Lumia 920 OIS video wasn’t shot with a Lumia 920, Nokia admits

When Nokia unveiled the Lumia 920, it went to great lengths talking about the new PureView camera technology in the 8.7-megapixel camera on the phone.


It dissected the camera assembly and showed how the entire rig was about a new back-side illuminated sensor and a larger aperture for low-light shooting as well as optical image stabilization (OIS) where the rear part of the camera is housed in a gyroscope that compensated for unintended camera movement. To demonstrate OIS, Nokia showed a video comparing what happens to videos with and without OIS. It gave an impression that the video was shot using a Lumia 920 and a competing smartphone without OIS. In fact, in a demo given to us, a Nokia representative claimed that was the case. The fact, however, is that the video was not shot using ANY camera phone, leave aside the Lumia 920.
Some eagle eyes at The Verge spotted a reflection on a glass surface that appeared for a few milliseconds in the video. One would have expected to see the reflection of a man using a Lumia 920 (or any other camera phone). Instead, it turns out to be that of a professional cameraman in a van using a professional camera and light to shoot the video. In other words, Nokia faked the entire video without giving a disclaimer that the video was simulated and not shot using the Lumia 920, as the video and Nokia reps implied while showing the demo video.
I have no doubt that the Lumia 920′s OIS capabilities would be better than regular camera phones. Some of the demonstration videos that I have seen show significant difference. Nokia is known for its camera technology, you just have to look at the N8 and the more recent PureView 808 for proof. But acts like these just plant seeds of distrust in the minds of the consumers. Nokia has since added a disclaimer stating “the OIS video, above, was not shot using the Lumia 920″ in its original blog post and will add it to the video too. But now we want to know whether Nokia touched up or added some artificial lighting for photos clicked by the Lumia 920 in its sample comparison shots that have been uploaded in the same post.
UPDATE: Nokia has officially admitted its mistake and has also uploaded a new video that HAS been shot using a Lumia 920. The first video is the original one that had not been shot with the Lumia 920.

We’re excited about the Lumia 920 and the ground-breaking PureView imaging capabilities we announced today.
In an effort to demonstrate the benefits of optical image stabilization (which eliminates blurry images and improves pictures shot in low light conditions), we produced a video that simulates what we will be able to deliver with OIS.
Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but we should have posted a disclaimer stating this was a representation of OIS only. This was not shot with a Lumia 920. At least, not yet. We apologize for the confusion we created.
We are looking forward to bringing the Lumia 920, with PureView optical image stabilization to select markets later this year.
Here is the video shown at the press conference shot using a Lumia 920. On the right is a Lumia 920 prototype with OIS. On the left is a smartphone without OIS. The difference is apparent.

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