Sony UK Comments on Nokia 41MP Camera, Nokia Responds

TechRadar published Sony UK's Paul Genge comments on Nokia 808 camera-phone announcement:

"It's quite clear it's a development announcement more than a retailable proposition, the technology is not new, it's only what our cameras have done for about a year now."

Sony cameras use "pixel digital zoom", which groups pixels together for increased sensitivity.

"In that respect, it's not especially stand out, but within the mobile sector, yes it is, so I can understand why it's drawn an awful lot of attention," Genge said. "But, it is still only a technological announcement, it's not a plausible retail solution yet."

Nokia camera group leader Damian Dinning responds in comments:

"1. I am delighted to say (as per previous the information we disclosed during the 808s announcement) the Nokia 808 PureView IS a product that will be available during Q2 of this year.

2. The algorithms we needed to develop to provide the incredible detail the 808 PureView captures and creates in just 5mpix easy to share images were developed by Nokia and are the basis of Nokia proprietary technology.

3. We know of no other camera that uses a high resolution [41mpix] sensor in the unique ways we do to provide the following benefits:

i) 5mpix images which contain far higher levels of detail than cameras with far higher [than 5mpix] resolution sensors.

ii) despite the high levels of detail, file sizes are far smaller (because the pixels are purer) and therefore faster and easier to upload straight from the device. Which of course our devices have had the capability to do for many years.

iii) LOSSLESS zoom in full HD video and stills. There is NO upscaling used in ANY way in the 808 PureView. Unlike many digital cameras which rely on upscaling for digital zoom. Whilst some digital zoom implementations simply crop the sensor to provide a feeling of zoom. In our case when we are cropping (unless at full zoom) we have an abundance of pixels. We put those pixels to extremely effective use by oversampling the data from those pixels.

iv) One of the most important benefits of Nokia's proprietary pixel oversampling is that it retains the information you want (the detail), whilst filtering out most of the information you dont (noise). This is most noticeable in low light. Pixel oversampling is NOT the same as pixel binning. Others may be using binning but Nokia is not in the case of pixel oversampling. We are also NOT interpolating to create pixels that represent completely false information. As said we only oversample information originally captured by our super high resolution sensor and optics. The level of oversampling is as high as 16:1 in the case of full HD video. No other device I know of has such capability.

v) Using this method of zoom not only provides high image quality in a compact device but it also provides a silent zoom as well as allows the maximum aperture to be used even at full zoom."