Which of these phones pics look the best?

[admin_exported]

No camera settings were altered on either of the phones, I just pointed and shot. Not exactly a controlled experiment but hey.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

HTC One X.

iPhone 4S.

Galaxy Nexus

HTC One X.

iPhone 4S.

 

[Petherick]

Nexus wins!

Now, do you really have 3 phones??

 

[John Duncan]

None of them. They are from phones.

 

[MajorFubar]

iPhone. The dynamic range is in a different league to the other two (certainly on the outside shots). The Galaxy has blown-out on anything remotely white, so the (beige?) rendering on the houses opposite looks nearly as white as the windows, the drainpipes and the skydish. The HTC isn't as bad but its white-balance is too 'cool' for my liking. Also, on the iPhone pic, there is clearly more detail in the bricks and rooftiles of the houses opposite. Though all three of them suffer from horrible distortions caused by their tiny lenses. If a surveyor was to look at those pictures, the house nearest to us on the right with the plantpot stood next to its drainpipe would get condemed.

 

[Dave_]

Would have been better if you hadn't highlighted which shot was from which phone, no chance of any bias then...

 

[Dave_]

Though what's going on with the table in the bottom shot, has it been tango'd?

 

[Anonymous]

Would have been better if you hadn't highlighted which shot was from which phone, no chance of any bias then...

Damm, that would have been a much better idea, wouldn't it 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

Though what's going on with the table in the bottom shot, has it been tango'd?

That's not a table, it's the top of a cherry ADM 🙂

 

[Dave_]

Though what's going on with the table in the bottom shot, has it been tango'd?

That's not a table, it's the top of a cherry ADM 🙂

To be fair, it may have been because i was originaaly viewing the pictures on an old Desire, but the wood finish was bright orange, it looks more natural viewing on my lappy

 

[AnotherJoe]

Its a pointless comparison as you have compressed the images to different sizes.

The images are

nexus 318KB,396KB

htc 160KB,252KB

iphone 185KB,481KB

You should have posted them in the original 8MP format using something like flickr

 

[MajorFubar]

Hmmm....

I'm beginning to appreciate the picture from the HTC more than I did initially.

It hasn't changed my mind completely because it needs post-processing to remove the cool cast, and the other two at least have a usably-close WB straight from the phone.

 

[Anonymous]

Its a pointless comparison as you have compressed the images to different sizes.

The images are

nexus 318KB,396KB

htc 160KB,252KB

iphone 185KB,481KB

You should have posted them in the original 8MP format using something like flickr

I don't know how to put them up in such a way that people can click on them for the full size image.

 

[Anonymous]

iPhone. The dynamic range is in a different league to the other two (certainly on the outside shots). The Galaxy has blown-out on anything remotely white, so the (beige?) rendering on the houses opposite looks nearly as white as the windows, the drainpipes and the skydish. The HTC isn't as bad but its white-balance is too 'cool' for my liking. Also, on the iPhone pic, there is clearly more detail in the bricks and rooftiles of the houses opposite. Though all three of them suffer from horrible distortions caused by their tiny lenses. If a surveyor was to look at those pictures, the house nearest to us on the right with the plantpot stood next to its drainpipe would get condemed.

That's a good observation, they are a kind of beige colour.

 

[MajorFubar]

Well here's my final verdict after copying all three of your outdoor images and tinkering with them a bit in iPhoto (I hope you don't mind; I have since deleted them anyway, I just wanted to see what was achievable):

Galaxy Nexus: IMO the worst quality. Detail is not as good as the other two and even processing doesn't fully recreate the tonal subtleties it's failed to capture. It's not a bad photo, just overshadowed by what the other two can offer.

HTC One: The images can be made to look tonally-neutral with post-processing, and having done so, it could be argued it provides the best photo of all three, as there appears to be fractionally more dynamic range at the top end. However that could be partially influenced by the fact it was the only photo to include part of the pebble-dashed wall, which could have caused the camera to under-expose compared to the other two. This would give the illusion of it having a greater gamut of tones at the white end of the tonal range.

iPhone: Seems to give the most usable photo straight off the phone, and a bit of tweaking with highlights and shadows gives you a picture which is similar to the HTC in tonal range and slightly more detail in the distance. Though that latter observation could be because it is a larger picture to start with.

 

[chebby]

From my old Sony Ericsson K750i ...



(Click on photo for larger size)

 

[Anonymous]

From my old Sony Ericsson K750i ...



(Click on photo for larger size)

That's better than any of them 🙂

And no problem, Major 🙂

 

[Paul.]

I think the best camera is the one you have on you. A lot of my favourite shots are taken on my phone, not the ones you stick on Flickr or 500px, but the ones that go on Facebook.

If you right click the images and open in a new tab you get a higher res image, but still not good enough to make a real assumption.

The white balance is closest in the first house image (but aires on the cold side). Something is seriously off with the second (both wb and exposure). Third is not only overly warm, but skewed towards magenta also. The lens on the first seems soft and lacks contrast. The third is best in this regards.

On the One X you don't get full resolution unless you disable the 16x9 option, this will make it a fairer test.

The Nexus and One X have have EXIF data recorded, I can see shutter speeds, focal lengths etc. The iPhone has no such data recorded, I opened the image in Apple Aperture. My own iPhones have all recorded relatively extensive EXIF data in Aperture. Has this image been modified? The Samsung apears to be using a spot metering system, as I asume the iPhone is too. The One X apears to be using an evaluative method, switching to a spot metering mode and tapping the same point as you do in the other tests should give a more acurate meter reading.

 

[Sliced Bread]

Of those pictures I'd say the Nexus, but that doesn't match what I've seen before of other comparative samples.

I think you need quite a large range of photos in different light levels to get an accurate picture.

The iphone4s always seems to produce some good pictures though.

 

[AnotherJoe]

upload them to flickr and post the links.

 

[Anonymous]

Indoor pics.

Nexus

One X

iPhone 4S

Outdoor pics.

Nexus

One X

iPhone 4S

 

[MajorFubar]

Nice...I'll have a look at those when I get home to see if the higher-resolution pics change my mind 🙂

 

[AnotherJoe]

nope sorry - they are still not 8MP

they are 1024x768, 1024x577, 1024x768

Note: on android - to get an 8MP photo u need to take it in 4:3, you get 6MP if you use 16:9

( Dont think the Iphone 4S has a widescreen mode? )

 

[Sliced Bread]

Indoor pics.

Nexus

One X

iPhone 4S

Outdoor pics.

Nexus

One X

iPhone 4S

I’m quite surprised to say:

Nexus
iPhone 4s
One X

The Nexus is said to have a poor camera in reviews, but it seems to hold out well here.

One X looks a bit soft in these pictures, but I know from firsthand experience that it is very good in low light levels.

 

[MajorFubar]

Looking at the new pics, my opinion remains the same.

Imo the Nexus remains the worst of the three in terms of definition, sharpness and tonal dynamic range. The HTC imo presents a photo which will produce the best results with a bit of tweaking to extract its potential, while again imo the iPhone produces the nicest result of the three straight off the phone.