Google's pixel to excel currently holds the tough spot for phone camera supremacy
But our final battle this year is a huge one apples back again this time with the iPhone 10
Huawei has the may 10 Pro and Sony is throwing the xperia x e1 into the mix?
It's a four-way competition with the winner taking our top spot to finish out 2017
This photoshoot out series determines the best phone camera in a king of the hill style battle with the winner moving on to face the
Next major smartphone this episode marks the first time we are presenting the results in 4k
So enjoy that extra resolution while looking over the test examples like always our results will be broken into four categories
color clarity
Exposure and user experience all of the phones are tested using the stock camera app in full auto mode
The way a majority of the people use their phones
I focus on real-world results and use a critical eye to determine a winner now
Let's meet the phones our current top spot is held by the Google pixel to excel it uses impressive machine learning algorithms to stitch together
multiple exposures
resulting in an
amazing final photo all while using fairly standard parts in our last shootout Apple's iPhone 8 plus was supplanted by the pixel -
But now Apple gets another shot at the top spot with the iPhone 10 the hardware is very similar to what's in the 8 plus?
But maybe these small tweaks will help put Apple in the top spot once again
Huawei's make 10 pro boasts a I powered intelligent photography and a partnership with boutique camera maker leica
but Huawei hasn't had a notable track record in the past, so we'll see if the make 10 Pro can join the big leagues and
Finally after months of waiting
I have my hands on a Sony phone the Xperia xz1 Sony smartphones have long been a top request from you the audience
Despite Sony's small market share in the US so I'm hoping to see some impressive
Photos now that we've met the phone's let's go over the results first up is color and here we're covering color
reproduction and white balance this first example tells a basic story in regards to white balance
The pixel leans cooler and the iPhone leans warmer where the mate 10 falls into a snug spot in between
The Sony XE one actually adds a bit of green tint and notice how different the wood floor appears because of it. It's way off
here in the stairwell the mate 10 is the coolest followed by the pixel to the iPhone once again skews warmer and the X
One goes even further pushing too far into a horrible yellow now white balance can be a tricky thing
the software has to decide whether it wants the scene to portray the yellow tones of the fluorescent light or
Compensate for it in order to achieve a true white but some of it just comes down to personal taste
This next shot of a meal from smash burger helps illustrate. How white balance can affect the perception of the scene
Specifically check out the fries the pixels fries are cooler. So they come across as a bit dull even though
They're the most accurate the iPhones fries and bun look a bit too radioactive for my taste and Sony's fries and ketchup are cartoonishly red
But I find the mate tense fries
Bun and led us to be a pumped up version of accurate though in a good way
This last scene of flowers at Home Depot shows the color reproduction capabilities of each camera
I'll even throw in histograms to bring it home each phone except for the mate 10 has spikes of color
limiting the total color
Variation the Reds on the mate 10 don't blend together the way the other photos do the iPhone does better in the greens?
But overall I was surprised by how accurate the mate 10 is once again colour can be a matter of personal taste
But the huawei mate 10 Pro takes this category formula next up is clarity
We'll be going over the sharpness of the cameras, and how well each phone stays sharp in dark environments now
Let's start off with an Adam favorite the brick. Wall brick walls. Have a lot of detail and texture, which shows immediate differences between photos
Zooming in we see that the pixel 2 retains great texture on the bricks the iPhone 10 not so much
It looks low res in comparison the mate 10 holds up better
But like LG Huawei adds sharpening and post in order to get there
And I would have thought that the EXCI one with its higher resolution sensor would have done a lot better than this
Now let's move on to this macro shot of this succulent
Zooming in and focusing on the tiny hairs along the edges
We see that the pixel 2 is amazingly detailed the iPhone and xz1 feel blurry in comparison
Which is once again sad for the Sony phone the mate 10 really does keep up with the pixel 2?
But loses some of the texture on the lead
this next photo in a garage reveals
How noise reduction can strip away?
Detail the May 10 once again reminds me of what we used to see on LG phones with aggressive noise reduction
Resulting in blocky shapes in the window the EXCI one does even worse
Losing detail in the bricks as well the iPhone 10 does pretty well in this situation
But I still prefer the pixel twos grain patterns and clarity the same garage at night tells a bit of a different story
Here the pixel 2 didn't capture a clean image
Whereas the mate 10 and the iPhone 10 are perfectly usable the XE ones results still boggle my mind the detail should be there on
Such a high megapixel count sensor
But it just isn't and despite having the lowest ISO of all the phones the iPhone has the most pronounced grain though
It doesn't bother me this super dark photo in the corner has a pixel to Ferenc a bit better
The word orbit is more clear than what's on the iPhone, but it's still not really shining the May 10 does really well
But it's noise reduction is still pretty aggressive out in the rain
Let's observe the texture of the water on the car right off the bat
I'm gonna call out the horrible results of the XE one and praise the mate tens ability to maintain some detail
The iPhone does a bit better than the pixel two which really struggled in low-light this time
So while the pixel two is the clear favorite in bright light walkways make 10 Pro does great in almost every situation here
Taking the clarity category the third test is exposure here
We're covering how each phone decided to expose for a scene and how much dynamic range each one was able to retain I'll provide
Histograms so you can see the results for yourself now
Let's start this category off with a tough scene
this environment really tests the
capabilities of each camera and the histogram results show most of them holding up very well as in past tests the pixel skews darker and
The iPhone skews lighter Huawei has a great showing here retaining plenty of information in the highlights and the lowlights
But man the photo from the Sony phone is a hot mess the photo is wildly underexposed and there is barely any
Information left in the dark areas this next scene is also fairly complicated
And the results are similar the pixel has the most dynamic looking photo
But the mate 10 is way more natural and retains plenty of valuable exposure information
This basic scene produces very similar results on the pixel - in the make 10 the XE 1 is darker again
But the iPhone 10 blows out the white strip. I'm not quite sure what happened here
It's a simple scene, but the iPhone makes a bad choice
It holds the shutter open far longer than the rest and the HDR just doesn't kick in to protect those highlights
Moving into the stairwell let's focus on the lighting fixture
It's blown out to various degrees in each image
But some obviously more than others the iPhone in the EXCI 1 lose any hint of the cage around the bulb
But it's present on the pixel - and mate 10 looking at the picture overall the pixel keeps the most
Consistent exposure if a bit processed this next example is very
interesting other than the obvious
HDR results there is a specific quirk - look at the pixels shutter speed interfered with the refresh rate of the lights
Resulting in the lines here when I shot this photo every light had these moving lines on the screen
And it was super distracting speaking of quirks
Here's another one this time on the iPhone 10
Shooting directly into the Sun like this can be helpful when trying to test the lens flares and other anomalies
Each phone has its own drawbacks
But none of them are as extreme as the iPhone the flare is so pronounced that it washes out detail and dynamic range on
Top of being visually distracting I'm gonna have to give this category to Google's pixel to excel the fourth and final test looks at user
Experience here. I take into account everything that revolves around actually using the cameras day-to-day
Let's start with the pixel tube. There's plenty to love about using Google's stock camera app it opens lightning fast
It's dead simple and it's powered by Google some amazing computational algorithms
But it falls short in terms of manual options and only has basic features like panorama and portrait mode
Which we'll get to in a minute using the iPhone 10 felt
Just like using the Apple 8 plus a couple of months ago
The only real difference is the taller aspect ratio of the screen?
But it didn't have too much of an impact in day-to-day shooting
Generally Apple's stock camera app is simple to use and reliable but lacks professional features like a manual mode
Or access to deeper settings from within the app, but if you want quirkiness, then you will find it in Huawei's camera
It's not the most intuitive experience
But it has a nice blend of features including a full manual mode a light painting mode and an auto watermark
It's worth noting that the mate 10-second camera is a 20 megapixel
Monochrome sensor so it's black-and-white photos are stunning Sony's stock camera app on the xc1 is
Surprisingly different than what's on most phones the layout and features feel more like something out of their standalone cameras
And it's refreshing
But I got to give Sony props for having a dedicated physical photo button with the half press to focus
sensitivity very fun for photographers
Every phone other than the XE one has a version of portrait mode
Which introduces blur into the background of a scene and draws focus to the main subject each implementation has its issues and quirks
Not to mention varying fields of view
but the tech is in its early days and can already produce amazing results I
preferred using the may tends version the most because of its consistent results and
Variable aperture the iPhones results are held back by its telephoto cameras abilities
But felt the most natural for portraits the pixel 2 is able to process blur with only one camera which is amazing
But you can't see the results in real time
And it struggles with some objects more than the other cameras all in all I'm giving the user experience category to wow ways mate 10
Pro, so now it's time to crown a winner
despite its reputation
I was not impressed with Sony's XV 1 and it came in last
The minor improvements to the telephoto lens weren't enough for the iPhone tend to take it and it comes in third
Google's pixel to excel is a beast of a camera and a strong second
But this time the top spot goes to the huawei mate 10 pro having used last year's made 9
I was stunned by how far Huawei has come within a year's time
the mate 10 Pro strikes a great balance between power and features all while presenting pleasing colors and
retaining plenty of dynamic range
Its results remind me of what I loved about the LG G 6 earlier this year and feels like what the V 30
Should have been
Man the last three shootouts have had different winners and the mate ten Pro will be our new pic for camera phone going into 2018
But what do you think of the results let us know in the comments and subscribe for future head-to-head matchups?