I use an HTC One, but its camera is subpar, and I take a lot of pictures. When the Nokia Lumia 1020 was released, who wasn’t intrigued by its camera? I sure was, and so I bought one. But could the 1020 function as my only camera while on a dream vacation in Paris and Dubrovnik? I would soon find out.
From the moment we arrived in Paris, I started snapping pictures predominantly with the Lumia’s Pro Cam app set to 5 megapixels, which is oversampled for lossless zoom. About midway through the trip (or about the time we moved on to Dubrovnik), I changed the settings so that the camera would take a 5 megapixel plus a 34 megapixel picture at the same time.
I took over a thousand photos on that trip — many of them in extremely poor lighting conditions. As would have happened no matter which camera I was using, there were some photos that were much better than others; I had blurry shots, I have under or overexposed shots … and I had some photos that took my breath away.
Take a look at the following galleries, and tell me if you can honestly tell that these photos were taken with a smartphone camera rather than a DSLR. Each picture is a thumbnail, and clicking it should open up a larger gallery.
Notre Dame Cathedral & Treasury
Along the Seine River
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- On the Pont de Arts Bridge, lovers attach a lock with their names on them, then they toss the key into the Seine River.
Napoleon’s Tomb in the Dôme des Invalides
The Musée de l’Armée
Les Catacombes
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- These skulls were the only ones that had jawbones attached, and for some reason that made them creepy
Seen Around Paris
In and Around Old Town Dubrovnik (Read my separate King’s Landing / Dubrovnik post)
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- If someone ever asks if you’d like small fish, this is what they mean. Say yes, because they are delicious!
The Medieval Foundry in Old Town Dubrovnik
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- Here’s where it gets really interesting … the foundry was evidently built on top of another ruin, because that is an arrow port that used to be in an exterior wall! Further excavation would destroy the foundry, however … =/
My conclusion? After traveling with the Nokia Lumia 1020 as my only camera, I can safely say that it is absolutely the best smartphone camera available, and it is easily powerful enough to function as my only camera when I travel. The phone’s operating system isn’t that bad, either. 😉
What do you think? Would you be willing to travel with no better camera than the one on your smartphone? I have no regrets.