The LG V60 and VELVET Review: A Classic & A Design Restart

Camera Recap

A few weeks ago, we’ve published an extensive article comparing this first half year’s main flagship devices cameras, including the LG V60. I would recommend reading that piece for a more extensive conclusion on the camera system of the V60.

Read Our Extensive Camera Evaluation For More Samples: 
Mobile Flagship Phone Camera Overview 2020 H1: Still Picture Battle

[ V60     ]
[ OnePlus 8     ] - [ OnePlus 8 Pro       ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ iPhone SE ] - [ Pixel 4 ]
[ Galaxy S20U(S) ] - [ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
 [ Mi 10 Pro ]
[ Mate 30 Pro ] - [ P40 Pro ]
[ Reno3 Pro 5G ] - [ Reno3 Pro ]
[ X-T30 ]

In general LG has been able to showcase excellent results with the V60 in daylight photography, many times achieving amongst the best results in terms of detail thanks to the 64MP sensor that produces 16MP images.

LG’s HDR is pleasant and the phone has generally good colour reproduction.

[ V60       ]
[ OnePlus 8       ]
[ OnePlus 8 Pro         ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ iPhone SE ] - [ P4 ]
[ Galaxy S20U(S) ]
[ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
[ Mi 10 Pro ]
[ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P40 Pro ]
[ Reno3 Pro 5G ]
[ Reno3 Pro ]
[ X-T30 ]

In terms of zooming, the lack of a telephoto module is compensated by the fact that the main camera is able to losslessly crop its 64MP images, although beyond 2-3x the results are not competitive with other phones with dedicated units.

The ultra-wide-angle module of the V60 is also good and amongst the top performers on the market.

[ V60        ]
[ OnePlus 8       ]
[ OnePlus 8 Pro         ]
[ iPhone 11 Pro ] - [ iPhone SE ] - [ Pixel 4 ]
[ Galaxy S20U(S) ]
[ Galaxy S20+(E) ]
[ Mi 10 Pro ]
[ Mate 30 Pro ]
[ P40 Pro ]
[ Reno3 Pro 5G ]
[ Reno3 Pro ] - [ X-T30 ]

Low-light photography on the LG V60 is something solely depends on the amount of light available. In medium to lowish light the phone is able to perform fairly well, but the lack of a proper computational photography and night mode means that in darker scenarios the phone falls apart. It’s by far the biggest weak-point of the device when it comes to its camera system.

Read Our Extensive Camera Evaluation For More Samples: 
Mobile Flagship Phone Camera Overview 2020 H1: Still Picture Battle

LG V60 vs LG Velvet

I haven’t had time to include the LG Velvet into a full camera comparison against the wider competition, however I did make some comparison shots against the V60 to be able to put the phone into context:

Overall, the Velvet’s camera results in terms of processing and composition is extremely similar to that of the V60, which is excellent news. Where the two phones differ is in terms of detail retention, and obviously the smaller and 48MP sensor of the Velvet here isn’t able to quite match the results of the V60.

There’s a slight dynamic range disadvantage for the Velvet, but nothing that you’d immediately pick up if you were to look at the images standalone. One more notable difference is that the colours on the Velvet are ever so slightly warmer, but again only noticeable in a few select scenarios when comparing the two phones against each other.

In general, the Velvet seems to have an excellent camera for a phone in this range, and I would say it easily beats some alternatives such as the mid-range OPPO phones, and has better processing than the OnePlus 8, with its biggest weakness again being low-light photography where the lack of a computational photography night mode is a big handicap.