Nokia 8 review: Connecting the dots

HDR

The Nokia 8 offers auto HDR option, which is pretty smart and we suggest keeping it on all the time. When HDR is needed, the camera does a good job in boosting the shadows without blowing the highlights. The HDR samples aren't as realistic as the regular ones but they will do the job most of the time.

HDR off • HDR on • HDR off • HDR on

Panorama

The panoramic shots taken with the Nokia 8 are excellent. They use the full vertical resolution, and at about 4,000px tall, there's plenty of pixels. Detail is on par with still images; stitching shows no obvious issues (except moving cars, that is), and exposure variation is handled smoothly. The dynamic range once again deserves praise.

Nokia 8 panoramic sample

Live Bokeh also known as Portrait Mode

You can't have a dual-camera without a Portrait mode support, right? Indeed, the Nokia 8 has Live Bokeh, which automatically recognizes people and displays "Portrait mode" prompt. A tap on the screen reveals a slider for adjusting the bokeh effect's strength.

So, the Portrait shots turned out excellent. The phone did get right the subject's contours each time and the quality is among the best we've seen. Nice!

Portrait (50% effect) • Portrait (100% effect) • Portrait (50%) • Portrait (100%)

And here are two more samples demonstrating how the camera handles messy hair. While it's not the best, we've seen a lot worse.

Portrait samples

Dual Sight

We tried the Dual Sight option too. The image quality of the selfie camera seems stellar, but we found it strange that the resulting image is 8MP. How do you combine the photos from two 13MP cameras and end up with 8MP? Plus, since you have to take both shots simultaneously, framing is quite tricky.

8MP dual-sight samples

Selfies

The Nokia 8 has the same front camera as the main color one. It packs the same sensor, ZEISS lens, and phase-detect autofocus. The only thing missing is optical image stabilization.

The image quality is as great as the stills we got from the rear color snapper - plenty of detail, nice colors, and wide dynamic range.

Nokia 8 13MP selfie samples

Nokia 8 vs. Galaxy S8 vs. LG G6 vs. iPhone 7 Plus vs. Huawei P10 daylight comparison

We also couldn't pass on the opportunity for a quick camera shootout between the flagships we have around.

Looking at the images below, the Galaxy S8 has the punchiest colors, the LG G6 excels in resolved detail, while the Huawei P10 and the Nokia 8 are on par in picture quality. The iPhone has the dullest colors and the least amount of resolved detail, but is not far behind.

Overall, the Nokia 8 handled itself pretty great next to the other flagships and has one of the best cameras this season.

Nokia 8 • Galaxy S8 • Huawei P10 • iPhone 7 Plus • LG G6

The Huawei P10 has a 20MP monochrome camera but we have always recommended shooting at 12MP (not only because the hassle of switching the color and monochrome resolution each time, but also the 20MP samples aren't that great in full resolution). So, for our next test in B&W we shot 13MP monochrome shots with the Nokia 8 and 12MP monochrome shots with the P10.

The Huawei certainly has an edge as its images were originally taken at 20MP and then downsized to 12MP. But while the P10 wins in the amount of resolved detail, the Nokia 8 samples are not that far behind and are equally impressive in dynamic range, contrast, and noise levels.

Nokia 8 • Huawei P10 • Nokia 8 • Huawei P10

Nokia 8 vs. Galaxy S8 vs. LG G6 low-light comparison

We used the opportunity to put the Nokia 8 against the Galaxy S8 and LG G6 while we were shooting our regular low-light samples too. No iPhone and Huawei this time around but that's not intentional. They just weren't available at the time of testing.

The Galaxy S8 and the LG G6 have wider lenses (f/1.7 and f/1.8 respectively) than the Nokia 8 (f/2.0) and thus were expected to perform better. Indeed, the Galaxy S8 bested the other two in every scene, with the LG G6 followed closely behind. The Nokia 8 did quite well though not as great as the S8 and G6.

Nokia 8 • Galaxy S8 • LG G6

Picture Compare Tool

You can check how the 13MP RGB camera stacks against the 12MP Galaxy S8 and the 13MP of the LG G6.

Nokia 8 vs. LG G6 vs. Galaxy S8 in our Photo quality comparison tool

You could also use our tool to compare the monochrome camera to the P10's and Mi 5s Plus.