As a reminder of the specs of the cameras on the six year old Lumia 950 XL and the brand new Pixel 6 Pro:
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Lumia 950 XL (2015): Dedicated camera shutter button and launch key 20MP PureView f/1.9 1/2.4" BSI sensor, PDAF, OIS |
Pixel 6 Pro (2021): 50MP, f/1.9, 25mm focal length, 1/1.31" optical format, Laser autofocus, OIS, 'spectral and flicker' sensor 48MP, f/3.5, 104mm focal length, 1/2" optical format, PDAF, OIS, 4x magnification 12MP, f/2.2, 17mm, 114˚ (ultrawide) |
As mentioned at length in my initial camera comparison (with the iPhone 12 Pro Max), the Pixel 6 Pro suffers from the 'zoom gap', where 2x and 3x zoom is all digital and very lossy, on the main camera. But for the purposes of this feature, the Lumia 950 XL fares little better, with zoom being lossy after about 1.5x, the PureView smart-crop limit. I'll include a few digital zoom examples, but both phone cameras are pretty lousy in this range.
Of course, the Pixel 6 Pro has the extra periscope lens system that offers zoom over 4x in good light, and again, I'll include an example of this, though as the Lumia doesn't have a telephoto then there's no point in going to town on this. Plus, as I say, this is only for good light, and there's no way to force the Pixel down this route. Finally, the regular Pixel 6 (i.e. no 'Pro') doesn't have the periscope in the first place.
So let's focus more on the main camera for the purposes of this feature and that way it also serves as a comparison with what is the better value Pixel 6 and the one most likely to be under consideration by readers.
As usual on this site, most 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, 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
My standard suburban test scene, in weak winter sun in the UK. Here's the scene, for context:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 6 Pro for your own analysis.
1:1 crops then, from the Lumia and then the Pixel 6 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, though I'd take issue with the Lumia's typical 'golden' cast making the scene seem warmer than it really was, plus I'd take issue with the Pixel's insistence on raising the brightness of parts of an image which are supposed to be in shadow - it's HDR to the max all the time.
But despite these niggles, I'd have to be harsh to deduct a point in my scoring system, I reckon!
Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Google Pixel 6 Pro: 10 pts
Test 2: Sunny landscape, 2x zoomed
The same scene but zoomed to 2x, a very common real world zoom factor. The Lumia has to dip into lossy zoom by 0.5x extra, while the Pixel has to use lossy digital zoom, since Google's Super Res Zoom is still not yet working on this, the larger Pixel 6 device. (In an email dialogue, Google claims it is, I beg to differ. Go figure!)
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 6 Pro for your own analysis.
1:1 crops then, from the Lumia and then the Pixel 6 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
The difference in framing (and in the crops) is entirely due to me having to guess at the zoom factor on the Lumia, since there's no way of telling in the Camera UI. Regardless, both photos are showing signs of digital stress, with 'jaggies' and uncertainty creeping in. To be fair to each, the photo viewed as a whole, in each case, looks fine, you have to look at 1:1 to see things starting to go wrong. But it's enough for me to start docking points.
Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Google Pixel 6 Pro: 9 pts
Test 3: Sunny landscape, 4x zoomed
The same scene, but zoomed x4. Yes, I did say that I wasn't going to major on zoom in this feature, but it would be unfair of me to not allow the Pixel 6 Pro to use its 4x telephoto lens at least once. Of course, its main sensor zoom at 3x and up to 3.9x is almost as much of a disaster as the Lumia's, but let's at least praise the Pixel for the 4x detail here.
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 6 Pro for your own analysis.
1:1 crops then, from the Lumia and then the Pixel 6 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Striking here is not only how much better (well, duh!) the optical zoom is over the Lumia's lossy digital, but how spectacularly good the Pixel's periscope lens system is. It's mind-blowingly detailed and crisp, plus Google's Super Res Zoom algorithms do seem to work (unlike on the main sensor). Heck, I'd give the Pixel 11 pts here if I could. (But I don't want to go down DxOMark territory, devaluing scores year on year!)
Lumia 950 XL: 5 pts; Google Pixel 6 Pro: 10 pts
Test 4: Vivid nature
With the sun out, I was struck by the glorious yellows in this tree. Here's the scene, for context:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 6 Pro for your own analysis.
1:1 crops then, from the Lumia and then the Pixel 6 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Oh my word, tha Lumia PureView shot is glorious. Even at 1:1 in the 8MP output image, it's sharp yet natural and looking real. The Pixel 6 Pro's main camera does well enough and is typical of a 'camera phone' shot, but it's all a bit tame compared to the Lumia's majesty here.
Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Google Pixel 6 Pro: 9 pts
Test 5: HDR landscape
Shooting partly into the sun, with loads of detail and areas of deep shadow.
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 6 Pro for your own analysis.
Scaled images first then, from the Lumia and then the Pixel 6 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Honours even overall here, with the Pixel 6 Pro offering more apparent HDR detail, but suffering obvious lens flare (the larger optics being the culprit here) to go with it. As you might imagine, we need to look at 1:1 though, to see what's really being picked up in terms of detail. That's immediately below.
Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Google Pixel 6 Pro: 9 pts
Now for 1:1 crops, from the Lumia and then the Pixel 6 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
I've used this metaphor before, but to my eyes the Lumia shot, even at 1:1 looks natural, real, while the Pixel shot looks as if someone's taken a photo and then used Photoshop or similar to 'enhance' everything (including edges). With the end result looking a little hyper-real/artificial. Sorry, Google. I don't think the company needs to apply so much enhancement when the main sensor is so larger and capable.
I realise that this is subjective, but I'm giving the Lumia the slight win, in terms of how the scene is/was in real life.
Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Google Pixel 6 Pro: 9 pts
Test 6: Dusk, low light
At sunset, with light falling, and plenty of suburban detail. Here's the scene, for context:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 6 Pro for your own analysis.
1:1 crops then, from the Lumia and then the Pixel 6 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
All very interesting, in that 'modern' imaging preferences show up in the Pixel shot, with all detail being edge and contrast enhanced. So both the full image and the crop leap out to the eye as 'better', even though the Lumia's detail is more natural and more accurate. And, if you so wished, you could apply enhancement to its photo later with a utility, whereas the Pixel's image is already 'processed' and you can't get back to purer detail.
I know this is a case of me nailing my image processing colours to the mast, but I'm still convinced that I'm right here. Better to start natural and then enhance later if you want to.
Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Google Pixel 6 Pro: 8 pts
Test 7: Dusk again, but close range colour and detail
This is a painting by the roadside, done for Halloween recently and still on display. Shot in very low light at about 1.3m. Here's the scene, for context, brighter than it was to my eyes, but you get the idea:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 6 Pro for your own analysis.
1:1 crops then, from the Lumia and then the Pixel 6 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
In what will become a common theme in the tests below, the Pixel 6 Pro is 'trying too hard'. Your own eyes can confirm, but here at the pixel level the Lumia 950 XL's shot is just perfect in terms of natural detail and ambience, while the Pixel's photo took 20 times as long to shoot and is over-enhanced to the point of looking like a beefed up photocopy, with edges and contrast cranked up to the max.
Show the crop comparison to the man in the street and they might well pick the 'brighter, clearer' Pixel shot as better, but they'd be wrong. This painting/mural was shot in very low light and neither colours or detail are accurate to reality.
Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Google Pixel 6 Pro: 9 pts
Test 8: Night test
A village road junction at night, about as dim as you'd realistically shoot on a phone camera. And yes, I'm expecting big things from that Pixel 'Night sight' mode. Here's the scene, for context:
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 6 Pro for your own analysis.
1:1 crops then, from the Lumia and then the Pixel 6 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Although the Lumia is doing really well for a phone camera from 2015, the extra clarity that comes from the Pixel 6 Pro's Night Sight mode is astonishing. Now, the Lumia took its photo in a fraction of a second while the Pixel took a full 10 seconds (and another 5 seconds to process the photo before it could be seen in its final state, so 15s total!), enough to lose it a point. But hey, this is a static scene and I didn't use a tripod, making it a practical shot that anyone could take handheld. With a Pixel or indeed any other modern flagship with a similar multi-frame night mode.
Lumia 950 XL: 8 pts; Google Pixel 6 Pro: 9 pts
Test 9: Night drama
A dark night with a floodlit church standing out, plus a crisp tree as a mid-ground silhouette.
You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 6 Pro for your own analysis.
Scaled images first then, from the Lumia and then the Pixel 6 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
It's hard to criticise either photo, scaled for the web here - the Pixel 6 Pro's Night Sight certainly brings out extra foreground detail, albeit with the caveat that it takes ten seconds to capture all this. While the Lumia pretty closely gets the scene as my eyes saw things, and did so in under a second. Honours even on balance.
Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Google Pixel 6 Pro: 9 pts
Now for 1:1 crops, from the Lumia and then the Pixel 6 Pro, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Down at the pixel level, the PureView oversampling on the six year old Lumia clearly does a much better job, with wonderful 'purity', with the tree branches being crisp and clear, with the stained glass window properly exposed and full of detail and colour. The Pixel 6 Pro tries so hard to ramp up light and HDR across the whole scene that it makes a mess of brighter details, plus the tree branches are either thickened or missing, implying unnecessary edge enhancement.
Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Google Pixel 6 Pro: 8 pts
Scores on the doors
For the record, the scores add up as (and I swear this wasn't a fix):
- Lumia 950 XL (2015): 99 pts (/110)
- Google Pixel 6 Pro (2021): 99 pts
The conclusions, at least in terms of the test scenes here, are that a) the six year old Lumia's results still hold up superbly against the 2021 flagships, and b) that the Pixel 6 Pro could be - and should be - better. You'll remember that it lost out by some margin to the year old iPhone 12 Pro Max in my previous shootout. In particular, having Super Res Zoom working on the main camera would help a lot, plus Google should dial back all the populist image enhancements - they're simply not needed when the sensor and optics are so large.
Of course, how such comparisons fare in terms of scoring depends a lot on how many tests involved zoom. I've said before that the 4x periscope camera on the Pixel 6 Pro is excellent and by including half a dozen serious zoomed shots I could have swung the scores significantly. But I was trying to be restrained - it's obvious that the Pixel will be miles better at 4x-10x zoom, so I was more interested in the main camera, the one that will be used most of the time, for most subjects, and indeed which will be used for all photos once light levels start to dim.