One of the stand out features of the HTC One X is it’s camera. You have no doubt see the advert demonstrating its capabilities.
We handed it over to local photography enthusiasts from Castle Cameras to get their opinion on it.
Opinion 1:
I had the One X for a few days in which time I took it on two trips. The first was a day at Marwell Park organized by Canon to test their latest Pro camera and the other was an evening out at the Sony World Photo Awards. It was this April so the weather was not good on either occasion.
I took, and printed, a set of postcard photos using the phone. I took a similar set using my I-phone which is with me all the time and an old Canon Ixus which I am inclined to shove in my pocket, or bike bag, if suspect that I might want a half-decent photo and don’t want to lug around a big camera. Would the One X be good enough to make the Ixus redundant?
I have compiled a table showing how the cameras compared on each shot. The I-phone is clearly useless on a wet English winter’s day for anything other than a very basic record of where you were and what you saw. The One X is very much better, giving clear results somewhere on a par with an average 4mp digital camera of five or six years ago. My old 7mp Ixus was noticeably better, mainly in its handling of fine detail and colour. It also has two key extra features: a viewfinder and a zoom lens.
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I-phone |
One X |
Ixus |
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Marwell entrance |
Useless. Very blurry. No detail. |
Good result. Detail showing in the trees and on the information board. Tarmac slightly blue |
Pleasing colour. Good detail. Notice board not as clear as the One X |
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Rhinos |
Rhinos identifiable. Not much else. |
Rhinos well recorded. Good detail in the straw and background. |
The camera’s flash fired automatically to give a natural colour and good detail. The row of rakes agains the wall came out nicely. |
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Study Centre |
A little more light produced a half reasonable shot. The wire mesh in the fence is recorded. The wires on the fence in the water are not. You can see that there is lettering on the café wall but it in not legible. |
The One X was able to record the wire fence in the water and the lettering on the wall. There is detail in the grass and the blossom. |
A similar amount of fine detail as the One but a much more natural rendering of the stones, blossom and trees without the purple fringing of the One X. Using the zoom lens, I was able to read the words ‘Study Centre’ on a second print. |
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Westinster |
Black and murky. I chopped off the top of the palace roof and missed Big Ben completely. Proves I was there, but little more. |
Much better detail. Both of the posts in the river are clearly visible. |
The photo shows that I was not only there but that it was at 3.35. I have caught the Union Flag but missed the top of Big Ben from a reluctance to tip the camera up. |
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View from hotel window |
A bit of sunshine has transformed the result into something almost useful though still lacking in detail and contrast. |
A good result. No issues |
I used the zoom lens to cut out the roof below and make a more interesting picture. A bit of blue sky helps too. |
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Embankment |
Good enough as a memento of the day. You can just make out the flag and two posts on the top of the Palace of Westminster. No detail in the foliage. |
Much brighter and sharper. Good details in the trees and the ironwork. Perhaps a little too much with just a hint of over-sharpening in the architecture. Still can’t quite read the writing on the slab. |
The Jubilee Walkway is revealed. Both the foliage and stonework are more natural. Just a little fine detail in the branches burnt out against the sky. |
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Palace Tower |
No zoom. |
The digital zoom activated by accident so I gave it a go. The stonework is very pixelated and the foliage is a mess. |
The zoom lens produces a nicely-framed close up of the palace with no loss of detail |
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Ducks |
It rained again on the way back to Waterloo. |
I took a photo with the Ixus just for the pleasure of using it. |
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Opinion 2:
Positives – Screen and sensitivity of said screen are great, easy to use, high contrast and easy to see in anything but the brightest light.
When it comes to the camera, it gave decent enough results in good bright sunny conditions, though at no point out-performed the Pentax I had it alongside. The performance dropped came once we tested it at our very own Sar-Bear’s Birthday party.. In low light, while the screen is still easy to see and the controls easy to use, the quality of the pictures was lower than I have seen from a compact camera for a good few years. The images are very noisy even when using the built-in flash, which is a surprisingly good feature, and seems to do it’s job well. It’s a shame the lens and sensor don’t back it up.
We did enjoy using the special effects built into the camera, for which I guess you are less concerned about absolute image quality. There are quite a few fun features built into the camera, but with the likes of Instagram these are available on just about any phone now.
In summary it is a decent camera if you want to take silly drunken pictures (who doesn’t) and you want to subsequently embarrass your friends with them on Facebook, (or Twitter if you are cool) but a serious camera it is not. I can’t help but worry the “Photography Student” Nick Jojola might need to retake with a decent camera.
It is slim and looks good, but under-performs in the dark, I would happily use the tag line “the James Coombes of Phones”
Good in good light
“Nice” special effect modes.
OK in low light unless you actually want a quality photo – There is very little detail (though a beautiful couple).
So that is the opinion of 2 camera enthusiasts and whilst they both agree the HTC One X camera is capable the real issues is the importance you place on the photos you take. If sharing them on Facebook and the odd print out is what you want then the One X is a competent camera. However if photography is a passion, the One X is not going to replace your dedicated camera, but is perfect for those moments where you don’t have a dedicated camera to hand.
If you’d like to learn more about how to get better photos, email enquires@castlecameras.co.uk, check out the courses on our web site http://www.castlecameras.co.uk/education-training-materials/training-courses or just drop in to Castle Cameras at either Bournemouth or Salisbury.
About Clove
I love Castle Cameras- always helpful and very polite. However, would love to know which iPhone (not I-phone:)) was used for those pictures because they don’t seem to equate with what I take on mine.
One things I’ve noticed on these iphone vs One X side by side review pics is that the one x seems to have a much larger field of view, Which can be both good or bad thing.