Quick Camera Comparison 950XL vs S6 Edge

[TK2011]

Hey I just added some raws, and a couple more pics to the original post.
One thing I thought I'd throw out there. I'm positive you could get amazing shots with either of these phones. The 950xl seems like a very solid device, and if I wasn't so early in my contract with my s6, and it was available on verizon, I would probably get the 950 or 950xl. They seem to have done a great job improving their shot to shot performance, and WP is just a really nice OS. These camera's across the board seem to be hitting a plateau, and I think until some device manufacturer decides to think a bit more outside the box, we are all stuck with surprisingly good cameras in our phones no matter which device you get.

Your DNG file in LR6 gives a bit different blue color (e.g. big screen on wall). Looks like the color calibration is a bit off between MS's jpeg processing and LR's RAW processing. I suspect the jpeg file's color is more accurate so that means either MS's DNG encoding or LR's DNG handling is a bit off.

 

[Kissanviikset]

Checked out those RAW images and nothing wrong with them. All details are there but processing is here to blame. S6 uses very little processing compared to Lumia where details are crushed due bad noise reduction algorithms. Less is more in my opinion.

 

[TechFreak1]

first is the xl i believe, I like the second picture more even tho id agree with you that the first has better color.

All photos taken with Lumia Camera have WP_ and _Pro designations on photos.

Interesting to say the least and just like Guzzler3,

I can't say which one is more accurate, because I wasn't there to compare.

However this is not a fair comparison at all:

As you can see, one is with flash the other without, the settings are not even the same. A fair test would've been to ensure both phones have the same settings at the very least.

Checked out those RAW images and nothing wrong with them. All details are there but processing is here to blame. S6 uses very little processing compared to Lumia where details are crushed due bad noise reduction algorithms. Less is more in my opinion.

Did you look at the file properties?

I cannot take any comparison seriously between two devices when one is using flash and the other is not. Not to mention the iso and exposure values are not even comparable.

Edit: looks like I should've read through the thread oops lol.

 

[SwimSwim]

The S6's picture is overly bright and inaccurate (inside of a MS store is never THAT bright). While it has a wider field of focus in this picture, the details are softer when you zoom in than the 950's picture. The 950 looks more accurate on the colors, with a touch of oversaturation, but with finer details when you zoom in. I would say the 950's picture is overall better, but the algorithm's could use a little less color pop.

Have to agree. Everyone said the second shot was the S6 and I was disappointed because I was thinking, "Wow, the 950 is EXTREMELY washed out. The second photo looks really good, the first looks so, ugh."

Now that I'm hearing that the second shot hails from the 950, that's fantastic news! The shot looks pretty good, and the store models are running older software (The demo WC video has a Windows Camera build supposedly quite a few builds ahead). Looks like it can only get better from here.

 

[taymur]

The XL does look more clear to me. The Edge seems to do better with colour accuracy.
If you look at the table to the right of the girl it looks a lot more grainy/sandy on the edge while on the XL it looks a bit better. But yah there was an article that they are still working on camera algorithms and all that jazz. So we can't truly compare till the final product is ready. Hope it's ready for the reviews people will be doing on tech sites.

i think you got the two pictures confused. as its the other way around.

 

[Krystianpants]

i think you got the two pictures confused. as its the other way around.

No, the properties prove it. Plus the XL one has WP_ in the name which is obviously Windows Phone.

And the propeties also show the pics were not taken equally so it doesn't really matter at this point. The lumia once the algorithms are set and everything is fine will look better. I know cuz my lumia 830 looks insanely good using lumia camera while on the MS camera the pics turn out bad.

 

[HiroEX]

Ack thank you for noticing that, didnt even realize the flash went off on that first set! I know people want a thorough comparison of the two, and I really wasn't trying to do that. I just stopped by the store and wanted to see how to two compared side by side as if I was just taking a quick shot. It's an easy stop for me to check them out so I figured I'd share my extremely unscientific side by side. I really hope I'm not somehow doing a disservice to the wp devices, as they are surprisingly nice in person.

 

[920Walker]

I really hope I'm not somehow doing a disservice to the wp devices, as they are surprisingly nice in person.

No way, I thank you for taking the time to try out the new phone's camera and post the photos online for all to see. Please don't be hard on yourself. Again, thank you.

 

[psiu_glen]

It's also worth it to see what the cameras do on their own. Plenty of people out there who leave them on auto and snap away.

Fiddling with settings (let alone, fiddling with settings ahead of time, knowing what the settings do, being fast at changing things, etc) is something not many people are going to do.

Let alone pixel peeping or even bothering to hold the phone steady and level, crop it later, do any image quality adjustments, etc etc etc....



Good to know what the phone will do on its own for them.

 

[Con Georgiadis]

The results from Lumia 950 are not good...because what you see is not a PureView image..

 

[Jazmac]

The results from Lumia 950 are not good...because what you see is not a PureView image..

What would we see if it were PureView?

 

[Noob1ee]

I honestly was expecting more from the 950s...like, images that would blow anything out of the water :unhappysweat:

 

[maverick786us]

This is a pre-production model. So things will change with the actual release

 

[Paolo Cardelli]

First real examples of Lumia 950 XL camera shots:


https://www.flickr.com/photos/64458592@N05/21581841024/


https://www.flickr.com/photos/64458592@N05/22016354350/


https://www.flickr.com/photos/64458592@N05/22017750319/

Please, click source and Zoom to have BLISS.

Also:

S6 in Low Light:


950 XL in Low Light:


Source

I would say "Edge comparison" is over

 

[onetwright]

I also played with the 950XL in-store vs. my 1020, and found a very similar result to the original images in this post.

1020 color was not as rich, but detail was better. Of course, in that situation there is the issue of the resolution difference, but what bugged me about the 950XL in my comparison that I also see in the original post here is the artifacts, and the noise/blur at the edges of objects, especially distant objects such as the girl playing guitar, or the shoulders of the guy in the blue shirt. The orange "The new office is here" signs on the table are clearly more legible in the s6 photo, too. I really want the 950 to have better detail and sharpness with its current colors, which I like.

That being said, the 950 demo units are running prototype software. I'm really hoping these flaws are due to the pre-production software, and that the finished units will provide shots more like those above. Those are incredible even vs. the 1020.

 

[onetwright]

Here's a very similar image for comparison from my 1020 running W10 preview.
http://1drv.ms/1LxPpVL

 

[taymur]

I think this post got Microsoft mad that they had to make a blog post about the camera.

 

[wpvader72]

Girl's pic on S6 be like "wtf Samsung s6?". Girl's pic on 950xl be like "yesss (smiles) lumia phone".

 

[Rodrigo Mendes]

It's sad, really sad, but I still see the same problems that Lumia 930, 1520 and 830 have: ****ty post process....

Again I think DNG / Lighrtoom and Rawer (great app that save JPEG from DNG) will save my photography experience on Lumia.

Thanks Microsoft to make my life unnecessary more difficult and have a really pathetic camera team.

 

[Bahamen]

Thanks Microsoft to make my life unnecessary more difficult and have a really pathetic camera team.

No one is forcing you. Go ahead and buy your phone from another company with a less pathetic camera team.