The Best Smartphone For Photographers in 2024 

This is incredibly high praise for the Pixel 8 Pro Well deserved, yes, but high praise coming from you guys.

The HDR format that Google uses is *not* proprietary. It's an implementation of the Adobe Gain Map. Basically straight out of the specification, but with a Google GContainer thrown in for good measure. Not sure why they felt the need for that, since it doesn’t seem to do anything that MPF part doesn’t already do well enough.

A superb comparison! I do feel the video section should have been its own video comparison "The Best Smartphone for Videographers in 2024". Thank you for the work in putting this together guys!

I think you should expand night photography part. Because, as we photographers all know, even a 20 year old DSLR can take incredible photos at night if long enough exposure is done at base ISO. So I'd really want to see how much of this night image quality comes from longer exposures, post-processing of stacked images, from optical image stabilisation or from actual quality of sensor. You should at least mention shutter times (rest is irrelevant to average user), or maybe try night photography with moving subjects like walking people or cars. Because if one has slightly inferior IQ but takes pictures at 1/30 shutter speed instead of competitor's 1/8, that is a big winner in my book.

"The best camera is the one with you."

Great comparisons. One thing I'd mention is that your channel is primarily watched by 'photographers', amateur and pro. I'd say many of us will still pull everything into LrC etc., just to get the images into our catalogs and work with them like our camera images. That said, the slightest touch to the vibrance slider removes that Samsung over processed look quite handily. I still have my s23Ultra and love it but my lease is up in March I'll be switching and likely sticking with Samsung. One other thing they seem to be good at is watching channels like yours and doing push updates to improve, very frequently. I like that too.

Now I just need a phone that combines Pixel 8 pro’s photos with iPhone 15 pro’s video…

Having owned a few Pixels and now considering upgrading to the P8P, I was open to other options. But after visiting a store to play with each of these in person ....(for a while on my own)... I came away with the same impression.. I ranked the P8P #1 for still photography, then the iphone 15, then the Samsung. I can usually fix the pixel's blur issues in portrait mode after the fact by deepening the in-focus area.. but not always. I also found the focus speed or tracking best on the iphone. The Pixel 8 isn't bad but the iphone seemed a little better for kids running around. I've been on the fence about getting a compact camera (Sony RX100) or upgrading my Pixel 5. I think the P8P puts me closer to not needing a 'real' camera but not quite. The Sony RX100 focuses so much faster and has a viewfinder. The price of these phones is pretty close to the RX100. I also have a feeling the compact market will just die. APS-c or MFT cameras will be the only logical choice as a step up from a smart phone. So there are some random thoughts from a random guy! enjoy!

The ability to record in Apple Log really sold me out! The post-processing looks natural, minus the "bokeh" effect. But the sensors are tiny, when using 5x it is not as bright as 1x. But, I'll live, it is only meant to be my secondary camera anyway.

3:36 Two things in defense of the S23, that shouldn't be needed to be said if Samsung didn't sabotaged itself, is that maybe the variation is colors is caused by some "scene optimizer" enabled. This and that the over sharpened can be toned town. You need to install that "Good Lock" or something (what a nonsensical name) and from there enable "image softening". With that enabled the photos become more normal. Why Samsung does this? Every year a phone is launched with these problems, then along the year they improve it with updates, just for the next year bring all the same problems again to the new phone. Sisyphean madness.

Got the Pixel 8 Pro for $800. Coming from an A72, the upgrade in photography quality is incredible. I'm absolutely loving the photos I'm capturing.

I have a comment, but zero disagreements. I just need a grand to upgrade to the Pixel 8 Pro. I'll hang on to my iPhone 13 Mini for video. Pixel photos are just amazing to me and I do appreciate what they've done with their lenses, especially the 5x. I don't really care about portrait mode or AI, so it's an easy pick for me. Thanx for the validation!

Just a question. Do you use 12mp or 50mp on the Pixel?

I know that because of the limitations, Google's video boost feature probably wouldn't have quite been able to pull it out of 3rd, but it would've been nice to include it. Id definitely makes a big difference, especially at night.

Well, now that Google Pixel is also available in Belgium, (2023 was the first year) I will absolutely look at the Pixel whenever I want to replace my S22, although those phones are a lot bigger.

Agree with everything here, I used all 3 and this is my conclusion as well. Samsung really need to tone down their over processing module, it's crazy that photos comes out so weird looking from such amazing sensors. I think at this stage, just like Pixel borrow stuff from Samsung, Samsung should just borrow GCam from Pixel phones and kill their camera app forever if they can't fix it. Every year, I hope they will come on top with camera and yet another year goes by and we still have same issues as last year.

Ive been a pixel user since the pi xel 1... I knew theyd win. Best photo smartphpne for the majority of a decade. great video thanks guys

I've been a Samsung user for almost 15 years now. I was drawn in to the Note 2 and I currently have a Note 20 Ultra. I was drawn in to the pen feature and I like to jot down notes on the fly and in meetings. I was even more drawn in when they features to the pen with its remote shutter and pen related controls on the other samsung apps and the OS itself. I grew into photography from the Note series as my interests as I got older shifted to being more outdoors and I liked the fact you had manual settings for it on later Note models and eventually shoot in their RAW format. It what brought me to buy my first APS-C and the later FF cameras. So pretty much I'm stay with what Samsung is releasing although it's a bit concerning that Samsung is now playing catch up to the other brands rather than doing their own thing in terms of upgrades and features

Have you tested the "Picture softening" option in the Camera Asisstant add-on on the S24 Ultra? It's not really softening against the original, but considerably reducing the oversharpening you mentioned.

Were these all tried with Pro mode and/or with adjusting Intelligent Optimization between Maximum, Medium, Minimum and with Scene optimization off?

I have been using Pixel 8 Pro for the past two months. The photo image quality is pretty impressive for a phone. In good light the main camera in 50mp mode can capture more detail than a RX100 at 24mm. I wish the raw files are easier to work with though. When opening them in Adobe, they always looks over exposed with Adobe Standard profile, and the Google Pixel profile just looks terrible. I also find the colors of Pixel 8 Pro raw files somehow harder to work with than cameras.

I love my Pixel 8 Pro. It does seem like none of the cameras are after thoughts with the 48-50mp sensors and fast lenses across the board. That's what I like most

I totally agree. I always use zoom for portraits with my pixel, because portrait mode is not consistent. Fortunately the edit function is oke on the pixel. Overall it takes great pictures.

Making smartphone videos must be fascinating! Great work giys! 🎉

Great video and review! Please consider including more photos of your dogs. That goldendoodle(?) is gorgeous.

Pretty much spot on. My usual recommendations to my friends if you want photography, get the Pixel 8 Pro, if your interest is video, get the Apple. And Samsung ain’t bad. For me - it was easy. Video is a distant second for me in comparison to photography, and the Pixel 8 Pro cost me only $600 US, and that’s without calculating in a trade in.

I was thinking of getting Pixel 8 Pro around 8 months before they released last year. Instead, i got S23 Ultra because i know they will never have a fast charge like Samsung does. I never really use the Pro Mode when taking the photo on Galaxy s23 ultra. That is why i want Pixel 8 Pro because it is easy to use. I hope they have fast charging and big battery life for the next Pixel as i am interested in buying.

Thank you, a great review. The photos probably come down to what your personal preference is at that moment.

Excellent comparison, thank you guys.

You know you can tune the sharpening on the s24 ultra using the camera assistant. But if we are doing out of the box as it is without touching any settings, all samsung camera phone images are a bit over sharpened. But I think the beauty of the ultra series lies in the fact that you can fine tune everything to your own taste. From camera snappiness to sharpness almost everything can be tweaked.

@PetaPixel a Question for Jordan - I had a UFO in the sky at the end of 2023 on nighshift, got a night vid of it flying around on my Google Pixel 7 Pro regrettably I hadn't set the video capture mode to 4K but didnt have time, my Pixel now has a cracked screen and im looking to replace it but that 10X camera came in really handy, for night videography in this rather unique and difficult niche ie low F lens, high zoom capability and good out of the box 4K video ie without color grading or messing around would your recommendation still be the Apple? Is the Apple 16 going to still have that 12X periscope lens?

Really nice job with these comparisons guys. I’ve been in the Apple world since the beginning, do largely to familiarity. But a friend’s Google 7 puts out consistently nicer photos with, as you note, more detail and more natural colors. So i’ve been considering switching. I just wish Google would put the high end camera features in the smaller 6.1” phone.

Thanks for this comparison. Which one would you say had the best selfie pictures?

I can't wait to see what Google has in store for the Pixel 9 when it's time for me to upgrade my Pixel 6. Two clear areas to improve - artificial portrait mode and video. No reason not to expect that will be their focus as it's now well established that Pixels take fantastic photos. Google really shook up the mobile photography space in particular when they pioneered computational photography which everyone now adopts.

I don’t watch phone videos, maybe one every 18 months, but that one was a good timing in the phone/photo world. And well done. Thanks!

Thanks for your wonderful review and for the great work you do ❤

My name is Peta and I own a Pixel 8 Pro. Had to subscribe!! Excellent.

Really good, bakanced review. As a Pixel owner (thiugh the 6, not thr 8 pro!) I can relate to your cindrns about using it to dhoot portraits snd in video mode. It really struggles abit in these two areas, but excels at landscape stills. I was wondering, (and given how low in terms of volume, they sell) how would the Sony Xperia 5 V stack up against these three phones? I've heard the cameras on the Sony Xperia 5 V are very good.....but not sure how good it is in video mode. What are your thoughts on this Sony phone?

Great video! What app did you say really unlocks some of the features in the camera for the iPhone?

Great video, very imformative & helpful, thank you!

I don't get it. None of the reviews seem to appreciate the benefits of the 200 mp cam, on a phone. I use it for almost everything because #1 there is no viewfinder on a phone but in wide 200 mp you can frame action and even birds in flight and then crop down in post processing and maintain amazing sharpness and detail. #2 Post processing allows cleaning up everything extensively including the precise composition. #3 Its a phone, no need for going into LR minutia. Just look at it with your basic viewer or cloud storage and fix it up with a couple clicks and try the auto enhance feature. I do it on the synced laptop but it can be done on the phone. Tell me if I am wrong!

The second reviewer for the video section is mistaken. The pixel does have 24 fps straight up easy to find and use in the settings.

The cool thing about the Pixel is... any shortcomings it still has can be fixed in firmware/software. Such as the portrait made and the video stabilization.

12:34 you CAN use night mode in higher resolution however it does require using it automatically and it may not always work

I'm guessing you kept the scene optimiser on for Samsung. It makes stuff vivid and what not

I'd love to see a review of how these cameras hold up in Lightroom with their various raw formats and HDR modes. I am finding that the 12mp dng from the Pixel 8 pro is cleaner and has almost as much detail as the 48mp files. I think Samsung is using a similar newer version of the sensor in the Pixel.

Google Pixel 6 Pro was the first smartphone (after the Pixel 3, 4 and 5) which was good enough for me to not take a compact camera with me to all my photo walks, events, and other photo occasions. With my new 8 Pro, this trend continues for me and I have almost completely retired the compact carry camera. It doesn't replace everything, obviously, but it fills a very large use case, very well.

I loved your photo samples. The black and white stuff and nature ones especially. Most other similar videos don’t have that

The John Gierach library earns a tip of the hat. What a great writer.

With the pixel 8 pro...if you want to do portrait, shoot with the 5x lens and then apply portrait blur with magic editor. It looks way better than using the actual portrait mode

At least on my S23 Ultra, you can go into the gear icon (settings) and select "Advanced Intelligence options" to reduce the amount of processing. It does tone down the vibrance.

I agree with your assessment for the most part, but for low light it clearly should have been a win for Samsung; and I actually don’t have a problem with their “baked in processing”. Anyways, if we forget about what a photographer thinks an image should look like, and what a professional camera would look like; it would be interesting to see what the general public prefers in a blind survey of images taken with the three phones.

thanks for video, u're best!

In video comparison Google pixel 8 pro has video boost feature, please explain about it and compare with other mobiles

Awesome & Thanks :)

Just bought the S24 Ultra, and I agree. The camera is good, but the color science is inconsistent. Some shots look natural, then zooming in looks vivid.

On my Pixel 8 Pro, I don't usually use the portrait mode as the DOF with the main camera in normal mode is already quite significant and useful enough. If I need more DOF, I would rather switch to 5x and walk backward instead.

Would love to hear your thoughts on shooting raw with these 3 phones. (I shoot raw almost all the time.)

Is Google Pixel 8 Pro better than Ricoh GR3?

The worst thing about ios is that file app is not integrated with the photo app as in android...and this makes organizing filed a little bit messy

14:30 agree wirh everything Jordan said about the Pixel Pro's comparatively lackluster video performance, but the Pixel pro 8 does give you the option to shoot in 24,30 & 60fps in the native app so his comment regarding that is a head scratcher

Great video... Watching from my pixel 8 pro

Correction: The Pixel 8 Pro DOES shoot in 24fps. Still doesn't change the rankings but it does make me question how much time you all spent testing these out. It's literally right in the main settings to the left of 30fps and not hidden or anything. It is available with HDR as well. Just not with video boost.

Fully agree with you guys. Really hope Google steps up their video capabilities as well as fokeh mode. Also would love to see Log support from Google and other android OEMs

Someone had to say it.. kudos to you guys!

Good One Video. I'm watching on my GoPix 8 (non pro) ... love the size & camera .. peace

Fascinating, and now check out the quick compare between this test's winner and the ALICE Camera (m4/3 based) and you see what you are missing out, even with the best in class phone. I am still not too old to haul around a small camerabag. I have played with the Google and indeed the results were very nice. Corner sharpness was not that good, the UW RAW file was not including the lens correction required. And so on, and so on. Basis is good, catering for real photography, including RAW post-processing, so beyond snapshots, is even for these monsters an issue. On top I had to return my google as it kept restarting, several times per day. I'll put my money into the latest OM-1 camera instead...

Great review.

more interresting is; will Xiaomis 1" Sensor works better this year, this could be a gamechanger. Your dog is sooooo cute

Samsung's 200 MP sensor has a "quad quad" Bayer array (4×4 pixels share the same color filter) and I'm quite sure that's a massive reason why there's little to no benefit shooting 200 versus 50 MP. Not a rhetorical question: am I "ultra" wrong if I claim that the sensor still has "only" 12.5 MP of chroma resolution?

Thanks for this comparison. I am surprised that the Pixel 8 Pro "won" this contest, since so many reviews, maybe even your own had a lot to criticize and I took away from many comparisons that the iPhone actually is the most refined of all three. Considering your (well deserved) pun against the overprocessing I wonder why the Sony 1 V didn't take part in your tests. I also found it interesting that you downrated the other two phones because they were not competing in the megapixel race in the UW lens. Is this really something that has an actual effect? I can somehow understand that telephoto lenses have higher density sensors so you can crop a bit more, although I do not know to what extent this actually is useful. Regarding 50 or even 200MP Sensors in tiny sensors like that I have the feeling that this only blows up the file sizes for no reason. Anyway, as it seems the three phones are pretty much equal for photography use I think many people will just chose what gives the best package. At least I did. And I do not think an iphone use is suddenly switching to a pixel and vice versa :)

That shot for the summations, pretty as a picture! 👍🏼

As a Pixel 8 Pro user, I wholeheartedly agree with this verdict. Google has gone from strength to strength in stills, I only wish the same could be said for video. Yes, they've introduced "Video Boost" but it's limited to just the main sensor and incredibly time consuming, taking hours to "boost" even the shortest video server side.

Never knew you did fly fishing videos until today Chris 👍

An excellent comparison of image qualities, but I miss something equally important to me, is the comfort and ease of use of the camera. I have a Ricoh GR3X and with the three "USER" settings, you can immediately turn on the camera and take the photo with the most convenient parameters. But what happens with these 3 smartphones? Do you have to fight through menus every time, just use an automatic mode, or is it quick and easy to select the right setting for each shot? This aspect seems to me to be equally or more important than a quality that we do not know if, in a real situation, we will have the opportunity to use. Thanks for your videos.

For photography VIVO X100 Pro is outstanding with its Zeiss tuning. And for video Iphone 15 Pro Max filming in ProRes. Also the OnePlus 12 is a cheaper alternative but quite good for the price with its Hasselblad tuning.

Waiting on iPhone 16 Pro Max ; can’t wait!

I'd like to know how to get my samsung ultra to take low light shots with realistic colors. It makes shots taken at night outside look like they were taken during daylight. Any advice?

You really played with fire here my friend! 😅

I use a lens cap on my 24-70 mm. Whar are people seeing after a phone has been thrown around or been in your back pocket for a year. How do you keep the lens clean and scratch free?

I think the portrait mode on the Apple is benefiting from the lidar sensor?

i wish u guys would check the current xperia flagship using the manual camera and cinema apps,, you would be suprised how great it is

I am a tattoo artist and I am looking at these 3 phones for taking great pictures of my work. Which would you suggest for that? I do utilize a polarized lens and film over my light when taking pictures indoors to help with glare

Chris, why did you leave out the new Sony Xperia?

You mentioned the overprocessing of the Samsung, but why not mention that you can save the photos in DNG format? Since this is a photo-centric review, that's odd.

Where is Video Boost(Google) sample..?

As someone who just can’t leave the Apple mobile ecosystem. I do have to agree that Google pixels are quite a bit up there in terms of photos. However, I’m perfectly happy with just using my iPhone 15 pro to take photos to document my life. Taking good pictures, pet photos, or other people. I think all of these are perfectly good enough for all these things.

The channel name kind of predicted the outcome :-) I'll stick with the Ultra thanks.

We really need an option to tone down the hdr and sharpening processing. I think it destroys the pictures.

That 3x lens on the Samsung is really nice because it fills in the gap for more classic portrait and short telephoto length. The other cameras are looking pretty rough in the 3-4.5x range because by then you are doing a HUGE digital zoom.

I can't disagree with anything you guys stated. I have always found Samsung images overprocessed and I am disappointed with my iPhone 15 Pros camera. I actually thing its worse than my 12 was, although its fantastic for video. Will definitely by checking the Google out next time I change.

Well I just loved my Huawei P30 Pro for 3 years and was looking at an Huawei replacement - but then my camera just failed and when I looked at the internet, many other users had had a similar failure. When contacting Huawei, I was told that yes, this was a common failure and I could replace the camera for $250. Not the sort of responses I'd hoped for, so I will certainly be choosing one of these three camera-phones soon.

Can’t afford a 15 Pro Max yet,but I have the base 15 and I love the camara feature.

Thank you brother.

Where you're stood for the summary, is that from The Revenant? It really looks like where Leo DiCaprio was! Stunning.

Main camera sensor size, and also telephoto sensor size of google pixel 8 pro are exactly the same size as pixel 7 pro, so i am not sure what sensor size increase across the board you are talking about.

Best comparison ever i have watched

Surprised and a bit bummed you didn't include the Sony Xperia 1V

Just got my 15 pro max today but it was a very close choice between that and the Pixel. I definitely agree that the Pixels camera is better, and I'm not really sure why I chose the iPhone over it (except the other products like airpods and airtags that I use). I even like googles version of android better in most cases.

Well done. This is a great comparison. But am I the only one who finds the night photo of the books much more detailed on samsung?