G4 versus the Lumia 930
With a Snapdragon 808 chipset, 1/2.6" sensor and large f/1.8 aperture, plus colour spectrum sensor and laser-aided focussing(!), the LG G4 camera would seem to have the 18-month-older Lumia 930 (and 1520) beaten in terms of raw specs, but I wanted to put the possible spec advantage into real world terms with photo examples below.
It should be noted that, whatever the outcome, the camera interfaces on each OS/device have their pros and cons and shouldn't be discounted. From a Windows Phone perspective, I love the way the Lumia Moments function lets auto-taken 4K video bursts be frame grabbed to 8MP in a very intuitive and surprisingly fast interface, while the G4 and Android doesn't have anything comparable - Samsung seems to have taken out what frame grabbing functions it had in Kitkat (Android 4.4) models and only a buggy and slow third party utility lets Android devices get close here. The Apple iPhone's 4K-8MP capture works very well mind you, so maybe that's another comparison to revisit for another day(!)
Comparing the LG G4 and Lumia 930/1520 cameras turned out to be relatively straightforward in that both produce 16MP photos in 16:9 format. Of course, the Lumia also produces a shareable 5MP version of each shot, and with oversampling to help this be 'purer', but I wanted to look here at the full resolution output, to compare like for like, pixel for pixel. Fight!
The crops below are all at 1:1 as usual. I've deliberately put in an emphasis on tricky subjects or conditions, to push the camera phones to the limit.
| Note that the interactive comparator below uses javascript and does need to load each pair of images. Please be patient while this page loads, if you see a pair of images above each other than you've either not waited long enough or your browser isn't capable enough! |
Test 1: Landscape, sunny, HDR allowed
My default test across suburban gardens, aiming at a roof with loads of detail and texture, in sunshine. Here's the overall scene, for context:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 930 and LG G4, click the links to download. And here are detailed 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
If there's any theme to this comparison, it's that there's a law of diminishing returns at work. For most conditions, for most subjects (as here), there's no appreciable difference in the photos captured. In fact, the G4's image looks more refined at the pixel level, slightly more natural, though in the 930's defense the 16MP shot is optimised for later re-use in reframing to produce a new 5MP shareable version, i.e. users aren't really supposed to be looking at the 16MP versions, as I am here. Honours even overall, perhaps, so far?
Test 2: Landscape, sunny, no HDR
Let's take another extreme (and vastly prettier) landscape subject, this time with no HDR allowed (the G4 camera app seemed to have the habit of turning the HDR setting to 'HDR Auto', but I'm pretty sure it was off for this one!) Here's the overall scene, for context:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 930 and LG G4, click the links to download. And here are detailed 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Again, I'm going to give this one to the G4. It's not clear just how it manages to produce more detail from similar sized sensor and the same resolution, but perhaps chalk it up again to better image processing for this full resolution - the 930's again not really trying to sharpen and enhance at 16MP - it's saving its intelligence for the oversampling down to 5MP for the user to share and save. Still, it's hard not to give the G4 a slight nod here, however far we're cropped in.
Test 3: Macro, sunny
It's hard to get exactly the same framing on macros shots like this, but I've got close, trying to produce detail at extreme macro for a daisy! Here's the overall scene, for context:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 930 and LG G4, click the links to download. And here are detailed 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Despite the pleasant colours and result from the Lumia 930, I have to give the win again to the G4's camera, managing to get closer, optically, and pulling out extra detail in the daisy. And with the larger aperture, there's also increased 'bokeh' effect, so beloved of snappers of flower macros!
Test 4: Contrast extremes, full auto
Another sunny scene, this time leaving everything on full auto - the 930 requires manual activation of 'Rich Capture', while the G4 reverts to 'HDR Auto' and used it on this shot. Here's the overall scene, for context:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 930 and LG G4, click the links to download. And here are detailed 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
The G4 has gone a bit too far in the processing here, I think, I prefer the 930's more natural look, though for the umpteenth time we're cropped in massively into 16MP shots and 99.9% of users would see no difference between the photos at all. That's err.... what we're here for!
Test 5: Overcast, massive detail
A field of bluebells and massive natural detail, a real test of resolution and encoding. Here's the overall scene, for context:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 930 and LG G4, click the links to download. And here are detailed 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
An interesting contrast, you'll agree. And neither camera phone gets the scene right - the 930's grass is too green and the bluebells too blue, especially considering that the sun wasn't fully out. Meanwhile the G4's photo has good detail again, but is too stark and not colourful enough. You could argue that it's more 'natural', but I'd have liked to have seen something between the two extremes shown here. Honours even overall!
Test 6: Low light, indoors with LED flash
There's little point in my 'party' mock-up test, since both would be blurred - Xenon is needed for that. Instead, here's a static subject, a rack of family DVDs, snapped from about 1 metre. Here's the overall scene, for context:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 930 and LG G4, click the links to download. And here are detailed 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
A win for the Lumia 930 here, thanks mainly to the dual LED flash, the G4 has so make do with a single LED. More light here for the 930 means less noise and clearer detail, though OIS works well on both and as you'll see below, the tables get turned when it's down to natural light...
Test 7: Low light, outdoors
The ultimate test of light gathering, here the sun had gone down and there was just a remnant of light in the sky. To the naked eye, conditions were darker than the two OIS-assisted camera phones make it seem. Here's the overall scene, for context:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 930 and LG G4, click the links to download. And here are detailed 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
A very clear win for the LG G4 here, with the f/1.8 aperture letting in roughly twice as much light as the f/2.4 aperture in the Lumia 930. In such an extreme low light scenario, every photon of light helps reduce noise and increase clarity. In fact, the LG G4's shutter time wasn't far off half that of the 930, in theory negating the aperture advantage, but you can see the result for yourself. Even allowing for the same 930 lack of optimisation at 16MP, the G4's photo is still stunning under the conditions. We knew that Nokia's 3-axis OIS system worked well, but LG's latest OIS seems to easily match it.
The 930/1520 Verdict
Adding up all the comment above, and especially looking at the last test shot above it's clear that there's a win for the G4 overall, though away from extremes of low light the differences are minor, especially considering the massive degree of pixel peeping going on above. The other way of approaching the comparisons would have been to downsample the G4's results to a more typical display resolution of 5MP, matching typical high resolution monitors and what the 930 outputs as standard - at 5MP, the photos would have been nigh on indistinguishable though, perhaps making my point above (and below) about diminishing returns with all this top end hardware.
G4 versus the Lumia 1020
Consider this something of a postscript to the main feature, since the 1020's not really sold anymore and the speed issues in the camera experience disqualify it from many people's comparisons in 2015. But I knew I'd get requests for this so.... here are four data points for the G4 versus the 1020. The full resolutions are different this time so the framing will be different (you'll see more detail and thus a smaller section of the frame, in theory, from the 1020's 34MP shots), but I thought the test was still worth exploring.
Test 1: Landscape outdoors
Shot 24 hours later, no sun for this tests, in fact it was downright gloomy in the UK, but hey, these powerful cameras can resolve detail in any light, so...! Here's the overall scene, for context:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 1020 and LG G4, click the links to download. And here are detailed 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
The Lumia 1020 shot clearly has a bit more raw detail, as you'd expect from the 41MP sensor, here in 34MP 16:9 capture mode, though the image processing from the 16MP shot on the G4 does make for a sharper, clearer image that most people would prefer. Having said that, I have to emphasise that, just as the the 930, only more so, the 'raw' shot from the 1020 here isn't really meant for public consumption - it's there for reframing and oversampling down to a purer, crisper 5MP shot for the user. But still, the G4 does again impress a lot.
Test 2: Low light, indoors
A typical low light shot, indoors with just a small 40W table light about a metre away. Here's the overall scene, for context:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 1020 and LG G4, click the links to download. And here are detailed 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
It's debatable as to whether the 1020 image contains more information than the G4 one, despite having more pixels. Interestingly, the 1020 had trouble focussing precisely on the switch and its lettering - I tried three times and this was the best of the bunch, whereas the G4's laser-assisted focussing worked really well in low light - it's not quicker, but it is more reliable.
Test 3: Low light, outdoors
A similar dusk evening shot to the one tried with the 930 above, it was really very dark to the naked eye, again much darker than the photos imply. Here's the overall scene, for context:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 1020 and LG G4, click the links to download. And here are detailed 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Now this is getting interesting. The mighty 1/1.5"-sensored, 41MP Lumia 1020 needed a full 1/3s exposure to be able to gather enough light for the photo, resulting (despite the OIS) in a slight blurring, which you can see at this extremely tight crop, at the pixel level. In contrast, the much larger aperture in the G4 camera allowed enough light in under 1/10s, meaning that the OIS had no trouble in keeping the shot crisp, even when pixel-peeping.
Test 4: Party shot!
My party mock-up, a typical event shot, with subject moving and in low light! Here's the overall scene, for context:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 1020 and LG G4, click the links to download. And here are detailed 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Unsurprisingly, the usual strong suit and case for a 'proper' Xenon flash, the Lumia 1020 produces a pretty crisp shot in very low light, despite a moving subject (I try to move/laugh in the same way for each test!) In contrast, and as for almost every other camera phone in the world, the LG G4 fails miserably, with a blurry, dark result. The argument for not putting Xenon in every camera phone? There's a small recharge time, more power is used, the capacitor adds a little extra bulk and... not that many people seem to want to take shots at these sorts of parties.... (ahem.)
[Imagine something with the G4's imaging allied to a Xenon flash though. Or indeed, imagine a Lumia 1030. You just know that if I/we ask for it enough then Microsoft will ignore us listen and build it!]
The G4-1020 verdict
This is a tough call - the G4 clearly gathers much more light and the laser system is ideal when it's dark, both of which serve it very well when conditions aren't ideal, but the 1020 does have the extra zoom capability, giving it a slight edge in theory, plus there's the Xenon flash. The casting vote might have to be the speed and experience and, of course, the far newer and more powerful chipset inside the G4 runs rings around the Lumia 1020 there.
__________________
So there we have it. An Android-powered smartphone winning a camera comparison on AAWP, if only by a nose overall. The G4 camera clearly is pretty special and I can see a lot of other flagships rushing to compete, as will Microsoft (with the ex-Nokia engineers onboard) with a Lumia 940 (at the very least) later this year.
However, I should emphasise for the umpteenth time that we're well into the law of diminishing returns with these camera phones and their images. A few years ago comparing photo results was (literally) like night and day - we're now at the point where photos from these smartphones are indistinguishable at all sensible viewing resolutions and where I have to pull out all the stops and compare detail at pixel level in photos with 16MP resolution. That's insane, since even in 2025 we won't be using screens at that resolution, so no one's really going to see the pixels.
However, a win's a win and full credit to the LG G4. Now let's see what the competition can do through the rest of this year...