LG is a brand name that has been absent from our routine smartphone camera comparisons for quite some time. That's because even though its recent high-end handsets have been pretty great overall, their cameras have always been a few steps behind the competition – Samsung, Apple, Nokia, and even Sony. The case with the recently announced LG G2, however, is quite a bit different. We just gave it the review treatment only to discover that its 13MP main snapper, equipped with all kinds of goodies including optical image stabilization, was actually well worthy of competing with the big boys. But how exactly does the G2's cam stack up against them? Well, that's what we're about to find out. For this smartphone camera comparison, we've chosen to pit the LG G2 against the Samsung Galaxy S4, the iPhone 5, and the HTC One, all of which are known to be very potent in the camera department. Yeah, the battle will be tough, but at the end, only one of these four handsets will stand victorious.
Note: the Panasonic Lumix GH2 is used as a reference camera.
Details
The outdoor weather conditions weren't optimal during our shoot-out, but nevertheless, all four smartphones lived up to the challenge. Some of them, of course, did noticeably better than the rest. The photos from the LG G2 are slightly sharper than normal, but overall, they are extremely detailed. At 100% zoom, you can easily explore the image from up close and, for example, read the cars' license plates or examine the ornaments on the façades of buildings. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is only a tad behind as its photos are a bit hazier. The iPhone 5 produces detailed photos, but with more digital noise visible in them. As for the HTC One, its images are definitely usable for posting online or for making small prints, but its rivals are a step ahead when it comes to capturing details.
Color representation
Color fidelity can either make or break a photo, which is why this category is almost as important as the previous one. Thankfully, all four smartphones are capable of capturing hues accurately, although results may vary from one scene to another. But in general, the LG G2 produces the most eye-pleasing colors so we'll rank it one step ahead of the competition, followed closely by the Samsung Galaxy S4. As for the rest, the iPhone 5 might occasionally fail to nail the color temperature, while the HTC One can't capture whites and shades of gray in detail, although colors in their photos are also very good-looking as a whole.
Close-ups and HDR
Most users don't take close-ups and HDR photos very often, but having a camera that excels in these two departments is definitely an advantage. After all, the details in macros are a pleasure to admire, while HDR can come in handy when the lighting conditions are tricky.
When it comes to taking macro and close-up shots, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the camera to have. Its camera can capture a bit more detail than the rest, which is why we have picked it as our favorite. The photos from the iPhone 5 and the LG G2 are a bit less detailed in this case, but good nonetheless. The HTC One, on the other hand, captures macros and close-ups of average quality. They are okay, but nothing special.
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The iPhone 5 surprised us with its nice HDR shots, capturing all the areas of the frame in great clarity. The LG G2's HDR photos look fine, but the sky is still overexposed. The same scene captured with the Galaxy S4 in Rich Tone mode ended up looking hazy while the HTC One sacrificed quite a bit of detail to capture the same frame in HDR.
Indoors
Indoor scenes are especially challenging for smartphone cameras to capture due to the relatively low amount of light to work with. Yet the LG G2 delivers great results – its low-light shots have little digital noise and preserve colors well. The iPhone 5 can also take good indoor photos, but its camera introduces a lot of digital noise while boosting the color saturation too much. The Samsung Galaxy S4 does an okay job in this case, but it often fails to adjust the white balance properly. Trailing behind them all is, again, the HTC One, which takes dark, lifeless indoor photos.
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Night
We are genuinely impressed by the night shots taken with the LG G2. They are clear, detailed, with little noticeable digital noise, and properly represented colors. And you don't really have to set the camera to Night Mode all the time as it is smart enough to tweak its settings accordingly. The ones from the Samsung Galaxy S4 look good as well, but lack the clarity of the G2's photos. With the iPhone 5 you can take decent night shots, but there is quite a lot of digital noise spoiling the image. The HTC One's night photos are also usable, but lack fine detail.
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Video
In theory, videos shot with the LG G2 should look nothing short of outstanding. After all, the smartphone can capture optically stabilized, 1080p footage at 60 frames per second. But in reality, the quality of its videos depends greatly on the lighting conditions. Outdoor videos look amazingly smooth, but those shot in low light are extremely blurry, almost to the point of being unusable. The Samsung Galaxy S4 can take 1080p video at “only” 30 frames per second, and it looks very good, both during the day and during the night, even with no stabilization into play. The iPhone 5 can also take beautiful videos under broad daylight, but its low-light footage is very noisy. As for the HTC One, it takes good videos in a variety of conditions, but its aggressive auto-focus algorithms often try to refocus onto something when doing so isn't needed.
There's no denying, however, that the HTC One excels in capturing audio, while the iPhone 5 lags way behind the rest in that respect. The LG G2 and Samsung Galaxy S4 record sound clearly and at high volume in their videos.
Interface and ease of use
Hardware is worthless without the right software to control it with, isn't that so? Thankfully, LG has done a pretty good job with the camera user interface on the G2. There is a whole bunch of scenes and shooting modes to experiment with, including HDR, Burst Mode, Night Mode, and the outstanding 1080p/60fps video setting we already mentioned. All the menu settings are easy to get to, which is essential for switching modes on the fly. The only thing bothering us is that you have to manually switch between photo and video modes instead of having both shutters on the same screen, as the case is with the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One.
The camera interface on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is pretty similar to that on the G2. Again, you get a whole ton of shooting scenes and modes, most of which can actually be quite useful given the appropriate conditions. We find it convenient that two separate shutters have been added – one for taking photos and another for recording videos – so there is no need to switch manually between modes as the case is with the G2. While the Galaxy S4 lacks OIS, there is a software image stabilizer that works, but its effect isn't as profound when compared to the G2 and its optical stabilization.
The iPhone 5 lacks any advanced modes and scenes whatsoever, save for the option to take HDR images. However, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The camera UI is extremely simple to use even by folks who haven't held an iPhone before. Moreover, videos are very well stabilized even though the camera uses only software algorithms to filter out the shaking from a user's hand.
There is no shortage of shooting scenes, modes, and options on the HTC One. It can take HDR photos and videos at 1080p resolution, 60 frame-per-second videos at 720p, all the while capturing stereo sound of fantastic quality. However, the UI hasn't been organized the best way possible. Most settings and adjustments are placed in a single list with lots of sub-menus, so getting to the one you need may take more steps than it should. Thankfully, the frequently used ones are placed on the very top of the list.
Conclusion and overall score
We had the feeling that the LG G2's camera was going to be good. However, the smartphone's imaging abilities exceeded our expectations. Test after test, the LG G2 produced clear and detailed photographs, with barely any digital noise present in them.
And overall, the camera on LG's latest and greatest surpasses even Samsung's Galaxy S4, which until recently was the top cameraphone around. But the Samsung Galaxy S4 isn't that far behind. In fact, it is still better than the G2 at taking close-ups or videos given the right conditions and it is almost as capable in a number of shooting scenarios. That's why we see no major reasons for a camera junkie to dump a Galaxy S4 in favor of a G2.
Then there's the iPhone 5 – a smartphone that has managed to stand its ground among the best cameraphones even though it has been on the market for nearly a year. But it isn't quite the best anymore. Sure, it gets the job done well, but the competition is getting heated so Apple better be readying a camera upgrade for the next iPhone iteration.
As for the HTC One, well, its Ultrapixel camera sounds like a great idea in theory, with its larger pixels and all. But the actual results fail to impress – photos and videos simply lack the detail we've come to expect from a modern camera, while the optical image stabilization doesn't have that major of an impact as expected. Of course, the HTC One is still a decent cameraphone and will get the job done in case there's nothing else around. Just don't expect any miracles out of it.
Disclaimer: The overall score for each phone represents its average rating. All categories have been taken into account with an equal weight on the overall score.
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