Camera test: iPhone 12 vs. 12 Pro vs. 11 Pro

12 November 2020


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  • iPhone is Great
  • i8x
  • 13 Nov 2020

Thank you the for detail reviews. Prove me right to not buy the iPhone 12 / Pro (or whatever).
Portrait mode needs fixing, especially when arm movement is involved. Zoom-in and can see distorted graphics, ghost effect in night mode... guess I made a right decision. My sister is happy with her new iPhone 12, but she doesn't care about any in-depth tech things. So, there is that...

    I have no ideea why night mode is a thing. when i shoot at night, I want my photos to look like its night, not like noon.

    night mode is only good when you are indors.

      • M
      • Mohammed
      • n1h
      • 13 Nov 2020

      Phil, 13 Nov 2020I have iPhone 11 Pro Max. I rarely use the telephoto and ul... more100% not worth it, i have 11pro max too and no 5g

        • R
        • Rey
        • wc6
        • 13 Nov 2020

        One of the good reviews so far.

          • M
          • MrHong
          • xZI
          • 13 Nov 2020

          Anonymous, 13 Nov 2020I also watched the same Mrwhosetheboss video.. Watch it ag... moreThen we'll wait for TechTablets and GsmArena to provide a review for it. What MrWhoseTheBoss is giving is just a preeliminary analysis. We know Apple messed up the bright light photography.

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            • Phil
            • XBA
            • 13 Nov 2020

            I have iPhone 11 Pro Max. I rarely use the telephoto and ultra wide camera and i do not have 5G in my country. The need to upgrade to iPhone 12 pro max doesn’t appeal to me. I’ll rather wait till next year to enjoy the 120 refresh rate

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              • AnonD-122899
              • QXN
              • 13 Nov 2020

              The low light shots for such an expensive device is just horrible in 2020.

                Anonymous, 13 Nov 2020Top 5 camera smartphones of 2020: 1) Huawei Mate 40 Pro ... morePersonally I would rank Note 20 Ultra in a 3rd place, not 4th.

                  Shui8, 13 Nov 2020I'm dissapointed a bit on his review in low light segm... moreI agree with you on Portrait mode comparison in MrWhoseTheBoss' video. On Huawei phones Aperture mode generally does better job than Portrait mode which tends to add saturation and softness to the image and is limited in terms of user-available settings, and there you can also zoom in 2x to match the field of view with other phones. The same goes for low light photo comparison.

                  He messed up bunch of scenes in other two devices as well so I wouldn't say his comparison was particularly useful. Heck, I believe he didn't even say which phone did the best job at capturing true-to-life colours in any of those test scenes. All he was saying is "Oh iPhone has a particular "look" to it whereas.." and some other vague stuffs.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • sUw
                    • 13 Nov 2020

                    AnonD-923722, 13 Nov 2020Gsmarena, please compare the cameras of : 1. Huawei Mate ... moreTop 5 camera smartphones of 2020:

                    1) Huawei Mate 40 Pro Plus.
                    2) Mi 10 ultra.
                    3) Oppo Find X2 Pro.
                    4) Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.
                    5) Samsung Galaxy S20 FE/ Vivo X50 Pro Plus/ OnePlus 8 pro/ MI 10 Pro.

                      • S
                      • Shui8
                      • KZK
                      • 13 Nov 2020

                      MrHong, 13 Nov 2020I watched MrWhoseTheBoss's camera comparison (although... moreI'm dissapointed a bit on his review in low light segment, because all are tested using Night Mode, with the Auto Mode leftout.

                      In reality, the Mate 40 in Auto that takes only in split second beat both iphone & Note 20 in low light, be it in Auto or even both using Night Mode. Somehow starting Mate 30, Night Mode seems worse than Auto. Huawei should relocate the Night Mode features in 'More' section, so that people will tend to use Auto more, which is way way better.

                      The same goes to their redundant 'Portrait' & 'Aperture' mode, whereas the 'Aperture' mode are way way better.

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • gq3
                        • 13 Nov 2020

                        MrHong, 13 Nov 2020I watched MrWhoseTheBoss's camera comparison (although... moreI also watched the same Mrwhosetheboss video..
                        Watch it again on big screen TV instead of your tiny phone, you'll notice that the 12 pro images are all soft and lack the necessary sharpness.

                        Only reason why you think they beat the note 20 ultra and Mate 40 is coz iPhone is doing night mode by default. Once you turn on night mode for the galaxy and the Huawei, you'll notice significant improvement in quality.

                        Pixel uses the same trick and all start praising the pixel not taking into account that some sort of auto hdr mode is always on by default for these devices. And these reviewers test in Auto mode which is why pixel used to come out on top despite sporting small sensor.

                          iOS-Never-Again, 13 Nov 2020Yes I agree 👍 with you 💯 % IPhone video is great (best vid... moreI just got an Mi 10 ultra for my wife few days back. Total head turner with its transparent design on the back. She is having a lot of people ask her about the phone. All her friends have an iPhone or a Galaxy, which all look boring to be frank.
                          She is in love with the Potrait lens. IMO every phone should have dedicated Potrait lens, unlike those small cheap quality lenses with 2x optical zoom.
                          The video through the dual telephoto cameras is superb even at night.
                          2x, 5x ,photos, videos, they are all great.
                          Hands down the best camera of 2020 since very few people apart from the folks in China want to invest money in buying Huawei flagships.

                            Android Authority, 13 Nov 2020Have you ever tested video from anything other than main se... moreYes I agree 👍 with you 💯 %
                            IPhone video is great (best video quality in 2019) but that title is only reserved for video from Main camera. Video from other sensors is straight up garbage. These Youtubers never talk about video out of other lens as they'll stop getting devices from Apple for reviews if they criticize that part.

                            The quality of main sensor is great for daytime but after upgrading to OP8 Pro, I realized how the night-time footage on iPhone 11 pro Max was full of noise.
                            The output from my OP8 pro is much cleaner and had way less noise in night time videos.
                            I mean one can only push a small sensor so much.

                            Daytime video quality of iPhone was on par with OP8 pro.
                            The Ultrawide video from iPhone was trash in low light. OP8 pro with big 1/2" sensor gives me great results from Ultrawide irrespective of lighting conditions.

                            Video through telephoto was also weak on iPhone. OP8 pro telephoto video isn't that great either but on phones like Galaxy S20 ultra and MI 10 ultra, it's supposed to be great in daytime as well as night time.

                              Anonymous, 12 Nov 2020Why this camera comparison? All have same sensor, similar i... moreIt takes times, times that are needed for the news and for the review and so on ;)

                              It's not *that* easy to make.

                              I think this comparison is very good because it highlight the quality on all model and allow to chose more carefully. At first I was interested by 12 Pro due to the 3 cameras and even the Pro Max for the better optic (But the size is too much in my taste) and yet, the 12 is better. Too bad that I prefer the matte finish on the back of the 12 Pro but don't like the glossy rim on it ... Well, nothing is perfect this year I guess :P

                                MrHong, 13 Nov 2020Android begs Apple for video and potrait quality. Only Sams... moreHave you ever tested video from anything other than main sensor of iPhone?
                                The video through zoom lens and Ultrawide are simply below the standards when compared to other phones this year.
                                Stop listening to online reviewers blindly.
                                The footage through Ultrawide comes out dark and is barely usable.
                                Even video from Main sensor is extremely noisy at night as the 1/2.55" sensor is too small and too old to compete with other big sensors on the market.

                                  MrHong, 13 Nov 2020I watched MrWhoseTheBoss's camera comparison (although... more"Daylight photography is still not up to par due to minimal processing"
                                  More like due to a smaller sensor. iPhone's post processing is definitely on a more aggressive side with tons of clarity boost, sharpening and noise reduction, but since it doesn't boost colour saturation as much as phones from other brands do it tends to give people an impression that photos look more "natural".

                                  I prefer 11 Pro's processing over 12 Pro's, so-called "Smart HDR 3" that Apple uses this year looks like a mess compared to the previous generation one (Especially if you look at the telephoto camera samples).

                                    AnonD-923722, 13 Nov 2020Gsmarena, please compare the cameras of : 1. Huawei Mate ... moreAs for 1): Even people living in the mainland China are struggling to get their hands on it, how the hell is GSMArena supposed to buy a review unit???

                                      • M
                                      • MrHong
                                      • xZI
                                      • 13 Nov 2020

                                      Anonymous, 12 Nov 2020IPhone users are kept to wait for years to get a particular... moreAndroid begs Apple for video and potrait quality. Only Samsung and Xiaomi can come close to Apple's standards, other brands can't.

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                                        • MrHong
                                        • xZI
                                        • 13 Nov 2020

                                        Anonymous, 12 Nov 2020If you have an iPhone 11 series phone, don't bother up... moreI watched MrWhoseTheBoss's camera comparison (although not my channel of choice). Disclaimer, I'm not a camera expert.

                                        The i12 Pro Max beats Note 20U and Mate 40P in low light photography. Daylight photography is still not up to par due to minimal processing. As usual, potraits and videography is still where iPhone excels.

                                        If you are upgrading from i11 to i12 Pro Max, it still makes sense. To regular i12 and i12 Pro? Useless. Besides the i12 series are plagued with software and hardware issues.