Galaxy S9 vs. Xperia XZ2 shootout

02 April 2018
Samsung has the Plus, Sony has the Compact, but the two companies see the base size differently. It's these regular versions that we'll now be taking a closer look at - this is the Galaxy S9 versus Xperia XZ2 camera comparison.

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Panino Manino, 04 Apr 2018I don't use those social networks, so I don't care, but I u... moreTrue.
Manual mode capabilities have never been tested. It would have to be quite thorough and long articles tho.
And I have yet to see an Xperia tested in compare to other 12mpx cameras, by its 12mpx auto mode (present in MotionEye). Nobody did that, ever.
And by my experience, lower 8 mpx automode processing indeed reduces noise visible on maxmpx >200% pixelpeep (to me irrelevant tho, as I never use more than 100% crop in any of my photo editing).

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    • Nick
    • vmF
    • 04 Apr 2018

    Panino Manino, 04 Apr 2018I don't use those social networks, so I don't care, but I u... moreI'm pretty sure Sony removed the option for 8MP downsampling mode and replaced it with 12MP option which is basically a downscaled 19MP(= no difference in quality). Also Sony phones never supported capturing photos in RAW format in the past, so I don't think GSMArena could've done the test in your way when comparing those two, which is very unfortunate...

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      • Nick
      • vmF
      • 04 Apr 2018

      Panino Manino, 04 Apr 2018Like others have pointed, the S9 is compromised by the high... moreThat's most likely because the camera on XZ2 doesn't turn down the strength of sharpening in lower ISO like it does for noise reduction. Noise reduction not only smudges details but artifacts as well, so when shooting in low sensitivity, excessive amount of sharpening noises are revealed, but when it is using higher ISO where it utilises much more aggressive noise reduction, artifacts are wiped away along with luminance noise and details and the end result is actually significantly cleaner looking photos.
      Sony really should improve the software algorithms for camera next year, and adopt OIS and faster aperture lens for better handheld nighttime photography.
      The thing is that, Sony is trying too hard to protect their other business department - If flagship Xperia had decent cameras, they would cannibalise Sony's own compact cameras so they want to make sure that their smartphone business would not affect the sales of cameras in any way. That's why they are intentionally using inferior parts for cameras, such as dim lens and a main camera module with no OIS built-in. It's a business strategy, I know, but it is really sad to see that by doing that they are making a fool of their own customers, including those defending XZ2's camera quality.

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        • Anonymous
        • Av{
        • 04 Apr 2018

        lek, 04 Apr 2018but Sony's noise is terrible, way too much. aggresive sharp... moreLol. were you here long time ago ?
        https://www.gsmarena.com/reviewcomm-1330p10.php

          Anonymous, 04 Apr 2018Samsung won this guys. They know full well who's the main t... moreI don't use those social networks, so I don't care, but I understand the argument about sharing resized photos. Reducing the size makes wonders to some images and it works both ways here. If you say that S9 have too much noise reduction, don't matter, won't make a difference on Facebook and Instagram. If you say that Xperia have more texture, don't matter, won't make a difference either.

          That being said, I'm really tired of these incomplete tests, those that only uses auto to make the comparison "fair".
          I wanted to see the manual controls be more explored, examples to how you can process RAW fast on the devices, and in this case comparisons between high res mode and superior auto on XZ2. Maybe using 8mpx some of those artifacts are cleaned.

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            • brandstifter
            • vNs
            • 04 Apr 2018

            I'm impressed. I didn't expect Sony's camera to be that good. Was going to buy it anyway.

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              • lek
              • PA7
              • 04 Apr 2018

              Shanti Dope, 04 Apr 2018Not just that it has more details. The S9+ also got some no... morebut Sony's noise is terrible, way too much. aggresive sharpening make the noise getting detailed more (in this case, Sony's image processing), so how can you say sharpened pic is more natural??

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                • lek
                • PA7
                • 04 Apr 2018

                HuLk, 03 Apr 2018Hahahaha.........are you trying to tell yourself, Samy Fanb... moreso you need to read the conclusion again carefully.
                Sony's low light only produced better image quality if you use a tripod. bold the 'SUPPORT IT PROPERLY' sentence in that conclusion. in a practical way, Samsung did better on that scene.
                daylight scene, I prefer Samsung's (Sony's dynamic range sucks), but if you really into that conclusion, it's a TIE, bold the 'THE SUPER-CLEAN GALAXY VERSUS THE NOISIER BUT MORE DETAILED XPERIA' sentence.
                slow-mo vid, CLEARLY Samsung.
                4K vid, a TIE based on that conclusion.
                Btw, I'm a Nokia Banana user. LOL

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                  • Anonymous
                  • vV5
                  • 04 Apr 2018

                  Anonymous, 04 Apr 2018The Xperia fans just proceeded to do what you said they sho... more*wasting their time

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                    • Anonymous
                    • vV5
                    • 04 Apr 2018

                    Panino Manino, 03 Apr 2018Good point, but there's no arguing with these Xperia fans. ... moreThe Xperia fans just proceeded to do what you said they should not be doing. They need to chill and stop being so provocative and argumentative. As if they have been successful in convincing the rest of Sony's merits. Just waiting their time and forum space. Geez...

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                      • Anonymous
                      • 6TT
                      • 04 Apr 2018

                      Samsung won this guys. They know full well who's the main target audience for their phones's camera.

                      People who takes selfie, post to fb/instagram/twitter. People who's hand are shaky and needs OIS assistance. People who care more about the main subject then the tiny details.

                      All of these are mainly done on the software end.. Samsung examine what people DO with their camera and tweak the pictures for those purpose. Sony try to keep as actual as possible.. thats their weakness.

                      People who go for Sony's edge.. will ultimately prefer a dedicated camera. Or their camera line alpha or even just get a go pro.

                        Shanti Dope, 04 Apr 2018https://drive.google.com/file/d/10vu0Lch0hyaf1b4DxHA3h_zr61... moreLike others have pointed, the S9 is compromised by the high ISO.
                        S9 ISO 1250 - https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/galaxy-s9-vs-xperia-xz2/camera/gsmarena_316.jpg
                        Image is clear but "bad", it lost too much details. The high ISO "eat" some of the details and the rest gets cleaned but the noise reduction.

                        S9 ISO 640 - https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/galaxy-s9-vs-xperia-xz2/camera/gsmarena_312.jpg
                        Now with half the ISO it gets a little better. Still to much noise reduction, but in my opinion is that Samsung didn't made the best decisions on auto. ISO could be lower, after all you already have that 1/1.5 aperture and OIS, there's no need to try so hard. And that aperture makes image softer, especially the corners.

                        XZ2 ISO 800 - https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/galaxy-s9-vs-xperia-xz2/camera/gsmarena_212.jpg
                        Sony really improved a lot, this one is excellent with it's high ISO and moderate shutter time. It's a good balance of ISO and shutter speed.

                        XZ2 ISO 160 - https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/galaxy-s9-vs-xperia-xz2/camera/gsmarena_216.jpg
                        That's what I don't understand. Why this photo with much lower ISO looks dirtier than the last one? Maybe because the ISO is so low the phone don't see the necessity to apply noise reduction, but it let's the artifacts runs wild, those you can see at shadow areas on daylight photos. Notice how you can see "blobs" forming around people of the streets and some other areas.

                        If you want to consider the best case scenarios for the XZ2 don't forget to also to think about the best cases for the S9.

                        S9 ISO 320 - https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/samsung-galaxy-s9/camera/gsmarena_021.jpg
                        I've been thinking about this and it seems that S9 camera have "moods", I feel that certain combinations of ISO and shutter speed activates some extra noise reduction, because in some cases there's clearly a lot less reduction acting.

                        I'm not exactly "arguing", just sharing my cents.

                          So no one's gonna talk about portrait mode on the rear?
                          Better background separation and edge detection, better detail preservation, better colors, the XZ2 is another proof of not needing an extra camera for portrait shots.

                          If the phones are talking, they'd be like:
                          Google Pixel 2 XL: Son, I'm proud of you
                          Sony Xperia XZ2: Thanks, dad! Let's prove to others that single camera is more than enough for great photos!

                            Anonymous, 03 Apr 2018do you really think every movie is made for 1:30h ? a sing... moreExcept we won't be using smartphone cameras for filming Hollywood Movies yet.
                            If so, then we have the XZ2 that can record 4K HDR videos with cinematic 24fps.

                              Shootergod, 03 Apr 2018May be because of personal preference I guess, the noise is... morehttps://drive.google.com/file/d/10vu0Lch0hyaf1b4DxHA3h_zr61TcCETS/view

                              https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uIJU3H-_A0IwFhEkzb3dTvNz5h1HBia2/view

                              Is that blur on the XZ2? Come to tell me with your blind eyes.

                                melodika, 03 Apr 2018I made this comparison with the photos of the first part of... moreNot just that it has more details. The S9+ also got some noise, which proves other people's point to be invalid, that Samsung phones have no noise in low light, since we're not blind and we can clearly see it.

                                If you're not joking that this was the XZ2 without a tripod, then I'm seriously impressed. More noise, okay. However, we get more details, too.
                                And it looks far more natural of an image, too.
                                Only Samsung fans hate the noise, while most of them clearly don't have an idea about photography.
                                Even high end DSLRs get very noisy in low light, so what's to hate about Sony's noisy images?

                                  Anonymous, 03 Apr 2018Now another thing. Why is it in the lowlight portion the S9... moreBoth devices have been optimized for more noise to preserve more detail.
                                  The S9+ is noisier than the S7 Edge, but obliterates it in the amount of details resolved. It wil capture something clearly that your S7 Edge would otherwise capture as color painting without enough texture.

                                    Anonymous, 03 Apr 2018No. Sony has 7mp more and used more aggressive sharpeningIt has more noise, but no sharpening.
                                    Now that they're using the same multi-frame stacking method, we can see how much more details the Motion Eye™ camera benefits from it.

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                                      • Anonymous
                                      • LQv
                                      • 04 Apr 2018

                                      Sonyuser85, 03 Apr 2018Well: 1. A sensor it's about these: 7.87 mm (1/2.3") 1.08 ... moreHi...

                                      Imx300 and imx220 used by Z series have 7.87 mm diagonal. The imx400 is a bit smaller, 7.73mm.


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                                        • ZzzZz
                                        • 0Ww
                                        • 04 Apr 2018

                                        This thread has become a pulse to see who is more stubborn with their arguments and has the last word without any technical evidence more than personal appreciation of what you see or believe and four badly spreaded numbers. Congratulations for making it unbearable to read and soporific.