Tomas Chlebek [su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/QW2gx7OD2PQ” width=”640″]
Magazine The Verge brought a great comparison of the cameras in the current flagships of two of the most successful mobile phone manufacturers: the iPhone 6S Plus and the new Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. Since its recent launch, the latest phone from South Korea's Samsung has acquired the aura of a device capable of successfully compete with iPhones, and one of the reasons for that is its new camera.
"We were so impressed with the new camera that we decided to pit the S7 Edge against the best Apple currently has to offer: the iPhone 6S Plus," the editors write The Verge, who compared both devices in the situations in which mobile devices are now most often photographed – non-ideal to poor lighting conditions, photos of food, coffee and flowers, self-portraits. An important part of the comparison is the speed of starting and focusing the cameras.
Samsung's biggest advantage over the iPhone turned out to be the larger aperture of the sensor, namely f1,7 compared to the iPhone's f2,2. This affects the amount of light the sensor lets in, depth of field, dynamic range and sharpness. In general, the Samsung fared better in lower light conditions, where the iPhone had to keep the shutter open longer and its photos were therefore less sharp and yet also darker.
The second biggest strength of Samsung's camera was its speed - thanks to the fact that its camera can be launched by double-clicking the "home" button, it's ready to take a photo significantly earlier than the iPhone, which first requires waking up, swiping up the camera icon on the lock screen and waiting for launch the application. It's also slightly faster with Samsung. Additionally, while the iPhone searches for the right point by refocusing repeatedly, the Samsung is able to focus almost instantly in comparable conditions.
The iPhone, on the other hand, surpassed Samsung in terms of color fidelity. All Samsung mobile devices are known for the fact that the photos taken by them tend to take warmer photos and the Galaxy S7 Edge is no exception. The iPhone also performed better in some less lit scenes.
As the subtitle of the original article, "Samsung takes the lead", indicates, the cameras in the new Galaxy S7 phones are very good indeed. In some situations, the iPhone 6S Plus can give a better result, but in general, Samsung has made such progress in one year that it is the overall winner. At Apple, however, you have to wait for the iPhone 7, which should compete with the Galaxy S7 Edge as this year's planned Apple flagship.
Personally, I would wait for real life use. I remember the same test last year with only the difference of ip 6 x galaxy S6, where the saˇsung was also a hair better, but when I saw the photos of the samsung from the evening visit to the pub and other dark scenes (mainly with flash) I was quite disappointed (and even photos taken while sober). The Samsung has a more polished focus speed and similar things, which are pleasant and I would welcome them on the ip as well, but when it comes to things like the remembered color rendering or the usability of the camera in worse conditions by people who do not understand photography or technology at all, as Apple traditionally leads. It is therefore a classic example of the world of Apple and Android, or high-end technical parameters that require a bit of concentration before one can use them compared to slightly slower hardware with more effort to use.
Regarding the aperture, I would note that I would leave the f 2,2 aperture. It lets in less light, but it's a price I'm willing to pay if the opposite means chasing the smallest possible aperture (the mpx war has already ended, so what's next, right? :D ) the aperture also has a direct effect on the sharpness of the lens and so on, which seems more important to me than that bit of noise.