Nokia Busted Faking Mobile Phone Footage With A Stabilized Camera System

Earlier today news broke out about Nokia and their Lumia 920 simulation video not being exactly forthright. The video before the shameful reveal had no indication that it wasn't filmed with the actual product that it was marketing. When reddit.com  users got their hands on the video they quickly noticed that the reflection in the video is not of a person filming with a mobile phone on a bicycle, but of a man in a van with what looks to be at least a DSLR sized camera with what seems to be some type of Gyro-stabilization system.

Nokia has released an official apology on their blog stating  that they never meant to mislead people and that the video was only meant as a 'representation of OIS'. I believe Nokia wasn't expecting to be caught with their pants around their ankles and were rushing to rectify the situation. Check the video starting at 0:27 and watch the reflection closely. How do you feel about Nokia's 'slip'? Will this deter you from trusting the company or are you willing to let the mishap slide? Comment below and let us know.

Via: Reddit

Update: One of our readers shared this very funny meme on the subject of Nokia's indiscretion and we just had to share. Thank you, Mikko Laitinen.

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Rebecca Britt is a South Texas based commercial, architectural and concert photographer. When she's not working Rebecca enjoys spending time with her two daughters, playing Diablo III, and shooting concerts (Electronic Dance Music). Rebecca also runs the largest collective of EDM (electronic dance music) photographers on social media.

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41 Comments

Not only there, but you can also tell that from the Carousel; the Shadow of where the guy should be is completely different. Instead of the figure of a man 'holding a camera', it is instead a specially rigged camera on one of those seats... @ roughly 0:48

You are absolutely correct. *shakes head*

Shame on them, kind of reminds me of our politicians, smoke and mirrors.

even the stills look to be like it was taken with a dslr with strobes.. notice the bokeh from the shakey OIS-Off as compared to OIS-On.. star like bokeh are abit too much for a phone camera i'd say.. -my2cents

The eyes don't lie. Just look at the reflection of light in her eyes. You can that a single light source flash was used, round, not square. Must have been an umbrella, because it is diffused some. 

The carousel footage is also slow-motion. While it's possible to slow footage from phones (and maybe Nokia has a slow-mo option built in) that is not at all an honest indication of the general use. And the still photos are not even close to cell-phone quality.

I wonder if there are any BTS of Apple's videos for the iPhone/iPod nano when they first had video and stabilization. It always looked better than what I could get even with a shoulder mount.

And the message is. . . . Don't try and fool photographers. We tend to notice the little details that people who just take snaps miss.

Did make me laugh though 

Oh dear...

Gosh. A consumer product manufacturer lying to consumers. Who would'a thought?

ha ha, you can see at 1:13 the shadow and perfectly white light created by strobe, dirty cheats

That shows you exactly what the company cares about...

I really wish they would more readily truly demonstrate the phone's camera rather than a faked representation. However, they did release a legitimate comparison later on, and it looks quite impressive. The stabilizer really works. Time will tell if the stabilizer can stack up to these "representations", though.

Wtf the photos are the worst.. they are definitely lit with speedlites, there is no way that cameraphone could shoot that well in practical light... this whole thing feels like a 1980's McDonalds ad

Here's a behind-the-scenes photo from their still photo session. Notice the lens of a DSLR or another similar size camera on the left: https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/578446_10151087026494473_802...

they all lie and Nokia is no different but they got caught. I think I saw Nikon used a promo video for Nikon cameras produced with Canon cameras.

Thanks Ville! 
Don`t know, quite possible that Nokia is still a darn good mobile camera. But now we can all learn a lesson on whats happens when you`re lieing: You get caught. Always.

Thanks Ville!
Don`t know, quite possible that Nokia is still a darn good mobile camera. But now we can all learn a lesson on what happens when you`re lieing: You get caught. Always.

And that's how you get people talking ;)

This is filmed on a DSLR, a good indication other then seeing the shadow of the DSLR and the man holding it out side of a moving truck is the color change as well as the crop factor. They shot this pry with a full frame sensor camera like the canon 5DM3 or 2.   The reason why this is a huge issue is because its false advertisement, people can sue the company for doing this. Also it effects the investors, even this post on Fstoppers can really mess up this company because people will now speculate on if this is a nice phone or not and now lose trust with their products. 

Wow. Yeah, even before I knew this commercial footage was faked I was extremely skeptical that a mobile could perform that well.

Welcome to Marketing 101.

As a marketing person myself, this isn't marketing. This is lying. There is a difference, even if the public has a hard time discerning one. It's stuff like this that gives marketing a bad representation. 

You're all going to feel so stupid when this camera arrives and its the size of a loaf of bread!

HAW! I can picture it now..... even comes with 2 week free rental of a large white van with the side door removed.

Good heads-up everyone!!!

Maybe the phone was INSIDE the DSLR... ;)

I thought this phone is great but when I saw this... what a shame! even the last part.. of course it will be better picture bec it has a very good light! Do they really think that we're that stupid to notice those things?

@pable serrano... yup i think I know what you're talking about... is it the flight snow boarding trailer?:)) when it comes to video... I prefer canon, put with stills I still choose nikon, its just my opinion:))

All kinds of companies do this kind of thing ALL THE TIME... I see no reason to harsh out on Nokia. The MacDonalds reference earlier was a great example... they have photos of their burgers right up over the counters, but have you EVER seen a burger like that in your lunch? No. It's a representation of what is *in* your burger, not exactly what your burger will look like. This video is a representation of the idea of how OIS functions and the kind of results it provides, and does NOT claim to have been filmed on a cell phone.

The whole idea of Nokia getting sued by consumers for this advert' is daft. Yes, some cultures are pathologically litigious and like to drag anyone and everyone though convoluted legal systems, but the vast majority of the world sees this as disdainful and completely unnecessary, IMHO. Make sure you sue McDonalds first... then Apple for their SIRI adverts, then SubWay for their menu, then every skin-care product manufacturer ... etc ....etc .... etc.....

It's Nokia's new FOS (Full Of Sh%t). All kidding aside, how can you really trust any company? Their aim is to make money and if false advertising gets them to that goal then of course they're going to do it. Remember, companies will usually spend a ton of money on advertising to try and convince consumers that their products are great and that they really care before they'd think of spending a dime on actually making that a reality.

Amen, Keith.

So what really caught my attention was what kind of hipster rides a "fixie" with a freeride sprocket?? The commercial is full of all kinds of deceptions!

OH hey, look what was on Reddit yesterday.

not sure what the anguish is all about. The motion shots are a BTS of the phone taking photos. Big woop. When you whatch a BTS of Annie Leibovitz shooting , does that imply that Annie is also running the BTS camera? Really? Are iPhone commercials shot on iPhones? When Bloom did his first shot of a 5D doing video was the BTS shot with a 5D? Are Ford commercials shot from another Ford? Are we interweb users really that naive? Welcome to marketing 2012. And yes, I woudl buy a Nokia running Windows when it is available.

Not BTS, The clips and stills clearly say OIS ON, so they claim to be taken with the phone, which they're not. Simply lying.

of course they cheat. everyone does! and everyone knows it - if you work in commercial photography/video industry. any visual commercial work have only one purpose - to sell the product. and nothing else. customer may care about it, but professionals should care about other stuff... like why nobody discusses how nokia could use such an unprofessional crew that did not care about reflections and shadows? shame on the crew, not on the nokia :)

I saw this video when it was released and was seriously impressed by the OIS technology, was gutted when I saw it was faked, they just need to produce the same video again but actually with the phone, because even if it gets close, that's pretty decent!

Yeah, and in that beer commercial they dont use real beer! And do you know why? Same reason they dont use real fat on the dishes on that other commercial. And they used white paint instead of milk on that other one. Because it is a commercial. It has to LOOK good. Nobody is complaining. It is not about telling the truth but to promote a new product. So shut up and go buy an iphone. 

Cheaters..... I feel bad for those people buying this phone for their "special" features.

I Dont see anything wrong with this...... when they switch to the footage from the phone it looks like shitty phone footage which is what cells phones produce.

I wonder who'll have to balls to sue them.
Apple ?
Non-fair competitor tactics ?

i belive theverge.com were the first to point out the trickery. Reddit then from there dug deeper and found more.