LG G6 vs. LG G5: quad-cam comparison

One of the more fun takes on the dual-cam concept, the G5's normal/ultra-wide setup was easily the best bit about LG's last year flagship (after the modular concept got scrapped).

The brand new LG G6 is taking the concept even further by improving the ultra-wide angle one. Instead of a 16MP/8MP setup, the two cameras on the G6 are now equipped with identical sensors - the 13MP Sony IMX258 Type 1/3.06" imager with 1.12µm pixels.

Once again we have two quite different lenses - one is an ultra wide-angle one with f/2.4 aperture and 125-degree coverage, the other is an f/1.8 71-degree, normal-ish one (though at 30mm still technically wide in 35mm-equiv. terms). The ultra-wide-angle's FOV is narrower than the G5's quite extreme 135 degrees, and the normal camera's view is also a little tighter than on the G5 (75 degrees).

In practice this means that the 'primary' shooter has had its resolution slashed from 16MP to 13MP while the wide-angle one has been treated to a bump from its 8MP. This puts the two cameras on a more level ground compared to the G5, where the 16MP shooter was vastly superior to the 8MP one. The two cameras are still not getting the equal treatment here either - the 125-degree one is still fixed-focus, and lacks OIS, while these features are present on the 71-degree one, but 2x13MP sounds a lot more egalitarian than 16MP+8MP.

One point needs to be made here and it's that both rear cameras on the G5 were in a native 16:9 ratio, while the G6 gets the more squarish 4:3 aspect. So if you were shooting in 4:3 on the G5 (effectively getting a crop from the sensor), the new cameras will give you a wider coverage in practice. However, if you insist on the 16:9 ratio, with the G6 you'd be getting an even lower resolution (9.7MP, to be precise).

We had a chance to take a few quick snaps with both smartphones, G6 and G5, and to see how the new setup stacks up to last year's. We set the G5 to a 4:3 aspect, so that that 'primary' cameras' resolutions are more evenly matched. Mind you, the usual disclaimer applies - the G6 we shot with is a pre-production unit with firmware not necessarily final.

Normal camera: G6 • G5

Wide-angle camera: G6 • G5

Normal camera: G6 • G5

Wide-angle camera: G6 • G5

Normal camera: G6 • G5

Wide-angle camera: G6 • G5

We won't be examining these images too closely since the G6 they were shot on isn't strictly final and we haven't spent much time with it anyway. We'll be taking a more in-depth look at the G6's image quality once we get a review unit to our headquarters - hopefully, sometime soon.