Low-light photography with the Nokia Lumia 925

To show off the low-light capabilities of the Lumia 925, Nokia's Sydney launch event had plenty of opportune situations for after-dark photography.

Using the same 8.7-megapixel back-illuminated sensor as the Lumia 920, the 925 also sports an f/2.0 Zeiss lens at 26mm. As well as the regular camera app and cinemagraph lens for creating animated GIF images, the 925 also comes with the Smart Camera app. This lets you snap a sequence of photos, either selecting the best shot or combining them into one image to simulate the effect of a multiple exposure.

Does the 925 cope as well in the dark of night as the Lumia 920? Here are some initial photos straight from the phone, with no editing apart from resizing and cropping.

Trip the light fantastic? This illuminated costume weighed 16kg. Like the Lumia 920, we found that the 925's camera benefits from adjusting the exposure compensation to -2/3 EV to bring out a better contrast between light and dark areas, without blowing out highlights.

Exposure: 1/50, f/2, ISO 400

Another shot from the back of the costume, showing the level of detail that the lens can resolve. Dynamic range looks to be decent, with the overall blue cast from the UV lights an accurate representation of the real-world situation.

Exposure: 1/33, f/2, ISO 400

Forcing the exposure to stay at ISO 400 in the settings menu also helps reduce noise.

Exposure: 1/50, f/2, ISO 400

A still frame saved by the 925 when using the Smart Camera app to capture the best shot from a sequence of images.

Tracking motion is tricky for any smartphone camera, but the 925 does a decent job. The optical image stabiliser helps to steady shots while taking photos and videos, but even the best stabilisation system can't compensate for subject motion.