Published by Steve Litchfield at 8:55 UTC, October 4th 2017

Possibly the premium camera-toting smartphone in the world right now, the Android-powered Galaxy Note 8 has twin OIS-equipped lenses, one of which is a genuine 2x telephoto. Sounds amazing, but can it finally be the phone to topple the two year old Windows 10 Mobile-powered Lumia 950 XL as king of phone imaging? Let's find out!

The Galaxy Note 8's camera is Dual 12 MP (1/2.55" sensor, f/1.7, PDAF & 1/3.6" sensor, f/2.4, AF, 2x zoom), with OIS on both lenses. Impressive. That should stretch and - in theory - surpass the much older Microsoft Lumia. My heart is in my mouth as I start this article and start taking shots.

The Galaxy Note 8's shots are 9MP when looking at 16:9, meaning that I chose to shoot at 8MP on the Lumia 950 XL - I do like to match up resolutions as best possible so that I can use Rafe's fancy interactive comparator, below. I'm not worried too much about cheating the Lumia, since the 'missing' resolution is used for oversampling and purer pixels, plus they're used when zooming in any case.

The fields of view of the two phone cameras are slightly different, I've tried to centre crops on the same detail where possible, for ease of comparison.

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

Obviously, there's the potential here to slant the comparison towards the Note 8 by deliberately using the zoom all the time, but I've tried to use zoom with restraint. Plus, after all, the PureView zoom on the 950 XL is also there, albeit not at a full 2x.

Let’s start snapping and 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

My standard suburban comparison and, for once, the sun was shining. 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 XL and Galaxy Note 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:

Under such ideal conditions, there's good detail at the pixel level from both phone cameras, but the Lumia's looks distinctly less processed and with more attractive colours. It's slightly too warm, but then the Note 8's is too pale, so... And I'm knocking an extra point off the Note 8 score for the over-sharpening, look at the increased width of the cement between bricks and at the greenery on the right of the crop, for example - wow, I'm picky!

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Samsung Galaxy Note 8: 7 pts

Test 2: Sunny man-made detail

Another sunny test, this time with loads of detail in the form of a well-lit glass staircase. 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 XL and Galaxy Note 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 shots are much closer this time round, but the Lumia's is still purer and clearer/cleaner at the pixel level (again - cough - PureView oversampling) - and, interestingly, the colour casts aren't that different either. A narrow win for the 950 XL, and even that's only because I'm being picky again!

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Samsung Galaxy Note 8: 9 pts

Test 3: Adding in 2x zoom

The same staircase, but this time playing 100% to the Note 8's strength by using the optical 2x zoom lens.

In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and Galaxy Note 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:

Unsurprisingly, the Note 8 regains the advantage here and by quite a margin. 2x zoom is beyond the Lumia 950 XL's PureView zoom range and so some of the detail is 'made up'. You've got to love optical zoom, even if it's fixed, as here at 2x.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 7 pts; Samsung Galaxy Note 8: 9 pts

Test 4: Macro, good light

Just about the only decent flower left in the garden as Autumn is now in full flight here in the UK. I'm up close and wanting detail from within the flower's head. 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 XL and Galaxy Note 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's a natural sharpness and clarity to the Lumia 950 XL's photo that's not.... quite... there in the Samsung's. So a narrow win for the Lumia...

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Samsung Galaxy Note 8: 9 pts

Test 5: Dim light, zoomed

I was by another common test subject of mine, my local church, and inside it are a number of challenging photo set-ups. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950:





I then recentred, focussed on the flowers and zoomed to 2x on each phone camera. Again, this is playing right into the Note 8 camera's sweet spot, but I'm keen to see how well the Lumia 950 XL can keep up. In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and Galaxy Note 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:

Very interesting indeed. The Note 8 photo has slightly more detail, thanks to the 2x optical zoom, but also way more noise and processing artefacts (from Samsung's usual over-sharpening). You could argue a win here either way - considering that the Lumia 950 XL is partly using digital zoom as well makes the 'equality' even more curious. And both get good scores, given how tricky the task being asked was.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Samsung Galaxy Note 8: 9 pts

Test 6: Ultra low light

Curtained off to the side of the main body of the church was a secondary altar, in very low light indeed, my eyes could hardly make out detail. Here is the whole scene, as presented by the Lumia 950, and note that a 1/5s exposure 'turns night into day', the usual Lumia miracle(!):





In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and Galaxy Note 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:

For the umpteenth time on AAWP, I present the miracle of low light capture from the Lumia 950 XL (and the 1020 and 920 before it), with highly effective multi-axis OIS allowing long exposure times, with PureView oversampling almost eliminating noise, and so on. I'd have thought that the competition would have caught up by now, but it seems not. Let your eyes be the judge above, but I'm giving the 950 XL a big win here over the Note 8.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Samsung Galaxy Note 8: 6 pts

Test 7: HDR scene

Also in the church, the sun was shining outside, giving a good opportunity for a HDR test shot through the window. The idea is to get good lighting from the outside and also good detail inside, all in the one multi-exposure bracketed HDR photo. 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 XL and Galaxy Note 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 Galaxy Note 8 makes a bit of a hash of this shot. I can confirm that 'HDR' was engaged in its UI, yet the sunlit grass outside is still blown out, while detail inside is unpleasantly over-sharpened. In contrast, the Lumia 950 XL makes a good fist of getting the grass exposed properly and there's lovely, pure detail inside.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Samsung Galaxy Note 8: 7 pts

Test 8: Night time

Dead of night, the ultimate low light test. 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 XL and Galaxy Note 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 950 XL takes this one again, I feel, with purer detail, straighter edges with fewer artefacts. There's the usual 'warm' colour cast, but under the lighting circumstances I think this can be forgiven. The Note 8's OIS works well, but there's no oversampling to help keep noise and artefacts under control. True, the Note 8 shot looks more detailed at first glance, but look closer and this comes at the expense of noise and artefacts.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Samsung Galaxy Note 8: 8 pts

Test 9: Adding in 2x zoom

The same night shot, but this time playing 100% to the Note 8's strength by using the optical 2x zoom lens, also stabilised - unlike on the recent iPhone 8 Plus that I tested.

In case you want to grab the original images to do your own analysis, here they are, from the Lumia 950 XL and Galaxy Note 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:

With the 950 XL now out of oversampling territory and beyond the range of the PureView zoom, the Note 8 catches up easily under the 2x zoom use case here. More detail, better zoom and, at last, another observable win for the Samsung, thanks again to its stabilised zoom lens.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 7 pts; Samsung Galaxy Note 8: 9 pts

Test 10: Low light dynamic range

A sign at a local gym. 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 XL and Galaxy Note 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:

We're reaching the point of diminishing returns here, of course, as phone cameras get so good that they can handle low light shots so easily. In this case the Lumia 950 XL's shot has slightly higher dynamic range, but the Note 8's photo 'pops' more and is sharper (perhaps artificially, but it 'works' here). Honours even overall.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Samsung Galaxy Note 8: 9 pts

Bonus tie-breaker test 11: Shooting the moon!

The ultimate test of dynamic range, sensor resolution, lens zoom and 'pro' settings in the camera UI - and both phones had a damn good attempt. Here they are, cropped to show our moon, first from the Lumia 950 XL, then the Note 8:

A slight win for the Note 8 here, with its 2x stabilised zoom, but the venerable Lumia 950 XL isn't far behind with a creditable attempt. Just a bit of fun, but I'm still going to score it!

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Samsung Galaxy Note 8: 10 pts



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Verdict

As usual, adding up the points gives us a feel for how the two phone cameras did:

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 97/110pts Samsung Galaxy Note 8: 91/110pts

Despite using zoom for many of the tests above, the Lumia 950 XL still reigns supreme in terms of image quality and flexibility. As noted before, it's demonstrably not perfect - odd colour renditions sometimes, unreliable focus in very low light, slow focus generally (compared to 2017 flagships), poor digital zoom algorithm. Yet, test case after test case, it's still manages to pip everything else to the post in my tests, even two years after launch.

As I've said often, the competition is always catching up. The Nokia 808 PureView was five years ahead of its time but hampered by an OS that had already been proclaimed End Of Life. The Lumia 1020 was also arguably years ahead, but hampered by the use of an old chipset and no dedicated ISP. But the Lumia 950 and 950 XL had reasonably current chipsets and refined versions of most (though not all) of the tech that had gone into the 808 and 1020. Which is why the 950 devices have 'lasted' longer in terms of imaging relevance here on AAWP.

I see that DxOMark has just rated the Note 8 joint best smartphone camera in the world. And yet again I wonder whether if DxOMark missed an enormous trick by not reviewing the Lumia 950 range. Maybe Microsoft refused to pay them the appropriate partnership 'fees' at the time, back in 2015?

Your comments?

PS. Thanks to Clove for the review loan.

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