You'll remember that I recently took seven common end-user 'snap' scenes with a number of smartphone cameras and concluded, that for these scenes at least, the new Samsung Galaxy S4 matched the Nokia 808 PureView overall, much to my surprise. I took a fair amount of heat for this conclusion, despite my comments that these tests are hugely dependent on the conditions and subjects involved, and that the 808 PureView was obviously more flexible and capable overall. But we do have another respected data point on all this, courtesy of digital camera specialists DxO and their DxOMark report, quoted below.

From their page, which aggregates ratings from a number of stills and video tests:

Achieving a DxOMark score of 75 overall puts the rear-facing camera module of the Samsung Galaxy S4 comfortably ahead of the pack. That’s no mean feat as the bunch  includes the handset maker’s own Galaxy Note II and S III as well as Apple’s iPhone 4s and latest iPhone 5, all achieving a very respectable 72 in our DxOMark scores.

However, it can’t quite topple the 41-Mpix Nokia 808 PureView. Sitting in the top position in our ratings that model achieved a DxOMark score of 77 points. While that model uses a larger sensor with much higher pixel count to achieve its excellent low-light scores, the Samsung Galaxy S4 can’t match that with noise reduction only.

In bright light, it’s a different story. The S4 makes good use of its fast efficient AF and robust and reliable auto-exposure systems to maximize image detail from the 13-Mpix sensor and deliver images with fully saturated color.

You can read the full report here.

From my own conclusions after the seven-scene test:

It's very impressive what Samsung has eked out of the tiny 1/3.2" sensor in the Galaxy S4 and shows what modern BSI tech and superlative image processing algorithms can do...

Of course, saying the Galaxy S4 has as good a camera as the Nokia 808 PureView is a little misleading. Ultimately, the latter is more flexible and powerful, especially in the hands of someone who knows what they're doing with the Creative settings, but the point is that casual, every day users will probably find that the Galaxy S4 exceeds their expectations in terms of imaging at every turn*.

It's good to have another respected body backing me up here, saying that the S4 is impressive, even if, overall, the 808 does still retain its champion status. The Nokia 808 is, ultimately, much more flexible and - phew - physics (1/1.2" sensor and Xenon flash) still trumps software algorithms. Unless you count the 808's PureView processing as the latter in which case we'll end up going round in circles here....(!)

Of course, with the Nokia Lumia 928 now out and the EOS rumoured for the Autumn, both with Xenon flash, large apertures and advanced processing, I'll be interested to see where these end up on the DxOMark scale!

(via PureView Club)