The best camera smartphone of 2015

Which smartphone flagship from 2015 (and continuing into 2016) has the best camera of them all? I've rounded up the Apple iPhone 6s Plus, Huawei Nexus 6P, LG V10, Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium and pit their cameras against each other to see which has the shiniest one.

Note: This article was first published on 15th January 2016.

Which smartphone has the best camera?

Which smartphone flagship from 2015 (and continuing into 2016) has the best camera of them all? I’ve rounded up the Apple iPhone 6s Plus, Huawei Nexus 6P, LG V10, Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium and pit their cameras against each other to see which has the shiniest one.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus
Huawei Nexus 6P
LG V10
Samsung Galaxy Note 5
Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
Sensor Size
1/3"
1/2.3"
1/2.6"
1/2.6"
1/2.3"
Megapixels
12MP
12.3MP
16MP
16MP
23MP
Focal length (in 35mm equivalent)
29mm
26mm
28mm
28mm
24mm
Aperture
f/2.2
f/2.0
f/1.8
f/1.9
f/2.0
Auto-focus
Phase-detect
Laser
Laser
Phase-detect
Hybrid
Optical Image Stabilization
Yes
N.A.
Yes
Yes
N.A.
Flash
Dual LED
Dual LED
LED flash
Dual LED
LED flash
Raw output
N.A.
N.A.
Yes
Yes
N.A.
Front-facing camera
5MP
8MP
5MP (dual cameras)
5MP
5MP
Front camera aperture
f/2.2
f/2.4
f/1.8
f/1.9
f/2.4
Max. video resolutions
  • 3,840 x 2,160 (4K)
  • 1,920 x 1,080 (Full-HD)
  • 3,840 x 2,160 (4K)
  • 1,920 x 1,080 (Full-HD)
  • 3,840 x 2,160 (4K)
  • 1,920 x 1,080 (Full-HD)
  • 3,840 x 2,160 (4K)
  • 1,920 x 1,080 (Full-HD)
  • 3,840 x 2,160 (4K)
  • 1,920 x 1,080 (Full-HD)

Before we start the shootout, here are a few testing notes:

  • I compare the highest quality possible shots for all the smartphones, which means comparing them at their highest megapixel count for stills and highest resolution for videos
  • Each smartphone has varying levels of manual control, so without the ability to conduct strict apples-to-apples tests like ISO, I compare how each camera generally fares in good and low light
  • I also focus on the better camera on each smartphone, which means the rear-facing camera. Not that I don’t like selfies, but for the reason that if your main camera isn’t that good, you really won’t care how your secondary camera fares

Now, let’s get on with the shootout, i.e., feel free to skip right to the conclusion.

User-friendliness

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5’s camera app has the most user-friendly interface for both basic and advanced features. 

Apple’s camera user interface (UI) is actually the most intuitive, but it lacks advanced camera functions. Both the Note 5 and LG’s V10 camera apps open up advanced camera features, like shutter speed and ISO control. The V10 actually has the better UI for manual shooting, but lacks one critical feature that the Note 5 has.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

The iPhone 6s Plus has the best camera UI for most people. It’s easy to use, makes sense, is fast, and auto-focus is spot on most of the time. You can control exposure easily by by tapping the screen for focus, and sliding the brightness slider that appears. That slider is a bit of a small target though. You don’t need to go into any secondary menus to do things like shoot panoramas and slow-mo.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

But the iPhone 6s Plus pays for that simplicity at the expense of sophistication. There are no advanced controls, and even third-party apps can’t do much with the iPhone 6s Plus’ camera except control the shutter speed. Settings for video resolution are hidden away in the iPhone’s Settings app, which I doubt most people would go into.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

Huawei Nexus 6P

The Huawei Nexus 6P’s camera UI is as bare bones as you can get. While you can tap to focus, you can’t change brightness levels. It does have one clever detail, when the camera is shooting at slower shutter speeds, a circular animation cues you to hold the camera steady until the shot is finished. The 6P’s camera can slow down if you take multiple shots, but other than that, there’s really nothing much to say about it.

Huawei Nexus 6P.

Huawei Nexus 6P.

LG V10

The LG V10’s UI is a little complex, you’ll need to get used to how there are five camera ‘modes’ (Simple, Auto, Manual [stills], Manual [video], Snap), and then there are additional ‘Modes’ for features like Panorama and Slow-mo, with options like HDR placed under ‘Settings.’ The V10 cleverly uses its second screen to display the main camera modes’ icons, so you have more screen estate to use as a viewfinder (it’s also why you won’t see their icons in these screenshots).

LG V10.

LG V10.

In all modes, I’ve found that while fast, the autofocus tends to hunt even after acquiring focus. While the V10 lets you tap to focus in both the ‘Simple’ and ‘Auto’ modes, it omits the crucial ability to adjust brightness settings. You’ll have to be in ‘Manual’ mode to do that.

Both the LG V10 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 open up advanced camera controls, like white balance, manual focus, ISO and shutter speed, to the user. However, the V10’s Manual mode is fully manual, which is more difficult to use. You can’t set Auto ISO in Manual, so when you change shutter speed, you’ll also need to shift ISO to compensate, and vice versa. Even in advanced DSLR cameras’ Manual modes, you still have the option to set Auto ISO while controlling shutter speed and aperture, so this is a critical omission for the V10.

LG V10.

LG V10.

It’s too bad, because otherwise the V10’s manual UI is better than the Note 5’s in all ways. The exposure meter, designed like the ones on digital cameras, is more intuitive and easier to read, while the exposure meter on the Note 5 is only expressed as a number. The V10 also lets you reset all manual settings easily, by tapping the ‘AE-L’ button, while on the Note 5 you have to tap every setting back to ‘Auto’ to do the same.

I also like how you can easily save an image in raw on the V10, simply by tapping the JPEG icon on the screen and turning it to ‘Raw+JPEG.’ This is convenient for those important shots, when you know you want to preserve as much image quality as possible. On the Note 5, you have to dig into the Settings menu to shoot in raw.

The V10 also has the most advanced manual video mode among all the five smartphones. In addition to standard controls like white balance, focus, exposure, ISO and shutter speed, you can control mic levels, direction and filter wind noise. You can even monitor audio via headphones.

LG V10.

LG V10.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 has the most user-friendly UI for both basic and advanced shooting. In ‘Auto’ mode, I like how the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 lets you easily change exposure levels, with an exposure slider which appears to the side of the screen when you tap to focus. It’s a more obvious and easier to tap target when compared to the iPhone’s.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

While both the LG V10 and the Note 5’s camera apps come with advanced controls, the Note 5 does it better in one critical way. In ‘Manual’ mode, you can enable Auto ISO, which lets you fully focus on adjusting shutter speed. If not for this one critical missing option, the LG V10 actually has a better UI for shooting stills and videos manually.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

What the Note 5 lacks is a way to quickly reset all manual settings, and a fast way to save in raw (you have to go into the camera app’s settings to enable it). Otherwise, it does have a couple of interesting features missing on the V10, like the ability to choose metering modes, and the ability to save custom settings, which actually strike me as a little too hardcore for shooting with a smartphone.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium’s camera UI is sparse. If you shoot in ‘Superior Auto’ mode, you can tap to focus, but you can’t change brightness settings. There’s a ‘Manual’ mode, which only lets you change white balance and exposure.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

On the other camera apps, you can set the video resolution to 4K as default, but you can’t do that on the Z5. Instead, you’ll need to go into its ‘Modes’ screen, and tap ‘4K’ video every time you want to take 4K video, which is an inexplicable hassle.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

Colors and details in good light

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 takes the lead when it comes to photos in good light. All the smartphones perform decently, but the Note 5 clearly retains more detail in its shots, likely due to its high 16MP count.

Here are the smartphones’ images displayed side by side, followed by their 100% crops with more images, plus individual observations for each smartphone. Click the images to see the originals.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

The Apple iPhone 6s Plus’ colors are quite pleasing in good light, however, its white balance tends to veer warmer. The lens looks mostly sharp, with the right upper and lower corners slightly soft. There is no barrel distortion. When viewed up close, the images lack fine detail, especially when compared against the Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus, 100% crop. f/2.2 at 29mm, 1/1500 sec, ISO 25.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus, 100% crop. f/2.2 at 29mm, 1/1500 sec, ISO 25.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus, 100% crop. f/2.2 at 29mm, 1/100 sec, ISO 40.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus, 100% crop. f/2.2 at 29mm, 1/100 sec, ISO 40.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus, 100% crop. f/2.2 at 29mm, 1/2500 sec, ISO 25.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus, 100% crop. f/2.2 at 29mm, 1/2500 sec, ISO 25.

Huawei Nexus 6P

Huawei’s Nexus 6P reproduces colors well in good light. The lens is sharp from corner to corner, and there’s very slight barrel distortion. Slight crosshatching can be seen on our resolution chart, and while it’s not as apparent as on the Sony Xperia Z5, it still results in some ‘jitteriness’ on subject edges.

Huawei Nexus 6P, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 26mm, 1/1400 sec, ISO 60.

Huawei Nexus 6P, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 26mm, 1/1400 sec, ISO 60.

Huawei Nexus 6P, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 26mm, 1/120 sec, ISO 81.

Huawei Nexus 6P, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 26mm, 1/120 sec, ISO 81.

Huawei Nexus 6P, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 26mm, 1/2600 sec, ISO 60.

Huawei Nexus 6P, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 26mm, 1/2600 sec, ISO 60.

LG V10

The LG V10’s colors are consistently subdued. There’s a lack of saturation, which make photos look flat. The odd thing is its zeroed DNG (raw) files appear more vibrant than its JPEGs. If you increase saturation in post, the V10 actually shoots good images in good light, with fine detail. The lens is sharp from corner to corner, with only slight barrel distortion.

LG V10, 100% crop. f/1.8 at 28mm, 1/270 sec, ISO 50.

LG V10, 100% crop. f/1.8 at 28mm, 1/270 sec, ISO 50.

LG V10, 100% crop. f/1.8 at 28mm, 1/120 sec, ISO 50.

LG V10, 100% crop. f/1.8 at 28mm, 1/120 sec, ISO 50.

LG V10, 100% crop. f/1.8 at 28mm, 1/1600 sec, ISO 50.

LG V10, 100% crop. f/1.8 at 28mm, 1/1600 sec, ISO 50.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 manages the best balance between pleasing color and detail capture in good light. The lens is mostly sharp, with some softness in the left upper and lower corners. There is hardly any barrel distortion.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5, 100% crop. f/1.9 at 28mm, 1/850 sec, ISO 40.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5, 100% crop. f/1.9 at 28mm, 1/850 sec, ISO 40.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5, 100% crop. f/1.9 at 28mm, 1/100 sec, ISO 50.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5, 100% crop. f/1.9 at 28mm, 1/100 sec, ISO 50.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5, 100% crop. f/1.9 at 28mm, 1/1800 sec, ISO 40.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5, 100% crop. f/1.9 at 28mm, 1/1800 sec, ISO 40.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium does well with accurate and pleasing color reproduction. It also has the best Auto White Balance among the five smartphones, while the others tend to grade their images a bit warmly, the Z5 Premium usually gets the light looking the way it did in real light. There is slight barrel distortion, and the left upper corner of the image is soft. 

In theory, the Z5 Premium’s highest 22MP count should give us the most detailed images, but the odd processing that plagued the Z1 still lives on in the Z5, albeit in a reduced fashion. On our resolution chart, the crosshatching artifacts that appeared on the Z1 can still be seen, and while they’re less apparent in real-life images, edges tend to take on a ‘jittery’ look. When viewing the whole photograph, the jitteriness in the details make the image look noisy and inorganic.

Sony Z5 Premium, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 24mm, 1/320 sec, ISO 40.

Sony Z5 Premium, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 24mm, 1/320 sec, ISO 40.

Sony Z5 Premium, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 24mm, 1/60 sec, ISO 50.

Sony Z5 Premium, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 24mm, 1/60 sec, ISO 50.

Sony Z5 Premium, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 24mm, 1/1250 sec, ISO 40.

Sony Z5 Premium, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 24mm, 1/1250 sec, ISO 40.

Colors and details in low light

Apple’s iPhone 6s Plus has the upper hand in low light, thanks to its impressive optical image stabilization. Its OIS helps the iPhone 6s Plus to get steady and sharp shots at low shutter speeds, where others fail. Lengthening the shutter speed helps keep the ISO settings low, thereby reducing image noise in low light shots.

Here are the smartphones’ images displayed side by side, followed by their 100% crops with more images, plus individual observations for each smartphone. Click the images to see the originals.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

The iPhone 6s Plus’ image details are well-preserved, even in low light. That would be a given since its images are shot at low ISOs, even in low light. To get such low ISO settings, the iPhone 6s Plus has an alarming habit of shooting at dangerously low shutter speeds. And yet, the images are still stable and sharp, which I chalk up to its excellent optical image stabilization. Even at the higher setting of ISO 640, the iPhone 6s Plus strikes a good balance between noise reduction and detail retention.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus, 100% crop. f/2.2 at 29mm, 1/8 sec, ISO 160.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus, 100% crop. f/2.2 at 29mm, 1/8 sec, ISO 160.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus, 100% crop. f/2.2 at 29mm, 1/4 sec, ISO 100.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus, 100% crop. f/2.2 at 29mm, 1/4 sec, ISO 100.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus. f/2.2 at 29mm, 1/4 sec, ISO 640.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus. f/2.2 at 29mm, 1/4 sec, ISO 640.

Huawei Nexus 6P

Huawei’s Nexus 6P has decent performance in low light. Its images generally look a bit more saturated, but it’s seriously boosted the reds in this low light shot. There’s some of the ‘jittery’ noise that plagues the Sony Z5, but it manages to balance overall image noise with detail retention quite well.

Huawei Nexus 6P, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 26mm, 1/25 sec, ISO 556.

Huawei Nexus 6P, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 26mm, 1/25 sec, ISO 556.

Huawei Nexus 6P, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 26mm, 1/25 sec, ISO 880.

Huawei Nexus 6P, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 26mm, 1/25 sec, ISO 880.

Huawei Nexus 6P. f/2.0 at 26mm, 1/10 sec, ISO 2793.

Huawei Nexus 6P. f/2.0 at 26mm, 1/10 sec, ISO 2793.

 

LG V10

The LG V10’s colors are consistently the most muted among all the smartphones here, and could definitely use a shot of saturation. Image details tend to smear in low light, and there tends to be chroma noise in the shadows, especially in the raw DNG files.

LG V10, 100% crop. f/1.8 at 28mm, 1/13 sec, ISO 400.

LG V10, 100% crop. f/1.8 at 28mm, 1/13 sec, ISO 400.

LG V10, 100% crop. f/1.8 at 28mm, 1/9 sec, ISO 750.

LG V10, 100% crop. f/1.8 at 28mm, 1/9 sec, ISO 750.

LG V10. f/1.8 at 28mm, 1/9 sec, ISO 2450.

LG V10. f/1.8 at 28mm, 1/9 sec, ISO 2450.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 has oddly rendered the red more pinkish/magenta than the rest of the smartphones here. Other than that, the Note 5 suffers from heavy-handed noise reduction in low light, at ISO 200 the edges of the paper fans have turned muddy, and at ISO 1,000 the stone lion’s surface has been seriously smoothened out.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5, 100% crop. f/1.9 at 28mm, 1/10 sec, ISO 200.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5, 100% crop. f/1.9 at 28mm, 1/10 sec, ISO 200.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5, 100% crop. f/1.9 at 28mm, 1/13 sec, ISO 1250.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5, 100% crop. f/1.9 at 28mm, 1/13 sec, ISO 1250.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5. f/1.9 at 28mm, 1/7 sec, ISO 1000.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5. f/1.9 at 28mm, 1/7 sec, ISO 1000.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium has oversaturated the colors in the first image, and it has reduced the details in all images to smears. The image noise is not just muddy, but harshly artificial, with hard edges.

Sony Z5 Premium, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 24mm, 1/30 sec, ISO 400.

Sony Z5 Premium, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 24mm, 1/30 sec, ISO 400.

Sony Z5 Premium, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 24mm, 1/15 sec, ISO 1000.

Sony Z5 Premium, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 24mm, 1/15 sec, ISO 1000.

Sony Z5 Premium, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 24mm, 1/15 sec, ISO 1600.

Sony Z5 Premium, 100% crop. f/2.0 at 24mm, 1/15 sec, ISO 1600.

High Dynamic Range

HDR (High Dynamic Range) is a useful feature to capture scenes with a wide range of contrast, and it can be enabled automatically on all five smartphones. Among them, Huawei’s Nexus 6P consistently has the best HDR images, with a good amount of detail in both the brightest and darkest parts of the image.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

The iPhone 6s Plus’ HDR mode is decent, not great. It tends to underexpose in its final HDR image, which defeats the purpose of using HDR in the first place. To its credit, I didn’t see any ghosting of moving subjects in any of its HDR images.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

Huawei Nexus 6P

The Huawei Nexus 6P has the best-looking HDR images out of the five smartphones. Images have detail in both the brightest and darkest parts of the scene, and I didn’t see any ghosting among moving subjects. It tends to underexpose compared to the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, which also produces excellent HDR images, but the Nexus 6P saves more highlights. In post, dark shadows have a chance of being brightened, but blown highlights are impossible to save, so points to the Nexus 6P here for placing a higher priority on retaining highlight detail.

Huawei Nexus 6P.

Huawei Nexus 6P.

Huawei Nexus 6P.

Huawei Nexus 6P.

LG V10

Next to the Nexus 6P, the LG V10 does excellent HDR images, with lots of detail captured across the frame. I have to dock it a couple of points, however, because there’s slight ghosting of moving subjects in a couple of images. For perfectly still subjects however, it does very well.

LG V10.

LG V10.

LG V10.

LG V10.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 also does quite well with HDR, and there’s no ghosting to be seen. While the Note 5 seems to render more even tones, the Nexus 6P retains highlights better.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium’s HDR mode doesn’t capture as wide a range of detail as the rest of the cameras, especially in the highlights.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

Panorama

Besides HDR, panoramas are another commonly used feature. They’re also notoriously difficult to get right; the camera has to deal with all sorts of different exposures, moving subjects, photo seams, etc. Even our best choice isn’t perfect, but out of all the smartphones, Apple’s iPhone 6s Plus does the best panoramas.

Note: The sample images below don’t show the full ‘width’ of the panoramas, as I often stopped recording the panorama before catching some odd subject. Click to see the originals.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

The Panorama Mode’s UI is easy to use, the seams are nearly perfect even for very complicated scenes like the one below. It also controls the overall exposure levels well. There are some slight ghosting artifacts, in the first image we see the iPhone’s tendency for warm white balance (again), and one of the windows in the second image is slightly askew, but the iPhone 6s Plus still produces the best-looking panoramas. 

Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus.

Huawei Nexus 6P

The Nexus 6P’s panorama UI is different from the rest, instead of using an arrow to ask you to sweep across the image, it uses a series of circles which you must match to capture the panorama. It’s quite fun to use, but unfortunately the finished panoramas can suffer from odd skewing (see the second image below). Some slight ghosting can be seen.

Huawei Nexus 6P.

Huawei Nexus 6P.

Huawei Nexus 6P.

Huawei Nexus 6P.

LG V10

The LG V10’s panorama’s seams can be oddly joined together, with some softness or different exposure levels between captured images. Ghosting is clearly evident, and the second image below even has some odd exposure artifacts on the upper third of the panorama.

LG V10.

LG V10.

LG V10.

LG V10.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5’s panoramas have some odd seams, and it has problems achieving an even, overall exposure (compare the two images below with those taken by the iPhone 6s Plus). Some slight ghosting can be seen.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium’s panoramas are terrible for one vital reason: It doesn’t save panoramas in high-resolution like the other smartphones, but compresses them into lower-quality 3MP images instead, losing tons of image quality in the process.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.

Video

Apple’s iPhone 6s Plus shoots the best video. The key difference lies in its optical image stabilization, which is really good. Anyone who’s had to sit through jerky, nauseating handheld video can appreciate the difference that stabilization makes. Samsung’s OIS is also impressive, but doesn’t work in 4K video, and its camera suffers from the rolling shutter effect.

The ‘rolling shutter effect’ is a problem that plagues all digital video cameras with CCD sensors, from smartphones to DSLR cameras. In a nutshell, the rolling shutter effect makes subjects wobble like jelly when the camera is moved. The iPhone 6s Plus, Huawei Nexus 6P, and Xperia Z5 reduce the rolling shutter effect well, while the others struggle with it.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

The iPhone 6s Plus is fine in good light, has some noise in low light, and has hardly any rolling shutter. Its optical image stabilization is surprisingly good, the difference is obvious when you compare it against the non-stabilized shot taken by Huawei’s Nexus 6P. This makes it the best 4K video camera, out of all the five flagships.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/R87usHycbws
https://www.youtube.com/embed/nr83z6Y8jD8
https://www.youtube.com/embed/0K9wujwicbM

Huawei Nexus 6P

The Huawei Nexus 6P does fine in good light, but there’s a lot of noise in low light. There is some rolling shutter. The lack of optical image stabilization hurts it in our shootout, once you see how smooth videos can look with good OIS, you realize how dizzy non-stabilized video can look.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/d62qfYZL5R8
https://www.youtube.com/embed/4iqaLkHzGY0
https://www.youtube.com/embed/hkNQPSdguss

LG V10

LG’s V10 does fine in good light, but videos in low light are noisy. The autofocus tends to hunt, which means you’ll see a jerking in and out effect as the camera tries to lock focus. Optical image stabilization isn’t available for 4K video, but on Full-HD resolution it’s not as smooth as on the iPhone 6s Plus. Rolling shutter is obvious when moving the camera.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/DpDKWml3s3g
https://www.youtube.com/embed/eMW1BqASqWk
https://www.youtube.com/embed/N5ESbPEZPBM

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 does fine in both good and low light, and its optical image stabilization does quite well, neck to neck with the iPhone 6s Plus. The problem is that OIS isn’t available at the highest 4K resolution, it only works at Full-HD resolution and below. Besides that, the Note 5 has one major weakness; rolling shutter is quite obvious when you move the camera.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/XFqLKNDj59I
https://www.youtube.com/embed/NUi_1SDWTec
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Lv6Oa3XYpMM

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium

The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium actually does video quite well. Rolling shutter is kept to a minimum, and there’s little noise in low light. Even though it lacks optical image stabilization, its digital image stabilization works to smooth the shot.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/0im6rdrAv3A
https://www.youtube.com/embed/I9Ec4a5R8CI
https://www.youtube.com/embed/w8ZN3iwNHQM

And the best smartphone camera for 2015 is …

The Apple iPhone 6s Plus is the best smartphone camera for 2015. It’s not perfect, but it does the best overall job. The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 comes a very close second, with better image detail in good light, but it doesn’t do as well in low-light, panoramas and video. Plus, the iPhone 6s Plus’ optical image stabilization (OIS) is surprisingly good, and makes a difference when you shoot both stills and videos.

Here’s a quick recap of which smartphone does best in what, with a short conclusion for each.

Winner
User interface
Samsung Galaxy Note 5
Colors and details in good light
Samsung Galaxy Note 5
Colors and details in low light
Apple iPhone 6s Plus
High Dynamic Range
Huawei Nexus 6P
Panoramas
Apple iPhone 6s Plus
Video
Apple iPhone 6s Plus

 

Apple iPhone 6s Plus

The iPhone 6s Plus is the best overall performer. Its optical image stabilization is best of class, giving you steady photos even in low light, and smooth video that doesn’t make viewers dizzy. It shoots the best panoramas out of the lot.

But it’s also not perfect. When looked up close, the iPhone 6s Plus’ images lack fine detail, especially when compared to Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5. Its camera user interface is the easiest to use for most people, but lacks advanced features for more demanding users. HDR images actually don’t have that much of a dynamic range, when you place them against images from the Nexus 6P or the Galaxy Note 5.

Still, its overall strengths, and lack of critical weaknesses shared by its competitors, confer the iPhone 6s Plus first place in our shootout — even if it’s not by a wide margin.

Huawei Nexus 6P

The Nexus 6P does good stills in both good and low light, and has a totally random distinction for making the best HDR images. But its odd Panorama UI makes getting good panoramas nearly impossible, and the lack of OIS really hurts its videos. The camera UI is cold and barren, and if you get the 6P, our first advice is to ditch the native app, and find a good third-party camera app to shoot with instead.

LG V10

The LG V10 does well in good light, its images are full of detail, and it also shoots good HDR images. Unfortunately, there’s some ghosting in those HDR images, which makes it really good for still subjects only.

In low light, there tends to be a fair bit of noise. In both good and low light, colors lack saturation, which make images look flat. Rolling shutter is evident in its videos, and OIS isn’t available for 4K resolution. It’s too bad the camera UI lacks Auto ISO in Manual mode, as that would have given it the best ‘pro’ UI among the five smartphones.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 comes a close second behind the Apple iPhone 6s Plus, and is the best Android smartphone camera in our shootout. It has the best camera UI for both basic and advanced users. In good light, its images are full of detail, it does better HDR images than the iPhone 6s Plus, and its OIS works well on video.

Unfortunately, OIS is not available for 4K video, and rolling shutter is obvious on all video resolutions. In low light, the Note 5 applies noise reduction aggressively, smearing image details along the way. Its panoramas aren’t as evenly exposed as the iPhone 6s Plus’.

Even though these weaknesses place it behind the iPhone 6s Plus, I think that anyone who’s bought either the iPhone 6s Plus or the Galaxy Note 5 will be happy with the images they get out of either camera.

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium 

The Xperia Z5 Premium’s saving grace is its video camera, which actually does quite well. Despite not having optical image stabilization, its digital image stabilization manages to smoothen out the jerkiness on handheld, 4K video.

But its still images are plagued by harsh noise, even in good light. HDR images don’t look very different from normal stills, and panoramas are reduced to small, low-quality 3MP images for some reason.

But what I really think is …

Hey, what are you doing here? The shootout is over, and the winner has been called. From here on out, it’s nothing but my own thoughts, and I can’t guarantee that they’ll be any good …

I love my smartphone’s camera. I’ve loved it ever since I got one, years ago, and it’s helped me capture years of random memories that would otherwise been lost. Snapshots of my life when I didn’t have a ‘proper’ camera with me. Those little moments when unexpected, happy things happened, when I never expected them.

And I love how today’s smartphone cameras are so much better than they used to be. From more megapixels to optical image stabilization to 4K video. Wow. Good times.

But, the truth is, they’re still not great, when compared with a modern digital camera with a large sensor. These ‘proper’ cameras produce image quality that still runs circles around what smartphones can do.

It breaks my heart when I see people using their smartphones to take photos of ‘important’ events, like a big family dinner or an overseas vacation. It’s judgmental I know. But speaking from personal experience, I have hundreds of grainy, dark, low-resolution smartphone camera photos where I wish I’d brought my camera and used that instead.

The saying, “The best camera is the one that’s with you,” is so true. But I think we can do better for the important moments in our lives. I think we can expand that to, “The best camera is the one that you bring.”

‘Important’ events beg for ‘proper’ cameras, if only because these moments are captured in better quality to keep through the years. If you treasure these moments as much as I do, and you love photographs, then my advice is to get a ‘proper’ camera of your own.

The good news is that these are good times to be digital cameras customer. There’s never been more choice, and more quality, for lower prices. From small digital compact cameras with large 1” sensors, to affordable mirrorless cameras with interchangeable lenses, to consumer DSLR cameras pushing out image quality that professionals would have died for years ago. The camera world is your oyster. Weird metaphor, but you know what I mean.

Anyway. That’s just what I think. You can stop reading now. Namaste.

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