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The $900 Galaxy S10 has a great camera, but the camera on this $670 smartphone you've probably never heard of is even better
The $900 Galaxy S10 has a great camera, but the camera on this $670 smartphone you've probably never heard of is even better
Antonio Villas-BoasMay 30, 2019, 19:52 IST
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
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The Galaxy S10 that starts at $900 has one of the better smartphone cameras out there, but my recent test shows that the OnePlus 7 Pro that starts at $670 takes better photos.
That's not to say the Samsung Galaxy S10 has a bad camera. It's more that the OnePlus 7 Pro has a better camera, at least in my opinion.
I should note that while I used the Galaxy S10 as my main phone, I was never disappointed with the photos it took. And I'm still not disappointed now.
If a phone is more expensive than another, it must have a better camera, right?
The OnePlus 7 Pro, which starts at $670 unlocked and $700 at T-Mobile, shows how price tags don't matter.
That applies to pretty much everything about the OnePlus 7 Pro. Nearly everything about it is as good or better than the top smartphones with $900-plus asking prices. (OnePlus phones are popular around the world, but relatively few in the US have heard of the company, which only recently started selling its phones in carrier stores.)
But, today, we're talking specifically about the cameras on the $670 OnePlus 7 Pro compared to those on the $900 Galaxy S10. In most cases, the OnePlus 7 Pro takes better photos, at least in my opinion.
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If you don't believe me, check out the photos for yourself:
Here's a photo taken with the OnePlus 7 Pro of a setting with a good mix of details, lighting, and colors.
Now here's the same photo taken with the Galaxy S10.
Right off the bat, the Galaxy S10's photo has more saturated colors than the OnePlus 7 Pro's photo, as well as better contrast between lighter and darker areas, which makes for better depth.
With that said, the Galaxy S10's photo has an incredibly blue tint to it. Everything looks so blue! The OnePlus 7 Pro does a better job of capturing more balanced colors that look truer to real life.
It's harder to tell from a small photo, but the Galaxy S10's photo is slightly sharper than the OnePlus 7 Pro's. Still, the difference is negligible when you're not pixel peeping, like I am right now.
The OnePlus 7 Pro has a 3X zoomed lens, which makes for great zoomed shots of details from afar.
The Galaxy S10 has a 2X zoomed lens, which doesn't go as far as the OnePlus 7 Pro, and doesn't capture quite as much detail. The Galaxy S10's photo might look better, but that's not true for everyone.
The building with the turquoise roof in the shade in the OnePlus 7 Pro's zoomed photo looks pretty dark, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Some people prefer that extra contrast between shaded parts and sunlit parts.
The Galaxy S10's photo is more evenly lit, which shows more details. But the image is flatter and has less depth as a result. It's odd, because the Galaxy S10 did exactly the opposite than the OnePlus 7 Pro in the non-zoomed photo. It just goes to show how camera lenses can differ, even in the same phone.
Both phones have ultra-wide camera lenses, too, which is quickly becoming the primary way I take photos. So far, the OnePlus 7 Pro does better than the Galaxy S10.
The Galaxy S10's ultra-wide camera lens is wider, but just look at all that blue! And the edges seem a little more warped than the OnePlus 7 Pro's ultra-wide shot.
The Galaxy S10's photo looks more striking because its colors are more saturated than the OnePlus 7 Pro's. But if you're looking for more accurate colors, the Galaxy S10 isn't delivering.
With that said, if you're not too concerned with accurate colors and you'd rather have photos that pop, the Galaxy S10 will serve you well.
Bringing things indoors, I'd pick the OnePlus 7 Pro over the Galaxy S10's photo.
The Galaxy S10's photo would be fine if I wasn't comparing it to the OnePlus 7 Pro. But I AM comparing it, and the OnePlus 7 Pro's photo looks better.
The Galaxy S10's photo looks dull and flat compared to the OnePlus 7 Pro's lively, contrast-y photo here.
Here's the important thing to remember: Both photos are great, and you wouldn't really notice that the Galaxy S10 took a worse shot if you weren't comparing it to another phone.
Still, anyone shopping around for phones and want a good camera, the OnePlus 7 Pro is looking pretty darn good right now.
Let's take a look at the good old close-up flower shot with the OnePlus 7 Pro.
The Galaxy S10's photo is dramatically better.
The OnePlus 7 Pro's photo is actually more accurate in capturing the lighting and color of the flowers here, but in this case, who cares about accuracy? The Galaxy S10's photo is dramatically better here.
There's greater contrast, colors, and detail in the Galaxy S10's flower shot.
The OnePlus 7 Pro does incredibly well in this low-light situation. There was barely any light at all when I took this shot.
The Galaxy S10 doesn't do quite as well in low light.
It's still pretty amazing how the both phones brightened up this corner when there was so little light.
The colors in the Galaxy S10's photo are a little more accurate, whereas the OnePlus 7 Pro's photo saturates the colors a little too much.
But the winner here is decidedly the OnePlus 7 Pro. Details are significantly sharper with the OnePlus 7 Pro's Nightscape mode versus the Galaxy S10's camera, which doesn't have a dedicate low-light mode. The Galaxy S10 can automatically recognize when light is low, and it'll automatically adjust the settings to accommodate, but it's still not enough to make a viable low-light shot.
The OnePlus 7 Pro has a pop-up selfie camera that works as well as any typical non-pop-up selfie camera.
The Galaxy S10 and OnePlus 7 Pro take very similar selfies, but the OnePlus 7 Pro does better with colors.
The Galaxy S10 seems to mute colors a little bit, which is the opposite of its main cameras that tend to saturate colors.
My face on the Galaxy S10, for example, is paler and looks less flattering than on the OnePlus 7 Pro's selfie. The orange of my shirt is also a lot closer to the OnePlus 7 Pro's selfie.
Final verdict.
Based on these test shots, the OnePlus 7 Pro has the better cameras.
With that said, I was extremely happy with the Galaxy S10's photos when it was my primary smartphone for a few weeks. During that time, I never looked at a photo and told myself that it was "too blue," or that colors were too saturated. I truly didn't have any complaints.
That's to say that you'd be happy with photos from either phone.
But, after comparing photos from both phones side by side, if a friend asked me which phone takes the better photos, I'd tell them the OnePlus 7 Pro.
