Published by Steve Litchfield at 6:44 UTC, May 24th 2019

I looked at this earlier in the week - a brand new smartphone for well under £500 that had the equal of the Lumia 950 XL's camera, in theory, yet with no strings attached in other areas. With the latest Google Camera algorithms under its belt, let's put this to the test. My gut says that the Google imaging is the purest of the current crop (though still crude by PureView standards) and thus perhaps the best fit for a Lumia owner. See below for my testing.

As usual, I've deliberately thrown in some tricky shots and some zoom 'asks' in the scene selection, all photos were taken on full auto and handheld, as a regular user would do. No tripods or RAW editing sessions needed! (Though both the 950 XL and Pixel 3a XL can shoot in DNG/RAW, of course, should you be even more of an imaging nerd than me and that way inclined.)





Notes:

I've also shot at the default output resolutions for 4:3, leaving headroom for lossless PureView zoom and also getting the advantages of oversampling and noise reduction in the Lumia's case.



The 4:3 8MP shot from the 950 XL and the 12MP shot from the Pixel 3a XL, added to field of view differences, do mean slightly different crops below, but you'll still be able to compare what each phone camera has achieved. (I did consider using the 4:3 19MP mode on the 950 XL, but this resulted in even more of a framing mismatch, plus it had no benefits when zooming or in low light.)

Let's pit the results against each other, using our Famed Interactive Comparator (FIC). All 1:1 crops are at 900x500 for comparison, though I've put up the originals on my own server, for you to download if you want to do your own analysis.

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 detail

Looking up at greenery and stone detail. Perfect lighting. Here is the scene:





You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 3a XL on my own server, for your own analysis.

To look at the images in more detail here, 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:

This is a great example of how, even under perfect lighting, the Lumia PureView oversampling and pro-grade ZEISS optics combine to produce stunningly detailed images. You can see every nuance of texture on leaves, walls and windows. The Pixel 3a XL doesn't do badly, but its photo still looks like a colour photocopy of the Lumia shot if you look closely enough.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Pixel 3a XL: 9 pts

Test 2: Sunny zoomed tower

An observation(?) tower at about 50m. Here is the (unzoomed) scene:





I then zoomed to roughly 3x (hard to tell in the UI of both phones, so I'm just guessing here!) The Lumia uses some (1.5x) lossless PureView zoom and then the rest is lossy digital zoom, of course. The Pixel 3a XL takes multiple exposures, as usual, but uses them to fill in detail when zoomed, using the natural slight wobble of the human hand to 'reposition' the view between exposures. Clever, though not a substitute for optical zoom (as in the P30 Pro, tested recently).

You can grab the original zoomed photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 3a XL on my own server, for your own analysis.

To look at the images in more detail here, 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:

Obviously a huge win for the Pixel 3a XL, the image-combination zoom approach works so much better than just making the pixels 'bigger' in the Lumia's case. Always a Lumia 950 weak point, you can see the evidence above for yourself.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 5 pts; Pixel 3a XL: 9 pts

Test 3: Sunny macro

Shot at only about 15cm, tapping to focus on this specific flower shown in the crops. Here is the scene:





You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 3a XL on my own server, for your own analysis. NOTE: I got my thumb in the way of the corner of the frame in the Pixel 3a XL shot (hey, the sun was in my eyes!), but it doesn't affect the cropped region below.

To look at the images in more detail here, 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:

As with the first (tree/building) example, the Pixel photo looks good until you compare it to the immense natural detail and colour of the Lumia shot. I'm just blown away by how good the Lumia 950 is for non-zoomed photos still, in 2019. The Google algorithms are good, but they mean that resulting images always look a little processed down at the pixel (pun intended) level.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Pixel 3a XL: 8 pts

Test 4: OK, another zoom test!

An sunlit church tower at about 300m, amidst urban greenery. Here is the (unzoomed) scene:





I then zoomed to roughly 2.5x (again hard to tell in the UI of both phones). You can grab the original zoomed photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 3a XL on my own server, for your own analysis.

To look at the images in more detail here, 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 zoomed image isn't as big a win for the Pixel's 'Super-Res zoom' system as before, with the blocky patterns on the church working rather well with the blocky digital zoom on the Lumia! But the Pixel's shot does have more genuine zoomed detail, so it gets a slight win. Both shots (understandable) make something of a mess of the tree foliage. As to the colouring differences, the Lumia's is slightly too yellow, while the Pixel's is too 'cool', too grey (here's the church, seen in StreetView), so honours even overall in this respect.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 7 pts; Pixel 3a XL: 9 pts

Test 5: Sunset landscape

Shooting a picturesque (ok, ok, will you accept 'interesting'?) bridge just after sunset, in dimming light. Here is the scene:





You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 3a XL on my own server, for your own analysis.

To look at the images in more detail here, 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:

Both shots are pretty good, though if you look at the pixel-level crops above, you can see that there's noise and general dithering in the Pixel's image, despite all the fancy multi-exposure algorithms. Meanwhile, the Lumia 950 XL does a stunning job at keeping noise down and rendering detail even in the shadows.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; Pixel 3a XL: 7 pts

Test 6: Indoor detail

A rack of sweets in a store, plenty of detail and colour, with just fluorescent lights overhead. Here is the scene:





You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 3a XL on my own server, for your own analysis.

To look at the images in more detail here, 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:

Both very capable snaps, I think, though the Lumia just edges it with wonderfully smooth colours and zero contrast issues or artefacts.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Pixel 3a XL: 9 pts

Test 7: Dusk shot

After the sun had set and in very low light, these snaps appear a lot lighter here than to my eyes at the time. Quite amazing how much light can be gathered these days. Here is the scene:

In fact, here's how the scene looked in real life (mock-up from my memory!):





You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 XL and Pixel 3a XL on my own server, for your own analysis.

To look at the images in more detail here, 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 Pixel 3a XL's imaging routines did very well. The Lumia 950 XL's optics and OIS did amazingly well - the shot could almost have been taken in broad daylight! Just look at the detail, the colours, the purity. Vive la 950!

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; Pixel 3a XL: 8 pts

Test 8: Party time!

My standard 'party mock-up' test scene, in very low light and with flash forced ON. Here is the scene:





To look at the images in more detail here, 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:

OK, the Google HDR+ algorithms work very well here, fair play. Although the Lumia creates more light (triple LED) and captures more (larger sensor, better lenses) and has more flexibility ('Dynamic flash', letting you adjust the blend of flash/non-flash after the fact), the as-is snap is better, crisper and more natural from the Pixel 3a XL. It gets the skin colour right and manages to work around a slightly moving subject.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 8 pts; Pixel 3a XL: 9 pts

Verdict

For the record, the scores add up as:

Lumia 950 (2015): 69/80 pts Pixel 3a XL (2019): 68/80 pts

In other words, a very close-run context, and with scores swinging in both directions somewhat wildly. The Lumia 950/XL is still the PureView champion in terms of capturing oversampled snaps under almost all conditions, but the Pixel 3/3a/XL camera and routines aren't a million miles behind overall, especially if you factor in the software zoom system from Google which works pretty well. Although buying a Pixel 3a/XL won't get you quite the same classy pure photos you got from an older Lumia, at the same time you're at least in the same ballpark, and for not a lot of money laid out (and with three years of updates), as detailed in my general comparison this week.

But phone imaging has evolved in the last couple of years, of course, and you now have the option of phones with two, three, or even four cameras, spanning ultra-wide angle through 5x telephoto and everything in between. Which is great as a consumer since you have more choices than ever of what to replace a Lumia 950 with. You'll never again get the same purity of image, but you can usually make up for this in terms of focal range flexibility!

PS. The Pixel 4/XL, slated for this Autumn (so four months away?) is supposed to have twin cameras, so maybe this is one to hang on for, not least because the timing of its release will tie in nicely with the end of support of Windows 10 Mobile at the end of the year.