Picture Comparison! Eye vs. Z3C, Note 4, Lumia 1020

[anon(5316299)]

Folks,

I am a camera phone fan...I like taking pictures of my family, hate carrying a separate camera...and I have no time for post-processing I've owned, or currently own, all the best camera phones out there...and I'm pleasantly surprised by the default image quality and processing of the desire. See the attached pictures from a variety of devices:

Lumia 1020: Definitely the best looking picture. File is too big, you'll have to get it off my dropbox link below. Huge dynamic range. However: The sky was not that blue, and the grass wasn't that green. Way over saturated, but it looks nice here.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pthgmkmp4387wh4/WP_20141212_09_53_21_Pro.jpg?dl=0

Note 4: Also looks good. This is with HDR, and the sky is not as blue as it should be, but otherwise very solid. The Note 4 has been my go to camera phone, but it's just really big.


Xperia Z3 Compact: I love this phone. This is my daily driver for a number of reasons. The camera is very hit or miss...sometimes focus is an issue, sometimes colors are very unsaturated, and getting to manual settings is fiddly. Video stabilization is outstanding however. Here, we see a hit...8MP manual with HDR on...very good colors. However, if you zoom in, you'll see a tremendous amount of blockiness/artifacting. The grain looks better in 20.7 mode, but no HDR.


Desire Eye: On balance, I think the best shot...definitely a tossup with the Note 4, and that's saying a lot. With HDR, the colors look very natural on all parts of the image. zooming in, we see minimal artifacting and blocking...way less than the Z3C.


Hope you all find this interesting. I don't have time now but I can upload other comparisons (low light, etc) as well. Hint: Desire Eye flash tops ALL of these phones, full stop. the true tone flash is much nicer than even a xenon...

 

[rfortson]

Nice comparison, thanks for this. I bought this phone largely due to the camera and I haven't been disappointed. Previously I had the Galaxy S4, which was fine, but this just seems a little better. Flash does work great, though I have mine in a Mofi case and it doesn't play nice with the flash. Luckily, I don't use the flash much.

 

[Michael Saxon]

Another beach picture with HDR...

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[anon(5316299)]

Another Comparison with the Lumia 1020. Taken at 1:30am through a window during a snow storm. Actual light was quite a bit less than the cameras show, but I wanted to push the limits and see what was possible.

Here's what the scene looked like using Auto mode on the Lumia 1020. 1/3 second exposure, ISO 4000. Too dark, very grainy.



Here's the same scene with the Lumia with a 4 second exposure (braced on the window frame), ISO 800:



Kind of amazing. Looks like daylight, and you get a nice picture of some deer having a romantic evening. Here's the HTC with a 2s exposure, ISO 800:



the detail is really quite good, even compared to the lumia. I will say that I needed to adjust the white balance slightly on the HTC photo, whereas the Lumia nailed it...but the Lumia screws up white balance with flash in well-lit environments, so I think it's a wash.

Thoughts?

 

[belodion]

A pleasing result, but surely the Desire's shots will not bear cropping as much as the 1020's?

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[Michael Saxon]

A pleasing result, but surely the Desire's shots will not bear cropping as much as the 1020's?

Posted via the Android Central App

For sure, if you're using the 38MP images. But again, the detail is quite good. I'll see if I can do a crop comparison.

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