Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Blind Camera Comparison Video: iPhone 12 Pro Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Really interesting to see this. Picked A for everything, but the night shots I preferred B although it was slight. The only ones that were heavily favored were the portrait shots where the iPhone bokeh depth of field effect was considerably better.
Both produce great images though.
Both produce great images though.
To me the A photos are more contrasty and more saturated.
And I was expecting them to be Samsung.
Pleasantly surprised.
And I was expecting them to be Samsung.
Pleasantly surprised.
I strongly preferred the A pics (Apple) -- there was so much more detail and contrast. Look, for instance, at the daytime snowfield picture--you can distinctly see the footprints with A, while with B they are washed out (you can see this more clearly by looking at the pics displayed in the video itself, rather than relying on the reproductions posted in the macrumors article.). You can also see a marked difference in detail in the child's face and in the basketball backboard. Indeed, because the Samsung was *so* much worse than the Apple in many of these pics, and because I know the Samsung is supposed to have a very good camera, I almost wonder if there was something wrong with the Samsung's settings.
I'm not going to argue with you regarding color balance. It does appear Apple is over compensating a bit. But with contrast and sharpness, there's no way Samsung's camera is accurately representing what the human eye sees. Just as theorist9 says, the snowfield photo shows why Apple is the winner: in the Samsung photo, you can't see the shoe prints or the 100s of natural divots/shapes in the snow, all of which your eye would clearly see from the location the photographer is standing. If you look at the electrical lines, the Samsung photo doesn't even show the third line running almost due North from the pole. Your eye would have easily seen it. I assume these issues stem from less light hitting the sensor, but I'm not really sure. But even if the sky is grayer than Apple would lead you to believe, the world has more objects and outlines in it than Samsung would lead you to believe -- and you can't fix that in post.
I picked A for all (mostly because they looked sharper) but I also suspect the warmer tones of B are more accurate. I understand that people prefer the boosted colour look (I kinda do myself) but I’d like my photos to default to an honest colour profile and I’ll edit them from that if I want to. I wish they’d allow a toggle for this in Settings.
I guarantee there are people on this site who will have chosen B, but when they found out that was the Samsung will have looked at the photos again and decided they actually prefer A.
Can we talk about the 100's and 100's of people, including me, complaining about the iphone 12 pro max being unable to focus on closeup shots??? https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252063233
MacRumors releases a blind camera test.
Apple Fans: "I'll tell you my favorite pics after I know which ones were shot with the iPhone"
Classic, guys!
Apple Fans: "I'll tell you my favorite pics after I know which ones were shot with the iPhone"
Classic, guys!
Surprised to find A was IPhone. Then again surprised the s21 snow was yellow this time, I saw a few other tests and the snow was blue, but either way one thing has shown up on all the tests and that is the smoothing of the snow and lack of detail. These results were very much similar to unbox therapy blind comparison.
Apple does need to get the macro shots figured out. Samsung needs to improve shutter lag, and motion blur on moving objects. The moon shots and zoom in general really make me want the s21 to have performed better, if it would of been A in this comparison I would be buying one ASAP.
Apple does need to get the macro shots figured out. Samsung needs to improve shutter lag, and motion blur on moving objects. The moon shots and zoom in general really make me want the s21 to have performed better, if it would of been A in this comparison I would be buying one ASAP.
You're making this broad assumption based on an apple fan's "blind test"
It's interesting that other people who have done camera tests come to very different conclusions.
Each test is different so impossible to compare.
some YouTube reviews I thought S21 Ultra was better other examples iPhone it will depend on the shot more often than not.
Which is why these "tests" don't mean anything. It's just an opportunity some use to try to promote one brand over another.
Sites like this one can't be trusted to give you accurate and unbiased information.
I'm sure they took their time taking the iPhone photos to make them look at Best as possible.
I caught someone once switching the photos around by looking at the metadata.
might want to clean the lenses...
I think that B looked muddy and underexposed. Bringing them in to Photoshop and looking at the histogram confirmed this. It was especially evident in the snow. The entire time I was preferring A and preparing myself to have to admit the iPhone was beat.
iPhone is on the right. The image on left is underexposed and lacking detail and contrast. In other words it’s flat and muddy.
Or is it more true to life? Personally I've found the 12 line does some serious over-HDR processing at times. Sometimes it looks great, sometimes it makes the photo look a bit off because everything is so evenly exposed.