[ASUS ZenFone 6 (2019) Guides, News, & Discussion] BykuAllmighty:
Zenfone 6 “camera review”(with comparison to Nexus 5x and [a bit] Samsung S8)

Introduction:

I was looking for a good successor to my worn out Nexus 5X. I’ve been using it for over 2 years, and although camera is still good, it slowed down a lot, and its battery gives me 2,5 to 3h sot daily. Ideally, the camera should not be worse and battery should be(much) better. It should have clean Android and quick updates. I almost bought OnePlus 7, but it’s front cam with shallow depth of field(no group selfies?) and lack of headphone jack held me back. I didn’t care much about the screen, amoled would be good, but good IPS would be fine too. Then Zenfone 6 came. Huge battery - check, best selfie cam ever - check, probably camera at least as good as the one in Nexus with Gcam - maybe check, IPS - alright, headphone jack - CHECK, top specs - check. So I bought it from Asus Eshop. Below i will try to compare Zenfone 6 to my Nexus 5x, and as bonus(camera wise) - Samsung Galaxy S8.

Camera:

Hardware: Swivel camera… to be honest, I’m giving Asus a leap of faith. The idea is brilliant and it works. It’s fast enough, but it’s not very quiet. In quiet room people near you will hear that something’s cookin’. Though I have to say that it is not annoying in any way and it doesn’t bother me. Time will tell how prone to failure it will be. It’s comforting to know that you can open the cam by hand(I didn’t try it, but saw it on youtube), and it seems durable(also saw it on youtube) - https://youtu.be/GDEpyumGnA8?t=980 .

- Camera2 Api: LEVEL_FULL (pity not LEVEL_3 :( )

Software:

Data:

- ISO : 25 - 3200

- max shutter: 33 sec in ProShot, 1 sec in Lightroom, 32 sec in stock app

- raw: available in Lightroom, stock app and openCamera. Pro-shot doesn’t save, Footej Camera crashes(fix in next release). Raw available only in 48MP.

- not all third party apps work flawlessly.

Pictures and tests:

1.) Comparison of HDR modes of Zenfone 6:

NO HDR - usually offers the most true to life colors.

HDR+ - turns on automatically if option “HDR+” is on, or is always turned on if “HDR+ Enhanced” is on. Tends to create oversaturated pictures. Saves highlights and shadows. No shutter lag.

HDR+ Enhanced - turns on automatically(if there is too much shadows in the picture propably). Tends to create less oversaturated pictures than HDR+. What i’ve noticed is that it tends to recover shadows better than HDR+, but highlights are it’s weakness. My tactic: underexpose the picture. Unfortunately it doesn’t always turn on.

NIGHT - indoors in bright light it seems to work similarly to HDR+. At night - unfortunately we lose a tiny bit of details BUT we get much less noise and higher dynamic range. In daylight it doesn't turn on at all.

Picture A(not hand-held):

https://imgur.com/M2Jf1Wl

In my opinion HDR+Enhanced offers the best picture here. Night-mode offers best dynamic range but with loss of details and an ugly bonus.

Picture B(not hand-held):

https://imgur.com/1zHAoqt

Here we don’t see those awful artifacts on Night mode. In my opinion HDR+Enhanced offers the most natural picture, but still with a bit oversaturated colors.

Picture C(hand-held, ISO below 42, shutter around 1/150s - 1/180s):

https://imgur.com/a/Ft0YXSO

The most natural colors were produced by HDR+Enhanced again.

Picture D(not hand-held)

https://imgur.com/a/lASyaP7

True night. Night mode offers the most realistic colors. HDR+ and HDR+Enhanced - I don’t see much difference, the sky seems more blue in HDR+.

HDR+ - 1/10s, ISO: 2929

HDR+ Enhanced - 1/10s, ISO: 2973

Night - 1/12.5s, ISO 3019

Picture E(hand-held)

https://imgur.com/a/tL443k3

The biggest amount of details in HDR+Enhanced, colors - small difference between modes.

All are a bit oversaturated.

No HDR+ - 1/33.3s, ISO: 138

HDR+ - 1/33.3s, ISO: 199

HDR+ Enhanced - 1/50, ISO: 134

Night - 1/14.3s, ISO 144

Picture F(hand-held)

https://imgur.com/gallery/tClrnaE

Not much difference between HDR+ and HDR+Enhanced, largest amount of details.

Night mode, least amount of small details, largest dynamic range.

Picture E(hand-held)

https://imgur.com/gallery/TBXQeMC

Here we can see the oversaturation and unpredictable behaviour of HDR+ modes. HDR+Enhanced oversaturated everything, blown out highlights and we didn’t gain any details in the shadows.

Summary:

- inconsistency with color reproduction between different modes

- oversaturation of colors in HDR modes gives unnatural look

- overall inconsistency in HDR mechanic

- if color reproduction is good, then pictures are more or less fine but looking forward to future camera updates

- we don’t have full control when HDR+Enhanced or HDR+ will turn on.

- Night Mode - loss of small details and noise, but the highest dynamic range. Doesn’t turn on in daylight, turns on indoors in bright light and works like HDR+, in low light it takes time to capture but gives the best dynamic range.

2.) Raw files(comparison)

We can get raw files from opencamera, lightroom and of course stock app, few other apps crashed. Unfortunately we only get 48MP version of them. Why unfortunately? Due to the construction of the sensor we get the best image if it binds pixels - high dynamic range in daylight and low noise in low light.

But still? How does it’s 1/2 inch sensor with f/1.8 compare to Samsung’s 1/2.55 sensor behind f/1,7, and Nexus’ 1/2.3 inch sensor behind f/2.0. I shoot those photos on base ISO with similar exposure. Only things I’ve done in dng files was brightening the shadows and recovering highlights.

Picture A(not hand-held)

https://imgur.com/BKjIIDC

It seems that Asus wins here hands down. Less noise, bigger dynamic range. Nexus comes at second place with higher noise and smaller dynamic range and Samsung comes last. Though, we have to say that all phones have different min ISO levels. Asus is at 25, Samsung at 50 and Nexus at 60. So how will they fare at same ISO levels?

Picture B(not hand-held, same ISO)

https://imgur.com/KUZ1F91

In dynamic range new Zenfone wins. In details it seems that both Nexus and Samsung have a little bit better lenses. In Zenfone we can also see some kind of banding(probably every phone with Sony IMX586 is prone to that). The prettiest noise(by small margin) has Nexus in my opinion.

3.) Comparison to Nexus gcam(custom app with HDR set to High).

Picture A(hand-held)

https://imgur.com/vuBYUbO

I’m surprised. Yeah, Nexus seems to have a tiny bit more details in some areas, but Asus wins in dynamic range. Asus said that HDR+Enhanced works similarly to Gcams HDR Enhanced. Hehe… looking at those pictures it seems they are right.

Picture B(hand-held)

https://imgur.com/dyD5v64

Now, here’s where gcam wins. Better colors, better details. Asus oversaturated on both pictures, lost a bit of details(but has less noise). Moreover HDR+ picture is worse than the more natural one without any HDR mechanisms.

Picture C(hand-held - very low light)

https://imgur.com/NrDAAFV

In my opinion Asus-Night mode wins. Although I’m not using night-sight on Nexus(it doesn’t work on it), i am using a custom gcam with hdr set to high(takes more frames). Asus is cleaner and it has a bit more details.

Picture D(hand-held - street light)

https://imgur.com/bbIMroz

Although on Nexus we get a bit more details in the darker part of the image, Asus created a more pleasing image imo. More natural colors with more details all around.

Picture E(hand-held - street light)

https://imgur.com/a/VLhRAow

Nexus with gcam has a bit more details, but Asus wins hands down with dynamic range in Night mode. Non-night mode pictures from Asus are prone to camera shake - no ois.

Summary(no night-sight on Nexus!):

- gcam on Nexus usually offers better colors in day, indoor and evening conditions

- gcam on Nexus usually offers more details in day, indoor and evening conditions

- gcam on Nexus is simply consistent with the results, you know what to expect

- dynamic range on Asus is better

- night-mode on Asus better than custom gcam on Nexus with HDR+ Enhanced set to High

- Asus needs to work on colors(!), and maybe lessen a bit noise reduction.

4.) Wide-cam:

Umm… it’s cool, although quality wise nothing special. Great for selfies with friends!

I like it. You can see pictures from it on my google drive.(link at the bottom)

Screen:

I’m not disappointed but I’m not delighted either. It’s brighter that the one on Nexus 5x, but it wasn’t difficult for Zenfone, as the screen in Nexus wasn’t very bright anyway(455 cd/m2 according to GSMArena). Color wise, the difference isn’t huge, although Zenfone is a bit colder. Nexus has very good color rendering according to GSMArena.

I’ve tried to match my Nexus 5x so I’ve changed it accordingly:

https://imgur.com/w2L6zDh

But it’s still no the same. RGB controls would be nice :3.

Battery:

I’ve charged the battery yesterday(05.06.2019) around 19:07 to 100% - that was 4848 mAh according to AIDA64 and 4649 mAh according to AccuBattery( Oo -> :( ).

https://imgur.com/ngMaYuj

https://imgur.com/SuzpiI7

I’ve taken a lot of pictures and used it extensively. Now it is 22:54(06.06.2019) and i’ve got around 6%. My SOT is around 8 hours. With that 6% i could probably get another 30 minutes.

https://imgur.com/qGFjfwJ

https://imgur.com/eWxRtlc

https://imgur.com/FhlAVr3

Sound:

I can’t compare it to Samsung as I don’t have it anymore, but comparing it to Nexus it’s much lounder and cleaner with better bass.

Speed:

Well, it has top specs… it’s fast for me. Night and day difference between Nexus and Zenfone…

Summary:

I like it. Waiting for gcam and Asus future updates for the camera.

Link to my google drive with pictures(more to come I hope):

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DV77hQdFAfgLPvy0z5CNklb0YYSIV1yO