Nokia Lumia 930: Photo test vs Sony Xperia Z2 (dusk/night/indoors)

In another of my camera tests, I’ve decided to pitch the new Nokia Lumia 930 against the Sony Xperia Z2.

I will be doing some daylight tests of course (and tests of the video recording capabilities), but to start with I captured a mix of dusk/night shots, shots with flash, plus some indoor shots.

I picked the Xperia Z2 as a sparring partner firstly because it’s my main phone, and also because it has a very comparable image sensor in terms of resolution (20/20.7-megapixels).

In the case of the Lumia 930, it saved the images below at an effective 16-megapixel resolution, while the Xperia Z2 in automatic mode saved at 8-megapixels.

All of the images below can be viewed at 100% individually, or downloaded in full for offline viewing (ZIP).

To make the test as fair as possible, each camera got one shot in its default automatic mode. To start changing manual settings turns things into a far more complicated test, which might be something I’ll do on another day, but for now it’s a simple comparison using the settings that are applied when you fire up the camera using the shutter button.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. My impressions are that the Sony has the edge, coping better in very dark conditions. While the Lumia 930 does capture more light, it does so by bumping up the ISO and losing significant levels of detail.

Lumia 930/Xperia Z2 Comparison

2 thoughts on “Nokia Lumia 930: Photo test vs Sony Xperia Z2 (dusk/night/indoors)”

Good test.

I feel what’s hurting the Lumia’s picture quality is Nokia’s too agressive deNoising algorithm..it blurs everything too much.

great comparison – both probably similar in daylight. Prefer the majority of nokia’s results in low light here, greater sense of realism and easier to clean up white balance in PhotoShop. Sony does appear to have a more consistent auto capture, with an edge on outright detail, whereas nokia’s greater light capture resolves more transitions such as patio slabs. Nokia’s palette is a little more muted and cold, Sony’s a touch high on contrast and slightly warmer. Sony’s auto images appear more consistent in tone than nokia’s in auto, but my preference is the nokia’s light control – apparent when photo editing some of the results. prefer the Sony as a phone, Nokia as a camera. Two great low light phone snapper – thanks for sharing!

Stan says:

1 Oct 2014 at 17:01

Good test.

I feel what’s hurting the Lumia’s picture quality is Nokia’s too agressive deNoising algorithm..it blurs everything too much.

sam says:

14 Sep 2014 at 17:47

great comparison – both probably similar in daylight. Prefer the majority of nokia’s results in low light here, greater sense of realism and easier to clean up white balance in PhotoShop. Sony does appear to have a more consistent auto capture, with an edge on outright detail, whereas nokia’s greater light capture resolves more transitions such as patio slabs. Nokia’s palette is a little more muted and cold, Sony’s a touch high on contrast and slightly warmer. Sony’s auto images appear more consistent in tone than nokia’s in auto, but my preference is the nokia’s light control – apparent when photo editing some of the results. prefer the Sony as a phone, Nokia as a camera. Two great low light phone snapper – thanks for sharing!