When Nokia released the Lumia 920 last year, one of the main highlights of the device along with a good design was the PureView camera which was able to take great photos even in low light. Nokia also released its mid range phone Lumia 720 with again a great camera and we had done the comparison of Lumia 920 and Lumia 720 with respect to the camera.
When Samsung announced its flagship phone, the Galaxy S4, it has quite a lot of new features including a 13MP camera. The camera has quite a lot of options when compared to what Lumia 920 has to offer. So does Galaxy S4 camera is better than Lumia 920? Lets find out in the detailed tests.
The photos on the left are from Galaxy S4 while the photos on right are from Lumia 920. (Click on the images to enlarge them).
Day Light Photos (Outside):
Day light captures were mixed, with both Galaxy S4 and Lumia 920 doing pretty good. While in some shots Galaxy S4 really exceled in bringing good color reproduction, Lumia 920 added an yellowish tint to it. Overall, we will pick Galaxy S4 as the winner here because it came up with good color reproduction.
Daylight light Photos (Inside):
When photos were taken inside the room during day light (no flash used), Lumia 920 came with better color reproduction and moreover, when we took close up photos, Galaxy S4 was not able to focus the image. We couldn’t find any manual settings for close up photos. Overall Lumia 920 is the winner here.
Low Light photos (Outside):
As you can see from the images below, Lumia 920 produced better shots in low light. Galaxy S4 was not bad, but the amount of noise it adds to the photos is high compared to Lumia 920. Lumia 920 is the clear winner here.
Low Light Photos (inside):
It is almost the same case when it comes to low light photography inside a room. While Galaxy S4 does produce decent shots, the amount of clarity is low. This is evident in the second photo where the keys are not clear in the Galaxy S4 shot.
When flash was used, both the photos were almost similar. But overall, Lumia 920 wins here.
Video Sample:
Video recording is almost similar in both Lumia 920 and Galaxy S4 with both producing decent video. But one issue with Galaxy S4 camera is that it adds a lot of noise into the video than the actual. Lumia 920 was more closer to real when the sound recording is considered. Overall, we would say both perform good.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Day time camera sample:
Lumia 920 day time Camera Sample:
Samsung Galaxy S4 Night camera sample:
Lumia 920 night time Camera Sample
Now coming to the options available in camera for both devices, Galaxy S4 is the clear winner as it has tons of features available when compared to Lumia 920. But remember, not all features are useful, many of them are just gimmicks.
So if we were to pick either of these purely based on the camera, we would Lumia 920 for its overall capabilities.
