iPhone X vs. Galaxy S9+: Which Smartphone Has a Better Camera?

[macduke]

Unless you want good colour, and then a phone will be a better choice

I’ve heard these complaints about Sony and from what I can tell it’s just not true any more. I switched from Canon last autumn so I can’t speak much to the past of these Sony cameras but the color seems mostly on point to me in this camera, especially so with GM lenses, and professional reviews have mentioned the color accuracy improvements that they’ve made—especially for skin tones in portraits. But for someone who is university trained in both classic color film photography and digital photography in college, I think it’s pretty freaking easy to mass color correct RAW files compared to fiddling with filters and an enlarger. And the current Sony is so far beyond any early digital cameras that I’ve owned and how far I can push it that it’s just not even an issue I think about.

 

[Splatt123]

Don't know about everyone else, but I buy my phone ONLY for its ability to take photos. Making calls, browsing internet, and apps all take a back seat. iPhone X seems to be the better choice here.

What? The review says the Samsung S9 is better
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In the most non biased way possible, I'd like to say I still think the iPhone X pictures look better nearly every time. The colors are awful with the S9.

I'm guessing the "non biased" means you have an iPhone and not a Samsung?

 

[Applemaniac7]

So.... on an apple centric website, most owners of said Apple devices are saying they prefer the Apple photos over the dreaded "S" company, whose name should never be mentioned.. who knew...

 

[DNichter]

What about now? Which one do you like more?



Just added a touch of exposure and saturation in LR. I could have warmed the color tone as well.

The S9+ photos look more like RAW files, with the JPEG engine leaving lots of detail and not going nuts on the post processing. The iPhone X JPEG engine applies a lot of stuff, which makes it look more appetizing right away, but the photo quality is far lower (especially that noise reduction... lordy!)

I imagine with the S9+ you can simply choose how you want your JPEGs to be with a single tap from a selection, kind of like the filters on iOS. Set it and forget it.

The S9+ has far more detail and is the better camera. An iPhone X isn't better than an A7Riii because the RAW files look dull.

Man, y’all really need to have the better camera don’t ya? I was just giving my opinion on what looked better. That was the X.

 

[CmdrLaForge]

Very unfortunate but S9 seems to be better in the pictures provided.

 

[samwight]

1. From these examples, I prefer the X, but I'd rather see which pictures clean up better, and tolerate extreme cropping better (digital zoom).

2. No way the difference is enough to affect phone selection.

3. live photos rule... how about a comparison with motion photos...

 

[diogenis]

I don't think the differences are that much, especially if you like the S9's other features.

This article seems to indicate the S9 beats out the X
Low Light Photo Shootout: Galaxy S9 Vs. iPhone X Vs. Note 8

Overall, I think the quality of images on all the cameras, you cannot go wrong with either one at this point, so it boils down to other features of the phone, do people like iOS better, or want an Android experience.

What is the point of reviewing a product that is primarily a phone, where you get Barbie and a camera as gifts? If you want decent photos, go get a decent camera with a large sensor and lenses. If you can also afford to buy a Leica then you got all that without the bulk and weight
[doublepost=1521316524][/doublepost]

"A great photographer is only as good as his/her worst tool."

Nope. A great photographer is a great photographer, one who posses the attributes and abilities I outlined in my previous post.

Those who obsess over gear, or state the obvious about what's needed, rarely are.

A great photographer will never allow to risk his shots using phones to capture photos and there is a good reason for it. The great photographer uses whatever camera he prefers that will help him with his work.
[doublepost=1521316753][/doublepost]And you know this because....????

It's a tossup because the S9+'s dynamic range is far superior than iPhone X's, but the S9+'s artificial sharpening looks AWFUL.

 

[citysnaps]

I disagree as the tool is just as important as the eye. Those who obsess needlessly(sic) over gear rarely are (great photographers).

I like to use the analogy a great carpenter can build a house with a saw, hammer, shovel and some nails.

You're making my point.

Even beginners know that certain gear is needed to shoot pro football, auto racing, BIF., etc. That should be obvious to all.

Using that gear, however, does not guarantee strong photographs being produced.

As I have been continuously asserting, that lies with the photographer and his/her life experiences, imagination, eye, skill, understanding the dynamics of environments, ability to connect with subjects empathically, ability to read and understand light, the ability to compose, understanding what information/elements to withhold when necessary to create mystery and released narrative, understanding how narrative (real or imagined, conjured in a viewer's mind) works, and much much more.

 

[Baymowe335]

What? The review says the Samsung S9 is better
[doublepost=1521313483][/doublepost]
I'm guessing the "non biased" means you have an iPhone and not a Samsung?

Owned Samsung for years. Switched because the iPhone actually has support and the features work.

 

[Applemaniac7]

Owned Samsung for years. Switched because the iPhone actually has support and the features work.

Out of curiosity, so I don' get my fingers burnt in the future.. what features on the Samsung phones dont work... in have a s7 from work and I think everything works as it shud?

 

[Baymowe335]

Out of curiosity, so I don' get my fingers burnt in the future.. what features on the Samsung phones dont work... in have a s7 from work and I think everything works as it shud?

I had a Note for 3 years and the S Pen never worked from a software perspective. You could use the lasso and try to send that to someone, but if literally froze messages every time. That's just one example. The S Pen in general was so buggy, it was unusable.

I got a replacement device, same thing. They never updated my software in the 3 years I owned it until the last month when they FINALLY pushed Marshmallow, an outdated version of Android which proceeded to drain the battery so kuch, I bought an iPhone X. I go 2 days without charging now.

 

[Applemaniac7]

I had a Note for 3 years and the S Pen never worked from a software perspective. You could use the lasso and try to send that to someone, but if literally froze messages every time. That's just one example. The S Pen in general was so buggy, it was unusable.

I got a replacement device, same thing. They never updated my software in the 3 years I owned it until the last month when they FINALLY pushed Marshmallow, an outdated version of Android which proceeded to drain the battery so kuch, I bought an iPhone X. I go 2 days without charging now.

So your talking about maybe a note 4. Many years old.. then comparing the workings of the S pen, which the s9 doesnt have.. mmm.. Interesting.

 

[kagharaht]

So in the example. Portrait Mode from iPhone X is way inferior that Samsungs version? Well thats embarrassing.

 

[mikecorp]

pathetic review. Clearly Macrumors have no idea.

 

[skywalkerr69]

Am I the only one who really doesn’t care about camera quality?

 

[I7guy]

You're making my point.

Even beginners know that certain gear is needed to shoot pro football, auto racing, BIF., etc. That should be obvious to all.

Using that gear, however, does not guarantee strong photographs being produced.

As I have been continuously asserting, that lies with the photographer and his/her life experiences, imagination, eye, skill, understanding the dynamics of environments, ability to connect with subjects empathically, ability to read and understand light, the ability to compose, understanding what information/elements to withhold when necessary to create mystery and released narrative, understanding how narrative (real or imagined, conjured in a viewer's mind) works, and much much more.

That same carpenter cannot build a skyscraper, so I disagree about making any point.

As I have been continually saying the right tool for the right job. A reknowned photographer for example will not be able to take world class photographs of lemans with cars whizzing by at 100+ mph with a pin hole camera, much less a slow smartphone. The right tool for the right job. A world class surgeon could perform surgery using a saw, chisel, needle and sewing thread would be a better analogy.

Understanding the relationship of light, distance, aperture, f stop, shutter speed and iso can assist a great photographer in taking world class pictures on a high end DSLR as all of those are adjustable separately coupled with a low noise sensor. The high end glass completes this framework.

One thing I do agree on, a novice will not take a photograph with better composition on a camera phone or dslr. But that is not this conversation. This is not about the great photographer on a smartphone vs a novice on a dslr.

 

[AppleScruff1]

How can Sony's phones not being mentioned in the comparison when they actually make the camera?

Because this is MacRumors and we only care that the iPhone camera is better than the Samsung one. It doesn’t matter if some company other than Samsung has a better camera, we hate Samsung and the iPhone must be better no matter what.
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Am I the only one who really doesn’t care about camera quality?

No, there was one other person earlier in the thread, so there are two of you.

 

[SPUY767]

I have severe doubts around the claim that this phone can record 960fps. A lens that small can only gather so much light, and to have a “shutter” speed that fast, you’d have to have incredible lighting, a huge ISO which will make the images look grainy as hell, or it uses interpolation of tween frames, which is an interesting technique in and of itself.

 

[KanosWRX]

The first image of what I think is a bird house the iPhone won.. Then the rest I think the Samsung won. Its odd because it looked like in that firs pic the iphone was cleaner/sharper, less muddy on detailed objects. But then the rest, looking at the twigs and the building windows the iphone looked very muddy, very little detail. Almost made me wonder if the first was mislabeled.

 

[pl1984]

That same carpenter cannot build a skyscraper, so I disagree about making any point.

As I have been continually saying the right tool for the right job. A reknowned photographer for example will not be able to take world class photographs of lemans with cars whizzing by at 100+ mph with a pin hole camera, much less a slow smartphone. The right tool for the right job. A world class surgeon could perform surgery using a saw, chisel, needle and sewing thread would be a better analogy.

Understanding the relationship of light, distance, aperture, f stop, shutter speed and iso can assist a great photographer in taking world class pictures on a high end DSLR as all of those are adjustable separately coupled with a low noise sensor. The high end glass completes this framework.

One thing I do agree on, a novice will not take a photograph with better composition on a camera phone or dslr. But that is not this conversation. This is not about the great photographer on a smartphone vs a novice on a dslr.

This! While a great photographer can take great pictures they're still constrained by their tools. As I had to take pictures for another reason I thought I'd break out the dSLR for the same shot (different picture but same idea). Here is a pic of my Macintosh IIci I took earlier:



And the same system with a dSLR:



Which do you think is better? FYI, I did not spend much time composing either of these shots.

 

[Ploki]

The last photo really shows my biggest complaint with iPhone photos that's been ongoing since iOS 7: the super aggressive noise-reduction that makes everything look like a painting.

Even in outdoors during the day, noise cancellation makes it all terribly blurry.

yeah, iPhone X photo looks blurry compared to Samsungs...

Even if there's some smarter post processing to make it look more vivid and vibrant, Samsung's image is a better basis for any other post processing.
I thought there would be less of a difference.

 

[citysnaps]

That same carpenter cannot build a skyscraper, so I disagree about making any point.

As I have been continually saying the right tool for the right job. A reknowned photographer for example will not be able to take world class photographs of lemans with cars whizzing by at 100+ mph with a pin hole camera, much less a slow smartphone. The right tool for the right job. A world class surgeon could perform surgery using a saw, chisel, needle and sewing thread would be a better analogy.

Understanding the relationship of light, distance, aperture, f stop, shutter speed and iso can assist a great photographer in taking world class pictures on a high end DSLR as all of those are adjustable separately coupled with a low noise sensor. The high end glass completes this framework.

One thing I do agree on, a novice will not take a photograph with better composition on a camera phone or dslr. But that is not this conversation. This is not about the great photographer on a smartphone vs a novice on a dslr.

You're continuing to state the obvious. Most people know certain types of photography requires certain gear. That does not guarantee a strong photograph though.

One just needs to go to the photography forums where all the buzz is about the best gear. Yet when you look at their photographs, they always seem to be ho-hum. Yeah, photos are sharp and well-exposed, but lacking emotion, gravitas, and say absolutely nothing. And boring as truck.

When the discussion turns to actually making photographs, and not about gear, peoples' photographs are deeper, nuanced, meaningful, and interesting.


If I ask a photographer, "What do you shoot?"

And the reply is something like, "I've got a 5DMIII and a 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom," that immediately tells me something.

If the reply is instead something like, "I photograph neighborhoods experiencing widespread gentrification capturing the changes in the dynamics, rhythm, and energy of the environment," that tells me something else.

In the first case, I might be polite and say, "Oh, that's nice."
In the second, I'd probably say something like, "That's interesting. Let's have a beer sometime, I'd love to see your work."

 

[I7guy]

You're continuing to state the obvious. Most people know certain types of photography requires certain gear. That does not guarantee a strong photograph though.

One just needs to go to the photography forums where all the buzz is about the best gear. Yet when you look at their photographs, they always seem to be ho-hum. Yeah, photos are sharp and well-exposed, but lacking emotion, gravitas, and say absolutely nothing. And boring as truck.

When the discussion turns to actually making photographs, and not about gear, peoples' photographs are deeper, nuanced, meaningful, and interesting.


If I ask a photographer, "What do you shoot?"

And the reply is something like, "I've got a 5DMIII and a 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom," that immediately tells me something.

If the reply is instead something like, "I photograph neighborhoods experiencing widespread gentrification capturing the changes in the dynamics, rhythm, and energy of the environment," that tells me something else.

In the first case, I might be polite and say, "Oh, that's nice."
In the second, I'd probably say something like, "That's interesting. Let's have a beer sometime, I'd love to see your work."

Unfortunately we are going around in circles as this was all covered in prior posts.

In my amateur circles when we discuss favorite subject matter amongst photographers we dont discuss equipment because that falls under “how to best photograph the subject matter”.
[doublepost=1521328206][/doublepost]

This! While a great photographer can take great pictures they're still constrained by their tools. As I had to take pictures for another reason I thought I'd break out the dSLR for the same shot (different picture but same idea). Here is a pic of my Macintosh IIci I took earlier:

View attachment 754758

And the same system with a dSLR:

View attachment 754759

Which do you think is better? FYI, I did not spend much time composing either of these shots.

The composition of the top photo is cooler, but the bottom photo looks sharper.

 

[Arndroid]

Why don't we ever see any reviews about call quality comparisons? Why is it that phone manufacturers never say a peep about call quality- when it arguably is the most aggravating aspect of these phones? It's always camera this & camera that. Hello- its an i PHONE.

You call people on your phone ?

 

[Guy Clark]

My preference are the photographs taken with the Galaxy S9 as the colours are warmer.