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One phone is better than the other. But it makes little difference.

The power within a photograph is conveyed to a viewer not by gear, but by the skill of the person making the photograph. And that has to do with a large number of factors, including life experiences, curiosity, imagination, ability to read light, ability to compose, timing, recognizing a photograph's potential for releasing narrative, post processing skills and on and on.

The choice of gear is pretty much mice-nuts, outside of certain uses that for many are pretty much edge cases.

As an aside, I've noticed those that are on perpetual missions to own the best gear, produce the most ho-hum photographs. It ultimately comes down to wanting to be a photographer or a camera owner.

Obsess over making (rather than taking) photographs, not acquiring the best gear.

Good write up :)

But just like the 100 sprint where you need photo finish (pun intended) to pick the winner which gets all the glory eventhough it was won by a fraction of a second.

Some here like to use dxomark when iPhone is on top, but shy away from it like a leper when iPhone is not.


SmartSelect_20190309-080638_Samsung Internet.jpg
 
When I look at them, and I'm no photo expert, I see more detail and depth of field on the S10 but it also feels a bit over exposed and colours seem a bit less natural. iPhone seems a bit under exposed until you get to the videos then it seems flipped which is odd but I guess so much of this is based on software. Looks like Apple still needs to work on portrait mode as a coffee mug should be easy to decipher and not blur out the top part.

I guess it depends on your preference. Neither are perfect both are pretty darn good. Would have loved to see low light pics and the pixel 3 and the next best phone camera in the comparison.
 
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I'm a bit curious about the cutting off of the cup and the sign. First of all, those pictures don't show any of them cut off as the whole cup and the whole sign are present in both pictures. Second, isn't that a framing issue rather than a camera issue? The camera app shows what the picture will be before you take it and if parts of the cup or sign are cut off, doesn't that just mean the photographer should frame the picture better before taking it?

Of course, by mentioning the zoom, you basically tipped off which camera was which since it's well known that bokeh pictures on the iPhone XS/XS Max are taken with the telephoto lens, which brings the picture closer and crops off more of the sides. The next time you do a camera comparison, I'd suggest trying to frame both photos identically so as not to tip off which is which.
 
You should look closer. Look at the rim of the cup right beneath the gold android. The entire back rim has become part of the background blur. You can actually see the spot (on the right) where the computational algorithm split the foreground from the background.
The back of both cups are out of focus.

I prefer a mix of both pix and a mixture of elements of both.
Both are good cameras and show how far along phone cameras have come.
Would prefer in shootouts to see challenging low light photos too.
 
Always remember ****ALWAYS**** iPhone uses 1 year Old technology. comparison is unfair as XS is using 2017 technology vs Samsung 2019 or perhaps 2020.

The iphone was released 6 months ago so kind of a weak argument. It's also Apple’s fault if they weren't using the latest and greatest available at the time. Still holding up well in the comparison though.
 
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definitely prefer all of Samsung's photos.

taste really, i know nerds whine about specs blah blah but the apple photos are simply subpar IMO.
 
What an utterly pointless exercise. They ask people what they think of the photos doing a blind test, but then disagreed with the results telling the readers of this piece what they preferred instead?????

This. Macrumors always have the best bias reviews though.

iPhone takes the best picture in daylight however at night--useless.
 
This. Macrumors always have the best bias reviews though.

iPhone takes the best picture in daylight however at night--useless.

I think in good light, all mobile cameras take good enough picture for almost everyone.

So now Pixel/galaxy are concentrating on other aspects like low light, wide angle, selfie/wide selfie, video stabilization etc. Sorry to say Iphone xs max is behind in all of these.
 
HDR on iPhone is overrated. Most times I’d prefer to have washed out highlights than an overall darker picture.
 
When I look at them, and I'm no photo expert, I see more detail and depth of field on the S10 but it also feels a bit over exposed and colours seem a bit less natural. iPhone seems a bit under exposed until you get to the videos then it seems flipped which is odd but I guess so much of this is based on software. Looks like Apple still needs to work on portrait mode as a coffee mug should be easy to decipher and not blur out the top part.

I guess it depends on your preference. Neither are perfect both are pretty darn good. Would have loved to see low light pics and the pixel 3 and the next best phone camera phone in the comparison.

Samsung is the Best Buy of the camera world. They're not particularly great believers in color accuracy, but rather likes to oversaturate everything like their TV's tend to do. I actually like the oversaturated look, as do many others (which is why Samsung and Best Buy do that), so I don't have a problem with it, but those who prefer colors to be accurate, Samsung isn't the choice for them. Samsung phones even have a Vivid interface option for those who want their UI to be oversaturated.

On the bokeh effect, Apple's software is particularly good with people, which you can tell with the sharpness and clarity of a person's hair. Apple's not so good with non-people, which is why the Samsung's picture is better when a person isn't in the picture. Samsung, on the other hand, isn't as good as Apple when it comes to bokeh effects on people.
 
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Thank
Good write up :)

But just like the 100 sprint where you need photo finish (pun intended) to pick the winner which gets all the glory eventhough it was won by a fraction of a second.

Some here like to use dxomark when iPhone is on top, but shy away from it like a leper when iPhone is not.


View attachment 825449
Good write up :)

But just like the 100 sprint where you need photo finish (pun intended) to pick the winner which gets all the glory eventhough it was won by a fraction of a second.

Some here like to use dxomark when iPhone is on top, but shy away from it like a leper when iPhone is not.


View attachment 825449
Exactly
Some of us iPhone users think we’re part of an elite force because we use iPhones
 
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Samsung is the Best Buy of the camera world. They're not particularly great believers in color accuracy, but rather likes to oversaturate everything like their TV's tend to do. I actually like the oversaturated look, as do many others (which is why Samsung and Best Buy do that), so I don't have a problem with it, but those who prefer colors to be accurate, Samsung isn't the choice for them. Samsung phones even have a Vivid interface option for those who want their UI to be oversaturated.

On the bokeh effect, Apple's software is particularly good with people, which you can tell with the sharpness and clarity of a person's hair. Apple's not so good with non-people, which is why the Samsung's picture is better when a person isn't in the picture. Samsung, on the other hand, isn't as good as Apple when it comes to bokeh effects on people.

Ya they both seem to be better at opposite things. But what Samsung does with overexposure and colour seems to gets you a sharper more detailed picture which is probably what more people like. What I find most interesting is at how much more exposed and detailed the video is on the iphone vs it's still pics. Probably why it's considered the king of smartphone video.
 
I have no problem with either. It takes just a moment to "adjust" any of those images to get a winner. From what I saw here, iPhone can run "cool" while Samsung can run slightly warm. A better measure of exposure is to see how well both can be corrected. I think the Samsung makes for a better travel camera given the wide angle but I wouldn't cry if the iPhone was the only choice.

As for me - I had iphones from the beginning and ultimately switched to a Samsung S8+ which had the 2 features I really wished iPhone would have offered.

As the story stated that one of the responses is that we are spoiled with these phone cameras... I would have to fully agree. Even older models turn out some nice images.

S8+ image, in phone adjusted (and yes, it was this intense with bright sun after massive storm) -

upload_2019-3-8_17-20-45.png
 



Earlier this week, we asked our readers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to look at some photos taken with the iPhone XS Max and the Samsung Galaxy S10+, Samsung's new flagship device, and tell us which photos they liked best.

There was a catch, though. We didn't tell them which smartphone took which photo, allowing us to aggregate some unbiased opinions on the quality of the images from each device. Today, we're revealing which photos came from which phone and sharing the results we gathered.


All of the photos that we shared came straight from the camera and were not edited or otherwise manipulated. We'll go through each image and give a brief overview of what people thought before unveiling which camera was used for these images.


The first photo, of a cup, shows off the iPhone's Portrait Mode and Samsung's Live Focus mode, which is basically the same thing. Photo A has more natural colors because Photo B is too warm, but B wins when it comes to depth. Photo A cut off part of the cup, while Photo B did not, though Photo A offered better blurring of background images. Most people actually preferred Photo A, but we think Photo B is the winner because it didn't cut off any of the cup.

iphonexsmaxs10cup-800x450.jpg

The second photo, featuring a person, was also captured with portrait mode. Compared to Photo B, Photo A seems a bit washed out, but A did a better job isolating the subject from the background. MacRumors readers preferred Photo A, and so do we.

iphonexsmaxs10portrait-800x450.jpg

The third photo, of a street sign, is a portrait mode photo taken in lower lighting conditions. It was gray and snowy outside, and Camera A took an image that was too cool. Photo A doesn't have any of the sign cut off, but the blueness of the image skewed this heavily in favor of Photo B.

iphonexsmaxs10sign-800x450.jpg

In our fourth image set, of a skyline, Photo B is brighter, but a bit overexposed and washed out. Photo A is darker, but the dynamic range and contrast are more accurate, especially when looking at the clouds. Most people liked Photo B better, but we prefer A because it's not washed out.

iphonexsmaxs10skyline-800x450.jpg

Our last images, shared solely on Instagram due to Twitter limitations, demonstrate how well Camera A is able to handle shots of the sky. Photo B's highlights are blown out and Camera B didn't do a great job of capturing the sun. We didn't get a lot of feedback on this image, but we preferred Photo A.

iphonexsmaxs10sun-800x450.jpg

If you guessed that all of the Photo A images came from the iPhone XS Max, you guessed right. Photo A is the iPhone and the Photo B images came from the Galaxy S10+.

Results we received from readers on preference were ultimately mixed, with some of the photos captured by the Galaxy S10+ coming out on top, and some photos captured by the iPhone winning out. That's no surprise, though, as both of these smartphones have great camera systems that can capture some fantastic images.

Apple's iPhone XS Max uses a dual-lens camera system with a 12-megapixel f/1.8 wide-angle lens paired with a 12-megapixel f/2.4 lens, while Samsung uses a more advanced triple-lens camera system (which is, incidentally, rumored to be coming to 2019 iPhones). The Galaxy S10+ has a 12-megapixel f/1.5 wide-angle lens, a 12-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto lens, and an additional 16-megapixel f/2.2 ultra wide-angle lens that can capture more of a scene at once, great for landscapes and group shots.

ultrawideangles10-800x450.jpg

Both are also great at video and can record in 4K with optical image stabilization offered, though we thought the Galaxy S10+ outperformed the iPhone XS Max because its stabilization was just a bit better.

Overall, we preferred the images from the iPhone XS Max over the images from the Galaxy S10 because the iPhone offered more true-to-life colors, better dynamic range, and superior contrast, but the Galaxy S10+ still took fantastic shots.

Which photos did you prefer? iPhone XS Max or Galaxy S10+? Let us know in the comments.

Article Link: Camera Comparison: iPhone XS Max vs. Samsung Galaxy S10+

Although I do like the iPhone photos better, the selfie picture on the Samsung has one feature that I haven't seen on any other phone, the image is finally not inverted. Look at the letters of the North Face jacket, on the Samsung one you can read them straight and on the iPhone it is inverted. I have never understood how Apple has never solved this huge defect on selfies.
 
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