5 ms·

After watching far too many videos comparing the iPhone 13 Pro Max, Samsung S22 Ultra, and Pixel 6 Pro, I decided against the iPhone because of the automatic sk

After watching far too many videos comparing the iPhone 13 Pro Max, Samsung S22 Ultra, and Pixel 6 Pro, I decided against the iPhone because of the automatic skin smoothing. The iPhone 13 Pro Max removed wrinkles, sun spots, moles, hair, etc to the point where the results looked like overprocessed, manually edited photos. This wasn't subtle -- the reviewers commented on it as well. While I don't do video, I was struck by a specific example: the iPhone 13 Pro Max's automatic enhancement for dark scenes decided a barely visible wall was red and recently painted. It looked like someone had drawn a box in the photo and did a red fill. I suspect it is only a matter of time before Samsung and Pixel's photos look as overprocessed. But, for now, we have some choice.

Geonode 5y ago
The Pixel 6 photos are quite over processed. You can shoot raw, but I just want the same normal workflow without the run around.
AnonHP 5y ago
Haven’t Samsung’s flagship phones favored over (or more than normal) saturated photos over the years? I think the key to liking a phone camera is to get one that takes photos you like (I know this is tautological). Or play with apps that will allow you to change from the defaults. This may not help as much on iOS since the default camera app that can be launched quickest from the Lock Screen is Apple’s camera app.
Workaccount2 5y ago
I feel like it is inevitable that consumers gravitate towards cameras that make them look the prettiest, if that is not already where manufactures are going. Samsung absolutely does not want someone to switch, and then find out that they "look worse" on their new samsung phone. I guess its just a matter of whether or not they implement options for post-processing.
rootusrootus 5y ago
Do people really choose between Android and iOS based on the camera? They are all very close on quality, and IIRC if you don't like the stock camera apps you can get a third party app with less opinionated processing. But even so, the whole experience, including the ecosystem, matters so much more to me than the camera. I have a real camera for when it matters that much.
- lkxijlewlf 5y ago
  > Do people really choose between Android and iOS based on the camera? Kinda. I have a 4a because of the camera more or less. It was between that and the iPhone SE 2020. I did kinda wanna switch up to Android (I've gone back and forth over the years. I don't lock myself into any one company's eco.)
  - tym0 5y ago
    The 4a Camera app consistently makes the "wrong" choice for me (flat lighting and colours). I wish I knew of an Halide-like for Android.
- simion314 5y ago
  Probably some people are not heavily plugged into an ecosystem, they need at max 3-5 apps to work and that is enough for them. other sure have laptops,watches, TVs already in the ecosystem, tons of money already spent into apps and media so they are prisoners.
  - rootusrootus 5y ago
    Even without the ecosystem, it seems like the actual UI experience is different enough that it would be the dominant factor. Every time I switch back and forth between Android and iOS it's like whiplash. They do tend to copy each other heavily, so it's converging, but there are still plenty of behavioral differences.
    - MiddleEndian 5y ago
      As someone who dislikes both iOS and Android, I chose my phone based on other factors. I chose my phone due to its size and form. In their case, they would be choosing it based on photography.
    - wincy 5y ago
      My cousin switches every few years and it seems like it’s always a crapshoot of whether she’ll have iOS or Android. Drives my phone crazy as it’ll try to send her iMessages and failover to texts for months.
astrange 5y ago
> I decided against the iPhone because of the automatic skin smoothing. There’s no such thing. I doubt any reviewer making videos knows what they’re talking about unless it’s from a very few sources like DPReview. The iPhone camera has never had skin smoothing - that’s something only Asian camera apps do. Deep Fusion is more like the opposite of that.
- KennyBlanken 5y ago
  > The iPhone camera has never had skin smoothing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_XS#Excessive_smoothing_in_selfies_(Beautygate) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_XS#Excessive_smoothing_... You were saying?
  - astrange 5y ago
    Indeed, that’s a case of people conspiring a skin smoothing filter out of a bug, like it says. Actually I really didn’t like the denoising on that camera, it seemed poorly tuned in general…
heartbreak 5y ago
This is fantastic. You've confused the over-sharpening that some Android cameras do with Apple's non-existent "skin smoothing" feature.
- DiggyJohnson 5y ago
  Are you saying that iPhone doesn’t do the “skin smoothing” as described?
  - heartbreak 5y ago
    Yes that is what I’m saying. The iOS camera app does not do skin smoothing.
- saiya-jin 5y ago
  Check some side-by-side comparisons of of same portrait scenes on youtube. Apple removes all moles, freckles, wrinkles and so on so folks look like (very good looking) plastic toys from fashion magazine covers. Some like it, some don't.
  - ben7799 5y ago
    Just took some pictures with my iPhone 13 Pro and it 100% doesn't do this. Not even in Portrait mode. Maybe there's some way to monkey with it just right. I think people are confusing low light noise reduction for something else.
  - mikestew 5y ago
    Check some side-by-side comparisons of of same portrait scenes on YouTube. No one is going to go dig for that, if you wish for folks to make such a comparison, it would be better to post a link so that everyone is on the same page.
mardifoufs 5y ago
Samsung is the king of oversmoothing. I've used the note 4, s8, 10+ and s21 ultra and imo the camera has always been subpar exactly because of that. I actually have no idea how most reviews have been constantly praising the cameras of flagship Samsung phones when in practice even at launch it was always a disappointing experience. Even with the s21+, the only way to really get decent shots from the camera in low/medium light before a recent update was to use modded Gcam builds. Even with the update I'd say it maybe compares to an iPhone 8 or x Overprocessing and oversaturation were so bad before the s10+ that I remember not even bothering with the camera at all because of how frustrating it was to always get mediocre pictures.
- magarnicle 5y ago
  I was surprised when I moved from a mid-range to an S21. The smudging effect was just as evident unless I used the 64mp setting that is seemingly only available in one mode in the Samsung camera app and nowhere else.

Geonode 5y ago

The Pixel 6 photos are quite over processed. You can shoot raw, but I just want the same normal workflow without the run around.

AnonHP 5y ago

Haven’t Samsung’s flagship phones favored over (or more than normal) saturated photos over the years? I think the key to liking a phone camera is to get one that takes photos you like (I know this is tautological). Or play with apps that will allow you to change from the defaults. This may not help as much on iOS since the default camera app that can be launched quickest from the Lock Screen is Apple’s camera app.

Workaccount2 5y ago

I feel like it is inevitable that consumers gravitate towards cameras that make them look the prettiest, if that is not already where manufactures are going. Samsung absolutely does not want someone to switch, and then find out that they "look worse" on their new samsung phone. I guess its just a matter of whether or not they implement options for post-processing.

rootusrootus 5y ago

Do people really choose between Android and iOS based on the camera? They are all very close on quality, and IIRC if you don't like the stock camera apps you can get a third party app with less opinionated processing. But even so, the whole experience, including the ecosystem, matters so much more to me than the camera. I have a real camera for when it matters that much.

lkxijlewlf 5y ago
> Do people really choose between Android and iOS based on the camera? Kinda. I have a 4a because of the camera more or less. It was between that and the iPhone SE 2020. I did kinda wanna switch up to Android (I've gone back and forth over the years. I don't lock myself into any one company's eco.)
- tym0 5y ago
  The 4a Camera app consistently makes the "wrong" choice for me (flat lighting and colours). I wish I knew of an Halide-like for Android.
simion314 5y ago
Probably some people are not heavily plugged into an ecosystem, they need at max 3-5 apps to work and that is enough for them. other sure have laptops,watches, TVs already in the ecosystem, tons of money already spent into apps and media so they are prisoners.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  Even without the ecosystem, it seems like the actual UI experience is different enough that it would be the dominant factor. Every time I switch back and forth between Android and iOS it's like whiplash. They do tend to copy each other heavily, so it's converging, but there are still plenty of behavioral differences.
  - MiddleEndian 5y ago
    As someone who dislikes both iOS and Android, I chose my phone based on other factors. I chose my phone due to its size and form. In their case, they would be choosing it based on photography.
  - wincy 5y ago
    My cousin switches every few years and it seems like it’s always a crapshoot of whether she’ll have iOS or Android. Drives my phone crazy as it’ll try to send her iMessages and failover to texts for months.

astrange 5y ago

> I decided against the iPhone because of the automatic skin smoothing. There’s no such thing. I doubt any reviewer making videos knows what they’re talking about unless it’s from a very few sources like DPReview. The iPhone camera has never had skin smoothing - that’s something only Asian camera apps do. Deep Fusion is more like the opposite of that.

KennyBlanken 5y ago
> The iPhone camera has never had skin smoothing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_XS#Excessive_smoothing_in_selfies_(Beautygate) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_XS#Excessive_smoothing_... You were saying?
- astrange 5y ago
  Indeed, that’s a case of people conspiring a skin smoothing filter out of a bug, like it says. Actually I really didn’t like the denoising on that camera, it seemed poorly tuned in general…

heartbreak 5y ago

This is fantastic. You've confused the over-sharpening that some Android cameras do with Apple's non-existent "skin smoothing" feature.

DiggyJohnson 5y ago
Are you saying that iPhone doesn’t do the “skin smoothing” as described?
- heartbreak 5y ago
  Yes that is what I’m saying. The iOS camera app does not do skin smoothing.
saiya-jin 5y ago
Check some side-by-side comparisons of of same portrait scenes on youtube. Apple removes all moles, freckles, wrinkles and so on so folks look like (very good looking) plastic toys from fashion magazine covers. Some like it, some don't.
- ben7799 5y ago
  Just took some pictures with my iPhone 13 Pro and it 100% doesn't do this. Not even in Portrait mode. Maybe there's some way to monkey with it just right. I think people are confusing low light noise reduction for something else.
- mikestew 5y ago
  Check some side-by-side comparisons of of same portrait scenes on YouTube. No one is going to go dig for that, if you wish for folks to make such a comparison, it would be better to post a link so that everyone is on the same page.

mardifoufs 5y ago

Samsung is the king of oversmoothing. I've used the note 4, s8, 10+ and s21 ultra and imo the camera has always been subpar exactly because of that. I actually have no idea how most reviews have been constantly praising the cameras of flagship Samsung phones when in practice even at launch it was always a disappointing experience. Even with the s21+, the only way to really get decent shots from the camera in low/medium light before a recent update was to use modded Gcam builds. Even with the update I'd say it maybe compares to an iPhone 8 or x Overprocessing and oversaturation were so bad before the s10+ that I remember not even bothering with the camera at all because of how frustrating it was to always get mediocre pictures.

magarnicle 5y ago
I was surprised when I moved from a mid-range to an S21. The smudging effect was just as evident unless I used the 64mp setting that is seemingly only available in one mode in the Samsung camera app and nowhere else.