We have spoken a lot about the Nokia 808 PureView and its world-beating photography prowess. There have been tips and tricks, camera apps, connectivity options and even why we think it’s better than a standalone camera.

One aspect of the 808 PureView that we haven’t touched upon in too much detail is the video recording and editing functions.

The Nokia 808 PureView is as highly advanced when it comes to moving images as it is with the still variety. It has Full HD 1080p video resolution and can capture up to 30 frames per second.

If that sounds technical, don’t worry. The 808 PureView is simple to use, while also giving you further options to be a little more creative.

Here is an introduction and basic guide for shooting and editing video on your Nokia 808 PureView.

Shooting Modes 

Just as with the stills camera, there are a number of options that you can select when you are using the video camera.

Automatic is a simple point and shoot and your best bet if you are relatively inexperienced and you are happy for the 808 PureView to do all the work.

Selecting Scenes gets you more involved with the settings, but the camera is still there to assist you. Within Scenes there are several presets that you can choose so that you are always getting the best results in different conditions.

The scenes are:

• Low light
• Night
• Sports
• Snow
• Automatic 

Shooting in Creative mode gives you full control over the camera’s settings and offers the most potential for you to realise your artistic vision!

You will notice that within the Creative settings menu, you can now change: 

• Video resolution (1080p, 720p or 360p)
• Frame rate (30fps, 25fps, 24fps or 15fps)
• Colour tones (normal, vivid, sepia or black and white)
• You can also alter the saturation, contrast and sharpness

Right at the bottom of the Creative screen is a further preferences menu where you can find options for the viewfinder grid, video stabilisation, the focus assist lamp and capturing when the phone is locked.

Custom presets

Creative Mode also lets you save your the Custom presets. This gives you 3 presets where the camera will remember your preferred Creative settings. Any changes you make to any of the settings when you have selected C1, C2 or C3 will be remembered for the next time.

For example, you could have C1 where you are always shooting at maximum 1080p resolution so that it will look fantastic on your HDTV. Then on C2 you could have a lower resolution selected if you are filming a video that you will want to be able to easily email and share with friends on social networks.

Viewfinder icons 

When you are ready to film you will see some icons on the left of the viewfinder screen.

At the top is the light icon, which lets you turn the video light on and off. At the bottom is the toggling of the continuous autofocus function (CAF).

In Creative mode you will have two further icons. There is the exposure compensation, which lets you manually alter, and control, the brightness of the scene. The scale goes from the brightest at +4.0 to the darkest at -4.0.

The cloud icon beneath the exposure control is the white balance and this has several modes for you to choose from:

• Cloudy
• Fluorescent
• Sunny
• Incandescent
• Automatic

Filming and zooming

For Automatic and Scenes mode you are pretty much ready to start filming right away. It is only in the Creative mode where you need to spend a little more time familiarising and experimenting with the options outlined above.

The actual filming is the easy bit. You can start to record by either pressing the dedicated camera button on the side of the Nokia 808 PureView or you can press the red ‘record’ on the right of the screen.

You can tap on any part of the screen to focus on an area or object but this will disable the continuous auto focus. To bring back the continuous auto focus, just tap the CAF icon in the bottom left.

Zooming is a real delight to use. Just slide your finger up the screen around the area that you wish to zoom into. You will notice a white rectangle appear and the further you slide your finger up the screen, the smaller this rectangle will appear.

As soon as you’ve finished the sliding motion, the viewfinder will zoom in on the area within the rectangle. Give it a try and you’ll get the hang of it really quickly.

It’s not just easy to use but effective as well. Due to the revolutionary 41-megapixel sensor, you will be able to achieve 4x zoom in full HD 1080p; 6x lossless zoom for 720p video and for non-HD (640×360) video, an amazing 12x zoom!

Editing

After you’ve finished recording, you can edit the video on your 808 PureView.

When the video is ready for playback, tap anywhere on the screen (apart from the play icon in the centre) and further options appear. Select the icon furthest to the right – the three horizontal bars. This will bring up a menu where you can edit the video, send it via email, SMS or Bluetooth or share it on Facebook or YouTube.

Selecting edit takes you to the video editor, where you can trim the beginning and the end of your video.

The screen will show you two images – the start frame and the end frame. Pressing one maximises it over the other, and vice versa, but you’ll always have a glimpse of both shots.

Scrub along the blue timeline at the bottom of the screen to select the start and end frames you want. You can press play at any point to preview the new clip. When you’re happy with the result, select the tick icon on the bottom right. A new video will be saved in your library and the original file will be left intact.

So that’s a simple guide explaining the basic functions of the Nokia 808 PureView’s video camera.  This documentary, filmed entirely with an 808 PureView, shows you just what it is capable of.