News Business Camera review: iPhone 5S vs Lumia 1020 vs Galaxy S4 zoom

Camera review: iPhone 5S vs Lumia 1020 vs Galaxy S4 zoom

Sunnyvale, California: I used to cringe when I'd see people capturing precious memories with their smartphones. Although most smartphones have megapixel counts similar to what stand-alone cameras offer, they have been inferior in lens quality


Apple takes a different approach with the iPhone 5S. Instead of adding more megapixels, it makes each pixel larger - 1.5 microns, compared with 1.12 microns on the Lumia. The new phone also has an image stabilizer and a wider shutter than previous models. Its flash produces two bursts of light at once, each slightly different in color and automatically adjusted to match ambient lighting. It is a technique I have never seen before in a camera - phone or otherwise - and results in better skin tones and more natural colors.


A photo of my Sunnyvale hotel's illuminated sign in the distance came out sharp on the iPhone 5S. Many cameras overcompensate for low light by making the few points of light too bright. With some cameras, the "O" in "Sundowner" didn't look like an "O" but a solid dot. iPhone 5S kept the letters clear. The Lumia also did that and went further than the iPhone 5S in keeping the darker parts of the hotel building looking good, too.


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