Agreed, Samsung is clearly and significantly ahead at the moment to my eyes.
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Camera Comparison: Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Apple's iPhone 13 Pro Max
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Reminds me of weekend sport driving schools like skip barber. The instructors can often record the best lap times of the day driving a minivan carrying the students around showing them the course.
I don't agree… The bottom of the coat on the left-hand side shows more detail in the iPhone 13 Max.... But the biggest difference is the face exposure… Apple has fine-tune their algorithm to see faces as that is what most people and photographers want to have exposed correctly… And the Apple photo is clearly better and correctly exposed… Now that can easily be corrected on the Samsung photo in Post, but the general public is not going do that and even that said, I think the overall quality of the photo on the Apple side is better
Salty fanboy? As an Engineer myself, I'm using pure logic! You compare like for like. So NEW 2022 MODEL for NEW 2022 MODEL. If you use logic, you will realise that both Apple and Samsing are BOTH releasing new phones in 2022. Think before you reply.
I have been a professional photographer shooting both advertising and editorial for over 40 years. I have to admit the new camera phones are very good now but they can never be as good as a pro DSLR camera or the newer mirrorless cameras when shooting in RAW. The camera phones are best for social media and traveling. They are great for portability and your photo can be sent through a message, E-mail, I cloud or Dropbox instantly. The phones are less weight, portable and always with you. Even an older IPhone can make for a very good 9x13 print on my pro Epson printer. The phones are not very good for low light settings. They still have a lot of noise with limited shadow detail and blown out highlights. For the masses these phones do a wonderful job. For a photo assignment I will still stick to my Canon cameras.
Samsung in February introduced its latest high-end flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S22 Ultra. We picked up one of the new Samsung devices, and thought we'd compare it to Apple's top-of-the-line smartphone, the iPhone 13 Pro Max, to see how the two premium phones compare to one another when it comes to camera quality.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra is equipped with four total cameras this year, including a 108-megapixel wide angle camera, a 12-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera, a 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 10x optical zoom, and a 10-megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom.
Comparatively, the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a 12-megapixel Wide lens, a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide lens, and a 12-megapixel Telephoto lens that supports 3x optical zoom. On paper, Samsung certainly wins out when it comes to raw specifications, especially in the optical zoom department.
In practice, though, both smartphones take incredible pictures and from photo to photo, it can be hard to pick a favorite as you can see in the photos from our video and from this article. Note that all of the photos we're showing were captured in RAW, and are straight out of the camera using the default settings of the smartphone, no edits involved.
You'll mainly see differences in color temperature, depending on the scene. The Galaxy S22 Ultra tends to have a cooler tone, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max is warmer. The S22 Ultra also tends to elevate highlights, and while it can sometimes appear sharper, some may find the images to be a bit too washed out because of it.
In some situations, the iPhone offers up more natural lighting for skin tones than the S22 Ultra, but the contrast that the iPhone uses can make dark areas darker, causing images to lose out on a touch of detail. The iPhone images tend to be more vibrant and can be more aesthetically pleasing, but it does really vary based on subject matter.
In Portrait Mode, there's a lot of similarity. Samsung has improved the edge detection and bokeh of its portrait photos, and both the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the S22 Ultra take great images. The iPhone is of course more vibrant, and in some images, it's a little sharper. Unfortunately, Samsung is still not great at skin tones and the S22 Ultra does not do as well at preserving skin texture.
When it comes to telephoto capabilities, the 10x optical zoom, the 30x digital zoom, and the 100x digital zoom offered by the S22 Ultra are leagues ahead of the iPhone with its 3x optical zoom and 15x digital zoom. 100x zoom is fun to see how close you can get, but even at 30x, you can get some fairly usable photos out of the S22 Ultra.
As for video recording, the iPhone has the edge because it supports Dolby Atmos and ProRes for higher-quality video for those who need it, but for everyday videos, both are more than adequate. Cinematic Mode is better than Samsung's Live Portrait video option because Samsung restricts the feature to faces only, and the iPhone also wins out when it comes to stabilization. The Galaxy S22 Ultra does support 8K video unlike the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but the lack of good stabilization affects the quality.
It's unlikely that most people are picking their smartphone based on the camera capabilities alone, and ecosystem plays a huge role. Someone who owns multiple Apple devices probably isn't going to go out and buy an S22 Ultra, nor is a regular Samsung owner likely to swap out of that ecosystem for an iPhone.
In day to day use, these smartphones are incredibly similar and really both take gorgeous, high-quality photos that rival those you can get with high-end point and shoot cameras, especially when lighting is good. What iPhone users can glean from the S22 Ultra is what we might see Apple do in the future. Will Apple rival that 10x optical zoom lens? Rumors say yes, because there's a periscope lens with greater zoom capabilities in the works, and Apple is always working to boost camera technology.
What did you think of the photos in the video? Make sure to give it a watch to see all of the comparisons, and then let us know whether you prefer the Galaxy S22 Ultra or the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Article Link: Camera Comparison: Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Apple's iPhone 13 Pro Max
Not sure we should care about this topic anymore. They both are great cameras.. almost not worth it to bring up anymore. ?♂️
Pure nonsense. Coming from a 4x5 Arca-Swiss, various Canon dSLRs, mirrorless cams, etc, my last two iPhones are excellent - outside of certain uses (professional wedding photography, some sports, some nature photography, etc).
I've been shooting with iPhones exclusively for the last five years.
So many people are into the never ending quest for the best gear rather than learning to make compelling photos. And it shows in their photographs, something I've seen so many times. Many people flip out their credit card to purchase the latest camera tech thinking it will somehow make them a good photographer making good photographs.
What makes a compelling photograph is the photographer behind the camera. And his/her life experiences, curiosity, imagination, ability to see, ability to asses light, ability to compose, knowing when to hide information to create mystery, and on and on. Ultimately the goal being able to make a photograph that stirs a viewer's imagination, and hopefully conjuring a narrative. That involves putting in the time and work.
It’s because it generates conflict between iPhone and Samsung users. It’s a typical Macrumors tactic that they like to post, because they know it will create controversy and draw clicks. I’m not saying that ‘critical discussion’ isn’t healthy between manufactures and what’s relevant with new technology, but I also believe that it’s important for others to realize these articles are completely intentional to incite disputes.
This is a really bad post and is mostly what photographers say to feel superior, because their "skills" are more and more threatened by an average person with a good eye and minor editing skills every year.
Yes, a nice DSLR will still take superior shots, we all know that. But nobody does or wants to have a DSLR on them 24/7, yet everyone does need their phone on them at all times. Today's high end smartphone cameras are at least as good as a decent point-and-shoot camera and if you think otherwise, you're lying to yourself.
What a silly comparison. Of course, no professional photographer will replace his/her DSLR with a phone for work. For professional portraits, wildlife, night photography of course a 'real' camera is miles ahead.
But what are most people doing with their cameras: portraits of family/friends, photos while travelling etc. And for those use cases, the difference is extremely minimal. There are tons of comparisons online, and you will be surprised, how close phones and real cameras have become.
I have an active lifestyle, do lots of hiking, running, cycling, skiing etc. And I rarely want to bring my Canon. Your activity becomes a lot more pleasant when you have 1-2kg less to carry. On the bike or while running I normally prefer not to bring any backpack at all. A phone however fits in the pocket of my bike jersey.
So, if you only want to focus on photography, a real camera is better. If you want to focus on your life, a phone is normally preferable.
Just one thing to add: 80% of the people that buy expensive cameras have no clue how to use them. An experienced photographer would make a lot better photos with a phone than a noob with a DSLR.
„Pickups are trash, if you wanna get something done, nothing compares to a tractor.“
That’s you.
Phones are first and foremost phones. If they ship with usable cameras, good.
A camera is usually nothing more than a camera. Logically the camera part about a camera must be more than good for it to be worth anything. But that’s not the point.
For the majority of people a decent phone camera is probably enough these days. Most of my pictures are quick holiday snaps, pictures of my pets or of something I need for work like a label. Either of these cameras would work for me but I’d really like the zoom on the Samsung and if it wasn’t for performance and security concerns perhaps I’d make a jump for it.
Speaking of poor comparisons, I haven’t had a chance to test the RX100… how is the cellular reception, web browser, and App Store?
And you even pointed out that the cameras are not why you bought your iPhone? Are you saying you actually assume other people buy phones when they actually want to buy a camera?
I can only speak for myself. Doesn't really matter if compact cameras like the Sony RX100 takes better pictures as I won't have the RX100 on me most of the time. I will for sure not have a DSLR camera on me most of the time.
If we go 10-15 years back I did normally drag along a DSLR for occasions when I believed that me and my wife might end up wanting to take some photos. And our setup with a decent Canon DSLR, decent lense and a polarizing filter did a great job and looking back at those pictures there is no denying that they still look great, and most look at least on pair, if not better compared to what I can do with my iPhone 13 Pro Max. Especially if you have to utilise any kind of zoom.
But everything else using the iPhone 13 Pro Max is superior in pretty much every respect. Going on holiday without having to bring a dedicated camera makes the journey and experience much better. And overall the computational prowess of the iPhone makes most of the pictures decent. With the DSLR you have to make sure that you are doing a decent job with the camera for the picture to turn out great, using the iPhone not so much. And the fact that my picture goes straight into Photos and iCloud Photo Library without me having to transfer things off the camera and whatnot is also bliss.
As long as the phone makes a decent enough job all the other advantages of just having to rely on using my phone make the idea of dragging along a dedicated camera something I would never do.
Comparing the latest and greatest iPhone and Samsung phone is not something I do. It's interesting to see the comparisons for sure. But all top-of-the-line phones these days are all within the same ballpark, it's not like the camera itself is going to be the deciding factor for what phone I end up buying. Samsung would need to have some crazy camera for it to make any sense to bring it into my Apple ecosystem where it wouldn't really fit in at all. And Samsung, or Android as a whole doesn't offer anything in comparison to a tight Apple ecosystem so even if I would pay for it I can't really replace what me and my wife current has with something else and get the same experience from it.
We use things like Apple One, Find My, AirPlay, AirDrop, iCloud, Family Sharing, handover between iOS, iPadOS and macOS and whatnot. Doing a 1:1 phone comparison is rather moot, the phone is not a singular devices that is acting all on it's own for many people these days.
If we go 10-15 years back I did normally drag along a DSLR for occasions when I believed that me and my wife might end up wanting to take some photos. And our setup with a decent Canon DSLR, decent lense and a polarizing filter did a great job and looking back at those pictures there is no denying that they still look great, and most look at least on pair, if not better compared to what I can do with my iPhone 13 Pro Max. Especially if you have to utilise any kind of zoom.
But everything else using the iPhone 13 Pro Max is superior in pretty much every respect. Going on holiday without having to bring a dedicated camera makes the journey and experience much better. And overall the computational prowess of the iPhone makes most of the pictures decent. With the DSLR you have to make sure that you are doing a decent job with the camera for the picture to turn out great, using the iPhone not so much. And the fact that my picture goes straight into Photos and iCloud Photo Library without me having to transfer things off the camera and whatnot is also bliss.
As long as the phone makes a decent enough job all the other advantages of just having to rely on using my phone make the idea of dragging along a dedicated camera something I would never do.
Comparing the latest and greatest iPhone and Samsung phone is not something I do. It's interesting to see the comparisons for sure. But all top-of-the-line phones these days are all within the same ballpark, it's not like the camera itself is going to be the deciding factor for what phone I end up buying. Samsung would need to have some crazy camera for it to make any sense to bring it into my Apple ecosystem where it wouldn't really fit in at all. And Samsung, or Android as a whole doesn't offer anything in comparison to a tight Apple ecosystem so even if I would pay for it I can't really replace what me and my wife current has with something else and get the same experience from it.
We use things like Apple One, Find My, AirPlay, AirDrop, iCloud, Family Sharing, handover between iOS, iPadOS and macOS and whatnot. Doing a 1:1 phone comparison is rather moot, the phone is not a singular devices that is acting all on it's own for many people these days.
Translation: "I bought a ton of expensive camera equipment to shoot pictures in an over-saturated artform where there are literally 10s of thousands of "master" photographers and dammit, I'm not going to stand for ordinary people taking pleasure in always having a camera in their pocket!!! Now I need to convince everyone that bringing out your phone and clicking a button is "too difficult to use" compared to hauling extra devices around."
Who cares.
I bet all those people on instagram, tiktok, and so on …. who make money taking pictures with their smartphones make more money than most ”real professional” photographers.
This is on the mark and utterly hilarious at the same time.
I was on the fence of buying a mirrorless myself, mostly for the lens options, but after reading this thread and discussing the situation on another thread, I've decided to just stick with my phone.
Honestly if I don't jump into DSLR or mirrorless ownership and don't pay for Lightroom, then I can probably afford to upgrade my iPhone every year ?
it's an even match on a lot of those pictures. I like the s22 pictures.
only if Samsung had a FaceTime equivalent and there was some sort of iTunes software built for Samsung phones that you could install on a Mac or PC and listen, play and add music. Also a photo's app equivalent for Samsung phones.
Then I would not miss the Apple iPhone.
only if Samsung had a FaceTime equivalent and there was some sort of iTunes software built for Samsung phones that you could install on a Mac or PC and listen, play and add music. Also a photo's app equivalent for Samsung phones.
Then I would not miss the Apple iPhone.
iPhone night shot extremely high contrast and shadows have match less detail. In my opinion AI make low light shots too processed like cartoons
Samsung in February introduced its latest high-end flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S22 Ultra. We picked up one of the new Samsung devices, and thought we'd compare it to Apple's top-of-the-line smartphone, the iPhone 13 Pro Max, to see how the two premium phones compare to one another when it comes to camera quality.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra is equipped with four total cameras this year, including a 108-megapixel wide angle camera, a 12-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera, a 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 10x optical zoom, and a 10-megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom.
Comparatively, the iPhone 13 Pro Max has a 12-megapixel Wide lens, a 12-megapixel Ultra Wide lens, and a 12-megapixel Telephoto lens that supports 3x optical zoom. On paper, Samsung certainly wins out when it comes to raw specifications, especially in the optical zoom department.
In practice, though, both smartphones take incredible pictures and from photo to photo, it can be hard to pick a favorite as you can see in the photos from our video and from this article. Note that all of the photos we're showing were captured in RAW, and are straight out of the camera using the default settings of the smartphone, no edits involved.
You'll mainly see differences in color temperature, depending on the scene. The Galaxy S22 Ultra tends to have a cooler tone, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max is warmer. The S22 Ultra also tends to elevate highlights, and while it can sometimes appear sharper, some may find the images to be a bit too washed out because of it.
In some situations, the iPhone offers up more natural lighting for skin tones than the S22 Ultra, but the contrast that the iPhone uses can make dark areas darker, causing images to lose out on a touch of detail. The iPhone images tend to be more vibrant and can be more aesthetically pleasing, but it does really vary based on subject matter.
In Portrait Mode, there's a lot of similarity. Samsung has improved the edge detection and bokeh of its portrait photos, and both the iPhone 13 Pro Max and the S22 Ultra take great images. The iPhone is of course more vibrant, and in some images, it's a little sharper. Unfortunately, Samsung is still not great at skin tones and the S22 Ultra does not do as well at preserving skin texture.
When it comes to telephoto capabilities, the 10x optical zoom, the 30x digital zoom, and the 100x digital zoom offered by the S22 Ultra are leagues ahead of the iPhone with its 3x optical zoom and 15x digital zoom. 100x zoom is fun to see how close you can get, but even at 30x, you can get some fairly usable photos out of the S22 Ultra.
As for video recording, the iPhone has the edge because it supports Dolby Atmos and ProRes for higher-quality video for those who need it, but for everyday videos, both are more than adequate. Cinematic Mode is better than Samsung's Live Portrait video option because Samsung restricts the feature to faces only, and the iPhone also wins out when it comes to stabilization. The Galaxy S22 Ultra does support 8K video unlike the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but the lack of good stabilization affects the quality.
It's unlikely that most people are picking their smartphone based on the camera capabilities alone, and ecosystem plays a huge role. Someone who owns multiple Apple devices probably isn't going to go out and buy an S22 Ultra, nor is a regular Samsung owner likely to swap out of that ecosystem for an iPhone.
In day to day use, these smartphones are incredibly similar and really both take gorgeous, high-quality photos that rival those you can get with high-end point and shoot cameras, especially when lighting is good. What iPhone users can glean from the S22 Ultra is what we might see Apple do in the future. Will Apple rival that 10x optical zoom lens? Rumors say yes, because there's a periscope lens with greater zoom capabilities in the works, and Apple is always working to boost camera technology.
What did you think of the photos in the video? Make sure to give it a watch to see all of the comparisons, and then let us know whether you prefer the Galaxy S22 Ultra or the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Article Link: Camera Comparison: Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Apple's iPhone 13 Pro Max
It is. But for that money, I'm buying a Fujifilm X100V
And that's the same comparison, in my mind, of the S22 Ultra and 13 PM. Both great phones/cameras. The choice is purely personal. And believe me, it's one I'm struggling with, as I'm about to replace my weary Pixel 3aXL, and can't decide between those two and the Pixel 6 Pro. It's a good time for flagship phones, my friends.
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S22 is much better camera now compared to the iPhone, but the problem is smartphone cameras all suck. But dont worry guys, apple will up the MP on the next iPhone another 1mp and then claim its ’’ THE BEST IPHONE EVER ! ’’ and then all the 15 year olds on this forum will get them from there Rich mommy and daddy’s then it will all start again. ❤️
Garbage they are not. I know people that can take better photos with a phone camera than lots of "pro" photographers that think they are superior because they carry around a camera system that costs as much as a car. So really I think the problem is people like you get butt hurt because you spent thousands on camera gear and little Timmy's mommy takes photos that are just as good so she no longer needs your "pro" photos.