Lumia 1020 Camera Crushes iPhone 5s in Expert Review

[Turk]

Apples iPhone 5s can certainly hold its own against most of the competition out there when it comes to camera quality, but Nokias Windows Phone-powered Lumia 1020 is the undisputed king of camera phones. We couldnt believe how impressive the 1020′s camera was when we reviewed the handset last summer, especially in low light. It has now been nearly six months since we first tested the phone and there still isnt anything else on the market that even approaches the Lumia 1020. One expert recently decided to pit the 1020 and Apples iPhone 5s against several DSLR cameras to see how far mobile cameras have come. In doing so, he also obviously compared the two devices themselves.

DPReviews Dean Holland pitted the Lumia 1020 and iPhone 5s against five different DSLR models and one film SLR. Each of the DSLR models represented the best of the best for under $2,000 in the year it was released, with the oldest model having launched in 2003 and the most recent having debuted in 2012.

Beyond being among the best in the business, theres another good reason Holland choses these two smartphones to test.

They couldnt be more different, he wrote. The iPhone 5S worships at the alter [sic] of convenience and speed, while the Nokia devotes everything to the best possible image quality. In the 7 seconds you took to read this paragraph, the iPhone could have taken 70 shots. The Nokia? Two. With another coming wait a moment almost there now. Their camera apps are polar opposites too: the Nokia offers you full-time manual control over all the camera settings; the iPhone gives you almost none.

Spoiler alert: Photos captured by newer DSLR cameras were found to be far better than those taken by either smartphone. Obviously.

Holland took a smart approach to this challenge, though. By using DSLRs that span nearly a decade, hes able to determine where modern smartphone cameras are in relation to DSLR historically. This leads us to what is perhaps the most interesting conclusion:

Gun to head time to come up with a number, Holland wrote. How many years are smartphones behind the best $2,000 DSLRs? Comparing detail resolved, Ill say the iPhone 5S currently sits 8-9 years behind the DLSRs in bright light, while the Nokia trails by less than 6 years probably nearer to 3. This is even when you allow the DSLRs the luxury of a $1,700 lens, and shooting in raw. In bright light, the Nokia came close to competing with the detail from the best DLSR yet made.

Thats a pretty huge margin of victory for the 1020.

He went on to note that the iPhone 5s and Lumia 1020 cameras trail DSLRs by a much wider margin in low light. He used a panel of 15 non-photographers to judge photo quality and found that the Lumia 1020 trails modern DSLRs by about 8 years in low light, which the iPhone trails by 10 years.

Hollands piece on DPReview is a terrific read from start to finish, and its linked below in our source section.

http://bgr.com/2014/01/08/lumia-1020-vs-iphone-5s-camera-expert-review

[calguyhunk]

You didn't need a review in 2014 to tell you that. This has been done to death before, and Verge, Anandtech, allthingsD, PhoneArena, GSMArena - just about everybody gave their verdict long ago. It's virtually a no-contest. :yes:

Long before WP, when Nokia was still churning out Symbian devices, they put this camera in the Pureview 808 and since then, they've improved upon the original. Nokia has always made the best phone cameras in the business, and this is the crown jewel. Too bad it doesn't come with Android. :(

Edited January 11, 2014 by calguyhunk

[kn_andre]

Lets Just Hope that Micro$oft will not Run Nokia phones Into the Ground After their Acquisition ... Good Luck Nokia .... Thanks for sharing Dear ... Cheers

[mara-]

Nokia has always made the best phone cameras in the business, and this is the crown jewel.

Nokia? Never, they always had the worst camera, and that only changed now. In those days. Sony Ericsson always had the best, and they are still one of the best.

Cheers ;)

[calguyhunk]

Nokia? Never, they always had the worst camera, and that only changed now. In those days. Sony Ericsson always had the best, and they are still one of the best.

You're talkng of the Jurassic days. I'm talking about the smartphone era - the last few years. Should have mentioned that in my post. My bad :P

The quality of Sony's phone cameras these days is really sad to say the least. From the guys who almost made 'Handycam' a generic term for camcorders (much like Xerox is to phocopying, Google is to search or Walkman was to portable music players), it is nothing short of a travesty. A few friends of mine have the Xperia L and M and the cams on those are truly abysmal. Even the Xperia C is horrible seeing as it comes with a $350 price tag. :(

Compared to that, the Lumia 520 that several of my friends and relatives have, at literally half the price ($130) of Xperia L ($260) has an amazing camera especially for the price. So it's across the board. They're not just a one hit wonder. Maps (HERE) and cams have been their strength for some time now. :)

[CODYQX4]

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Edited April 28, 2019 by CODYQX4

[calguyhunk]

... Samsung has all the money when it comes to Android.

They wouldn't have such a large market share today, had Nokia chosen Android instead of Windows Mobile back in the day. I think we all know, what we'd buy given the choice between a Nokia droid and a SS one, everything else remaining constant. :)

And the thing is, as we all know, every other parameter is not going to be constant between SS and Nokia - the goodwill that Nokia has generated over the years because of their quality-control and after-sales service is still unsurpassed, unmatched or unparalleled in the consumer electronics industry (not just mobiles) apart from maybe by Apple (services) and Sony (quality) to an extent. ;)