Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs Samsung Galaxy SII (S2) [Camera Test]

November 18, 2011 Raju Rahman 48 Comments

Back before the year 2000 when all digital cameras were only 1.2 or 2 MP, each megapixel was very important, if you wanted to make bigger prints. Today, even smartphones are capable of snapping pictures at 5 or 8 MP, which is more than enough for any size of print. Unless you want to print an image for a HUGE billboard, you don’t generally need more than 5 MP. So, in this day and age where nearly every mid-high end phone is 5 MP or above, the question that should come into your mind is, which camera has better optics, not which camera has more Megapixels.

In this article, I’ve posted a lot of pictures taken with the Galaxy SII and the Galaxy Nexus to give you a general idea of how they both stand up to each other, this article will possibly educate a few people and stop Forum posts titled like: “The Nexus is rubish…bla bla bla…it’s only 5 Megapixels bla bla bla”.

Bare in mind that this isn’t a review of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the review will be out sometime next week, any way read on and check out the all pictures, if you’re interested that is.

Here are some pictures I took today using both the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the Samsung Galaxy SII. The pictures on the left are ones taken with the SII and on the right are the ones taken with the Nexus. If you want to see bigger version of the image, just click on it and it should load up in all its glory.

OUTDOOR DAY TIME PICTURES

Samsung Galaxy SII Samsung Galaxy Nexus

INDOOR PICTURES

Some pictures I took indoors with the flash on.

MACRO SHOTS

Taking all these pictures got me a little hungry, so here are some Macro shots of some Chips and Smarties. Keep in mind that the Galaxy SII gives you the option of setting the camera to Macro Mode, where as, the Galaxy Nexus doesn’t, however it did manage to focus fairly well automatically.

Here’s some more Macro shots, and no, I didn’t eat the leaves.

OUTDOOR NIGHT TIME PICTURES

We all know that regardless of what camera you have, it’ll perform better in good light and optimal settings, so how do both these phones perform in darker environments, I hear you ask. I took the pictures below at night to give you a general idea of how both phones perform in less light.

CONCLUSION

As I’ve said before in this article, this isn’t a full review of the Galaxy Nexus, it’s…well…you know what it is, so with that out of the way, please read on. Both the Samsung Galaxy SII and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus are definitely capable of taking good looking pictures, the Galaxy Nexus focuses super-fast automatically, while the Galaxy SII takes a little longer. The Galaxy Nexus also gives you the ability to take panoramic pictures ~~which the SII can’t do out of the box~~ and so does the Galaxy SII, the difference being, the Galaxy Nexus version is built into ICS and the SII version is an extra feature from Samsung.

The camera on the Galaxy Nexus is surprisingly good and ended up doing better than the Galaxy SII, but that’s still a matter of personal opinion and taste. Even though it’s possible to achieve great results with the camera, it’s also quite easy to get bad results too.

The zero shutter-lag on the Galaxy Nexus is amazing when you’re trying to take pictures quickly, and that’s one of its strengths, oddly enough, that can also be one of its weakness. The quick auto focusing and zero-shutter lag can sometimes result in slighter blurry looking photos, luckily this wasn’t the case when I took the pictures above.

The macro shots on the Galaxy Nexus are much better than the ones taken with the Galaxy SII, images are much more focused and clear. It’s obvious to say that snapping pictures in bright daylight is the optimum environment for any camera, so both the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy SII done well in that situation. Colours on the images taken with Galaxy Nexus looked more life like, where as images taken with the Galaxy SII looked more vibrant and colourful, it didn’t represent the real life colour that well.

In a darker environment, the Galaxy Nexus really shines, yes there was noise in darker scenes, and focusing was slightly harder but overall the images were much clearer than those taken with the Galaxy SII.

To wrap this article up, I can tell you that there’s no doubt that both phones take great photos, both phones are very capable, but I’ll have to give this one to the Galaxy Nexus, of course, you might disagree, and if you do let us know why in the comments section below.

By Blogsdna

Posted in: Devices, Featured Tags: 2, camera, compare, comparison, Cream, galaxy, Ice, ics, images, megapixel, megapixels, mp, nexus, optics, pics, pictures. pictures, Prime, S, S2, sample, samples, Samsung, Sandwich, SII, snapper, snaps, test, vs

Abdel

Meanwhile, I own the sgs2, but I bought it one week after I’ve read this article… Till then I was in doubt buying the S2 or Nexus.
Bruno

I have none of these phones. But according to this post, the colours in the s2 pics are “burnt”. If I want to burn my photo colours, I would prefere doing so after the photo is taken. So Nexus is clearly the winner here.
Hh

Galaxy s2!!!!!!
http://www.facebook.com/yusuf905 Yusuf Islam

that’s abit stupid to put the s2 on night mode. if that is the case then the GN should be put on a night mode too. -_-
Deez

I think youre the one with sight issues, you’re obviously confused and can’t tell which is which.
Waanwaan

You clearly can’t see.
Stinger

Its because they own the gs2 and want to feel good about their phones , im not surprised.
Drmol

why, because you own a gs2?
Mapsver

Im surprised that most ppl here are favoring the s2 in the macro category. Agreed.. the fries on the left looks tastier. But the remaining 3 pictures clearly show that the NX is a winner. The fine detail on the dried leaves and the crisp text ought to be obvious.
Dodo6392

After having a good look I have to say that the SII wins hands down in terms of noise which is something I didn’t expect as the GNex is supposedly “low-light optimized”! If you were to size those photos down to 5MP for direct comparison with the GNex you’d reduce the noise even more. (the opposite is also true, ie if you resized the GNex photos up to 8MP the noise would be a lot more pronounced).

Also, there’s a huge amount of noise reduction going on in the low light photos taken with the GNex whereas the SII’s photos – although underexposed by a couple of stops – show more detail (look at the scooter’s dials) Personally, I prefer grainy rather than painterly. Also, from the EXIF data, the SII photo was taken with ISO 160, f/2.65 and a shutter speed 1/20 sec whereas the GNex used ISO 640, f/2.75, and a shutter speed of 1/15 sec. No wonder the SII photo is so underexposed. Most probably the metering was fooled by the reflections.

The SII colours are a bit more punchy but I wouldn’t say they’re “cartoony” or unnatural. In fact I prefer them to the undersaturated GNex pics. The SII also seems to handle harsh light better, although that could be just that the metering on the GNex favours shadow and blows out highlight detail, but even so, I prefer the SII approach, as you can fix darker details but you can’t fix completely blown out highlights.

Although the SII hasn’t been perfect (wrong metering in the dark photos and a couple of photos with clearly wrong white balance), I’d prefer it to the GNex purely because it takes clearer photos with more detail… and since the SII is cheaper on ebay as well, I won’t feel too bad about buying that instead of the GNex!
http://www.earmin.com Armin

I think the authors didn’t configured cameras well. I haven’t these phones but I think that macro photos are much better in SGSII. The low light photos should be taken in Night Mode in S II to have a fairly comparison. What do you think? What is your best experience with night photos in S2?
AnomaNom

Many thanks Raju for taking the time to do this comparison, its been a great decider for me, and I personally favour the SGSII images (I just hope the Note uses the same sensor as the SGSII as that’s what I’m looking into purchasing).

The Nexus seem to offer harsher / noisier shots with less resolving power / more jaggies and this is obviously to do with a much lower resolution sensor, but its nice to see.
I don’t think the outdoor Nexus shots are particularly better, as they simply seem to use the equivalent of higher gain/higher ISO, which again simply means brighter, but noisier shots…The Nexus does however seem to have a lens that can cater for better Macro shots.This is all down to personal preference as you mentioned, thanks for sharing
http://twitter.com/ratcom Jonathan Young

my nexus camera is very poor when compared to my old sg2. I guess you cannot have all ways
Ralfaro

SII Rocks at Day, but Nexus owns totally at night …
Matter of preference i guess, i would go with the SII
guest

I’m currently debating as to whether to get the SII or the Nexus, and so far I’ve read comparisons that say that the SII is better as it has a better camera and chipset for media and gaming, however the Nexus is praised for the screen resolution and that it comes with ICS, however the SII will get the ICS at some point, so I would go for the SII overall.
Drew

Thanks for the comparisons!!!

What strikes me as the biggest gap between the two is that the Nexus appears to have some focus/shutter speed issues. This doesn’t strike me as a MP problem, but of course it does relate to the chip used. If the Nexus were able to focus better, they’d almost be identical save for the bit of noise and color balance. S2 has yellowy tint and more vibrant colours to its shots where the Nexus has a more washed look, both would need some after-edits. that said, S2 indoor shots blow the nexus away.
Tom

Just wanted to say an important thing: SGS II has panorama ability built in, but it’s a crap simply because the images are downsized! You get an useless, web-quality panorama with SGS II.
Logiiik

Can anyone tell me what controls the shutter lag? Is it the OS?
Shutter lag is the worst thing when taking pictures in my opinion. Almost all of these images can be improved in photoshop so colour balance & contrast aren’t all that important for the end result.The S2 appears clearer in some photos, however, some not so much but my main issue is the shutter lag.. so I’m hoping that ICS is the determining factor between these cameras.
Shademare

Not sure how you see the Nexus winning? It can’t even compete, indoor shots are extremely blurry in comparison…
Sooby96

I really don’t see the pictures that apparently some do. I don’t see hands down the winner being the Nexus but over all I do see it taking the win. The day shots go back and forth on which one is better. Night shots are obvious for the nexus. Now the macro maybe I missed something but the nexus has a lot more detail and the SG2 is blurry on most of them. Now I don’t have 20/20 vision but my 20/5 has a pretty good look for detail and I really don’t see how any person would say the macro on the GS2 are better with more detail. Did you see the actual pictures or maybe you forgot which side was the nexus and the GS2. I took my aged droid x and iphone 4s took the same picture and let a random person tell me which was better and they said the same if not the droid was a little better on actual color. My opinion the 4s looks better normally. Just can’t take anything to heart until you see it in person for yourself.
Sef

the galaxy nexus is weak when it comes to color balance. however this is quite easy to fix. I simply saved and opened file in Windows Live Photo Gallery and fixed Contrast. the end result looked better than the S2
Rajinder1263

very marvelous approach bro……

Great Work bro…………………………
AWESOME…………………………………..
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Edinburgh_Mike

Nexus wins only with night shots. If like me you have 20/20 vision the S2 clearly wins with day shots and macro.
Gramps

I think the reviewer needs new glasses. The only pictures where the Nexus wins is the night shots, other than that, the S2 pictures, especially the macro shots are far, far superior.
Todd

Nice post, but you will never convince the “Size Matter’s” Children out there.
With that said, Even though overall the photos are identical. I do notice sharpness issues, but those are split f50 / 50 between each, White balance issues – the Nexus are all slightly cooler and Contrast. It seems the nexus photos could all use a one or two increment boost in Contrast, which would make the White Balance issue between the two, just a preference choice. Os there a contrast adjustment in camera?
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Ipmanwck

hi,

Coming from a 3gs the nexus camera is way better. Problem i have though is i could email my vidros on my iphone nexus and s2 keeps saying file too large !!!!” Please advise

I have alreay tried lowering res etc and its not gmail as my iphone could do it from same email any ideas pleaseeeeee help as thinking of changing it over this
Anonymous

Both of the phones have amazing cameras, you can’t deny that. In some situations the GS2 looks somewhat oversaturated but really sharp and vice versa for other situations. In low light setting and Macro shots I’ll give it to the Nexus. They are pretty equally matched cameras.

-Sent from my Motorola Xoom
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Anonymous

SGSII clearly trumps the Nexus in daylight and lit indoors. As for outdoors, the Nexus seems better, but I have to point out that in that final low light compariso but turned off in the SGSII photo.

What’s up with that? Not really a good comparison.
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Abdel

Me either out here. It’s only the night shots that favor the Nexus. The pictures taken with the Nexus by daylight are not that sharp unlike the S2 that is also more colorful. The last pictures are not an equivalence comparision because of the lampposts that don’t work on the picture left where it’s dark… No offense but when I read this article, I feel like the author had a preconceived opinion for letting the Nexus shine above the S2.
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RH

colors on a few of the S2′s look a little over saturated, but then down on the indoor photos, some of the Nexus ones look a little oversaturated, could be the auto white balance off just a bit.
All in all, the 5mp of the nexus looks pretty good to the 8mp of the S2. Personally, I think for a pinhole camera, anything more than 5 is just going to add a lot of noise to the photo, especially if you try to crop anything.
Jwmphotog

Well, not really. If you zoom into most of the daylight shots you will see noise in the neutral areas. i.e. like the sky next to the building. The Nexus has more noise in the sky. That is a representation of noise throughout all of the pictures. The higher resolution of the S2 is probably due to interpolation within the processing. But it is evident in the results. You stated that these could be enlarged to any size but billboard. This is also incorrect. Once these images are enlarged past 5×7 or 8×10 this noise will be dramatic. The macro shots also favor the S2 as they are much sharper and better resolution. Only the night shots favor the Nexus. Shots that almost no one ever takes. But I’ll probably still get the Nexus as I just use the phones gallery to view the pictures anyway. Thanks for posting the images.
Anonymous

I’ve been looking for this type of review for a while. Thank you.
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http://profiles.google.com/mikexilva Mike Silva

This is good because I aleready have a Galaxy Nexus on my way, but would like to see some panoramic pics also..
From other videos I’ve seen, I think the video of Galaxy Nexus should have some sort of image stabilization, or in worse case scenario, the phone could record 1080p video and simultaneously the G-sensor information in a separated track (just like there are subtitles track and audio tracks) and Youtube should have a video filter to strip shaking from video and crop it to 720p if needed. Actualy the phone could also do this after recording – if it’s not able to do while recording…
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Paddington Bear

Paddington FTW
fishkid13

Those low light pictures on the Galaxy Nexus are incredible.
Anonymous

The low-light pics show that the Nexus shots are better than GS2. I am wondering if both these have the same sensor.
Caniblcat

From everything I’ve seen, the only thing the Galaxy Nexus has over the Galaxy SII is the screen.In all other ways, the Galaxy SII is equal to or superior than the Galaxy Nexus.

As for me I couldn’t afford either and settled for the Galaxy Ace
Anonymous

Im loving the camera on the Nexus over here in Cali. Zero shutter lag is crazy good!
http://twitter.com/mastercheung ryujinmaru

thanks so much for the comparison. many simply pit the 8MP of the s2 against the 5MP of the nexus and call it an automatic no-contest. i’m glad people can see that megapixels aren’t everything when it comes to taking photos.