The usual thorny question of resolution pops up when comparing multiple devices, of course, but thankfully things can be kept fairly simple here. The LG G5 outputs in a true 16MP in 16:9, matching perfectly the 16MP in the same aspect ratio from the Lumia 950. True, the latter doesn't get to use its PureView oversampling at all, but it's still a perfectly valid resolution in Windows 10 Camera settings. And simplifies the comparisons enormously.
The G5's party trick is to be able to shoot (low resolution) wide angle photos too, with its second camera, but here I was more concerned with high resolution and detail up front rather than all around.
| 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! You ideally need a powerful, large-screened tablet or a proper laptop or desktop. This comparator may not work in IE or Edge on Windows phones. Sorry about that. |
Test 1: Sunny landscape
A typical sunny landscape, of a garage supermarket, 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 LG G5, 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:
Unsurprisingly, there's not that much difference between these two photos, as you might expect in ideal conditions. Both pretty great photos, considering we're looking down at 1:1 detail here on full 16MP photos captured on phone cameras. Clearly I'll have to try harder in terms of pushing the hardware!
Lumia 950: 10 pts, LG G5: 10 pts
Test 2: Sunny zoom
A sunny landscape again, but this time using some digital zoom, to try and resolve detail on the distant 'blade' landmark. 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 LG G5, 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:
As usual, Microsoft's Windows 10 Camera makes a complete mess of digital zoom. With no PureView zoom to fall back on this shot is a disaster. In contrast, the G5 uses interpolative techniques very intelligently to produce a decent photo. WHY CAN'T THE IMAGING ENGINEERS AT MICROSOFT FIX DIGITAL ZOOM? As you can tell, I get quite angry about this!
Lumia 950: 3 pts, LG G5: 9 pts
Test 3: Macro time
In this case, getting up and close with a lovely purple 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 LG G5, 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:
The Lumia 950 back on top form here, with lovely colours and handling of even the brightest spots - and look at the tiny, tiny insect photo-bombing! The G5 main camera does OK, but there's some overblown detail in the centre, with the white stamen etc. Plus the G5 shot doesn't look as natural.
Lumia 950: 10 pts, LG G5: 8 pts
Test 4: Flash test
A branded cap, shot at about a metre. 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 LG G5, 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 shots are perfectly crisp, but the triple LED flash on the Lumia 950 (c.f. single LED on the G5) makes a huge difference in terms of results, with the logo popping far more and all the extra detail of the material around it being clearly visible.
Lumia 950: 10 pts, LG G5: 8 pts
Test 5: Late evening
A look into the dusk sky, up a street, with plenty of detail and artificial lighting. To my eyes, it was a lot darker than this, but that's the magic of OIS at work, I guess!! 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 LG G5, 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:
Considering how low the light was (don't go by the shots on the page here!), both phone cameras did amazingly well here. The G5 sharpens the image a little too aggressively and there doesn't seem to be as much light getting to the sensor, evidenced by the darker areas in the crop, while the Lumia 950 camera does very well indeed in every regard - all the more remarkably given that this 16MP mode is not its comfort zone (it's happier oversampling away noise to deliver 8MP shots).
Lumia 950: 9 pts, LG G5: 8 pts
Test 6: Extreme dark
OK, pushing the sensors and optics to the absolute limit, this is a tremendously dark scene of the local church, with just a glimmer of light in the sky behind (again much less than the overview seems to indicate). 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 LG G5, 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:
It's not entirely clear how the Lumia 950 camera and optics manage to work this magic (though a 0.2s exposure helps), handheld, but it's very impressive indeed. A combination of top notch ZEISS optics, best-in-class-OIS and fine tuned algorithms? The G5 rather fails in this test, but given the conditions you can't really blame it....
Lumia 950: 9 pts, LG G5: 5 pts
Verdict
Adding up the scores gives us a broadbrush comparison of the two smartphone cameras:
- Lumia 950: 51/60
- LG G5: 47/60
It's somewhat telling that the Lumia 950 camera comes out on top despite failing so miserably in the digital zoom test - if zoom is taken out of the equation then the 950 is ahead by even further, almost 10 points. If only Microsoft could tackle this aspect too then the 950's camera would be almost perfect....
There are other factors to consider when choosing a camera-centric smartphone, of course. The LG G5 does have laser auto-focus and this works really well - and fast, much better than the phase detection auto-focus on the Lumia 950, plus the second wide angle camera might have its uses for landscapes and tourist attractions. Or large groups of people. but overall, I'd still rather have the Lumia 950 in my pocket if image quality across all scenarios is paramount.
As ever, I've included all the original images for download above so you can grab the JPGs, examine the EXIF data and generally do your own analysis, should you want to.
PS. See also some of my other recent smartphone camera head to heads: Lumia 950 vs HTC 10, Lumia 950 XL vs Google Nexus 6P, Lumia 950 vs Huawei P9 and Lumia 950 vs iPhone SE (6s) here on AAWP.