Which phone would you get (for the camera)?

mshanson3121

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jan 16, 2015
I am looking at upgrading my phone. Now, I know cell phone cameras don't compare to the real thing, but, that said, the quality of the phone camera is important to me since I take a lot of pics with it and this time around I may be using my phone more instead of lugging my DSLR around. Of these three, which would be the top pick?

Samsung Galaxy S8
iPhone 7
Google Pixel 2
 
Do you use an iPhone now? If so, get the iPhone. If you're an Android user, get one of those two.

I can give you a technical rundown of which camera is best, (Pixel 2, BTW) but to be honest they're all good for smartphones, and the computational photography used in them means that I prefer the images out of the iPhone 7 to the technically superior ones out of the Pixel 2 because the iPhone doesn't overcook them and makes better automatic decisions about subject movement.

But at the end of the day, if you're buying a camera, then get a camera - Nikon still makes some small cheap cameras that connect to your phone directly (a quick look shows the A300) that completely outclass a smartphone in pure technical image quality. Or pick up a used Ricoh GR or Coolpix A and keep an APS-C sensor in your pocket.

But if you're buying a communications and computational device, then communication and computation needs to be the first thing you think about, not the camera, and you shouldn't be wobbling between Android and iOS because that's a much bigger decision than which camera a phone has in it. :)
 
I am looking at upgrading my phone. Now, I know cell phone cameras don't compare to the real thing, but, that said, the quality of the phone camera is important to me since I take a lot of pics with it and this time around I may be using my phone more instead of lugging my DSLR around. Of these three, which would be the top pick?

Samsung Galaxy S8
iPhone 7
Google Pixel 2

just get the latest phone or use your current one. But you don't have to "lug around the DSLR"
A small mirrorless camera and "pancake" lens fits in a waist pack. And they can easily use the big DSLR lens

www.flickr.com/photos/mmirrorless
 
I have the Pixel 2 XL and the Pixel 3 XL. I -HAD- an iPhone X. The iPhone X has a better camera on it than the iPhone 7. Period. The Pixel 2 is better than the iPhone X and the Pixel 3 is at least as good as the Pixel 2 (I haven't been able to prove one as being decidedly better than the other).

The Pixel isn't just a great camera, it's a great camera with great post-processing AI software. I just took a photo on a cruise ship veranda, at 11:30 at night, and you see the correct color of the sky and the water - Google's Night Sight is pretty impressive for shooting still scenes in extremely low light.

Also, for the record, I own a MacBook Air, iPad Pro 12.9, and a 27" Retina iMac. I dumped the iPhone and have zero intention of going back. So, even if you're currently an iPhone user and leverage the ecosystem, you'll get used to Android pretty quickly.

I [personally] wouldn't get the Pixel 2 specifically, though, or the Pixel 3 - get the XL version. Physical size is only slightly larger than the iPhone X (and, I believe, smaller than the iPhone 7 Plus) and the screen is noticeably larger. The display on the Pixel 3 XL is definitely better than the Pixel 2 XL in terms of what you see on the phone itself, but the underlying quality of the images is pretty darn similar.
 


My boyfriend has the Pixel 2 XL, and the image quality is really great. We just got back from a Disney Cruise, and I'm really surprised by the fantastic quality of his images (I was shooting with a DSLR - I would take his photo, he would take mine, and he took some very good photos of me ). The Pixel 2 far exceeds the iPhone X (my phone) when it comes to low-light scenes. He can turn on a "night mode" or something of that effect, and it's like the software is giving the effect of widening the aperture without increasing the ISO too much. Portrait mode is also far better on the Pixel 2. I think the iPhone portrait mode, taken with two separate lenses (one for background, one for foreground) is super cheesy and looks like bad Photoshop in which the background was roughly lasso'd and gaussian blurred - the line between foreground and background is way too apparent, nothing like you would get if you were shooting with portrait lens on a DSLR. The Pixel 2 uses software to create the Portrait effect, and it's much more realistic looking - the "bokeh" happens more gradually, not a harsh cut.

If you're getting a phone for the camera, from experience I'd say get the Pixel 2 (sorry, can't speak to the Samsung). But... I'm an iPhone user, so I have the iPhone X and when I'm on vacation I primarily take photos with my DSLR. But, I think the iPhone X camera is perfect for day-to-day life, and I'll even leave the DSLR behind on park days at Disneyland (I'm local).
 

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