This year we saw some commendable smartphones with great cameras. We round up the best camera phones of the year 2014.
Samsung Note 4
Price: Rs. 53,999
The latest Note from Samsung uses a 16MP camera sensor with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). It has a 1/2.6-inch BSI CMOS sensor with f/2.2 aperture. The Note 4 uses a Sony sensor which is capable of capturing 2160p videos @30fps. The smartphone takes brilliant images in the daytime and equally commendable images in low light as well.
iPhone 6 Plus
Price: Rs. 61,963
The iPhone remains a benchmark among mobile photographers. The new iPhone 6 Plus adds a bigger screen and a better camera to the mix. The 8MP camera at the back has been improved over the last gen 5S and brings OIS with it. The camera features a Sony sensor with f/2.2 aperture. The camera has super fast focus and an auto-HDR mode.
Nokia Lumia 1020
Price: Rs. 21,999
More than a year has passed since the launch of the Lumia 1020 and it still remains one of the best camera phone in the business. The 1020 still boasts of a 41MP BSI sensor and uses a 6-element Zeiss lens with OIS which makes it a superb shooter. The camera sensor has an aperture of f/2.2.
iPhone 5S
Price: Rs. 38,397
Last year’s iPhone is still a better camera than most of the new smartphones out there. The 8MP sensor at the rear was a big improvement over the the 5 and brought the f/2.2 aperture to the scene. It also sported the true tone flash which is a dual flash setup but with different colour tones.
Sony Xperia Z3/ Z3 compact
Price: Rs. 49,990 (Z3)
Price: Rs. 40,899 (Z3 compact)
While every phone manufacturer moves on to a bigger megapixel count in every new flagship, Sony has stuck to it 20.7MP sensor. The 20.7MP camera with f/2.0 aperture, which made its debut with the Xperia Z1, includes a commendable sensor. The camera on the Z3 and Z3 compact support ISO 12,800 which helps it click pictures in low light situations. Sony has included a whole bunch of camera settings that you can fiddle with.
Nokia Lumia 930
Price: Rs. 36,999
The Nokia Lumia 930 is from the Pureview series of smartphones from Nokia. The smartphone has a 20MP camera at the back and uses a 1/3-inch Pureview sensor. The 930 supports .DNG RAW capture in addition to the standard Pureview picture capture. Since Lumia 930 is a Pureview smartphone, Nokia has added a lot of settings that you can make use of.
LG G3
Price: Rs. 39,999
LG also came out with a new flagship this year and the G3 brought a very peculiar feature to the table, laser auto-focus. What that means is when you focus the G3 camera, it fires a laser that's placed next to the rear camera to get accurate focus. The 13MP Sony sensor in the G3 comes with OIS and takes nice and crisp images. The camera has a f/2.0 lens and a dual-tone LED flash.
Xiaomi Mi3
Price: 13,999 (discontinued)
Xiaomi made a lot of noise when they announced the Mi3 and the phone did make an impression. The Mi3 also uses a 13MP Camera with a Sony sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a wide angle of 28mm.
Samsung Galaxy S5
Price: Rs. 32,999
The Samsung Galaxy S5 uses a 16MP camera sensor made by Samsung LSI. It has a 1/2.6-inch CMOS sensor with a f/2.2 aperture. The camera is also capable of capturing 4K videos at 30fps.
iPhone 6
Price: Rs. 51,999
The iPhone 6 also uses an 8MP camera with a Sony sensor. It is a BSI sensor with 1.5u pixels and a f/2.2 aperture. The iPhone 6 doesn't have OIS like the iPhone 6 Plus but is an improvement over the iPhone 5S. The phone also offers a 240fps slow motion video recording mode at HD resolution.