The last time we compared Samsung’s zoom-enabled offering, the Galaxy S4 Zoom, with a PureView camera, it was the one on the Nokia 808 PureView. Many things have changed since then, and both manufacturers have improved on the already great shooters. Samsung has released the follow-up device, this time, named the Galaxy K Zoom, and Nokia managed to take its PureView camera to the next level (and platform), with the (by now renowned) Lumia 1020.
We’re still asking the same question like one year ago. Which one is best: physical lens doing optical zoom, or the PureView technology? That’s what we’ll try to find out in this Samsung Galaxy K Zoom vs Nokia Lumia 1020 camera comparison. The principles by which these two cameras operate are the same as last year, while remaining completely different.
The Galaxy K Zoom relies on physical lens to offer up t0 10x optical zoom to images it captures using an upgraded sensor, at 20.7-megapixels. The Lumia 1020, like the 808 PureView, uses a huge 41-megapixel sensor to capture an immense amount of data which you can then, post-capture, crop into, hence generating a zoomed in still (aside from other goodies, like post-shooting reframing).
We’re only comparing camera capabilities here. These two phones (some might have problems with calling these devices phones, opting more for the “cameras” or “point-and-shoot” monikers) run on different platforms and a comparison on the smartphone end wouldn’t make a lot of sense to begin with (especially after so many Android vs Windows Phone face offs we published here on Pocketnow).
So let’s check out the imaging capabilities! Below you’ll find a set of pictures from each of these two devices, as well as video samples. We shot everything under the same lighting conditions, from the same spot, trying to capture the same frame.
Samsung Galaxy K Zoom sample images
*Note:
some images were shot using the optical zoom on the camera lens. Original samples here.