Camera Comparison: Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Apple's iPhone 13 Pro Max

[Denzo]

Both awesome cameras, I have a 13PM and just a flip 3. One thing I love about the samsung standard video app is I have a director mode which has a small screen in the corner as a selfie type video so where you'll see the person recording for example, and it's sitting amongst the video being recorded by the external cameras, sort of like face time but all with one phones cameras. Made some really cool videos with my kids on the play equipment.































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Also what'weird is Apparently the flip uses old sensors

 

[Darth Tulhu]

There is a LOT of arguing about real vs phone cameras.

It must be made clear that the iPhone ALSO has a camera. It's nowhere near its primary purpose.

In addition, the iPhone is designed for "everyone" in mind, not for a specific field's fans/professionals.

It's the equivalent of a (very nice) daily driver.

You can take it to the track on weekends for fun if you like, but it's nowhere near a dedicated race car.

However, that race car can't carry my kids or my groceries, while I listen to music, in the comfort of A/C.

 

[svish]

Both are very good. But zoom in S22 Ultra is excellent. Hopefully iPhones get better optical zoom in the near future.

 

[GoodWheaties]

I'll preface this by saying that I agree with both of you. As someone who has a proper mirrorless camera and multi-lens setup there is just no substitute between a smartphone sensor, no matter how good the computational photography algorithms are.

But there is one area where I'll vehemently disagree - the out of camera experience. Until cameras catch up in the arena of computational photography smartphones will always produce better images out of camera (from a dynamic range perspective) than traditional cameras by virtue of their built in HDR processes. Sure, you can get the same effect by shooting raw and adjusting shadows and highlights in post processing, but why bother with that when the phone's algorithms will do that for you? This is why phones have effectively replaced point and shoot cameras while the DSLR and mirrorless market for professional and creative photographers remain strong. There's room for both!

This is a really good take. It’s amazing how easily smartphones spit out an amazing photo that would take quite some time to import and edit from a DSLR.
But I’m always disappointed when I actually have to crop or edit a smartphone photo. The quality just falls off so quickly. I’ve cropped a picture from a 7D down to about 20% of the original photo and it still looked quite good. Every time I zoom on a smartphone photo I’m reminded how they just don’t start with as much detail. And it doesn’t even take a professional to see the difference.
But I’m still gonna take pics of my kids with my 13 mini cause it’s always here.

 

[bbplayer5]

Both look amazing. This is good for the market.

 

[Just sayin...]

…What did you think of the photos in the video?

I clicked on this article to read the content…not watch a YouTube video. For me, I prefer to read thoughtful, detailed comparisons. ?‍♂️

 

[bluespark]

Both of these are very good. It's astounding to me how far phone cameras have come, and I now very seldom turn to my DSLR despite its superior glass. At this moment, the camera is not a differentiating factor between these phones unless you need the super zoom, in which case Samsung wins.

 

[mclld]

Smartphone cameras are still tiny little garbage cameras that only impress people who are used to taking crappy photos to put on social media sites. They in NO way can compare to traditional cameras with 1” type sensor (or larger). A Sony RX100 (any model number) will blow these garbage cameras out of the water, and the small Sony RX100 will still be as useful 10 or even 15 years down the road. If you want a small, pocketable camera get a traditional camera, don’t buy an overpriced smartphone with a garbage camera. I love my iPhone 13 Pro Max, and the cameras are improved over the older iPhone XR I had, but the cameras are not why I bought it. The smartphone cameras are a frigging joke compared to traditional cameras, and they are difficult to use and the image quality is a D- at best. It is like comparing an old standard definition TV set to a 4K HDR TV, there is no comparison other than “crap” versus “good”.

A bit hyperbolic. I have a full frame Canon and nice lenses and still prefer to use my phone.

 

[HarryDevlin]

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: Cmera Comparison: Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra vs. Apple's iPhone 13 Pro MaxT

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

Apple and Google have invested heavily in computational photography that allows these tiny-sensor cameras to produce photos that rival those produced by larger sensor SLR and mirrorless cameras.

Only Fuji has fully embraced computational photography in their high-end X series mirrorless models and they are about to up the ante with their soon to be released X-H2. Canon, Nikon, and Sony are far behind, and professional photographers have been switching to Fuji en-masse. I asked my professional photographer friend why he had all his Nikon SLR gear up for sale. He said that he switched to Fuji for better results as well as much smaller and lighter gear.

 

[HarryDevlin]

Smartphone cameras are still tiny little garbage cameras that only impress people who are used to taking crappy photos to put on social media sites. They in NO way can compare to traditional cameras with 1” type sensor (or larger). A Sony RX100 (any model number) will blow these garbage cameras out of the water, and the small Sony RX100 will still be as useful 10 or even 15 years down the road. If you want a small, pocketable camera get a traditional camera, don’t buy an overpriced smartphone with a garbage camera. I love my iPhone 13 Pro Max, and the cameras are improved over the older iPhone XR I had, but the cameras are not why I bought it. The smartphone cameras are a frigging joke compared to traditional cameras, and they are difficult to use and the image quality is a D- at best. It is like comparing an old standard definition TV set to a 4K HDR TV, there is no comparison other than “crap” versus “good”.

It's the computational photography capability that makes the smart phone cameras able to rival larger sensor traditional cameras. It takes a lot of compute power to compensate for those small sensors and small lenses, but they manage to do it.

Only Fuji has fully embraced bringing computational photography capabilities to larger sensor cameras, leaving Canon, Nikon, and Sony far behind. And Fuji is able to charge premium prices for their higher end X series cameras as professionals abandon their old-school SLRs.

 

[ggibson913]

I dunno, I like the iPhone shots better. Especially the woman who is holding the child, her face is much brighter and not as shadowed and the background stuff seems less blurred. The zoom on S22 is cool though at max the image quality wasn’t great.

 

[MrDerby01]

I'd like to point out.. Android users still have a common issue with the photos regardless of how good cameras are to date. The social media software\platform when uploading and sharing. Even today Android apps compress the heck out of photos, MMS , RCS is awful. Even snap chat or facebook. horrible.

iPhone user's don't have a lot of these issues.

 

[mclld]

It's the computational photography capability that makes the smart phone cameras able to rival larger sensor traditional cameras. It takes a lot of compute power to compensate for those small sensors and small lenses, but they manage to do it.

Only Fuji has fully embraced bringing computational photography capabilities to larger sensor cameras, leaving Canon, Nikon, and Sony far behind. And Fuji is able to charge premium prices for their higher end X series cameras as professionals abandon their old-school SLRs.

That is interesting, I didn't know that camera makers were starting to do that. That should make for some amazing improvements

 

[subi257]

What photographic style was used on the iPhone as that can change the warmth of photo etc

The article says that they are all in RAW with no filters or adjustments.

 

[subi257]

Smartphone cameras are still tiny little garbage cameras that only impress people who are used to taking crappy photos to put on social media sites. They in NO way can compare to traditional cameras with 1” type sensor (or larger). A Sony RX100 (any model number) will blow these garbage cameras out of the water, and the small Sony RX100 will still be as useful 10 or even 15 years down the road. If you want a small, pocketable camera get a traditional camera, don’t buy an overpriced smartphone with a garbage camera. I love my iPhone 13 Pro Max, and the cameras are improved over the older iPhone XR I had, but the cameras are not why I bought it. The smartphone cameras are a frigging joke compared to traditional cameras, and they are difficult to use and the image quality is a D- at best. It is like comparing an old standard definition TV set to a 4K HDR TV, there is no comparison other than “crap” versus “good”.

A little crabby this morning? They are not meant to compare or replace straight out cameras. These are multi purpose pocket computers that take pictures, make phone calls, do email etc......and do all of the above well. My Sony A7III takes great pictures as does my Canon EOS 1Ds Mk III....but that is all they do and you are not going to simply walk around with them hanging on your neck all day everyday.

 

[subi257]

100% agree with you. You will get slammed for this, but you are absolutely right. These people unfortunately will never understand this. It is too big of a bubble to burst.

Nah, it's you guys that don't get it. it is not a comparison between a smartphone camera and a dedicated camera. A dedicated camera will always take better pictures.....they are in the "you have one job to do...." category and that all they do. They are bigger, heavier and more complicated....they have their place, but do not compare to the image of a smartphone....but smartphone pictures are getting very impressive what they are.

I am fully familiar with dedicated cameras as I have a Sony A7III, a canon EOS 1DS MKIII and gave away my Hasselblad and lenses and I work with people that own and shoot on Sony A7RIV's, Red Cinema's Sony F5/65.

 

[cocoua]

Reviews always forget the mother of dragons: "low light video recording"

 

[subi257]

Yeah and no. I actually bought my 13 Pro because of the camera first. I had a 12 before which was perfectly adequate and I wanted the incremental upgrade.

I will put you in the minority on that basis...I am sure there are plenty of people of the same mind, but most likely small percentage.

 

[subi257]

Yes I was looking at a mid-range DSLR at the time and decided to go with the 13 Pro.

That's just crazy talk....They are 2 totally different things.If one needs a mid level DSLR, then ANY smartphone camera will not suffice. And....from a point of semantics...not meaning to be a d**k.....A Sony A or RX whatever is not a DSLR, that are "mirrorless digitals" no mirror is no more "reflex".

 

[subi257]

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.

Very true, because even in the "professional" world, a DSLR/Mirrorless is not good enough. There are pro's that have to shoot for very large end use and that is when you go to a medium format digital...Hassalblad, Phase One, Pentax, Fujinon...100MP and up

 

[Danfango]

Very true, because even in the "professional" world, a DSLR/Mirrorless is not good enough. There are pro's that have to shoot for very large end use and that is when you go to a medium format digital...Hassalblad, Phase One, Pentax, Fujinon...100MP and up

Depends what the target medium and subject matter is really.

The whole thing is there aren’t hard lines around usability zones.

 

[Lucca2]

I still remember when Macrumors compared the iPhone 12 vs iPhone 11 camera ? ? using a defective iPhone 11 ???

 

[bossfan61]

Huh? Nobody is talking about iPhones or Samsung phones taking on traditional cameras. Most people aren't buying phones because of the cameras, it's just a plus if they perform well for the form factor. As they say, the best camera is the one you have on you and pretty much everyone is gonna have a phone on them.

Agreed. NOBODY cares how these compare to traditional cameras! If you want to carry around your Olympus, Nikon or whatever 24/7, go ahead. Otherwise, stay on topic!

 

[NightFlight]

Both look fantastic up to a point, but I think I prefer the S22's shots overall. I'm another person who thinks that Apple should up their zoom game.

 

[no0nefamous]

Regarding the phone vs. professional camera talk - I have a 13 Pro and a decent Canon DSLR with several lenses and equipment and a moderately high but not professional level of understanding regarding photography. If you were to take a photo of most scenes with adequate lighting with the 13 Pro and DSLR at the same time, and then pull them up side by side on a computer screen, 9 times out of 10 the 13 Pro looks just as good and often looks better off the bat due to the on the fly computational processing done by the phone. The ONLY important difference between both photos -after- editing is if you zoom in down to the pixels, you will see more digital noise on the 13 Pro photos (the algorithms are responsible for creating that "painting" effect when you zoom in). But, in practice, the photos will never be viewed that way. They will be seen at a "fit to screen" size or compressed to a print.

For the vast majority of users who won't edit much or at all, this is more than enough, and better than what they will get by carrying ANY point-and-shoot camera around. The phones are more than capable of taking beautiful photos that, in practice, will look professional.

The DSLR and mirrorless cameras have a major advantage when you start getting technical, with tripods, long exposure shots, long telephoto zooms, achieving a specific depth of field, etc. There are apps that allow you to do these things with the phone but the results are still iffy. Also, phone "night modes" are no match for a tripod + long exposure + braketing for HDR. But, doing this type of shooting and editing means you have to dedicate time specifically for that. You have to go somewhere with the specific intention of capturing good photos and lugging your equipment there and knowing every single one will have to be edited later.

Everyone knows that all of that effort will result in better photos. Yet, for the vast majority of shots one might take in their day to day life, a current high end smartphone will get a comparable or better shot. Acting like this isn't true or that great photos taken with a smartphone are somehow less valuable is just digging your heels in, refusing to adapt to the times.



Regarding the photo comparisons in the threat: for me it's a toss-up. The S22 photos look more natural, and the 13PM photos look more vivid and "pop" more. In some cases the S22 shots look dull, in other cases the 13PM photos look over-processed. It really just comes down to a case by case situation where some scenes will look better on one vs. the other. It also doesn't matter much because both can be quickly touched up. Picking out minor details like "the hat is blurrier in this one vs. this one" doesn't matter since the phones may have chosen a different focal point for the same scene.

That said, I do wish Apple's computational photo AI was a little less aggressive. Too often I find myself desaturating the photos by 25% and decreasing the contrast so they look more natural. I do have "standard" set as my photograph style but it's still often very processed.

But there is one area where I'll vehemently disagree - the out of camera experience. Until cameras catch up in the arena of computational photography smartphones will always produce better images out of camera (from a dynamic range perspective) than traditional cameras by virtue of their built in HDR processes. Sure, you can get the same effect by shooting raw and adjusting shadows and highlights in post processing, but why bother with that when the phone's algorithms will do that for you? This is why phones have effectively replaced point and shoot cameras while the DSLR and mirrorless market for professional and creative photographers remain strong. There's room for both!

This.