So right now I'm going to compare the two best phone
cameras on the planet. The Samsung Galaxy s21 Ultra and the iPhone 12 Pro Max. So
welcome to something a little different, we've got 12 categories and we'll compere both on all of them, and then we're
gonna crown one winner. I feel like I need to start with the Samsung's camera app versus Apples.
- Features
While every
generation Apple is just constantly thinking about how do we keep this simple Samsung
is just cramming features into every corner like portrait mode, video, super steady recording, possibly the best pro video mode out there, multiple cameras shooting at the same time, 8k video, and the second version of their single take feature, which means that I can
just tap the shutter once and get from that every type of photo and video in one
go. What does the iPhone have: portrait mode, slo-mo but like so does the Samsung, you can't
ignore that disparity I think that just having this many options give Samsung a
slightly higher starting point. And when I say options there's much more to it
than just surface-level software gimmicks like zoom.
- Zoom
You'll
be pleased to know that if for some reason you did want to do 100 times zoom on the
Samsung you can. Now, this is expected because Apple does not care
about zoom, in fact, the only context Apple ever talks about zoom cameras in is just how they can be used to take great portrait shots. So as far as zoom distance
is concerned whether it's photo whether it's video, it's not even close. And that's
not to say that the iPhone is bad at zooming I would actually put this phone in
the definitely adequate ballpark. It's just that Samsung's devoted a lot of
resources into making their phone special at it. But I will say it's ironic that a phone so specialized on zoom still can't seamlessly transition
between lenses without some sort of little lag like the iPhones have been doing
for years. Now it's not like a huge deal but it just loses a little bit of that perceived
polish.
- Macro-Camera
But the cool features continue, they've
made the ultrawide camera double as a close-up macro camera. You just approach a
subject and it will automatically switch. It's rare that you see disparities this massive when you're comparing two super
high-end phones. I'm not saying that I think macro shots are anywhere near as important
as shots from the main camera, it's not like I've ever really had a moment using
the iPhone 12 pro max where I thought do you know what I really want to do, I
want to take a close-up shot of the texture of this table but I can't, stupid
iPhone. But what I am saying is that sometimes it takes seeing how something could
be done to realize how it should be done. And now having used Samsung's macro
camera and seen shots like this going back to the iPhone and a lot of other phones something
feels wrong. I just kept moving further and further back from the subject thinking surely it was going to focus now it wasn't this bad, was it?
- Portrait Mode
I do have to say though even
with all its lenses and tech and software magic, there is one thing that Samsung
has not nailed on this phone, portrait mode. I took portrait after portrait after
portrait and I just couldn't escape the same feeling that I had when I was using
the S20 ultra last year that this looks fake. And on one hand, it is fake, it's a
phone what do I expect but on the other hand, the iPhone could make you think
otherwise. You could hand someone a portrait mode photo taken on an iPhone and
possibly convince them that it was in fact taken on a $1500 DSLR. Samsung has done
portrait mode just fine before like the 2019 base galaxy s10, a
phone that you can now get for like four hundred dollars. The important thing to remember is that photos of people and I
would almost argue photos in general look much more natural when taken on zoom
cameras and so I think at least ninety percent of the problem comes from the fact
that since the s20 ultra, Samsung has put such high magnification zoom cameras on
their phones that they've disabled using those zoom cameras to take portraits. But
given that this new phone has not just a crazy 10 times but also a pretty normal
three times optical zoom. I think it would work you just can't try it so this is
why the iPhone's portraits always look a little bit more zoomed in than the
Samsung's. The iPhone is using its dedicated 2.5 zoom lenses and the Samsung is
just using its normal main camera and then for some reason decides to digitally
zoom in two times. I guess just to try and make it look similar but that's going
to result in even worse quality.
- Selfies
And nothing makes it clearer that this is the
problem than the fact that when you take portrait mode on the front cameras, where
both phones use a pretty similar type of lens they look about the same. There are some shots I would hand to the iPhone there are some I would hand to the Samsung but
there aren't enough of a cohesive pattern for me to say this one takes better
shots than this one and that actually carries through to normal selfies. As well it's
more of a question really of do you prefer the iPhone's flatter look or do you
want something that's a bit contrasty.
- Selfie Video
It's a very similar
situation with video too. Both phones can record 4k on the front which is fantastic and
the biggest visual difference is just that Samsung is punchier I think. On a
technical level, the iPhone's footage is actually slightly better. It seems to
be losing a little bit less detail in the really dark areas and the stabilization
does seem a little bit smoother. But at the same time, I did ask four other people
what they thought about it and three of them picked the Samsung. As far as I'm concerned audio is extremely good on
both of these and it shouldn't be a reason to pick one over the other.
- Night Mode
But now as
we start to see some proper differences I spent a lot of my time with this phone taking
night mode photos because for me at least that's a big category. Hence why we're
representing it with a bigger-sized dot but Apple still wins with the iPhone 12 pro
max. Apple jumped from pretty good at night mode like kind of middle of the line, for top-tier flagships to right at the very top and even with this s21 ultra I
don't think Samsung's topped its photos. Do have a sort of a grunginess, grittiness
that you might actually quite like but without fail just the fundamentals of the
night mode shot-like texture, like the detail, the iPhone is winning. It's almost like
Samsung's become ultra-aggressive all of a sudden with its noise reduction. They're somehow afraid of there being even a single speck of grain in their shot but
the result of that is it's just a little bit softer. I am pixel beeping, yes but
you kind of have to when you've got two phones that are just this consistently
high-end. I will give to Samsung that its nighttime zoom shots usually look
better. It's nighttime ultrawide shots are surprisingly crispy given the lack of light, and its
general ability to brighten is also a little bit greater. But I do just want to
stress that I don't think the quality of a night mode photo should be about how
much like daytime it can make things look. It really should be about embracing night
and making the night look good and the iPhone does a better job of that. It
handles night mode in a way that doesn't make you feel like you're using some sort
of special mode and so the photos that come out, as a result, don't feel
needlessly edited. Not to mention that night time portraits look better on iPhone
just because I guess portrait mode in general is better on iPhone. The color tones manages to keep them more realistic even as the lighting starts to get pretty
abstract and sometimes even the zooms look better. Just thanks to an impressive resistance
to blurring and softening so this one's going to the iPhone.
- Video
And so is video the
entire category. iPhone you can't even
tell that the situation is not well lit. You know the most interesting part of this
though is the fact that this disparity has nothing to do with the cameras themselves
like if both of these phones cameras were being pushed to the absolute maximum samsung
would crush apple at every photo, every video. It's just because apple has just
about every major component custom made for their iPhone they can create these
really streamlined algorithms to process the feed from the camera. It's a bit like
having a really well oiled, really efficient four-cylinder car engine versus
having just an incredibly tanky eight-cylinder. One I do think though that some
part of this is just the fact that the s21 ultra is a new phone and it's also the
first time ever that samsung is using this image sensor like it does seem unusually
grainy so i would expect it to get better.
- Stabilization
And I've got to give a big thumbs up to
the stabilization on this phone. If you record with both phones at 4k resolution
and you just try pacing it downwards you'll find the samsung is slightly ahead. You see the iphone's lens kind of struggles with the motion but the real
difference comes when you turn on super steady mode. It caps the resolution
at 1080p which in an age where we're recording 4k and 8k video is not good enough, but this is just to say that if you did want an extreme level of stabilization this
can do it.
- Slo-mo
And just before the final showdownboth of these phones can take
slow-mo when you're taking normal slo-mo. i would say the iphone is ahead it manages
to make things look a little brighter, a little bit better defined. But then samsung
has the option to go much slower than iPhone. So on balance i think it's roughly
fair to call this one a draw.
- Photos
Okay it's time to talk about photos the final and probably
the most important category it's also actually probably the easiest. i generally
found that for the most part even the galaxy s20 ultra could take better photos
than the iPhone and so given that the s21 has a better sensor, a faster shutter
time and a more advanced image signal processor, yes i'm giving this section to
samsung. So one of the first things you'll probably notice when you start taking photos
on it is the fact that because the sensor is still big by today's standards you
get even more natural background blur. This lovely separation between foreground and
what's happening behind. Secondly the samsung can be more detailed and I wouldn't
mark this down as a huge plus because for the most part you'll be shooting on auto
and when you are shooting on auto they're about the same really. But just because
this is a 108 megapixel camera when you turn on 108 megapixel mode then yes you
will capture more detail. And thirdly dynamic range in photos and in photos only
it seems like samsung's able to draw out just a little bit more detail in the
really bright spots. It does also produce photos that you could see are punchier
but to be honest all this extra sharpness and color and contrast you could take it
or leave it. It can sometimes mean photos that look slightly better when taken
straight from camera i think the iphone's photos are a little bit at risk of
looking flat but if you want the beauty you gotta live with the beast because with
this scene optimizer turned on every now and again this phone will just pump out
some of the most disgustingly oversaturated garbage you've ever seen.
But it is
mostly good so, where does that leave us because samsung's won five apples won
three but obviously not every category has the same weight and not every victory
is by an equal amount. So what I would say is this, using these two cameras feels a
bit like using yin and yang at the same time. It almost feels like each failing of
one of these phones is something that the other one is particularly good at but I realize that it's not very useful advice to say screw the mortgage buy both. So i'm
giving this one to the samsung. It's not just the more enjoyable camera to use but
it's also the more versatile. You can get everything from five mile zooms to two
centimeter close-ups and it also is just generally brilliant, when it comes to
photos. But I would just say that if you're not in any rush to buy it then I would
hangon until you've seen they've announced some sort of major update to video because
i'm pretty sure it's coming. But at the same time just in case it isn't I don't
think video quality is that great right now.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. Tahnk you for your time. See ya!
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