Nokia Lumia 930 vs 1020 vs 920 Camera Shootout : Best Cameraphone Battle

Just a little treat for my fellow hardcore Nokia fans.

I was walking around Century City Mall in Makati City a few days ago when it suddenly dawned on me that I was carrying three of the best cameraphones ever released inside my bag; The Nokia Lumia 930, 920, and the greatest of them all, the Nokia Lumia 1020. And I thought, why not do a quick a shootout just for the heck of it?

Nokia Lumia 920, 1020, and 930, respetively

I'm sure a lot of you are already familiar with the monster technical specifications of these handsets' main camera module -- but for the benefit of 'everyone else' let me give a quick recap:

Nokia Lumia 930* (2014)
20 MegaPixels with Dual LED Flash, Carl Zeiss optics, and PureView Imaging Technology with Oversampling
Aperture size: F2.4
Focal length (35mm equivalent): 26 mm
Camera sensor size: 1/2.5"
Features: Back-illuminated sensor (BSI), Autofocus, Touch to focus, Optical image stabilization, Face detection, Smile detection, ISO control, White balance presets, Burst mode, Digital zoom, Geo tagging, Panorama, Night mode, Scenes
*has camera specs that are similar to that of Nokia Lumia 1520 phablet

Nokia Lumia 1020 (2013)
41 MegaPixels with Xenon Flash, LED Torchlight, Carl Zeiss optics, and PureView Imaging Technology with Oversampling
Aperture size: F2.2
Focal length (35mm equivalent): 26 mm
Camera sensor size: 1/1.5"
Features: Back-illuminated sensor (BSI), Autofocus, AF Assist Beam, Touch to focus, Manual focus, Optical image stabilization, Face detection, Exposure compensation, ISO control, White balance presets, Digital zoom, Geo tagging, Panorama, Night mode, Scenes, Effects, Self-timer

Nokia Lumia 920 (2012)
8.7 MegaPixels with Dual LED Flash, Carl Zeiss optics, and PureView Imaging Technology with No Oversampling
Aperture size: F2.0
Focal length (35mm equivalent): 26 mm
Camera sensor size: 1/3"
Features: Back-illuminated sensor (BSI), Autofocus, Touch to focus, Optical image stabilization, Face detection, Exposure compensation, White balance presets, Digital zoom, Geo tagging, Macro mode, Night mode

Nothing too fancy or too fussy about these comparison shots. Just quickly snapped using all of the three phones with automatic settings. The first photo in every set was taken using Nokia Lumia 930, the second with Nokia Lumia 1020, and the third with Nokia Lumia 920.

1

Nokia Lumia 930

Nokia Lumia 1020

Nokia Lumia 920

2

3

4

5

6

7

As expected, Nokia Lumia 1020's sheer superiority is obvious in almost every set -- especially in set 4, where the 41 MegaPixel camera delivered the most accurate and brilliant colors and the best light balance to deliver the clearest shot.

That's not to say though that the Lumia 930 and Lumia 920 are bad; In fact, those two are still miles better than almost everything else out there. (Clearly, Carl Zeiss optics and Nokia's PureView Imaging Innovation make a formidable and top-notch combo in this regard. Personally, I'm impressed with how well my Nokia Lumia 920 continues to perform despite being almost 3 years old!)

Compared to the Lumia 1020, though, 930's camera appears to favor a more purplish, warmer tint (refer to Set 1) while the one on 920 simply delivers more 'washed out' looking images (refer to Sets 2 and 4). But again, these subtle imaging shortcomings of the 930 and 920 - that would have otherwise been unnoticeable - were only highlighted because the phones were pitted against Nokia Lumia 1020, which - undeniably - remains to be the best cameraphone in the world today.