Motorola, still not very present in a French market largely dominated by Samsung, Apple, Xiaomi or Oppo, is jostling to climb to the front of the stage. For the start of the school year, the Lenovo brand is betting on an Edge 30 series carried by an Edge 30 Ultra whose main asset, on paper at least, is its main photo sensor. The smartphone is indeed equipped with a main photo sensor of 200 megapixels. A first on the market, which earned him an invitation to our photo lab.
A sensor produced by Samsung
The Motorola Edge 30 Ultra sensor is none other than Samsung’s Isocell HP1, made official last year. The pixels measure 0.64 µm, the sensor having a diagonal of 1/1.22”; combined by 16 in the context of pixel-binning, they display a total area of 2.56 µm. Enough to collect a greater quantity of light and therefore of information suitable for delivering a particularly detailed image.
This sensor is associated with a stabilized wide-angle lens with an aperture of f / 1.9, identical to that of the main module of a Pixel 6 Pro. It should be noted that the current trend is for ever larger apertures (f/1.5 on the Apple iPhone 14, for example), often when the sensors display a more limited definition.
Facing the Google Pixel 6 Pro
Google’s algorithms always ahead
By default, the Edge 30 Ultra therefore delivers 12.5 megapixel images, on par with one of the tenors of mobile telephony, the Google Pixel 6 Pro. The Google smartphone, remember, does not capture full definition images – 50 Mpx in its case – and therefore only uses pixel-binning for its 12.5 Mpx shots. We notice a softer treatment with the Edge 30 Ultra in the center of the image. The smartphone manages to offer a level of detail almost as high as the Google model, and the accentuation, certainly less natural, offers great readability to the shots.
The difference is more noticeable at the periphery of the image, probably due to better optics or more efficient processing. The black and white pattern or the Sigma sensor visible at the top left of our scene clearly benefit from the brand’s algorithms. The shots of the Motorola smartphone show a more marked noise.
Shame about night mode
At night, the Edge 30 Ultra does not rise to the level of the Pixel 6 Pro. Despite a pixel-binning supposed to aggregate four times more information than that of Google, the Motorola terminal delivers an image that is too accentuated and lacks accuracy. The finer details disappear in the battle: the result is therefore disappointing.
A 200 megapixel Ultra-res mode
The 200 megapixel mode, available in the smartphone options (Camera > More > Ultra-res), makes it possible to exploit each sub-pixel of the sensor individually. This mode generates images of at least 40 MB, against around 5 MB for images using pixel-binning. In addition to the inevitable congestion of the smartphone’s internal storage space that it generates, this mode requires a somewhat long capture and processing time (about two seconds), and ignores the “night vision” mode. ” available the rest of the time.
A better quality of day…
The fact remains that, during the day at least, the image quality increases markedly. The sharpness is particularly satisfactory, and the examination of the entirety of our pattern allows to appreciate the precision of the rendering. Patterns with colored dots or black and white lines are particularly well rendered, the smartphone managing to offer more precision than the vast majority of its competitors.
This other cropping allows you to better appreciate the level of detail obtained by switching from 12.5 megapixel mode to 200 Mpx mode:
… but a mode to avoid at night
At night, on the other hand, the extreme increase in sensitivity (ISO 12,672) of the smartphone results in a very present noise. The details are completely smoothed out and the image becomes difficult to use. We note that between the 200 Mpx and 12.5 Mpx modes, the difference in sharpness is imperceptible… while the absence of pixel-binning results in a less well exposed image. Note also that the areas located at the extreme periphery of the image are a little blurry.
Below, we have isolated portions of the image of equivalent size to those isolated above on our Pixel 6 Pro: in daytime, the rendering is eloquent, as evidenced by the inscriptions on the cover of the book. We nevertheless perceive that in the absence of software processing, the black and white pattern does not offer really accurate colorimetry.
Not so clear a difference
How about comparing the 200-megapixel mode to the results provided by the Pixel 6 Pro, which doesn’t offer a 50-megapixel mode? The match is quite tight, each winning on specific elements. Forget low-light conditions, in which the Edge 30 Ultra is far from shining.
By day, on the other hand, we notice that the details are richer in certain areas, such as the colored pieces of fabric. The book cover shows a similar level of detail, but the Pixel 6’s enhanced contrasts make them pop more to the eye. The colorimetry is also a little softer and more realistic with the Edge 30 Ultra.
But the strength of Google’s software processing is evident elsewhere: noise disappears and, on elements that the algorithms detect should be smooth, solid colors are sharp. Take a look at the photo sensor.
In conclusion
In short, it takes a lot of pixels for the Motorola smartphone to provide an alternative to the best photophones on the market, and this while the performance in low light clearly leaves something to be desired. But one question remains unanswered: what uses is really intended for a 200 megapixel mode whose shots weigh heavily on the memory of the smartphone? Apart from a few cases of cropping or large format prints, it seems to us to be ill-suited to everyday life, where the objective is often to capture the moment on the fly and as efficiently as possible.