Lumia 1020 vs Lumia 920 by Joe Schmoe

[anon(5959407)]

Hey guys, here's a set of comparison shots between the Lumia 1020 and the Lumia 920 from an average user. I'll set it up with the Lumia 920 photo on top followed by the Lumia 1020 oversampled photo below it and then a link to the original 1020 shot. For the most part, all photos were taken with auto settings on both phones except for 1 or 2 macro shots on the 1020 where I had to use manual focus because the autofocus was losing its mind! Overall I really like the 1020 so far. I've had it in my hands for less than 6 hours, so I still don't know all of the ins and outs of the camera, but it's been a pleasure to use so far. Hope you enjoy!

Edit 1: Added a second round of "macro" photo comparisons
http://forums.windowscentral.com/no...1020-vs-lumia-920-joe-schmoe.html#post2054714

Edit 2: Added a third round of "low/lower light" photo comparisons
http://forums.windowscentral.com/no...1020-vs-lumia-920-joe-schmoe.html#post2055376

Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3818/9372142050_5acc5b553f_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7316/9372138930_d9714b068e_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7322/9372136734_65745be24e_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3703/9372135092_d76e22d8cc_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3725/9372133504_ae455324d5_o.jpg


Lumia 920 (maximum zoom)

Lumia 1020 (maximum zoom)

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2824/9369352017_6c85bdcf68_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7417/9369349591_2f30826183_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5460/9369367555_f922f2f112_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2838/9372145372_981442c643_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7393/9372144172_a07b40294e_o.jpg

 

[Nikhil Yelleswarapu]

Hey Joe!

Great Photography. Excellent comparison between the 2 cameras. I was expecting 1020 to be a runaway winner at this. But I must say, I actually liked some of the 920 pics better than 1020. Better color saturation in 920. Although it does give a blue tint on its pics sometimes.

 

[anon(5959407)]

Hey Joe!

Great Photography. Excellent comparison between the 2 cameras. I was expecting 1020 to be a runaway winner at this. But I must say, I actually liked some of the 920 pics better than 1020. Better color saturation in 920. Although it does give a blue tint on its pics sometimes.

Thanks! Yeah, I think the 1020 really does do a better job of re-producing natural lighting and colors, but I do like the saturation the 920 provides in auto mode better. Luckily, the 1020 has lots of manual control so it definitely has greater potential to outshine the 920. I'm going to keep looking for good test subjects to add more comparison shots. This evening or early tomorrow morning I'm going to try and get some good sunrise/sunset photos and see how they compare.

Edit: Oh yeah I forgot to say that in the 3rd photo (the close up of the sand), looking at the original 34MP photo was pretty mind-blowing being able to see the grains of sand in such detail. I imagine with the camera grip (still waiting for AT&T to ship it) and a tripod, macro photography will be pretty interesting!

 

[kbilly70]

Great job on the pics. A lot of variety. I'm on the fence about upgrading from my 920 but the more of these I see, I really want to run out right now and get it. Thanks for taking the time to post these!

 

[anon(5959407)]

Here are some more comparisons. The 920, I think, definitely has the 1020 beat as far as being able to focus on objects that are very close to the lens, but the flexibility that the 1020 offers as far as manual adjustments is pretty awesome. I think tomorrow morning I'll try to do some more scenic/landscape photos to see how the two compare in that arena.

Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7401/9371367331_d36813efac_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3712/9374139402_6dff8537e5_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5347/9371362179_c197627822_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5497/9371369693_c51e19e1be_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2854/9374147572_8f5e0b605b_o.jpg

 

[anon(5959407)]

Great job on the pics. A lot of variety. I'm on the fence about upgrading from my 920 but the more of these I see, I really want to run out right now and get it. Thanks for taking the time to post these!

No problem! I've actually found this to be a lot of fun and kind of a great stress reliever, haha. The camera is pretty awesome so far and Nokia's Amber update and GDR2 make the actual phone part of the Lumia 1020 that much better. It was kind of a pain initially to set the 1020 up how I had my 920, but I really like it so far. I think if taking photos is your thing or if you really just want the flexibility of a point and shoot+ (I say p&s+ because the 1020 offers a lot of camera control that some point and shoots don't even offer) without having to carry a point and shoot camera, then the 1020 is a sweet upgrade.

 

[LMZR]

I am very impressed with the 1020's photo capability!

 

[hcrick]

Awesome pictures, thank you for taking the time to do the comparison! The 920 is no slouch that's for sure.

 

[anon(5959407)]

I am very impressed with the 1020's photo capability!

Yeah, it's a pretty solid camera! The more I use it, the more I really like it.

Awesome pictures, thank you for taking the time to do the comparison! The 920 is no slouch that's for sure.

With all of the praise the 1020 is receiving, I definitely think the fact that the 920 isn't that far behind the 1020 is a testament to how good the 920's camera really is. Both phones are pretty amazing and I definitely can't wait to see what Nokia has in store when GDR3 drops!

 

[kbilly70]

After looking through all these pics, I decided to stop by my local AT&T store after work and check out the 1020.

Some observations after playing with it for half an hour:
1. I was amazed by how nice the phone feels in hand and the way it looks overall. I never thought my 920 was heavy but the 1020 just feels great in hand and I really like the flatter design versus the 920.
2. The screen! It's just beautiful! I have the Galaxy Note and Galaxy S3 but since I bought the 920 in November, the 920 has become my daily driver. I can't remember the last time I picked either of the Galaxys and so had forgotten how nice AMOLED screens can be. Great blacks and it's so vibrant. Comparing it to my 920 was a shock.
3. Did some comparison pictures between the 920 and 1020 and the 1020 came out on top on all shots. All pictures taken on Auto settings. As the pics in this thread show, the 920 really does hold it's own, but I'm really excited to play with the different settings on 1020 and see what it can do. I could probably be ranked below an amateur photographer but I love taking pictures of my wife and daughter.

The unfortunate part of the trip is I was looking for a white 1020 and all the local store had was yellow and black. I would have bought it then and there if they would have had white.

Again thanks for the pics Mr Schmoe.

 

[Kissanviikset]

There is not much difference on macro shot between devices and it is known that 920 takes good macro shots. 1020 also has much shallower depth of field and it is trickier to take good macro shot of it. Actually 920 wins IMO on some of those shots, but when you get familiar with 1020 i'm sure you can take much better macro shot that are shown here and kick 920 ***. 1020 also produces much greater bokeh effect and glever use of it can help make macro shots even better.

I own 920 and it is going to loose miserably when put against 1020 on larger scale images. IQ is quite poor in 920 on landscape shots or anythink that is 5m further or shot more than 100 ISO.

EDIT: I checked EXIF data from pics where 920 seemed to produce better pictures and there is clear pattern why. 1020 took shot always twice as high ISO value when shutter speed was same. No wonder why those images did not look better. 1020 also seems to overexpose images bit thus making loose details. Combine that with high ISO and crappy macro shot is ready.

It is not advised to take macro shot with auto settings when 1020 seems to favor high ISO and overly fast shutter speed for macro shot. Always try take those with 100 ISO first and if shutter speed drops too slow to maintain blur free shot or comes out too dark raise ISO to 200.

Lumia 920 2.0f aperture seems to have big advantage on lower light macro shot(on auto settings)

 

[anon(5959407)]

Here are some low/lower light photo comparisons between the 1020 and 920.

It got to be pretty humid outside this morning and the lenses kept fogging up or building up moisture, so a lot of the photos I took came out kind of crappy and these ended up being the best of the bunch. I think this will be my last "photo comparison" post in this thread as I think there are now enough samples to cover a wide enough range of scenes that I think people would want to see these two go head to head in.

I used a lot of manual settings on the 1020 for this round and I think it really highlights the strengths of the 1020 in the realm of lowlight photography versus the 920.

Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3828/9377429410_ea7fea28dd_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3679/9374645263_3affb04582_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7318/9377426070_50cf825123_o.jpg


Lumia 920

Lumia 1020

1020 Original (Original = 34MP photo)
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7367/9374649785_46bd38107f_o.jpg

 

[hcrick]

The evening shot of the waterfront really illustrates the strength of the 1020. The amount of detail captured is impressive, thank you so much!

 

[milkybuet]

WOW! Thanks a lot!

 

[Robinsonmac]

With the 1020 you don't really take macro shots in auto mode. You should only get to a max of 12", then zoom & reframe the shot for a close up shot.

 

[LMZR]

That second last shot with that view....

 

[Owen Groundhog]

i have no intentions to hijack this post but maybe you know.. how does the 925 compare to the 920? can i asume they are the same?
(thanks for this post, its great comparision )

 

[anon(5959407)]

i have no intentions to hijack this post but maybe you know.. how does the 925 compare to the 920? can i asume they are the same?
(thanks for this post, its great comparision )

I personally have no experience with the 925, but I would imagine the image quality of the 925 would be slightly better than the 920 due to the 925 using 6 lens elements vs the 920 using 5. Also, the 925 runs GDR2 and Nokia's Amber update (eventually coming to the 920) which should also help in the image processing arena to produce slightly better photos than the 920.

 

[Owen Groundhog]

I personally have no experience with the 925, but I would imagine the image quality of the 925 would be slightly better than the 920 due to the 925 using 6 lens elements vs the 920 using 5. Also, the 925 runs GDR2 and Nokia's Amber update (eventually coming to the 920) which should also help in the image processing arena to produce slightly better photos than the 920.

thanks thats usefull information

Sent from my XT910 using WPCentral Forums mobile app

edit: to be honest, i think the 920 does a better job at low light photograpy, i like the pics better so if the 925 would be even better, i think ill go for that one in the future

 

[WeirdFM]

Auto-mode software on 920 doesn't seem to care over-exposing images in low-light, making them brighter. I'd like to see side-by-side comparison of images taken at the same settings for true test of the capabilities of the hardware, as software for auto-mode is subject to, and will in most likelihood, change.