Published by Steve Litchfield at 6:35 UTC, July 26th 2019

After yesterday's specification and performance head to head , here's what (possibly) more people have been waiting for - an imaging head to head, and with the (now benchmark) Lumia 950 XL. With the Sony 48MP main sensor and 3x telephoto lens, plus a good wide angle set-up also in place, can the new OnePlus flagship's imaging compete at the top end in terms of photo quality?

OnePlus's imaging has always played second fiddle to the overall phone experience and value proposition. But with the 7 Pro the company has gone for broke and hang the cost. So it should be right up there in my tests.

As before, I've deliberately thrown in some tricky shots and zoom 'asks' in the scene selection, to test the USPs here, 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 and OnePlus 7 Pro 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 on each, leaving headroom for lossless PureView zoom and also getting the advantages of oversampling and noise reduction in both cases.



The 8MP shot from the Lumia 950 (at 16:9) and the 12MP shot (at 4:3) from the OnePlus 7 Pro, added to field of view differences, especially when I start throwing in zoom tests, do mean slightly different crops below, but you'll still be able to compare what each phone camera has achieved.

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

Focussing on the tree at about 35m. Here is the scene, from the Lumia 950:





You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and OnePlus 7 Pro, 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:

In terms of these excellent lighting conditions, there's not much to choose between the two images at the pixel level, as you'd expect. You can judge with your own eyes, but I think there's slightly more genuine detail in the Lumia shot and I'm going to give it an extra point - but both photos are fine, of course.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; OnePlus 7 Pro: 9 pts

Test 2: Same sunny scene, x3 zoom

Given that the OnePlus 7 Pro has a 3x telephoto lens, I have to give at least one example of what it can do. You can grab the original 3x zoomed photos from the Lumia 950 and OnePlus 7 Pro, 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:

Although the telephoto-shot photo from the OnePlus 7 Pro doesn't 'pop', it's full of genuine detail, as you'd expect. And so can be boosted as needed later on. The Lumia 950 starts to degrade for zoomed output beyond 1.5x, the 'PureView limit', and the 1:1 view isn't pretty. But then zoom has always been this phone camera's weak suit.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 6 pts; OnePlus 7 Pro: 9 pts

Test 3: Good lighting, extreme detail

In the cockpit of a disused aircraft, on static display. Here is the scene, from the Lumia 950:





You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and OnePlus 7 Pro, 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:

What you see here is the difference that great (ZEISS) optics and PureView oversampling make - look at the text and markings on the dials - the 950 XL's shot is utterly photo realistic, while the OnePlus 7 Pro's shot has uncertainty, despite the pixel-binning down from 48MP, plus it then has enough edge enhancement that delicate markings become ugly smudges. But enough, you get the idea, and I've been ranting along these lines for a good number of camera comparisons over the last few years!

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; OnePlus 7 Pro: 8 pts

Test 4: Same cockpit scene, x3 zoom

Again, given that the OnePlus 7 Pro has a 3x telephoto lens, I need to let it shine a little. You can grab the original 3x zoomed photos from the Lumia 950 and OnePlus 7 Pro, 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:

Much better from the OnePlus 7 Pro, as you might expect, in fact there's less evidence of the camera software over-processing things on the telephoto lens/sensor than on the much-hyped main one. All very curious. The Lumia's shot/crop isn't terrible here, but lossy digital zoom is obviously worse than proper optics to do the same job.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 7 pts; OnePlus 7 Pro: 10 pts

Test 5: Indoors, close-up

Inside a museum, a typical 'day out' shot of interest, shooting through clean glass at a slight oblique angle. Here is the scene, from the Lumia 950:





You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and OnePlus 7 Pro, 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.

Note that each phone camera seemed to pick a slightly different detail to focus on, so I've deliberately cropped a slightly different section for each. I guess I shouldn't be surprised when shooting indoors at such close range, though I was a bit annoyed that, after the fact, I discovered that the OnePlus 7 Pro had decided to focus on the area just behind the cockpit. Lesson learned: when shooting such close-ups, tap to focus on the exact spot you want to see clearly later on!

The detail level is similar from each, but I have to give a slight win to the Lumia for getting the focus point (at the centre of the frame) without needing any assistance or allowance.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 10 pts; OnePlus 7 Pro: 9 pts

Test 6: Sub-3x zoom test

Another old plane, this time in the well-lit hangar at about 4m. And there was no way to get physically closer, so around 2x zoom seemed appropriate to frame the interesting front end nicely. The idea here, of course, is to test the 'lossless zoom' from the OnePlus 7 Pro's main 48MP sensor. Here is the scene, from the Lumia 950:





You can grab the original 2x zoomed photos from the Lumia 950 and OnePlus 7 Pro, 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:

A noticeable win for the OnePlus 7 Pro then, even without its 3x telephoto lens. Being able to zoom losslessly by 'smart cropping' into a high resolution sensor was always part of how the Lumia 1020 was designed back in the day. And, while the Quad Bayer approach here is a bit cruder than what Nokia did, there's still scope for some useable zoom, without too many pixels going astray. The Lumia 950 XL is using part PureView zoom and part lossy digital zoom and it shows, with a slight fuzziness creeping into details.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 8 pts; OnePlus 7 Pro: 9 pts

Test 7: Night time

A good low light test. Here is the scene, from the Lumia 950:





You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and OnePlus 7 Pro, 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:

Competitors are starting to get close to the mighty Lumia 950 camera these days. The OnePlus 7 Pro takes a leaf out of the Google Pixel's book and shoots multiple exposures by default, over a second or so, and then combines them to get rid of most noise, though there's just a touch too much edge enhancement again, evident in the shrubs/greenery. Despite the noise (understandable, given the conditions), I'm giving the win to the Lumia, since more actual detail is preserved too.

Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 9 pts; OnePlus 7 Pro: 8 pts

Test 8: Going wide

The other extra camera on the OnePlus 7 Pro is the wide angle set-up and I should perhaps feature this too, in the interests of balance and flexibility. The Lumia 950 is a single camera system, of course, so I can't use the comparator. But I can show the difference between a standard 'wide-ish' camera and the OnePlus 7 Pro's wide angle camera. First of all the Lumia snap, besides the Handley Herald:





A jolly decent attempt, but the Lumia 950's optics aren't enough to get the whole plane in. And I can't step back, because I'm already against the outside fence. The OnePlus 7 Pro's wide angle camera offers this:





OK, not the entire plane, but a lot more of it. And the OnePlus 7 Pro's camera algorithms include the 'straightening' of fish eye distortion, common to wide angle lens systems. The result is impressive and the only question is how I score this in an overview.

You can grab the original photos from the Lumia 950 and OnePlus 7 Pro, for your own analysis.



Microsoft Lumia 950 XL: 8 pts; OnePlus 7 Pro: 10 pts



Verdict

For the record, the scores add up as:

OnePlus 7 Pro (2019): 72 pts (/80) Lumia 950 (2015): 68 pts

Not for the first time, an Android flagship draws ahead of the mighty Lumia 950 by virtue of extra cameras - telephoto and wide angle. They're genuinely useful though, plus the main sensor on the OnePlus 7 Pro is decent-ish, if not worthy of a 'PureView' label in the usual way - and I do think that OnePlus should dial back the edge enhancement. Put it all together with a blazing fast ISP and main processor and the OnePlus 7 Pro, in terms of sheer flexibility with subjects and distance, is probably only second to the Huawei P30 Pro now.

Comments? The 'stock' Android experience on the OnePlus 7 Pro has a lot to recommend it to ex-Lumia owners, with perhaps the lack of microSD expansion the only fly in the ointment.

PS. There's also video capture, of course, and I had trouble getting digital stabilisation working on the test phone - this is an area that the Lumias excel, of course. If I can, I'll try a separate video feature.



