Dxomark tests. Understanding the DxOMark rating

Publication date: 04.06.2018

On March 27, the flagship Huawei P20 series smartphones were presented in Paris. It's no surprise that the P20 Pro and P20 smartphones took the top two spots in the DxOMark rankings. However, the P20 Pro smartphone managed to get 10 points more than the current leader in the rating. Let's figure out how and why this happened?

Being Huawei's latest flagship smartphone, the P20 Pro plays by its own rules. It features the world's first three-camera system. It not only opens up new technical possibilities, but also sets a new trend in the development of mobile photography, exceeding all imaginable expectations.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the revolution in the smartphone market started by the P20 series from two points of view: technical breakthrough and improved operating algorithms.

1. Unique camera system

Innovative 40 MP Leica triple camera

The main feature that distinguishes the P20 Pro from other modern smartphones is the world's first triple camera. Huawei has been working together with Leica for several years. This collaboration was marked by the release of a series of smartphones with dual Leica cameras offering advanced photography capabilities.

Huawei has once again collaborated with Leica to develop the P20 series - the company's latest flagship features a VARIO-SUMMILUX triple lens. The main lens of the P20 Pro smartphone has a 40-megapixel 1/1.7-inch sensor, F1.8 aperture and an equivalent focal length of 27mm.

The second lens is equipped with a 20-megapixel black and white sensor with an F1.6 aperture and a focal length of 27 mm.

Finally, for the first time ever, there is a third camera with an 8-megapixel sensor with a long-focus zoom lens that supports 3x optical zoom and 5x hybrid zoom. A 10x digital zoom feature is also available.

Size matters: The P20 Pro has the largest CMOS sensor of any popular smartphone camera at 1/1.7-inch. A sensor of this size allows you to create more detailed images, as well as photos with a bokeh effect.

Due to its large size and despite the highest resolution for smartphones, the pixel size is 1.55 micrometers. The larger pixel size allows them to capture more light, resulting in improved light sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio.

Thanks to the P20 Pro's advanced pixel binning technology, a 40-megapixel photo from the main camera can be recorded at 10-megapixel resolution. This method results in images with 2-micron pixels along with all the benefits of the smartphone industry's best light sensitivity and wider dynamic range. The HUAWEI P20 Pro smartphone supports a light sensitivity range of up to 102400 units in low light conditions, which is not only unique for mobile photography, but also found only in top-end models among digital cameras.

Its extraordinary sensitivity allows the P20 Pro to take clear photos in extremely low light conditions - so low that even the human eye can't see anything in it.

Excellent wide dynamic range performance

To achieve high compatibility and photo quality when shooting backlit subjects, Huawei has not only equipped the P20 series smartphones with an extremely sensitive and powerful image sensor to enhance light sensitivity right down to the substrate, but also developed the latest multi-frame RAW image noise reduction algorithm, allowing HDR images to achieve unprecedented levels of clarity. level of clarity.

Unlike previous options when shooting HDR photos, the P20 Pro will compile HDR images using RAW files. In other words, the HDR mode in HUAWEI P20 brightens and darkens the desired areas of the image even before it is loaded into the smartphone’s memory. In the example of a backlit image below, you can see that such processing of a photograph allows you to get a picture that is significantly superior in quality to similar pictures taken on other smartphone models.

Thanks to powerful technology and image processing, the new Portrait mode is truly innovative - whether you're shooting against a backlit background or working in low-light conditions, your photos will look great.

New zoom system provides excellent image quality

Smartphones with dual cameras are no longer something new on the market. To address the common problem of poor quality photography from a distance, an increasing number of manufacturers are releasing smartphones equipped with 2x optical zoom. It is obvious that users today expect to see this feature in their gadget. That's why Huawei is setting new standards in this field by significantly increasing the zoom capabilities of its new smartphones and introducing the P20 Pro with 3x zoom and 5x hybrid zoom. You can easily switch between three focal lengths by selecting 1x, 3x and 5x in the camera interface.

Dual cameras serve different purposes at less than three times magnification. A black and white sensor captures gray color space to provide image detail and tone, while a color sensor captures color color space. The information received from both sensors is then combined through overlay, alignment and merging to create the final image. This method gives better results than the traditional Bayer filter method.

For magnification of more than three times, a third lens is automatically connected to the work. Huawei engineers worked painstakingly to achieve synchronization of automatic exposure control, automatic calculation of white balance and autofocus. The result of their work is the excellent quality of zoom photography that we see today in the P20 series smartphones.

Creating a three-lens module to quickly switch between zoom modes was no easy task, not to mention the fact that the operation of such a module had to be smooth and consistent.

Even at 5x zoom mode, the Huawei P20 Pro can perfectly capture the true colors of objects, as well as accurately display fine details such as hair and eyes. To understand how far Huawei is ahead of its competitors today, just look at the zoomed-in photos taken by the P20 Pro and other smartphones and feel the difference.

When we use the Huawei P20's 10x digital hybrid zoom to shoot a poster from a far distance, its leading edge is still clearly visible thanks to intelligent hybrid photography and subsequent compensation. The difference is obvious.

The “Shoot What You See” concept at its finest

Out-of-focus shots are a problem for many users, especially when shooting moving subjects. There are many reasons for this problem, including slow autofocus and poor motion tracking.

In addition to Huawei's traditional four-in-one autofocus (LDAF, PDAF, CDAF and depth-of-field focus), users of the P20 series smartphones now have another option: predictive 4D focus.

As the name suggests, how 4D Predictive Focus works is that the subject's movements will be tracked accurately and quickly, allowing smartphone users to capture every moment they deem worthy of being captured.

The P20 series smartphones feature a four-in-one autofocus system, and thanks to the detection range of the latest laser sensor, their camera is capable of recognizing objects up to three meters away.

4D Predictive Focus automatically tracks your subject and predicts its trajectory for faster, more accurate focusing. Also, thanks to the immediate shutter response (Zero Shutter Lag), the P20 series smartphones allow the user to shoot exactly what he sees at the moment.

As an example, let's look at this series of photographs. The P20 Pro can predict the trajectory of a woman's hair and pre-set the focus to where it will be in the next seconds. Thus, with a shutter lag approaching zero (1/900 of a second), the P20 Pro smartphone is able to accurately capture the smallest details of a subject.

Looking at the photos taken by smartphones A and B, we immediately see that when smartphone A finished shooting, the woman's hair had already fallen, which is a sure sign of shutter lag. In addition, the image of the T-shirt turned out to be overexposed. As for the photo taken by smartphone B, in addition to the shutter delay, we see blur due to inaccurate focus. A slow shutter also results in blurry images.

Better selfies

The P20 series smartphones are equipped with a 24 megapixel front camera with F2.0 aperture. Equipped with an innovative BSI CMOS image sensor and color temperature sensor, the P20 Pro smartphone is capable of correcting human skin color thanks to the work of artificial intelligence, which automatically adjusts skin color to different lighting conditions.

In backlit conditions, we can see that the P20 is still able to illuminate the face well, as it did in the left photo. The girl's skin tone in the photo looks natural, her facial features are clearly defined, which, combined with light retouching, creates a truly stunning effect. Meanwhile, the right photo lacks proper color optimization and retouching, and as a result, it loses significantly next to the left photo.

2. He knows: Artificial intelligence technologies in photography

Most smartphone users have only a general understanding of photography and often do not know what camera settings are optimal for them.

To improve the user experience of its customers, as well as to help them take great pictures and learn different camera modes, Huawei has created an AI-powered assistant.

Master of Artificial Intelligence (smart assistant based on artificial intelligence)

Huawei has developed a personal assistant to work with camera data in real time. Using scene recognition and facial recognition technologies, as well as other preset options, the smartphone can recommend the use of certain settings and suggest them in the user interface. User input is also recorded and stored in the device's memory to create a feedback loop. By constantly receiving information from user input, the device is able to independently detect various options and automatically adjust the camera operation according to the settings that best suit the user's preferences.

Scene recognition

This question can be broken down into three sections: image processing, image analysis, and image understanding.

Image processing is a technology that allows you to analyze, edit and process an image in accordance with the visual, psychological and other needs of users. Image analysis focuses more on the study of its details, including not only the use of various image processing methods, but also content analysis, interpretation and detection. Understanding an image is its semantic awareness, consisting of a number of high-level operations. These operations interpret the original scene based on awareness of the details of the image and use this information to guide and plan a course of action - in other words, they use a technique similar to the human ability to make inferences.

The scene recognition algorithm combines computer learning, deep learning with image analysis and awareness to then be able to distinguish one scene from another.

How to determine the optimal settings for each scenario? The Artificial Intelligence Master follows the rules of recommendations. It examines several items on the screen to recognize the main item. It then checks objects visible on the screen for movement to minimize interference from external factors.

User preferences

The user decides whether he wants to use the help of an artificial intelligence wizard. To disable it, the user simply needs to click on the cross on the corresponding icon. The AI wizard will resume the next time you open the camera app.

In general, a “smart” application based on artificial intelligence technologies on P20 series smartphones operates in the mode of providing recommendations. The AI master can not only recognize scenes and make recommendations, he is also capable of computer learning, i.e. to optimize your work when shooting multiple objects. For example, when taking a portrait with a background of flowers, it activates the portrait mode rather than the flower mode.

Artificial intelligence technologies in image stabilization

It is known that the exposure of a photograph is influenced by various factors: shutter speed (shutter speed), aperture size and camera sensitivity. All these factors have a direct impact on the final result.

After setting the ISO and aperture settings, you can increase the shutter speed, thereby increasing the exposure time for long exposure photos. However, if you exceed the minimum shutter speed when shooting manually (about 1/30 of a second for regular smartphones), the pictures will be blurred due to camera shake.

Once the sensitivity parameters are set, it should be understood that the smaller the aperture, the wider the depth of field, and the clearer and richer the image details. But to ensure that enough light reaches the image sensor, we need to reduce the shutter speed.

Since almost all smartphone cameras have a fixed aperture, the light sensitivity and exposure time of the smartphone camera increases after measuring light in dark conditions.

Photosensitivity is a technical problem, but the exposure time is influenced by the human factor, which leads to low-quality photographs with poor lighting. The biggest problem when shooting at night is hand tremors.

The P20 series smartphones feature an all-new AIS (Artificial Intelligence Image Stabilization) technology in Night Scene mode, allowing users to capture beautiful night shots with continuous exposure for 6 seconds in manual mode.

The smartphone uses artificial intelligence technology to analyze and organize the features of each image, recognize the shape and outline of objects, and finally automatically capture images with a four-second exposure time. Using artificial intelligence algorithms, Smart Assistant corrects the unwanted effects of hand tremors that lead to cluttered or blurry images.

To create a high-quality night shot, he superimposes one frame on top of another, aligning each element of the photo. Without a doubt, this technology is a revolution in night photography. Whether you're in the middle of a desolate desert or a bustling night market, the HUAWEI P20 series smartphones will help you take clear photos.

When it comes to video shooting, the P20 series smartphones use AI image stabilization to achieve six-axis stabilization to prevent video distortion due to hand shake.

3. Volumetric lighting effect in portrait mode

The P20 series smartphones come with a new feature that allows the user to add a 3D lighting effect when taking portraits. This effect uses real-time 3D modeling to simulate studio lighting based on the user's facial features. Studio lighting effects include the Butterfly effect, theatrical lighting effect, classic studio lighting effect and others. All of them are supported on both front and rear cameras. Users will be able to select lighting effects in the viewfinder and photo editing interface.

Smart photo assistant

When the smartphone sees that the photo is tilted horizontally, the smart assistant prompts the user to adjust the position of the phone. It can also identify faces in a group photo and recommend the best angles for taking group selfies.

Artificial Intelligence as a smart assistant for other photography-related functions

Using artificial intelligence technology supported by the Kirin 970 SoC, the P20 series smartphones can recognize various situations the user is in and provide assistance in a variety of ways. For example, a smartphone can enhance enlarged images of text to greatly improve clarity. In conclusion, we would like to quote the DxO resource specialists:

We're used to each new generation of smartphone being a little better than the previous one, but looking at the images and benchmark results of the P20 Pro, it seems like Huawei has skipped a generation or two.

The results really are that good. The P20 Pro's triple camera setup is the most significant innovation we've seen in a mobile device for quite some time, and it's truly a big deal for the entire industry.

The new P20 Pro smartphone is able to select the optimal camera settings for each situation and combine image data from three sensors with a computational algorithm. This means that the P20 Pro beats its competitors in almost every area and becomes the leader in the camera phone ratings. Its zoom and bokeh effects perform head and shoulders above the competition in low light.

The DxOMark rating is a very important factor if you are choosing a smartphone based on camera quality. If you're not one of those people who thinks that more megapixels is better, then you should pay close attention to this rating.

What is DxOMark and what is it known for?

DxOMark is a logical continuation of the activities of the French company DxO Labs. This company develops software and manufactures equipment for measuring and evaluating the performance of photographic equipment.

DxO is known for its professional software such as:

DxO OpticsPro. Raw corrector
DxO ViewPoint. allows you to correct distortion from wide-angle lenses and more.
DxO FilmPack. Emulates the effect of various films in digital format.
DxO Analyzer. A set of software tools designed for testing photo sensors, matrices, sensors, etc. Can display results both numerically and graphically.

And even with your own devices. They released DxO ONE, a 20 megapixel external camera for the iPhone with good performance.

Does DxOMark help you choose the best camera?

DxOMark will help us with this. Although the resource is in English (well, at least not French), everything is presented there quite clearly.

They try to compare cameras in the same places and conditions; they photograph the same places for years. Many templates for shooting, special stands for shooting in certain lighting, with different ISOs, etc.

DxO Laboratory Test Bench

At the head of this entire composition is a Chinese cowboy. His photo for me became practically the face of the entire resource. 😉

Here you can clearly see the progress of Apple cameras.

The new testing methodology began to compare the quality of operation of software modes of smartphone cameras. DxO is especially interested in the mode of portrait shooting and software creation of bokeh (blur):

For me, Google Pixel has no competition here

Also, in addition to photographs, you can find various graphs here:

Even if you don’t like to delve into all this at all and are too lazy to read, then the main page immediately presents a board of honor of the best cameras according to DxOMark. At the time of writing, it looked like this:

I would like to draw your attention to the last one on this list, Nokia 808 PureView. The phone entered the market 5 years ago, in the summer of 2012, and still manages to hold the bar. The huge matrix and physical dimensions of the sensor still affect the quality of the pictures.

Can you trust DxoMark?

The final figure looks fair, but in addition to dry numbers, it is better to look at graphs and photos. Different cameras have different characteristics; some camera may have good daytime photography, but terrible night photography and vice versa. Some smartphone cameras are more suitable for portrait photography, some for landscapes, etc.

In terms of points, the phone may score the most, but you may not particularly like its camera. People don't often need good detail and dynamic range; many will choose brighter photos with high contrast. This was clearly shown to us by the guys from Hi-tech in their blind test of flagship smartphone cameras, the results can be seen.

By the way, DxO Labs deals not only with mobile cameras, their main work is real adult DSLRs and lenses for them. They write software to optimize their operation and sell them to camera manufacturers.

And since among the subjects there are their clients in the software business. Therefore, they may be "slightly" biased when testing certain brands. However, DxO have never been caught lying or rigging results.

In any case, you should choose a smartphone camera for yourself. At the end of each review you can see more detailed statistics, where you can study the strengths and weaknesses of the camera you are interested in.

Here you can see both the pros and cons of the iPhone 8 camera

Total. To trust or not?

The guys from DxO Labs are undoubtedly great, but you shouldn’t rely 100% on their assessments. But their work certainly needs to be taken into account. Especially if you can’t decide between two already selected smartphone models and the determining factor for you is the quality of the camera.

P20 Pro is the world's first smartphone with Leica triple camera.

The system features the highest resolution of any smartphone on the market today. The main camera has a resolution of 40MP, is equipped with a 1/1.73-inch RGB sensor and a 27mm lens with F/1.8 aperture. Secondary camera with 20MP resolution, 1/2.78-inch monochrome sensor and 27mm lens with F/1.6 aperture. And the third camera has an 8MP resolution, a 1/4.4-inch RGB sensor and is equipped with an 80mm F/2.4 telephoto lens and optical image stabilization.

In low-light conditions, the P20 Pro is a monster, capable of shooting photos with sensitivities up to ISO 102,400.

ISO 1250 (left) and ISO 51200 (right).

To make professional-quality photography accessible to the masses, the P20 Pro uses Master AI, which enables artificial intelligence to control shooting settings, including stabilization and AI-Assisted Composition, which helps with composition when shooting group and landscape photos. Scene Recognition identifies more than 500 scenarios in 19 categories to automatically select the optimal camera settings for every shot.

Predictive 4D focusing helps the camera predict the movement of objects and maintain focus on them.

The smartphone can record video in Super slow motion mode at 960fps:

To allow users to capture fleeting moments without delay, the smartphone has an Ultra Snapshot function. Just press the volume down button twice to take a photo in just 0.3 seconds, even when the screen is off.

Other features and specifications of Huawei P20 Pro include Kirin 970 processor, 4K video recording, 6.1-inch screen with ultra-thin bezel, 24MP selfie camera, AI, 3D portrait lighting and 3400mAh battery.

DxOMark specialists, who tested the shooting capabilities of the Huawei P20 Pro, report that the triple camera system is not just a marketing gimmick.

“We're used to each new generation of smartphones being a little better than the previous one, but looking at the images and benchmark results of the P20 Pro, it seems like Huawei has skipped a generation or two,” DxOMark sums up. – The results are so good. The P20 Pro's triple camera is the biggest innovation we've seen in mobile devices for quite some time, and it's truly significant for the entire industry."

“The ability to choose the best camera for a given shooting situation and programmatically combine image data from all three sensors means that the new Huawei beats the competition in almost every metric, leading the ranking in photo and video capabilities. The P20 Pro is especially good at shooting in low light, zooming and creating bokeh, leaving no chance to its direct competitors. If you were looking for the best camera in a smartphone today, you've found it."

The French company DxO Labs is known as a developer and manufacturer of equipment and software for measuring and evaluating the performance of photographic equipment, as well as the author of a good RAW converter DxO Optics Pro. In addition, DxO Labs regularly publishes some of its research results under the guise of the famous DxOMark ranking.

DxOMark is a set of metrics that in one way or another characterize the key parameters of digital cameras and photographic lenses. Strictly speaking, in this case only those parameters that directly affect the image quality are analyzed. In other words, DxOMark describes the properties of the photo matrix and optical unit, but in no way takes into account the reliability, functionality, ergonomics and other features of photographic equipment, although important for the photographer, but either not affecting the quality of the image at all, or having only an indirect effect on it.

The authors of the rating themselves position DxOMark as an objective, independent, comprehensive database that is a proven industry standard. These are the dreams of DxO Labs management. Do they correspond to reality? Not quite.

There is no doubt that the DxOMark rating is quite convenient for comparing different cameras, but it should be used with caution and, I would even say, with a certain amount of skepticism. And in any case, you need to carefully avoid categorical judgments like: “Camera A is better than camera B, since the DxOMark rating for camera A is 83 points, and for camera B it is only 80.” Are you sure that a three-point difference is significant enough for one camera to be considered better than another even with all other things being equal (which in reality are never exactly equal)? In addition, the DxOMark rating usually means “Sensor Overal Score”, i.e. the overall matrix rating, which is actually a very controversial and ambiguous value. Does anyone outside of DxO Labs know how it is actually calculated and what its physical meaning is, so to speak?

The fact is that the Sensor Overall Score is an artificial integral indicator designed to present a vast array of test data in the form of one single figure. In practice, this is only possible with a large number of assumptions and inaccuracies.

In order not to be unfounded, I will illustrate the ambiguity of the overall rating with a specific example. Let's choose two cameras for comparison: Nikon D4s and Nikon D810. The overall rating for the D4s is 89 parrots, and for the D810 it is 97. The difference is significant - almost 9%. Does this mean that the D810 is definitely ahead of the D4s in terms of image quality? Let's figure it out. Click on View Comparison to show a detailed comparison and open the Measurments tab. This tab is good because it allows you to see the results of specific measurements that can be accurately expressed numerically. You can read briefly about measurement methods there, on the DxOMark website. At the moment we are interested in the dynamic range of the cameras in question.

The Dynamic Range graph clearly shows how, as ISO sensitivity increases, the dynamic range of the matrix narrows. However, this should not surprise us. What’s more interesting is that the dependence of dynamic range on ISO is nonlinear and varies from matrix to matrix. This is due both to the properties of the matrices themselves and to the difference in the algorithms for noise reduction, preamplification, digitization, etc. Depending on the purpose of the camera, the electronic circuitry of the matrix can be configured differently, and a comparison of Nikon D4s and Nikon D810 clearly demonstrates this.

Red color – Nikon D4s, orange color – Nikon D810.

We see that the maximum dynamic range (achieved, as we know, at the base ISO value) of the D4s is 13.3 (at ISO 100), and for the D810 it is 14.8 EV (at ISO 64), i.e. one and a half steps more. Even if we raise the D810's ISO to 100 to play even with the D4s, which has ISO 100 as its minimum value, the D810 will still be 1.1 EV ahead of the D4s. What does this mean in practice? That in good light (when we have the opportunity to shoot at minimum ISO values), the D810 produces slightly cleaner images, with better shadow detail and allowing for more intensive post-processing. One and a half stops is not a huge difference, but still enough to be noticeable to the naked eye.

But what happens with the increase in ISO? It turns out that the graphs overlap, and at ISO 800 the D4s is already objectively ahead of the D810 in terms of dynamic range, and at ISO 6400 the difference reaches 1 EV in favor of the D4s. Those. When shooting at high ISOs, the D4s gains an objective advantage over the D810. And this is natural. After all, the D4s is a reportage camera that most of the time has to work in low light conditions, and therefore it is not surprising that its sensor is optimized for work at high ISOs. At the same time, the D810 is more focused on studio or landscape photography, i.e. for those situations that allow you to use the minimum ISO value.

In short, in ideal conditions, the D810 allows you to achieve better image quality than the D4s and therefore its Sensor Overall Score is higher, but in conditions that are far from ideal (and reportage cameras are rarely purchased to work in ideal conditions), the D4s puts the D810 to shame. And that doesn't take into account the D4s' faster burst speed, better weather sealing, and overall more rugged design. Those. this or that camera turns out to be better or worse in the eyes of a particular photographer, depending on the photographic tasks that he is going to solve with its help. For example, for a landscape photographer, absolute image quality is of paramount importance, and a heavy and expensive reportage camera will be more of a burden than a help for him. On the contrary, some sports photographer is ready to sell his soul for a high rate of fire and the ability to shoot at exorbitant ISO values. To each his own.

By the way, I consider it my duty to remind readers that the dynamic range measured by DxO Labs is the so-called. effective or technical dynamic range, i.e. the relationship between the saturation threshold and the sensor sensitivity threshold. The useful dynamic range does not have a generally accepted definition, but in any case it is several steps less than the technical one.

The situation is similar with lenses. The test results themselves are quite reliable and can be used to compare different models with each other, but interpreting these results requires a thoughtful and critical approach. Firstly, as in the case of cameras, you should not blindly trust the overall rating, the calculation method of which is kept secret, but instead it is better to turn to specific measurements. Secondly, it should be remembered that the conditions in which DxO Labs conduct their tests do not fully correspond to the actual conditions of use of the lenses.

For example, many wide-angle lenses (like the Canon 20mm f/2.8 USM) have a pronounced curvature of the image field. When shooting a flat test target at close range (and most tests are done this way), the field curvature is very noticeable and the lens receives an unfairly low rating for sharpness. When shooting real three-dimensional scenes, the curvature of the field not only does not spoil the picture, but sometimes even turns into an advantage of the lens, allowing you to capture objects of different plans with equal sharpness.

Or another example. The Nikon 200-400mm f/4G VR II telezoom, popular among photo hunters, has a fairly high sharpness rating, and this lens is really sharp... But only at close distances (and the test tables are shot just up close). At greater distances, sharpness noticeably decreases, and Nikon 200-400 begins to lose in image quality to some lighter and cheaper models. Not every photo hunter will be satisfied with a myopic lens, but the DxO ratings do not reflect this unfortunate fact!

In summary, DxOMark is a useful and convenient tool for comparing cameras and lenses, but it must be used with caution and awareness of what is behind the numbers published by DxO Labs.

Thank you for your attention!

Vasily A.

Post scriptum

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The DxOMark portal was founded in 2008. Positions himself as an independent expert who evaluates the quality of photo and video materials, smartphones, cameras and lenses in laboratory conditions. Many information portals and newspapers refer to DxOMark as an authoritative resource, such as GSMARENA, xdadevelovers, Engadget, CNET, Techradar, Forbes, The Washington Post, The VERGE, Le Momde.

How does the portal differ from other companies that evaluate the quality of images taken on a smartphone?

Modern, specialized laboratory equipment.
A scientific approach to image quality testing.
Counts are calculated for each image quality attribute.
Explores over 1500 photos and over 2 hours of video for each smartphone.

How smartphones are assessed.

Each smartphone undergoes an identical series of tests, under the same conditions, in identically configured laboratory settings, using the same testing procedures, with the same software, which includes shooting 1,500 photos and dozens of videos lasting more than two hours. For each device, a team of engineers is assembled, which collects photo and video material both in the laboratory and in the open air for two weeks. Test results are based on objective tests, the results of which are calculated on the equipment under test, as well as a number of special tests that use a complex set of indicators so that image experts can evaluate those aspects that require human control.

How is the overall score calculated?

The total score consists of the results for photo and video shooting. In turn, for photo shooting there are results for such parameters as

Exposure and contrast - how correctly the camera adjusts and captures the brightness of the background and object.
Color - shows how accurately the camera reproduces colors in different lighting conditions, day, night, artificial light, etc.
Autofocus is how quickly a camera can focus on a subject under different lighting conditions.
Texture - How well the camera can preserve fine detail.
Noise - how much noise is present in the images.
Artifacts - how much distortion digital processing or camera introduces.
Flash - Measures the effectiveness of the flash to accurately illuminate a subject.
Zoom - how close you can bring an object without losing quality.
Bokeh - Evaluates the quality and smoothness of the blur effect, as well as how accurately it was applied.

For video shooting

Exposure and Contrast
Autofocus
Texture
Artifacts
Stabilization - how accurately the camera eliminates shaking and movement that occurs during video capture.

Since the wishes of each user are individual, if a certain parameter is important to you, the portal recommends paying attention to the ratings for each parameter. Because the final score of a smartphone that has very good final scores for parameters will be higher than that of a device whose, for example, some parameters received the maximum score, but at the same time has noticeable shortcomings in others.

In order for the user to evaluate the quality himself, tests often include pictures of both the smartphone being tested and its competitors. That is, everyone can take and compare photos taken under the same conditions, with the same settings.

The first and second places with the maximum number of points were taken by Huawei P30 Pro with 112 points. He received 119 points for the photo and 97 for the video.

The second place went to Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, the final score was 112. For photos 117 and for video 100 points.

Third place: Huawei Mate 20 Pro, final score: 109. Photos: 114, videos: 97.

Fourth place Huawei P20 Pro, final score 109. Photo 114 and video 98 points.

In fifth place is the Samsung Galaxy S10+, which ultimately scored 109 points. For photos 114 and videos 97.