Let's start with a few specs, obviously favouring the far newer device, but worth noting anyway:
| Microsoft Lumia 950 XL | Huawei P40 Pro |
|
Single camera: 20 MP, f/1.9, 1/2.4", PDAF, OIS |
Main camera: 50 MP RYYB, f/1.9, 1/1.28", omnidirectional PDAF, OIS Periscope camera: 12 MP RYYB, f/3.4, PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom Ultra-wide camera: 40 MP, f/1.8, 1/1.54", PDAF |
Huawei's array makes a lot of sense, in terms of getting the most light in, most efficiently (those RYYB sensors), and in getting up to a very useable 10x hybrid zoom, while also having a wide angle system that can focus (unusual). The only weaknesses I can spot are what happens between zoom of about 3x and 4.9x, and a general worry that Huawei will have overdone the edge enhancement for the nth year in a row...
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 in 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, where appropriate, and also getting the advantages of oversampling and noise reduction.
- The field of view of the various cameras compared is different, so 1:1 crops won't always show exactly the same framing.
- 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
Suburbia. CoronaVirus means I can't walk far from my house! Here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, 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 950 XL, I think, with more natural details at the pixel level. The P40 Pro does well, but there's more sharpening and everything looks more artificial. There's a very slight (and typical) yellow cast on the Lumia shot, but it's not enough to stop it winning by a point here.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Huawei P40 Pro: 9 pts
Test 2: Sunny landscape, zoomed x3
The same scene, but zoomed by 3x. This is the most common zoom factor used by people in real life, even though it falls outside the Lumia's zoom range and is way less than that needed to kick in the 5x optical zoom of the P40 Pro.
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops from the zoomed shots, from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
The Lumia's traditionally terrible digital zoom (beyond 1.5x, the PureView limit) lets it down here, with blocky details and artefacts galore. Meanwhile the P40 Pro gets to 2x with PureView smart-cropping and then has better digital 'interpolative' zoom to take it to 3x. As a result, the photo looks slightly murky in terms of details, but it's significantly better than the Lumia's. As expected.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 7 pts; Huawei P40 Pro: 9 pts
Test 3: Sunny landscape, zoomed x5
The same scene, but zoomed by 5x, i.e. playing into the P40 Pro's strong suit, that 5x periscope optical zoom. The Lumia can't improve on its 3x result (already degraded), but is provided here in the comparator anyway.
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops from the zoomed shots, from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Enormously impressive to have a really good 5x zoom in something as slim as a phone, of course. Here, you can see small defects in the mortar and (almost) blades of grass. Plus the paving of the path too. Amazingly good, and also thanks to the P40 Pro's RYYB sensor and OIS, though remember a) that zoom in good light conditions is always going to be good and that things may degrade in lower light, and b) there are limited opportunities for 5x zoom in real life. Try it in your own homes and gardens, try it at social occasions (when we're all allowed out again!) and you'll see that 5x is too much most of the time. Hence my comments above about 3x zoom.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 5 pts; Huawei P40 Pro: 10 pts
Test 4: Arty close-up, into the sun
I couldn't resist this shot, into unseasonal sun in the UK. Both shots here are scaled for the web comparator, but you can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, scaled from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, 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 XL does very well to keep light under control, but the P40 Pro version is stunning in its HDR capability, yet without making the shot artificial. The detail, the colour, just spectacular.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 8 pts; Huawei P40 Pro: 10 pts
Test 5: Portrait time
Again, CoronaVirus means I can't walk far from my house, so here's a simple 'portrait' shot in the garden, daughter at the controls of each phone. The Lumia doesn't have a dedicated portrait mode, mind you. But the Huawei P40 Pro has to slum it in this department with constructing fake bokeh from the main lens and the ultra-wide (portrait shots on other phones typically use the main and telephoto), along with some help from the 'TOF' (Time Of Flight) low-res sensor. So neither are perfect, but we had a go anyway, adjusting framing to be similar and then a little scaling and cropping, for direct comparison here.
You can grab slightly scaled versions (trying to match framing) f the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are appropriate 1:1 crops of the original scaled images, from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, 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 decent enough - the Lumia gives me skin that's way too tanned/orange - as usual, while I'm too pale in the Huawei shot! Focussing is better on the P40 Pro, naturally, plus the bokeh 'shallow depth of field' effect is pretty good, I can't see any glaring pixel-level edge errors. We had to fiddle around a little with shooting distance but the P40 Pro got there in the end. Not perfect, but pretty darned good.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 7 pts; Huawei P40 Pro: 9 pts
Test 6: Sunny macro
Somy tiny pink flowers, as close as the phones could focus. And yes, I know the P40 Pro has an ultra-wide lens, but I'm trying to compare like with like here! Here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
The much larger P40 Pro lens and sensor mean that there's way shallower depth of field in its photo, so do look at the original JPG to see what I mean here. As a result, the crop shows a far 'artier' result than the Lumia, though the latter's photo is a lot more realistic and matter of fact. It's tough to penalise the P40 Pro too much though - I'm all for finding beauty in nature!
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Huawei P40 Pro: 9 pts
Test 7: Nature fractals(!)
Shooting nature, in all its intricate complexity, is always a good test of a camera phone. Here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
As you can see, the Huawei device struggles here, with the extra edge enhancement affecting the finer details, at least if you look closely. Although it's tempting to look at the background as examples of over-use of edge enhancement again - and there's a case to be made that this is what's happening, remember again that there's shallower depth of field on the much larger lens, so indistinctness in the background can at least be partly put down to it not being in the main focal plane.
The Lumia 950 XL produces a perfect shot, I'd say, by comparison.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Huawei P40 Pro: 9 pts
Test 8: Nature fractals, zoomed x2
The same scene but with some gentle zoom to get closer to the shoots of interest. You can grab the original (zoomed) photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Things are flipped, then, with 2x zoom. The Lumia is dipping into lossy digital zoom and you can start to see artefacts, while the P40 Pro is at the PureView lossless limit, i.e. at 1:1 on the sensor and shows full detail. Exposure and dynamic range suffer here, but this is a win for the Huawei and its newer arrangement.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 8 pts; Huawei P40 Pro: 9 pts
Test 9: Deep shadow
Looking at the ability of the phone cameras to pick out detail (the house sign) in deep shadow, i.e. handle extremes of light. Here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
A hat tip to the P40 Pro here for not over-exposing the sunlit bricks by the sign. But both phones do very well here overall.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Huawei P40 Pro: 10 pts
Test 10: Deep shadow, zoomed x5
The same scene but with some full/maximum zoom to get closer to the sign in the shadow. Now, the Lumia doesn't go up to 5x (sensibly), so I've simply gone as far as the UI lets me! You can grab the original (zoomed) photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Not surprisingly, the P40 Pro triumphs by a massive margin. A 5x optical zoom mechanism does 5x zoom very well - who knew?(!) That it's stabilised and a RYYB sensor both help too, in bringing 5x and above zoom to the smartphone, though again I have to sound a note of caution that if I'd wanted (say) 4.5x zoom then its results would have been fairly rubbish, since it would still have been lossy zoom on the main sensor. So it all depends on what you want to capture!
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 4 pts; Huawei P40 Pro: 10 pts
Test 11: Dusk landscape
Night is falling, here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950 but deliberately adjusted for presentation here to show you how dim it was to my eyes:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, for your own analysis. Note that in each case, I was interested in resolving detail on the clock, so I tapped to set exposure on that.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Interestingly, the P40 Pro's shot shows a reddish tint that's not there in real life, and also mirrors the red tint that came in when testing the Samsung 2020 phones last month. What is it about modern sensors and red? The extra brightness and difference in field of view give the impression of more detail in the P40 Pro shot, but if you look closely then the 950 XL has just as much real detail, with less enhancement. And perfect colouration. For a change, given the Lumia's other traits!
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Huawei P40 Pro: 8 pts
Test 12: Night time!
Suburbia at night. Here is the overall scene, from the Lumia 950:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, from the Lumia 950 XL and Huawei P40 Pro, 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 interesting - which would you pick as the better photo, judging from the crops? The P40 Pro shot is brighter and has greater contrast, but it's also muddied by edge enhancement and noise reduction causing smaller details to be missed. For example, look at the big green push to the right of the garage door in the crop. But I accept that these fine tuning aspects of night scenes are also down to personal preference. I much prefer the Lumia's details and it gets the win here.
Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Huawei P40 Pro: 7 pts
Verdict
For the record, the scores add up as:
- Huawei P40 Pro (2020): 109 pts (/120)
- Lumia 950 XL (late 2015): 94 pts
A significant victory for the P40 Pro, mainly on the back of decent 2x and stunning 5x zoom. You still won't quite get the purity you get from unzoomed Lumia shots, but there's a LOT of compensation in terms of extra modes and zoom/wide possibilities.
With the P40 Pro unable to use Google services, there are precisely two reasons to buy one - and they work together. First is if you're fearful of Google knowing too much about you - this is an Android phone that Google has zero knowledge of and with zero access to your data and whereabouts. Secondly, if you're coming from the world of Lumia and good imaging then, as suggested here, you also don't have to compromise too much in that department.