Would you rather have "the best" or "really good" and extra cash in your pocket?
When it comes to smartphone cameras, no one should expect a four-year-old startup like OnePlus to realistically take on a tech behemoth like Samsung, but OnePlus puts up a seriously good fight.
Yes, the Galaxy S8 is still the king of the smartphone cameras, but it's also a phone with a starting price tag of $720. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 5 costs $480, and I'd be happy to capture memories, vacations, and everyday shenanigans with the OnePlus 5 in my hands with an extra $240 in my pocket.
See if the Galaxy S8's superior camera truly warrants the extra $240 you'd spend over buying a OnePlus 5:
Both the OnePlus 5 and Galaxy S8 produce similarly excellent photos in bright daylight, but the Galaxy S8 brightens up some of the darker areas to make them more visible. It's especially noticeable on the building across the street.
When I fully zoom into each photo, it's clear that the Galaxy S8's camera is sharper and captures more detail.
The OnePlus 5 is a little more conservative with color saturation than the Galaxy S8's deeper green and pink. The OnePlus 5 also gives off a warm, yellow-ish tint compared to the cooler and more dynamic color contrast of the Galaxy S8's camera.
The OnePlus 5 actually managed photos with mixed sunlight and shade better than the Galaxy S8.
The OnePlus 5 kept more of the leaves' detail and the brighter parts look less overexposed than the Galaxy S8. However, the OnePlus 5's photo looks positively yellow compared to the Galaxy S8's dynamic shot.
Next up, I'm going to zoom into the Empire State Building's top to test the OnePlus 5's telephoto optical zooming against the Galaxy S8's digital zoom. While we're here, notice how the OnePlus 5's camera tends to give everything a warmer, yellow-ish tint compared to the cooler, more dynamic Galaxy S8's camera.
It's clear that the OnePlus 5's optical zoom makes zoomed shots look dramatically sharper than the Galaxy S8's digital zoom. With that said, the OnePlus 5's photo has a lot more noise and looks pixelated.
Up next, I'm testing the OnePlus 5's new Portrait mode against the Galaxy S8 Selective Focus mode. Oddly enough, the OnePlus simply couldn't take a sharp focused shot on me, despite the photo taker tapping on the screen to focus on my face.
However, the OnePlus 5's Portrait mode fared just fine – actually very well – in a bright outdoor environment.
The OnePlus 5 has another trick up its sleeve against the Galaxy S8: It can take RAW format photos, which are better for editing with apps like Photoshop than the Galaxy S8's standard JPEG photo format. A RAW photo actually looks terrible before editing, as it takes a very plain and conservative photo that leaves you room for editing.
But I can make the RAW photo look better after editing. For example, the light coming through the windows isn't blinding, and I can make the photo look pretty much any way I want it to look more easily with editing. All I did here was play around with the sliders on settings like highlights, shadows, saturation, and contrast in Photoshop Elements.
And I can make RAW photos look better than the Galaxy S8 photo. Here's the OnePlus 5's edited RAW photo against the Galaxy S8's JPEG photo. Notice how the windows at the back of the room on the OnePlus 5 shot aren't overexposed and contain actual detail compared to the Galaxy S8's. It's especially noticeable on the very left of both photos.
The Galaxy S8 is the clear winner when it comes to low-light shots.
If I had the choice between a free OnePlus 5 and a free Galaxy S8 based purely on their cameras, I would chose the Galaxy S8, hands down.
The OnePlus 5 impresses with its optical zooming and its RAW photo capability, but the Galaxy S8's camera is still the undisputed king of the smartphone cameras. It takes sharper, more detailed photos with beautiful color contrast compared to the less-sharp OnePlus 5 camera, which seemingly adds a warm yellow-ish tint to nearly every photo.
Anyone who likes to use their smartphone as their main camera would be extremely pleased Galaxy S8.
But if I had to pay for either phone, I'd be perfectly happy with the OnePlus 5's camera and the phone's lower price tag.
The OnePlus 5 starts at $480 while the Galaxy S8 starts at $720. You've seen the photos the OnePlus 5 can take, and they're not bad at all. If budget is more important to you than camera quality, you'll still be very happy with the OnePlus 5's camera.
posted by ConnectMe
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.
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