With the Nokia N8, the Finnish company really is leading the world when it comes to camera phones, with Nokia’s Damian Dinning the man behind the Nokia N8’s 12-Megapixel snapper. To find out more about the camera on the Nokia N8, to hear what Dinning has to say about it, and to see some sample shots, join us after the cut…

The camera on the Nokia N8 sets the Nokia N8 apart from other Nokia smartphones, featuring an impressive 12 Megapixels, Carl Zeiss optics and a Xenon flash. It’s also capable of recording video in high-definition, proving just how far smartphones have moved on in the past couple of years.

The man behind the camera on the Nokia N8 – Nokia’s Damian Dinning – told Nokia Conversations that his team wanted to set new benchmarks with the Nokia N8 – both with still images and with video recording.

One of the biggest issues for camera phones in the past has been low light performance, especially for devices with high Megapixel counts, with images proving noisy and lacking in quality – a result of the small lenses and sensors.

Find out more about the Nokia N8

As such, according to Dinning, low light performance was one of the first areas the Nokia team concentrated on, with the team then able to concentrate on the Nokia N8’s daytime performance.

On getting the best possible image for the Nokia N8, Dinning pointed out: “I suggested many mobile phones take really good pictures these days but we wanted to create something which went beyond that. I wanted to see if we could create something which looked much more natural then before. we go down the road of creating something that’s really natural in its appearance.”

Check out the full Nokia N8 sample photo gallery

Nokia Conversations also point out the improvements in autofocus, with less lag and a much faster shutter release on the Nokia N8 making it possible to take much better photographs, with a latency time of 150 milliseconds matching or even bettering some dedicated digital cameras.

Overall, there’s no doubting the improvements the Nokia N8 has to offer over rival camera phones, and for once, this really could be a camera phone that’s capable of replacing your regular camera.

Don’t just take our word for it, however – check out the sample Nokia N8 photographs below: