Nokia E51 camera samples

A selection of digital photographs captured on the Nokia E51, demonstrating the quality of its 2-megapixel camera

The Nokia E51 is built for business, but unlike some corporate-geared phones, it does have a camera onboard - a 2-megapixel camera, built into the back panel. Nokia will, however, also be offering a camera-free version of the same phone should security-concerned enterprise customer prefer that option.

The 2-megapixel camera on the Nokia E51 isn't one of Nokia's highest grade cameras; it doesn't have an autofocus system, flash or high quality lens, such as the Carl Zeiss optics employed on the N95 and N82. The camera used on the E51 is a much more straightforward device, although it is still capable of producing some reasonably decent printed images at its highest quality 1600x1200 pixels resolution.

Unlike most 3G-enabled handsets, the E51 doesn't have a secondary camera on the front for face-to-face video calls, although you can still use the main camera for video calling. The E51's camera is capable of video recording too, in top resolution of 320x240 pixels. This produces an average video capture performance that doesn't offer great quality.

There' s no dedicated side button for activating the camera, as there are with many other mobiles, reflecting imaging priority within the E51's strong business-centric feature lineup. Nonetheless, you can access the camera from a pre-programmed softkey, or by setting one of the shortcut icons on the Active Standby screen for the camera. Alternatively, simply select the Media option in the main menu and select the Camera option.

The camera's user interface doesn't have any standalone camera pretensions either. It uses a functional list-based menu system; onscreen graphical guidance comprises only a tiny set of toolbar options you can choose to display onscreen (options include video mode, night mode, sequence mode and hide toolbar), plus a zoom tracker.

Settings adjustments are sparse too. With no flash, you're limited to switching on night mode to improve low-light shooting - although in reality, results from any low-light photography are poor, with lots of picture noise and resultant dull, grainy images. The night mode boosts exposure but alas not overall quality.

Shooting in good lighting conditions inevitably produces the best results with this handset, with clear, even illumination enabling fairly detailed mid-range shots. Although you can switch automatic white balance control to one of three other settings (sunny, incandescent or fluorescent) indoors, the automatic exposure system is limited.

Shots with strong light and shade contrast aren't handled particularly well, and elements of the image can be overexposed or subject to picture noise. In such conditions, subtle colour tone or lighting changes can be poorly rendered, leaving patchy artefacts or inaccurate colouring.

Without an autofocus system or macro mode, you can't get sharply focussed close-in images. Mid-range shots are OK however if you're looking simply for snaps rather than high quality images.

Overall, the camera performance is a weak point of the Nokia E51's spec. Results in fine conditions are average for a 2-megapixel camera, although indoors or low-light shooting results are disappointingly poor.

Nokia E51 review

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In well-lit conditions, the E51 can capture plenty of detail. However, with this image, in darker foreground the subtle differences in shading aren't handled particularly well
The 2-megapixel camera can still capture some pleasant, well-balanced images in good lighting conditions
Shooting within the limitations of the camera, it's possible to capture some presentable images

You can compose decent snaps with the E51, although the camera does struggle wth colour balance in certain portions of the picture. This is particularly noticeable on the top left of the image, where the clear blue sky appears patchy
Mid-range shots in bright conditions come out best with the E51's limited camera
You can get reasonably detailed shots, although the strong light on the subject here tends to wash out brighter colours

With a fixed-focus lens, and no macro mode, you can't expect sharp close-up shots
Well lit subjects can result in clear and detailed images. More complex lighting conditions can be problematic, though
The camera's automatic exposure system doesn't compensate well for varying lighting conditions. Here, a regular crowd scene in minimal shade appears dark, owing to exposure being adjusted for the bright sky

Again, exposure is poor; the floodlit scene appears dark, while the bright blue sky appears grey. There's also noise where the sky touches the stand on the left, producing a streaky over-exposed effect
With no flash built in, pictures taken in low light, such as this shot indoors, are grainy with lots of picture noise apparent
The E51's low-light shooting performance is poor; switching into night mode brightens images, but doesn't improve picture quality

Even with strong artifical lighting indoors, there is excessive picture noise and colours are very flat. Without in-camera illumination, the E51 won't be a good snapper for evenings out