The Samsung Galaxy S21 ultra has had the best set of cameras that you can get on a smartphone. And since it launched, it’s also had some major updates on top of that but the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 are on paper Apple’s single bigger camera upgrade since the very first iPhone. So, we’ve got 12 short categories, and through them; we’re going to find outside by side who is the 2021 camera champion. And right off the bat, the iPhone 13s are a bit of a turning point, because every single camera test over the years has always lost points for lack of camera features, software modes, and just fun things to do, but with the iPhone 13 Pro, Apple has added photographic styles to reframe shots for your preferences; they’ve added a macro mode which has changed how close you can focus on things from 10cm to now 2cm, and cinematic video, which, I’d say, is not perfect but it’s by far the best attempt a company has had at this concept.
8K VIDEO RECORDER
Samsung still has more features that the phone can technically record 8k video. It can shoot from multiple cameras at the same time but I would say that this iPhone does push the battle of software modes at least ones that people would use to about a draw. But Samsung does get an early win here in the form of zoom, so the iPhone 13 Pros have a 3x optical zoom camera. It is a step up from last year’s phones which capped out at 2.5 times, but it’s not looking particularly promising up against Samsung who has both a 3x and a 10x optical zoom camera built-in.
ULTRA-WIDE CAMERA
The only caveats I would add to that, though are one for me at firstly, for me at least, most zoom photos that I take are probably not 30x but more like 5x or 7x, and when you’re using zoom ranges like that, and you’re not activating Samsung’s specialized 10x optical zoom camera, to be honest, they’re pretty comparable and actually, iPhone 3x zoom camera does get you a little closer to subjects than Samsung’s 3x zoom.
And also, just the simple fact that for some reason iPhones seem to be the only phones that can seamlessly switch to zoom cameras without lagging. So, I’ll still give this category to Samsung but, only slightly.
MACRO CAMERA SWITCH
Now, the other category that I’m just sort of used to handling to Samsung is macro – you bring that phone close to a subject and it’ll automatically switch to its ultra-wide camera which can now focus close. And not many phones have been able to compete with that till now: with the 13 Pro Apple has added in the same feature and, it works in an almost suspiciously similar way.
See, a huge part of the iPhone 13 Pro selling point especially centers around the newcomer sensors on them, and how much more light they can get in versus the last generation Apple quoted figures up to 2.2x better low light performance. 2.2 times – that should be at least 2 generations way through improvement.
You know, because they quoted 2.2x more light but, to be honest, Samsung’s brightening power also seemed to be way higher, then I realized something I realized that while Samsung defaults to capturing for between 3 and 9 seconds.
NIGHT MODE
When you’re using night mode, Apple has set this new iPhone to only ever capture for between 1 and 3 seconds. I think they did this because capturing for shorter periods does mean that you’re less likely to move your hands and blur the photo. And you can see the benefit in some shots but it also means that by default, you’re not getting nearly the full night mode experience. But check this out, this is that same scene from earlier, and this is what happens when you manually force both phones to capture for 10 full seconds. The iPhone goes from about equal sometimes worse to the way ahead. This room was literally pitch black – I couldn’t see anything and, not the only thing Apple does right here, it’s also able to better render out natural realistic colors even when your eyes can’t. But Samsung’s phone to being coerced by the warmer lights you usually find in indoor scenarios. The iPhone is incredibly strong and just not going too warm. It’s also more detailed, most of the time. That said, Samsung’s ultra-wide is better about 60 of the time as it, of course, 10x zoom camera. But Samsung’s 3x zoom doesn’t work well in the dark. So, up until you get to 10 times. Actually, the iPhone zoom is better, and just to reiterate, I’ve personally found that even in the shots where the iPhone’s ultra-wide is potentially not as strong if you force both phones to, capture for 10 seconds, Apple benefits much more than Samsung does from that extra time.
OPTICAL ZOOM
This is not just a particularly fancy camera setup, when you think about it – it has 3 lenses, all 12 Megapixel resolution, 3x optical zoom, nothing about is extraordinary. But I think it’s a pretty good example of how more than ever the camera software is just important. That said, it’s also an example of how Apple software can be patronizing and not conducive to better photos. Now, one thing that Apple has always done well is portrait mode. However, credit, where do when I first tested the S21 ultra in January portrait mode, was disappointing but thanks to a few key updates where they’ve buckled down it. It’s slowly become one of the better phones for it. The software on the same feels good now. I think Apple just edited it out because of how its 3x zoom camera is a little better than Samsung’s 3xzoom camera, and the 3x zoom is generally how you would take portraits. But it’s close. This extra organ quality just means Apple can get away with less artificial sharpness, and I think, really that’s the main difference.
STABILIZATION
Now one of the main visual charges coming from the iPhone 12 Pro to the iPhone 13 Pro is a smaller notch on the front, and in case you are worried about how this affected camera performance, it hasn’t. And so, where that leaves us is that as far as video is concerned both iPhone and Samsung are much of a strong stabilization copious levels of detail, and very similar ability to cope with harsh backlighting. I just think Samsung is a bit more flattering. This applies to pretty much every facet of the cameras. To be honest, if your priority is looking good then Samsung’s got that nailed down. You can also shoot cinematic videos on Samsung.
AUDIO TESTS
Apple’s is slightly more realistic but it’s clear that both features need some work in terms of audio tests. So, listening to the microphones on the iPhone 13 Pro Max, and listening to microphones on the Samsung Galaxy S21 ultra, I don’t think either of these is sufficiently better that it should be a deciding factor, though. But what about just selfies.
RESOLUTION: SENSOR
Well, on paper, this should be a white-wash – Samsung has a 40MegaPixel resolution with larger sensor size. Apple has a tiny 12Megapixel one, but for most photos, Samsung has a 40Megapixel resolution with a larger sensor size. Apple has a tiny 12Megapixel one, but for most photos, Samsung doesn’t look too far ahead. Yes! Its larger sensor does translate to a little bit more natural background blur. It gives the slight cling of, yeah, I took this on a proper camera whereas the iPhone camera still feels like a front camera, but for most shots, there’s not that much in it. And Apple’s lens is wider so slightly more room if you fancy a group selfie, but there are two things that I would say – to the balance in Samsung’s favor being portrait mode. I think more often than not, Samsung’s selfie portraits are more accurate with sharper edges, and this solidifies just now much work. Samsung has put into portraits, while they’re not quite as good when taken on the rear cameras – the main reason it seems to be just the inferior quality of hardware on the lens being used. But on the front where Samsung has put in the resources to create better hardware than Apple the results speak for themselves.
When you’re in some indoor and lower light scenarios, I think the iPhone is too harsh, I guess that, because its camera hardware is a little bit worse, it has to use more artificial sharpening, and so, it’s more likely to draw out every single imperfection you have on your skin. If someone started a dating profile with this photo, they’d probably get banned for violation.
FOOTAGE: SLOW–MO
Finally, before we get to the real important categories is Slow-mo. I use to get quite excited about Slow-mo and the latest developments in it, but for the last few years, I’ve just had this distinct feeling that none of these companies care about it anymore. The feature has barely evolved, and we’re still in the same position that we were in 2018. Both phones can shoot footage that’s 8x slowed continuously, and the quality is pretty comparable. But then Samsung’s can go slower being able to shoot short bursts of 32x slowed footage. But the fact that this super slow-mo still looks like this in 2021, it’s pretty criminal. Samsung can have this victory, but Slow-mo as a category seems to be drifting into irrelevance. You can also take Slow-mo on the front of both phones, but I’m yet to find a use for it.
PHOTOS: General daytime
Okay, let’s talk about photos – General daytime photos. It’s a bit of a toss-up. In fact, no, it’s a bit of a mess. Like, I wish I could tell you that there was a clear winner here, but honestly, even my preferences change every photo. For example, for a straight-up landscape, I prefer the poppy colors and slightly cooler tones of the Samsung. But on a technical level, the iPhone’s image is just packed with detail. You can zoom in to any part of a daytime iPhone 13 Pro photo, and it is completely noise-free. That’s not quite the case with Samsung, but then in challenging lighting, Samsung’s aggressive dynamic range is better able to control the bright areas. And this is especially true for the ultra-wide cameras, where the iPhone can end up over-exposed, but then, the iPhone’s lower contrast is quite often more flattering on faces. If you get closer up to a camera and Samsung realizes that you’re a person, then it will brighten your face. But, if you’re further away, then it will just treat you like a landscape or in other words, aggressive…this is starting to sound a bit odd.
And then, indoor, it does think of the two, the iPhone is more realistic but there is something to be said about its shots, also looking a little clinical and lifeless. But it’s tough to draw a line, like, this is a cat, Mylo, and I think this iPhone shot is more representative of the real scene. If I was going to post one of these photos it wouldn’t be the iPhone's, it makes the cat look ugly. Sorry, Mylo!
This new option to choose your photographic style does kind of help. You can adjust the tone and tweak the color temperature, but you still couldn’t recreate what Samsung does.
OPTIMIZATION: TONAL BALANCE (VIDEO)
Equally, though, in these indoor lighting scenarios, the iPhone is slightly more consistent at keeping its focus and minimizing blur from moving animals, and people, slightly. So, for general photography, I’m handing out a draw. However, there is one big category for which the iPhone steamrolls the Samsung (and that’s video iPhone). iPhone video is brighter; it’s crisper, it’s far less prone to noise, and it’s also more tonally balanced. To be honest, I don’t know what Samsung’s doing here – like, their video is not bad, but it should be better than this, given that they’re the ones with the larger higher resolution sensor. A part of it is, Apple’s optimization, like when they design their chip to power this phone, it has been built around being able to be able to capture videos in a certain way. And this even applies to ultra-wide video, and even zoomed video, until you go past 10x after which the Samsung will, of course, overtaking it. Plus, Samsung’s footage also seems to degrade faster when the lighting falls. Like, if we go to a somewhat dim room, and try to start recording, it is immediately struggling. Then, the darker it gets, the more the differences are exaggerated.
The only caveat that I would say for the iPhone is it does still have these annoying little flares when you point it directly at bright sources. They had it last year; they didn’t fix it. But yeah, for video, the iPhone wins in the daytime, it wins in low light. And so, if you’re one of those people who take more video than you do photos on your phone there is no better tool than the iPhone 13pro, and the final category before we pick a winner stabilization. In 98% of cases, you’ll probably find them identical, the differences only come when you push them to the extreme like you try sprinting, then you will feel Samsung’s advantage in this field. That lead can also be increased with the use of Samsung’s super steady mode. But it caps your resolution at 1080p which, honestly, I mean, I’ve had this S21 ultra for some time now. I’ve not once used it because I’d rather have bouncier video than video that’s a quarter of the quality, but yeah, I feel pretty comfortable handing stabilization to Samsung. So, who won? If we count up this little tally I’ve, I’ve been keeping you can see that of these 13 categories, Samsung has won 6.5 just over half but does remember that different categories of different importance and some were close wins, other were thrashings. So that score is only to give you an idea.
My gut feeling, having spent the last four or five days taking hundreds upon hundreds of shots with both of these is that Samsung has the potential to be more surprising. It’s on balance the more amusing camera to use both in terms of how expressive its images are, and also the fools it gives you to achieve them. However, the iPhone 13 Pro is more reliable. It loses to the Samsung in things like slow motion and maximum zoom but it won’t lose in any of the big categories –raw photos, raw videos are continuously strung and rarely falter. And the nighttime performance is a nice bonus. I wish I could give you a more concrete answer of which one wins outright? But hopefully, you’ve seen that in this case, it does just depends.
Wow! This is unexpected! I love your writeup @allweathertalk
ReplyDeleteThank you Don.
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