[thaddyusmaximus]

A quick video comparison of the Lumia 950XL and the iPhone 6s Plus 4k recording capabilities. It seems the Micro SD card I got in the Lumia couldn't keep up as there were a few frames dropped and caused some audio to get out of sync.

[erzhik]

Why is Lumia so yellow? Or is it the iPhone that is washed out?

[occamsmonkey]

Why is Lumia so yellow? Or is it the iPhone that is washed out?

We've moved so blue I'm glad to see a camera balancing a little warmer. Blue push is used to sell because it's stark and our eyes pick it up as 'popping' more, but pro cameras all run warmer. That being said, this probably isn't a great choice for a phone since the major market is consumer, not people who care about warmer shots.

[thaddyusmaximus]

After a few days I noticed the 950 tends to hunt focus a lot, and when it does there's a quick zoom in/out effect that goes with it. I hope this gets fixed with a camera app update or firmware update.

[JohnBarry2]

Agree with thaddyusmaximus. The focus hunting is very annoying, the colors often change at times which is also disappointing. I have been waiting for a camera update to come along and fix this, I hope its that simple or I will not be a happy customer

[Con Georgiadis]

A quick video comparison of the Lumia 950XL and the iPhone 6s Plus 4k recording capabilities. It seems the Micro SD card I got in the Lumia couldn't keep up as there were a few frames dropped and caused some audio to get out of sync. I'll make a more in depth video comparison soon. Stay tuned.

iPhone is better.
First, more accurate colors.
Better exposure without fluctuations
More accurate focus
950 has wrong white balance.The color of the sky is off.
Focus has issues and the overall quality shows too much processing.

[thaddyusmaximus]

Updated first post and included Part 2 of the Shootout

[JohnBarry2]

Part 2 - The thorns are in better focus during the iPhone video but I would give a slight edge to the Lumia for the rest of the video. Curious to hear other thoughts.

[Chrishan Fernando]

LOL iPhone fan right ? get it iphone is lost here

[Geo Hutchings]

iPhone is better.
First, more accurate colors.
Better exposure without fluctuations
More accurate focus
950 has wrong white balance.The color of the sky is off.
Focus has issues and the overall quality shows too much processing.

One it was set to auto.. having turn on fixed white balance would of been a better idea, we all know Lumia's destroy every other phone using manual settings

[Geo Hutchings]

This 1020...Can't decide which one I better need to test the Lumia 950 my self

[paulxxwall]

Wow iPhone is much better than Lumia. Although I now own one of these 6s pluses I always praised my 1520 and and Lumias in general for there awesome cameras. My 1520 Is maybe a hair better in pictures than my iPhone . But the iPhone alot of the time will shoot as good pictures.

[Geo Hutchings]

Wow iPhone is much better than Lumia. Although I now own one of these 6s pluses I always praised my 1520 and and Lumias in general for there awesome cameras. My 1520 Is maybe a hair better in pictures than my iPhone . But the iPhone alot of the time will shoot as good pictures.

But iPhone has a lack of raw and manual, the main reason the Lumia 1020 still stands is one large senor and two raw files

[realwarder]

First, a BIG thank you for this. I've been waiting for someone to post a comparison.

To me the iPhone has much better focus and stabilization while the Lumia has better audio and macro shooting.

The video to me was always a weakness of my Lumia phones with constant seeking going on and it really doesn't appear that the 950 range improves on this at all. Amazingly the Lumia stabilization is still a weak point despite now having both hardware and software stabilization. Did you have this in the 'Auto' mode and not switched off?

I moved to Lumia to the 920 because of the camera... I hope a firmware update can help with this as this is not looking great at the moment.

Here's another idea. How does 1080p perform? With a lower data rate and more available pixels the stabilization algorithms etc. may have more room to correct.

[paulxxwall]

But iPhone has a lack of raw and manual, the main reason the Lumia 1020 still stands is one large senor and two raw files

Ok . but obviously most people don't care about that stuff.

[Geo Hutchings]

Ok . but obviously most people don't care about that stuff.

Its not for those people so who cares, if somone is going to buy a phone for its camera then they should care, give me the 950 and I will make the iPhone camera look ****

[thaddyusmaximus]

Okay it's time for me to give you my thoughts on my Shootout. I found the iPhone shot videos about 2 notches on the cool side and was pretty much bland. Much like the Canon DSLR neutral preset setting. Where the iPhone excelled at was focusing. For the Lumia, it was about 3 notches on the warmer side and was much more sharper and saturated. More like the Landscape preset on the Canon DSLR. So it's pretty much subjective on what the person likes. I tend to like the bland settings because I like doing Post Processing and add sharpening in Premiere. Where the Lumia excelled at was Macro and manual controls. You can really get close to the subject to focus, I'm guessing about 3" minimum focus distance. Where the iPhone was about 6". I do wish the Lumia had more manual controls such as locked exposure and ISO, so you wouldn't see the fluctuations. Kelvin White Balance controls would be nice too in addition to the WB presets. I also did experience some camera app crashes on the Lumia, maybe it's my SD card but my SD card is a Sandisk U3 rated at 95mbps. When I switched to record on the Phone Storage (I had to choose pictures in storage settings, setting for videos didn't work) I didn't experience the crashing. Both phones dropped frames when recording 4k at the beginning of the recording.

Which ever phone you get, they're both great at recording video. The iPhone will pretty much get you a decent video every time but there's much more potential with the Lumia using manual controls. Also Lumia's have been known to get updates to improve camera and video quality/capabilities where the iPhone's don't get the added features unless you upgrade to the latest model.

For me the iPhone won the first shootout and the Lumia won the second. But I honestly really cannot tell much off a difference in quality between 1080p vs 4K on these phones (Yes I have a 4K monitor). To me the less storage space and less horsepower needed to edit a 1080p video outweighs the benefits of the increased resolution of 4K. Plus you need a 4K monitor or TV to enjoy it.

[jlzimmerman]

The iPhone is better in the first video. The 950XL is better in the second. The 950XL has better audio in both videos.

[KrisYYC]

Thank you for this comparison! I agree with what your findings. I'm glad the Lumia has good audio recording as poor audio can ruin a video no matter how good the visuals are.

I'm hearing conflicting stuff about the Lumia 950/XL being capable of 120fps recording at 720p. I've read that it can, but when I was playing around with one at the MS store the other day I couldn't find a 120fps setting in the video settings. Not a deal breaker by any means though.

Cheers

[thaddyusmaximus]

Thank you for this comparison! I agree with what your findings. I'm glad the Lumia has good audio recording as poor audio can ruin a video no matter how good the visuals are.

I'm hearing conflicting stuff about the Lumia 950/XL being capable of 120fps recording at 720p. I've read that it can, but when I was playing around with one at the MS store the other day I couldn't find a 120fps setting in the video settings. Not a deal breaker by any means though.

Cheers

It does record slow motion 720p @ 120fps. It does it automatically. When in video recording mode you have to select the turtle icon on top. The iphone can do 720p @ 240fps or 1080p @ 120fps.

[thaddyusmaximus]

The iPhone is better in the first video. The 950XL is better in the second. The 950XL has better audio in both videos.

That's another thing I forgot to mention. The Lumia has very sensitive mics. So you gotta be aware of the mic locations on the phone. In the thorn shot the leave's were hitting the phone and the outcome was very noticeable.

[theefman]

Did you only have access to an iphone? They really are not the pinnacle of smartphone photography (never were, frankly), comparing to an LG G4 or V10 would be more of a true test of the Lumia's abilities.

[thaddyusmaximus]

Did you only have access to an iphone? They really are not the pinnacle of smartphone photography (never were, frankly), comparing to an LG G4 or V10 would be more of a true test of the Lumia's abilities.

I don't have access to a G4 or V10. I do have a 1520 and 1020 as well.

[KrisYYC]

It does record slow motion 720p @ 120fps. It does it automatically. When in video recording mode you have to select the turtle icon on top. The iphone can do 720p @ 240fps or 1080p @ 120fps.

Ah I see. Thanks!

[zimilaci]

That's another thing I forgot to mention. The Lumia has very sensitive mics. So you gotta be aware of the mic locations on the phone. In the thorn shot the leave's were hitting the phone and the outcome was very noticeable.

Yes.... and you should not forget about the fact that the Iphones are recording only in MONO!!! also for 4k....