Lumia Imaging Apps for Enhanced Mobile Photography

Author

Reads 6.6K

Street Photography Using a Mobile Phone Camera
Credit: pexels.com, Street Photography Using a Mobile Phone Camera

If you're looking to take your mobile photography to the next level, you'll want to check out the Lumia imaging apps. These apps are designed to work seamlessly with your Windows Phone, allowing you to capture stunning images with ease.

The Lumia Camera app is a great place to start, as it offers a range of features such as Refocus and Rich Capture. With Refocus, you can take a photo and then adjust the focus after the fact, creating a beautiful bokeh effect. Rich Capture, on the other hand, allows you to capture more light and detail in your photos.

The Lumia Camera app also allows you to shoot in RAW format, giving you more flexibility when editing your photos. This is especially useful if you're looking to make significant adjustments to your images.

You might like: Nokia Lumia Icon

Camera Apps

The Lumia Camera app was originally created as a merger of the Nokia Pro Cam and Nokia Smart Cam, and it introduced 3 basic modes: Camera Mode, Smart Mode, and Video Mode. These modes offer a range of features, including the ability to remove objects within frames and change faces.

Credit: youtube.com, Nokia Lumia 1020 Pro Camera App Introduction

Smart Mode allows users to take multiple shots at once in a burst, which can be useful for capturing a moment or removing unwanted objects from a photo. This feature was particularly useful for capturing sports and action shots.

The Lumia Camera app was improved with the Lumia Cyan update, which added continuous autofocus and support for living images. This update also improved the app's performance, making it faster and more efficient.

With the Lumia Denim update, the app was rebranded as the Lumia Camera and launched version 5.0, which included new features like faster shooting capabilities and 4K-quality video recording. However, these features were limited to high-end Lumia devices with PureView technology.

The Lumia Camera app was made available for download on other Windows Phone devices in August 2015, but it lacked some features like High Dynamic Range (HDR) and Dynamic Flash, which were exclusive to Lumia hardware.

The Lumia Selfie app, previously known as Nokia Glam Me, offers facial recognition and editing features like giving users a bigger smile, whiter teeth, and enlarging their eyes. It can also use both the front and main cameras to capture selfies.

In August 2015, Microsoft added support for selfie sticks in the Lumia Selfie app, making it easier to capture high-quality selfies.

For another approach, see: Nokia Lumia 800

Creative Tools

Credit: youtube.com, Flashlight Camera Magnifier (FCM) for Windows Phone

Lumia Creative Studio is an imaging editing application that lets users edit photographs and merge them into panoramas, apply after effects with photo filters, and even edit the viewfinder in near real-time.

The application can be shared on various social networks like Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook.

With Nokia Creative Studio 6, users can enjoy non-destructive editing, allowing them to work and rework images an unlimited number of times. Additional features include rotation, straightening, and changing the aspect ratio.

Here are some of the key features of the Nokia Imaging SDK:

Lumia Cinemagraph is an application that enables the creation of subtle animated GIFs from images, which can contain stationary and moving components in the same picture.

Creative Studio

The Lumia Creative Studio is a powerful tool for editing and enhancing your photos. It lets users edit photographs and merge them into panoramas, apply after effects with photo filters such as sketching, night vision, dreamy, cartoon, color and silkscreen.

Credit: youtube.com, How to use Creative Studio (beta)

You can even edit and create new photographs directly using the built-in camera, and added cropping, adjusting, and Instagram-like effects. The app also includes face warps and live styles, which let users edit the viewfinder in near real-time.

One of the best features of Lumia Creative Studio is non-destructive editing, which allows users to work and rework images an unlimited number of times. This means you can experiment with different edits without worrying about ruining your original photo.

Images created using the Lumia Creative Studio can be shared on various social networks like Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook.

Cinemagraph

Cinemagraph is a creative tool that lets you add subtle animation to your photos. It's a great way to capture movement and life in your images.

This technology was originally developed by Nokia after they acquired Scalado.

You can use cinemagraphs to create animated GIFs, but they're exported as regular JPG files. This means you can't view shared Lumia cinemagraphs on other devices.

The Lumia Cinemagraph app is bundled with Lumia Windows Phone smartphones and allows you to create these animated images.

Smart Shoot

Top view composition of mobile phone placed near USB flash drive and mini gimbal camera on wooden table with green foliage
Credit: pexels.com, Top view composition of mobile phone placed near USB flash drive and mini gimbal camera on wooden table with green foliage

Smart Shoot is a clever feature that helps you capture the perfect group photo. It automatically snaps several images within a brief time frame.

This allows you to quickly review the shots and choose the one with the best faces. You can tap on the faces you like, and the app will compile the snaps into one clear, composite image.

Imagine taking a group shot of friends or children - someone is bound to move or ruin a few shots. With Smart Shoot, you can easily find the best photo with minimum movement from the subjects.

Editing and Effects

Lumia Video Trimmer is a video editing application that allows users to edit and share videos recorded on their Lumia devices.

With Video Tuner, users can trim videos, slow down footage, brighten the video's colors, add music to frames, apply filters, rotate, crop, and share directly to Instagram.

The Lumia Imaging SDK enables developers to create similar editing software in their own applications, making it easy to integrate editing features into other apps.

Here are some of the editing and effects features available in Lumia apps:

  • Trimming and slowing down footage
  • Brightening video colors
  • Adding music to frames
  • Applying filters
  • Rotating and cropping videos

Refocus

Credit: youtube.com, Bokeh Effects in AKVIS Refocus

Refocus is a feature that allows you to alter the focus of pictures after you've already taken them. This feature is exclusive to Lumia devices with Nokia PureView capabilities.

Lumia Refocus, previously known as Nokia Refocus, was revealed at the Nokia World event in Abu Dhabi in 2013. It featured the ability to refocus pictures after they've been taken.

The app starts up in camera mode and is able to do analyses between the scenes and takes between two and eight photos that allows the user to refocus it afterwards. This feature is a game-changer for photographers who want to capture perfect shots.

Lumia Refocus also has social network sharing built in, making it easy to share your refocused photos with friends and family.

Video Tuner

Video Tuner is a video editing application that enables users to trim, slow down footage, brighten the video's colors, add music to frames, apply filters, rotate, crop, and share directly to Instagram.

A Man Sitting on Front of the Computer while Editing Video
Credit: pexels.com, A Man Sitting on Front of the Computer while Editing Video

It's a powerful tool that allows you to enhance your videos in various ways. Video Tuner integrates with the Lumia Imaging SDK, which enables developers to create similar editing software in their own applications.

This means that the features and functionality of Video Tuner can be replicated in other apps, giving users even more options for editing and sharing their videos.

Some of the key features of Video Tuner include:

  • Trimming: remove unwanted parts of your video
  • Slowing down footage: create a time-lapse effect
  • Brightening the video's colors: make your video pop
  • Adding music to frames: set the mood with your favorite tunes
  • Applying filters: add a creative touch to your video
  • Rotating: change the orientation of your video
  • Cropping: focus on the action

Sharing and Viewing

PhotoBeamer was an imaging application that let users send an image from their Lumia device to any display connected to the internet.

The application would ask the user to go to the PhotoBeamer site on the other device, where they would find a QR Code to scan with Bing Vision.

This would lead to the download of the PhotoBeamer application from the Windows Phone Store.

In September 2015, Microsoft announced that they would discontinue PhotoBeamer and its associated web page.

Some of PhotoBeamer's features would be integrated into Windows 10.

Microsoft Photos

Credit: youtube.com, Top Camera and Photo Apps for Lumia Phones

Microsoft Photos has a feature called Microsoft Photos Add-ins, previously known as Lumia Moments, which can turn video frames into individual pictures.

This feature is only available on certain devices, such as the Nokia Lumia ICON, Nokia Lumia 1520, Nokia Lumia 830, and Nokia Lumia 930, due to its processing requirements.

It can create two types of images: Best Frame, which saves a photo as a "living image", and Action Shots, which lets users add strobe effects and blur the pictures.

Lumia Moments was rebranded as Microsoft Photos Add-ins with the release of Windows 10 Mobile.

Discover more: Microsoft Start

Wm Kling

Lead Writer

Wm Kling is a seasoned writer with a passion for technology and innovation. With a strong background in software development, Wm brings a unique perspective to his writing, making complex topics accessible to a wide range of readers. Wm's expertise spans the realm of Visual Studio web development, where he has written in-depth articles and guides to help developers navigate the latest tools and technologies.

Love What You Read? Stay Updated!

Join our community for insights, tips, and more.