Camera test: iPhone 12 Pro Max vs. Mate 40 Pro vs. Xperia 1 II vs. Galaxy Note20 Ultra
- iOS.Never.Again
- 7k9
- 28 Nov 2020
No Mi 10 ultra, No Mi 10 Pro, No OnePlus 8 pro, No Oppo Find X2 Pro, No Vivo X50 Pro Plus.
Why did you guys abandon Chinese flagships other than Huawei?
Not a fair comparison.
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- GSM Boy
- wYK
- 28 Nov 2020
AnonD-966113, 28 Nov 2020Why so pissed? Something would have happened. Is mi 10 re... moreI don't think you're getting the point on the disappointment of some comments, that they should have added mi 10 ultra. it's a shoot out of the world's top camera phones and you're excluding the number 2 on the list ???. Just to put it in simple terms, so you could understand, imagine if the NBA would rate the best players of the world and they forget to put Jordan, Lebron or Kobe on the list, Im pretty sure that it would NOT go well with the fans and the credibility of the NBA -
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- Nick Tagataka
- Xpf
- 28 Nov 2020
ithehappy, 28 Nov 2020Google's HDR algorithm remains the best still. Even wi... moreI also think that Google's image stacking algorithms are easily one of the best among all smartphone companies (especially when it comes to motion compensation), but the disadvantage of smaller sensors that they use on their phones is still readily visible in many photos, especially in scenes where strong backlight is involved. And I use telephoto lens A LOT so personally I disagree with your second statement.
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- ithehappy
- PZi
- 28 Nov 2020
Nick Tagataka, 28 Nov 2020I mean Pixel 5 would do a decent job in most scenes, but ob... moreGoogle's HDR algorithm remains the best still. Even with a small and three year old sensor the 4a / 5 are able to pull off shots on par or sometimes better than a iP12PM. The end result is all that matters. It's the main camera which people mainly use, telephoto and wide are rarely used.
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- GSM Boy
- wYK
- 28 Nov 2020
neoxcool, 28 Nov 2020These phones would have been no match for MI 10 Ultra in th... moreWell , its simple they don't want people to know that theirs a phone out there that is less than 400- 500 USD that could outperform these so-called "premium flagship". Or they just wanted to compare those phones that are commercially available "globally". But for the sake of comparison, yes they should have included the number 2 best camera phone according to DXO mark.
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- Nick Tagataka
- Xpf
- 28 Nov 2020
TheLastOracle, 28 Nov 2020Interestingly the Galaxy lacks a good mid zoom level, and s... moreIt would been even better if Samsung would straight up ditch the current sensor and use a derivative of their Tetracell 50MP GN1, but the rumours suggest that they will stick to the 108MP sensor so we can't expect that to happen, unfortunately.
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- Lukemo
- thp
- 28 Nov 2020
Nick Tagataka, 28 Nov 2020I mean Pixel 5 would do a decent job in most scenes, but ob... moreThats why they need to include as well as the pixel 4 XL with the telephoto zoom until google release a flagship pixel with both ultra wide and zoom.
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- Lukemo
- thp
- 28 Nov 2020
YUKI93, 28 Nov 2020I'm not gonna lie here, my pick would definitely be th... moreSo where does that leave the pixel 5?
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- TheLastOracle
- vIY
- 28 Nov 2020
Interestingly the Galaxy lacks a good mid zoom level, and sharper lens (like the Xperia and iPhone) on the ultra wide. Both of which can be easily addressed. the mid zoom is something the S21 Ultra will have. And hopefully the new 108MP sensor has even better processing and a much sharper lens. 2 things that prevent the full resolution photos from being better in dynamic range, and the Nonacell ones from having better dynamic range, better image noise and generally better detail that all other 12MP photos around.
- YUKI93
- KZK
- 28 Nov 2020
I'm not gonna lie here, my pick would definitely be the Sony. Despite some apparent noise, the detail and colour are definitely true-to-life. It's not Nokia/Microsoft Lumia PureView-level natural detail and colour, but it's nearly there. Really not happy with the iPhone's over-the-top oversharpening mess. The Huawei looks too soft to my eyes. Samsung's lowlight shot is a real disappointment for me.
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- Nick Tagataka
- Xpf
- 28 Nov 2020
ithehappy, 28 Nov 2020It's not even a photo shootout without a Pixel, cannot be.I mean Pixel 5 would do a decent job in most scenes, but obviously fall behind in zoom and suffer from more noise due to a small sensor size.
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- Nick Tagataka
- Xpf
- 28 Nov 2020
Anonymous, 28 Nov 2020Direct to the point.
- Despite the biggest camera, in d... more1). I disagree.
2). You're wrong. Xperia 1 II's stock camera indeed activates auto HDR in the stock camera app, but does so far less frequently than Note or Mate.
3). I partially disagree. Samsung did tone down the saturation quite a bit on Note 20 Ultra.
4). I agree.
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- Nick Tagataka
- Xpf
- 28 Nov 2020
Warning: Incoming massive wall of texts! Scroll past it if you don't have time to read it.
It definitely seems that Samsung upped their game with Note 20 Ultra and the sample photos definitely show - noticeably less oversharpening and better texture retention compared to S20 Ultra in general, and decent (though not the best among these 4) trade off between noise and details at night. UWA camera is very wide which is nice, but the telephoto camera especially at night needs some work. The intermediate zoom range in still photo is a mess and colours are still a bit oversaturated in some photos, but in video it's easily the most consistent & versatile performer that should be the primary choice for anyone who wants an Android phone with great video recording capability. Selfie camera isn't too bad either; overall extremely solid showing from Samsung.
iPhone 12 Pro Max is really good I guess, but I'm not a huge fan of how images are processed this year. So called Smart HDR 3 is a regression from 11 Pro's processing, and while it's definitely harder to see it in this comparison, an excessive clarity boost and noise reduction is really hurting the fine textures during the day. At night it's a great performer, though personally I find its tendency to blow out highlights for the sake of brightening up the shadows somewhat questionable. Telephoto is great, but UWA camera is usually a mush and I choose the one on Note over this any day.
In video recording iPhone really excels, keeping pace with Note in terms of dynamic range, detail & noise and doing very well in stabilisation as well. As a whole, it's still a good camera, but I don't support Apple's decision to go with more "instagram-friendly" exposure and colour tuning.
Mate 40 Pro has a clear borderline between the area it excels and it falls short. Excellent textures (and this is after Huawei's stupid crop + upscaling has been applied) as well as the best noise reduction in still photo, but strong contrast boost and oversharpening in video recording. The most accurate rendition of bright red at night, but yellow tones look a bit too greenish giving an excessively cold whiter balance in some scenes. The highest quality UWA camera with the least ultra-wide field of view. The best telephoto camera in still but falls behind Note in video. A largest, the most light sensitive main sensor out of the bunch yet also the only one that does not have OIS for it, which hurts the video stabilisation and, to a lesser extent, low light performance.
Huawei did so many thing right yet messed up a lot of stuffs at the same time in this regular "Pro" model. Mate 40 Pro+ would've been far better suited for this comparison, but as we all know.. awful lack of availability. Hopefully P50 series won't be facing a shortage in components like Mate 40 series is.
I don't really think Xperia 1 II excels in any one category: at least in this comparison there's always a device that does a certain job better than this phone does, but its outputs are still solid and, most of the time, predictable. It has some glaring shortcomings though, such as occasional serious underexposure in UWA, weak corner sharpness, left side of the frame consistently being very soft in low light etc. From the looks of it, the phone also has a tendency to add red cast in yellow tones as well (like yellow autumn leaves turning red in Xperia's samples only). The samples really speak of how this phone was not made for general snap-and-go smartphone photography, and how Sony is not deeply interested in the concept of computational imaging like other companies do.
Video recording performance is good, but it's sad to see that GSMArena decided to test all phones at 4K30 solely because this phone was somehow incapable of recording videos at higher settings. Though it's also the one with the least effective stabilisation, and that explains why they decided to omit the 4K60 entirely from the stock camera app. It's a bit ironic considering Xperia used to be known for its great SteadyShot EIS back in 2015-2017.
Oh, and it's time for them to upgrade a selfie camera - it kinda sucks.
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- neoxcool
- syN
- 28 Nov 2020
These phones would have been no match for MI 10 Ultra in the camera department. Review folks should have included this in place of Xperia ...
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- Proshooter
- vu7
- 28 Nov 2020
Anonymous, 28 Nov 2020You take a photo. Then 10s later you take another. Th... moreIt could be circumstantial, which is why it is always better to go with hardware centred technologies than software as they are more consistent.
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- Proshooter
- vu7
- 28 Nov 2020
Mate 40 pro won this quite clearly. The surprise for me was the Samsung which was better than I thought. The iPhone and Xperia had too many irregularities and strange colouring (particularly the iPhone) to be rated as best camera smartphones, but for the casual user who don't pixel peek and only post on Facebook, they are good enough.
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- AnonD-966113
- Dk{
- 28 Nov 2020
mars3486, 28 Nov 2020If there is no Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra then where is Xiaomi Mi 1... moreWhy so pissed? Something would have happened.
Is mi 10 representing u?
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- Oscar Andrix
- X%w
- 28 Nov 2020
mars3486, 28 Nov 2020If there is no Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra then where is Xiaomi Mi 1... moreExactly!!!