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Salad
In this sample, the Samsung Galaxy S6 produced the best picture - properly exposed with accurate colours and very sharp. The Apple iPhone 6 came in second because it was a little overexposed and was not so sharp. The ASUS ZenFone 2 was actually sharper than the iPhone 6 but had a yellowish cast and was underexposed.
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Salad (A Closer Look)
In the close-up of the cucumber slices and lettuce, the Apple iPhone 6 was a little overexposed, which reduced the amount of detail in the salad leaves. There was also some noise at the edges, which was minimal in the Samsung Galaxy S6. The yellowish cast in the ASUS ZenFone 2 turned the salad leaves yellowish-green, which isn't a very appetising hue.
The close-up of the cherry tomato clearly show the prowess of the Samsung Galaxy S6 - you can see the individual water beads on the tomato, which isn't clear in the Apple iPhone 6 or the ASUS ZenFone 2.
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The Conclusion (For Now)
When we first received the ASUS ZenFone 2, we noticed a problem with the camera. Taking a photo was fast, but after that, it would take a while to save / process the photo before you are allowed to take the subsequent shot. However, ASUS subsequently solved this problem with a firmware update that fixed the issue for good. Now, you can take photos in the Auto mode without a processing lag after each shot.
The reason why we brought this up is because we think that some of the issues with the camera may be eventually resolved with a firmware update. In fact, ASUS just released another firmware update for the ZenFone 2 today, which fixes several issues with the camera. With that in mind, let's talk about the ZenFone 2's current photographic capabilities.
It comes as no surprise that the main camera in the Galaxy S6 / Galaxy S6 edge would be superior in every way to the ZenFone 2's camera. After all, it has a larger 16 MP sensor, faster f/1.9 lens and optical image stabilizer. We would have expected the ZenFone 2 to beat the Apple iPhone 6 and its puny 8 MP camera. But despite being armed with a higher-resolution 13 megapixel sensor, the quality of the photos taken by the ASUS ZenFone 2's main camera generally cannot match those taken by the Apple iPhone 6.
The Apple iPhone 6 had superior white balance capability, accurately rendering the colours irrespective of the lighting condition. The ASUS ZenFone 2, on the other hand, was perpetually under a yellow cast. This could be due to the use of a blue glass IR filter, although ZenFone 2 should be able to automatically correct for it in post-processing. This is a problem we think ASUS can quickly fix via a firmware update, and they should do so ASAP. Correcting this problem alone would make a tremendous difference in the quality of the photos the ZenFone 2 takes.
The ASUS ZenFone 2's sensor noise was also considerable, drowning out whatever resolution advantage it might have over the iPhone 6. This is an inherent characteristic of the Toshiba T4K37 sensor, but the good news is there are two workarounds built into the ZenFone 2 - the Super Resolution and HDR modes. They both take four shots of the same scene and combine them to create a higher resolution picture or a picture with higher dynamic range respectively. But the act of combining four shots will reduce the amount of noise in the final picture.
Finally, we would like to acknowledge that this has been quite an unfair comparison. The Samsung Galaxy S6 / Galaxy S6 edge and the Apple iPhone 6 are all at least twice as expensive as the ASUS ZenFone 2. However, we can only work with what we have. With that in mind, we think that the ZenFone 2, as it currently stands, has a decent if imperfect main camera. If ASUS can fix the white colour balance problem and/or mitigate the Toshiba sensor's noise issues, it could potentially match the far more expensive Apple iPhone 6's photographic capability.
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Camera Shootout : ASUS ZenFone 2 |
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Date |
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Revision History |
| 19-05-2015 | 1.0 |
Initial Release. |
