Night mode ON: Pixel 3 vs. Mate 20 Pro

23 November 2018
It's going to be a strictly after-dark clash between computational photography chief Google and night mode pioneer Huawei to try and establish who takes the better (handheld) low-light shots.

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Walter C. Dornez, 25 Nov 2018It's also one 12 mp sensor vs 3 sensors adding up to 68 mp ... more"software possibly surpasses even Apple in computational tasks". It does man! + don't forget, Google is using "Visual Core", a separate processing unit JUST for the camera.

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    • Anonymous
    • Xsk
    • 25 Nov 2018

    Anonymous, 25 Nov 2018I bet Samsung will copy this. And advertise as new, like... moreIf Samsung is a copy cat on night mode, who is the copy cat between google or huawei? see how dumb you sound right now?

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      • Anonymous
      • JpI
      • 25 Nov 2018

      I bet Samsung will copy this.
      And advertise as new, like always do

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        • Anonymous
        • JpI
        • 25 Nov 2018

        Walter C. Dornez, 25 Nov 2018It's also one 12 mp sensor vs 3 sensors adding up to 68 mp ... moreThe telephoto and ultra wide are not helping the main sensor.

          Shanti Dope, 25 Nov 2018Who told you so? We may not know, Google has only started ... moreIt's also one 12 mp sensor vs 3 sensors adding up to 68 mp total. I know that MP don't matter, but it is still shown that the 40 mp sensor does have its benefits in dark shots. Seriously, Google might be ass at hardware, but their software possibly surpasses even Apple in computational tasks

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            • Anonymous
            • q5G
            • 25 Nov 2018

            Darkness where *our* eyes, not 'are'

            Night mode on OG pixel is sometimes jaw dropping.

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              • photographer
              • 2Am
              • 25 Nov 2018

              they are both post process/produces unnatural images. if you want high quality images just buy dslr/s. phones now a days their prices is already equivalent to dslr/s prices

                How can people favour more to Mate 20 Pro, the images are insanely too oversharpening and overprocessed like ol' Samsung phones. S9, Note9 and Pixel 3 XL deserves higher rank on DxOMark than P20 Pro.

                  dougybuggy, 24 Nov 2018Sad that even GOOGLE can't make a better night mode than Hu... moreWho told you so?
                  We may not know, Google has only started developing their own Night Sight when Huawei tried to popularize it this year, while Huawei might have started developing it already since 2016 or so.

                  Then there's the hardware. The 1/1.7" sensor of the Mate 20 Pro is obviously going to pick up more light and detail significantly than the 1/2.55" sensor of the Pixel 3. The mere fact that the Night Sight feature achieves almost as good photos as Huawei's Night Mode on a substantially inferior hardware is enough to tell how much better the software from Google is.

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                    • Bane K.
                    • s3A
                    • 25 Nov 2018

                    Google pixel 3 is lying about shutter speed and ISO,haha nice one.148 ISO and much more noise then mate 20 with higher ISO.BS
                    Whatever Mate20 has too much sharpness in night photos,but its really capable,pixel 3 looks more pleasing to eyes but has less details.

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                      • Ubrus
                      • JKT
                      • 25 Nov 2018

                      SpiritWolf, 24 Nov 2018Both night modes suck. Difference is, that Pixel is helples... moreRealy!? Well can you tell us who make decent photos and that is not dslr or mirrorless?

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                        • Optimizer
                        • XS5
                        • 25 Nov 2018

                        Single Camera just freaking beat the shit out of 3ple eyed monster lol

                          m20user , 24 Nov 2018The Mate 20 Pro once again showing why it's the best Flagsh... moreSpecial Announcement: The flagship of the year is the Galaxy Note 9. Thank you.

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                            • Anonymous
                            • amY
                            • 24 Nov 2018

                            Mate 20 pro has better quality shots

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                              • Anonymous
                              • amY
                              • 24 Nov 2018

                              Huaweis night mode pics are more clear, sharper, snd crispier. The lighting in the pics looks way better on the Huawei

                                Both night modes suck. Difference is, that Pixel is helpless without it while Mate 20Pro can snap pretty acceptable photos without night mode.

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • nps
                                  • 24 Nov 2018

                                  My Vivo NEX is still better than these

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                                    • Anonymous
                                    • I5G
                                    • 24 Nov 2018

                                    p20 is way better

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                                      • r33fd
                                      • LaE
                                      • 24 Nov 2018

                                      So what I see in this article is:
                                      - Mate 20 auto mode is very good, shutter time is always low resulting in sharp focus and even in the darkest environment you can still get a usable picture, albeit with noise.
                                      - Night Mode should be left off unless in the absolute extreme darkness and only be used if the normal photo is too noisy. But then you might get blur so not a clear winner there.

                                      - Google Pixel auto mode isn't as good. Some photos will have a little more motion blur (look at the moving cars in the "sofia ring" picture) and exposure will sometimes be too low to clearly distinguish what is in the photo.
                                      - The good part is night sight is almost magical. It makes pictures look like somebody turned the light on and it's just amazing how much detail and little noise there is in them. Definitely worth using night sight when the sun goes down.

                                      The auto mode with tripod test seems kinda pointless. If you are the kind of person who carries a tripod with them you will shot RAW in manual mode, not rely on some general algorithm made for point and shot users.

                                      Overall Huawei clearly has the better camera gear on smartphones and is a good tool for people who want a little more than a point and shot.
                                      Google is for people who just want to take their phone out of their pocket and click the button, the least user input the better and I think they did a great job with that.

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                                        • S Yu
                                        • tLG
                                        • 24 Nov 2018

                                        Sembi, 24 Nov 2018The mate 20 pro kicked total ass in auto mode and that trip... moreJust in case you didn't notice, that advantage was gone by the next shot, outdoors, also on tripod. I believe the highlight area needs to reach a certain size for that to take effect. And without tripod the two are more or less equal in highlight retention, varying case by case, while the Pixel's shadows and midtones are nearly consistently better