Camera Comparison: Pixel 7 Pro vs. iPhone 14 Pro Max
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duervo
macrumors 68020
It looks like a flash was used with the iPhone photo, but not with the Pixel one. If that’s what happened, then to me it’s called into question the rest of the comparisons.
lennyeiger
macrumors member
I am actually a photographer. It's clear what most people are responding to is the Pixel's higher contrast, appearing to be more sharp. The question is what is the purpose of the camera. If you want to make photos to show on a web site, they are slightly different, but probably very close. Family snapshots shared electronically are great. If you want to make a print, both of these cameras are awful. (Yes, iI have an iPhone 14 Pro max.) When printing, one would probably want less contrast than either of them are offering (or at least the option of this). So far it looks like the image shreds itself at about 10x13 or so. Don't believe the hype This thing is a telephone.
chucker23n1
macrumors G3
No clear winner here, IMHO.
Point iPhone. The trees are lit better, and the sky color looks less artificial.
Point iPhone, though I'd be curious what the photographer felt the sky actually looked like. The amount of light seems a bit exaggerated.
The Pixel image is arguably sharper.
Hard to tell which colors are more accurate.
Again, I prefer the Pixel here, especially regarding facial skin color.
I don't love either photo. They also don't have the same frame so they're hard to compare.
I prefer the iPhone.
I don't like either. The pumpkin color on the Pixel looks… wrong. OTOH, the iPhone lights it up too much, as if flash was used.
So I guess that's a narrow 3:2 for the iPhone, personally.
Both seem pretty great.
Point iPhone. The trees are lit better, and the sky color looks less artificial.
Point iPhone, though I'd be curious what the photographer felt the sky actually looked like. The amount of light seems a bit exaggerated.
The Pixel image is arguably sharper.
Hard to tell which colors are more accurate.
Again, I prefer the Pixel here, especially regarding facial skin color.
I don't love either photo. They also don't have the same frame so they're hard to compare.
I prefer the iPhone.
I don't like either. The pumpkin color on the Pixel looks… wrong. OTOH, the iPhone lights it up too much, as if flash was used.
So I guess that's a narrow 3:2 for the iPhone, personally.
Both seem pretty great.
The video says no flash was used when the pumpkin photos were taken.
I'm not too surprised by this one. I've seen this happen on my 13 too when using night mode...it sometimes comes out looking so much brighter than I expected considering the lighting conditions.
jmovie
macrumors member
The pumpkin photo is suspect. Whereas the iPhone pumpkin shot is clearly taken with the phone's flash, the Pixel's pumpkin shot appears to be side-lit. There's a long shadow along the floor which suggests a flag or person is blocking the front light, or shaping the light. Is this the result of Pixel's flash being further from the lens than iPhone's? Or were these photos taken under different lighting circumstances?
Google in October launched the Pixel 7 Pro, its newest high-end flagship smartphone. The Pixel 7 Pro came out just weeks after Apple's new iPhone 14 Pro Max, so we thought we'd compare the cameras of the two smartphones, pitting the high-end iPhone against the high-end Pixel 7.
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On paper, the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Pixel 7 Pro have similar camera systems. The iPhone is equipped with a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide lens, a 12-megapixel Telephoto lens, and a 48-megapixel Wide lens, which Apple calls the "main" camera. The Pixel 7 Pro has a 12-megapixel ultra wide lens, a 48-megapixel telephoto lens, and a 50-megapixel wide-angle lens. The Pixel 7 Pro wins out in terms of raw megapixels, especially for the telephoto lens.
What we've learned from camera comparisons over the years is that high-end smartphones all take similar pictures, and they all turn out great. For the most part, you are going to get stunning images with both the iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Pixel 7 Pro, though there are some differences to be aware of.
With standard photos, the shadows are darker in the iPhone images, with the Pixel 7 Pro lightening things up a bit. Images from the Pixel 7 Pro are less saturated, and we are seeing more vibrant colors from the iPhone. In some cases, the images coming direct from the Pixel 7 Pro camera look sharper, though that could be a software effect and a difference in the editing that Google does behind the scenes.
Both wide angle and ultra wide images come out similarly, but the Pixel 7 Pro's telephoto capabilities are much better than the telephoto features offered by the iPhone. Google added 5x optical zoom, compared to 3x optical zoom for the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and it makes a difference. In fact, there's a 30x Super Res digital zoom option that's impressively sharp.
In Portrait Mode, the Pixel 7 Pro offers more depth of field for more background blur, which some people will prefer. It can sometimes have trouble separating the subject from the background, and it works better with people than it does with objects.
As for Night Mode, both smartphones have pros and cons. The Pixel 7 Pro is better at nighttime portrait shots of people because the iPhone tends to be too soft around the face, but the iPhone is better at shots that include the sky. The Pixel 7 Pro is sharper across more images and it wins out when it comes to astrophotography, but there are issues with artifacting in some images.
With video, the iPhone 14 Pro Max does a better job, which is a theme that we've seen for several years now. The iPhone's video is crisper, though Google has made some strides with stabilization. Cinematic Mode on the iPhone has improved in 2022 with support for 24 and 30fps 4K video, while the Pixel's Cinematic Blur is limited to 30fps.
All in all, the Pixel 7 Pro has an edge when it comes to photos, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max wins in the video category, but both smartphones take excellent images and it's often hard to decide which one is better. What do you think of the Pixel 7 Pro? Let us know in the comments below.
Article Link: Camera Comparison: Pixel 7 Pro vs. iPhone 14 Pro Max
ghostface147
macrumors 601
Bottom line, neither one is a terrible camera and you'll get nice photos regardless which ecosystem you're in.
NightFlight
macrumors 6502
This is one of the main reasons why I continue to use a Pixel as my DD. Apple REALLY needs to add a periscope lens to the 15 Pro, it’s past due now.
csnwbd2251
macrumors member
Me too. Good photos rely so much on the ability & knowledge of the taker. The most perfect camera can take terrible photos if the operator doesn't do it correctly or if the conditions aren't perfect. Many times, it is just being in the right place at the right time to get "the shot" and it doesn't matter what camera/phone you are using at that moment. That said, my iPhone is used in the Apple ecosystem so it would take a major major upgrade to get me to switch to android.
Orange Bat
macrumors 65816
Honestly, for simple point and shoot cameras that you have in your pocket at all times, neither device can steer you wrong. You never look at photos side by side and will never know which device is “better”. I know some pro photographers will be choosy about these kinds of things (many like having a decent camera with them at all times), but for the rest of us either one is fine. As always it comes down to which platform you prefer. And they will just get better.
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I think this comparison shows that the Pixel might take marginally better "bad" photos. I find all the examples pretty tasteless and basic here, which is probably on par with your average Joe iPhone user but I think many buying the iPhone Pro line care a bit more about photography and creative work in general. The iPhone 14 Pro is a far better tool if you know what you're doing with it with higher quality sensors, higher quality computational work and an absolutely untouchable organic quality to the 48MP ProRAWs that to be honest don't even need editing most of the time. They come out with the same look and feel as photos from my full frame mirrorless setups, whereas the high resolution modes of competing Android flagships look embarrassing, most notable Samsung's horrid 108MP output. If you put even a little bit of thought into what you're doing with the iPhone, you'll get a better shot almost every time than anything else out there. If you snap the first thing the camera sees without thought about framing or the subject matter or what choices it's making, it'll be a tossup.
I do this for a living and wouldn't want anything else in my pocket given the choice if money was no object. And honestly you'd be surprised at how much pro, paid content gets shot on iPhone these days either alongside real camera setups or in lieu of because clients want options.
Look at what can be done in professional and semi-professional hands:
iPhone 14 Pro Camera Review: A Small Step, A Huge Leap
When the iPhone was first introduced, it packed in quite a few innovations. At a now-legendary keynote, Steve Jobs announced that Apple was launching a widescreen iPod, a phone and an internet communications device. These three devices were not separate new products, he revealed — they were all...
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TVreporter
macrumors 68020
That pumpkin photo just killed the iPhone in this showdown. Impressive stuff by the Pixel.
They really, truly aren't. If you're interested in bleeding edge mobile photography there isn't a better phone to have than the 14 Pro. The 48MP shots are unbeatable and the overall package is much more appealing as a tool.
Dan From Canada
macrumors 6502
I've been a professional photographer for over forty years and to my eye, you're right.
Now who knows how editing would help either camera but as they are displayed, the Pixel wins.4
I tend to agree here, but I blame the photographer for putting out shots that look like that more than I blame the tool. There's so many ways to avoid overprocessed shots. One tap and the 12/48MP ProRAWs feel like straight-out-of-camera shots from my $2800+ A7RIV and often I don't even edit them. It requires zero extra work to tap the RAW button before taking a shot in high contrast or high-detail scenes where you know the processing will overcompensate in normal mode. Learn the tool and you can squeeze good results out of it every time.
henrikhelmers
macrumors regular
If the image has clipped highlights, there is no way to resolve that in post.
In my experience it often happens with skies. But also skin tones can get the wrong (yellow) color cast, and blow out the red and green channels. Then you can’t do much to correct in post.
I like how you can adjust white balance preference, but it would be useful to change the tint (add magenta) as well. And turn off sharpening and selective subject brightening (which makes photos have different brightness from love photos).
A neutral profile might be easier than all the options.
Criss P.
macrumors member
iPhone photos started to go downhill when they introduced the "computational photography"-thingy. It sounds great on paper, but the pictures end up having much more reliance on software algorithm rather than optic quality. it been 4 iPhone itineration and they haven't fixed yet the glare issue when pointing to a source of light.