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Nexus 6: Camera Shootout

Join us as we take a closer look at the Nexus 6's front and rear camera in this latest camera shootout.

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Published onNovember 18, 2014

Just last week I brought you a full review of Google’s latest, the Motorola Nexus 6. In the review I noted how massive of an improvement the camera was when compared to past Nexus smartphones, but we really only touched the surface. In the Nexus 6 camera shoot out video above everything was filmed using the front or back cameras on the Nexus 6, giving you an even better idea of how well the cameras work when it comes to video.

As for the image quality? While not the very best smartphone camera on the market, the Nexus 6 is a fairly solid performer. One of the things I really love about this phone’s camera is that its color is really nice, as you can see in this picture of a sunflower taken with the device’s rear shooter:

The Nexus 6 ups the saturation a little bit for a puncher photo, but not so much that it is truly inaccurate when compared to the original scene. Additionally, clarity with the Nexus 6 is very good, and the focal point that you have will possess a lot of detail.

One area where the Nexus 6 doesn’t perform as impressively is in low-light situations, though we really can’t say we are surprised. There’s a lot more noise and grain in these photos, though I have to admit that the Nexus 6 can at least get some okay shots in low-light, even if they aren’t quite perfect, which is more than some other smartphone cameras say.

Typically in low-light situations you might want to use the flash, but unfortunately because the flash is wrapped around the optics it really only illuminates and kind of floods the subject that’s closest to. As you can see in the photo below, the end result isn’t the greatest experience:

One way to compensate for this over-flooding is to use HDR+, which takes a bunch of different exposures which puts them together and will probably result in a better overall picture. Using HDR+ in low-light isn’t ideal, but nonetheless there are times when you might have to and it really does the job reasonably well (samples can be seen in the video above).

While we get into a bit more detail in the video above, this certainly gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect from the Nexus 6’s cameras. Of course a picture is truly worth a thousand words, so here’s a gallery showing off even more images from the Nexus 6:

What do you think, impressed by the Nexus 6’s camera or not? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.