Nokia Lumia 730/735 review: Golden mean

6.7MP camera with Zeiss optics fails to impress

The Nokia Lumia 735 comes with a 6.7MP sensor with Carl Zeiss lens. Similar to plenty of Nokia sensors in the past though you can't use the full resolution of the sensor - you get 16:9 photos in 3072 x 1728 (5.3MP) and 4:3 photos in 2848 x 2144 (6.1MP).

Nokia has created a proprietary app for all Lumia smartphones called Nokia Camera, which is soon to be renamed to Lumia Camera due to Microsoft's completed acquisition.

The (Lumia) camera interface is very familiar - it offers white balance, focus, ISO, shutter speed up to 4s and exposure settings. Expanding the top settings menu puts the camera in Pro mode, which lets you adjust such things as ISO, exposure, shutter speed, white balance, and more, via a nifty slider interface that pops up on the right side of the frame. Your adjustments show up real-time so you can easily set up the exact shot parameters that you're looking for.

Nokia Camera UI

The samples on the Lumia 735 are somewhat noisy but have plenty of detail and look pretty decent overall. However, the dynamic range is subpar and white balance is a bit off. Out of the several dozen samples we shot, only a third came out with semi-decent white balance.

At least when the white balance is right, the colors come out pretty great - nicely saturated without going overboard.

Nokia Lumia 735 16:9 camera samples

Happily, you can get more camera functionality via Lenses. Our Lumia 735 came only with Bing Vision, Vine and Twitter modes, but you can also download numerous other free and paid lenses which enhance the camera functionality. Highlights include Lumia Cinemagraph, Panorama, and Refocus lenses, but there's a whole bunch more that can be downloaded directly from the lenses interface.

Nokia Lumia 735 panorama shot

With the Lumia Denim update, Nokia has preloaded a couple of more camera-centric apps, chief among which is the Lumia Selfie app. It focuses on taking selfies with the 5MP front-facing camera and is pretty good at what it does in terms of user interface.

However, we feel that the average user can be a bit overwhelmed with all the camera choices they're presented with - particularly those that will settle for a modest 6MP shooter.

Lastly, here's a macro shot taken with the Lumia 730/735.

Nokia Lumia 735 macro shot

Photo quality comparison

We've added the Nokia Lumia 735 to our dedicated photo compare tool, where you can compare its 6MP shooter to some of its main rivals.

Nokia Lumia 735 in our photo quality comparison tool

FullHD video recording

The Nokia Lumia 735 camcorder can record video at 1080p@30fps, with a solid 17.5Mbps bitrate and an unwavering 30fps. Sadly, videos are recorded in a single channel AAC mode with a 192Kbps bitrate and 48KHz.

The camcorder interface is pretty much the same as the still camera. It offers only white balance and manual focus settings, and also allows you to choose the audio bass filter (off, 100 Hz or 200 Hz). Opting for 200 Hz (Strong) will capture much better sound in concerts or clubs.

Camcorder UI • Settings

In video recording, the Lumia 735 performs similarly to its still photography shooting chops. White balance is off and the dynamic range could be better. The level of detail is decent, though.

Here is a 30s sample we've uploaded on YouTube.

Also here is an untouched 1080p@30fps video for you to download.

Video quality comparison

The Nokia Lumia 735 is ready to stand up against the competition in our video comparison tool. Its page will give you information on what to look for.

Nokia Lumia 735 in our video quality comparison tool