Published by Steve Litchfield at 7:19 UTC, November 13th 2017

It's the long awaited return of Nokia to AAWP - but in Android form, with its current flagship, the Nokia 8. Claiming a flagship camera, you can probably guess what's coming next - we pit it against the imaging prowess of the Lumia 950, created by the ex-Nokia engineers at Nokia back in 2015. You can probably also guess the result ahead of time, but don't let me prejudice you. Read on for the full FIC excitement!

I should note that I've been aided in this feature by KF Chan, whose general camera phone photography you can see here.

Notes:

The Nokia 8's shots are 8MP here shooting at 4:3, with the Lumia 950 also set to 8MP oversampled mode in order to bring you meaningful comparisons below in Rafe's comparator, below. We did experiment with using the 20MP mode on the 950, but the framing was too wildly different from the '8's native 12MP mode. Using oversampled mode isn't doing the Lumia 950 that much of an injustice, since the images gain an extra purity and clarity, especially in the challenging low light cases. I do wonder whether there's any rudimentary oversampling or pixel combination on the Nokia 8 in going from 12MP to 8MP too. I guess we'll find out!

The Nokia 8's 'second' camera is a monochrome sensor, used to improve the results of the primary colour sensor. So I didn't need to worry about playing with zoom lenses or similar...

All photos were taken on full 'auto' on both phones, unless stated otherwise.

Let's pit the results against each other, using our Famed Interactive Comparator (FIC). All 1:1 crops are at 900x500 for comparison, but see the links for full versions.

Note that the interactive comparator below uses javascript and does need to load each pair of images. Please be patient while this page loads, if you see a pair of images above each other than you've either not waited long enough or your browser isn't capable enough! You ideally need a powerful, large-screened tablet or a proper laptop or desktop. This comparator may not work in some browsers. Sorry about that. On Windows 10 Mobile, use the 'AAWP Universal' UWP app, which handles the comparator very competently (see the tips in the app's help screens).

Test 1: Sunny scene

Great lighting, trivial for any phone camera. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:





In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Nokia 8, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

What's interesting is that, despite perfect lighting, the Lumia 950 camera is already ahead, with the 'pro' ZEISS optics and oversampling giving a visible difference in colours and clarity. Yes, yes, the Nokia 8 also has 'ZEISS optics', but I'm not seeing the same attention to detail that the 'old' Nokia team at Microsoft demanded.

Microsoft Lumia 950: 10 pts; Nokia 8: 8 pts

Test 2: Indoors

Typical moody indoor lighting, immediately challenging the phone cameras to work harder. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:





In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Nokia 8, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

The Nokia 8 wins for colour balance, with the Lumia's shot having a typical warmer colour cast, but the 950's image is again dramatically clearer and purer. To pick just one example detail, look at the dots on the painted hand on the far door.

Microsoft Lumia 950: 9 pts; Nokia 8: 7 pts

Test 3: Macro

In decent indoor light, a Christmassy macro (is it too early?!). Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:





In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Nokia 8, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

A tale of two focus attempts here. The Lumia 950 has clearly latched onto the weave of the cloth of the toy, while the Nokia 8 has focussed more precisely on the decoration placed on top. As a result, I'm going to declare both photos decent and without being 'there' to tap on the viewfinder myself, there's no 'right' answer. Mind you, seeing as the decoration was probably more the main subject than the toy's weave and with this being the Christmas season of generosity, I'm going to give the Nokia 8 an extra point here.

Microsoft Lumia 950: 8 pts; Nokia 8: 9 pts

Test 4: Low light

In low-ish indoor lighting, a real test of optics and sensor, with intricate photo details on the wall. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:





In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Nokia 8, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

The Nokia 8 photo reminds me of a photocopy of the Lumia 950 version, i.e. basically the same, but with reduced dynamic range, noiser details and ugly digital artefacts. Sorry, Nokia. This test case, above all others on this page, demonstrates the difference between an average camera phone and a truly great one. Hopefully your eyes agree?

Microsoft Lumia 950: 10 pts; Nokia 8: 8 pts

Test 5: Low indoor detail

In low-ish indoor lighting, a real test of optics and sensor, with intricate photo details on the wall. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950 (shot in portrait, so shown here in landscape for the overview only, for space reasons(!):





In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Nokia 8, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

An interesting test subject, very well suited to the sharpening-heavy processing on the Nokia 8 - it likes edges and so manages a good fist of this. But if you look closely you can recognise that the colours and 'fidelity' of the Lumia 950 image are very slightly better. A win by a 'nose'.

Microsoft Lumia 950: 9 pts; Nokia 8: 8 pts

Test 6: LED flash test

With the cafe lights off, lighting the interior with just the phone LED flash. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:





In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Nokia 8, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

The Nokia 8 photo is about what you'd expect from a generic camera phone with LED flash, but the Lumia 950 photo is unbelievably clear and better lit, even though the exposure time was identical in both cases, at 1/11s. A result of brighter flash, better optics, plus that PureView oversampling working its computational magic. For the umpteenth time how is it that the Lumia 950 XL camera has been ignored by so many pundits for so long? (I know, I know, it runs the un-trendy Windows 10 Mobile...)

Microsoft Lumia 950: 10 pts; Nokia 8: 7 pts

Test 7: Night time

A night shot, though unlike my own tests there's quite a bit of artificial light around. It's a typical end user night shot though. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:





In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 and Nokia 8, click the links to download. And to look at the images in more detail, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:

There are clear processing artefacts on the Nokia 8 shot - just look at some of the writing on the can signs - making me wonder whether some of what's wrong with the Nokia 8 camera can be fixed with a software update. What do you think? The Lumia 950 is, again, in another class altogether.

Microsoft Lumia 950: 10 pts; Nokia 8: 8 pts

Verdict

Adding up the points gives us:

Lumia 950: 66/70

Nokia 8: 55/70

This was one of the most requested AAWP phone camera shootouts and thanks to KF Chan for helping make this happen. One of the reasons why I'd not moved heaven and earth to get a Nokia 8 in for review yet (though I have been asking PR) was that I knew it would be something of a disappointment. And so it proved. Despite two cameras, OIS and ZEISS optics, HMD Global doesn't have anywhere near the same imaging expertise that the Nokia guys had back in the day (and at Microsoft until they all left or got made redundant), the Nokia 8 has sensors that are too small, no oversampling and no secret sauce (along Google Pixel lines) to rescue the results.

At some point, no doubt, I will get the '8' in for a full review and at that time I can do more head to heads with, for example, the Nokia N8 and 808 from the Symbian world, since those too have been requested. Can 'Nokia' (actually HMD Global) fix up the camera with updates or is the Nokia 8 destined to underperform? Currently I'd class the imaging as not worthy of the prestigious Nokia brand name - as someone who loved the N82, N8, 808 and 1020 before the 950, I hear 'Nokia' and I think 'amazing camera', and this simply isn't the case for the '8'. Yet.

PS. As KF Chan points out in the comments below, the Nokia 8 also has a higher resolution mode, 12MP, and it's tempting to do a 'take 2', redoing this feature with full resolution on both phone cameras and never mind trying to make the framing match up perfectly in the comparator. Would you like to see this?

PPS. In fairness, HMD talks up the video capture more than stills in its press release. Something else for me to test in due course!



