Apple's iPhone 8 plus just beat the LGG 6 in our latest smartphone camera
showdown but now there are two new challengers Google's pixel to excel and
LG's v30 let's put these phones to the test in a threeway comparison to see
whose camera comes out on top
our camera shootout series has been going on for a year now and this could
be the biggest match up to date as always it's a winner-take-all showdown
and the camera that takes the top spot continues on to battle the next hot
smartphone that comes along our current choice for best camera the iPhone 8 plus
delivers a major performance boost compared to last year's iPhone 7 plus
and most of it is thanks to Apple's new proprietary image processor but Google's
pixel 2 improves upon the awesome computational photography that the
original pixel gave us last year with modest off-the-shelf parts google taps
into what it knows best machine learning in order to make a great photo as for LG
its G 6 held our top spot for a number of camera showdowns until it just barely
lost to the iPhone 8 plus but now LG's V 30 is ready to take back the crown with
great camera specs and an amazing camera app this fight will be broken up into
four sections color clarity exposure and user experience and all the phones will
be tested using the stock camera app in full auto mode the way most people shoot
I'll focus mostly on the main camera of each phone but any extra features will
be covered under user experience and now let's go over the results first up is
color and what's important here is accurate color reproduction and white
balance in this vivid street scene each camera looks to handle white balance
effectively but further inspection of the yellows reveals a wider variation of
colors in the pixel and the iPhone the pixel 2 is a little washed out not
necessarily a bad thing but the iPhone is a tad more accurate to the eye this
next close up of a plant shows just how well the iPhone handles colors compared
to the v30 nonetheless the pixel keeps up and all three are still fairly
accurate when it comes to color temps but this morning shot stirs things up a
bit here the V 30 is more vibrant but really goes too far and the pixel misses
the mark on white balance resulting in a dull sky the iPhone is easily the most
accurate of the three the same spot at sunset paints a similar picture the
iPhone is accurate and has good saturation low-light shots are hard to
nail especially in mixed lighting environments the pixel portrays a
greenish hue while the v30 leans into the tungsten and although the iPhone
isn't perfect it's by far the closest thing to accurate this last shot with
plenty of white wall is where the comparison really brings it home in
almost every scenario the pixel leans towards the cooler side of color
temperatures with the iPhone leaning warmer the v30 comes in last for this
category never really producing consistent results and yes I know the V
30 features a 10 bit sensor with a wider color gamut but that doesn't mean much
if it can't accurately capture those colors color temperature can be a matter
of personal preference but there's no denying that the iPhone has the edge in
depth and separation so the Apple iPhone 8 plus takes our color battle next up
we'll cover clarity what I'm looking for here is the sharpness of the overall
image and how well it stays sharp in different lighting scenarios here at the
train tracks I'm pretty happy with how each perform at full resolution but
zooming in is where the rubber meets the road and I'm disappointed with the v30
it doesn't really seem to improve upon the g6s sharpness issues the iPhone is
better but the pixel just blows both out of the water so much fine detail can be
extracted from the pixels image I'm very impressed
moving to this shot across the bay zooming in on the Oakland docks shows
that the iPhone in the fee 30 both lose the necks of some of the cranes but the
pixel does not with a higher resolution sensor I was hoping for more from the V
30 and here we have a brick wall one of my favorite camera testing tools
zooming in reveals so much about how each camera processes texture the pixel
is once again killing it with detail the iPhone holds up pretty well and the fee
30 is a mess check out another wide shot this time with less hates punching into
the distance shows a close race between the pixel and the iPhone but there's
more texture in the grass on the pixel and I still have no idea what's up with
the V 30 switching gears over to some low lighting scenarios we'll really see
how each camera handles longer shutter times here I was really hoping the V 30
would kick some ass with its F 1.6 aperture but surprisingly that's not the
case it's not as noisy as the iPhone but it should have a clear advantage
in this shot the pixel performs very well the next shot has similar results
but reveals a weakness of the pixel the autofocus and low-light just isn't as
good as what's on the iPhone when the pixel nails focus it's great but when it
doesn't it's a lost shot the V 30 isn't too bad in this shot so that's nice but
the LG love doesn't last long since I can't even compare how clear the images
are in this super dark shot between the pixel and the iPhone the pixel has way
more definition on the fire extinguisher so despite its hiccups in low-light the
pixel still takes the clarity category the third category is exposure and here
we'll go over how each camera exposes for a scene and just how much exposure
information each camera retains I'm including histograms on each of the
images so you can see the results as well this first shot is basic but helps
me bring home a point the pixel is flatter which looks washed out and the
iPhone cranks up the contrast providing more punch without editing and the fie
30 is somewhere in the middle but like I said in previous shootouts this comes
down to a matter of preference do you want an image with punch or do you want
the freedom of a flatter image so you can add more punch later
each phone deals with most lighting scenarios very well but where breaks
down is in high contrast scenarios like this hotel the pixel is a bit
underexposed compared to the iPhone but Google's HDR is super aggressive and
holds on to highlights way better than the iPhone and the b30 but is it at the
expense of the shadows no I was able to recover more from the shadows on the
pixel than the blown out highlights on the iPhone in b30 the same thing happens
on this street scene and there's so much more information to work with on the
pixel the iPhone has way more punch but in extreme situations like these I'd
rather have the dynamic range to work with in editing the v30 does a good job
as well but it doesn't hold as much information as the pixel and this last
dynamic shot hits home the point the V 30s HDR just doesn't do enough to keep
the shadows usable and the iPhone has to overexpose in order to hold the shadows
resulting in some blown out bricks the pixel has the perfect balance of holding
dynamic information but also delivering a punchy photo before head
it's a close contest as each camera performs great but I'm going to give a
slight edge to the Google pixel to the last category is user experience and
here we look at all the factors that go into using a camera daily apple gives
you a simple and straightforward user experience and snappy operation the
iPhones autofocus system is also a huge advantage it's fast and reliable but the
iPhone 8 plus does have some glaring problems first off compared to the other
phones it just takes too long to unlock the camera app from a sleeping phone
second why the hell can't I get to the settings from inside the camera app that
makes no damn sense I've also been holding out hope for a manual mode but
Apple must think I can't handle it and I doubt it's coming on the Google side the
pixel twos camera unlock speed is super quick and I've been loving Google's
version of portrait mode both implementations have their shortcomings
but there are plenty of situations where the pixel is as good if not better than
the iPhone in this department this year Google also included optical image
stabilization in addition to electronic image stabilization but it's not as
powerful in photo mode as it is in video and Google like Apple didn't include a
full manual mode they did take a few steps in the right direction with
features like exposure locking and if you know me you know how much I love LG
stock camera app it has plenty of fun features to play with and also has a
powerful manual mode that includes a real-time histogram
I also found way more use for the super wide angle camera on the V 30 as opposed
to iPhones telephoto lens this is the third generation of the super wide angle
lens that LG has worked on and it's the best yet and even though I'm focusing on
the photo features here I have to give a shout out to some of the huge
improvements LG did on the video side from custom color profiles to zoom
control to deeper editing options there is plenty to keep you busy but the
camera launch speed on the V 30 was inconsistent which is a change from the
g6 and overall I ran into way more interface hitches on the V 30 than I'm
happy with that said I'm still a huge fan of LG's experience so the V 30 is
taking this category so now we've gone over all the testing
it's time to crown a champion overall I was very disappointed with the photo
results from the b30 it's a solid camera with great usability features but LG
isn't keeping pace on the processing side the iPhone 8 plus takes amazing
photos and if you need a camera that's reliable and has a great kick without
editing you will be very happy with it but with great color accuracy top-notch
clarity stunning exposures and a solid camera app the Google pixel to excel is
our new champ what Google has been able to do with computational photography is
a huge achievement that is going to be a big part of photography going into the
future they have a solid base to work with and if they decide to lean into
custom hardware to complement the software Google will be unstoppable and
whether you pick up the smaller pixel 2 or the larger pixel 2 XL you know you
have the best camera around so what do you think of the results do you think
the iPhone 10 can get the crown back for Apple tell me about your experiences
with the pixel 2 and be sure to subscribe to our youtube so you don't
miss the next camera fight