The P20 Pro has dominated Last Cam Standing since Huawei released it -- but this will
be its toughest opponents to date.
Google’s Pixel 3 XL, Apple’s iPhone XS, and LG’s V40 all have heavy-hitting cameras,
and this looks to be an epic showdown!
Last Cam Standing is PCWorld’s video series that determines the best phone camera for
still images in a King-of-the-hill style battle.
Whichever phone wins moves on to face the next major smartphone release - so hit that
subscribe button to see the next fight!
First up, let’s meet the current champion, the powerhouse that is Huawei’s P20 Pro.
Since its release earlier this year, it’s dominated the competition thanks to impressive
specs and a Leica partnership.
But the P20 Pro can’t stay at the top forever, right?
And these three challengers are out for the title.
The first is Google, and it’s back with the Pixel 3 XL, the follow up to what some
have said is the best smartphone camera ever made.
Google continues to stick with the single camera experience and rely heavily on computational
photography to offer killer images.
But can one camera really keep up in this fight?
We’ll see shortly!
Next up is Apple and it’s iterative XS.
On paper the camera system doesn’t look too different from last year’s phone, but
this time Apple is diping its toe into the computational photography game.
We’ll see if they do it as well as Google does!
And lastly we have the LG V40 ThinQ.
It seems so long ago that LG dominated Last Cam Standing for most of 2017.
Let’s hope its latest phone featuring three cameras can topple the only other three camera
setup in this fight -- the P20 Pro -- and bring LG back to former glory.
As always, I’ll be focusing mostly on the main camera of each phone, using them in auto
mode as they were configured out of the box.
The P20 Pro’s Master AI is on by default but the results can easily be dismissed -- which
is why in most cases I took two versions of the same shot.
When Master AI has an effect on the results, I’ll be sure to call it out.
The tests will be broken into four categories: Color, Clarity, Exposure, and Extra Features.
Extra features is where I dive into suplimentary tests for things like RAW capture, low light
modes, and extra lenses.
We hired the wonderful Kaylee to model for us and she was awesome - give her a follow
on Instagram.
But enough chit chat, let’s get to some of the best results of the battle!
First up is color, and here we’ll be looking at things like color reproduction and white
balance accuracy.
In full daylight here, with Kaylee in front of the Bay Bridge, we notice long-standing
trends when it comes to white balance.
Looking at the concrete shows Huawei having purplish hues, Apple warming things up while
exhibiting greenish hues, and LG also having a greenish hue -- just not as warm.
But where Pixel phones used to err on the cooler side, the Pixel 3 isn’t too blue,
which is a welcome change.
Sticking with this photo for a bit longer, lets look at the overall saturation and focus
on Kaylee’s yellow shirt and the blue sky behind her.
The P20 Pro’s blues are saturated but the yellow is the most muted of the bunch - and
the Master AI version pumps up the blues even further.
The V40 has plenty of saturation to go around and doesn’t look natural at all.
And Apple is the opposite of Huawei - with the iPhone XS having muted blues and pumped-up
yellows.
In this regard, it’s the Pixel that is once again exhibiting the closest colors to natural.
Heading into a parking garage with mixed lighting, we see the same trends.
But this time let’s focus on Kaylee’s skin tone.
The iPhone’s shot warms her skin up, which is flattering, but the furthest from accurate.
LG’s shot has her skin a bit too yellow, and while Huawei’s is desaturated, it’s
pretty close to accurate.
But it’s the Pixel’s shot that I feel has the best of both worlds, and is accurate
and flattering.
But even with all this praise, the Pixel has a problem.
See that empty spot where a photo should of been?
Well, there were a few instances during testing where the Pixel didn’t save the images.
This problem that has been reported by many, and I can also confirm it hit me as well.
So while tests show again and again the same great results for the Pixel, having to worry
if your phone is saving photos is a huge concern -- and Google needs to address it ASAP with
a software update.
All that said, the camera with the most accurate and pleasing colors in every situation is
the Pixel.
It finds the right mix of saturation in each scene and the best color temperature for almost
all situations.
So Google’s Pixel 3 XL wins the color category!
The next category is clarity.
Here we’ll be looking at things like the sharpness of each camera, and how well they
stay sharp in low lighting situations.
Right off the bat, I’ll say that it’s been hard for competitors to contend with
the 40 megapixel sensor that’s in the P20 Pro - even though it defaults to a 10 megapixel
image using pixel binning.
Looking at this shot across the neighborhood and zooming in, we see so much more fine detail
in Huawei’s shot.
But surprisingly not too far behind is the iPhone’s photo, showing plenty of detail
on the houses despite some grain.
The Pixel does fine, but the V40 doesn’t have a good showing here.
Moving to a photo that’s closer to our subject, and things are a bit different.
Zooming in on Kaylee’s face reveals the P20 Pro to be super soft, even worse that
the V40’s capture.
We’re also seeing more bokeh in the background on the P20 Pro’s shot for some reason -- and
this isn’t the Master AI’s version.
So either Huawei is applying some sort of processing because I was shooting a person,
or it missed focus.
Moving to another shot shows the iPhone as the sharpest of the bunch.
Unfortunately, the detail in the V40’s photos have been consistenly bad, and that goes for
each of LG’s lenses.
Swap in the Master AI’s version of this scene and it hits the sharpness of the P20
Pro even further.
But this other photo of Kaylee has the P20 Pro fairing better this time, so I’m not
sure if this inconstistency is due to recent updates or something else.
But here the iPhone just edges out the Pixel, having a bit more texture retained on the wall.
So what how about low-lighting scenarios?
In my typical garage shots, the P20 Pro just kills it.
The detail that’s retained on the bricks is impressive, and only the iPhone comes close
to having the same level of definition.
I’m a bit disappointed in what the Pixel delivers here -- and before anyone asks: No,
Night Sight hasn’t been released yet, so this is just the result from auto mode.
We’ll have to wait longer to see how Google improves low light situations with A.I. tricks
-- though I cover Huawei’s and LG’s low light modes in the extra features category.
Moving into a darker spot in the garage shows each phone really struggling.
It’s always amazing to see how the images break down in these circumstances.
The Pixel and V40 also start to loose accurate white balance readings on top of loads of noise
The iPhone held its shutter open the longest and was the most prone to hand shake.
It’s still the P20 Pro that does the best here.
And in the darkest spot of the garage I can find, the P20 Pro holds up the best as well,
with the iPhone coming in at a surprising second.
The Pixel continues to display heavy amounts of chroma noise, and the V40 is just soft
all around.
So this category ends up being a toss up.
In low-lighting scenarios, the P20 Pro is by far the best option, but for some reason
or another it was inconsistent in bright light.
And the iPhone XS was consistent in bright light but not the best in low light.
So I’m going to have to call the clarity category a tie between Huawei’s P20 Pro
and Apple’s iPhone XS.
The third category is exposure.
Here we’ll be looking at dynamic range and how each camera chooses to expose for a scene.
This first photo is a challenging one.
Not only is Kaylee halfway in the light, part of what’s in the light are white pants!
And surprisingly it’s the iPhone that has the flatest image, meaning there’s more
information in the brightest and darkest parts of the photo.
It’s not as dynamic as the P20 Pro’s version -- but it does allow me the most flexibility
to add contrast back in post.
The same results are present in the alley.
The V40’s photo is starting to loose some color in the sky, and both it and the Pixel 3
have crushed the darkest parts of the building.
This is another great example of the iPhone retaining highlights therefore not blowing
out the side of Kaylee’s face.
Unfortuantely the V40 does, along with the P20 Pro, and it’s a shame.
The Pixel does an OK job at protecting the highlights, but has less shadow information
in her dark hair.
So while some of this might come down to personal preference, you can’t deny how much exposure
information is present in the iPhone’s photos thanks to Apple’s computuational processing.
It can look over-processed at times, and these aren’t the most dynamic-looking photos,
but it’s a hard departure from past iPhones and I applaud Apple’s strategy here.
So the Apple iPhone XS wins the exposure category!
The fourth and final category looks at extra features, and here we’ll go over some of
the trademark features that set each phone apart.
When it comes to lens and focal length options, the V40 stands on top.
Yes the P20 Pro has three lenses as well, but the black and white sensor isn’t as
generally useful as the super wide angle on the V40.
And that wide angle is the best LG has ever made -- though it’s still not up to par
with the imaging results of any main camera.
But if we look specifically at each telephoto camera side by side with Google’s Super
Res Zoom, you see a couple things.
First off, the telephoto lens on the P20 Pro is by far the best performer.
And second, while Google is getting better at processing zoomed-in photos, you just can’t
beat having a dedicated lens.
Google needs to stop being so stubborn and just add more damn cameras to the Pixel.
Going back to low light performance for a bit, I found the P20 Pro’s Night Mode to
be far superior than LG’s Super Bright Camera.
And unfortuantely, the Night Sight mode everyone is talking about on the Pixel wasn’t out
in time for this video, so I don’t know how it will fair -- though early reports look promising.
And when it comes to the built-in camera app experience, I was happy to see LG’s app
return to its former glory.
It features some fun modes like cine shot and flash jump-cut, and powerful tools for professionals
like RAW capture - and even 10-bit HDR video recording at 4K.
But even though LG’s camera app is fast, powerful, and reliable, and there are three
valuable lens options, the whole package is wasted on sub-par image performance.
I don’t care how awesome the experience is if the resulting captures are ho-hum.
So while LG’s V40 ThinQ technically wins the extra features category, it’s with a
big caveat.
So that’s it for the categories, but who won?!?
We almost have a four-way tie, but with technically 1.5 category wins, the winner is
Apple's iPhone XS!
Now I have to be honest with you: I personally would never use an iPhone and it feels weird
to give it the win.
The P20 Pro had a really good run, but I have to go with what the tests conclude and there’s
no denying the power of Apple’s new computational processing.
I am stunned by how much dynamic range is present in the iPhone’s photos -- it’s
a huge leap over previous versions and proves just how important computational photography
is going forward.
Add on top of that consistently sharp images and a powerful portrait mode, and you have
a camera system that’s worthy of the title.
So what do you think about the results?
Sound off in the comments, I’m curious to know.
And be sure to subscribe because the Mate 20 Pro is next in line for a shot at the title
and it hopes to avenge the P20 Pro!
So stay tuned for the next episode of Last Cam Standing.