[UPDATED] Quick Camera Comparison: Nokia Lumia 1020 vs Sony Xperia Z1

 

EDIT: By your request, we’ve done some further testing with the 2 devices shooting portraits in low light, low light flash and natural light settings. While i’m sure you don’t want to see our ugly mugs up close and personal, we’ve roped in the venerable Ashley “Summerash” Khoo for your viewing pleasure!

Since we got the Lumia 1020, many of our readers have asked for a camera shootout between the 20.7MP Sony Xperia Z1 and the Mammoth 41MP Lumia 1020. To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t sure which would fare better because as we all know, it’s not just about the Megapixels when talking about cameras and imaging. So we decided to do a quick test with a couple of things lying around the office and a landscape shot as a “teaser” test before we go into a deeper shootout with more devices in the future.

The tests were conducted with both stock apps (not the Pro Camera app for the Nokia), on Full Automatic and same focus points on each picture. Colour was not corrected and 100% crops were taken with a 600 x 450 selection, pixel for pixel despite different file sizes.

So which camera did better out of the 2? Hit the jump to find out!

Click on the images for the FULL file

Low Light Flash Portrait Test

 

Xperia Z1 (Full Image)

Xperia Z1 (100% Crop)

Lumia 1020 36MP (Full Image)

Lumia 1020 36MP (100% Crop)

Here we can see the Lumia 1020 rocking at resolving the details on the face, but when it comes to correcting colour, it’s behind the Z1. The Z1 is super soft compared to the 1020, but heck some girls actually like that!

Low Light Portrait Test

Xperia Z1 (Full Image)

Xperia Z1 (100% Crop)

Lumia 1020 36MP (Full Image)

Lumia 1020 36MP (100% Crop)

In this test, you can see that its pretty soft across the board with the 1020 resolving slightly better. The colour is not that obvious in this comparison, but I’d say the Z1 is a little more true to life. I knew the 1020 was great in low light, but the z1 did surprise me here!

Natural Light Portrait Test

Xperia Z1 (Full Image)

Xperia Z1 (100% Crop)

Lumia 1020 36MP (Full Image)

Lumia 1020 36MP (100% Crop)

This, is where the Lumia 1020 beats the Z1. The detail, colour reproduction in my eye, is better on the 1020. You just have to look at the 100% to see the staggering amount of detail the 1020 resolves. I’m very impressed by the 1020 here, it produces images of comparable quality to some crop sensor DSLRs. Hats off, Nokia did a great job with the camera on this device

Natural Light Detail Test

Xperia Z1 (Full Image)

Xperia Z1 (100% Crop)

Lumia 1020 5MP (Full Image)

Lumia 1020 5MP (100% Crop)

Lumia 1020 36MP (Full Image)

Lumia 1020 36MP (100% Crop)

I would say in daylight I prefer the Lumia 1020’s exposure and resolution of details. The camera did a better job of estimating the exposure and hence showed the details a lot better. The 5MP reduced filesize version is pretty good as well. This test goes to the 1020.

Flash On Detail Test

Xperia Z1 (Full Image)

Xperia Z1 (100% Crop)

Lumia 1020 5MP (Full Image)

Lumia 1020 5MP (100% Crop)

Lumia 1020 36MP (Full Image)

Lumia 1020 36MP (100% Crop)

For this test, the differences are quite glaring. In my opinion, it looks like when the flash is on, the Z1 does a better job colour balance compared to the 1020. The image from the Z1 is a lot more true to life and not as warm as the 1020. For that reason I like the Z1 for this test.

Landscape Test

Xperia Z1 (Full Image)

Xperia Z1 (100% Crop)

Lumia 1020 5MP (Full Image)

Lumia 1020 5MP (100% Crop)

Lumia 1020 36MP (Full Image)

Lumia 1020 36MP (100% Crop)

I’ll leave the tiebreaker to you, the readers… Which do you think is a better image? Leave a comment in the comments section!