To activate the main camera, open the lens cover. To activate the main camera when the lens cover is already open and the camera is active in the background, press and hold the capture key. The camera application can also be found in Menu > Applications > Camera.

To use the secondary camera, activate the main camera and select Options > Use secondary camera.

While capturing images, you can leave the camera open in the background and use other applications. To do that, press the Menu key. To return to the camera, press and hold the capture key.

To close the main camera, close the lens cover.

Three steps to taking a picture:

1. Activate the camera (press the Capture key or open the lens cover)
2. Press the Capture key halfway down to lock the autofocus on the object.
• A green locked focus indicator appears on the display. If the focus was not locked, a red focus indicator appears. Release the capture key, and press it halfway down again. You can also capture an image without locking the focus.
3. Press the Capture key all the way down to take the picture.


When capturing an image, note the following:
• Use both hands to keep the camera still.
• The quality of a digitally zoomed image is lower than that of a non-zoomed image.
• The camera goes into battery saving mode if there are nokeypresses for a moment. To continue capturing images, press the capture key.
• Do not cover the flash while taking a picture.

The active toolbar provides you with shortcuts to different items and settings before and after capturing an image or recording a video. The active toolbar is visible on the right side of the display when in camera or video mode. You can scroll to items with the Scroll key, and select them by pressing the Scroll key.

To view the active toolbar before and after capturing an image or recording a video, select Options > Show toolbar. To view the active toolbar only when you need it, select Options > Hide toolbar. To activate the active toolbar when it is hidden, press the scroll key. The toolbar is visible for 5 seconds.

Before taking a picture

In the active toolbar, select from the following:

: to switch between the video mode and the image mode
: to select the scene
: to switch the video light on or off (video mode only)
: to select the flash mode (images only)
: to activate the self-timer (images only).
: to activate the sequence mode (images only)
: to select a colour effect
: to show or hide the viewfinder grid (images only)
: to adjust white balance
: to adjust the exposure compensation (images only)
: to adjust sharpness (images only)
: to adjust contrast (images only)
: to adjust light sensitivity (images only)
: Activate panorama mode.

Tip!
You can customise the active toolbar to suit your needs better. To do this, go to main camera mode and select Options > Customise toolbar. Select the shortcut you want to customise and select Options. Note that different shortcuts have alternative ways to customise it.

After taking a picture

After you have captured the image, there are a few choices in the active toolbar on the right:

• Send: Send the image via message, via Bluetooth or upload picture online
• Share online: select the service provider from Ovi, Flickr and Vox. Please see more in
  Share your pictures and videos online.
• Go to photos: see all the captured images in your device.
• Add to album: select Yes to add the captured picture to an album and then select the desired album from the list.
• Details: add details to the photo, such as a tag or description.
• Delete: delete the photo.

Turn on the camera's flash to take better close-ups in dimly lit areas. Using flash also helps to avoid blurry pictures. The flash operating range in your device is up to 3.5 m.
Flash is set to Automatic by default, and it is used if the light level is not sufficient. You can also set it:

• On – Flash is on with all the pictures you take.
• Red eye – The light flashes before the picture is taken and reduces red-eye in portraits.
  
• Off.

To make these selections, select the Flash mode from the active toolbar list.

To zoom in or out in the picture, use the Volume/Zoom keys on your device. Note that using zoom can lower image quality.

You have a panorama mode in your Nokia N86 8MP device. This mode enables you to take multiple pictures to make one large image. The camera will automatically join the pictures together as one image.

To take panoramic images, do the following:

1. Select panorama mode from the toolbar
2. Start capturing the panoramic image by pressing the Capture key
3. Slowly turn the camera left or right.
• A panorama preview is displayed and the camera captures the image as you turn. The green arrow indicates that you can slowly proceed to turn. The red pause mark indicates that you should stop moving until the green arrow is displayed again.
4. To complete the capture, press the capture key or select Stop.
• The panoramic capture stops automatically when the maximum image width has been reached.