Recently I have been digging into the hardware of the BlackBerry Z10 especially the camera. I mentioned before the the BlackBerry Z10 has a f/2.2 aperture for the camera which was impressive compared to the iPhone 5 f/2.4 lens aperture and the Samsung Galaxy S3 f/2.6 aperture. (lower is better) Pete was kind enough to point out to me that BlackBerry themselves have shared a few more specs on both the front and back cameras and they are definitely buzzword compliant. Let me know if you can help me see how they stack up.
Back camera
- 8 megapixel auto-focus camera
- Back Side Illumination for better low-light performance
- 5-element F2.2 lens
- Dedicated ISP (image signal processor) with 64MB frame buffer
- Flash, continuous and touch to focus, image stabilization
- Enhanced Super Resolution Digital Zoom (5x)
- 1080p HD video recording
- 4 DOF (Degrees of freedom) video stabilization
- Time Shift mode for pinpointing and adjusting individual elements of your picture
Front camera
- 2 megapixel fixed-focus camera
- Image and video stabilization
- 3x digital zoom
- 720p HD video recording
I found it promising that the BlackBerry Z10 camera matches the iPhone’s 5 element lens and “Back Side Illumination.” Still I am scratching my head at the “enhanced super resolution digital zoom” in the back camera compared to the front camera. Now I am also curious how many “degrees of freedom” the front camera has for video stabilization.
PS: It seems like these specs have been on the BlackBerry website a little after launch but its the first I have seen of them and I thought they were definitely worth mentioning!
bbfanboi ( View Profile) - Posts: 153
Posted: February 19, 2013 at 12:06 PM EST
Serious specs! What took RIM so long to share this. This is an iPhone-like ad in the making! Attention to detail is critical in this business, and RIM has certainly put a lot of attention into the Z10′s camera. What they haven’t done till now is to reveal the technical details to consumers.
The Z10 needs an ad dedicated to the Hub, another for the multitasking capabilities and the home screen, another for the camera, another for the apps to show the key ones are there!
Anyone who has done photography in low light will appreciate image stabilization. I assume it is electronic stabilization not optical, but it’s so essential to minimize blurry images.
A dedicated ISP with a 64 MB frame buffer will give faster response to image taking. I know little about video cameras so I’ll leave that to the experts to talk about.
Thanks for sharing. I didn’t see all of those until now.
Ronen Halevy ( View Profile) - Posts: 3282
Posted: February 19, 2013 at 2:31 PM EST
Yeah it was news to me too
Sort of came out of left field
dpr ( View Profile) - Posts: 757
Posted: February 20, 2013 at 1:02 AM EST from my BlackBerry PlayBook | OS 2.1.0
Absolutely! BlackBerry is still taking it on the chin and allowing Tech Bloggers/Reviewers, who are mostly Apple/Android fanboys to unfairly criticize the Z10′s camera and their perceived lack of apps. To be successful, I believe BlackBerry definitely needs to be more aggressive in advertising the Z10′s capabilities; they need to show they are the best and offer features no other smartphone can match; the time for vague commercials is over.
Lynn Voss Not Registered
Posted: May 7, 2013 at 12:45 PM EST
I have the Blackberry 9100. I love my keyboard, but the camera produces blurry pics on the right side each time. Very annoying…thinking about upgrading to the new BB version. Anyone else have his problem with their BB 9100?
Ronen Halevy ( View Profile) - Posts: 3282
Posted: May 7, 2013 at 2:08 PM EST
The camera is much better on the Z10 and Q10. I have not really had much experience with the 9100 since it was discontinued in the US very quickly