Hi guys, it's KJ the MiTechGuy here, and a lot of you guys have requested this camera
comparison between the S10 Plus and the Note 9.
When manufacturers release new phones, it's difficult knowing if the new phone is worth
the upgrade.
So hopefully this video will help you out if you were deciding between the two phones.
In this video, I'll be directly comparing the cameras in various lighting conditions,
both indoors and outdoors, and I'll also take a look at the video and audio qualities of
both phones.
Both phones were set to automatic and both scene optimizers were left on.
Let's get right into it.
On paper, the S10 Plus and Note 9 have the same 12 megapixel main and telephoto camera
sensors, but you'll be surprised at the differences in image processing between the phones.
They both have that dual aperture main camera that automatically varies between f/1.5 and
f/2.4 depending on how dark it is outside.
And they both also shoot 4K video at up to 60 frames per second.
The physical difference is in the S10's third, 16 megapixel wide-angle camera that allows
you to capture whole new perspectives.
Unlike the rear cameras, the front cameras are actually completely different between
the phones.
The S10 Plus's selfie camera system consists of a 10 megapixel main sensor and a 8 megapixel
depth sensor.
They are f/1.9 and f/2.2 apertures respectfully, and in my opinion are a significant improvement
over the 8 megapixel, f/1.7 aperture Note 9 selfie camera.
The S10’s camera just seems to pick up more details everywhere throughout the image.
And when live focus is on, it does a better job with overall edge detection as well.
It even has the cool effects that I’ll mention in a bit.
The S10's main selfie camera can even shoot 4K video now, which is also a step up from
the Note 9's QHD capabilities.
As I get into the side-by-sides, I'm going to first start with close to ideal lighting
situations, then I'll progress to worse and worse lighting conditions until I get to night
time where I am able to look at the dual aperture's performance.
This first picture was taken indoors with great lighting, and I think it shows a lot
of what we can expect for the rest of this comparison.
Both phones pick up a tremendous amount of detail, but the S10 does the better job of
keeping everything better exposed.
The wall in the background of the Note 9’s image is more washed out.
In this image, we can see that the S10 seems to just be handling different scenes better.
These images were taken in what I’d consider to be ideal, overcast lighting, but the Note
9 seems to just underexpose everything in this image, when shown side-by-side the S10’s
image.
The S10, I think captured the image perfectly, and I wouldn’t really change anything about
it.
The sky, the building, and all of the people in the foreground are all properly exposed.
That being said, the Note 9’s image is still fantastic.
I can just see its downfalls when side-by-side the S10’s.
In this image, we can see that the S10’s HDR capabilities are just significantly improved
from the Note 9’s.
Some people may view the S10’s colors in some of these images as being too saturated,
and that’s understandable, but the much more consistent exposure of the sky, trees,
and even the ground, just make for a more detailed and clear image at the end of the
day.
This image was actually captured great by both cameras.
The Note 9’s more naturally looking colors might actually have me preferring that image
because it seemed to actually do a decent job with exposure this time throughout the
image.
These are just two, very high quality images.
This next image had a lot going on, and we can see more of the subtle improvements Samsung
has made.
It just feels like someone accidentally increased the exposure in the Note 9’s image, blowing
out a lot of the colors that were in an otherwise very detailed image.
The Note 9’s image couldn’t even capture much of the blue in the sky, whereas the S10’s
camera is again just capturing a very solid image.
The portrait capabilities of the S10 also improved from the Note 9.
With the new, ultra-wide sensor, the S10 can now gain depth information from that camera,
which allows you to have the wider perspective in portrait shots.
I think the overall colors of the S10’s image, both in the foreground and background
have also improved.
Although there are still issues with the S10s softening up faces even when all beauty modes
are disabled.
What’s new is there are also these other effects: spin, zoom, and color point, that
you can change to after the fact.
There is just that extra versatility.
As the lighting conditions got even less ideal, more of the S10’s subtle improvements began
to show.
In this image, there’s a couple of things that I notice right off the bat.
The S10 seems to take the warmer toned image when compared to the Note 9’s.
Both images appear to be very detailed.
The most blatant difference comes in how this lighting scenario isn’t ideal.
I’m in an area where buildings are blocking the sun, and there is sun coming in through
the background.
The S10 was able to not only keep everything in the foreground properly exposed, but was
also able to properly expose the sign light coming in through the end of the walkway.
And because of the new wide-angle camera, you can even capture a new perspective from
the same vantage point that you just could not capture with the Note 9.
In this image, the sun is just about completely set, and so there isn’t as much light in
the foreground.
But again, the S10 was able to do a pretty great job of keeping the tree trunks and snow
properly exposed in the foreground, whereas the Note 9 struggled a bit to do just that.
And again, the ultra-wide camera is just a cool thing to have because you can just capture
so much more.
This next picture is a typically very challenging one to capture because of the direct sunlight
coming into frame.
Honestly, both did an impressive job given the conditions.
Again, the S10’s image capture has the slightly brighter shadows, which in turn pulls out
some more of the colors and details that the Note 9 couldn’t capture.
As I shift into video, know that both cameras are capable of shooting 4K video at up to
60 frames per second, but I set both to 4K at 30 because that is what this video was
uploaded at.
The story of the 4K video will actually just be encapsulated by talking about the improved
image stabilization algorithms and the added versatility and perspective that the wide-angled
camera gives.
Everything else from color reproduction and detail seems to be about the same on both
phones.
However, the S10’s video looks so much more stable next to that of the Note 9’s that
I actually went back and checked to see if the image stabilization was turned on, and
it actually was.
Samsung really figured out image stabilization with the S10s and the 4K video produced by
it actually looks really impressive.
I couldn’t show any HDR10+ content from the S10 because as of right now it can only
be seen on compatible devices.
In terms of the front video qualities of both phones, the Note 9 already had some really
impressive video.
And although it isn’t 4K, I think it actually does the better job with skin tones.
On the other hand, the S10 appears to capture the wider angled image, appears to be more
stable, and does a better job with exposure throughout the video.
In regards to the audio, I really couldn’t find any significant differences.
The audio qualities seemed pretty identical to me.
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.
Everything captured so far was taken when each of the phones was in their f/2.4 aperture
mode.
So I waited until it got dark enough where the f/1.5 aperture mode was activated, to
really look at how low light image processing compared.
This image is a difficult one, and the sun had almost completely set at this point.
The S10 seems to have been able to keep the foreground slightly brighter and was able
to maintain slightly more of the colors on the dash.
But the Note 9 was actually able to pull in much more of the blues in the sky.
In this shot, we can see that both phones did a really good job with all o feet different
light sources.
Both phones were even able to pick up the colors from the sunset.
The main difference is that the foreground just seems a bit brighter on the S10, which
reveals more details than on the Note 9.
In this next image, both phones do very similar jobs.
Again, the S10 appears to produce the image that is ever so slightly brighter than the
Note 9’s.
All in all, the S10 produces the slightly brighter pictures at night.
It still doesn’t have any sort of night mode, but I think does a pretty good job given
that it takes these images almost instantly.
And overall, I’m pretty happy with how both phones seem to handle different lighting fixtures.
Last point is selfies in this lighting just won’t look too great on either phone, in
case you were wondering.
The only phone that seems to pull low light selfies off is the Pixel.
So that was a lot of side-by-sides and a lot of analysis, but for what?
The S10 is supposed to be better than the Note 9, it better be.
This video was just to show you how much better the S10’s image processing is.
With camera sensors staying identical year after year, manufacturers are really just
trying to improve their image processing at this point, so I think comparisons like this
are actually really important.
Let me know your thoughts in the comment section down below.
If you haven’t already, make sure to follow me on Instagram and Twitter and DM me any
questions you may have and I’ll try to get back to you.
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I am really trying to create some awesome content for you guys.
As always, thanks for watching, and I will see you in the next video.