Dual LED Flash does help a lot in low light situations though.
Conclusion :
So what do we think of the N97 Mini’s camera then ?
Well, its decent and definitely capable. You might even take an award winning picture or two with it. Maybe.
I wont go into another saga about how a xenon flash could have helped so much, but the Dual LED flash seems pretty okay for close-range shots.
You’ve seen the Image and Video Samples now, what do you guys think ?
Clinton is currently based in New Delhi, India and is executive editor for UnleashThePhones. He is responsible for all editorial decisions, and covers all forms of Mobile and mobile-related accessories.
Cj is addicted to caffeine, social media, and technology. Always up for a good conversation, you can reach him through the contact form, his website, on Google Plus 
or on Facebook or Twitter: Follow @clintonjeff
Quick question, is there a protective sticker on your Camera Glass ? Because there was one on mine when I got it, and removing it made a difference. Mine had a clear sticker around the glass, AND on the glass lol.
Thanks Clinton Jeff,I understand the problems caused due to a shake while capturing the pictures but did you see the image quality, that is bad with no lighting.I wait while it says processsing image and after that move the camera. Is anything wrong with the settings or with the camera itself?
Heya ! Wow that's pretty bad actually. How long do you wait before you take a pic ? You should try giving it a couple seconds between when you position the camera and take the picture :) It looks like you shook the camera a tiny bit before you took the images also :)
I am not able to get this clarity through my nokia n97 mini.
Hi,I bought a n97 mini but the picture while capturing appears with sufficient contrast and bright but after the click fades. Is it problem of some settings. Please see these images. They were shot with the camera in automatic mode.http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_z3-E1nDuOXg/S0qwb3Lpj...http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_z3-E1nDuOXg/S0qwhw3LL...Regards,Abhilash
These all photos which take form this Nokia phone look so nice and beautiful this camera is work like one pure digital camera I am very fond of this kind of phones.
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