S21 Ultra vs iPhone 12 Pro Max vs S20 Ultra vs Pixel 5 - Camera Comparison! By ZONEofTECH

Welcome to the ultimate camera comparison between the Samsung Galaxy s7, ultra the iPhone 12 Pro max the Samsung Galaxy s20 ultra from last year and the Google Pixel 5. We now have 35 individual tests from HDR shots to slow motion to panorama to night mode. Would flash night mode time-lapse and pretty much anything that you can think of. Also, this comparison is no longer a blind camera test, so you'll always know which phone is which so without any further ado, get our popcorn ready and let's find out which phone has the best camera? Okay. So what I'll be looking for in every shot is a balanced image. So if an image has two deep shadows, then the details would be lost, so they will need to be brighter, but if they're too bright, then the image would be too flat.

Same thing goes for the highlights. So if we take a look at the first image right here, you can probably tell that the s20 ultra just crush the shadows, to the point where a lot of details have been lost. The other three phones actually performed quite well. However, the s21 ultra has a lot of noise in the upper portion of the image, whereas the iPhone 12 Pro max and the pixel 5 do not, and between the pixel and the iPhone, I actually prefer the pixel as the iPhone has a very blue tint, especially if you look at the concrete pylon now in the second HDR shot. They all look very similar.

However, if you take a look at the brick wall on the left, the s9 ultra and the pixel 5 actually retained the most amount of detail, while the iPhone and the s20 ultra. They both crushed the shadows to the point where a lot of the detail has been lost and between the s10 ultra and the pixel 5 uh, the s21 ultra messed up the sky quite a bit as there were some processing errors, while the pixel 5 was perfectly smooth. So the pixel 5 nails this one again, but the s100 ultra's image is sharper than the pixels and also wider. So I can see why some of you might prefer one over the other. Next up we have an indoor shot and same thing here, I'm looking for a balanced image, and here I think that the iPhone actually has the most balanced image.

The pillows are sharp and well exposed same goes for the glass and the flowers. The s20 ultra actually blew the flowers quite a bit, and same goes for the s21 ultra. The pixel 5 did well here, but if you take a look at the table, it wasn't as sharp as on the iPhone. So the iPhone takes this one for me. Next up we have another indoor shot and noticeably less light than before, and here the s100 ultra messed up the texture of the wall.

I don't know if you guys can see that, but it looks super muddy. The s20 old truck kinda did the same, just not as bad the iPhone and the pixel were both good, but I do prefer the pixel just the colors in general. Look more even and rend looks better on the pixel 2, so the pixel takes this one. Okay. Now we have a very interesting test.

So all of these photos are raw photos, uh straight from the phones, and the point of this test is to see which phone can recover the most amount of detail. So we increase the shadows by a hundred. We drop the highlights by a hundred. We balance the exposure and just take a look at these results. The iPhone managed to recover a ton of shadow detail.

This was edited in the native photos, app on the iPhone by the way as Lightroom or Photoshop do not support program. Yet sky detail is superbly well-preserved on the iPhone 2, especially if you take a look at the lower clouds. So the iPhone takes this one. Next up we have the macro test and essentially what we tried here was getting as close as possible to the subject in order to find the minimum focal distance and, as you can probably tell the s29 ultra just blows everything else out of the water. Surprisingly, the iPhone 12 Pro max had the weakest macro, as you had to be quite far away from the object to focus.

The s20 ultra was better, but it had a very shallow depth of field. The pixel 5 was the second best after the s21 ultra next up. We have the zoom test taken at 10x on each of these phones and the pixel 5 was by far the worst as it doesn't even have a telephoto module. Also, it only has 7x zoom digitally, so we had to punch in uh when editing the video by the way to 10x the iPhone was better, but surprisingly, not by that much. Even though the iPhone does have a 2.5 x optical zoom lens, the s20 ultra has 4x, and then the rest of the zoom is done digitally thanks to that 48 megapixel sensor, however, the s21 ultra has 10x optical zoom, so everything in this shot has been done. Optically- and you know I have to say there- isn't as much of a difference between the s21 ultra and the s20 ultra that I was expecting to see uh the s21 ultra is indeed sharper, but only by a tiny bit still the s1 ultra takes this one, but something that each of these phones has is an ultra-wide angle.

Module. And here, if you just take a look at the viewing angle alone, the pixel is the narrowest and the other ones are basically the same. And because of that, I cannot give a point to the pixel here. However, between the other three, I do prefer the s21 ultra the most. The iPhone is good um, but the shadows are quite crushed.

The s21 and the s20 ultra have much better shadows, but the s20 on ultra is sharper. If you take a look at a concrete wall here, unfortunately, the s21 does have a lot of noise in the water, but overall I still prefer the shots coming out of it, and now we have a second ultra-wide shot, which was taken in much more difficult lighting conditions, and here it is pretty clear that both the iPhone and the s20 ultra have failed as they crush the shadows way too much. The pixel and the s21 ultra have dealt with shadows much better. But if you take a look at the highlights on the pavement, you can see that the pixel blew them out almost entirely. The s21, on the other hand, hasn't so the s21 ultra takes this one.

Next up, we have the panorama test taken with the main lens, and what I'm looking for here are essentially three things number one: the stitching quality number two, the overall exposure and number three, how wide the panorama actually is now in terms of the stitching. The iPhone essentially takes this one. If you take a look at the rail on the left, it was pretty much perfect with absolutely zero distortions. Now, in terms of the exposure, it is the iPhone again as it was the only one that perfectly exposed the sky, and when it comes to the viewing angle, it was pretty much identical on all of them. So the iPhone takes this one.

Moving on to 4k60 video, I expected this to be an easy one for the iPhone. As most of you probably know, the iPhone is known to have the best video on a smartphone, but it wasn't really like that. You see, while the iPhone does indeed do really well with balanced shadows and highlights the s20 on ultra does almost exactly the same, as the image looks almost identical, with the exception that the s100 ultra is brighter, but even though it is brighter, it does not blow out the highlights. So I do have to give the win to the s21 ultra here, even though the iPhone was actually a close. Second also take a look at how the iPhone blew out some highlights and the parking while the s21 hasn't oh, and we did remove HDR from the iPhone's video for this.

So it looks just like it does. On the phone itself, and now we have 4k 60 video but taken on the ultra-wide camera, and here the iPhone just did the best. If you pause the video, you can tell that it has by far the sharpest image there is a lot of shadow detail preserved, whereas on the other phones, especially the Samsung ones, they lost a lot of detail. Actually, the ultra-wide angle, video on the s49 ultra, looks worse than even on the s20 ultra okay. So, so far, the s19 ultra is in the lead, with five points followed by the iPhone with four the pixel 3 and the s21 ultra with zero.

But let's take a look and see how that changes with the slow motion test. So here what I'm looking for is just which phone had the slowest slo-mo and that's definitely the s20 on ultra and the s20 ultra, both of which can shoot at 480 frames per second, and then they upscale the footage to 960. Um the iPhone and the pixel can only shoot in 240 by the way- and here I actually do prefer the s20 ultra. It just seems that the highlights on the bowl are preserved compared to the s21 ultra, which blows them out so finally, a point for the s20 ultra moving on to the 4k stabilization test, shot in 4k, 60 they're, all really, really good here, the s21 ultra and the iPhone 12 Pro max are the best, with the iPhone being slightly better, not massively, though, as the s21 ultra still performed really well. But the iPhone does take this one.

Now, when it comes to the autofocusing speed test, surprisingly, the s21 ultra seems to be the fastest when focusing up close, and that's thanks to that laser focusing module which all the other phones lack by the way. However, when it comes to focusing on something in the distance, the iPhone is the fastest. So I'm actually going to give a point to both here. Next up we have the time-lapse test, and here both the s21 ultra and the pixel 5 have a 4k resolution, while the iPhone and the s20 ultra are only 1080p, so the s20 ultra and the iPhone are immediately disqualified because of this, and between the s21 ultra and the pixel, I actually do prefer the pixel. It seems like the image is overall sharper, and the shadow details are much more preserved, whereas the s21 ultra does have a lot of noise.

So yeah the pixel takes this one in terms of portrait mode starting off with a photo of men, as each of these phones can recognize pets. The pixel unfortunately had a really poor background. Separation and same goes for the s20 ultra the iPhone and the s21. Both did an amazing job. The s21 managed to separate men from the background better as the iPhone messed up around the years, but I do prefer the overall colors on the iPhone more and that extra blur that we get in the background.

So that's actually my pick here when it comes to a portrait shot of an actual person. In this case me uh. They were all fairly good. The iPhone was the most believable one where it kind of looks like you actually took it with a DSLR camera, whereas all the other ones kind of look like they were photoshopped in one way or another. However, my codes looked blue, and the sky was super blown out on the iPhone.

So my choice here is actually the s21 ultra, as I think as an overall image. It is by far the most pleasing one: okay, moving on to some low light shots taken with night mode. What I'm looking for here is a natural night mode. I don't want the shot to look as if it was taken in daytime, and I think that all phones actually managed to achieve that. Look.

If you take a look at the sky, which does remain quite dark on all of them, the s20 ultra messed up the shadows. Again, the iPhone did better, but yes, 21 ultra and the pixel were by far the best, with the pixel being my choice here, as it retained a lot of the detail in every single part of the image, especially when it came to the brickwork in the second night shot here, the s20 ultra messed up completely as it was super soft and noisy. The s21 ultra did not sleep better, but there was still a lot of noise in the sky. So in terms of these shots, the iPhone and the pixel did best, with my choice actually being the pixel. Here again, if you take a look at the sky, you can see how the iPhone started, having this yellow tint to it, while the pixel kept everything more natural, which I do prefer.

And finally, we have our third night mode, shot and same thing here: the s20 ultra messed up entirely. The s21 ultra was miles better, but still very noisy in the sky. The pixel and the iPhone were both cleaner, but the iPhone was just way too warm in terms of the sky. So again, I do prefer the pixel here too. Okay, now we have a low light shot taken with the flash, and the whole point of this is to see which phone manages to brighten up the image, while also maintaining a natural look like.

I don't want to see that horrible flashlight effect here and unfortunately, the s21 ultra has just that. So it's immediately out the s20 ultra has a 2 just not quite as bad. So it's between the iPhone and the pixel and I have to go with the pixel here again you see the lights around. This canal were actually yellow, and the pixel managed to preserve that color, while also brightening up the image without giving you a flashlight look. So yeah I'm quite impressed in terms of the pixel here.

Next up, we have low light zoom at 10x. Now, since the photo taken was of a lamp, the s21 ultra actually switched to 10x optical zoom lens, and it just destroys the competition. However, if we actually had less light, it would have just used the main sensor and the result wouldn't have been as good, and now we wanted to see which phone had the best load performance when using the ultra white camera and here they're all pretty bad. To be honest, I actually think that the iPhone is the worst here, just by the fact that it has so much noise in the sky and the image itself is very soft too. The pixel 5 is fairly soft too, but then the s21 ultra is way too sharp.

So surprisingly, I actually think that the s20 ultra is the best here, as it has the least amount of noise, while still maintaining a natural look moving on to the live portrait. This is where it gets fascinating. It was just getting dark, and I was in this wooden hut, where there was barely any light and interesting enough. The pixel did the best, but it also cheated you see. All these phones use the telephoto module, whereas the pixel used the main module, as it doesn't have a telephoto module.

So I will give the point to the pixel, but at the same time I think the s21 ultra did amazing from all the phones that did use their telephoto modules. Okay, now we have low light video, but taken at a full 60fps in 4k. Why 60fps? Well? Most people wouldn't switch to 4k 60 daytime just to switch back to 4k 30 when issued a night video, and here the s21 ultra was a horrible mess, as it just cannot do. Pixel bidding when shooting video the s20 ultra was basically the same, only that it applied a ton of noise reduction. The pixel was still noisy, but the iPhone, on the other hand, was so, so much better with almost zero noise.

Any super sharp image. Overall, however, the iPhone was not as bright as the other ones. Still the iPhone takes this one by the fact that it had the cleanest image by far, and then we try doing an macrophotography shot, but um. Not only was it cloudy, but it was also so bright outside that the phones just would not enter macrophotography mode, even though they were all on a tripod. So this ended up being a long exposure tripod shot, and here the s21 and the pixel managed to preserve the most amount of shadow detail with the pixel 5, even having noticeably less noise than the s21 ultra when it came to the sky.

So the pixel is definitely my choice here, and now we have a night mode time-lapse and same as the daytime one, the pixel 5 and the s21 ultra were in 4k, while the iPhone and the s20 ultra were in 1080p. Also, the iPhone and the s20 ultra have almost no detail in the shadows and the pixel 5 is super noisy. So out of all of these, the s21 ultra is by far the best moving on to some front-facing camera stuff. Here, I'm not a fan of the pixel as it's far too dark and also take a look at the blue tint of my codes, which was actually black in real life. The same goes for the iPhone which, for some reason, made my face too orange, and my coats looked gray.

So the s21 and the s20 managed to both get the colors right and between the two. I actually do prefer the s21 ultra as it was much sharper in terms of the front-facing video. It's probably obvious that the iPhone is just way too bright here and by the way we did fix the HDR file and even on the iPhone itself, it still looked way too bright. The pixel, on the other hand, just crushed the shadows way too much, so I actually do prefer the s20 ultra here. It has a wider angle than the rest.

The colors were good, and the image was super sharp overall in terms of the front portrait mode uh. What I'm looking for here is a nice background separation and I think that all of them did a perfect job here. The pixel messed up, my hair on the left a bit and same goes for the iPhone. The s21 ultra seems to be the only one that got my hair right, and it also has the sharpest image with more to the life colors. So definitely the s21 ultra here.

So what about a low light? Selfie now uh? This was taken with night mode on all of these phones with the flash disabled and the pixel was way too green and too fuzzy here. So definitely not a pixel. The s20 ultra was way too dark. The iPhone was way too bright. So I think I'm going to go with the s21 ultra here as it seems to be the most balanced image and also the one with the most amount of detail.

If you take a look at my facial hair, okay, now we have a selfie in low light, but with flash on and what I'm looking for here is a bright photo that doesn't give you the impression that it was taken with the flash. So I'm not a fan of Samsung phones here, as they look too flash like and between the pixel and the iPhone I'm going to have to go with the iPhone in this one, although I honestly think they're all really, really bad. Okay. Next up we have the front-facing low-light video, and here I'm assuming that most of you would just pick the pixel, because it has the brightest image, but it does that at the expense of a lot of noise, the s21 ultra and the iPhone are the closest to how this looked in real life and out of the two I prefer the iPhone as it's just a bit brighter, but without the massive amounts of noise that the pixel shot had. And finally, when it comes to the microphone test, I believe that the iPhone sounded the best you'll hear that in just a second but the iPhone actually managed to cancel a specific boat noise much better than the rest, and my voice had more bass and more depth than the other ones.

So yeah just listen for yourselves, okay. So this is a microphone test on all of these four phones, starting off with the Samsung Galaxy s21 ultra there's, actually a boat passing in the distance. So I'm curious to see how each of these phones will cancel that and amplify my voice uh. This is the iPhone 12 Pro max, which well you'll. Tell me how that actually sounds like next up.

We have the Samsung Galaxy s20 ultra, so especially pay attention to how this compares to the s21 ultra, if it's any better or worse and then, finally, we have the pixel 5, which is the least expensive phone out of all of these four. So let's take a look at how the microphone sounds on the pixel okay. So I have the results in front of me and the s20 ultra did the worst. Am I only getting three points out of 35, and then I was surprised you see? The pixel 5 got 10 points followed by the iPhone at 11 points and then the s21 ultra, which got 12 points. So, in conclusion, it is pretty obvious that all of these phones are a major improvement over the s20 ultra from last year, a phone which was priced at 1400 at launch and no matter which phone you get you'll still receive a very good camera experience with some unique advantages for each like, for example, the iPhone has the best raw processing and the best low light video, whereas the s21 ultra has the best zoom and the best macro.

The pixel has the best night mode photos and the s20 ultra has the best slow motion. I guess, but no really. I think this video just concludes that, no matter what smartphone camera you get in, 2021 you'll always get a very good result. So thank you for watching definitely subscribe. If you want to see more in the tech videos like this one, hopefully it was because, like you enjoyed it and yeah, thank you for watching sonofftech signing out peace.

You.

Source : ZONEofTECH