So today we’re going to do a camera test between the Huawei P9 and the Galaxy S7 Edge.
This has been one of my most requested phones for a while now so I’d figured I’d give
it a shot.
So what sets this phone apart from most of the other smart phones?
Well the first fact is that it has dual camera lenses.
So let me talk about that for just a second.
So the lens on the left is a monochrome lens that only takes black and white pictures.
And the lens on the right is a color lens that takes color pictures and hypothetically
speaking, when you take a picture it combines the images from both lenses into one picture,
or one image, so that you get more detail in it.
The phone also has “Leica” printed on it.
Leica is known for being a very expensive, but quality, camera company.
So Huawei’s always been a little creative with the wording on their advertising.
In the past they’ve said that the Nexus 6P had a solid metal body which turned out
not to be true.
They’ve also inferred that an image taken with a 4,000 dollar DSLR camera was from this
phone.
They posted that to their Google Plus page.
I’ll put a link down in the video description for that fiasco.
Once there was proof that the image was taken from a DSLR camera, they retracted their statement,
took down the image and issued an apology…but the proof is there.
They are creative with their advertising.
So let’s do a camera test between the Galaxy S7 Edge and the Huawei P9, put them side by
side and test and see if the images are really coming from both lenses at the same time.
There’s only one way to find out.
So both these cameras are mounted in the same rig to it holds them equally as I’m walking
around.
And both phones are fully updated.
So the P9 was released a couple months ago so Huawei’s had plenty of chances to update
their cameras to get them optimized and functioning at the top quality.
So we’re going to start off by recording in 4K.
The Huawei P9 does not do 4K, it only shoots in 1080P.
So the video size is actually 4 times smaller than what can be produced with the Galaxy
S7.
So what I’m going to do is I’m going to upscale the image on the Huawei P9 to 4K so
that the images will be the same size.
I’m not going to lower the quality on the Galaxy S7 to 1080P because I don’t want
to cripple the test and use less power than what the phone is capable of doing cuz this
video is going to be rendered in 4K.
So now that both images are the same size I’m going to do a walking test.
The Galaxy S7 does have OIS, optical image stabilization.
The Huawei P9 does not have OIS which means that there is no camera gimbal inside of the
phone compensating physically for the image.
Both phones do have EIS and I’ll show you that in a minute.
So the Huawei P9 is supposed to be really good with close up shots.
So right now I have both cameras focused in on this white ball right here.
You can see how well the macro shots do.
So I just dropped both phones down to 1080P.
Right now the electronic image stabilization is not enabled so it’s just using the OIS
stabilization.
I’m going to shake the cameras a little bit.
And now I’m going to enable the EIS on top of the OIS.
Now the EIS, the electronic image stabilization, is turned on on both phones.
So I’m going to try walking again.
Remember that both phones are filming in 1080P.
I dropped the Galaxy S7 Edge down to 1080P from 4K.
We’ll do a slow pan in 1080P…bring it up to the sky…do a little sun flare.
You can also check the white balance with the clouds and see how the colors contrast
with each other.
So one thing that I really like about filming in 4K is the ability to zoom in on things.
I’m going to do a little freeze frame and zoom in on that sign.
Remember that the P9 is filming in 1080P which is the max resolution and the Galaxy S7 Edge
is filming in 4K which is the max resolution that it has…and it has 4 times as many pixels
as the 1080P so you can zoom in quite a bit farther.
So right now I want to do a little test with the camera lenses themselves.
So like I mentioned before there are two lenses: one with a black sensor and one with a color
sensor.
So if I put my finger over one lens, right now it’s over the color sensor, the black
and white image should still be showing if it’s using both lenses at the same time.
Now I’m going to take my finger and put it over the black and white lens.
And while I’m just watching the footage on my phone, my finger is completely covering
up the black and white lens right now.
The image is not changing.
Now it is uncovered….and covered.
Uncovered….and covered.
So it looks like that black and white lens isn’t doing anything at all while the phone
is recording in 1080P.
That’s unfortunate.
I’m going to take some still images as well.
This picture is with both lenses uncovered.
And this picture is with the black and white sensor covered.
Let me know down in the comments below what you think…is that black and white sensor
doing anything to this image quality?
Now the phone can also take monochrome pictures, which are black and white pictures, using
just one lens.
But that’s an independent setting on the camera that I had to go into and enable and
that turns off the color lens altogether.
Before we go any farther, what the heck is this?
It’s pretty gutsy of a smartphone manufacturer to watermark every single picture you take.
Luckily there is an option to disable this wonderful feature, but seriously, this is
the equivalent of this.
Huawei has had some real crappy ideas.
So right now we’re filming in slow motion.
The Huawei P9 can shoot at 12o frames per second at 720p.
The Galaxy S7 shoots at 240 frames per second at 720p.
You can also check the bit rate as well.
So let’s try out the front facing cameras for a second.
The Galaxy S7 shoots in quad HD which is quite a bit bigger than the 1080p that the Huawei
P9 is shooting in.
So there are a lot more pixels to work with when you’re shooting.
So check out the depth of the image, like see how far back the quality goes behind me,
as well as the color balance, the white balance…all of the quality that cameras can have.
So which camera do you think is better: the Huawei P9 or the Galaxy S7 Edge?
Do you think both lenses are being used at the same time?
Or is the Leica name and the dual camera just a bunch of marketing shenanigans?
Let me know down in the comments below.
I have a ton of other camera comparisons you can watch.
I will leave that playlist down in the video description as well.
Hit that thumbs up button if you enjoyed this test and thanks for subscribing.