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Which Smartphone Has The Best Camera?: LG G3, Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One M8, HTC One Mini 2, Nokia Lumia 1520, Nokia Lumia 1020 AND… The Sony Xperia Z2 Compared

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Which Smartphone Has The Best Camera?: LG G3, Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One M8, HTC One Mini 2, Nokia Lumia 1520, Nokia Lumia 1020 AND… The Sony Xperia Z2 Compared


Features

Paul Briden

13:27, 24 Jun 2014

We compare imaging technology and photo quality from every major flagship on the market

There are so many reasons why you might want to grab a smartphone these days. Communication, whether via traditional calls and texts, or using the myriad of new options such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Skype, will likely still be the main motivator for many people. However, the merging of good quality camera hardware with the modern handset at large, stoked by social networking and sharing, has seen a massive boom in casual and ameteur photography.

With that in mind, we thought it’d be a good idea to look at the various high-end handsets on the current market to see how their imaging capabilities compare.

For this shootout, we grabbed the Nokia Lumia 1020 and 1520, LG’s brand new G3, Sony’s Xperia Z2, Samsung’s Galaxy S5, and both HTC’s One M8 and One Mini 2.

Round 1: Outside/Daylight Shooting

First, lets have a look out how the various handsets perform in a fairly straightforward scenario, shooting outside in the daylight.

HTC One Mini 2

HTC One M8

LG G3

Nokia Lumia 1520

Nokia Lumia 1020

Samsung Galaxy S5

Sony Xperia Z2

“Superior Auto”
Manual

Round 1 Analysis

As expected, Nokia’s Lumia 1020 is the Mac Daddy here and pretty much dominates the rest in terms of detail and clarity. The Lumia 1520 is not far behind, although the difference between the 20MP and 40MP sensors is difficult to discern, it is noticable as the 1520 does lack some of the extra-fine detail and sharpness, and the colour reproduction isn’t quite as good. It’s still extremely capable though.

LG’s G3 is very impresive indeed and on a similar level to Samsung’s Galaxy S5, there’s plenty of detail and good dynamic range on both handsets. Sony’s Xperia Z2 creeps out in front of both on the detail front and has more natural colour – however, some might prefer the Instagram-style over-saturated, high contrast look Sammy and LG have going by default.

Additionally, while Sony’s stuff is powerful it can be a little fiddlier than its rivals, with most other competitors in this shootout offering much more straightforward “point-n-shoot” usability.

HTC’s handsets bring up the rear with both having slightly squiffy colour reproduction – the One Mini 2 is slightly yellowish while the One M8 has a blue tint. Both setups are somewhat lacking in detail compared to the rest, but the One M8 certainly does a better job than its smaller counterpart thanks to a wider aperture and slightly larger sensor size.

Round 2: Close-Up and “Macro”

Now we’re going to see how the handset’s compare getting up-close and personal in similar conditions. There are some specific points to bear in mind with regard to Nokia’s handsets, but we’ll clear that up later.

HTC One Mini 2

HTC One M8

LG G3

Nokia Lumia 1520

Nokia Lumia 1020

Samsung Galaxy S5

Sony Xperia Z2

“Superior Auto”
Manual

Round 2: Analysis

Sony’s Xperia Z2 still offers more natural colour alongside the Nokias, however, the difference between Sony’s “Superior Auto” and Manual modes is noticable, with the Auto mode having adjusted to the lighting to offer slightly punchier colour and contrast than Manual.

That said, we were lucky on this occasion as the Auto mode managed to get the focus right, where quite often it will re-adjust at the last minute to give you a blurry picture – consequently I have found it is usually, though not always, better to capture close-up images using Manual mode on the Xperia Z2.

The Lumia 1020 still leads on the sharpness and detail front, while also offering the best focal depth of the pack. The 1520, S5 and G3 all sit in a fairly tight group offering decent sharpness and spectacular colour.

Round 3: Indoors

Now we’re going to show you how these devices stack up shooting indoors, snapping objects in a reasonably well-lit room with natural light.

HTC One Mini 2

HTC One M8

LG G3

Nokia Lumia 1520

Nokia Lumia 1020

Samsung Galaxy S5

Sony Xperia Z2

“Superior Auto”
Manual

Round 3: Analysis

This round really shows up the difference between the HTC One M8 and the HTC One Mini 2, with the flagship outperforming its smaller cousin by some distance – it’s sharper, has better dynamic range and better colour.

It’s still left behind by most of the others though, the Lumia 1020 easily outclasses everything else, although oddly enough it seems the 1520 fell over a bit, while the LG G3 and Galaxy S5 continue fairly neck-and-neck.

This round also shows up some of the foibles with Sony’s Superior Auto mode, with the Manual shot providing sharper details on the glass tumbler, better colour and better contrast.

Round 4: Low Light

Next up, we’re going to show you imaging performance in low-light. Now, of course, there are different levels of low-light, from being in a pitch black room, to out at a carnival at night, to being indoors at night with loads of lights on, or in a poorly lit room in the middle of the day.

We will likely add to this comparison with more varied low-light shots at a later date, but for now we have what will no doubt be a fairly common encounter – an area of the house with no windows nearby. It’s dull and there’s a distinct absence of light, but it’s daytime, and therefore not the darkest situation for shooting images.

In these conditions, it was quite variable whether the flash would kick in or not when set to auto. In some cases it would activate and have interesting effects on the picture quality – sometimes improving clarity while offering awkward contrast and colour – we’ve included both with and without flash in these instances.

HTC One Mini 2

Flash
No Flash

HTC One M8

Flash
No Flash

LG G3

Nokia Lumia 1520

Flash
No Flash

Nokia Lumia 1020

Flash
No Flash

Samsung Galaxy S5

Sony Xperia Z2

“Superior Auto”
Manual

Round 4: Analysis

The most glaring thing here is how much worse many of the pictures with flash look in terms of colour and contrast despite their ability to show a bit more detail on the glass. Plenty of the phones perform well enough without the flash though, including the Galaxy S5, LG G3 and, of course, both Lumias, with the 1020 once again being way out in front.

The HTC One Mini 2 performed fairly poorly compared to the rest, while the One M8 didn’t do too badly, with a much sharper and clearer picture than its stable-mate.

Interestingly, Sony’s Xperia Z2 didn’t do to well in either mode, the colour and contrast leaves things a bit washed out and there’s some discernable noise due to Sony’s post-processing.

Bonus Round: HTC U-Focus vs Samsung “Selective Focus”

We couldn’t include Samsung’s Galaxy S5 and HTC’s One M8 without taking a look at their respective selective focal point trickery. With HTC it’s dubbed U-Focus and uses the dedicated depth sensor, while on the Galaxy S5 it’s called Selective Focus and there is no additional sensor used.

HTC’s setup means that, provided you don’t cover up the depth sensor, every photo has a batch of spatial data stored in it, and you’re able to edit and re-edit the photo at any time dynamically through HTC’s built-in interface.

You’re able to select the focal point of the image anwhere, however, it’s a bit of a trick because it will simply render that part of the photo as it was captured while blurring out everything else.

This can mean the part you want to focus on in post-capture editing may also be a bit blurry, because it wasn’t the focal point at capture, it’s just that everything else around it will now be even blurrier – in other words, it cannot bring into focus anything that was not at time of capture, the way a true Lytro camera can.

HTC One M8 U-Focus Image

HTC One M8 U-Focus Edited Image

HTC One M8 U-Focus Image & Edit

Samsung’s setup requires that you activate a specific mode before taking the image and it operates rather like HDR in that you snap the scene, then the phone takes a moment to capture it all and process things properly.

Once an image is captured you can edit and re-edit the focal point between “near”, “far”, and “pan focus” – the latter of which renders everything as sharp as it was during capture, while the other two blur out either the background or foreground respectively.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Selective Focus “Pan Focus”

Samsung Galaxy S5 Selective Focus “Far Focus”

Samsung Galaxy S5 Selective Focus “Near Focus”

In this regard, it isn’t that different from the HTC One M8 in that the image quality is already preset at time of capture and all you’re doing is selectively blurring certain sections.

However, the point here is that Samsung’s sensor does a much better job of capturing most of what’s in the viewfinder at a decent enough quality – in other words, however you edit the image within Samsung’s limited selection you will probably end up with a usable image. The same can’t be necessarily said of HTC’s arrangement.

Bonus Round: Nokia Lumia PureView Oversampling and Lossless Zoom

I mentioned earlier that there were some specific points to cover on the Nokia Lumia 1020 and Lumia 1520’s close-up capture capabilities. Because of the way they’re setup, the PureView sensors are not particularly good in close quarters, they can get reasonably close, but where the others can get in closer and focus (or select a specific mode to aid focus very close in) the Lumias start having trouble.

It isn’t a design fault though, you can still achieve the same images, but you have to think about using the camera differently.

Both devices use something called oversampling to take in an extraordinary amount of detail and you’re actually able to zoom in and crop without any loss of visual fidelity. So, instead of taking a “macro” shot, all you have to do is get in close enough while being able to focus, snap an image, and then you can zoom/crop the picture to get that super-close-up shot as you would on any other camera.

You can do this directly on the phone with the built-in editing tools, or get cracking with an image editor like Photoshop on a computer.

Here are some examples from the Lumia 1020, which is the better of the two at this trick due to its larger and more complex sensor setup.

Nokia Lumia 1020 Original Image

Nokia Lumia 1020 Lossless Zoom Edit

Nokia Lumia 1020 Original Image

Nokia Lumia 1020 Lossless Zoom Edit

Wrap Up

It comes as no particular shock that the Lumia 1020 remains the very best camera phone on the market and is leagues ahead of its rivals, with Nokia’s similarly impressive Lumia 1520 coming not far behind. Of course, there is a trade-off here as both devices are quite bulky, and depending on what you’re after Windows Phone might not suit your tastes.

Sony’s Xperia Z2 is next in-line (and Sony’s Xperia Z1 is still pretty much the same setup), and is in many ways on a par with Nokia’s 1520 in terms of achievable image quality.

However, it’s a fiddly beast to get the best results from, and that’s another mark in Nokia’s favour: although it has offered some very complex controls via the Nokia Pro Camera app, the experience is rather scalable and remains very easy for less experienced photographers to get to grips with while achieving decent results. Sony’s handset also doesn’t fare so well in low-light.

Sony’s temperamental usability means that in some ways other models on the list become preferable for their ease-of-use. Samsung’s and LG’s devices, on the Android side of things, are some of the easiest to quickly shoot and get excellent results, with very user-friendly interfaces. The HTC camera interface and operation are very simple and straightforward, but due to HTC’s peculiar approach to sensors the results lack the same consistency and overall image quality of what you get aboard the G3, Lumias and Galaxy S5. 

With all of this said, I do think that every camera on this shootout offers a great photography experience for the majority of users – if all you’re doing is grabbing holiday snaps and selfies for Facebook, you”ll likely be happy with any of the handsets here as they all offer fantastic image quality – especially if you compare it to what was achievable not very long ago.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 is undoubtedly the best, but I’ve heard Sony reps argue the trade-off in bulk isn’t what they think most consumers want – I’d be inclined to agree – but if you want the ultimate in smartphone imaging look no further than Nokia. 

Ultimately, we hope the images posted here will speak for themselves in terms of helping your cameraphone buying decisions.

Features Paul Briden thirteen:27, 24 Jun 2014

We examine imaging know-how and photograph high quality from each main flagship available on the market

There are such a lot of explanation why you may need to seize a smartphone nowadays. Communication, whether or not by way of conventional calls and texts, or utilizing the myriad of latest choices similar to Fb, WhatsApp and Skype, will possible nonetheless be the primary motivator for many individuals. Nevertheless, the merging of excellent high quality digital camera hardware with the fashionable handset at giant, stoked by social networking and sharing, has seen an enormous growth in informal and ameteur images.

With that in thoughts, we thought it would be a good suggestion to take a look at the varied excessive-finish handsets on the present market to see how their imaging capabilities examine.

For this shootout, we grabbed the Nokia Lumia 1020 and 1520, LG's model new G3, Sony's Xperia Z2, Samsung's Galaxy S5, and each HTC's One M8 and One Mini 2.

Spherical 1: Outdoors/Daylight Capturing

First, lets take a look out how the varied handsets carry out in a reasonably simple state of affairs, capturing outdoors within the daylight.

HTC One Mini 2

HTC One M8

LG G3

Nokia Lumia 1520

Nokia Lumia 1020

Samsung Galaxy S5

Sony Xperia Z2

"Superior Auto"
Guide

Spherical 1 Evaluation

As anticipated, Nokia's Lumia 1020 is the Mac Daddy right here and just about dominates the remaining when it comes to element and readability. The Lumia 1520 just isn't far behind, though the distinction between the 20MP and 40MP sensors is troublesome to discern, it's noticable because the 1520 does lack a few of the additional-high quality element and sharpness, and the color copy is not fairly nearly as good. It is nonetheless extraordinarily succesful although.

LG's G3 could be very impresive certainly and on an identical degree to Samsung's Galaxy S5, there's loads of element and good dynamic vary on each handsets. Sony's Xperia Z2 creeps out in entrance of each on the element entrance and has extra pure color - nevertheless, some may want the Instagram-type over-saturated, excessive distinction look Sammy and LG have going by default.

Moreover, whereas Sony's stuff is highly effective it may be a bit fiddlier than its rivals, with most different rivals on this shootout providing rather more simple "level-n-shoot" usability.

HTC's handsets convey up the rear with each having barely squiffy color copy - the One Mini 2 is barely yellowish whereas the One M8 has a blue tint. Each setups are considerably missing intimately in comparison with the remaining, however the One M8 definitely does a greater job than its smaller counterpart because of a wider aperture and barely bigger sensor measurement.

Spherical 2: Shut-Up and "Macro"

Now we will see how the handset's examine getting up-shut and private in comparable circumstances. There are some particular factors to remember with regard to Nokia's handsets, however we'll clear that up later.

HTC One Mini 2

HTC One M8

LG G3

Nokia Lumia 1520

Nokia Lumia 1020

Samsung Galaxy S5

Sony Xperia Z2

"Superior Auto"
Guide

Spherical 2: Evaluation

Sony's Xperia Z2 nonetheless provides extra pure color alongside the Nokias, nevertheless, the distinction between Sony's "Superior Auto" and Guide modes is noticable, with the Auto mode having adjusted to the lighting to supply barely punchier color and distinction than Guide.

That stated, we have been fortunate on this event because the Auto mode managed to get the main target proper, the place very often it should re-modify on the final minute to offer you a blurry image - consequently I've discovered it's often, although not all the time, higher to seize shut-up photographs utilizing Guide mode on the Xperia Z2.

The Lumia 1020 nonetheless leads on the sharpness and element entrance, whereas additionally providing the most effective focal depth of the pack. The 1520, S5 and G3 all sit in a reasonably tight group providing respectable sharpness and spectacular color.

Spherical three: Indoors

Now we will present you ways these units stack up capturing indoors, snapping objects in a fairly properly-lit room with pure mild.

HTC One Mini 2

HTC One M8

LG G3

Nokia Lumia 1520

Nokia Lumia 1020

Samsung Galaxy S5

Sony Xperia Z2

"Superior Auto"
Guide

Spherical three: Evaluation

This spherical actually exhibits up the distinction between the HTC One M8 and the HTC One Mini 2, with the flagship outperforming its smaller cousin by far - it is sharper, has higher dynamic vary and higher color.

It is nonetheless left behind by a lot of the others although, the Lumia 1020 simply outclasses every part else, though oddly sufficient it appears the 1520 fell over a bit, whereas the LG G3 and Galaxy S5 proceed pretty neck-and-neck.

This spherical additionally exhibits up a number of the foibles with Sony's Superior Auto mode, with the Guide shot offering sharper particulars on the glass tumbler, higher color and higher distinction.

Spherical four: Low Mild

Subsequent up, we will present you imaging efficiency in low-mild. Now, in fact, there are totally different ranges of low-mild, from being in a pitch black room, to out at a carnival at night time, to being indoors at night time with a great deal of lights on, or in a poorly lit room in the midst of the day.

We'll probably add to this comparability with extra assorted low-mild photographs at a later date, however for now we now have what is going to little question be a reasonably widespread encounter - an space of the home with no home windows close by. It is uninteresting and there is a distinct absence of sunshine, nevertheless it's daytime, and subsequently not the darkest state of affairs for capturing photographs.

In these circumstances, it was fairly variable whether or not the flash would kick in or not when set to auto. In some instances it will activate and have fascinating results on the image high quality - typically enhancing readability whereas providing awkward distinction and color - we have included each with and with out flash in these situations.

HTC One Mini 2

Flash
No Flash

HTC One M8

Flash
No Flash

LG G3

Nokia Lumia 1520

Flash
No Flash

Nokia Lumia 1020

Flash
No Flash

Samsung Galaxy S5

Sony Xperia Z2

"Superior Auto"
Guide

Spherical four: Evaluation

Probably the most obtrusive factor right here is how a lot worse most of the footage with flash look when it comes to color and distinction regardless of their means to point out a bit extra element on the glass. Loads of the telephones carry out nicely sufficient with out the flash although, together with the Galaxy S5, LG G3 and, in fact, each Lumias, with the 1020 as soon as once more being means out in entrance.

The HTC One Mini 2 carried out pretty poorly in comparison with the remaining, whereas the One M8 did not do too badly, with a a lot sharper and clearer image than its secure-mate.

Apparently, Sony's Xperia Z2 did not do to properly in both mode, the color and distinction leaves issues a bit washed out and there is some discernable noise because of Sony's submit-processing.

Bonus Spherical: HTC U-Focus vs Samsung "Selective Focus"

We could not embrace Samsung's Galaxy S5 and HTC's One M8 with out looking at their respective selective focus trickery. With HTC it is dubbed U-Focus and makes use of the devoted depth sensor, whereas on the Galaxy S5 it is referred to as Selective Focus and there's no further sensor used.

HTC's setup signifies that, offered you do not cowl up the depth sensor, each photograph has a batch of spatial knowledge saved in it, and also you're capable of edit and re-edit the photograph at any time dynamically by way of HTC's constructed-in interface.

You are capable of choose the focus of the picture anwhere, nevertheless, it's kind of of a trick as a result of it should merely render that a part of the photograph because it was captured whereas blurring out all the things else.

This will imply the half you need to give attention to in submit-seize modifying may be a bit blurry, as a result of it wasn't the focus at seize, it is simply that all the things else round it is going to now be even blurrier - in different phrases, it can't deliver into focus something that was not at time of seize, the best way a real Lytro digital camera can.

HTC One M8 U-Focus Picture

HTC One M8 U-Focus Edited Picture

HTC One M8 U-Focus Picture & Edit

Samsung's setup requires that you simply activate a selected mode earlier than taking the picture and it operates quite like HDR in that you simply snap the scene, then the telephone takes a second to seize all of it and course of issues correctly.

As soon as a picture is captured you'll be able to edit and re-edit the focus between "close to", "far", and "pan focus" - the latter of which renders all the things as sharp because it was throughout seize, whereas the opposite two blur out both the background or foreground respectively.

Samsung Galaxy S5 Selective Focus "Pan Focus"

Samsung Galaxy S5 Selective Focus "Far Focus"

Samsung Galaxy S5 Selective Focus "Close to Focus"

On this regard, it is not that totally different from the HTC One M8 in that the picture high quality is already preset at time of seize and all you are doing is selectively blurring sure sections.

Nevertheless, the purpose right here is that Samsung's sensor does a a lot better job of capturing most of what is within the viewfinder at an honest sufficient high quality - in different phrases, nevertheless you edit the picture inside Samsung's restricted choice you'll in all probability find yourself with a usable picture. The identical cannot be essentially stated of HTC's association.

Bonus Spherical: Nokia Lumia PureView Oversampling and Lossless Zoom

I discussed earlier that there have been some particular factors to cowl on the Nokia Lumia 1020 and Lumia 1520's shut-up seize capabilities. Due to the best way they're setup, the PureView sensors usually are not notably good in shut quarters, they will get fairly shut, however the place the others can get in nearer and focus (or choose a selected mode to assist focus very shut in) the Lumias begin having hassle.

It is not a design fault although, you'll be able to nonetheless obtain the identical photographs, however you must consider using the digital camera in another way.

Each units use one thing referred to as oversampling to absorb a unprecedented quantity of element and also you're truly capable of zoom in and crop with none lack of visible constancy. So, as an alternative of taking a "macro" shot, all you must do is get in shut sufficient whereas with the ability to focus, snap a picture, after which you possibly can zoom/crop the image to get that tremendous-shut-up shot as you'd on some other digital camera.

You are able to do this instantly on the telephone with the constructed-in modifying instruments, or get cracking with a picture editor like Photoshop on a pc.

Listed here are some examples from the Lumia 1020, which is the higher of the 2 at this trick as a result of its bigger and extra complicated sensor setup.

Nokia Lumia 1020 Unique Picture

Nokia Lumia 1020 Lossless Zoom Edit

Nokia Lumia 1020 Unique Picture

Nokia Lumia 1020 Lossless Zoom Edit

Wrap Up

It comes as no specific shock that the Lumia 1020 stays the easiest digital camera telephone available on the market and is leagues forward of its rivals, with Nokia's equally spectacular Lumia 1520 coming not far behind. In fact, there's a commerce-off right here as each units are fairly cumbersome, and relying on what you are after Home windows Telephone won't fit your tastes.

Sony's Xperia Z2 is subsequent in-line (and Sony's Xperia Z1 continues to be just about the identical setup), and is in some ways on a par with Nokia's 1520 when it comes to achievable picture high quality.

Nevertheless, it is a fiddly beast to get the perfect outcomes from, and that is one other mark in Nokia's favour: though it has provided some very complicated controls by way of the Nokia Professional Digital camera app, the expertise is slightly scalable and stays very straightforward for much less skilled photographers to familiarize yourself with whereas attaining respectable outcomes. Sony's handset additionally does not fare so nicely in low-mild.

Sony's temperamental usability signifies that in some methods different fashions on the listing grow to be preferable for his or her ease-of-use. Samsung's and LG's units, on the Android aspect of issues, are a few of the best to shortly shoot and get wonderful outcomes, with very consumer-pleasant interfaces. The HTC digital camera interface and operation are quite simple and easy, however as a consequence of HTC's peculiar strategy to sensors the outcomes lack the identical consistency and general picture high quality of what you get aboard the G3, Lumias and Galaxy S5. 

With all of this stated, I do assume that each digital camera on this shootout presents an incredible images expertise for almost all of customers - if all you are doing is grabbing vacation snaps and selfies for Fb, you''ll probably be proud of any of the handsets right here as all of them supply incredible picture high quality - particularly should you examine it to what was achievable not very way back.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 is undoubtedly the most effective, however I've heard Sony reps argue the commerce-off in bulk is not what they assume most shoppers need – I might be inclined to agree - however if you'd like the last word in smartphone imaging look no additional than Nokia. 

Finally, we hope the pictures posted right here will converse for themselves when it comes to serving to your cameraphone shopping for selections.

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