![]() The front-facing cameras on both phones have a Portrait Mode, which Samsung calls Selective Focus. That said, watching the Note 8's video playback on its glossy display makes things look impressive. Most of the iPhone's video prowess comes from better video compression and the machine learning applied to videos to improve textures and cinematic movements. But the iPhone X video looks even better and offers a wider array of recording options than the Note 8. The Note 8 shoots the best video I've seen from any Samsung phone. This rockfish was swimming in the aquarium at the California Academy of Sciences. The iPhone X's Portrait Lighting Mode works amazingly well on fish. It's worth noting that fish don't have hair, which might be part of the reason this works so well. I discovered that the iPhone X's Portrait Lighting Mode handles portraits of fish amazingly well - even when using the Stage Light and Stage Light Mono effect. However, the iPhone doesn't let you change the amount of blur like the Note 8 does. Lighting effects can be changed before or after you take a photo - some look more impressive than others. ![]() The lighting effects on the iPhone X are not filters but instead create a depth map that separates your subject from the background. The focus fall off left people's heads looking more like a Photoshop cut-out than the iPhone X. ![]() The Note 8 took softer-looking portraits which were more flattering to some people's skin. The subject's face was almost always sharp and the focus fall off (from in-focus areas to out-of-focus areas) looked like it was from a DSLR. IPhone X portraits had more detail and a better range of colors even in low light than the ones taken with the Note 8. It is softer overall, but cuts her head and hair out more boldly from the background. The photo on the right was taken in Live Focus on the Galaxy Note 8. It is sharp, has a graduated focus fall off, but over blurs the right side of her hair. The left photo was taken with Portrait Lighting Mode on the iPhone X. Each phone uses both rear cameras and computational photography to simulate the effect. Samsung calls it Live Focus on the Note 8. The iPhone X calls this feature Portrait Lighting Mode. The idea is to mimic the the shallow depth of field and bokeh (background blur) rendered by a DSLR camera and a fast lens. If I wanted to manually control settings on the iPhone X, I would need to install a third-party app.Ī popular feature on both phones is "portrait mode" which keeps focus on the foreground image - such as a person's face - and artistically blurs out the background. This came in handy to fine tune things in a pinch. The Note 8 has a Pro mode which gave me quick access to light meter modes and controls for ISO, shutter speed and white balance. The iPhone X had fast and accurate focus when good light was present, but slowed down when things got darker. It grabbed focus quickly and accurately in nearly any situation. This was in large part to its dual-pixel sensor. When it came to focusing, the Note 8 was a monster. The one on the left was taken with the iPhone X and the one on the right was taken with the Galaxy Note 8. These photos were taken in a dimly lit restaurant. Its noise correction significantly reduced image noise without appearing too painterly. ![]() However, the detail and dynamic range the iPhone X captures is something that can't be added after the fact.īoth phones did well in low light, but the iPhone had the edge. Obviously, a couple quick adjustments with either phone's photo editor can fix things pretty simply. Photos from the Note 8 were often overexposed, but looked more true to life. Overall, photos from the iPhone X had more punchy contrast and idealized colors, which resembled a slick-looking Hollywood film.
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