The Nokia Lumia 820 features an 8-Megapixel sensor that comes with a 4x digital zoom, 26mm focal length and 10cm to infinity focus range. You'll find that it also come with Carl Zeiss optics as well as dual-LED Flash.
Check out our Nokia Lumia 820 review
While the pixel count may be the same as found on the Nokia Lumia 900, you'll find that many of technologies within the Nokia Lumia 820 have been ramped up to make this a far more advanced camera.
To start up the camera all you need do, even when on the Lock screen, is press the camera button on your Nokia Lumia 820 and it will kick into life. The first thing you'll notice is that the viewfinder is actually larger than it was on previous Windows Phone 7.5 smartphones. No longer will you find the last image you took overlapping onto the screen.
What more, the viewfinder is now fixed, so you won't find the icons moving when you pull the screen to the right. These may be little things but they add up to a better user experience.
Then there is the general layout, which has also come in for an overhaul. Icons still run down the right-hand side of the screen but you'll find the order has been refined. Starting at the top with Settings for Photo and Video, Still/Video mode, Front Facing, Flash and finally the new Lenses feature. Viewing back images taken has also been changed, now you'll find you simply need to sweep to the left, whether in Portrait or Landscape mode, making it easier to flick through your photos.
Photo settings have been simplified, so you won't find Contrast or Saturation settings, or Effects, for example, leaving these for the post-edit. This means the settings are the core tasks that you're likely to carry out on the fly, so you can set Scenes, choose the ISO and Exposure Value, White Balance and Aspect Ratio and now save them as you current setup.
What all this adds up to is a far slicker user experience. When it comes to taking photos all you need to do is point and shoot, using either the Capture button or simply tapping the screen. Image quality is generally pretty good we found.
However, what has to be the most appealing aspect of using the camera on the Nokia Lumia 820 is outdoors you'll find the Nokia ClearBlack display technology really comes into its own, as you'll be able to view the screen with ease no matter how bright it is. While this sounds like a small thing, how many times with your current smartphone have you found yourself unable to view your subject or had to seek out shade?
Still Image Editing
Windows Phone 8 allows for photo editing on the fly. So, once you've taken you're image you simply tap the Settings and choose 'edit'. Here you'll find a default Crop, rotate and auto-fix. The editing tools may be a little basic but they work really well and make a great deal of sense if you're going to share your photos, which you can easily do from within the photo viewer.
If you've got apps, such as Creative Studio, installed you'll also find these options ready to load too. Creative Studio for Windows Phone 8 is quit a different beast as it's more an editing tool and no longer allows you to take photos within the app itself. We really like the new look, as it shows you the effects it can add as a scrolling preview and you simply select one, making it a whole lot smoother to use.
Windows Phone Lens
If you're simply taking snaps of friends or when you're out and about, this simplified approach makes a lot more sense. However, the real addition to the camera on the Nokia Lumia 820 with Windows Phone 8 are the new Lenses, which allow you to personalise the camera and make it what you need it to be.
At the moment there only a few Lenses on offer, most of them such as Cinemagraph, Panorama and Smart Shoot, available solely for Nokia Lumia. They allow you to add specific features or abilities without getting in the way of the main camera tools. We really like Lenses and hope to see a lot more of them in the coming months.
It's not only still images that have been improved, as video capture has stepped up and along with a 720p mode, you'll find the Nokia Lumia 820 comes with 1280 x 1080-pixel capture at the same rate of 30 frames per second. As with still images, the 4x digital zoom is better than the 3x digital zoom on the Nokia Lumia 900.
Where to buy your Nokia Lumia 820
Overall, we impressed with what the Nokia Lumia 820 offers in terms of camera skills. Sure, it lacks the advanced magic of PureView but for someone looking to use the camera as a fun add-on rather than a core essential to their smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 820 offers plenty of benefits and plenty of surprises.
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