MKBHD Blind camera comparison 2023

[The Game 161]

This always gets alot of attention each year and he has posted it again for this year.

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No doubt people will overrate to who wins it. Pixel 7a won it last year with pixel 7 pro 2nd i believe.

In my testing it seems main has been dominated by iphone and pixel for standard shots. oppo find x6 pro first for portrait.

 

[dathomso]

LOL, this is not helping me with putting off buying a Pixel 7a...

 

[sunapple]

I just voted for the first time. Do watch those videos every year. Results for me are a Samsung phone on number 1 for each of the three categories (S23/Flip/Fold), no iPhone or Pixel to be found. Interesting.

I found very few photos to actually seem very good, it's just that comparing two images I would go for a bit of contrast and that seems to be the theme each year. Some photos are very yellow or flat which isn't attractive next to a darker more contrasty photo. Not sure if I would actually choose these phones IRL though.

 

[Ctrlos]

LOL, this is not helping me with putting off buying a Pixel 7a...

I took mine back after a week and got the Pixel 8 Pro instead. Most things were great but the battery life was utter pants.

If its the cost that attracts you to it I would buy a Nothing or A54 instead.

If it is the dimensions (and cost?) I would look around for some good offers on the S23. The S24 is due next month so networks will be looking to offload. You can normally pick one up for less than £600/$600. The battery life is fantastic and the camera and performance is top-spec.

The latest Xiaomi Redmi Note is also worth a look at £$349

 

[The Game 161]

Results

Standard
Google Pixel 7A
Google Pixel Fold
OnePlus Open

Low light
iPhone 15 Pro
Google Pixel 8 Pro
Google Pixel 7A

Portrait mode
Google Pixel 8 Pro
Samsung Z Fold 5
iPhone 15 Pro

 

[jamezr]

This is one reviewer and is very subjective. I took the photos below seconds apart from each other.
Which one do you prefer? The first one is more reflective of what actual scene looked like

S23U

P8P

 

[ios3]

First one looks cozy, second makes me want to turn up the heat in the house. Both are very nice quality though!

 

[hockeyfan81]

But it isn't Marques who picked the winners, people voted for them without knowing which phone took each photo.

 

[The Game 161]

But it isn't Marques who picked the winners, people voted for them without knowing which phone took each photo.

Well yeah and millions voted which is a massive volume to judge things on

 

[Harthag]

This is one reviewer and is very subjective. I took the photos below seconds apart from each other.
Which one do you prefer? The first one is more reflective of what actual scene looked like

S23U

P8P

That’s *exactly* what I experience as well with my P8P, that I was commenting about before. In some lighting photos are great, other lighting the photos look cold and dull.

 

[jamezr]

That’s *exactly* what I experience as well with my P8P, that I was commenting about before. In some lighting photos are great, other lighting the photos look cold and dull.

yeah my wife who is as non-technical as can be..... asked me how they could be so different? I do see more detail on my dogs ears with the fur on the P8P photo. But overall i would prefer the warmer picture.

 

[Aneres11]

This is one reviewer and is very subjective. I took the photos below seconds apart from each other.
Which one do you prefer? The first one is more reflective of what actual scene looked like

S23U

P8P

These photos underline the issue with the 8 Pro IMO. Pixel devoid of all colour. Samsung has the colours warmer but as you say, probably closer to what the eye can see.
Beautiful doggo ☺️🥰

 

[Cod3rror]

This is one reviewer and is very subjective. I took the photos below seconds apart from each other.
Which one do you prefer? The first one is more reflective of what actual scene looked like

S23U

P8P

I prefer the top one, although Pixel looks like it captured more detail.

That’s *exactly* what I experience as well with my P8P, that I was commenting about before. In some lighting photos are great, other lighting the photos look cold and dull.

Pixel's temperature metering is all over the place. Likes to produce cold and ashy looking pictures. It's like a blue tint from a 2000s movie has been applied to it.

And it's all inconsistent. Let's say you are taking a picture of some product. If you change angles, photos will have different colour temperature making it look like the pictures were taken at different times.

Pixel 8 Pro has manual controls now though, so that may help, I have not tried it myself.

 

[jamezr]

I prefer the top one, although Pixel looks like it captured more detail.

my take exactly. I think the P8P captured more details. If you look at my dogs ears in both photos you can see more details in hair on the ears on the P8P. But overall i would prefer the top picture from the S23U because of color and warmness of the photo without being overly saturated. The blanket has very vibrant colors in reality but you can't tell that from the P8P photo. Anyway they both have great cameras.

 

[Harthag]

I prefer the top one, although Pixel looks like it captured more detail.



Pixel's temperature metering is all over the place. Likes to produce cold and ashy looking pictures. It's like a blue tint from a 2000s movie has been applied to it.

And it's all inconsistent. Let's say you are taking a picture of some product. If you change angles, photos will have different colour temperature making it look like the pictures were taken at different times.

Pixel 8 Pro has manual controls now though, so that may help, I have not tried it myself.

I don’t think there’s a way to adjust color temperature though until after the photo is taken via editing tools?

Regardless, I’m not allowed to take photos of our dog anymore with the P8 Pro, per my wife, so I’ve been using my iPhone for photos 😂.

 

[AJB1971]

He has decided to upload a video detailing this year's results:

 

[Technerd108]

Opinion on cameras is extremely subjective. Everyone has their own bias towards what they prefer.

That being said the way Marquis goes about his test is about as good as you can get.

I prefer the Pixel picture of the cute Pupper above. I can see why people would like either shot and both look good to me. But the Pixel is just so much clearer. I don't think the color balance looks off but I wasn't there so I wouldn't know.

For me personally I have found shots with the camera on the P8P to be very natural and less punchy than the s23u. I don't find the color balance to be much different than the s23u?

It seems a lot of people are disappointed with the Pixel 8 Pro camera this year? For me I have been as happy as ever?

 

[mjcharlton71]

The overall results of the poll kind of match with my experience. I’m carrying the iPhone 15 Pro and Pixel 8 Pro everywhere, and from my results the iPhone gives great results for the most part, but sometimes there’s an outlier that you wonder if the “AI” has smashed its head against the wall while processing the shot! Contrast that with the Pixel 8 Pro pretty much beating the iPhone at every opportunity. This is just my experience though, and everyone else’s mileage may vary etc!

 

[The Game 161]

Opinion on cameras is extremely subjective. Everyone has their own bias towards what they prefer.

That being said the way Marquis goes about his test is about as good as you can get.

I prefer the Pixel picture of the cute Pupper above. I can see why people would like either shot and both look good to me. But the Pixel is just so much clearer. I don't think the color balance looks off but I wasn't there so I wouldn't know.

For me personally I have found shots with the camera on the P8P to be very natural and less punchy than the s23u. I don't find the color balance to be much different than the s23u?

It seems a lot of people are disappointed with the Pixel 8 Pro camera this year? For me I have been as happy as ever?

I pretty much love the photos from my pixel 8 pro. even blind tests it still wins in most of my tests with the phones I have too. Not surprised it wins his tests each year.

 

[DJ Spectre]

I enjoy these blind camera tests, they're fun they give us some good insight into which phones take the best auto point and shoot photos. With that being said I think there are a couple of things that stop these test from being truly 'scientific'.

One is the lack of a DSLR taken reference image to compare the photos to, essentially people are picking the photo that looks most 'pleasing' to them as opposed to the most accurate.

Second is the lack of different scenes taken, essentially it's just a a couple of portrait photos taken in daylight and one taken at night, there's no landscape, wildlife or automotive photography for example.

With that being said I hope MKBHD keeps doing these test they give us good information about smartphone photos taken in a scenario and at least give us something to debate if nothing else!