So, of course, I could not wait until I got hold of the P20 Pro and took it out for some night shots, along with some of the other high-end smartphone cameras. And that's exactly what I've done, and now there are questions I'd like to ask, and I'll try to answer the poor performance of the P20 Pro. Is that really the best? Or is it great in some areas when it is not so decent in others? The answers to these questions and more can be found here! It is Huawei P20 Pro against the Samsung Galaxy S9 +, the iPhone X and the Pixel 2 XL: shots in low light.
Before we begin the correct comparison and before we can answer the question above, we need to better analyze how the P20 Pro "Night" camera mode works. To see how it differs from the normal "photo" mode, I decide to take two pictures in two different modes before it's completely black. Turns out, it's a great way to get a better idea of how the "night" mode works because some things become less obvious when there's no more light in the sky. Let's take a look at these two pictures:
How the "Night" mode works on the Huawei P20 Pro (version too long - it does not matter):
The camera takes several pictures with different exposures, starting with underexposed exposure, correct exposure, and overexposure. This is called an exposure bracketing and is designed so that the software, when combining the images, can extract details in the shadows of the overexposed photos and detail the highlights of underexposed images. This process takes 5 seconds and the image resolution is limited to 10 MP.
The shots are mixed (or stacked) to create an HDR image
Aggressive noise reduction is applied
The result is "sharpened" by local adjustments of contrast and texture. These mainly affect the midtones and create the illusion of a sharper image.
As you can see in the previous example, Huawei's processing techniques are quite aggressive, although they help in low light conditions. This example only serves to better illustrate what goes on behind curtains, because very dark environments are not well suited for a granular inspection. Nonetheless, for the remainder of this comparison, we will be shooting in the "night" mode on the P20 Pro, as this is the mode used during night photography. However, in some scenes we will also try the normal "Photo" mode, and we will even enable the 40MP setting that would otherwise be unavailable when shooting in the "Night" mode.
Now let's start with a real comparison to see how the Huawei P20 Pro compares to the best smartphone cameras on the market when it comes to night photography.
As usual with our shots with low light, we start at dusk. That way we can see the performance of each camera change as we go through the dusk, then we go after the night.
From the beginning, Scene 1 is a disaster for Huawei P20 Pro, with Pixel 2 XL and Galaxy S9 + producing the most attractive images, followed by the X. iPhone It is difficult to choose between the pixels and S9 +, as they are different in different areas. The more distant details of the scene have a better definition in the Galaxy S9 +, while the foreground, the fonts on the train, for example, appear more natural than the pixel. The S9 + photo also shows ring artifacts around some of the darker edges (these are the lines of light that appear as a result of an aggressive approach) that can cause some people to disconnect.
This complex scene allows us to better understand how each phone deals with details.
Here, the P20 Pro produces a picture without noise, but at the expense of finer details. If you take a close look at the P20 Pro photo, and in particular the spot color areas, you will notice that there is no noise. Not at all. Completely clean Compared with the S9 shot, however, we find that this adds up to a smoother picture throughout the image area. Whether you like it or not, it's up to you.
This scene shows how each of the four cameras deals with distant and complex topics.
As we move in the scenes, we will not discuss in detail, since we have already defined the defining characteristics of each camera. In addition, some pictures speak for themselves.
Well, it's interesting. Here, the Huawei P20 Pro really creates some details from the sky. Overall, the picture looks very good when viewed on a small screen, and only tracks pixels 2 XL in terms of perceived sharpness. However, as we get closer, it's obvious that Huawei's aggressive noise cancellation has crowned the actual details in the P20 Pro jack. The perception of the image impact is the result of local contrast settings that produce better contrast in halftones without preventing reflections.
In this scene I was interested to see how the normal "Photo" mode in the P20 Pro fairs with a resolution of 40MP, and well, the results were quite disappointing. The background is not only much darker, because there is no bracketing, but the whole picture is very, very soft. I had to take it back and thought that something had gone wrong the first time, but all the successive pictures were just as smooth. Then, as I looked at all the pictures on my monitor, I thought it would be fun to do a little experiment: Take the pixel 2 image from that scene and enlarge it to the 40MP resolution of the Huawei photo. Well, here's a harvest:
The funny part (or sadly, depending on how you look at it) is that even when expanded from 12MP to 40MP, the Pixel 2 XL photo is much sharper than the P20 Pro image. Experience fun, of course, to see how the latest flagship Huawei works in the usual mode "photo" at night. However, it's also a great way to see how the P20 Pro is based on noise reduction to deliver soft-looking photos and feel like real details. In 10MP you can not distinguish most of the details lost in the process, but at 40MP it becomes obvious. As we've already seen, the P20 Pro manages to outperform the competition in some areas in "night" mode, and Scene 5 is really beautiful on the P20 Pro's 6-inch screen. And that's the eternal dilemma if you want your photos to be beautiful on your phone screen or on a larger screen.
Best shots: Pixel 2 XL and Huawei P20 Pro
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.
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