Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra vs iPhone 11 Pro Max Camera Test Comparison By SuperSaf

- What up guys, Saf here on SuperSaf TV, and welcome to the much awaited, SuperSaf style camera comparison. This time between the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra and the iPhone 11 Pro Max. You guys know the drill, we're going to be testing out all aspects of the cameras, front facing rear facing, video, audio, images, low light, everything. Look out for the audio icon in the corner of the screen. So we're using the front facing cameras at the moment, 4K 30 frames per second, see how it looks. Now what we're going to do is, we're going to test out to the stabilization in this wind.

So walking. Now, let's go ahead and run. (runs) We're going to be testing out 4K at 60 frames a second, and let's see what stabilization is like. (wind blowing) (runs) Now refacing video camera test, so initially was quite 4K 30 frames a second. So see where the dynamic range is like here, we're going to test out the stabilization now.

So bit of walk, let's go ahead on, (runs) (wind blowing) Now we can switch to the ultra wide camera while we're shooting. So (wind blowing) and now we're going to test that stabilization with the ultra wide camera. (wind blowing) (runs). (wind blowing). You can also test out the zoom.

So we've got two times optical zoom. We've got five times optical zoom in the S20 Ultra, (wind blowing). so we can't get in a lot closer with the S20 Ultra compared to the iPhone Pro Max. (wind blowing) Both cameras are also capable of filming at a 4K 60 frames a second. (wind blowing) So let's just test out stabilization at 4K 60, so, run (runs) (wind blowing) seriously you get a walk out doing in these camera comparisons, I'm telling you.

(wind blowing) Now for this test we're going to be testing off stabilization at 1080P. So we do have super steady on the S20 Ultra, which should help, so let's go ahead and run. (runs) (wind blowing). The only feature we've got in the S20 Ultra is 8K video, so we've switched to 8K video now, (wind blowing) and we're at 4K on the iPhone 11 Pro Max. Now we do have quite a bit of a cropper 8K, that's something that I'm definitely noticing right now, but details should be a lot sharper now.

I'm not sure if you've got stabilization at 8K but let's go ahead and test it anyway. So walking, and we go ahead and run. (runs) (wind blowing) (pacing) Now one of the things that you can do is you can crop in much further because this video is at 4K, on the 8K 24fps you can crop it a lot further and hopefully see lots of detail. Just a quick low light video test, so spooky sounds coming from here seriously. (wind blowing) Those of you interested, (wind blowing) no live video.

(wind blowing) Testing up the auto focus on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, very, very fast. Same test on the S20 Ultra and it is definitely slower. Yep, takes a bit of time to focus in. So that was the video. Now before we move on to images, a quick few things.

Firstly, if you haven't already then be sure to subscribe and hit that bell icon. That way you won't miss any future SuperSaf style camera comparisons. I cover all of the latest flagship devices here on the channel. And let's now look at what we're working with here on these two devices. So both of them have a similar camera we should we say.

We have a primary camera, we have an ultra wide camera and then we have a telephoto camera. But there's many, many differences here. The Ultra-wide cameras are the same resolution, but we do have a lot more resolution on the S20 Ultra. The primary camera is 108 megapixels. Now you're going to be shooting at defaults at 12 megapixels and that's going to allow you to combine nine pixels into one and it's going to give you better images.

And it's also got an overall larger sensor size The telephoto camera, once again, you do have a high resolution and it's also going to give you much more optical zoom, five times optical zoom and up to a hundred times digital zoom. So this will be quite interesting. And also you have eight time of flight camera on the S20 Ultra which will help with depth information. And one final thing to mention is that all images that you see have been shot on automatic. I haven't tweaked any of the settings.

There's a pro mode on the S20 Ultra if you're interested to check that out. I've also left the scene optimizer on, this is to replicate the experience most users will have. Let's get to the images. So first up, we've got an outdoor image from the primary camera and both doing really good here. We've got differences in color, but this is to be expected.

Now on this particular image, I did shoot at 108 megapixels to show you guys what it's capable of. And if we do go in 100% on both images, you can see that we've got so much more detail on the S20 Ultra shot. So that's just a really, really good thing to have, if you do want to capture all of that detail. Now remember the images will be best optimized for the software processing at 12 megapixels. And this is what the S20 Ultra is set at default.

So going forward we'll be sticking to 12 megapixels to get that best optimization. But just to show you the power of the 108 megapixels. Now the other thing that we have on the S20 Ultra is that zoom. So if we do a max out the optical zoom, we've got two times on the iPhone 11 pro max, we've got up to five times on the S20 Ultra. You can see that we can get in much, much closer on the S20 ultra.

The iPhone 11 Pro Max does max out at 10 times digital zoom, and if we compare that to the hybrid zoom that we've got on the S20 Ultra which uses both optical as well as digital zoom, you can see that we've got a much cleaner image. This sign is crisp and clear, whereas the iPhone 11 Pro Max, because it doesn't have any more than two times optical zoom, it is struggling quite a bit here. So very, very interesting to see this zoom. Now having a look at this shots, we'll come back to the primary camera shots, but once again, if we look at the zoom, the max optical zoom, iPhone 11 Pro Max two times versus five times, once again, getting in much closer on the S20 Ultra. And on the S20 Ultra, you can go up to 100 times.

This is at 30 times, now 30 times, still producing some very usable images. We have maxed out at 10X on the iPhone 11 pro max, so that's interesting that you're still getting some good shots at 30 times. Now Samsung have been calling this 100 times space zoom and I'm going to be real with you, at 100 times, you're not really going to be getting an image that you can share on social media or something like that. Yes, you can do it, but just because you can doesn't mean you should, and this may be useful in certain situations where you want to read a sign that's very, very distant or something like that, but on a practical level, I think 30X is the max where you're still going to be able to get something, somewhat usable. Anything above that is, yeah.

Now let's rewind and go back to this image that was shot on the primary camera, and now I was deliberately shooting into the sun, just to test out the dynamic range and here, I have to give it to the iPhone 11 Pro Max. If you look at the highlight areas, those have been maintained similarly to what we've got on the S20 Ultra, but if you look in these shadow areas, then we've got more detail in those shadows compared to the S20 Ultra. So this is quite interesting, I do like the iPhone 11 Pro Max image here. Now if you do use the ultra wide camera on both devices, once again, the dynamic range is much better on the iPhone 11 Pro Max. The clouds are still maintained and we still got details on the shadows, whereas on the S20 Ultra, some of the cloud areas have been blown out on some of those shadows have been crushed out.

This is quite interesting because the Note 10 Plus had great dynamic range on the ultra wide camera, so I'm not sure why this is on the S20 Ultra, maybe they need to release some more software updates, but currently as it stands, the iPhone 11 Pro Max for the ultra wide is doing much better here. Now I wanted to test this out even further. So I went out again in a tricky dynamic green situation. And here once again from the primary cameras, the iPhone 11 Pro Max doing better. There's a bit of haze from the sun, which I'm not liking, so I would call this one a bit of a draw, but when we do switch to the ultra wide camera, the iPhone 11 Pro Max, once again, better dynamic range overall.

And I do prefer this image from the iPhone 11 Pro Max compared to that on the S20 Ultra. Right now let's move on to some portraits, obviously a mode that is very, very popular. And here, both devices doing really, really good. The edge detection is great. Colors generally are really good on both devices as well, a little bit here or there.

What's interesting is if you look at the area in between my arm, this has been blurred on the S20 Ultra, it has not been on the iPhone 11 pro max. Now this should be thanks to the time of flight sensor. It's not a perfect blur, but nevertheless it is there whereas it's not on the iPhone 11 Pro Max. Now this portrait shot was shut out 2X, which is kind of the optimal, but both devices do allow you to shoot portraits at 1X. And here again, both doing overall, very, very good.

I'd say there's some differences in dynamic range. I do prefer the dynamic range on the iPhone 11 pro max, there's a bit more detail in the clouds in the background, whereas there's a bit of a blowout on the S20 Ultra. Also, if you look towards my jeans, there's more detailed there in the shadow areas of the iPhone 11 Pro Max. But once again, if you look at the area in between my arm, the S20 Ultra has managed to blur that, whereas the iPhone 11 Pro Max has not. Another portrait once again at 2X, are both doing good.

I do prefer the colors a little bit on the iPhone 11 Pro Max here. whereas we're getting a bit of a yellow tint on the S20 Ultra. This time both of them have missed a blur in between my arm, which is interesting. But nevertheless, both doing pretty good. Now really wanted to test out lighting in a tricky situation.

So this is in direct sunlight and here the iPhone Pro Max doing much, much better. The S20 Ultra has really washed out my face it's looking very yellow, there's also some highlights that have been blown out on my forehead, whereas the iPhone 11 Pro Max is doing a much, much better job in terms of the colors, and it's also managed to get that bit in between my arm this time. Now if we do go over to the 1X portraits, here once again, colors hands down the iPhone 11 Pro Max wins it, but edge detection is better on the S20 Ultra. If you look at my hair, a lot of that has been cut, so I've been given a haircut by the iPhone 11 Pro Max, whereas the S20 Ultra has maintained that a lot better as well as that section, once again in between my arm. So it looks like the iPhone 11 Pro Max, better with colors overall, and the S20 Ultra better with edge detection, thanks to the time of flight sensor.

This is something that we've seen trend on between Apple and Samsung devices for a long time. Now let's move on to low lights. I know a lot of you guys are interested in this section too, so this picture was taken with no fancy settings, just point and shoot and both not doing great here. However, as soon as we use the respective night modes on both devices, both are doing much, much better. The iPhone 11 Pro Max.

does have a brighter image, but I do prefer the S20 Ultra image overall. If we do go into 100%, you can see that we've got much less noise, and the image is sharper on the S20 Ultra. That maybe is thanks to that larger sensor. Another low light image are both doing good overall here, but if we do look close up, I once again do prefer the S20 Ultra image here. It's a tide sharper.

Some of the highlight areas. where we've got those lights. have been better maintained, and it's also got less noise overall, at the image compared to that, on the iPhone 11 Pro Max. Another low light image and both doing really, really good, but the S20 Ultra more detail, if we specially look towards the tree area, more details have been maintained there, compared to the iPhone 11 Pro Max. It's also a cleaner image.

And this is quite interesting because the iPhone 11 Pro Max. only did a three second night mode, whereas the S20 Ultra did something. like an eight to 10 second night mode. So you'd think that. there'd be a bit more motion.

on the tree because of the wind, because of that longer time. But it looks like it's not only using a longer exposure, it's also doing lots of other software magic, which is definitely working in its favor. And I do prefer the S20 Ultra here. Now using the Max optical zoom, in low lights on both of these, both of these seem to be doing pretty decent. We can see this sign pretty clearly, and that is pretty good.

I can't really pick a winner between these. because the zoom is so, so different between the two. However, when it comes, to the ultra wide camera in low light, it's a clear win for the S20 Ultra. And that's because on the iPhone, for some reason, they do not have the night mode for the ultra wide camera. So, you're getting a very usable image on the S20 Ultra, whereas on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, this image, I mean it's just not usable.

You can barely see anything. So, this is definitely something that I'd like to see on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, going forward via maybe a software update. Now a final low light image, so this was taken in those in low light. The iPhone 11 Pro Max, actually a much brighter image, but it does have more noise, compared to the S20 Ultra. And now let's move on to selfie.

So, initially this selfie, are both doing pretty good overall. I can't really pick up much of a winner between these two. Now the S20 Ultra, does have 40 megapixels, from the front facing camera. At default, you're going to be shooting around 10 megapixels once again to get those four megapixels in each one. And if we do switch to the 40 megapixel camera, if you look towards the background, you can see that you do lose some of that processing that you get at 10 megapixels.

So that software processing, you're going to be sacrificing a little bit of that. when you shoot a 40 megapixels. But at 40 megapixels, of course you're going to be getting. a lot more details. So, if we do crop in 100%, you can see more of my pores, in my nose.

And you can see all the grays in my beard. I'm not sure if you'd want that much detail, but generally speaking you're going to be shooting at 10 megapixels. But if you want, you can shoot at 40. Now this image was taken indoors, but with very good lighting coming in from outside. Here, I think both are doing really good overall.

However, the colors are off on both. So the iPhone 11 Pro Max is making me look a bit too orange, whereas the S20 Ultra is making me look a bit too white. So I'd say my actual skin color, as you can see here, is somewhere in between these two. But nevertheless, both are doing pretty good. And the iPhone 11 Pro Max is also a little bit wider, compared to the S20 Ultra, which is interesting.

Now if you do use the portrait mode from the front facing cameras. on both devices, both doing very, very good. Edge detection is really good. Once again, we do have that difference in color. Now there seem to be a bit of smoothening happening on the S20 Ultra of the skin.

This is despite beauty mode being turned off. So it seems to be something that's there by default, which personally I'm not a fan off. One thing that you do have to note. is that on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, it does crop in. When you're taking this portrait.

With the S20 Ultra, you do have the option of either having that crop in, or you can also use the portrait mode, for the wider field of view. So although generally. the iPhone 11 Pro Max is wider, it does not have an option for a wide selfie when you're doing portrait mode. Now, this is another shot. that I took, and this is something that I did notice on the S20 Ultra, that it does tend to soften things up sometimes, especially when you've got tricky dynamic range.

If you look towards my jacket, things are very soft, whereas they are much sharper, on the iPhone 11 Pro Max. I also prefer the colors overall on the iPhone 11 Pro Max. However, the edges are better on the S20 Ultra. If you look towards my jacket, my head, because that has been applied better on the S20 Ultra. So here overall I would prefer the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

And it's something that I did notice in terms of softness on the S20 Ultra processing. Now low light selfies. So here, it's a tricky one, because the S20 Ultra is much brighter, but it's also got this sort of yellow hue, which I really don't like. The iPhone 11 Pro Max not as bright, but you're getting much better colors. Now both of these do have a front facing flash, and here the S20 Ultra, seems to be doing much better.

It's a brighter image, it's sharper, I like the colors better. So the front facing flash, S20 Ultra doing much better here. And one thing that I didn't realize was that the S20 Ultra also has night mode from the front facing camera. So I thought, "Let me go ahead and test this out. " So here's a shot in darkness, and iPhone 11 Pro Max, little bit better in terms of colors but you do have a brighter image than the S20 Ultra.

But then you can use the night mode from the front facing camera on the S20 Ultra, which does give you a much, much better results. However, I think in situations like this, it's probably better just to use the front facing flash, which I think does a much better job. Right. So that was a lot to get through. Now let's talk about my conclusions.

So, I got to say both of these have. great overall cameras, both images and video done really well. And these are some of the best smartphones out there. But of course there's certain areas. where the S20 is better.

And there are certain areas where the iPhone 11 Pro Max is better. And there where I'd say it's pretty much a draw. So let's initially talk about images. I did think that the iPhone 11 Pro Max had better overall dynamic range. The S20 Ultra more detail, thanks to that 108 megapixel resolution.

The S20 Ultra overall did have better low light images in my opinion and that does seem-- Thanks to that larger sensor size, and also the fact that you've got the ultra wide camera with a night mode. Whereas on the iPhone 11 Pro Max, you can't really use the ultra wide camera in low light situations. But in good lighting, I did prefer the iPhone 11 Pro Max's ultra wide camera, thanks to the better dynamic range. Again, I'm not sure why this is on the S20 Ultra. I was expecting to be much better, coming from the Note10 Plus.

If you do want me to do a super sass style camera comparison between the S10 Ultra and the Note10 plus, definitely let me know in the comments below. Now when it comes to zoom, of course it's a clear win for the S20 Ultra. You've got much better hardware here for zoom capabilities, so you're going to be able to get in much, much closer to your subjects, compared to the iPhone 11 Pro Max. For portraits, it's the typical story. It's been the same story.

for the past few generations. The iPhone with better colors for portraits, the Samsung with the better edge detection. So I think it's going to come down to your person preference. I'd call it a bit of a draw overall. Now when it comes to video, this is where things are very, very interesting, because you guys know that the iPhone 11 Pro Max, is overall my favorite smartphone video camera.

The S20 Ultra brings AK to the table. Now there's a few things to know about AK, yes, it's great to have and it's super sharp. But you're not getting that same stabilization. It is giving you quite a heavy crop. So, I think AK will only be used in specific situations.

Maybe if you're shooting on a tripod, maybe if you've got a Gimbal or something like that. That's when I think the AK is really going to be useful. But when it came to 4K, regular footage, I liked both of these. I think the iPhone 11 Pro Max was a bit more stable. from what I could see at 4K.

the S20 Ultra was more stable at 10 ATP, because you do have super steady. But it was super soft as well. So you're getting super steady, but you're also getting super soft images. So, I don't know. it's nice to have that stabilization there.

But from what I saw, it was very, very soft, which I'm not a fan of. The iPhone 11 Pro Max. had better auto focus. I think that was very, very clear. It was faster, Samsung has been really, really good at with the dual pixel auto focus.

I don't believe the S20 Ultra has dual pixel auto focus anymore. So, it's definitely slower compared to the iPhone 11 Pro Max. But the S20 Ultra, I did find was better for low light video. So quite interesting, a few wins for the iPhone, a few wins for the S20 Ultra. For front facing video however, I'm going to have to give the edge to the iPhone 11 Pro Max.

I think both were pretty good in terms of dynamic range, but the iPhone 11 Pro Max was a little bit wider and it was also stable throughout, even at 4K 60 frames a second, you do not have stabilization at 4K, 60 frames a second on the S20 Ultra. For selfies, now I'd say it's a bit of a draw overall. The iPhone 11 Pro Max is wider, but as soon as you go into portraits, then it's not as wide anymore. The S20 Ultra is wider. The S20 Ultra, you do have more resolution, but in certain situations, it can be very, very soft.

And for colors, I'd say it's neither here or there. The iPhone made me look a bit too orange. The S20 Ultra made me look a bit too white. So I'd say it's a kind of in between there. For audio I'd say, it's a bit of a draw as well.

I'd let you go back and have a detailed listen, but I listened a few times. and I think the audio is great on both devices. That's what I think anyway, what do you guys think? Be sure to drop a comment below. Let me know which one you preferred overall. Now if you want to see image shot on lots of different devices, then be sure to follow me on Instagram.

I'm @supersoft. I post very, very regularly on there. And if you haven't already subscribed to this channel here, be sure to do that and hit that bell icon. That way you won't miss any future SuperSaf Style coverage. I hope you enjoyed this video, and found it useful as you know, these camera comparisons take a very, very long time to make.

So a thumbs up for that would be appreciated. Thanks for watching, this is Saf on SuperSaf TV, and I still have to edit this thing, man. That's going to be a mission. I'll see you next time. (upbeat music).

Source : SuperSaf