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Apple hires lead Lumia camera engineer Ari Partinen, who worked on Nokia’s PureView cameras

Screen Shot 2014-05-09 at 11.00.21

On Twitter, Ari Partinen, a senior camera engineer at Nokia, has confirmed that he is leaving Nokia for Apple. The hire was first spotted by Engadget. Apple’s iPhone cameras are regarded as some of the best in the market, but Nokia’s PureView cameras have also been widely praised, which can produce pictures up to 38 megapixels in size.

The significance of the hire is a bit unclear. Partinen’s current title is ‘Lumia Photography Lead’ and has been in that role for roughly a year. His LinkedIn profile says he specialises in image quality and camera module tuning. Partinen is credited as one of the authors of a paper on PureView’s technology, which captures more megapixels than the target size, in order to improve image quality.

Working in field of mobile imaging. Currently I´m working with image quality characterization and tuning on camera module level. My current position has given me a good understanding of camera component production and quality control on global scale. I have also comprehensive knowledge about Image Quality testing and tuning on ISP level from very successful Nokia 808 PureView and Nokia N8 projects.

Partinen is also credited on this Lumia 1020 document, which details how the PureView technology works in a less-technical fashion. Before his Lumia position, Partinen led camera imaging at Nokia as ‘Senior Design Engineer’ since March 2007. Partinen says he will start at Apple next month. His new seniority and position at Apple are not yet known, although — given his previous job — it seems likely he will work on future iPhone cameras.

 

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Comments

  1. burningpiston - 10 years ago

    Over the last few models, I’ve just seen the cameras improving and making everything else look far behind, in terms of quality. What apple really needs to do now, is to improve the iPad’s camera. It’s far behind the iPhone’s camera in terms of quality.

    • People don’t expect good pictures from an iPad.

      • BurningPiston - 10 years ago

        @Anthony Snyder
        Exactly. They don’t expect good pictures because all the iPads till now have had bad cameras! What they don’t tell you is that they want a good camera for their iPads! And thats what Apple has to do to keep their game going in the large and constantly-expanding tablet market!

    • Dragoslav Miljevic - 10 years ago

      Why would you use iPad as a camera anyway!?

      • BurningPiston - 10 years ago

        @Dragoslav Miljevic
        Of course i would! It’s got a camera for a reason!
        If I don’t have an iPhone or an SLR, I’d use my iPad to capture stuff! And Apple should really improve it!

  2. Bedros Demir - 10 years ago

    ok so maybe in 2020 the iphone will get that nice camera but just like everything its a big waiting game. Samsung made bigger phones 3 eyars ago iphone is still to make its larger phone still waiting. Its such a slow growth process that my life is to short and im getting to old just waiting for it im 43 years old i dont have 10 years to wait for a multi funcional phone for apple to have what samsung has now. I love apple but at this age i have to get the samsung and wait for apple to have what i need and make the switch later. Lets see if the screen on the new larger iphone is as good as the smaller screens currently used on the current iphones if yes then the bigger iphone with the same screen quality would be great big success. If screen quality drops due to size like a samsung phone is not so good then you will not gain me. WHy switch to iphone my main reason will be the better screen.

    • rahhbriley - 10 years ago

      haha thanks for the laugh. not sure if i’ve ever heard the “I’m getting too old to wait” argument to be down on apple. If you look at smart phones in 10 years, if you’re still around god bless, you might be slightly embarrassed by these statements. if you think anything samsung has now is superior to what apple has, then bite the bullet and get a samsung.

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.