Let's start with a few specs, obviously favouring the far newer device, but worth noting anyway:
| Lumia 950 | Galaxy S20 |
|
Single camera: 20 MP, f/1.9, 1/2.4", PDAF, OIS |
Three cameras(!): 12 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide), 1/1.76", Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS |
What Samsung has done here doesn't make a whole lot of sense, to be honest. The main camera should be pretty good, with a decent sensor with large pixels and OIS. But it all falls apart with zoom, where the 64MP unit doesn't cut in until 2x, at which point you've had between 1 and 1.9x digital (lossy) zoom from the main camera. And then when you get to the 64MP unit, you're only using the centre quarter, i.e. 3/4 of the sensor isn't used at all!!
Quite bizarre. And the only explanation I can think of is that the 64MP was needed for the '8k video' claim and that still image functions were partly shoehorned in on the back of that. Mind you, the Lumia 950 itself isn't known for great zoom (unlike the 1020) - its lossless zoom range is only about 1.5x. So in that sense these phones aren't a terrible match!
Anyway, on with the tests. Can Microsoft's 2015 Lumia flagship/camera champion get close to the 'state of the art' in Android high end imaging as we head into 2020, almost half a decade later?
Notes:
- I've shot at the default output resolutions on each, leaving headroom for some lossless 'PureView' zoom into the sensors and also getting the advantages of oversampling and noise reduction (on the Lumia).
- As usual, I've deliberately thrown in mainly tricky shots in the scene selection, to test the USPs here, all photos were taken on full auto and handheld, as a regular user would do. No tripods or RAW editing sessions needed!
Let's pit the results against each other, using our Famed Interactive Comparator (FIC). All 1:1 crops are at 900x500 for comparison, though I've put up the originals on my own server, for you to download if you want to do your own analysis.
| 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: Sunny landscape
The Handley Herald at Berkshire Museum of Aviation, in patchy Spring sunshine. Here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and Galaxy S20, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 (top) and then Galaxy S20 (bottom), just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
It's tough to score these, as the approaches to image processing vary so much. The PureView processing on the Lumia 950 produces a pretty natural photo, almost as if you were looking out through a window onto real life, while the Samsung image pipeline 'enhances' everything. So brighter, more colourful, sharper. Which is better? I'd argue the former, but most people would naturally pick the photo that 'popped' more.
Down at the pixel level here, I'd point out the gravel beneath the plane has lots all its fine detail in the Samsung shot, while the sharpening of all the texture on the plane's fuselage comes across as ugly.
Microsoft Lumia 950: 10 pts; Samsung Galaxy S20: 9 pts
Test 2: Now zoomed x2
The same scene, but zoomed explicitly by 2x in the S20's UI and guessed at with the Lumia 950(!) You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and Galaxy S20, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 (top) and then Galaxy S20 (bottom), just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
The tables are turned when zoomed, with the Lumia struggling to include some lossy digital zoom (roughly a 0.5x factor) and with the S20 managing just fine with smart cropping, PureView-style, into its 64MP sensor. The better signal to noise in the S20 image is also partly down to modern sensors and frame combination techniques, of course, allied to a massively more powerful chipset.
Microsoft Lumia 950: 8 pts; Samsung Galaxy S20: 10 pts
Test 3: Into the cockpit
Inside the plane, in good but not direct light, there's loads of dash detail to capture and inspect in detail. Here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and Galaxy S20, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 (top) and then Galaxy S20 (bottom), just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Both photos are pretty good, handheld. But the Lumia 950's shot is far purer - just look at the grey metal baseplate of the dash. In addition, fine details like text and numbers are slightly thicker than real life in the S20's shot, this is edge enhancement at work when it doesn't really need to be there.
Microsoft Lumia 950: 10 pts; Samsung Galaxy S20: 9 pts
Test 4: Another sunny landscape, ripe for zooming!
This time a posh house in a quiet estate in Woodley, shot from about 70m. Here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and Galaxy S20, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 (top) and then Galaxy S20 (bottom), just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
I'm sorry Samsung, but this is appallingly overdone processing. It make look great on the phone screen but if you look at the details (as here) then it's a pixellated nightmare. You can tell that the Lumia 950 image is already sharpened, with the cement lines between bricks thicker than they are in real life, but the S20 takes this to new (crazy) levels. The house, its grounds, and its details, don't look real. At all.
Microsoft Lumia 950: 9 pts; Samsung Galaxy S20: 7 pts
Test 5: Now zoomed x3
The same scene, but zoomed explicitly by 3x in the S20's UI (i.e. just about maximum) and guessed at with the Lumia 950(!) You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and Galaxy S20, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 (top) and then Galaxy S20 (bottom), just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Although beyond its 'PureView' (smart cropping) range, the Galaxy S20 pulls back a few points here, with a 3x zoomed shot that's still artificial, but more detailed and not as ugly as the Lumia's attempt. In fairness to the 950, it never claimed to zoom further than 2x and I'd pleaded with Nokia/Microsoft for years to have a detent put into the UI at the smart cropping limit. Oh well. Too late now. The Galaxy S20 is lossless to 2x, albeit with tiny pixels, but its interpolative algiorithms are much better at software zoom, as seen here.
Microsoft Lumia 950: 6 pts; Samsung Galaxy S20: 8 pts
Test 6: Challenging macro
Add low light to shooting through glass to tiny model detail. Here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and Galaxy S20, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 (top) and then Galaxy S20 (bottom), just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
With the large apertures on phone camera flagships, shallow depth of field is just physics, and each phone camera has chosen to focus on a slightly different spot here. The Lumia 950 has the wing roots in sharp focus, while the S20 has the model man nice and crisp. Taken as a whole (and I encourage you to grab the originals from the links above), both are excellent photos though - no complaints from me!
Microsoft Lumia 950: 10 pts; Samsung Galaxy S20: 10 pts
Test 7: The finest of detail
A favourite subject of mine, especially to really test the resolving power of phone camera (main) lenses - tree branches against a blue sky. Here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and Galaxy S20, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 (top) and then Galaxy S20 (bottom), just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Looking here at fine detail, there's a huge difference between the two phone cameras. The Lumia 950's is sharpened, but still manages to pick up most small twigs and also look like a real, healthy tree. But the Galaxy S20 crop shows the tree looking like it's barely surviving a nuclear winter! The twigs look dead, any leaves are dark splodges, and everything is so sharpened, so enhanced, so... jagged.
Not my idea of capturing real (still) life.
Microsoft Lumia 950: 9 pts; Samsung Galaxy S20: 6 pts
Test 8: Low light
Our local golf clubhouse, floodlit at night. Here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950, don't worry about the angles being a bit off, I was having to shoot from inside a car as it was blowing a 30mph wind and I couldn't stand still enough(!):
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and Galaxy S20, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 (top) and then Galaxy S20 (bottom), just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Perhaps a score draw here overall? While the S20's sharpening and contrast-enhancements look ugly at the pixel level, the Lumia 950's attempt looks too pale - there was a car drawing up to my left and I do wonder whether reflections threw the algorithms slightly? Neither photo is particularly great, so it's 7 points a piece....
Microsoft Lumia 950: 7 pts; Samsung Galaxy S20: 7 pts
Test 9: Dead of night
My standard ultra-low-light test (without going into multi-second exposure night modes). Here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and Galaxy S20, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 (top) and then Galaxy S20 (bottom), just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Other than the ugly greenery at the pixel level, the S20 edges this one. Remember when the 950 was the king of the night? We now have most flagship main cameras coming with larger sensors, larger apertures, the same OIS and much more processor power. There's sharpening here, but it's in balance with trying to pull detail out of such low light.
Microsoft Lumia 950: 8 pts; Samsung Galaxy S20: 9 pts
Verdict
For the record, the scores add up as:
- Lumia 950 (late 2015): 77 pts
- Samsung Galaxy S20 (2020): 75 pts
So a narrow victory for the ageing Lumia, much to my surprise. I'm sure I'll get my fair share of hate mail, as usual, but in fairness, phones like the iPhone 11 Pro and Pixel 4 have rightly dominated the Lumia 950 in the last year - and it's a shock to see a 2020 flagship struggle to do the same. Now, the S20 focusses much faster and thus will probably get better shots of pets and small kids, I'm sure. But they'll still end up at the wrong end of Samsung's sharpening stick, I reckon.
As ever, Samsung can fix the sharpening in updates if they have the will. I've spotted dialling up in past updates for my Galaxy S9+, so perhaps there's yet hope?