With OIS on top of its famed HDR+ multi-exposure system, the Google Pixel has been taking the PureView system into a different domain for a while now, but can it match the king, the Lumia 950/XL camera, that debuted in 2015, the 'last' great Nokia imaging system? Both the Lumia and Pixel 2 pairs have the identical camera in each size of device, by the way, so don't worry that I was testing the XL unit for the Lumia 950 and the smaller unit in the Pixel 2 line. They just happened to be what I had to hand and convenient.
- The Pixel 2's shots are 12MP shooting at 4:3, equating in pixel density to about 9MP when looking at 16:9, meaning that I chose to shoot at 8MP on the Lumia 950 XL - I do like to match up resolutions as best possible so that I can use Rafe's fancy interactive comparator, below. I'm not worried too much about cheating the Lumia, since the 'missing' resolution is used for oversampling and purer pixels, plus they're used when zooming in any case.
- The fields of view of the two phone cameras are slightly different, I've tried to centre crops on the same detail where possible, for ease of comparison.
- All photos were taken on full 'auto' on both phones, unless stated otherwise.
The test shots here exclude any in sunlight, it's wintry and miserable, windy and rainy here in the UK at the moment and there's nothing I can do about that. So most of the test shots below are indoors. If you want tests with blue skies and rich sunsets then seek out a reviewer in the USA or in the Southern hemisphere! However, the focus on low light makes for a much more challenging head to head since these phone cameras can nail sunny shots in their sleep. I'm more interested in seeing what happens when the going gets really tough.
So, yes, not my usual test from bright sun to darkest night and I forgot to shoot a 'party mockup' photo, but logistics dictated what was possible in this case. Anyway, we can pit the results against each other, using our Famed Interactive Comparator (FIC). All 1:1 crops are at 900x500 for comparison, but see the links for full versions.
| 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 some browsers. Sorry about that. On Windows 10 Mobile, use the 'AAWP Universal' UWP app, which handles the comparator very competently (see the tips in the app's help screens). |
Test 1: Artificial light, living room
Average indoor 'gentle' lighting. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950, making it seem slightly lighter than it was to my eyes:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and Google Pixel 2, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 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:
Dramatically better results on the Lumia 950 XL, and hopefully your eyes agree in the comparator above. The Pixel 2 camera adds a reddish tint that wasn't there in real life, plus there are noise and artefacts on what should be easy to render shelving and walls. It's absolutely fair to say that the Pixel 2 was on its launch firmware and that updates will improve its camera results, but right now it just got walloped by the 'king'.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Google Pixel 2: 6 pts
Test 2: Artificial light, living room, but zoomed
Never mind a scene without bright natural light, let's up the ante again, by adding in roughly 2x zoom - note that neither phone provides a zoom indicator in the UI, so the exact zoom factor was a rough guess(!):
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and Google Pixel 2, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 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:
Even though I'd clearly zoomed the Pixel 2 a bit further than the Lumia (though not as much as you might think, since the Pixel 2's camera field of view is narrower), there's again no comparison here - the Lumia destroys the Pixel 2 in terms of noise handling and artefacts. At least the latter's pink tint is gone, though I just don't understand how Google's usually excellent aHDR+ software is making a mess of this sort of detail. Puzzling.
The Lumia 950's PureView zoom is helping here, of course. What's that? The Lumia's obsolete? Oh probably, but I don't care - my tests here are comparing phone cameras to the gold standard...
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Google Pixel 2: 5 pts
Test 3: Snapping a print
Again indoors (I blame the weather!), here's a nice seaside print on a wall, lit by incandescent light. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and Google Pixel 2, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 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:
OK, time for the Pixel 2 to get something right - it takes this print perfectly, with the weave of the canvas clearly brought out. Meanwhile the Lumia makes something of a smeared mess of the canvas, probably due to focussing issues (PDAF only), while the Pixel 's laser autofocus is pin-sharp.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 7 pts; Google Pixel 2: 10 pts
Test 4: Beer o'clock
An archetypal low light show, beer time, here with a pretty glass and lit from all sides by small and colourful light sources. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and Google Pixel 2, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 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 the different field of view is very evident, with the Pixel 2 appearing to shoot slightly 'closer' while the Lumia 950 is more wide angle. The Lumia 950 shot is pretty good under very challenging light conditions, but I prefer the Pixel 2's photo overall, with the extra processing and (again) laser sharp focus bringing out incredible detail in the logo on the glass.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 8 pts; Google Pixel 2: 10 pts
Test 5: Flash photography
Looking at detail at night in a dark corner, lit only by the phone's LED flash(es). Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:
To look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 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 think I'm starting to get a feel for the Pixel 2 camera in very low light now. Rather than use its OIS for long exposures, the way traditional phone camera do things, it still takes a fast burst of ten images and then uses pixel combination across all of them to get better results. The OIS merely helps make sure that all ten are 'aligned', which is one less thing the processor has to sort out. The problem with this is that in very low light, all ten short exposure images will be almost black and even layering them together isn't going to beat the simple technique of using the OIS to allow a longer exposure, handheld.
The Lumia 950 used a 1/10s exposure here, along with its triple LED flash, while the Pixel 2 reports 1/10s also, but I suspect that this is ten 1/100s exposures combined, lit by dual LED flash. The end result is, as you can see, a significantly better lit and more colourful result from the Lumia.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 8 pts; Google Pixel 2: 6 pts
Test 6: Dead of night
As it sounds, just some street lamps and some house lights in view. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:
In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and Google Pixel 2, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 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:
This one's interesting and you could argue it both ways. The Lumia arguably doesn't quite nail the focus (typical for the 950 XL in low light), but the result is well coloured and noise-free, thanks to the oversampling sensor. While the Pixel 2 nails the focus and brings out genuine extra detail, but at the expense of digital noise, artefacts and unnatural colours. I think the Pixel 2 wins this by a nose, but I'm prepared to be convinced otherwise.
Good results, shot handheld, under incredibly difficult lighting circumstances.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 7 pts; Google Pixel 2: 8 pts
Verdict
Adding up the points (just for fun, I realise that this feature isn't quite as over-arching as others in the series) gives us:
- Lumia 950/XL: 46/60
- Pixel 2/XL: 45/60
So a narrow but not significant win for the Lumia 950 XL - and no, this isn't a fix, I promise. I score these tests as I go. Note that I intend to revisit the Pixel 2 camera when a) I get proper availability, b) when Google has fixed up its firmware further, and c) when the Pixel 2's dedicated Visual Core ISP is enabled. At that time, I'll make sure to include a full range of lighting conditions, including full sun if possible! So watch this space...
The Pixel 2 camera still fared better than the original Pixel, despite having a smaller (1/2.6" on the '2' versus 1/2.3" on the original) sensor, showing again how far we've come in terms of getting good results from physically less impressive camera hardware thanks to intensive multi-frame image processing.
So what do I expect from a full 950-vs-Pixel 2 camera comparison, across a wider range of light conditions? I think it will be very close indeed. The Pixel 2 wins for speed, of course, focussing more accurately and in an instant, plus post-processing on each shot is only a second or so, versus about eight seconds on the older Lumia 950 XL, with a far slower chipset.
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