Hi guys, it's MTG here, and today I'm going to be comparing the cameras found on the brand
new Google Pixel 2 XL and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.
Both have great cameras, but I wanted to see how they compared head-to-head.
I'll be looking at the pictures shot in different lighting conditions, and I'll also be looking
at the video quality of both phones.
When I was shooting, I set everything to automatic.
Let's get right into it.
Both Google and Samsung have put great sensors on their phones.
The front camera on the Note 8 is 8 Megapixels.
It has an f/1.7 aperture, and can shoot video at up to 1440p @30 fps.
On the back, we'll find its dual camera system.
Both cameras are 12 Megapixels.
The wide-angle and telephoto cameras have apertures of f/1.7 and f/2.4 respectively.
The telephoto lens allows for 2x optical zoom and depth effect pictures.
The Note 8 can shoot 4k video at up to 30 fps, 1080p at up to 60 fps, and 720p at up
to 240 fps.
Also, both cameras have optical image stabilization.
The front camera on the Pixel 2 XL is 8 Megapixels.
It has an aperture of f/2.4, and can record video at up to 1080p @ 30 fps.
On the back, we can see that Google has only put one camera on its new flagship.
This camera is 12.2 Megapixels with an aperture of f/1.8.
The camera has both Electronic and Optical Image stabilization and can shoot 4k video
at up to 30fps, 1080p at up to 120 fps, and 720p at up to 240 fps.
Since there isn't a second camera, there is no optical zoom, but through AI, machine learning,
and dual pixel phase detection, Google's new flagship can take high quality depth-effect
pictures on both the front and back cameras.
When looking at still images, both cameras seem be able to pick up around the same level
of detail.
In shots where the sky was in frame, the Note 8 did a better job of maintaining the blues.
The Pixel's shots appeared to slightly washout the sky.
Also, in some of these instances, the Note 8 could get better perspectives on shots due
to its 2x optical zoom functionality.
It can get closer to the subject without degradation of quality.
To get closer to the subject on the Pixel 2 XL, you'll have to digitally zoom, which
does not maintain the image quality.
However, in good lighting conditions, the digital zoom does okay.
There were some shots where the Pixel 2 XL just took the better photo.
But there were other times where the Pixel 2's image temperature was so cool that the
colors looked unnatural to the points where whites started to look like blues.
The dual lens on the Note 8 allows you to take some pretty good depth-effect photos
where the background is blurred.
The images shot look nice.
But as soon as you see what the Pixel 2 XL was able to produce with just a single lens,
the Note 8's image looks almost bad in comparison.
This portrait mode picture shot in poorer lighting conditions shows how good Google's
image processing is.
I should also note that all of the Pixel 2 XL portrait pictures got this high quality
on the first try.
On the Note 8, the results were so drastically different that we tried multiple times to
get the best possible focus, and the best pictures we got in Live Focus mode were shown
in this video.
Both phones have high quality front facing cameras that take detailed photos in good
lighting and bad lighting.
However, the Pixel 2 XL also allows you to use its portrait mode on the front camera,
resulting in some really high quality selfies.
In low light, sometimes the larger aperture on the Note 8 led to images with more accurate
color representations, while in other instances, the image processing of the Google Pixel 2
XL led to better pictures from that camera.
In this shot, the Note 8 was able to portray the colors more accurately.
The Pixel 2 XL seemed to brighten the image too much.
When the sky was involved, sometimes the Note 8 captured the dark blue of the sky better,
but other times, the Pixel 2 XL was able to capture the gradient of the sky better.
All in all, when the lighting conditions got worse, both cameras still performed very nicely.
You shouldn't have to worry about having perfect lighting with either of these phones.
For a lot of people, the best video cameras they own are in their pockets, so in this
video I wanted to show how the video cameras compared on the two devices as well.
Colors look more natural on the Note 8's video, and both cameras are able to pick up a tremendous
amount of detail.
But the Pixel 2 XL's video stabilization is so much better than the Note 8's.
The shakiness of the Note 8's image distracts you from the image quality, while the electronic
and optical image stabilization on the Pixel 2 XL makes the video look like it was shot
on a professional gimbal.
Now I'm testing the front cameras on both phones along with the image stabilization.
I'm walking and it's kind of windy outside.
There's a lot of noise so I'm curious of how that picks up.
Now I'm testing the front cameras on both phones along with the image stabilization.
I'm walking and it's kind of windy outside.
There's a lot of noise so I'm curious of how that picks up.
These are some high quality cameras.
With both of them you'll be taking pictures that people will be shocked came from a smartphone
camera.
The Note 8 had its advantages in some shots, and the Google Pixel 2 XL had its advantages
in other shots.
The Note 8 has a second lens that can utilize 2x optical zoom.
On the other hand, the Pixel 2 XL has such great image processing that it can produce
some insanely high quality portrait mode images.
Also the Pixel 2 XL takes the win in video because of just how phenomenal its image stabilization
is.
The Pixel 2 XL's videos are so much smoother than the Note 8's that it doesn't seem like
I was using the same rig to shoot them.
Don't get me wrong, the Note 8 is my daily driver, but the Google Pixel 2 XL has a terrific
camera.
I'll be sure to compare this camera to the iPhone 8 Plus and the iPhone X when that comes
out.
Let me know in the comment section which aspects of each camera you like.
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