Traveling with the Nokia Lumia 928 – Good Enough to Be My Only Camera?
Judie Lipsett Stanford
Gear Diary is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn More.
Katherine Hepburn Park in Manhattan, taken with the Nokia Lumia 928
Before leaving on our recent trip to NYC, I was given the opportunity to try out a Nokia Lumia 928. I wasn’t expected to review the phone — Carly had already thoroughly done that. Rather, the idea was that I see how well the Lumia 928 could do as my primary camera while traveling, and to see whether I liked it better than some of the other phones I had also brought along on the trip.
Ordinarily when traveling I’ll bring either my Canon G11 or 5D; on this trip I brought nothing but a bag-full of phones. Although I also had the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 with me, my go-to photo taking devices soon became the Nokia Lumia 928 and the HTC One — with a sprinkling of Nokia Lumia 920 photos in there, just because I really like that camera, too.
What follows are the photos I took on the trip with each smartphone’s camera, along with some random notes. Which smartphone’s camera do you think took the best photos?
The HTC One
In poor light, the HTC One surprised me with clear and relatively sharp photos
Outdoors, the photos taken on the fly weren’t quite as clear and sharp.
Another low light photo; that beer looks pretty tasty, doesn’t it?
Notice that the HTC One did a decent job of capturing the bartender’s flying hands without blurring.
Incredibly poor light, yet the picture is clear.
The sky totally washes out on most pictures taken outdoors; this was a common problem in NYC on the hot overcast days.
In this pic you can see what the sky really looked like; it’s definitely not a “blue skies” pretty day situation, and it was hard to photograph.
The Albert Paley exhibit on Park Avenue gave me a chance to take a bunch of photos with crazy colors. Again, the sky really washed out. =/
Notice how ugly the sky is?
There really was no good way to get the sculpture in the photo without the sky looking white.
Here you can see that the sky was actually looking much bluer, and yet in order to get that to show, it had to be the object focussed on — not the sculpture.
I think that the HTC One did a good job showing the intricacies of Paley’s metal work.
One of the few shots I got where the sky looked good and the sky did, too!
Ugh … washed out skies, again.
A pic taken focussing on the sculpture washes out the sky …
…and a pic focussing on the sky darkens the sculpture. I wasn’t really thrilled with any of these photos. =/
This picture was taken in near darkness
Contrast this pic of Andy Warhol’s Rorschach Test taken with the Lumia 928. No flash was used on either pic, but the One looks washed out at the top from the museum lights.
Another to contrast with what was achieved with the Lumia 928. The pic looks flat and lifeless in comparison.
Washing out when colors weren’t vivid outdoors was a continual problem
I really liked this Van Gogh postman painting …
Andy Warhol soup cans …
Wyath’s “Christina’s World”. Kev and I stood in front of this for a good 10 minutes talking about all of the things going on.
Contrast this church entry to those taken with the Nokia Lumia 928; there is no comparison. =P
The Nokia Lumia 920
Kev peering at me through a sculpture.
How would you like to fall into this big shaggy chair?
One of Andy Warhol’s car crash silkscreens; the extra panel was to make it cost more. 😉
An Andy Warhol Marilyn Monroe silkscreen; notice how golden the golds are?
Edward Ruscha’s OOF painting
Maribel Escobar’s “Love” sculpture
NYC bills plastered on construction plywood
More NYC bills posted
The Nokia Lumia 928 …
I was blown away by how clear this neon picture came out
NYC-sized cookies
If you are in NYC and you like vinyl, then you must visit Bleecker Street Records
Random records
The steps up from the basement at Bleecker Street Records
45s … remember those?
I think I still have that Eurythmics picture disc somewhere …
Original Beatles albums …
Notice how sharp the building is, the moon is easy to discern, and the street scene doesn’t look too blurry
Standing in the rear of a church at night, with poor lighting. I had to take this shot several times, and this was the best.
Not as clear as I would have liked, but not bad.
For some reason white neon wasn’t as easy to shoot as colored
One World Trade Center (the Freedom Tower) seen from the street
Another tough lighting situation, but the Lumia 928 did very well!
I should have held my hand more steady, but we were walking and I stopped suddenly
No flash, andthe color of the sky is amazing!
The Village Vanguard, one of the most amazing jazz clubs anywhere
Kev letting me know that we will be staying for the 10pm show. 😉
Stone & metal work on the street
Gorgeous metal work from the street
Kev and Ali waiting for me to take “yet another photo” …
Notice how good the mini-lights look?
This picture was taken from a garage window into a completely dark room; the fact that it came out at all is amazing!
One World Trade Center lit up and seen from the East Side of Manhattan
Words of wisdom
Only in New York!
The Katherine Hepburn Park
Photos taken for a review I wrote while in NYC
Inside the Vanguard Jazz club; this was probably the best of the pics I took, as the lights on the musicians music was prone to flaring.
Looking through glass from the street
MEH Construction? If you say so.
Church entryway, to be compared with pics taken on the HTC One
There is still glare from the MoMA’s lights, but notice how much better the gold looks in this Andy Warhol?
One huge Jackson Pollock
This Rothko looks blurry, but I can assure you that it is the painting and not the picture.
The first Picasso we ran into
One of Monet’s Water Lillies
One of Roy Lichtenstein’s mouths
The detail in this Klimt is simply amazing
The painting is called “Hope, II”
Are these women praying or mourning? It is hard to tell …
Another Lichtenstein; he has a thing for lips and mouths, doesn’t he?
Andy Warhol’s ode to cosmetic surgery
Compare this to the same work of art photographed with the HTC One; this version seems much richer, doesn’t it?
Another Rothko … gorgeous.
Compare this photo to the one taken with the HTC One; I think the One did a better job in this low-light situation
Inside Grand Central Terminal; the destination markers aren’t quite as sharp as I would like them to be, but the colors are amazing.
Another look at the Paley exhibit on Park Avenue
Look at the sky in this and the next photo; it is gorgeous!
Although I was surprised to find that I thought the HTC One took better pictures in low light situations — especially where people were involved — I thought the Nokia Lumia 928 did a better job with random street shots in natural or even tough evening light situations. The Nokia 928 definitely performed better than the HTC One indoors; I think that the MoMA pictures prove that.
I didn’t bring a non-smartphone camera on the trip, but I don’t think I needed to, at all. Which smartphone are you using? Do you think that it could function as your only camera on a trip? Or do you always bring a camera along, too?
