back to article Apple poaches Nokia photo guru Ari Partinen from Microsoft

A Nokia camera guru has been poached by Apple in an apparent bid to beef up the fruity firm's snapper cred. Ari Partinen, who worked on the PureView camera, announced his move on Twitter. Nokia's cameras are considered to be the best in the business, whereas Apple's aren't. Perhaps Tim Cook wants this to change. Today will …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Old news

    Errm, do keep up.

    It may help reading The Register every so often :)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Old news

      Nokia? Didn't they used to make mobile phones?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Old news

      Rather surprised that anyone would want to move from a nice and relatively safe democratic state like Finland to the USA.

      nb - Finland can reach 35 degrees C in the summer.

    3. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: Old news

      "Errm, do keep up."

      Ah, oops. This happens from time to time.

      C.

  2. Number6

    Yes, the weather around there is nice and warm, it's topped 30C for a few days alread this year. However, there's a severe water shortage and the state may well go up in flames again in new next few weeks as it gets tinder-dry and the temperature keeps rising.

  3. SuccessCase

    "Nokia's cameras are considered to be the best in the business, whereas Apple's aren't"

    That simply isn't the case. The DxOMark is the most comprehensive anal, exacting and science based of the benchmarks out there. Nokia's 808 is getting 77 on its' DxOMark and the iPhone 5S got 76.

    Let's be clear, if I tape a point and shoot camera and a phone together it will offer better quality photos, be only a little bit bulkier and will be a lot better looking than the Nokia 808 (ok I exaggerate a little, but you get my drift).

    Getting better quality is not difficult if you are not worrying about size. The fact the iPhone 5S is in 3rd on the overall DxOMark ranking for mobile phone cameras and yet has no raised camera lens/cowling says it all. There is some kick arse-tech in there. Sony are in first place with the Z2 scoring an astonishing 79. They, like Apple have no raised cowling, (though the camera housing is significantly larger on the Z2 than the iPhone 5S) and they are in a joint tech agreement sharing all phone-camera patents and tech with Apple.

    Compare Apple/Sony handsets with the Nokia handsets that are normal handsets (e,g, that are not specialised units with enlarged cameras) and it's clear the Apple/Sony shared tech is further ahead. Though to be fair all these top camera handsets offer outstanding quality given the limited dimensions of the devices and the Nokia handsets are right up there mixing it with the best.

    I'm sure this guy knows his stuff. I'm sure he will be extremely valuable to Apple and will bring some new thinking, but Nokia's mobile phone camera tech being "the best in the business" is one of those oft regurgitated seldom challenged Internet tropes that simply isn't backed up by the extremely comprehensive and science based testing of the DxOMark.

    1. Piro Silver badge

      No secret the Sony Xperia Z2 is the absolute dog's bollocks.

      Now if only they made a 4.7" version of it...

    2. localzuk Silver badge

      The average score is not really that helpful.

      DxOMark gave the Nokia 808 a score of 81 for photo ability, but the Apple 5S received a 78. So, that's a bit of a drop. However, if you want to take video with it, the score for the 808 drops to 68 whilst Apple's only drops to 72.

      So, it looks like Nokia have focussed their development work on Photo rather than video. Apple have done a bit more video work.

    3. Dave 126 Silver badge

      >That [Nokia's cameras are considered to be the best in the business, whereas Apple's aren't] simply isn't the case.

      You then cite a camera testing website which actually supports the statement you disagree with:

      In summary then, the Nokia Lumia 1020 is one of the best camera phones for stills, but its video performance could be improved which lowers the overall ranking to fourth place.

      In fact, under low light conditions the Lumia 1020 outperforms rivals, producing still images with low noise and detail preservation that are simply the best we’ve ever seen from a smartphone.

      But hey, its a Monday morning, try another coffee!

      I haven't down-voted you, because you made an effort to cite a source for your assertion.

  4. Mr_Bungle
    Coat

    New definition of irony

    Video footage of Ari's plane developing engine trouble and the resulting fireball crashing into Apple HQ. The carnage captured perfectly on a onlookers Lumia.

  5. Arctic fox
    Headmaster

    It is interesting the way this is being reported (ie with very lazy assumptions)........

    ...........all over the web. It is a remarkable thing that the "cult of personality" is not entirely confined to North Korea, it also finds its analogue in modern capitalism. I am sure this guy is good, he may very well be extremely good and will I am sure be of value to Cupertino. However, I doubt very much that this means that Nokia is suddenly crippled as far as its mobile camera expertise is concerned which is the impression one might get from the kind of reporting of this story that we have seen on far too many tech sites throughout "Known Space".

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