Camera test: 2013 contender challenges the reigning champion

25 July 2021
The Xiaomi is great, but not perfect.

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the fact that this comparison even exists is a testament to just how ahead Nokia was in the smartphone camera Game at that time. Some people still cling hope that they might take back the crown of Smartphone Camera champion one day in the current year

    derrr, 25 Jul 2021And Elop from Microsoft should take a lot of the blame as h... moreMicrosoft seems to have consciously destroyed them.

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      • 01432
      • XTk
      • 28 Jul 2021

      Anonymous, 26 Jul 2021How's the carbon emissions on the car?HAHAHA. Well yah! He did have the car and engine totally rebuilt in 2018. I am sure there is no emissions controls though. But, I ask you, what are the total emissions for producing a new car including materials mining and production and manufacturing and assembly? Is all the total aggregate of mining to manufacture more than the total emissions of a 2006 or so Volvo wagon with lots of miles????

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        • Anonymous
        • kky
        • 28 Jul 2021

        Reining champion? The mi 11 u did not win that test cut and dry at all....that was bias and misleading based on sharpening.

          Anonymous, 26 Jul 2021Are Google and Huawei on par?I would say yes.

            [deleted post]You again? Occasional colour shifts are obviously due to the use of RYYB sensor (though it seems that it's mostly non-issue on Mate 40 series as Huawei improved the colour rendering), not the image processing itself as evidenced by their UWA cameras having no problems whatsoever in this regard.

            "persistent artifacts in low light video recording"
            "decider of which lens is better"
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVyN9-5WS-Q
            I'm not seeing anything like that. Try again.
            Decider of better lens lmfao.. lens is absolutely nothing to do with the image processing.

            Huawei is still the only manufacturer that uses always-on super res stacking on their high end phones to eliminate moire and improve the resolution of every single shot, while removing the noise in the most efficient manner using BM3D NR (which they co-developed with Tampere University) with minimal artifacts. You don't even know how much R&D they have been pouring into imaging technology so far.

              Rkm, 26 Jul 2021Just out of curiosity, between 808 and 1020, which one'... moreI prefer Lumia 1020 overall. The exposure seems more consistent across the board and at night at least it doesn't spit out an unusably noisy mess like Nokia 808 does.

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                • K.S.H
                • XR2
                • 27 Jul 2021

                mr x, 27 Jul 2021well it is really interesting see how a well aged nokia pho... moreYes, I am surprised.

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                  • Rkm
                  • DkZ
                  • 27 Jul 2021

                  IMX363, 26 Jul 20211020 had a beautiful design but was a disappointment when i... moreWhat you said is true. 1020 was Microsoft going for a broader audience. 808 has aged better and that's why it has a broader following despite being technically inferior in some areas. It has that 'magic' photographers often talk about.

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                    • mr x
                    • LEi
                    • 27 Jul 2021

                    well it is really interesting see how a well aged nokia phone compares and fights against a 2021 flaghshipt, and still has upper hand , bear in mind that has slower shutter, slower processor and no kind of help from AI ..... just imaging this phone with a sd 8xxx atleast

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                      • Anonymous
                      • 7kk
                      • 27 Jul 2021

                      rafaelinux, 26 Jul 2021I didn't have this one, but the 808 PV. It's incr... moreNo!
                      It's the combo of both, we obv don't want all s/w & AI trickery of today. It's the PV processing that makes these pics so good combined with such good sensors.
                      What we need are basically updated sensors (no QB stuff) w/ Zeiss optics obviously (& T* coating) and a more refined/matured PV processing that would obviously benefit from the much higher processing power of today's chips. We certainly don't need AI or extreme HDR full-time.

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                        • Anonymous
                        • 7kk
                        • 27 Jul 2021

                        Anonymous, 26 Jul 2021u should check video audio quality, 1020 live raves are one... moreTrue, but hardly any sites praise their audio capture especially considering how old these are

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                          • Anonymous
                          • 7kk
                          • 27 Jul 2021

                          Rkm, 26 Jul 2021Look at the edges of objects especially foliage is an easy ... moreI already commented about it but not many seemed to have noticed-just look at the diff in pics 21vs22 (zoom into the bush behind the snail)

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                            • John
                            • K1x
                            • 26 Jul 2021

                            Anonymous, 26 Jul 2021Nokia 1020 is better at capturing details in daylight but t... moreLol, a reality check? I'd say that you need your eyes checked because you can't see the awful oversharpening effect from the Xiaomi. Colours are more natural in what way? It's a colour painting I'm looking at, not a real photograph.

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                              • John
                              • K1x
                              • 26 Jul 2021

                              Anonymous, 26 Jul 2021Mi 11 Ultra is the clear winner especially when you take vi... moreLol, clear winner? Then you definitely need to get your eyes checked because you couldn't see the Xiaomi's severe oversharpening mess.

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                                • John
                                • K1x
                                • 26 Jul 2021

                                Anonymous, 26 Jul 2021Power of computational photography Lol, 'power of computational photography' with that oversharpened mess? Dream on!

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                                  • Kaja
                                  • 0T6
                                  • 26 Jul 2021

                                  I really liked my lumia 1020. Ok, it was slower and the only real (camera) advantage over N808 was optical stabilization... which worked surprisingly well (I would say videos are more steady than P30 Pro ones). Overall, daylight fullres photo are quite comparable to P30 Pro. But it is still impressive.
                                  What is not well known - DNG has never worked like real RAW. Sometimes, it was absurd to see even famous photographers praising this option. But try it... no matter what software is used - these DNG has no more details than JPEG. You can't get more details from shadows or highlights... sharpening is quite the same like in case of original JPEGs.

                                  But nevermind. Photos are great. I remember it was better than Canon S100 (over day and night), but without zoom :) During daylight, it captured even more details than my Canon 500d with 18-55mm set lens.

                                  I saw a mention of comparing modern camera phones with dslr. It's more and more about software. Year ago, I made a comparion of night mode in P30 Pro against Canon G7X (great compact camera with fast lens) and Canon 750d with (slow) 18-135mm set lens. All without tripod at night.
                                  P30 Pro due smart software won by a margin, second was G7X. Slow lens are problem even in case of bigger sensor.

                                  But of course, I have been still using G7X and 750D (sometimes on tripod) and P30 Pro has been only my emergency camera. If you want the best result, although with a little effort, compact 1inch cameras and DSLR are better way to go.

                                    1020 had a beautiful design but was a disappointment when it was released. It dropped 808's beautiful, natural, soft and yet highly detailed DSLR-like processing of images.

                                    Instead it went with more modern smartphone look. Had harsher details in daylight. The sensor was smaller and it did not have an ND filter like the 808.

                                    Processing images took longer too because it did not have a dedicated image processing chip.

                                    Overall, it was a downgrade over the legendary 808. There has never been anything before or after the 808. It's too bad that it'll probably never be repeated. It had a very specific look. There is still no smartphone that renders grass and vegetation with such pleasant soft detail.

                                    One thing I do like about Lumia processing algorithms though is noise handling. They smoothen out noise very nicely compared to modern flagships, even in the harsh environment.

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                                      • STRATEGO
                                      • SHi
                                      • 26 Jul 2021

                                      [deleted post]umm, no, Huawei is the best in camera performance for quite sometime now.
                                      https://www.dxomark.com/rankings/#smartphones-mobile
                                      or even better go check out the comparisons here in GSMarena's comparison engine.

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                                        • Rkm
                                        • DkP
                                        • 26 Jul 2021

                                        Anonymous, 26 Jul 2021What is the difference between sharpened and oversharpened?... moreLook at the edges of objects especially foliage is an easy way to detect oversharpening. If textures in it are more defined than in real life, it is oversharpened. But it can be done in a pleasing way such that the details are more distinct than real life while being not too much overboard that various artifacts are introduced.

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