- What's up guys, SuperSaf here,
and it's the one you've all been waiting for.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max versus the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra,
SuperSafStyle camera comparison.
We're going to be covering lots of detail.
We'll look at all of the different cameras, images, video,
low light portraits, macro cinematic mode.
There's lots of ground to cover.
I'll leave some timestamps down below
if you're interested in a particular section,
but the more you watch, the better it is for me.
Right, so throwing the specs up here on screen,
we're not too interested in the specs.
We want to see the results.
So we'll start off with the primary cameras.
Now, let me just say that both of these
have excellent primary cameras, and in good light,
it's really difficult to pick one or the other.
They both do really, really good,
I absolutely love this shot of these leaves.
Both have done tremendously well.
You've even got that creamy depth of field going on
on both of these because of the large sized senses.
This is something that I really do like,
but lots of detail, very sharp.
Now dynamic range can be slightly better
on one or the other.
For example, on these shots,
I do prefer the iPhone 12 Pro Max.
There's a little bit more detail in the shadows,
and it's also not got too much flaring with the sun,
but on this shot, I prefer the S21 Ultra
a little bit better.
If you look towards the leaves,
there's a little bit more detail in the shadows
on the S21 Ultra.
Now with this shot, it's really difficult
to even tell them apart because they both are doing
really, really well.
Apple has now introduced photographic styles.
So generally we see that the S21 Ultra
has a little bit more vibrant, a bit more punchy colors.
Now you can sort of replicate that if you'd like
on the iPhone with the photographic styles.
Let me show you a couple of examples.
So in this example, I selected rich contrast.
And as you can see, you now have lots more contrast
in this image.
But personally speaking, sure, some people might like it,
but it's now crushed the shadows a little bit in my opinion.
Here's another example and this time I selected vibrant mode
and you can clearly see that the sky is now
a lot more vibrant in this shot,
but again, these are things that I would rather do in post,
not while I'm taking the shots.
Maybe I want vibrant shots when I'm shooting landscapes,
but I don't want them when I'm shooting people,
and having these photographic styles,
when you're shooting the image for me personally,
isn't the best way to go about things.
I think the iPhone does an amazing job, just at standard.
And then if you do want to apply a few different filters
after effect, yeah, sure you can do that.
They're not going to be as good as the photographic styles,
because those are actually baked into the image processing
when the image is being taken.
But I still feel that you get the best overall results
if you shoot at standard on the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Let's not move over onto low light.
Now with low light, again, both take really good shots
in low light, you can see here in this example,
things are very, even, I like both shots equally well.
This is an indoor shot, here I am leaning more
towards the iPhone, I think it's got less noise
and it's just the cleaner overall image.
However, on this shot, I do prefer the S21 Ultra.
It's just a sharp overall result
and it's maintained the blacks on my jacket and my jeans
a bit better than the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Now I did generally find that the S21 Ultra
was slightly brighter compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max
in low light situations, but I also noticed
that the S21 Ultra was taking longer exposure times
around six to seven seconds generally,
whereas the iPhone would pretty much always
just opt for three seconds.
Now, my assumption is because Apple still wants to give you
that nighttime feel rather than just
brightening everything up.
So I think that's going to come down
to your personal preference, but if you like,
you can manually just swipe across and go all the way up
to around 10 seconds.
Here's an example with three seconds.
And here's an example with 10, as you can see,
you can get a much brighter image.
But again, for low light images
with the primary cameras as well, it's very close.
I'm going to call it a draw.
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Now let's look at the ultra-wide cameras.
So both have excellent ultra-wide cameras
and they take really good shots,
but after looking at so many different images side-by-side,
I have to say that the S21 Ultra does edge it out for me.
It just has more consistent and overall
better dynamic range.
Look at this example here on the tree,
you just got brighter shadows
without overexposing the highlights in the background.
Here's another example, if you look towards
the grassy areas, you've just got brighter shadows
on the S21 Ultra compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
One more example here again,
if you look towards the foreground,
the areas are just brighter on the S21 Ultra
compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Now low light with the ultra-wide camera,
again, the S21 Ultra just producing overall sharper results
compared to the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Now on this example, the iPhone 13 Pro Max
is actually giving you more accurate colors.
The S21 Ultra has definitely leaned more
towards the yellow side, which is not so accurate.
Now, on this example, neither are doing great to be honest,
this is very, very low light, but the S21 Ultra
does give you a sharper image.
Now, again, with the ultra-wide camera,
the iPhone was just defaulting to around three seconds.
You can go all the way up to 10 seconds,
but then this does result in not as much of a sharp image.
It seems like the ultra-wide camera, of course,
is not as large in terms of the sensor size
compared to the primary camera,
and that seems to be the reason for this result.
So ultra-wide camera for me, it's the S21 Ultra.
Now a new feature that's been introduced
on both smartphones this year is macro mode.
This is where the ultra-wide camera is used to refocus
when you are close up to subjects.
And this is something that I really do enjoy using.
Here's an example, and you can see
all of those individual threads.
Very, very good on both.
This is a close-up of the bench that I was sitting on,
again, so much nice detail.
And macro shots are something that I really like
for things like wallpapers,
you can get some really interesting results.
This is a closeup of the speaker grill in my car.
Again, both are doing really, really good.
I think you can focus in slightly closer with the iPhone
compared to the S21 Ultra, but generally speaking,
you'll only be getting some excellent macro shots
on both devices.
Zoom, we have two zoom cameras on the S21 Ultra.
We have one zoom camera on the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
So the first stop is three times.
Now here, both a generally doing pretty good,
but the iPhone I would give the edge to,
it just gives you an overall sharper image.
And if we do go in five times, then again,
you can see this more clearly,
the iPhone is giving you an overall sharper image
compared to the S21 Ultra.
Now I'm assuming this is because the S21 Ultra's
three times zoom camera is not as good
as its next zoom camera, which is the periscope zoom camera,
and that's going to give you 10 times optical zoom.
Now, if we compare this to the iPhone 13 Pro Max,
then it's a clear win for the S21 Ultra,
because now we're using a lot of digital zoom
on the 13 Pro Max compared to that optical goodness
on the S21 Ultra.
The iPhone maxes out at around 15 times digital zoom,
but you can go much further on the S21 Ultra.
Here it is at 30 times, and that's a really good shot.
I hope the people who own this house
are not watching this video,
because they're going to think I'm a stalker.
This is just a really good location to shoot zoom,
because things are not really moving
and we can really see how close we can get.
But anyway, the S21 Ultra, you can also go
all the way up to 100 times.
Now, granted at 100 times, things are not really usable.
You're not going to really be posting them
as an in-feed on your Instagram, shall we say?
But I mean, you can still make out a lot of details.
And if there was somebody standing there, for example,
then you'd be able to make them out somewhat.
Yeah, maybe you don't want to do that.
Anyway, right now let's look at portraits.
So on both smartphones,
we can take portraits from multiple lenses.
This is the one X, so the primary camera,
and you know, they're both doing decent.
The iPhone does have brighter shadows here.
It has a few errors around my hair,
but the S21 Ultra has missed the parts
in between my arm.
Now we can use the three X cameras on both devices
to give you around a 75, 77 millimeter focal length,
which is something that I really like for portraits.
And they are doing so much better here.
I mean, edges are really, really good.
However, the S21 Ultra has missed out that slight area
in between my arm, whereas the iPhone has got it.
Maybe this is because of the LIDAR scanner
that the iPhone has.
It's better able to get those edges.
Now, remember that three X portraits
was something that wasn't initially available
on the S21 Ultra.
This is something that I'm assuming Samsung
has been watching my videos
and taking that feedback on board, so thumbs up for that.
Initially, we only had one X and two X, like we can see.
Now the two X isn't bad.
In some situations, you can see that
at least you have that option there,
but it usually results in not as sharp images
as the one X or the three X.
Here's another portrait with more
of a complicated background.
And here I would give the win to the iPhone.
The S21 Ultra has given me a bit of a haircut.
You can see that the side of my hair has been cut out.
And when we go in three X, color differences are here,
I would say my skin tone is roughly in between
both of these, but nevertheless,
both are generally doing pretty well.
Again, the iPhone has done a slightly better job
in terms of edges.
If you look in the middle of my arm,
the S21 Ultra has missed that out
whereas the iPhone has got that.
Again with the S21 Ultra, you can do the two X portraits,
which can do okay.
But in this instance, again, it's just not as sharp.
So for portraits overall, even though both do really well,
I would still edge towards the iPhone,
and that's thanks to that LIDAR scanner.
I think we're getting better edge detection overall.
Right, selfies.
Now I got to say that I am very impressed
with the selfies from both of these smartphones.
They take excellent selfies.
Here's an example in a pretty tricky lighting situation.
You can see that there's a lot of sunlight coming,
and obviously the shine on my forehead doesn't help things
I've been slightly overexposed on both,
but I'm also wearing a bright white T-shirt,
both have actually done a very, very good job.
We've got lots of detail.
Skin colors are also slightly different,
but pretty good on both.
Both smartphones can also take wider selfies as well.
If you want to take group selfies,
and here can see that the iPhone is slightly wider
and both also shoot portraits from the front facing camera.
And I mean, look at these.
These are both pretty much flawless.
Look at those edges.
I mean, I am so impressed with how far
selfie portraits have come, I mean, these are some
really, really good shots
and I would have to call it a draw.
One advantage that you do get on the S21 Ultra
is you can shoot wider portraits.
This is something that you can't do.
Although the iPhone does have a wider field of view
when you're taking regular shots,
as soon as you're taking portraits, it does crop in,
whereas on the S21 Ultra, you do have those two options,
which I do like.
And now for low light selfies,
this is a bit of an extreme situation,
but the night mode automatically kicked in on the iPhone.
And because it was taking a longer shutter,
it's just not that much of a sharp image.
Using night mode on the S21 Ultra
it's actually giving a much, much cleaner image.
So I definitely prefer the S21 Ultra here.
Now, you can use the front facing flash on both devices.
This is where it illuminates the front screen,
And here the iPhone is giving you,
I would say a more natural image whereas the S21 Ultra
does have the tendency to kind of brighten things up
a little bit too much, but I think that's going to come down
to your personal preference.
Right, that was the images,
let's now take a look at video.
Now I spent so much time taking lots of video
in lots of different situations,
and a lot of you are going to be disappointed by this,
but when it comes to good light, both are very, very good.
Samsung has come very far in the video department.
And I would say, in my opinion,
it is the best smartphone for video on Android.
But of course the iPhone is tried and tested.
It does really, really well.
For stabilization, I think both actually were neck and neck,
I really couldn't pick one or the other.
This is for both the primary
as well as the ultra-wide cameras,
as well as with 4K 60 frames a second.
Again, stabilization, excellent on both smartphones.
Now, as you may know, the iPhone does record HDR video
with Dolby Vision across all of his cameras.
The S21 Ultra does have HDR recording.
It is within the settings and it's got a little lab sign
and this works with the rear facing cameras.
HDR is still a little bit tricky and that's because
to truly appreciate it, you need a display
that's HDR compatible.
So this is still a format that I think
is not fully widespread as yet.
However, when we do look at the examples,
although the S21 Ultra has improved,
it's still not as good as the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Take a look at this example,
there's a lot of light coming here from the background,
a very tricky situation for dynamic range,
but the shadow areas have consistently
been better maintained on the iPhone 13 Pro Max
compared to the S21 Ultra.
And this is one of the reasons why so many people
love video on iPhones because it's so consistent
and it performs so well in lots of different situations,
including low light.
Take a look at this example,
the iPhone video is just cleaner with much less noise
compared to the S21 Ultra.
Now the S21 Ultra does have some tricks up its sleeve.
It can record 8K video.
This is from the primary camera,
and it does crop in quite significantly.
Stabilization has been slightly improved
with software updates, but it's still something
that I would only use if I was on a tripod.
This is something that's not available
on the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Right, slow motion, both of these can do 1080
at 240 frames a second, and both actually do pretty good.
However, the S21 Ultra does have super slow mo at 720p,
now 720p in 2021 is not something that's really usable.
You can see that the quality does dip down quite a bit.
However, it does allow you to get
around 960 frames a second, be it a short bust,
so there is that.
Right, front facing camera video.
This was much closer than ever.
I think both take excellent quality video
from the front facing cameras.
The iPhone, however, is slightly wider.
So that is something that I've noticed
and I would say it's ever so slightly better
for dynamic range thanks to the Dolby Vision with HDR.
This is something that you don't have
on the front facing camera of the S21 Ultra.
For stabilization from the front facing camera,
I think both were pretty much equally as good
and they performed very, very well.
Right, cinematic video.
This was quite difficult to test.
This is a new feature that apple has introduced
on the iPhone.
The S21 Ultra also has somewhat of a similar feature,
which is called portrait video.
Now these can also work with the front facing camera,
and here you can see that, although both are doing
a pretty good job overall,
I wouldn't say either of these are perfect.
However, when it comes to the rear facing cameras,
the S21 Ultra, sure, it can record portrait video,
however, there does seem to be
a lot of processing happening there.
Now the edges are not perfect on either,
here's the S21 Ultra, and here's the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Now granted my gray hair against that gray background
wasn't the best situation for it.
But the big advantage that you have on the iPhone 13 Pro Max
is you can actually change the point of focus very easily.
And not only that, you can also do this in post.
So after you've taken the shot, you can go back in
and change the point of focus.
With the S21 Ultra once you've recorded that,
that's all you have.
You can also adjust how much blurriness
you want in the background of the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
So this is a really interesting new feature
on the iPhone 13 Pro Max and sure, it's not perfect,
but it's definitely better compared to what we have
on the S21 Ultra.
Let me know if you want me to do like a dedicated video
on cinematic mode,
where I actually go out and try to shoot
lots of different types of cinematic footage.
It's obviously a comparison here,
so I can only show so many examples.
Auto focus, I think in good light, both are very, very good,
and are very fast as well.
However, the iPhone 13 Pro Max is still better
at focusing in low light, and that is thanks
to that LIDAR scanner.
For audio, have a listen.
Now this is a quick audio test on the iPhone 13 Pro Max,
and now on the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Let me know which one you think sounds better.
Now, I don't know about you guys, but to my ears,
they both sound really, really good.
And I wouldn't have a problem using either of these.
They have excellent quality audio recording.
It's becoming harder and harder to differentiate
between these two.
And that is the SuperSafStyle camera comparison
between the iPhone 13 Pro Max
and the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Now I have to say, these are some of the best
smartphone cameras out there right now.
And if somebody tells you that one is significantly
better than the other, they are simply lying to you.
I don't think you can go wrong with either of these cameras.
Now, sure, each do have their own advantages.
So if you are somebody who likes taking
more ultra-wide shots and you like having periscope zoom,
then of course the S21 Ultra is going to be better for you.
However, if you shoot lots more video,
although the S21 Ultra does take really good quality video,
the iPhone 13 Pro Max still in my opinion,
has the best video on any smartphone right now.
And it also does certain things better,
such as portrait mode and we've also got this new
cinematic video feature, which is also really, really cool.
That's what I think anyway.
What do you guys think?
Do drop me a comment below and let me know.
Also let me know what other coverage
you'd like me to do with the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Would you like to see more of a detailed comparison
of all of the other features between the S21 Ultra,
and the iPhone 13 Pro Max?
Let me know, if you want to see lots more images
from lots of different devices,
then be sure to follow me on Instagram.
I post very regularly on there.
I'm @SuperSaf.
I really hope you enjoyed this video and found it useful.
These camera comparisons take forever for me to do.
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Thanks for watching.
This is Saf on SuperSaf TV, and I'll see you next time.