Is my S9+ camera defective?

[torbach1]

The S9 seems to overexpose everything, resulting in washed out images. And it makes pictures too soft due to aggressive noise processing, especially in low light. The PX2's exposure seems perfect and the pictures always seem nice and sharp, and it's also much better at bokeh and has a better front camera. Where the S9 wins is in VERY dark environment where the PX2 just cannot match the f/1.5 aperture of the S9 that lets more light in. The S9+ is also better at zooming as it's got 2 rear cameras unlike the PX2. So neither is perfect, however from what I've seen in most cases the PX2 photos are better.

When I bought the S9+ I was expecting daylight photos on par with my S7 (but they're actually worse as overexposed in my opinion - sometimes almost getting rid of shadows), and I was expecting low light photos to be much better than my S7 (but they're actually worse as although there is less noise all the details are blurred out due to the aggressive noise reduction). The only thing that was better is photos in absolutely pitch black rooms where it captured more light than the S7, but how often do you take pictures in complete darkness?

Honestly, I had an S7, and it's been a while, but to my eyes the photos on my S9+ are better. Obviously it's in the eye of the beholder, but if your unit is not defective, and this was common across the board, I'd expect at least some reviewers to pick that up. None of them that I follow (MKBHD, Michael Fischer aka Mr.Mobile, PocketNow, SuperSaf) have criticized this camera to the extent some folks on this thread are. Supersaf's comparisons are particularly telling since you can judge for yourself. So I'm really starting to wonder if this is just the eye of the beholder or if there is a QC issue, and some of the phones have issues while others don't.

 

[Michael_Archangel]

Honestly, I had an S7, and it's been a while, but to my eyes the photos on my S9+ are better. Obviously it's in the eye of the beholder, but if your unit is not defective, and this was common across the board, I'd expect at least some reviewers to pick that up. None of them that I follow (MKBHD, Michael Fischer aka Mr.Mobile, PocketNow, SuperSaf) have criticized this camera to the extent some folks on this thread are. Supersaf's comparisons are particularly telling since you can judge for yourself. So I'm really starting to wonder if this is just the eye of the beholder or if there is a QC issue, and some of the phones have issues while others don't.

I really don't know, that may be the case. But I've also seen reviews with images like the ones I had.

For example here we see the dogs' white fur with a redish tone on the S9 whereas it is white on the Pixel2:

https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/43874/content/big_ulta-low-light-dogs-gs9.jpg

vs

https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/43874/content/big_ulta-low-light-dogs-pixel-2-xl.jpg

And here we see how the S9 completely looses all of the details in the white of the fur, whereas they are maintained on the Pixel2:

https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/43874/content/big_yogi-not-lit-gs9.jpg

vs

https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/43874/content/big_yogi-not-lit-pixel-2-xl.jpg

Here on the GSM Arena review, it praises the S9, but to me the photos look worse, even though when zoomed in there is less noise. Here we see an example of a photo where the colours are completely washed out on the S9 due to overexposure, whereas on the iPhone X you can see better details of the walls and pipe at the top:

https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/iphone-x-vs-galaxy-s9-plus/camera2/gsmarena_212.jpg

vs

https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/iphone-x-vs-galaxy-s9-plus/camera2/gsmarena_112.jpg

I've also attached two screenshots from the Supersaf comparison. One shows the problem I mentioned with the dynamic range, where the Pixel gets the image right, but on the S9 the house behind him is just a big white blur of light (and the details of the brick on the ground are all washed out).

And on the other one in low light, where he says it's actually better when zoomed in at 100%, at full scale the details of the brickwork and roof seem all blurred on the S9 compared to the Pixel.

So I don't know. Admittedly, none of that is as bad as what I've experienced with my own camera, but the same problems are there...

 

[torbach1]

I really don't know, that may be the case. But I've also seen reviews with images like the ones I had.

For example here we see the dogs' white fur with a redish tone on the S9 whereas it is white on the Pixel2:

https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/43874/content/big_ulta-low-light-dogs-gs9.jpg

vs

https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/43874/content/big_ulta-low-light-dogs-pixel-2-xl.jpg

And here we see how the S9 completely looses all of the details in the white of the fur, whereas they are maintained on the Pixel2:

https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/43874/content/big_yogi-not-lit-gs9.jpg

https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/43874/content/big_yogi-not-lit-pixel-2-xl.jpg

Here on the GSM Arena review, it praises the S9, but to me the photos look worse, even though when zoomed in there is less noise. Here we see an example of a photo where the colours are completely washed out on the S9 due to overexposure, whereas on the iPhone X you can see better details of the walls and pipe at the top:

https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/iphone-x-vs-galaxy-s9-plus/camera2/gsmarena_212.jpg

vs

https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/iphone-x-vs-galaxy-s9-plus/camera2/gsmarena_112.jpg

I've also attached two screenshots from the Supersaf comparison. One shows the problem I mentioned with the dynamic range, where the Pixel gets the image right, but on the S9 the house behind him is just a big white blur of light.

And on the other one in low light, where he says it's actually better when zoomed in at 100%, at full scale the details of the brickwork and roof seem all blurred on the S9 compared to the Pixel.

So I don't know. Admittedly, none of that is as bad as what I've experienced with my own camera, but the same problems are there...

Its important for me at least to make a distinction between the Pixel XL2 comparisons vs. The Samsung S7. I would look for the Note 8 comparison since that didn't have the variable lens. I don't think the differences are as acute there if at all.

 

[Michael_Archangel]

Its important for me at least to make a distinction between the Pixel XL2 comparisons vs. The Samsung S7. I would look for the Note 8 comparison since that didn't have the variable lens. I don't think the differences are as acute there if at all.

I found it hard to find Note8 comparisons, but Jerome Ortega did a nice comparison with both the S7 and S8. I've attached a few screenshots...

The first one shows how the S9 destroys the shadows.

The second one shows how soft the S9 pics are compared to S7 and S8.

The third shows the S9's terrible exposure with washed out colours, with an image that is way brighter than it should be.

The fourth shows how in low light it's again way too soft and gets ride of details for less noise.

Overall the S9's camera therefore seems to be a step backwards from previous Samsung phones...

 

[RapidTurtle]

One bad thing about camera reviews is a lot of them don't even take a picture of a person or pet, or use the camera in a way that your average Joe would use it. They love taking a picture of a flower. I have thousands of pics, and yet have never taken one of a flower. I tend to shoot family, friends, pets etc...

 

[JHBThree]

Top is s9+, bottom is pixel 2. This picture exemplifies all that is currently wrong with the S9 camera software. It overexposed the dog badly, smoothed out his hair to a great blobby mess, and the white balance is all sorts of wrong. The S9 can be good, but some of the choices Samsung has made are...odd, to say the least.

 

[JHBThree]

Top is s9+, bottom is pixel 2. This picture exemplifies all that is currently wrong with the S9 camera software. It overexposed the dog badly, smoothed out his hair to a great blobby mess, and the white balance is all sorts of wrong. The S9 can be good, but some of the choices Samsung has made are...odd, to say the least.

Well apparently the app won't let you edit an attachment. Here's the pixel shot.

 

[Michael_Archangel]

@RapidTurtle - Yep I agree, reviews are generally not very helpful. It's only when you see people's real every day pictures (pets etc) that you can really tell. Also most high end modern smartphone will do a similar job when taking a photo of a landscape in daytime.

@JHBThree - Thank you for posting these shots. That's the exact same thing I got when comparing my S7 and S9+. The picture of your dog looks great on the Pixel2 and asbolutely terrible on the S9 with poor white balance, colours, exposure and smoothed out details of the hair, just like I had with my cat. This confirms that it's not just me, unless there are a lot of defective handsets out there, but I doubt it otherwise we would have heard by now.

 

[torbach1]

@JHBThree - Thank you for posting these shots. That's the exact same thing I got when comparing my S7 and S9+. The picture of your dog looks great on the Pixel2 and asbolutely terrible on the S9 with poor white balance, colours, exposure and smoothed out details of the hair, just like I had with my cat. This confirms that it's not just me, unless there are a lot of defective handsets out there, but I doubt it otherwise we would have heard by now.

Just curious, how can you state so firmly that the Pixel 2's photo is better than the S9 when you don't know what the dog's real colors are? I mean you're probably right - this is the Pixel, and it tend to take more natural looking, less saturated photos, but the color of dog's hair could be closer to the one on the S9 in real life theoretically. Also, the two photos are at different zoom, so it's very difficult to compare.

 

[JHBThree]

Just curious, how can you state so firmly that the Pixel 2's photo is better than the S9 when you don't know what the dog's real colors are? I mean you're probably right - this is the Pixel, and it tend to take more natural looking, less saturated photos, but the color of dog's hair could be closer to the one on the S9 in real life theoretically. Also, the two photos are at different zoom, so it's very difficult to compare.

The pixels camera was bang on accurate. The dog is much darker brown than what the S9 showed. Both were taken using default auto settings from the same distance.

 

[torbach1]

The pixels camera was bang on accurate. The dog is much darker brown than what the S9 showed. Both were taken using default auto settings from the same distance.

Fair enough. Thanks for confirming.

 

[goji26]

I really don't know, that may be the case. But I've also seen reviews with images like the ones I had.

For example here we see the dogs' white fur with a redish tone on the S9 whereas it is white on the Pixel2:

https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/43874/content/big_ulta-low-light-dogs-gs9.jpg

vs

https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/43874/content/big_ulta-low-light-dogs-pixel-2-xl.jpg

And here we see how the S9 completely looses all of the details in the white of the fur, whereas they are maintained on the Pixel2:

https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/43874/content/big_yogi-not-lit-gs9.jpg

vs

https://hothardware.com/ContentImages/NewsItem/43874/content/big_yogi-not-lit-pixel-2-xl.jpg

Here on the GSM Arena review, it praises the S9, but to me the photos look worse, even though when zoomed in there is less noise. Here we see an example of a photo where the colours are completely washed out on the S9 due to overexposure, whereas on the iPhone X you can see better details of the walls and pipe at the top:

https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/iphone-x-vs-galaxy-s9-plus/camera2/gsmarena_212.jpg

vs

https://cdn.gsmarena.com/imgroot/reviews/18/iphone-x-vs-galaxy-s9-plus/camera2/gsmarena_112.jpg

I've also attached two screenshots from the Supersaf comparison. One shows the problem I mentioned with the dynamic range, where the Pixel gets the image right, but on the S9 the house behind him is just a big white blur of light (and the details of the brick on the ground are all washed out).

And on the other one in low light, where he says it's actually better when zoomed in at 100%, at full scale the details of the brickwork and roof seem all blurred on the S9 compared to the Pixel.

So I don't know. Admittedly, none of that is as bad as what I've experienced with my own camera, but the same problems are there...

I'm having the same issues as you are, plus blurry photos. My 2 XL quickly snaps a picture of my son without blur. I had to take 10 pictures today with my S9+ to get one that wasn't completely blurry. My Razer phone was better than this with the Pixel camera APK.

 

[Michael_Archangel]

Fair enough. Thanks for confirming.

I just assumed about the colour because it's what I had with my S9 (dark browns became very light browns). Also it's not just the colour. At 100% crop the details of the fur on the head and ear are almost completely gone on the S9.

 

[Michael_Archangel]

I'm having the same issues as you are, plus blurry photos. My 2 XL quickly snaps a picture of my son without blur. I had to take 10 pictures today with my S9+ to get one that wasn't completely blurry. My Razer phone was better than this with the Pixel camera APK.

Is it possible to run the Pixel camera APK on the S9? Sorry if this is a stupid question...

 

[JHBThree]

I just assumed about the colour because it's what I had with my S9 (dark browns became very light browns). Also it's not just the colour. At 100% crop the details of the fur on the head and ear are almost completely gone on the S9.

The weird part is in some of the other pictures with better lighting it's almost impossible to tell which camera took which picture without looking at the EXIF data. Other situations the S9 took flat out better pictures. And then it turns out that trash. Software is ALWAYS Samsung's weak spot, and it looks as though that's started happening with the camera now too.

 

[goji26]

Is it possible to run the Pixel camera APK on the S9? Sorry if this is a stupid question...

It will be possible when someone makes it work on the S9. So far I haven't found one that works.

 

[Michael_Archangel]

The weird part is in some of the other pictures with better lighting it's almost impossible to tell which camera took which picture without looking at the EXIF data. Other situations the S9 took flat out better pictures. And then it turns out that trash. Software is ALWAYS Samsung's weak spot, and it looks as though that's started happening with the camera now too.

Yes that's what I had too. With mine I found when it was really bad was indoors with a small light on. It seems it just can't handle artificial lighting. And it's not just a one off, in these situations I found it impossible to take a good picture whatever I did with the settings... Maybe that's something they can address with a future software update.

 

[rushmore]

All I sees are little cute kitty cats

 

[torbach1]

I'm not having any issues with the quality of the camera. These photos are very true to life of my dogs.

 

[Michael_Archangel]

It looks like it was taken in daytime, so that would explain the colour accuracy. But I can't say I'm impressed with the image quality. It's a bit small to tell for sure, but it doesn't look like anywhere in particular is in focus, and you can't see fine details like the fur on the head. It all looks a bit blurry to me. Not terrible, but definitely no wow factor there for something that bills itself as the camera reinvented... I wouldn't call them "good" pictures. Cute dogs though.