I’ve read many many comparisons and I’ve never seen the 12PM so off with the colors. Something wonky is going on here. At least that’s what I hope but from this comparison, Pixel is the clear winner.
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Camera Comparison: iPhone 12 Pro Max vs. Google Pixel 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
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What a great argument to make excuses for Apple's performance 😂😂😂
With that argument you can even justify buying a Blackberry if you just ignore the rest of the market
The fact zen won says everything you need to know about this blind test...average people do pick the brighter colours Even when they aren’t the best photos
why pixel devices has always done badly in blind tests
Down to Twitter compression looking worse certainly on a high amount of different devices.
average people pick colours that pop and are brighter than really the best photo
iPhones and pixel phones always do badly in his tests.
I would agree most reviews the camera is far better on the 12 pro max than what photos I’ve seen here. Maybe with how it’s uploaded I dunno
I Prefer the note ultra in a lot of these pics and as somebody who has had both devices I prefer the pro max
Took photos at Union Square last year with the 11 PM and again this year with the 12 PM. With the 12 PM, the sky looks very blue and my first impression when viewing it later was that the sky looked photoshopped in and appeared "fake." Haven't had the chance to turn HDR off yet to see if it improves.
I own this phone and am a photographer, if you don’t like the baked in look of the phone then shoot in RAW, it’s awesome. I personally like to preset look, but I always edit and get the look I want. And RAW is superb at allowing that.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
I'm a tourist in this "camera expert" space. At this point, I'm good with any of the cameras in smartphones.
I'm all about the memories.
I'm all about the memories.
In the gazebo shot, the Pixel is the only one that shows the trees clearly enough to be seen.
In the street shot, Apple made the woman look like she had studio lighting put on her. The others look clear, but they still look like ambient light night shots (as they should).
In the street shot, Apple made the woman look like she had studio lighting put on her. The others look clear, but they still look like ambient light night shots (as they should).
Lol right. Well I don't know what credentials I need to state I have on the internet except being a human with functioning eyes, to realise the iPhone 12 max white balance is way off in some of these photos. The white balance on the harbour pictures in particular is so off, it kinda beggars belief. Any one can look at the cloud in those photos and and instantly realise that is not a true to life representation of a cloudy day as the author noted himself. But I guess since you are a 'photographer' it must be not true at all.
Really mac rumors you have to post an image of a woman wearing a mask. I see enough of that outside. Really post a smile.
I've always wanted Apple to make a DSLR with an intuitive interface, but I don't think they ever will, especially since phone photography has improved so much.
I would settle for a CarPlay-like user interface that could be installed on a third party camera. For example, Sony makes really great camera hardware, but their UI is atrocious. And if Sony could integrate even a fraction of the computational photography tricks used in most phones, the results would be amazing.
I would settle for a CarPlay-like user interface that could be installed on a third party camera. For example, Sony makes really great camera hardware, but their UI is atrocious. And if Sony could integrate even a fraction of the computational photography tricks used in most phones, the results would be amazing.
I liked pixel 5 photos for most part but in certain situations the iPhone was better. Even the Note in 1 or 2 photos was better in some aspects.
In the end of the day, majority of people who uses theses smartphones, takes a pic, point and shoot and posts it straight away to Insta, Face or Twitter. No editing whatsoever. You'll have to consider that both those apps also will compress the photos you posted and you'll lose some quality.
So, i find myself thinking sometimes "is it really important to take an incredible photo with your 1000 dollar phone when in the end you're posting it in social network and lose most of the quality and detail?". Try to zoom in in photos you posted and you'll see that probably they look like photos took by 300 dollar smartphones so...
It only matters if you save your important photos to watch one day later in your high res TV, high res mac monitor etc because if it's for social network, for other people to see...bah, almost doesn't matter to take a photo with an iPhone or a 300 Xiaomi phone...
In the end of the day, majority of people who uses theses smartphones, takes a pic, point and shoot and posts it straight away to Insta, Face or Twitter. No editing whatsoever. You'll have to consider that both those apps also will compress the photos you posted and you'll lose some quality.
So, i find myself thinking sometimes "is it really important to take an incredible photo with your 1000 dollar phone when in the end you're posting it in social network and lose most of the quality and detail?". Try to zoom in in photos you posted and you'll see that probably they look like photos took by 300 dollar smartphones so...
It only matters if you save your important photos to watch one day later in your high res TV, high res mac monitor etc because if it's for social network, for other people to see...bah, almost doesn't matter to take a photo with an iPhone or a 300 Xiaomi phone...
It’s a good thing I have both Pixel 5 and 12 Pro Max. But yes, I have noticed the Pixel 5 can take better pictures than the 12PM.
It's impossible to say without being in the moment to compare phone vs. eye. However, I'd say the Pixel 5 had the most "natural" look, at least regarding color reproduction -- I didn't pay close attention to sharpness, etc. Both the iPhone and Galaxy seemed to lean more towards a specific color, blue in the outdoor and yellow indoor.
That is somewhat true. Each company has their own, default algorithm, which applies to most users. However, any user, specifically one with photography knowledge, could probably make superb snapshots on either or all three of those smartphones.
As Steve Jobs used to remind his audience, Apple is the convergence of arts and technology. So it’s expected that their photos will be top of their class.
Apple's iPhone 12 Pro Max has the most advanced camera technology in the iPhone lineup, but how does it match up to flagship smartphones from other companies? In our latest YouTube video, we compared the iPhone 12 Pro Max to the Google Pixel 5 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra to see the differences in camera quality.
The $1099 iPhone 12 Pro Max has a triple-lens camera setup with 12-megapixel Ultra Wide, Wide, and Telephoto lenses, with upgrades in sensor size, stability, and telephoto lens over the iPhone 12 Pro.
In comparison, the $699 Pixel 5 has a 12.2-megapixel wide-angle lens and a 16-megapixel ultra wide-angle lens, while the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra has a 108-megapixel wide-angle lens, a 12-megapixel ultra wide-angle lens, and a 12-megapixel telephoto lens. All three of the smartphones have similar capabilities such as HDR enhancements, portrait mode for background blurring and night mode for taking low light shots. The iPhone 12 Pro Max has a LiDAR Scanner for improved low light photography, while the Note 20 Ultra has a laser AF sensor.
These are all high-end flagship smartphones with excellent camera quality, so before we even get into the comparison, it's worth noting that all of these smartphones take excellent images, with small differences between them that vary from photo to photo. Some people may prefer one camera's tendency towards cooler tones, or have a preference for warmer colors or a certain softness or sharpness, but for the most part, there's no one smartphone camera that's a clear winner because a lot comes down to personal tastes.
When taking these photos during a cloudy Ohio day, we found that the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a bit of a quirk when it comes to the sky. In all photos where there's a cloudy sky, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is tending towards blue, creating an artificially blue sky. Apple added HDR 3 Scene Recognition to this year's iPhones to better let the iPhone distinguish buildings and sky to "optimize" a scene, and that may be what's going on here.
It doesn't look bad, and some people may prefer the bluer sky, but it's not what the scene looked like in real life. Color wise, the Pixel 5 is probably the most true to life, and in several photos, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra used the same kind of effect to colorize the sky, albeit less dramatically.
Viewed alone, the iPhone 12 Pro Max photo doesn't look out of the ordinary and is arguably brighter and more engaging, but next to the Pixel 5, there's a stark difference. Most of the time, the blue tint applies only to the sky, but there are a few instances where the entire photo has a blue cast. This is, of course, limited to situations with cloudy outdoor skies, but it does persist across the Wide and Ultra cameras.
An ultra-wide shot
In Portrait Mode day shots, the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a tendency to blow the highlights just a bit with higher brightness and a boost to the colors, which again, doesn't look bad and is probably what most people will prefer, but is a different look than the Pixel 5 and Note 20 Ultra, both of which have cooler tones.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max does a lot better with edges in Portrait Mode than prior iPhones, but compared to the Pixel 5, it seems a little bit soft. That said, the Pixel 5 has problems with edge detection and is sharpening areas that it should not in some situations. Looking at the water in the above shot is a good example of the Pixel 5's uneven blurring.
In Night Mode, the iPhone 12 Pro Max trends towards much warmer tones than the Pixel 5 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. The Note 20 Ultra is also on the warmer side, while the Pixel 5 seems to be erring on the side of being a little too cool. In the gazebo photo below, the gazebo is white and there's no real reason for it to have such a warm cast. Not all Night Mode photos from the iPhone have warm tones that dramatic, but the color is noticeable next to photos from other smartphones.
The iPhone 12 Pro Max tends to produce more even lighting in Night Mode, while the Pixel 5 makes some areas of the image too bright. The iPhone 12 Pro Max also seems to be softer in some Night Mode photos, like this portrait shot.
All in all, Both the iPhone 12 Pro Max and Pixel 5 seem to beat out the Note 20 Ultra, but again, it's a matter of preference. The Pixel 5 tends to have colors that are more realistic in terms of white balance, but some of the iPhone images are more visually appealing.
As for video, that's an area where the iPhone 12 Pro Max is a clear winner. Filming in 4K 60 fps, the other two smartphones just can't match the image quality and stability of the iPhone 12 Pro Max during the day. Quality is closer at night, but the iPhone still wins out with better stabilization.
Make sure to watch our video to see all of the photo comparisons, and then let us know what you think in the comments. Which smartphone takes the best images?
Article Link: Camera Comparison: iPhone 12 Pro Max vs. Google Pixel 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra
Pixel 5 photos looks pretty awesome however i like the way the iPhone did the pictures. It leans more towards how i would like them especially the sky with the boat. I recently discovered that my iPhone 12 corrects the color temperature towards more white when pushing auto adjust making skin tones a little whiter not always to a better look.
There is no 'control' image. The one that had cars in the background. Only one of the three images had a car with its lights on which can massively affect the photo taken.
Fail, fail, fail.