Sony Ericsson K850 vs. Nokia N95: 5 megapixel shootout

Outdoor, strong light

Taking a step out the door brings us to this next test - the outdoor shooting.

Sony Ericsson K850 (full) • Nokia N95 (full) • 100% crops

Sony Ericsson K850 (full) • Nokia N95 (full)

Sony Ericsson K850 (full) • Nokia N95 (full)• 100% crops

Sony Ericsson K850 (full) • Nokia N95 (full)

Sony Ericsson K850 (full) • Nokia N95 (full)

Here, with the help of the strong sunlight, both cameras can really show their best. The details are high for both of the contenders, but in most of the photos we can see a certain advantage of Nokia N95. The colors are not correct again, especially the reds. Anyway, our subjective opinion is that the Nokia colors are more pleasant for the eye and closer to the real scene. We can also see some color aberration in the Sony Ericsson K850 samples. In rare cases you can see an evidence of noise suppression in the Nokia results - the tree foliage turns into a green cloud (check the second crop).
K850 vs N95 - 3:4

Close-up photos

Well, making some wonderful macro shots can really make the difference when you boast with your cameraphone in front of your friends.

Sony Ericsson K850 (full) • Nokia N95 (full) • 100% crops

It's a good opportunity to examine these photos, because finally the two camera automatics decided to shoot with the same parameters - ISO 100, 1/100 sec. Again, the colors are not correct in neither of the two cameras, but N95 is closer to the real colors. Also, it turns out that the noise suppression technique implemented works best with plastic objects like these. Sony Ericsson K850 produced noisier image, but with no additional detail.

Sony Ericsson K850 (full) • Nokia N95 (full) • 100% crops

We have no idea what is causing trouble for the K850 with this shot. We took four shots and we present you the best of these, which is still not good. Nokia N95 copes with this installation a lot better.

Sony Ericsson K850 (full) • Nokia N95 (full)

When going really close, Sony Ericsson K850 has one advantage, demonstrated in this set of photos. The smaller auto focus frame helps you to select which part of the object you want to be in perfect focus, in this case the center of the flower. The large auto focus frame in Nokia 95 fits the whole flower and as a result the top edge of the flower got focused, wrong choice in this case. Of course, with some practice, you might learn to overcome this fault.
K850 vs N95 - 3:4

When going really close, Sony Ericsson K850 has one advantage, demonstrated in this set of photos. The smaller auto focus frame helps you to select which part of the object you want to be in perfect focus, in this case the center of the flower.

<#AdRectangle#>

Dynamic range, handling highlights

While also a macro shot, the purpose of this shot is to show what happens when the contrast in the scene exceeds the sensor capabilities.

Sony Ericsson K850 (full) • Nokia N95 (full) • 100% crops

Nokia N95 has an advantage here, because of the slightly bigger sensor and you can see from the crop that indeed it has smaller overexposed areas and they are presented in a more natural way. In the Sony Ericsson photo you can see some purple fringing too.
K850 vs N95 - 2:4

Video

We can announce the winner here by looking at the specs only. Nokia N95 records in VGA, while K850 reached just QVGA, both in 30fps. This means that the Nokia records 4 times more information, so as you may guess there is no competition. Anyway, just for the record we are publishing video samples of the two mobiles. We should note that at least Sony Ericsson are moving in the right direction with the K850 - K810 records video in QCIF and P1 in QVGA at 15fps, so the video in K850 is a step ahead.
K850 vs N95 - 1:5

Sony Ericsson K850 sample video
Nokia N95 sample video