The S9+ DXO score is misleading

[D13H4RD2L1V3]

I'm not disagreeing with you but noise does matters in most cases no matter how bright or dark the photo is.
Especially if the S9 scored 20 points higher than the Pixel in that category.


At the most the Pixel beat the S9 by 7 points in those scores.

Just saying.

They should have weighed that more.

Zoom and bokeh shouldn't be weighed as much as stuff like noise, texture and exposure IMHO

 

[edubb256]

I agree that zoom and bokeh shouldn't be weighed as much as stuff like noise, texture and exposure. But I don't know that it wasn't because DXO doesn't publish the weighting.

However, the S9+'s total score for exposure, texture, noise, and color is higher than the Pixel's total score for those same elements, 318, vs 313. Not a big difference for sure. Had they weighted noise more (which I agree with since noise is typically the major weakness of mobile phone cameras), the S9+ have won by a bigger margin.

That said, I don't know if the S9+ has a better camera than the Pixel, I've only seen a few samples from the S9+, not enough to form an opinion.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

After seeing a few of the mainstream reviews it seems the consensus is that, generally speaking, the Pixel 2 wins. Low light being one exception.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

After seeing a few of the mainstream reviews it seems the consensus is that, generally speaking, the Pixel 2 wins. Low light being one exception.

I think it would be difficult for you to find somebody that knows what they're talking about that's going to disagree with that.

 

[ScottsoNJ]

After seeing a few of the mainstream reviews it seems the consensus is that, generally speaking, the Pixel 2 wins. Low light being one exception.

But low light counts

 

[ScottsoNJ]

What people don't understand is there is no 1 best camera.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

What people don't understand is there is no 1 best camera.

Of course there isn't, but there are definitely cameras that in no way could be considered the best at anything. What this thread, and others, indicate is that, in general, dxo's scoring, at a macro level, without consulting the subscores, doesn't agree with real world results. The speculation is that this is due to undue weighting on some aspects that don't impact most photos and/or not enough weighting on the most important aspects of mobile photography.

 

[Itsa_Me_Mario]

In the real world, the iPhone x, pixel 2 xl and s9+ are so close that most users cannot tell the difference.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

But low light counts

Sure it does. But it's also situational. And isn't a sub-category in the dXo score. My point is that real-world use does not line up with the dXo score.

Additional point: dXo is a synthetic benchmark and the results will not always mirror the real-world experience. (so treat it like any other benchmark)

 

[LeoRex]

But low light counts

It does, and while the S9 does improve there... It still lacks the dynamic range of the Pixel. Blown out signs in nighttime shots in the city... Or windows in the background when taking pictures inside... Brighter isn't always better. Google's phones going back to the 6P handle these so much better than anything else in the market... and without garish processing artifacts or heavy handed noise reduction.

So seeing these messed up highlights or overly sterlized shots ruin the pictures for me... I want cameras to take pictures the way I see things with my own eyes and the only phones out there that come close come from Google.

 

[ThrottleJohnny]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3NVN_fUU2U

This is the best one I've seen. It's going to come down to preference of course. But the Pixel 2XL gets a run for it's money here.

 

[ScottsoNJ]

It does, and while the S9 does improve there... It still lacks the dynamic range of the Pixel. Blown out signs in nighttime shots in the city... Or windows in the background when taking pictures inside... Brighter isn't always better. Google's phones going back to the 6P handle these so much better than anything else in the market... and without garish processing artifacts or heavy handed noise reduction.

So seeing these messed up highlights or overly sterlized shots ruin the pictures for me... I want cameras to take pictures the way I see things with my own eyes and the only phones out there that come close come from Google.

Well if you think the Pixel beats the S9+ in every area I don't agree. I've already seen samples and the S9+ has just as nice pictures in certain situations. Why is everybody so in an uproar over the S9+? I don't understand. I didn't rate the S9+ the top score in the smartphone cameras DXO Mark did. So what. I really don't think you are going to get the best picture with the same phone every time. Between all the top of the line smartphone cameras available no 1 camera is the best at everything

 

[LeoRex]

Well if you think the Pixel beats the S9+ in every area I don't agree.

I never said that... And there are some situations where the S9 does appear to do better. I'm only saying that I've seen shots where Samsung appears at times to make some odd processing choices that companies like LG make... Such as an apparent aversion to keeping people's faces the way they look rather than some stylized version akin to the airbrushing of old.

Both take excellent pictures, albeit using different approaches.

Though, one thing that seems lacking in the tests I've seen are shots of people in those nighttime and lower light situations. I had a V30 for a few weeks and taking shots of inanimate objects it was great... But put a person in the shot and the results were horrid... Maybe it's a thing in South Korea, but both LG and Samsung have always done very bad things to faces in those situations.

There is no better way to give a phone a death sentence than to give it to my wife and have it take mushy, overcooked pics of my kids. S7, G6, V30, Note 7 (yep, had that long enough to get a hurumph)... All failed here. S9? I need to see it in action.

 

[Chris Williams8]

The Pixel takes great pictures but they just aren't that true to life in my opinion. All photos I've seen looks like it has some sort of dark filter on them. Especially when it comes to photos of the sky, skin tones or hair.