By now, all major manufacturers have launched their flagship smartphones in India, which includes the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7,HTC 10 and LG G5. Priced between Rs 48,990 to Rs 52,990, each smartphone has a USP of its own, but the camera remains to be a key focus. After our benchmark comparison, it's now time to put the camera on these smartphones through their paces.
Before we go ahead, let's quickly look at the camera specifications of all the smartphones. Starting with the Samsung Galaxy S7, it sports a 12-megapixel primary camera with dual-pixel technology, aperture of f/1.7, PDAF (phase detection auto-focus) and 1.4µm pixel size. The camera supports 4K video recording at 30fps (frames per second) and 720p slow motion video recording at 240fps. Up front, is a 5-megapixel selfie camera of aperture f/1.7, which Samsung says is better for low-light photography.
The HTC 10 is equipped with an upgraded 12-megapixel (UltraPixel 2) sensor with an aperture of f/1.8, pixel size of 1.55µm, laser auto-focus and OIS (optical image stabilization). It also supports 4K video recording (30fps) and 720p slow-motion video recording (120fps). Up front, is a 5-megapixel selfie camera of aperture f/1.8, along with support for OIS.
ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy S7 vs HTC 10 vs LG G5: Specifications, benchmarks compared
The LG G5, on the other hand, sports a dual-camera setup at the back – a 16-megapixel primary camera of aperture f/1.8 with 78-degrees lens and a secondary 8-megapixel wide-angle camera of aperture f/2.4 with 135-degree wide angle lens.
The camera app has a small rectangle with a tree, clicking on which it takes photos with the single camera, and another rectangle with three trees, clicking on which takes photos with the wide-angle lens. It also features laser auto-focus, 3-axis OIS and support for 4K video recording. For selfies and video calling, you have an 8-megapixel camera of aperture f/2.0.
ALSO READ: Samsung Galaxy S7 Review: The perfect smartphone money can buy
I used all three smartphones to click photos in different lighting conditions. And I must agree; all of them have a very capable, flagship worthy camera. Samsung, LG and HTC, all have worked on the respective camera apps to make it as slick and easy to use as possible. The camera apps also feature pro-mode that lets you control the exposure, shutter speed, auto-white balance and focus.
Focusing on subjects in the Galaxy S7 was pretty quick, but with the HTC 10, I struggled a couple of times to get the subject in focus, especially in low-light scenarios. At times, even the G5 suffered focusing issues, due to which some photos come out a little blurry. Now, let's look at how the sample photos turned out to be.
ALSO READ: HTC 10 review: Impressive, but shy of being brilliant
Indoor Lighting
I've clicked some photos inside the office in artificial lighting conditions. The one clicked using the Galaxy S7 appears sharp, bright and vibrant with the camera able to capture accurate colors. The photo clicked on the HTC 10 looks slightly dull, less vibrant and also loses some sharpness when seen at 100 percent crop. The G5, on the other hand, looks washed out and has visible amount of grains at 100 percent crop. The Galaxy S7 takes the lead here.
Samsung Galaxy S7
LG G5
HTC 10
100% Crop
Close-up Indoors Here, the photo clicked on the Galaxy S7 appeared bright, with good depth-of-field and accurate colors. If you look closer, the blacks look deep and the whites appear bright, compared to the other two photos. Even at 100 percent crop, the photo looks very sharp and there is no loss of quality. The one clicked on HTC 10 looks a little dull and isn't too sharp either. The whites also have a bit of grayish tint. The photo clicked on the G5 comes close to the Galaxy S7, but misses out on sharpness.
Samsung Galaxy S7
LG G5
HTC 10
100% Crop
Close-up Outdoors
It goes without saying, HTC 10's camera once again captures a dull photo. It loses sharpness and colors are also faded. The competition here is between the Galaxy S7 and the G5. If you closely look at the photos, the greens look vibrant or slightly over saturated, but some people prefer gaudy looking colors. There's no doubt that the clarity and depth of field is pretty good on the Galaxy S7, with G5 closing relatively very close. In fact, the G5's camera captures sober looking colors. Here, it boils down to personal preference on whether you like punchy or sober colors.
Samsung Galaxy S7
LG G5
HTC 10
100% Crop
Bright Outdoors Once again, the Galaxy S7 excels in bright outdoor conditions too, whereas the HTC 10 and LG G5 capture slightly dull photos. At 100 percent crop, the photo shot on G5 loses its sharpness big time, whereas the one clicked on HTC 10 is less pixilated. With the Galaxy S7 coming first, the HTC 10 beats the G5 this time around.
Samsung Galaxy S7
LG G5
HTC 10
100% Crop
Indoor low-light without flash
While the HTC 10 is able to capture a brighter photo than the S7 and G5, it has high amount of noise which is clearly visible. At 100 percent crop, although a little dull, the G5 and Galaxy S7 capture less amount of visible noise. However, the camera capabilities of all three smartphones is commendable here as I shot the photos in a completely dark room, with the door partially open, just to let some light enter the room.
Samsung Galaxy S7
LG G5
HTC 10
100% Crop
Indoor low-light with flash This time around, the HTC 10 and LG G5 come close, finally performing better than the Galaxy S7. With flash fired, the photo clicked on the Galaxy S7 looks somewhat overexposed and washed out. The one shot on G5 looks decently bright, with deep blacks, but slightly misses out on colors. While the HTC 10 captures a decently lit photo with good amount of details and colors, it could have been better if the flash intensity was slightly less powerful.
Samsung Galaxy S7
LG G5
HTC 10
100% Crop
Indoor Selfie
Lastly, I clicked a few selfies inside office under decent lighting conditions. And once again, the HTC 10 captures better selfies than the competition. Even with the beauty mode off, the ones clicked on the Galaxy S7 and G5 looks a little artificial, whereas the one on the HTC 10 looks raw, neat and detailed. The OIS in front-facing camera really works in its favor.
Samsung Galaxy S7
LG G5
HTC 10
100% Crop
LG G5 wide-angle I also used the G5 to capture the photos with standard and wide-angle mode. As the name suggests, the wide-angle mode lets you capture wider photo, with more objects coming into the scene. It also eliminates the need of panorama mode, where often times, stitching of two photos isn't that accurate. I noticed that the view is slightly fish-eye-type. Below are a couple of samples of photos of same frame – one in wide-angle mode, whereas the other in standard mode. Having lesser resolution (8-megapixels), the wide-angle one loses out on quality.
Standard
Wide-angle
I used the G5′s wide-angle mode to capture the same frame under night lighting conditions. The sensor clearly cannot handle light properly, and the photo tends to show some pastel effects, losing most of the sharpness. Look at the samples below.
Standard
Wide-angle
Overall, true to the hype around the Samsung Galaxy S7, its camera outshines the competition. Not that the HTC 10 or LG G5 have bad cameras, but the Galaxy S7 beats them overall when it comes to camera performance. You can check out more photos from our camera phone shootout below.
(Disclaimer – This is just the camera comparison of three smartphones, and does not reflect the overall performance.)
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