Why the iPhone SE camera beats the Pixel 3a's By CNET

The Pixel 3a has been one of my favorite phones for the past year for just 399. It takes astonishingly good photos because it's got the same camera as 28 hands, pixel three, the camera- maybe almost 18 months old, but it's still really freaking good. But now it's got some new competition from Apple, since their new iPhone SE is also 399 with the 2020 SE. Apples taken the iPhone, Elevens processing power and crammed it into an iPhone 8's body. It's a much more powerful phone than the 3a or what about the camera? This 12 megapixel lens is writing solar, but it's similar in many ways to the iPhone 11s camera setup, just without an ultra wide-angle shooter. So how does the iPhone SE stack up against the Pixel 3a in most cases pretty? Well, let's start with standard photos.

The iPhone SE mostly shoots more vivid shots than the pixel through a and does so without losing much detail. It does have one weakness, sir. You can often over blur highlights, whereas the pixel is remarkably consistent. This photo taken in the center of a park near my house is a perfect encapsulation of the difference notice how the green in the grass pops so much more and how much more dynamic the sky looks. But if you look to the top right, you'll see a spot where the iPhone has clipped highlights.

This is an issue that popped up throughout testing notice that overpowering the light from the sky is on this overcast day, for instance, in both cases, the pixels, through a did a far better job at keeping its cool and that's another thing. The Pixel 3a usually shoots things with a cooler hue, while the iPhone warms things up. Take this Banks flower, the greens are deeper in the pixel, but you'll see how the iPhone deals much better with the yellows and the Reds. But these photos are the more drastic examples that came across. If you take a look at these shots, which represent the average farm, or you'll, see that both phones capture excellent photos, but iPhones are just a little more vibrant.

There is a bigger difference, however, when it comes to zoom the pixel 3 a gives you up to seven times: digital zoom, and I'm. Pretty sure that iPhone SE takes you up to five times, I say pretty sure, because the SI gives you a zoom slider with no corresponding number to let you know exactly how far you're zooming in not only can the pixel zoo, much father picture zoomed in at the same level a much clearer and sharper see how grainy these flowers look on the iPhone and how much clearer this wine label is on the pixel. Neither phone has an ultra wide-angle lens for that you'll need to upgrade to an iPhone 11 or an Android phone not made by Google, because not even the pixel 4 has on which phone takes better portrait. Photos is really more a matter of taste than a technical issue. Both are more than good enough to score your new Facebook display picture, but both will also have their issues.

These two were taken from the same distance. For instance, if the pixel looks like much more of a close-up but looking at the photo itself, you'll notice that the iPhone is is warmer and smoother, the pixel captures more detail, look at Dan's beard and hair, but also it's artificially sharp in places, especially skin. This is particularly true in this shot of DIN. Look at the creases around the eyes in the pixel shot. They're, not super flattering, but it's not simply that the pixel captures imperfections.

It's let due to its habit of over processing. It can exacerbate certain details that shouldn't really be there. The pixels portraits are also flatter in this comparison. You'll see that the iPhone does a better job of distinguishing Rachel. From the background, the pixel is also a bit too shadowy losing out on Rachel's eyes as a result, but the iPhone also looks a bit too bright and highlighting, and if you compare the two closely, it almost looks like the iPhone has a bit of a fish eye lens effect for portrait shots.

It's really more about personal preference, rather than one phone being outright better than the other. When it comes to the front cameras. The two phones are fairly evenly matched. Sometimes the pixel captures more detail and other times the iPhone captures a richer color, but I have to declare the iPhone the winner here, because it's better at dealing with a wider variety of lighting conditions. I gave the pixel plenty of chances, but no matter what it just couldn't deal with the light on my front.

Porch low-light photography revolves around one question the night sight or no night sight. The iPhone SE has no night mode, while the 3a has Google's night sight. That makes the pixel much stronger in the dark. In normal circumstances, with the pixel shooting without night sight turned on, the iPhone usually has an edge here. You'll notice, the SE captures way more information around the wood fire like details by the ground and in the background trees, and then there are cases like this, where the 3a takes in more light, but does so at the expense of white balance notice, the unsightly yellow tinge, but hey, got to give a little to get a little but turn the lights out on, and it's a different game.

The pixel blows away the iPhone SE I feel like I. Don't really need to go into details, as these comparisons really speak for themselves. Comparing the video capabilities of these two phones would take us home. Video. One thing I noticed pretty quickly is that the iPhone had better dynamic range than the pixel.

You can say it a bit during the day, but it's much more noticeable at night. Compare the car headlights in these two videos, and you'll see that the pixels look far more Larry than the iPhones do in this shot of a wood fire you'll notice that the pixel is over, contrasted as compared to the iPhone, the Google Pixel 3, a still has a crazy good camera and though it earns points for the zoom and the nitrite for everything else. I'd call the iPhone SE the winner.

Source : CNET