iPhone 12 Mini vs Pixel 5 vs Galaxy S20 FE Camera Comparison Test By Danny Winget

What's up everybody: this is Danny, and today I'll be doing the camera comparison between the iPhone 12 mini the Google Pixel 5 and the Samsung Galaxy s20 Fe. So this is a very interesting camera comparison because they all approximately cost the same. Some sales happen here and there so give or take, but these are basically flagships for less, and they're going to give you the best camera and overall phone experience for this price range. So let me know what video looks better and what microphone sounds better, and then we're going to test these cameras out in every lighting condition, and we're going to see which one of these cameras is the best for your money. Let's do it first, let's talk about the testing process. Everything was shot in pure auto mode, untouched and straight out of the camera scene.

Optimizer was left on both the iPhone 12 mini and the s20 Fe, because google relies so heavily on computational photography. This makes the comparison as fair as possible. If you have time to dial in the settings. For that perfect shot. The s20 Fe is the only one with the pro mode built into the stock camera app.

First, let's talk about the daytime shots, just as you would expect all three of these cameras do a fantastic job in daylight. Full of dynamic range plenty of detail with nice colors for the most part in good lighting. It's going to be preference space for sure, but here are some differences that I noticed so, let's go over those now. The first thing that I noticed in bright daylight is the saturation levels and sky renditions. Surprisingly, the iPhone coming in with the most vibrant colors, I'm betting, that most average consumers would probably prefer the iPhone 12 mini's images, the bigger iPhone 12 has the exact same camera.

So this comparison will work for that camera as well. So keep that in mind, while the sky is hit or miss with accuracy when it comes to the iPhone. My car color is best represented by the iPhone, even though over saturation might not be everyone's cup of tea. The dynamic range from smart HDR on the iPhone is fantastic. Just look at the afternoon sun here also here you can see more cloud and sky detail and even though that the pixel 5 is sharper in the shot look at the tree, you can see the dynamic range gains on the iPhone 12 mini, but sometimes the preservation of highlights hurts the iPhone with crushing the shadows.

So I personally, like the galaxy s20 Fe, shot here, because it's a great mixture of good, dynamic range and shadow detail, so I was able to walk around Nashville on a cold and cloudy day. It's been a while since I've been here, so I just explored and took a bunch of pictures. But after looking at almost 100 pictures side by side, the iPhone 12 mini produced the brightest picture. The processing definitely took the more drab looking day and made it into a more vibrant interpretation which I actually prefer, but it does go back and forth with the pixel 5, because sometimes google went with the brightest rendition. I did find Samsung's processing to be the most contrast in this lighting condition and also leaning towards the cool side of white balance.

But once again, I think this will be heavily preference based. That's probably the biggest differentiator is the white balance. The iPhone generally leans towards the warmer tones where the pixel was somewhere in the middle. So let me know which one that you like best in the comment section below, but it wouldn't be a camera comparison. If sometimes a Samsung wants to go super warm on a shot either.

It just all depends on when it comes to flexibility. The galaxy s20 Fe is the only one to come with a triple camera system. Here is a shot from the ultra-wide second shot from the main camera, and if you look at the third shot, the s20 Fe is the only one that comes with a true 3x telephoto lens. The other two phones are at 2x. Digital zoom.

Here is a better example. You can see the 2x digital zoom, look a lot softer on the iPhone 12 mini, but the pixel looks pretty good here, nice and sharp for that digital zoom and that 3x zoom on the s20fe is sharper with more detail, and you can see that little but extra reach. Here's the maximum zoom on all three of them, 7x on the pixel 5 5x, on the iPhone mini and 30x on the galaxy s20 Fe. I'm actually surprised here. You can still make out the detail on the ROG and the person so props to Samsung on this one.

All three phones have an ultra-wide camera, which I think is the most important additional lens to have. The picture quality seems to be very similar between the three again. The iPhone produces a lot of the brighter pictures, like we've seen with the main sensor, but I do sometimes notice that the ultra-wide pictures on the iPhone lack dynamic range, but I'm sure that will be fixed with a software update soon. As for the ultra-wide, I prefer the Samsung one out of the three the front facing camera is more of the same. I think the skin tone itself is nicest from the iPhone.

The pixel tends to have the dramatic contrast. But if you like that, look then the pixel 5 is the one for you. In this scenario, the iPhone really brightened up the scene with too much saturation, but in my opinion, it didn't destroy the skin tone in color, which is impressive. When it comes to video, they can all shoot up to 4k 60 frames per second, then the iPhone 12 mini can shoot Dolby Vision, HDR video, which is amazing. I say it's between the iPhone and the Samsung here, both fantastic looking video.

The iPhone does have that extra vibrancy in its color processing in terms of dynamic range, it looks like the iPhone 12 mini is doing the best minimizing that sun highlight blowout and capturing the surrounding color. The pixel 5, though you do have to give it up to google, because at one point, pixel video was just completely unusable and looks pretty good here in the daylight with stabilization. They all seem to be fairly similar, but I would say that the pixel 5 picks up most of the bounce in my walking. So let me know which one you think looks smoother here with no special modes, enabled what's great about the pixel 5 and the galaxy s20 Fe is that they have a special stabilization mode where it will boost the stabilization capabilities. It does drop the resolution of 1080p, but in certain scenarios it can be worth it when walking.

It's not a huge deal, but when you get crazy, and you start running with a ton of movement, you can immediately see the difference. The pixel 5's active stabilization isn't really that great, but the s20 Fe super steady mode is incredible. Just look at how smooth that footage is it's absolutely unbelievable. Next, up, let's jump into low light performance, everyone's favorite? What I did here is I took shots with and without night mode, because I still think it's important to see what the sensor can do without special tricks and not everyone has time to wait two to three seconds for it to expose. So without night mode.

The pixel 5 suffers the most because it has the oldest sensor out of the three. It has the most noise, so leave the automatic night mode. Setting on the pixel 5, because you're not going to want to take night pictures without it for the most part, it seems to crank the ISO to get the subject properly exposed, but the overall image can suffer quite a bit, but here are some examples without night mode and then, with night mode. All three cameras do a nice job of brightening, the environment and capturing more detail and sharpness. The pixel 5 now really shows you what google can do with just software.

The difference is so huge between the regular shot and the night mode shot. I love the fact that the pixel 5 has night mode portrait mode, and it looks perfect at night, but when it comes to nighttime photography, this is where I think the galaxy s20 Fe starts to take the lead. I think it has the best balance a lot of the times. The pixel 5 will go way too cold on the white balance and sometimes the iPhone likes to crank up the saturation and a lot of times. I find that the galaxy s20 Fe also produces the shots with the highest dynamic range with night mode.

Look at the moon here and here is another example of that crazy white balance on the pixel 5, but I have to say I am impressed with the shadow detail and noise reduction of the iPhone 12 mini's images. The night mode spotless up that noise nicely. If you were afraid that the smallest iPhone 12 didn't have the ability to take good night photos, you don't have to worry. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, especially if you like the more contrast images. I think it did a great job here on this Christmas tree, but the galaxy s20 Fe, look at that dynamic range and shadow detail.

The Fe also has that true 3x telephoto, but I do have to say for 2x digital. It doesn't look too bad, especially on the pixel. But if you want that extra flexibility at night, then the galaxy s20 Fe is going to be the one for you when looking at the nighttime wide angle mode, it's more of the same, the pixel with the noisiest shot without night mode. But when you kick in that night mode, though they all do extremely similar. In this scenario, I'm very surprised with the iPhone 12 minis performance, keeping up with the s20 FM most of the time here it even omitted that green cast- which I don't like, but here's an example of that higher dynamic range again so slight advantage for the Fe, but I wouldn't blame you for preferring the iPhone shots as well.

I only took one but here's: an aster photography shot the pixel exposed for about a minute and a half the iPhone about five seconds and the s20 Fe for about seven seconds. The mini actually does a phenomenal job for the time exposed, but the pixel naturally does have the sharper picture. Just look at the tree and the stars themselves. So macrophotography mode with the tripod is awesome on the pixel 5. Let's finish up with nighttime video, they all have noise in the video.

That's for sure, but as expected, the iPhone 12 mini is doing the best here with the best noise reduction detail and more accurate color look at the pixel. It is saturation city and definitely looks the worst out of the three. You can see it much better when you crop in heavily look at how much clearer the people are on the iPhone 12 minis video, the tree lights are handled much better. The noise control is the best. So if you're a nighttime video shooter, I would for sure go with the iPhone 12 mini here's an example of a walking shot at night.

More of the same, even with stabilization, the iPhone's video is superior to the other two, and it seems like it's doing better handling the stabilization as well while walking. So let me know what you think. I know a lot of people give harsh criticism to the iPhone for the green dots or lens reflections, but here is a real world test. Unfortunately, they all have them. The galaxy s20 Fe does have the softest or smallest reflection, but they all have them.

So I just wanted to show you this. Just in case you were wondering so which one should you buy, and that all depends, because, when it comes to the daytime images, I think they will be very preference based. So I think you'll have to decide if you want the larger form factor and screen of the galaxy s20 Fe with that telephoto lens or if you want the smaller iPhone, 12 mini or pixel 5. I do have to say it's really refreshing to have this type of power in a smaller phone. I've been enjoying it so far.

Furthermore, I think the one thing to take away here is that google's lead in computational photography is dwindling down. We could argue that in a lot of ways that apple and Samsung have passed, google when it comes to the camera performance as a whole, so I think it's between the s20 Fe and the mini, and I think, if you take a lot of video, I would buy the iPhone 12 mini, because the video is still the best in the business. I think the other aspects are a little too close to call, but the nighttime video is a clear win for the mini, while photography, I think the s20 Fe takes it, but don't get me wrong. You'll be happy with any of these three. I just wanted to show you what the differences were and help you make the best buying decision.

So thank you for watching subscribe to the channel for a lot more videos like this hit that thumbs up. If you enjoyed it, let me know which one that you think took it, and I will see you in the next one.

Source : Danny Winget