Last month, I posted a few comparison photos taken with the iPhone 6, Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Asus Zenfone 2. I’ve been using the Zenfone 2 as my main smartphone for the past few weeks and figured I should do a comparison test again with the iPhone 6. I’ve taken a lot of photos with the 2 of the best smartphones in the world but I have only chosen around 8 photos each to point out the good and the bad. Here it is, Asus Zenfone 2 iPhone 6 Camera Comparisons:
DAYLIGHT
Photo taken with an iPhone 6
Photo Taken with an Asus Zenfone 2
Both smartphones’ camera modes were on Auto mode and took these photos in Makati Avenue. These photos revealed almost the same results that it’s so hard to tell the difference. Good job to the Asus Zenfone 2 and iPhone 6 for these nice photos.
SCOREBOARD – Asus Zenfone 2: 1 / iPhone 6: 1
GREENERY
Photo Taken with an iPhone 6
Photo Taken with an Asus Zenfone 2
Similar to the Daylight photos, both photos appeared with accurate colors. It’s good to know that the Asus Zenfone 2 is at par with the iPhone’s image quality under daylight.
SCOREBOARD – Asus Zenfone 2: 2 / iPhone 6: 2
ZOOM IN
Photo taken with an iPhone 6
Photo taken with an Asus Zenfone 2 with Low-Light Setting
I’ve used my iPhone 6 for months and I rarely encountered issues whenever I use its digital zoom for close-up photos. Most photos I’ve taken with it turn out alright. Unfortunately, this is one of the weaknesses I’ve found in the Asus Zenfone 2. I posted the photo with the low-light setting because the images with and without the HDR function were darker then this. Also, I’ve attempted to use the digital zoom of the Zenfone 2 inside the MOA Arena. Last month, I watched a UFC Manila match and the results were kinda painful to look at. Not what I’ve expected, but I hope Asus will be able to improve on this area of their camera.
SCOREBOARD – Asus Zenfone 2: 2 / iPhone 6: 3
THE CHURCH
Photo taken with an iPhone 6 in HDR mode
Photo taken with an Asus Zenfone 2 with Low-Light Setting
Mass ended at 6pm so I thought it was a good time to take some test shots with the iPhone 6 and the Asus Zenfone 2. I turned on the HDR mode of the iPhone 6 and the Low-Light setting of the Zenfone 2. The results show that the Zenfone 2 not only produced a brighter image, but also produced a more accurate result in terms of lighting.
SCOREBOARD – Asus Zenfone 2: 3 / iPhone 6: 3
DINNER
Photo taken with an iPhone 6 in HDR mode
Photo taken with an Asus Zenfone 2 with Low-Light Setting
The restaurant has dim lights all around and I’m surprised with the results that I got here. I expected the Zenfone 2 to have a brighter photo, and it did. However, the shot by the iPhone 6 in HDR mode produced a clear, sharp image of the food I ordered that evening.
SCOREBOARD – Asus Zenfone 2: 3 / iPhone 6: 4
DESSERTS
Photo taken with an iPhone 6 in HDR mode
Photo taken with an Asus Zenfone in HDR mode
The iPhone 6’s image of my dessert is dark and un-appetizing to my eyes. The image taken by the Zenfone 2 shows the oozing caramel syrup on top of the ice cream and cake. Oh, that shot was only taken in HDR mode.
SCOREBOARD – Asus Zenfone 2: 4 / iPhone 6: 4
IN THE EVENING
Photo taken with an iPhone 6 in HDR mode
Photo taken with an Asus Zenfone 2 with Low-Light Setting
The night shot of the iPhone 6 is good enough, but the Zenfone 2 with Low-Light setting shows a brighter result. It’s noticeable that the image resolutions of the two are different. This is because the Low-Light setting of the Zenfone 2 uses 2 Megapixels (I only found out as of this writing that the screen ratio can be changed if I choose 3 Megapixels for Low-Light setting.)
SCOREBOARD – Asus Zenfone 2: 5 / iPhone 6: 4
IN THE EVENING TOO
Photo taken with an iPhone 6
Photo taken with an iPhone 6 in HDR mode.
Photo taken with an Asus Zenfone 2 with Low-Light Setting
You can see how dark the street is by looking at the photo taken by the iPhone 6 above. Now compare the photos I’ve taken with the iPhone 6 and the Zenfone 2. With the low-light setting turned on, the Zenfone 2 produced a brighter image. It may not be able to produce picture-perfect results, but for those who simply want to take photos in dark areas like group photos, the low-light setting of the Zenfone 2 will definitely work for them.
SCOREBOARD – Asus Zenfone 2: 6 / iPhone 6: 4
DR’S CONCLUSION
The camera shootout was a close contest but the Asus Zenfone 2 proved to be a better camera than the iPhone 6 in those scenarios I’ve covered. It also proved that the Zenfone 2 can be at par with the iPhone’s imaging capabilities, and at the same time shows the areas of improvements which I hope Asus will take into consideration.
I enjoyed reading the review, but I think the last half of it was ‘unintentionally’ biased. The shots were taken at low-light conditions which we all know that the Zenfone 2, well, focused on in terms of camera improvement (since Zenfone 5). This was noticable with your last scenario: iPhone 6 – Sharp, but dark, ZF 2 – Bright, but grainy.
Not biased at all if u ask me. It’s an improvent asus made and this article proves it was all worth it.
Hi! Nice comparison, i was thinking of buying a ZF 2 some time this month or next month, I keep on searching for good reviews this past weeks. Good thing I got a chance to view this article. Thanks! Keep up the good work! 🙂
Zenfone 2 maybe takes brighter images in the dark but for those trained eyes its a mess.
Its only for social media sharing IMHO 🙂
No one can defeat iphone devices.
for the daylight and greenery screnes, I think iphone 6 won. the zen phone 2 may have kept up with the image quality, but the iphone 6 manage to capture the background (sky) better unlike the one on the zen phone 2. But that’s just me.
Hi i loved your review. however i feel that yiu should take pictures of places with lots of greens and blues. this is were zf falls short on because of it’s yellowish pictures. however, i still feel that zf is a better choice budget wise. also, we have snapseed to correct minor zf can issues. 🙂
IMO iPhone actaully won in everything except those daylight shots which I think is a tie.
Church – IPhone 6 is sharper, accurate white balance while ZF2 is brighter at the cost of sharpness and image noise.
Dinner – iPhone 6 has the more accurate white balance, the plate is white not yellow. Of course the lighting in the area maybe yellowish.
Evening – this is an unfair comparison since there were no headlights & street light hitting the iPhone (except the traffic lights). Those lights made the ZF2 sharper since there is more light in the scene.
In the evening too – ZF2 shot is brighter at the cost of too much camera shake (blurred) and image noise. The iPhone is sharper. If for example you post it on instagram, you can just adjust exposure and it will look even better. It will have some noise but it’s not gonna be blurred since the initial photo was already sharp.
I find your IN THE EVENING TOO a little too biased.
Not because the shot has better white balance or light means its better. Its too grainy. The colors are unrealistic/too yellowish.
I both have ip6 and zf2 and so i know.
Btw, if you have focused properly the ip6 in the church, you could have got a better shot.