Hi guys, it's KJ the MiTechGuy here, and I just finished setting up my room here at MIT
and I have a highly requested camera comparison for you.
I'll be comparing the cameras found on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and the S9+.
Yes, these two camera systems are identical on paper, but Samsung has made some notable
improvements to its image processing and I wanted to check those out.
Also there is a significant price jump between the S9+ and the Note 9, so I wanted to see
if that price was justified.
In this video, I look at images shot in various lighting conditions, both indoors and outdoors,
and I will also be looking at the video and audio qualities of both phones.
Make sure to stick around to the end of the video to see how both phones' dual aperture
modes work and to see more side-by-sides overall.
Let's get right into it.
The Note 9 has a dual-12 megapixel camera setup.
Using Samsung's new Scene Optimization and Flaw Detection, the Note 9 will be able to
optimize different image properties for a given scene, and it also can see if an image
was blurry, or someone was blinking.
The main, wide-angle camera can automatically vary between f/1.5 and f/2.4 apertures, whereas
the telephoto camera is a fixed f/2.4.
The second telephoto camera allows for 2x optical zoom, and helps with the depth-effect
pictures.
The Note 9 can shoot 4K and 1080p at 60 fps, and 720p at up to 960 fps.
Both cameras have optical image stabilization.
The front camera is 8 megapixels and has an aperture of f/1.7.
It can take portrait-style pictures using software and can record video at up to 1440p
at 30 fps.
The S9+ has the same dual-12 megapixel camera setup as the Note 9.
All of the specifications are the same both for photo and video.
But as you'll see throughout this video, the image processing has changed with the Note
9, so expect to notice some differences between the images, video, and even audio quality
of both phones.
As always, I'm going to start off with pictures shot in great lighting conditions.
In this image, we can see why the S9+ was already considered one of the best camera
systems in 2018, everything is clear, and the camera is able to pick up a lot of detail.
The note 9, on the other hand, is also able to maintain clarity, and everything just looks
sharper and better defined.
The colors just look slightly less washed out on the Note 9's image.
Here, at first glance, both images look almost identical.
Both phones do a terrific job.
But if I zoom into the floor of the image, we can notice that the Note 9 was just able
to pick up a little more of the finer details on the ground like the specs of dirt.
In this image, we can see that the Note 9 has improved on its dynamic range.
Details in the foreground are great in both, but the Note 9 is just able to pull out more
of the finer details in the clouds in the sky.
If we look at the images shot on the telephoto lenses, the difference is even clearer.
The Note 9 is able to keep all of the colors clear and vibrant in the foreground, while
picking up even more details in the sky.
Regardless, the S9 Plus took a fantastic image.
This image was taken inside, and the clear difference I see is with exposure.
The S9 Plus was known to sometimes overexpose shots, and it seems like on the Note 9, Samsung
changed their algorithms a bit.
The Note 9's image is able to pick up more of the color in the room and just looks more
properly exposed overall.
Both phones have a camera mode called Live Focus, where it can get those portrait style
pictures.
And I wanted to see if those improved at all.
At first glance, it seems as if nothing really changed in regards to the live focus mode
on each phone.
Samsung phones still tend to smear out details on faces even when beauty mode is turned off.
The Note 9 may have done slightly better with my hair and improved skin tones a bit, but
the images are pretty close.
The Note 9 also seems to struggle with live focus images shot indoors.
Details just look very smeared.
But some people do prefer that look.
The Note 9's selfie processing appeared to be improved a bit as well, but honestly not
too noticeably.
The Note 9 again does slightly better with skin tones.
The front selfie focus mode on the Note 9 still can't really get my hair right, but
the same minor improvements hold.
As I shift into video, know that both phones are capable of shooting 4K video at up to
60 fps, but I set both to 4K at 30 fps because that is what this video was uploaded at.
Both phones are capable of shooting great 4K content, and both phones do very well in
terms of image stabilization.
But one of the issues that I've expressed with the S9 Plus's 4K video is the fact that
it is simply oversaturated to the point where all of the colors look like a filter was put
on the video in post.
I am very glad to see that Samsung listened to the feedback and toned down the saturation
quite a bit with the Note 9.
The video still looks crisp and very detailed, and now with the Note 9, the video also looks
realistic with more true-to-life colors.
In terms of the front cameras' video capabilities of both phones, I have always praised the
S9+'s front facing video because of the fact that it is crisp, stable, and picks up decent
audio.
Here is no exception.
The Note 9 seemed to do a slightly better job of keeping my face properly exposed as
the sun's position relative to me was changing.
Other than that, the video quality itself seemed to be very similar.
In terms of the audio, the way the microphones process sound seemed to have changed.
I'm not sure what exactly changed, but there are audible differences.
Let me know in the comments whether you think the audio got clearly better with the Note
9.
For the rest of the video, I'm going to shift to more challenging lighting conditions to
see what types of changes Samsung made in its image processing for those scenarios.
This picture is challenging because it is taken in an area that is poorly lit, and has
exposed lighting fixtures.
Both phones are able to still pick up a surprising amount of detail, but one clear difference
I notice is the fact that the Note 9 handles lighting a lot better.
Each lighting fixture is nicely exposed on the Note 9's image, and if we look at the
Complex Systems sign, the Note 9 did not overexpose the area where light was hitting the sign.
In this image, the same trends held, but we can see some trade offs.
The S9+ maintains more of the details, especially around the ceiling, whereas the Note 9 is
able to keep the foreground brighter, and is able to better expose different sources
of light, which is very evident in the windows.
Here, both phones handled the situation very well, once again.
The differences I see are that the S9+ keeps the foreground slightly brighter than the
Note 9, while the Note 9 is better exposed and shows a little more detail in areas like
the pillars that were slightly overexposed on the S9+'s image.
All of the previous images were taken in lighting conditions that didn't make either phone automatically
switch to their F/1.5 aperture modes.
So I waited until it got really dark outside to see what each phone was capable of at night.
The S9+'s lowlight performance is already one of the best on any smartphone right now,
but the Note 9 took it up a notch just by dealing with light sources better.
On the Note 9's image, the sign is completely legible, whereas the sign is not in the S9+'s
image.
Both are still quite impressive given how dark it was.
This image shows that both phones don't deal with direct light sources perfectly, but we
can still see clearly from the sign on the building in the back that the Note 9 has improved
its processing of light.
In this image we can see that both phones were able to maintain a surprising amount
of colors.
I also notice that surprisingly the S9+ was the one that picked up more detail on the
ground.
Details look more washed on the Note 9, but it is able to keep the overall brighter image.
As you can see, the S9+ already has an incredible camera system, but you can also see that Samsung
has made some notable improvements to its image processing in regards to exposure and
4K video saturation levels.
Right now the Note 9 retails for significantly more than the S9+, so this video was to help
you decide for yourself whether that price jump is justified.
Of course there are many other aspects to a device other than just the camera, so if
you want a full comparison about what it's like to have each as a daily driver, let me
know in the comment section and I could potentially make a video like that happen.
I will be getting my iPhone XS Max very soon, so provide any video suggestions below, and
make sure you're subscribed and have the notification bell clicked to stay up to date on my latest
videos.
As for this video, that's all I had to talk about today.
Thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next video.