For a few days on my desk lie a Nothing Phone 1, an Honor 70 and a Pixel 6a Three mid-range smartphones that, at present, timed offers and physiological oscillations aside, offer a very similar price. For all three we are talking about a figure around 400-450 euros, in my opinion honest given the cards at stake. In addition to this, however, these are three models that, technical sheet in hand, should be able to take excellent photos, obviously in relation to the price, satisfying the requests of many users.
So, for about a week I’ve been shooting with these three smartphones in my backpack and I’m taking pictures here and there to be able to compare them and find out which of the three takes the best photos in different conditions. In this comparison I will dwell only on the aspects related to the cameras and the shots obtained, for everything else you will find the three individual reviews on the site. So let’s not linger any longer and get straight to the point.
HARDWARE
Before going to see the photos in detail, however, I want a few words about what are the characteristics of the photo sector of these three products. As already mentioned, on paper we are talking about a more than good proposition for the price range, in all three products. Let’s start with the Honor 70 that offers a main camera characterized by the presence of a Sony IMX 800 sensor. It is the first smartphone in the Italian market, and not only, to be equipped with this 54 megapixel Sony sensor that we can undoubtedly consider as one of the strengths of this product. This sensor is the one used for the main camera which is also equipped with a lens with f/1.9 aperture and phase detection autofocus. Optical stabilization is missing, but of the three selected smartphones it is the one with the largest main sensor: 1/1.49″. Then there is a second ultra-wide-angle camera with a viewing angle of 122 degrees, a resolution of 50 megapixels and a lens with an f/2.2 aperture. As for the main one also here no optical stabilization but there is autofocus. Then we have a third camera that does not really take photos but serves to collect info on the depth of field.
So let’s move on to Nothing Phone 1, as long awaited as then loved or hated depending on everyone’s tastes. On paper he also presents a respectable photographic hardware and, during the launch event, the dear Carl Pei, had just emphasized that the company had preferred quality to the number of cameras. Actually we find only two, and let me say that it is a philosophy that I share, especially if the cameras are inserted only to make numbers. The main one is therefore equipped with a 50 megapixel Sony sensor, lens with f/1.9 aperture, PDAF, optical stabilization and an equivalent focal length of 24 mm. Of the three it is the product with the widest viewing angle for what concerns the main module, the focal length of the other two is in fact 27 mm. The sensor is smaller than that of the Honor 70, we are talking about 1/1.56 “but with 2 million pixels less the size of the same will not be very different. Alongside this module we then have the wide angle, also with a 50 megapixel sensor, a viewing angle of 122 degrees and an f/2.2 lens. There is no stabilization but we also have autofocus here.
And finally we move on to the Pixel 6a. As with Nothing Phone 1 there are two cameras, but this time both have a 12 megapixel sensor. The largest one measures 1/2.55” and is that of the main camera which is also equipped with dual-pixel autofocus and optical stabilization. The lens offers an f/1.7 aperture and has an equivalent focal length of 27mm. As for the other two smartphones analyzed here too, the second camera is characterized by an ultra-wide-angle lens with a field of view of 114 degrees, the most “closed” of the three. As just mentioned here the sensor is 12 megapixels, the lens has instead f/2.2 aperture and there is no autofocus.
One last note before starting to comment on the photos, Honor 70 and Nothing Phone 1 have 54 and 50 megapixel sensors respectively but both, by default, take photos at 12 megapixels. In fact, they use pixel binning technology to combine 4 pixels into one, thus having more information available and theoretically managing to capture more light. Both also offer the possibility of shooting at full resolution through a special camera setting.
