Having seen that the Lumia 950 and Huawei P9 are so close in terms of overall specs - see my recent comparison - it becomes apparent that they approach imaging in a very different way. The Lumia 950 is old school - a largish sensor, ZEISS optics, OIS, a large aperture (f/1.9), high resolution and oversampling, and so on, while the P9 uses two cameras to, in theory, give greater detail and clarity, as well as some 'interesting' depth effects for macro subjects. In practice - and I did some low light tests to make sure - I don't think the second camera does anything at all to help normal colour photos, so take Huawei's marketing with a pinch of salt here.
With the P9's shots at 12MP in 4:3 and 9MP in 16:9, they make for a good match with the Lumia 950 in oversampled 8MP mode (naturally in 16:9), though as usual there are slightly different fields of view from the optics, so don't expect exact pixel matches in each comparator image pair.
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Test 1: Sunny subject
A typical touristy shot of the top/front of St Paul's Cathedral, lit in the late afternoon sun against a blue sky, with loads of detail. Here's the full scene:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Huawei P9, click the links to download. And here are 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:
There's not that much difference between these two photos, as you might expect in ideal conditions - the Lumia 950's shot feels higher quality to me, in terms of colours and slightly less processed look, so I'll give it the nod overall.
Lumia 950: 9 pts, Huawei P9: 8 pts
Test 2: Sunny HDR
A really tricky shot into the sun, of Big Ben and surroundings, the sun on the water was really quite dazzling. HDR was set to 'on', manually, of course. Here's the full scene:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Huawei P9, click the links to download. And here are 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:
Both phone cameras did well enough under such dazzling conditions, but the higher dynamic range and oversampling in the Lumia 950 camera give it an edge again here, with detail being very visible even in the shadows on Big Ben, while the P9 version is little more than a silhouette.
Lumia 950: 9 pts, Huawei P9: 8 pts
Test 3: Sunny zoom
Trying a little zooming (I'd estimate between 2x and 3x), on a boat that was loading up in the Thames. The Lumia 950's high-res sensor allows for some lossless zoom but there's no detente (why, Microsoft, why??) and this went past the lossless limit. The P9 tries for traditional digital zoom only and it seems as though its algorithms are nowhere near as good as Samsung's (I've had surprisingly good results when using digital zoom on the Note 4 and Galaxy S6/7, for example). Here's the full (zoomed) scene:
In case you want to grab the original zoomed images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Huawei P9, click the links to download. And here are 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:
Neither zoomed shot is perfect - the Lumia 950 version is very definitely 'processed', while the P9 shot is 'dulled', but the 950 version has masses more detail visible. Looking here at the crops, it's as if the P9 version wasn't even focussed perfectly, but I made sure at the time that every snap had a successful focus lock, so can only put this down to relatively dumbed down digital zoom. Yes, I know phone cameras aren't really supposed to zoom, but hey, the 950 does to a degree and it's something regular users do try from time to time - I've seen them! (And I wished I'd brought my Lumia 1020 along for comparison, by the way - this HAS a detent, in that zooming STOPS at the PureView lossless zoom limit - take note Microsoft, this is how these things are supposed to work.)
Lumia 950: 7 pts, Huawei P9: 5 pts
Test 4: Sunny zoom - take 2!
Slightly peturbed by the poor showing of the P9 in the previous test, I tried another zoomed shot, this time a little further in, so as to expose weaknesses in the Lumia 950's digital zoom algorithms too, and in perfect conditions. Here's the full (zoomed) scene:
In case you want to grab the original zoomed images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Huawei P9, click the links to download. And here are 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 both zoomed shots are rather ugly - the 950's is so sharpened and blocky that it's hard to look at, while the P9 just seems to blur out all detail. Both versions look acceptable on a phone screen but their defects are evident here at 1:1 in our comparator. I still have to give a slight win for the 950 though, because it simply shows up detail that isn't there at all in the P9 version.
Lumia 950: 5 pts, Huawei P9: 4 pts
Test 5: Rich colours, interior lights
A tropical still life scene, I loved the green of the leaves, turned HDR on manually and was focussing (by tapping) on the right hand of these. Here's the full scene:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Huawei P9, click the links to download. And here are 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:
There's a vibrance to the green in the 950's photo that was definitely there to my eyes in real life, while the P9's version is good on its own but pales a little by comparison. In fairness, the much smaller aperture of the P9's camera meant a larger Depth Of Field, so all of the leaves were perfectly in focus rather than just one, but I still have to give the nod to the 950 because of the light handling and colours.
Lumia 950: 9 pts, Huawei P9: 8 pts
Test 6: Pro adjustment
Another typical touristy shot, here of a pretty maiden(!), all in shadow with the setting sun some way behind. I had to shoot behind railings, so necessarily used a tiny bit of zoom and, importantly, used the 'pro' settings in each camera phone to add an extra exposure (EV) stop. Here's the full scene:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Huawei P9, click the links to download. And here are 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:
Yet again the Lumia produces the more sharpened, contrasty image, with more detail, though the P9 image has a certain ethereal, unsharpened beauty, perhaps fitting the subject. Does Microsoft overdo the sharpening and contrast enhancement? Definitely, this could and should be dialled back or at the very least an option. (And, yet again, I wished I'd taken my Lumia 1020 along for comparison!) Despite my processing reservations, a slight nod to the 950 image though - I checked with family and other eyes...
Lumia 950: 9 pts, Huawei P9: 8 pts
Test 7: Low light action
Set up in the same way, shooting into an aquarium, I preset focus for the Easter Island statue and waited for a shark to swim right in front of it. Here's the full scene:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Huawei P9, click the links to download. And here are 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:
I'm not going to call a winner here. Despite the Lumia 950's fabled Dynamic Exposure, it still couldn't cope with the movement under these light conditions. The P9 similarly, with both shots being too blurry to be usable, other than to capture a memory.
Lumia 950: 5 pts, Huawei P9: 5 pts
Test 8: LED flash test
In this case a hanging basket, lit from about a metre away and with tap-to-focus on the yellow flower. Here's the full scene:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Huawei P9, click the links to download. And here are 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 easy win for the triple LED flash, larger sensor, larger aperture and OIS in the Lumia 950, with crystal clear detail and great colours, even in pitch dark conditions. Twin sensor or not (and I'm not convinced that the second one helps at all), the P9 is just massively outgunned here.
Lumia 950: 9 pts, Huawei P9: 5 pts
Test 9: Night time
My standard suburban road test in the dead of night. Here's the full scene:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Huawei P9, click the links to download. And here are 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 physics wins in terms of a 1/5s exposure, made possible by OIS, versus a 1/16s exposure on the P9, though the latter did remarkably well to get a crisp shot. When taking a low light shot with the P9, a message comes up about 'keep the phone steady' and I suspect that it's using accelerometer data to take the shot at an optimal point between natural hand shakes. And, also in fairness, the scene to my eyes was closer to the P9's, in that it really was pretty dark.
However, it's hard not to give the win to the Lumia 950 for turning night to 'day' (and capturing detail that I wouldn't have thought possible. The 950 even managed to focus on its own - and this doesn't always happen in the dark.
Lumia 950: 9 pts, Huawei P9: 7 pts
Verdict
You'll know the result without me even adding up the points, of course - and hopefully you'll agree with me on the direction of the scoring. But, for completeness:
- Lumia 950: 71 pts
- Huawei P9: 58 pts
The P9 does have the extra trick of being able to capture genuine monochrome shots with its extra camera, plus there are the computational 'bokeh' effects of the 'Shallow Depth of Field' mode to fall back on, but the former is somewhat niche and the latter not as effective as real, physical DOF 'bokeh', quite possible on a large apertured flagship like the Lumia 950.
My conclusion after the initial comparison of the two smartphones as a whole was that the Lumia 950 was ahead of the more expensive P9 - just. And I gave the win in imaging to the 950 on a gut feel after only a few test shots. Hopefully this feature has put some flesh on the imaging 'win'. For the umpteenth time, physics wins when it comes to photography and the Lumia 950 simply overpowers the P9 at every turn. Given the P9's price and marketing this is somewhat remarkable.
PS. The P9 was on launch firmware. My tests indicate that the twin cameras aren't working optimally yet, but there's always room for software updates to improve things, in time. So don't write its imaging off completely - if Huawei can get that monochrome/colour camera combination working properly then there's certainly potential here.