Camera: Lumia 920 vs. HTC One X

[Levir3]

Hi,
Were the Lumia pictures taken before or after the firmware upgrade that supposes to remove the "softness" in day light pictures?
If before it would be interesting to see how they come out after the upgrade.
I'm hesitating between Htc one x plus and the Lumia 920. Photo quality is decisive for me.
Rgrds,
Leo

 

[Pete C]

The HTC One X is still sharper even after the update. I posted 2 shots below which illustrate both phones in Auto mode. The Lumia shot is post-update. It is a well lit nightstand and the difference in detail is fairly obvious. However, the One X is still noisier. The One X is always noisier/grainier and that is really the most noticeable flaw of that camera...especially when shooting people. It is also terrible in low light. The Lumia's main flaw IMO is that it has piss poor automatic white balance. You are constantly getting greenish shots like the one below. To compensate I will often select Fluorescent in the white balance menu to get a warmer shot.

The One X's forte is shooting stationary objects in good lighting. I have had major difficulty with the One X focusing on a relatively close moving object, such as a child. It is hard to get a good lock, and using the burst mode degrades the quality considerably. Taking single shots I end up with a few excellent photos mixed in with a bunch of blurry, unfocused shots. The Lumia 920 focus is excellent by comparison. Seriously, I never have a focus problem.

In low light the difference is magnified due to the lack of OIS on the One X. Minor hand motions blur the shot so you have to be absolutely still to get a good one. OIS on the Lumia eliminates this problem almost every time. If the object is moving you will still have motion blur on either phone.

Another advantage to the Lumia is just the mechanical advantage of having the shutter button. I can focus on the subject then wait for the shot I want, then fully depress the key to take the shot quickly. Or you have the option to single press to focus and take the shot. The One X you have to tap to focus, then tap another icon to take the shot. It is almost impossible to use effectively with one hand, especially without introducing hand shake blur.

Note: above I mentioned the hazy/light bleeding appearance of the HTC One X outside. Well, afterward I noticed that had been shooting with a oily lens. I have found since that the One X is EXTREMELY sensitive to any sort of smudges or oils on the lens. It must be perfectly clean. The Lumia is a bit more forgiving in this regard.

 

[Levir3]

Thanks for this elaborate reply (and white balance tip) Pete.
I've decided to go for the Lumia.
Rgrds,
Leo

 

[wangvnn]

Guys I already explained this before. We need the good lens to take good picture. Nokia only talks about the floating len for low light and video. The iphone has 5 layers len which can take brighter shaper picture, same for htc or samsung galaxy s3. The lumia even does apply denoise proccessing to make the lowlight picture look awesome, but it kills the details for other cases. So dont give too much hope for the new firmware up unless it can change the hardware. Indeed lumia 920 still is the BEST ALL ROUNDED CAMERA PHONE

 

[antsin3d]

In that last example, I vastly prefer the white balance on the 920. With that said, I find a lot of the shots posted from the Lumia to be too high in contrast and off in white balance.

 

[sanders2232]

Hmmmm