Italy J5 + 6.7-13 some more, and a comparison

Hi,
Here are some more pictures from my recent trip to Italy (Ravenna and Ferrare).
I never get tired of watching them.

Batistero degli Ariani (Ravenna)

Abazia Pomposa (North of Ravenna)

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Abazia Pomposa (North of Ravenna)

Castle Estense (Ferrara)

And here is a comparison between the J5 and the Pixel 7.
Frankly, if you don't use long FLs, the PIxel 7 is an amazing traveller's companion.

The J5:

The Pixel 7:

Some false colors (the windows), but globally, the Pixel did a good job. This is a jpeg image. I can't get better results with the dng.

Thank you for posting these images, André! The direct comparison between the J5 and the Pixel 7 is very revealing: the J5 image looks much more "organic" or "natural" (in lack of better words) than the Google interpretation of the same scene. The Pixel version has a lot more image processing applied, possibly more sharpening, HDR processing and some other computational stuff that tries to add detail into everything, even when there is none. I'm mostly referring to the green areas towards the bottom of the half-cupola. I don't like the HDR-style lighting of the Pixel and how the colours are off, especially the greens.

I have the Pixel 6 myself since last year; it's definitely the best phone camera I've seen so far, and often is "good enough" for either daylight snapshots or very dark scenes due to its nightview mode. But for anything that requires a bit more image quality, your comparison convinces me that the days of dedicated cameras and the V3/J5 are not over yet.

nice comparison and lovely shots

Thanks for sharing, comparing with Pixel 7, the images from J5 are really nice.

You're absolutely right, and summed it up perfectly. The Pixel does a fantastic job, but the images have a somewhat artificial look, compared with the J5.
I would really like to find a good raw converter for the dng files it produces, to see if I could get more natural results.
Some guys have played with Gcam, and got very pleasing results, but always with different brands, mainly Xiaomi and Samsung. I tried Gcam with the Pixel, cause you can change a lot of settings and the way the Pixel processes the images, but I could not get better results, because I don't know how to do to get more natural looking images.
Nevertheless, the Pixel remains impressive, especially in very low light.

Thank you!

Thanks. The Pixel 7 does a good job too. See my post above.
André

Just found your posts on this forum.
Very nice indeed Andre.
To me, photos are photos. I enjoy looking at the images, and don't concern too much on how and with what they were captured.
I like your comparison between J5 and pixel 7. Then again, if you don't posted them side by side, I would be hard pushed to tell if they were taken by a phone or by a camera.

Thank you. I agree about what you said about comparing the J5 and the Pixel. And this is even more true when I reduce my images to 2800 px. The difference then becomes almost invisible.
But like many of us, I feel no pleasure taking a photo with a smartphone except that it's so convenient...

Your comments reflect the feelings of many. Like you, I take no pleasure in taking photos with a phone, also, I cannot deny that my IPhone X produces some very acceptable travel and casual shots. So, to reality, I think it is inevitable that a few years from now there will be very few camera on show at my holiday and leisure destinations. I am talking about travel and leisure here, so I am not speaking for the birders and wildlife enthusiasts.
Regards
Gary.

Superb shots, André!

Thank you Tord. With such beautiful subjects, it's easy! 😃

That does help, doesn't it!

Beautiful pictures André and I do so much miss Italy - must be over 2 decades since we were in Siena and Firenze.

I like your travelogue posts a lot.

I prefer your J5 pics over the phone - it may be just the jpeg Nikon colours out of camera though but the Pixel looks very flat'/washed out in comparison, Looks like the J5 has a greater tonal range or is that just the exposure.

it will be interesting what you can do with the dngs'. I have been snapping away with an iphone most of the time. It functional but always seems to me to be very flat and a strange colour range - and it is not just the large DoF with that small sensor. Just doesn't look "natural" I suppose. Having said that, I picked up my V3 a day ago and thought I had got some really nice snaps but really messed up the settings and whited out everything. Phones make me lazy - forgot that cameras are not generically P&S.

Richard

Thanks Richard. Yes, I would really like DxOPL to be able to process the Pixel's dngs. I've asked the DxO team, but I doubt they would spend time on that.
That said, it seems that the dngs already have some AI processing "embedded". Maybe that's what explains the somewhat artificial look.