iPhone 12, Pixel 5 and Mate 40 Pro Cameras Put To The Test - BBC Click By BBC Click

1 00:00:01,440 --> 00:00:04,240 This week. I've been putting four of the latest smartphone cameras to 2 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:08,360 the test to see how they stack up.3 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:15,960 I've been using the iPhone 12 Mini but it has the exact same 4 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:18,080 camera as the regular-sized iPhone 12 and I have 5 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:20,640 been seeing how they cope with low light, 6 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:25,560 how far they can zoom and how good their video stabilisation is.7 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:27,520 First, let's talk about dynamic range.8 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:29,800 If you've ever tried to take a picture of somebody stood in 9 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,200 front of the Sun, you might find that the person is in silhouette 10 00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:37,360 or the sky is too bright with all the detail washed out.11 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,160 All of these phones can use computational photography 12 00:00:40,160 --> 00:00:43,640 to blend together several exposures to preserve the detail.13 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:46,840 So I went to the park and took some pictures stood in front of the Sun 14 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,360 and here's how they turned out. All four of them did a great job.15 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,560 My face is bright. You can still see the clouds in the sky.16 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,360 I'm pretty happy with these, but I think the Pixel 5 fell behind 17 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:59,840 a little bit here. Its portrait was more grainy than the others.18 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:01,760 Here's another set of portraits in the same 19 00:01:01,760 --> 00:01:04,240 park and pretty much the same thing happened.20 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:08,400 The Pixel 5 portrait had more grain. Let's talk about lenses.21 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:11,560 The trendy thing at the moment is to add a super-wide lens, 22 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:15,040 so you can zoom out and fit a bit more into your picture.23 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:18,920 I actually prefer a telephoto lens because I feel you can't 24 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:21,920 always get closer to something you want to zoom in on but 25 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,760 you can quite often take a few steps back to get further away.26 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:29,000 So I always prefer a telephone lens.27 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,560 All four of these phones have a super-wide lens but only two have 28 00:01:32,560 --> 00:01:36,600 a telephoto lens. Last year's Pixel 4 did have a zoom lens, 29 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,960 but it's gone on the Pixel 5 replaced with a super-wide.30 00:01:39,960 --> 00:01:43,480 The iPhone 12 Pro Max has a 2.5x optical zoom, 31 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:47,480 the biggest ever on the iPhone. The Huawei Mate 40 Pro packs in 32 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:52,160 an even bigger 5x optical zoom.

Here's how that looks in practice.33 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,800 I saw some geese in the park and I took these photos 34 00:01:54,800 --> 00:01:58,200 from about two metres away, that's as close as I could get 35 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:03,040 without digitally cropping on the iPhone 12 and the Pixel 5.36 00:02:03,040 --> 00:02:06,680 Here's the 2.5x zoom on the iPhone 12 Pro Max...37 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:10,880 getting a bit closer. But look how close I got with the Huawei camera.38 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:15,040 This goose was working my camera. Gorgeous.39 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:17,600 And here's another example of a clock tower in the park.40 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,640 Look how much closer you get with the zoom.41 00:02:20,640 --> 00:02:22,680 This really does make a difference. Later in the park, 42 00:02:22,680 --> 00:02:25,800 I saw a squirrel and you know they won't let you get too close.43 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,480 My instinct was "quickly grab the Huawei" and this 44 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:31,440 is how it turned out. This was taken on a camera phone.45 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:35,640 So the zoom here blew the other phones out of the water.46 00:02:35,640 --> 00:02:37,720 To test the phones in low light I went into central 47 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,400 London after dark, which as you can imagine is pretty 48 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,400 much deserted at the moment... apart from every now and then 49 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:46,600 you'd see a social media influencer and their camera operator, 50 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:50,800 striking a pose and having a little photo shoot in a deserted location.51 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:53,280 I went down to the Tate Britain, which at the moment 52 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:56,000 is lit up for Diwali. All these were taken on 53 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,960 the super-wide cameras and all of them look great.54 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,120 Although I think the Huawei just edges ahead.55 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,120 Take a look how much detail it preserved in these beautiful tiles.56 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:09,000 Those were the super-wide shots. With the regular wide camera, 57 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:12,280 Apple and Huawei both say they have made improvements this year 58 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,840 to let in more light.

Here are some photos from the wide cameras.59 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:19,080 Both iPhones took a decent shot. The Pixel did too, 60 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:21,840 although again it was darker and grainier than the others.61 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:25,440 And then the Mate 40 Pro captured this and I was blown away.62 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:29,400 Look again how much detail is preserved. I also took some 63 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:31,720 Portrait Mode shots here, which came out very nicely.64 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,000 You'll notice the one from the iPhone 12 Pro Max is more 65 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,640 zoomed-in because it defaults to the telephoto lens for portraits.66 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,960 I have to say that both iPhones and the Pixel captured quite a lot of 67 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,000 lens flare from these neon lights.68 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,160 I didn't mind in this particular context because it looks quite 69 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:50,880 artistic, but the Huawei did not have any lens flare.70 00:03:50,880 --> 00:03:53,720 Here's another location with some low light portraits taken 71 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:57,120 on the wide angle lens. Again, the Huawei was my favourite because 72 00:03:57,120 --> 00:04:00,800 the picture was the most sharp. In fact the Mate 40 Pro was so 73 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:03,960 consistently impressive that whenever we were taking any extra 74 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,480 shots or I wanted a quick one done of me in a nice location, 75 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:12,480 I'd say "let's do it on the Huawei, it's going to get the better shot".76 00:04:12,480 --> 00:04:15,080 All these phones also offer Night Mode and to test that 77 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,960 out we went to St James's Park at night and it was very dark.78 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:23,160 This is all the iPhone 12 could see without engaging Night Mode.79 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:27,360 And here's how the Night Mode shots came out.80 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:31,920 All four took bright photos in the dark with my winner here 81 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:35,840 being the iPhone 12 Pro Max.82 00:04:35,840 --> 00:04:38,840 The iPhone 12 Pro Max has an extra trick - it has the Lidar scanner to 83 00:04:38,840 --> 00:04:42,920 detect depth so it can also take blurry-background Portrait Mode 84 00:04:42,920 --> 00:04:48,480 shots with Night Mode switched on and this was really a wow moment.85 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:52,120 We took this in near total darkness and Laura came out bright, 86 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:56,040 in focus, with the background perfectly cut out and blurred 87 00:04:56,040 --> 00:05:00,240 gently. It was very impressive.

But what's more impressive is 88 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:04,680 that the Mate 40 Pro can do this without engaging Night Mode.89 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:08,600 This was just a regular Portrait Mode snap taken instantly without 90 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,520 a long exposure in near darkness.91 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:15,160 And while it is a bit darker than the iPhone's night mode portrait, 92 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:19,880 you don't need your subject to hold still for a few seconds to take it.93 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:22,800 Let's take a quick look at video stabilisation.94 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,320 The iPhone 12 Pro Max is trying something new for Apple.95 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:29,000 It has sensors-shift stabilisation, which moves the camera sensor 96 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:33,360 around to counteract your hand movements and it works very well.97 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:35,800 In these shots jogging in the park alongside my friend, 98 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:41,000 the iPhone 12 Pro Max definitely produced the most stable video.99 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:49,640 Of course, there's more to a phone than just the cameras.100 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,320 The elephant in the room is that Huawei still does not have access.

Source : BBC Click