Last week at the launch of the Lumia 1020 Nokia announced the release of the Nokia Imaging SDK intended to help developers "create the next generation of imaging apps for Windows Phone 8". The SDK, which is now available as a beta release and supports all Windows Phone 8 devices, is based on the same technologies that Nokia uses in its won imaging app (e.g. Creative Studio and Smart Camera). 

The first release provides support for a variety of functionality including filters, image resizing, cropping, and lossless free rotation. There are more than 50 pre-made effects, filters, and enhancements available out-of-the-box ranging from the relatively simple (brightness, auto-enhance) to the more complex (adjust RGB levels, hue and saturation controls).

The SDK has been designed from the ground up with performance and low memory footprint in mind. A good example of this is the use of partial JPEG decoding, which uses RAJPEG technology to access image data without decoding a whole JPEG image. This makes image previews, cropping, and the application of filters much faster, especially on higher resolution images.

Nokia is making the SDK freely available and there are no licensing charges, which mean it can be freely used in any app published in the Windows Phone Store.

As with the HERE APIs, the underlying aim is to make is easier and quicker for developers to create feature rich apps for Nokia devices, but the benefits will be felt right across the Windows Phone platform. It is also an example of the way Nokia is building developer solutions that complement Microsoft's own activities, reflecting the close partnership between the two companies.

Later versions of the Nokia Imaging SDK will add additional features, including some that target device specific features, such as the Lumia 1020's zoom capabilities. A number of apps based on this future version of the SDK are already in development including Oggl PRO and a refined version of the official Foursquare app.

Developers can learn more about the Nokia Imaging SDK at an upcoming webinar "Using the Nokia Imaging SDK", which is taking place tomorrow at 8am BST. The webinar will give a product overview and practical demonstrations of how to code apps with the SDK. A recording of the webinar will be available shortly after the training session concludes. Together with the example apps (source code available) and documentation the webinar should give a good introduction to the Nokia Imaging SDK.