With cameras becoming the second most important feature of a cellphone, we tested out the shooting capabilities of the three latest flagships from Nokia, HTC and Samsung.
Phones nowadays are becoming converged devices, more “one-device-to-rule-them-all” products, with their functions gong far beyond just making and receiving calls and text messages. They are personal organizers, personal secretaries, music players, entertainment hubs and even source of learning and knowledge. For many, they are also becoming the primary means of documenting daily life, putting a lot of onus on the imaging aspect of these devices.
Users love photography and phone manufacturers are becoming more and more aware of just how much. Nokia innovated mobile imaging with the 41-megapixel 808 PureView, forcing manufacturers to really invest in their imaging technologies. Today, we have the Nokia Lumia 920, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One, three phones that boast of great cameras and we shot with all three to see which of them really is meant to rule the roost. Now since the HTC One has that funky 4 megapixel resolution thanks to the UltraPixel shenanigans, we made all images match the 4 megapixel resolution and then compared the 100% crops.
Colours and Contrast
Colours and contrast are the two aspects of an image that make them stand out. Even when we consider a black and white image, we’ve still got the contrast which is what lends the image the nice smooth gradient between the whites, blacks and greys. Throughout our shooting experience, we found that the Lumia 920 produced images very rich in colour, with a strong emphasis on greens.
The HTC One, on the other hand, rendered a very neat histogram, meaning the colours looked a lot more natural with pleasing contrast. The Samsung Galaxy S4 rendered images which were low on contrast and saturation, making them look a little washed out. Another thing to note here is that the Lumia 920 and the Galaxy S4 both tended to produce a colour cast, especially in mixed lighting conditions (yellow/green for Lumia and purple for the S4) but the HTC One managed to keep the images colour cast free.
Detail Retention and Dynamic Range
As far as details go, the HTC One did an excellent job at retaining them, whether it was in the texture of rust or the brick walls. The Galaxy S4 tends to smudge them out a bit, while the Lumia 920 did a good enough job, but not as good as the HTC One. Overall, the Lumia 920 did produce sharper images thanks to the Zeiss lens elements, but the HTC One managed to hold its own as well.
We shot a pretty terrible lighting scenario (dark foreground, with a white AC unit being lit by the harsh sun in the background) and found that the Lumia 920 had a tendency to underexpose the entire scene to retain highlights, while the HTC One balanced the shadows and highlights out rather well. The Samsung Galaxy S4, unfortunately, blew the highlights right out of the spectrum.
Low Light/Noise
Looking at a low light shot, the Lumia 920 makes it look like it was shot in day-time, while the HTC One shows some signs of struggle, but keeps the detail at a high level while managing to keep the noise levels low. The Samsung Galaxy S4 suffered with a lot of noise in almost every part of the image, with very little detail retention. If low light is your thing, then you’re better off steering towards the Lumia 920.
If we were to conclude, we’d say that the HTC One’s camera is nearly at par with the Lumia 920, with the latter’s being the best performer. However, colour saturation levels and contrast curves can be a rather subjective means of gauging performance, so we’re going to let you judge that for yourself. However, as far as noise levels, sharpness and detail is concerned, the HTC one and the Nokia Lumia 920 definitely leave the Galaxy S4 far behind.
Do check out more 100% crop comparison shots of the HTC One, Nokia Lumia 920 and Samsung Galaxy S4, below:
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Swapnil Mathur
Swapnil was Digit's resident camera nerd, (un)official product photographer and the Reviews Editor. Swapnil has moved-on to newer challenges. For any communication related to his stories, please mail us using the email id given here. View Full Profile
