Hi guys, it's MTG here.
yesterday I asked on my community tab, "Which phone's camera do you want to see compared to the Note 9's first?", and overwhelmingly
you guys chose the Pixel 2 XL.
So in this video, I'll be comparing the cameras in various lighting conditions, indoors and
outdoors, and I'll also take a look at the video and audio quality of both phones.
Make sure to stick around to the end of the video to see what the Note 9's dual aperture
can capture at night.
In this video, everything was set to automatic.
Let's get right into it.
The Pixel 2 XL has a single 12.2 Megapixel sensor with an f/1.8 aperture.
Using Google's image processing and machine learning, it can achieve portrait style pictures
on both the front and back cameras.
The camera can record up to 4K at 30 fps and 1080p at up to 120 fps.
It has both optical and electronic image stabilization.
The Pixel 2 XL's front camera is 8 Megapixels with an aperture of f/2.4.
It can record video at up to 1080p at 30 fps.
The Note 9 has a dual-12 megapixel camera setup.
Using Samsung's new Scene Optimization and Flaw Detection functionalities, the camera
can optimize for a certain scene and also instantly tell you if someone was blinking
or if the image was blurry.
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.
I'm going to start off by looking at pictures shot in great lighting.
In this type of lighting, it's easy to see why these two phones are inarguably considered
two of the best smartphone camera systems out right now.
Both phones do a great job with details and the colors.
Here, we can start to see some of the differences in image processing between the two phones.
The Pixel 2 XL will tend to focus on contrast and really pulling detail out of an image,
whereas the Note 9 will tend to focus on keeping its images bright.
Here, I think the Pixel 2 XL does the better job of processing the image overall, and if
we zoom in, we can see that the added contrast and image processing of the Pixel really makes
it look like it has more detail.
But sometimes, there are scenarios like this one, where the Pixel 2 XL's focus on detail
causes colors to appear greyed out.
The Note 9 is able to pick up a lot of the colors that the Pixel 2 XL simply did not
in the sky and the tree.
As I went inside, the same trends typically held.
The Pixel 2 XL will pick up more textures, whereas the Note 9 will tend to produce the
brighter image.
But in more instances than not, both phones take very high quality images in great lighting.
There will be differences in image processing based on what Google or Samsung wanted to
emphasize in their phone's cameras, and ultimately in great lighting, you'd have to look at the
side-by-sides and determine the type of look that you prefer.
Portrait mode was something that the Pixel 2's took to a new level last year, so I was
very interested to see how the new Note 9 stacked up with its Live Focus mode.
In the depth effect modes of both phones, we can see that the Pixel 2 XL is able to
pick up more of the textures of my shirt, and slightly more of the little details on
my face and neck.
However, the Note 9 actually does a pretty good job with details also, and is able to
take in more light and pull out more of the colors in its images.
Also, the Note 9's telephoto camera allows it to be more accurate with edge detection
and differentiating between the foreground and background.
Both phones also have high quality selfie cameras that are also able to blur the background
with software.
And still in the front camera portrait mode shots, the Pixel 2 XL has the clear advantage.
For some reason, even when I turn off all beauty modes on the Note 9, it still tends
to wash out details.
Also, the Note 9 completely blurs my hair.
As I shift into video, know that the Note 9 is capable of shooting 4K at 60 fps, but
I set it to 4K at 30 fps because that's what this video is uploaded at.
The first thing I noticed is that Samsung finally laid off the saturation in its 4K
video.
And when you put it side by side with the Pixel 2 XL's video, you can notice just how
saturated the Pixel 2 XL's video is.
The Pixel 2 XL has electronic image stabilization in addition to optical, which makes for walking
that is incredibly smooth.
But the trade-off is that I my experience, EIS leads to more jittery-looking pans.
Overall, I think both phones produce detailed and stable 4K video, but the unnecessary levels
of saturation that the Pixel 2 XL is producing just doesn’t look that good when put side-by-side
with the Note 9's video, which doesn't have any blatant issues.
In terms of the front cameras' video capabilities
of both phones, both are very high quality.
I'm very impressed with the Note 9's ability to maintain the colors in the foreground and
background, while still maintaining details on my face.
Overall, the Note 9 also appears to have the more stable video, but in order to do this,
it has to punch in, which results in a shot that is not as wide as the Pixel 2 XL's.
In regards to audio, both do a solid job with keeping my voice clear and reducing any sort
of background noise, but I'd say the Note 9's mics do the slightly better job in terms
of keeping my voice loud and clear, and reducing background noise.
Both phones perform well in great lighting, but that is expected.
So I wanted to see how the two phones perform in less than ideal lighting conditions.
This shot is challenging because all of the light coming in through the windows in the
back, but both phones do an excellent job with dynamic range.
The Note 9 is able to keep the wood structure in the foreground brighter, but the Pixel
2 XL is able to maintain more of the blue of the sky outside of the window.
In this image, the Note 9 struggled with light sources and blew them out.
The Pixel 2 XL didn't have that problem, but it has the duller colors and darker image
overall.
Let me know in the comment section which type of image you prefer and why.
Here, the Pixel 2 XL appears to show slightly more detail on the signs.
The sun was setting, but it's hard to tell on the Pixel 2 XL's image because of how dull
the colors turned out.
The Note 9, on the other hand, is able to maintain the colors even in the leaves of
the palm tree.
Both images just have very different looks.
All of the previous images were taken with the Note 9 using its f/2.4 aperture mode.
So I waited until it got even darker outside and tested the Note 9's capabilities when
it automatically switched to its f/1.5 mode.
The Pixel 2 XL has impressive software and relies heavily on it when it gets dark.
On the other hand, the Note 9 can just open up its aperture to let in more light so its
software doesn't have to work as hard.
As a result, the Note 9 is able to produce pictures in very low light that are clear,
detailed, and have minimal noise.
The larger aperture allows the Note 9 to now be the one that deals with light sources better
and the extra information helps it produce the more true to life colors than the Pixel
2 XL.
But it goes without saying that the Pixel 2 XL still performs really great at night.
It is still able to maintain a lot of those details and colors with frankly less information.
This last image was taken when it was completely dark with light coming only from dim street
lamps.
You can see that there's a trade-off when it gets this dark.
The Note 9 is still able to produce a surprisingly bright and noiseless image, and deals with
light sources well, but a lot of its details are smeared.
The Pixel 2 XL's image is darker, noisier, and blows out the lights, but is able to have
a little more detail.
The Pixel 2 XL, to this day, still blows me away with some of the shots that it is able
to produce with a single rear and front camera.
But the Note 9 has instantly impressed me with the capabilities of its camera.
It can't be denied that these two phones have two of the, if not the best, all around smartphone
camera systems on the market right now.
I'd say that there are still distinct differences in the way Google and Samsung choose to process
the images of their respective phones.
I hope this video helped you decide for yourself which phone's camera system you prefer.
Make sure you're subscribed and have the notification bell clicked because there are a lot more
camera comparisons, reviews, and how-to videos involving the Note 9 in the works.
As always, thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next video.