Cameras Compared: Nokia Lumia 1520 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 3 vs Sony Xperia Z1

In the past camera comparison test, the Nokia Lumia 1020 has emerged as the winner with its epic 41MP shooter and a large 1/1.5″ Sensor. While the Sony Xperia Z1 boasts a 20.7MP 1/2.3″ camera, it was no match for the Lumia 1020. Surprisingly even the Galaxy Note 3‘s 13MP camera appears to have performed better. After a software update, the Xperia Z1 does show some improvements but it isn’t enough to beat the epic shooter from Finland.

Now Nokia has released a newer Lumia 1520 which comes with a bigger Full HD 6″ display with improved fire power running on the current Quad-Core Snapdragon 800 processor. The camera however is a notch below with a 20.7MP camera that comes with a 1/2.3″ sensor. This puts the latest Nokia Lumia 1520 camera on par with the current Xperia Z1 on paper.

To find out which smart phone camera is better, we headed to Penang for a 3-way camera shootout between the Lumia 1520, Galaxy Note 3 and the Xperia Z1.

View the shots after the break and let us know which you think has the better camera.

Aiming for real life consistency, all cameras have been set to shoot at auto mode which is what most users would do. For the Lumia 1520 and Xperia Z1, there’s a bit of resampling involved so don’t be surprised if the samples shown here are below its advertised Megapixel count. For example on the Lumia 1520 with the highest settings, the camera will save 2 pictures in 19MP and 5MP resolution. Meanwhile for the Xperia Z1, its Superior Auto+ mode will take a picture in 20MP and then resamples it for a clearer image in 8MP.

For the Lumia 1520, we will be using the smaller resampled 5MP image as that would be the image used for social sharing. As for the Galaxy Note 3 it is straight forward as we set it to take pictures at its highest 13MP option.

Set 1

Original: Lumia 1520 (5MP), Note 3 (13MP), Xperia Z1 (8MP)

Set 2

Original: Lumia 1520 (5MP), Note 3 (13MP), Xperia Z1 (8MP)

Set 3

Original: Lumia 1520 (5MP), Note 3 (13MP), Xperia Z1 (8MP)

Set 4

Original: Lumia 1520 (5MP), Note 3 (13MP), Xperia Z1 (8MP)

Set 5

Original: Lumia 1520 (5MP), Note 3 (13MP), Xperia Z1 (8MP)

Set 6

Original: Lumia 1520 (5MP), Note 3 (13MP), Xperia Z1 (8MP)

Set 7

Original: Lumia 1520 (5MP), Note 3 (13MP), Xperia Z1 (8MP)

Set 8

Original: Lumia 1520 (5MP), Note 3 (13MP), Xperia Z1 (8MP)

Set 9

Original: Lumia 1520 (5MP), Note 3 (13MP), Xperia Z1 (8MP)

Set 10

Original: Lumia 1520 (5MP), Note 3 (13MP), Xperia Z1 (8MP)

Set 11

Original: Lumia 1520 (5MP), Note 3 (13MP), Xperia Z1 (8MP)

Set 12

Original: Lumia 1520 (5MP), Note 3 (13MP), Xperia Z1 (8MP)