DxOMark: reviews and ratings of smartphone cameras for those who love cool photos

Design and price aside, the camera is the determining factor when buying a smartphone. Manufacturers are aware of this and willingly manipulate consumer interest, endowing mobile cameras with nothing more than superpowers. At least that's how they look at presentations, where they talk about the latest modules from Sony, microscopic pixels, multi-lens optics, smart focus and much more.

And I must admit: it works with a bang, just like in those days when the overwhelming majority sincerely believed that 8 megapixels are head and shoulders above 5 megapixels. In general, the situation has not changed, even if advertising games continue under a new sauce. DxOMark will help you to understand them.

What is DxOMark

Surely you have repeatedly looked through articles in which iFixit engineers disassemble gadgets and give them a maintainability rating. But the task of the DxOMark team is to test a mobile phone camera and objectively evaluate it. Considering that DxOMark tests all significant devices, the overall rating gives a clear idea of which manufacturers in advertising are telling the truth and which are dissembling.

Follow to meet the leaders. Please note that the link leads to one of the sections of the site. Why not home? Testing mobile cameras is a secondary task for DxOMark. The main activity is related to the testing of professional photographic equipment: DSLRs and lenses.

This is where the history of DxOMark began in 2003. The mobile branch appeared only four years ago, in October 2012. By that time, French specialists already had a clear methodology for analyzing color, contrast, detail, sharpness, noise, shading, white balance and image distortion. All that remained was to finalize the protocols for mobile gadgets, which was done.

Filming is carried out in conditions that repeat the real ones. For example, technicians take more than 400 pictures and about 20 videos in daytime and evening lighting outdoors, as well as indoors with different luminous flux intensities. Thus, no camera can hide its flaws, be it errors of autofocus, flash, noise reduction or anything else.

At the end of each test, DxOMark specialists write a detailed analysis of the flights.

Smartphone camera ratings and reviews from DxOMark

The report consists of a narrative part, examples of images and points for each assessed parameter. If you are too lazy to read everything (there in English, by the way), at the end there are two tablets about the photo and video capabilities of the experimental camera. A concise indication of the pros and cons concludes the review.

In general, DxOMark's work deserves respect, but not everyone considers it to be praiseworthy. Let me explain why.

Can you trust DxOMark

Let me remind you that DxOMark is primarily interested in adult photography equipment. Moreover, the company makes money by finding flaws in it and offering software that automatically fixes all the flaws. So, the DxO ViewPoint program corrects lens distortion when shooting with wide-angle lenses. The utility reads the EXIF data of the snapshots and makes changes based on DxOMark's experience. Already at this stage, some see the problem: they say, Robin Hood is not so selfless.

Another example. DxO Analyzer is a comprehensive system that includes software, hardware, test reports, as well as online support and, attention, consulting services.

And here critics have universal suspicions that rich manufacturers buy "useless" software, but get insider information, and at the same time the competitive advantage and loyalty of DxOMark.

Of course, DxOMark's financial model is about software sales. However, it cannot be otherwise, because from somewhere you need to scoop money for a salary or the purchase of the same mobile phones. Will DxOMark risk its long standing reputation in doing so? Unlikely. Do you think differently?