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Đang xem: Camera phone tốt nhất 2015

Which smartphone has the best camera?

For many people, this simple question is the deciding factor when it comes to picking a new phone. It”s not hard to see why: Smartphones are the only cameras most people have access to, and they”re deeply integrated into our day-to-day lives. We no longer just call or send texts—we send photos, we Snapchat, we Instagram.

So we set out to find the best smartphone camera, putting our decade plus of experience in lab-testing digital cameras to use. We gathered the flagship phones from LG, Samsung, Apple, HTC, Google, Panasonic, and Sony to see which stands above the rest.

And what did we find out? This so-called simple question has a pretty complicated answer.

(Just want to know which phones won out? Click here to find out.)

The Contenders

The best of the best

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Apple iPhone 6

Vital Specs: 1/3.0-inch image sensor, 8 megapixels, f/2.2 apertureNotable Features: Optical image stabilization (OIS), slow-motion video, on-sensor focus pixels

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The iPhone 6 was released in late 2014, featuring an updated camera module backed up by iOS 8″s improved camera API. As with previous iPhones, Apple used a camera with just 8 megapixels of resolution. That means its individual pixels are larger, which helps image quality in some ways, but it also means the iPhone has the least resolution and one of the smallest image sensors in the test group.

Read the full review

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Credit: hocketoanthue.edu.vn / Chris Thomas

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

Vital Specs: 1/2.6-inch BSI image sensor, 16 megapixels, f/1.9 apertureNotable Features: 4K/30p video, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), on-sensor focus pixels

With the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, Samsung has pushed its smartphone camera to a new level. Phase detection autofocus, 4K video, optical stabilization, a large f/1.9 aperture, and 16 megapixels of resolution all add up to the brand”s best shooter to date. The S6 variants also boast one of the few backside-illuminated (BSI) image sensors in smartphones, which may make them more efficient at gathering light. Just about the only missing feature is RAW shooting, which may appear at a later date, but has yet to make its way to our U.S. review models.

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LG G4

Vital Specs: 1/2.6-inch BSI image sensor, 16 megapixels, f/1.8 apertureNotable Features: 4K/30p video, OIS, laser-assisted autofocus, expandable storage, RAW capture

Over the past year, nobody has put more emphasis on smartphone camera development than LG. The G4 is the company”s new high water mark, with a BSI sensor that”s nearly identical to the one found in the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. While it”s likely the same Sony-produced silicon, LG has backed it up with its laser autofocus, RAW capture, a slightly brighter f/1.8 lens, and a camera app with very straightforward, responsive controls that should appeal to intermediate and advanced photographers.

Read the full review

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HTC One M9

Vital Specs: 1/2.4-inch BSI image sensor, 20 megapixels, f/2.2 apertureNotable Features: 4K/30p video, expandable storage, RAW capture

The HTC One was a breath of fresh air when it was first released back in 2013, pairing a beautiful aluminum design with a lightweight, slick UI. Its one flaw? An iffy camera. It was a problem that carried over to last year”s updated One M8, but the new HTC One M9 tackles this issue with a large BSI sensor, 20 megapixels of resolution, 4K video, and RAW capture. Those specs look great on paper, but it”s how they bear out in the real world that counts.

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Read the full review

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Sony Xperia Z3 Compact

Vital Specs: 1/2.3-inch sensor, 20.7 megapixels, f/2 apertureNotable Features: 4K/30p video, Steady Shot (non-OIS), shutter button

Sony is king of the image sensor world, manufacturing chips for virtually every high-end phone on the market (including all but one of the phones we”re testing here). With a point-and-shoot sized 1/2.3-inch sensor, an f/2 aperture, and 20.7MP of resolution, the Z3 Compact should easily be among the best smartphone cameras around. But can it overcome a bloated default camera app and deliver the excellent images we”ve come to expect from Sony cameras?

Read the full review

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Google Nexus 6

Vital Specs: 1/3.06-inch sensor, 13 megapixels, f/2 apertureNotable Features: Dual LED flash, 4K/30p video, OIS, expandable storage, RAW capture

The Motorola-made Nexus 6 is a whale of a phone in every respect: a giant screen, a huge battery, and the latest version of stock Android. Though its camera hardware doesn”t quite match up to the best phones on the market, the barebones Android experience is excellent. And with full access to all that Android”s updated Camera2 API has to offer—including RAW support—the Nexus 6 gets more from its hardware than almost any other phone out there.

Read the full review

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Panasonic Lumix DMC-CM1

Vital Specs: 1-inch image sensor, 20 megapixels, f/2.8 aperture (adjustable)Notable Features: Leica lens, 1080/30p video, OIS, expandable storage, RAW, shutter button

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Panasonic”s Lumix CM1 stands apart from the smartphone camera field with a massive 1-inch image sensor, a Leica-branded lens, and a bright f/2.8 max aperture. While f/2.8 sounds smaller than the rest of the field, it”s all relative. Paired with the larger sensor, the Leica glass can swallow more light than any other smartphone lens. The CM1 is a brick of a phone, of course, but it makes fewer image quality compromises than anything else we”ve tested.

Read the full review

NOTES:

The obvious outlier in this group is the Panasonic Lumix CM1; its 1-inch sensor is nearly as big as the other six phones” sensors combined. It”s also a significantly bigger and heavier device than the other smartphones in this group, so the sensor and lens advantage comes with some real drawbacks.

Also worth noting: All but three of our test phones—the Samsung S6, Sony Z3 Compact, and iPhone 6—currently support RAW capture. This gives them a notable edge in some tests, but the RAW shots (.DNG files) are very large (25MB+ per shot) and most users will likely never shoot in RAW. With that in mind, most of our comparisons were made using default JPEG output, with RAW performance taken into account when it made a major difference.

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All of the phones were tested using up-to-date software (as of publication) and manufacturer-provided default camera apps (including the Google camera app for the Nexus 6). For tests where we needed controls that the stock apps didn”t provide, we subbed in either Camera FV-5 (Android) or Manual (iOS). (And to be clear, we”re only testing the rear cameras on these phones. Sorry, selfie addicts.)

Image Quality

We”ve been testing digital cameras for over a decade in our specialized image testing lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In our testing, we focus on five key metrics for still images: color accuracy, white balance accuracy, resolution, dynamic range, and low-light performance.

For this roundup, we”ve put these seven phones through the ringer, taking thousands of images both in and out of the lab. All of the tests that we used for this roundup conform closely to our usual digital camera test procedures, with modifications made where necessary to suit the particulars of smartphone cameras.

Color Accuracy & White Balance

Winner: Google Nexus 6Runners-up: Panasonic Lumix CM1 & Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

Generally speaking, all of the smartphones we tested were able to render colors accurately under the right conditions. The Nexus 6 (with the default Google Camera app) produced the most accurate colors, though it was followed closely by Samsung”s Galaxy S6 Edge and the Panasonic CM1. The only phone that really struggled was the Sony Z3 Compact, which produced images that were vivid, but also quite inaccurate.

Of course, to get accurate colors you need accurate white balance. Ever walk inside and take a photo only to get a blue-tinted mess? That”s bad white balance. In our testing, we measure white balance accuracy under daylight (5500K), fluorescent (3500K), and incandescent (2800K) lighting. On average, color temperature errors of 300K or less are enough to earn a passing grade.

Credit: hocketoanthue.edu.vn / TJ Donegan

The Sony Z3 Compact passes the all-important “puppy sample photo” test with flying colors.

The technique works as long as you don”t look too close, but it also muddies the waters. For example, the Sony Xperia Z3 Compact produces the “sharpest” shots in our test group, but only because of the absurd 41% oversharpening that”s applied by default. When you remove it from the equation, the Z3 is revealed to be merely a middling performer in terms of resolving power.

If you”re shooting JPEG, you”ll get the best mix of legitimate sharpness and software enhancement from the Google Nexus 6 and Samsung S6 Edge, with the LG G4 and CM1 following close behind. These four produce images with the most realistic looking sharpness, while phones that overdo it (like the Z3 Compact) produce ugly haloing around high-contrast objects. The iPhone 6 shows a lot of promise thanks to minimal edge enhancement, but the 8-megapixel sensor keeps it from rivaling the top performers.

Credit: hocketoanthue.edu.vn / TJ Donegan

We were impressed with the Samsung S6 Edge”s dynamic range, but the lack of RAW is a letdown.

If you want to eliminate edge enhancement altogether, you can just take a RAW photo (assuming you”re not using the Galaxy S6, Z3 Compact, or iPhone 6, which don”t offer RAW capture). Our RAW sharpness results showed that the Panasonic Lumix CM1 was easily the best peformer, resolving about 30% more detail than its rivals. That”s no surprise, since most of the phones we tested use tiny sensors and plastic lenses, while the CM1 has an all-glass Leica lens and comparably huge 1-inch sensor.

Dynamic Range

Winner: Panasonic Lumix CM1Runner-up: LG G4

Dynamic range refers to the spread of bright and dark areas a camera can capture in a single photo, from the brightest highlights to deepest shadows. It”s one of the traits that separates low-quality cameras that produce blown-out photos from high-quality DSLRs and mirrorless models that offer rich, film-like tonality.

To test dynamic range, we shoot a backlit chart composed of 21 patches of varying brightness. Each patch is half as bright—or one stop dimmer—than the patch before it, meaning every photo has up to 20 stops of dynamic range. We count stops from pure white to pure black, until the patches are no longer visible or are overwhelmed by image noise.