In a late-breaking(!) addition to his extended Camera Nitty Gritty series, Steve Litchfield looks at the EDoF cameras in some of Nokia's S60 smartphones, explains how the Extended Depth of Field technology works and compares performance to traditional focussing units. With photographic examples, he shows how choosing EDoF for the upcoming E5 was a very smart move indeed for the (skill level of) target users.

"When an image is captured (effectively three 'photos', in this case, one for each of the RGB components), every part of the photo's viewing area is analysed, in turn, with the sharpest of the RGB images for each individual part determining the detail used (for that part), with the other images supplying appropriate coloration. Then it's onto the next part, in turn. The exact size of each 'part' is also a commercial secret but is likely to be in the order of 10 by 10 pixel squares. Here's an example of the output (taken on the Nokia E55):"

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