Database Users

Should I get the Mi A1 over Asus Zenfone 3?

My needs:
- Good Camera, esp for indoor and low light use. Need a good manual mode. Portrait mode not important, need to shoot mostly landscape pics.
- Good build quality
- Long lasting battery (~1-2 days for light use)
- Light user, no gaming or other heavy apps
The camera of Mi A1 vs Zenfone 3:
- A1 = dual set up vs Zenfone = single 16MP camera
- A1 = no Laser autofocus, no OIS
- Zenfone 3 = Sony IMX 298 sensor (same as on on oneplus 3t), not sure about A1 sensor quality.
- Maximum shutter speed : 0.067s for A1 vs 32s for Zenfone 3
- Zenfone 3 has a full featured manual mode (more options for shutter speed, WB, ISO etc)
Zenfone 3 comes with a full glass back, and is now more than a year old. The price is half of the launch price. What would you advise. The mi A1 or the Zenfone 3?

go for the A1. some users of ZF3 are having camera issue like blur camera or not focusing.

The camera is not great you need full light. The dual camera is more of a marketing gimmick.
Battery is also not great but does well for the capacity.
For battery I recommend the Lenovo P2 although I have no info on the camera.

cheeze.keyk said:
go for the A1. some users of ZF3 are having camera issue like blur camera or not focusing.
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Click to collapse
thanks for that info, I went thru the Asus forums and like you said, users have complained of camera focus issuing. Are ther any known issues in the Mi A1 that I need to be aware of?

pow01 said:
The camera is not great you need full light. The dual camera is more of a marketing gimmick.
Battery is also not great but does well for the capacity.
For battery I recommend the Lenovo P2 although I have no info on the camera.
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Click to collapse
thanks for confirming what i suspected about the camera on A1. Lenovo P2 was on my list, but its bigger and heavier than I need.

dzarg said:
thanks for confirming what i suspected about the camera on A1. Lenovo P2 was on my list, but its bigger and heavier than I need.
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Click to collapse
Both are 5.5" the size difference is minimal. Slightly thicker due to the monster 5100mAh battery
Expandable memory up to 256mb and HD video. The main drawback being that pesky Lenovo software but community is active on here.

If you take indoor photos, don't buy Mi A1. It has awful low light performance (and I mean awful. The pictures come out grainy. However it has slightly improved by Oreo update). The daylight photos come out amazing though! Landscape photos are amazing.

with google camera it's not bad at all

traianescu said:
with google camera it's not bad at all
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Damn, the difference!

Edwin Hamal said:
Damn, the difference!
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Yes, i know.. it is all about software... The hardware, as you see, it is capable to shot great pics in low light condition

@traianescu
thanks for the pics, I can see the big difference.

The camera on the zenfone 3 smashes the mi A1 mate I have both of them and my wife has a zenfone 3 too and we have no issues with the camera
Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk

robgee789 said:
The camera on the zenfone 3 smashes the mi A1 mate I have both of them and my wife has a zenfone 3 too and we have no issues with the camera
Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
thanks a lot, mate. your experience helps my decision making.

robgee789 said:
The camera on the zenfone 3 smashes the mi A1 mate I have both of them and my wife has a zenfone 3 too and we have no issues with the camera
Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
If you don't mind, can you post few comparison images? specially in low light. I'm curious.

harshu0101 said:
If you don't mind, can you post few comparison images? specially in low light. I'm curious.
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Click to collapse
Yeah man here are a couple i just opened and snapped no messing with settings or anything i havnt even checked them so so can judge for your self mate
these are mi a1
https://i.imgur.com/hSgBe3P.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DpXBhU7.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/oMdNwgi.jpg
these are zenfone 3
https://i.imgur.com/jIdDDCD.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/F5M8LKg.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/nodUMxG.jpg

robgee789 said:
Yeah man here are a couple i just opened and snapped no messing with settings or anything i havnt even checked them so so can judge for your self mate
these are mi a1
https://i.imgur.com/hSgBe3P.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/DpXBhU7.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/oMdNwgi.jpg
these are zenfone 3
https://i.imgur.com/jIdDDCD.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/F5M8LKg.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/nodUMxG.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Zenfone 3 is better IMO. In A1, images are blurry but in Zenfone 3 images looks sharp and better.

You can get sharp images with the a1 but there is kind of stabilisation so it's hard and videos are better in zenfone 3 too, if you switch to night mode in the zenfone the Image is very bright and pretty clear but night mode on a1 does nothing lol
Sent from my Mi A1 using Tapatalk

I had a Zenfone 2 Laser and man, how much I hated that phone. It has bloatware with takes a big part of the space and like a Custom ROM fan I am no one even cared for that device. So, I recommend any phone over Asus ones ^^

traianescu said:
with google camera it's not bad at all
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Is HDR+ enabled? The difference between the pictures is huge.

Yes, hdr activated on both cameras, to have a fair comparison..
The camera it is more than i need on the phone.. my complains are two other thing: it is huuuge, compared with my ex iphone 5s and i don't have a real fm radio app.. maybe when we will have the kernel source...

Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 come out. A higher rating indicates that photos offer rich color (without over-saturating), sharp detail (with all subjects in-focus), and appropriate exposure (with even lighting).
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Did Samsung improve the shutter speed on Note10+?? When I had the S10+ the still photos looked great, however it was hard to get a picture of my daughter(18mo old) that didn't look blurry

I spent a couple of days doing camera comparisons with my Pixel 3 XL, which I sent back on Friday (got my Note 10 on Wednesday). I found that I personally like the photos in daylight better from the Note 10, as they look just a bit more "punchy" and clear to me, but that's Samsung applying a deeper saturation and more sharpening. YMMV on that. Early reviews I read online said that it was on par with the Pixel 3 in daylight, but quickly fell apart in low light. I'm happy to report that wasn't my experience at all. Night mode works great, and while it would be nice to have an indicator of how long to hold it, it seems to be just as fast at the Pixel 3. The Pixel 3 did beat it out just a bit with clarity, but not by a very wide margin. I did some blind comparison test between shots from the Note 10 and the Pixel 3 XL with my girlfriend (who has a Pixel 3 XL of her own), and 9 of the 11 shots she picked were the Note 10 shots over the Pixel 3. She prefered the Pixel 3's selfie shot and it's Night Sight shot, but she said she really couldn't tell much of a difference in them.
Aside from quality, I like different Live Focus backgrounds, and being able to swipe up from a corner on the lockscreen to get to the camera is a huge plus for me. It's much faster for me to go from pocket to shot now. I'm going to a convention this weekend, so I expect to get some good use out of the triple cameras too. All in all, I'm beyond happy with the Note 10 camera, and coming from the Pixel 3 XL, I was very concerned, as that was hands down the best camera on a phone I'd ever used. The Note 10 isn't leaps and bounds better, but it is better, in my opinion.

As much as I like Note 10, camera is crap compared to Pixel 3. I've been shooting all day and most images are near useless if subject is moving, automatic in anything less then ideal conditions is also terrible, and can only be improved with Pro mode. Faces are too white and details are all washed out. I had exactly the same results with S10 that I returned
I am not sure what Samsung is thinking. Big company and great hardware, $1000 phone, yet software is not good and photos are behind even Pixel 1
Ps. I am leaning towards keeping the phone anyway and will give Gcam a try

Note 10+ Night Camera is really crap compared to the Pixel phone.... Ugh... Samsung again with their bs

EclipseGST20 said:
Did Samsung improve the shutter speed on Note10+?? When I had the S10+ the still photos looked great, however it was hard to get a picture of my daughter(18mo old) that didn't look blurry
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Click to collapse
No they haven't. I had a good hands on with the device at their stores and took my kids to just specially test this out.
I sold my S10 plus for this very reason and unfortunately in the Note note 10, they still haven't sorted it out. I had a Galaxy Note 8 and that was the last Samsung without this issue. I think it's something to do with the dual aperture.
Installing Gcam seems to help a lot but I have Exynos chip and doesn't get ported very well.

You have to use Pro mode in order to get anything useful with moving subject. Or Gcam maybe, I haven't tried yet

Daylight shots are very good though, I would say even better then Pixel

ZayaanAhyaan said:
No they haven't. I had a good hands on with the device at their stores and took my kids to just specially test this out.
I sold my S10 plus for this very reason and unfortunately in the Note note 10, they still haven't sorted it out. I had a Galaxy Note 8 and that was the last Samsung without this issue. I think it's something to do with the dual aperture.
Installing Gcam seems to help a lot but I have Exynos chip and doesn't get ported very well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same thing here with my wife's S10e. Since my S7 I hate this. Nowadays I have an iPhone Xr and this is not a problem, fortunately... But I'd like to go back to Android again... Maybe with Pixel 4...
Using pro mode on S10e I've got a nice result setting the shutter speed at least at 1/250. But you lose performance on HDR... So it's like a short sheet... You cover something and uncover other...

That's another mess, the pro mode.
On my note 8, i chose to keep a fast shutter speed and my preferred white balance with iso as a shortcut on home screen. This way it allowed me to directly jump into 3 of my preferred pro mode setting directly without fiddling and adjusting, but as always, Samsung had to take a damn step back and removed this shortcut starting from note 9.

Hmmmnnn. I had a note 8, and all the others besides the 9. Any of them, like any other cameras I have used(cameras and camcorders), with the faster shutter speeds, I always use manual(or as Samsung likes to call pro). I guess most of my subjects when I learned were really fast(rc helicopters doing aerobatics and saltwater reef tanks), so the old rule of 'learn manual shooting first and don't rely on auto' saved me.
Neither of those environments are ideal, and i learned to just 'make' the cameras work for me. It's not a fault of the devices, it's just the honest inherent nature of auto mode.. I also love macro photography, so that is another realm in which manual knowledge is key..
Sent from my Note 10+ using Tapatalk

The portrait mood has bee the single most disappointing feature for me, perhaps we are spoiled by the gcam quality, but samsung could have done better.
Having an Exynos device makes it even more challenging to find a stable fully functional gcam.
I am almost inclining towards finding a pixel (2/3a or 3) just for camera capabilities.
Even the poco with it's xiaomi camera did a better job at portraits

watsinaname said:
The portrait mood has bee the single most disappointing feature for me, perhaps we are spoiled by the gcam quality, but samsung could have done better.
Having an Exynos device makes it even more challenging to find a stable fully functional gcam.
I am almost inclining towards finding a pixel (2/3a or 3) just for camera capabilities.
Even the poco with it's xiaomi camera did a better job at portraits
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Portrait is very good as far as i'm concerned. Maybe malfunctionning device ? I have exynos as well and no pb with photos (EDIT : i have Note 10 Plus though so maybe TOF does the job).
My portait photos are probably the most striking and accurate i ever took with a smartphone, i have very nice pics of my kids taken with it.
Single hairs on sides are not blurred either, it only blurs the background and does it right.

I am very disappointed with cameras .
Low definition and quality when you do not have 100% of light .
Night mode it **** also.
I came from op6 and did better photos stock and with gcam.
Samsung camera processing it is the worst one

villadecai said:
I am very disappointed with cameras .
Low definition and quality when you do not have 100% of light .
Night mode it **** also.
I came from op6 and did better photos stock and with gcam.
Samsung camera processing it is the worst one
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Click to collapse
Plain wrong... Post exemple or it never happened.

Camera is not good but much better than OP7
villadecai said:
I am very disappointed with cameras .
Low definition and quality when you do not have 100% of light .
Night mode it **** also.
I came from op6 and did better photos stock and with gcam.
Samsung camera processing it is the worst one
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I compared with OP7 and found that Note 10 (Exynos) is far better when compared to OnePlus 7.
Though Pixel 2 XL have much better camera

Just wondering whether the staggering difference in photo quality between Exynos and Snapdragon versions of Note 10 is here as well. I was shocked how far better was Galaxy S9 (Snapdragon) in this term.

Definitely isn't this year...the Exynos model has improved a lot so much so there's a huge difference between the photo quality of the note 10 and the S10 5g I had.

new update to camera today

watsinaname said:
The portrait mood has bee the single most disappointing feature for me, perhaps we are spoiled by the gcam quality, but samsung could have done better.
Having an Exynos device makes it even more challenging to find a stable fully functional gcam.
I am almost inclining towards finding a pixel (2/3a or 3) just for camera capabilities.
Even the poco with it's xiaomi camera did a better job at portraits
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is weird, I find portrait quality to be much better than my Note 8 and iphone XS Max, edge definition is outstanding compared to iphones and I have taken portrait shots that are as good (resolution aside) as my Canon 70D with 85mm lens.

Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Motorola One Pro come out. A higher rating indicates that photos offer rich color (without over-saturating), sharp detail (with all subjects in-focus), and appropriate exposure (with even lighting).
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Question about camera quality
Hi,
I'm planning to buy this pone, but I've read conflicting reviews about camera performance. Phonearena and other sites says pictures and videos are very good (considering that's a midranger), but GSMArena review shows ugly results except for the telephoto module.
What is your experience with this phone?

GreekSpirit said:
Hi,
I'm planning to buy this pone, but I've read conflicting reviews about camera performance. Phonearena and other sites says pictures and videos are very good (considering that's a midranger), but GSMArena review shows ugly results except for the telephoto module.
What is your experience with this phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I both have the Note10 Snapdragon and Moto One Zoom.
I'm not biased but the Motorola One Zoom takes better detail than the Note10 although the Note10 seems brighter and more vibrant with excellent dynamic range.
Portrait shots are also excellent. The bokeh (background blur) is convincing with no ugly cutouts from the subject.
Ironically, previous Moto phones (like Moto Z3 Play) struggles in portrait but it seems that Motorola was able to correct all the flaws.
Believe Phonearena more since they are know for being tough to Android devices but they were impressed by Zoom's performance.
Another takeaway is the great battery life. Midrange SOC + 4000mah = you won't worry about your battery.
Build quality is also excellent. You will mistake this for a flagship device.

ijuanp03 said:
I both have the Note10 Snapdragon and Moto One Zoom.
I'm not biased but the Motorola One Zoom takes better detail than the Note10 although the Note10 seems brighter and more vibrant with excellent dynamic range.
Portrait shots are also excellent. The bokeh (background blur) is convincing with no ugly cutouts from the subject.
Ironically, previous Moto phones (like Moto Z3 Play) struggles in portrait but it seems that Motorola was able to correct all the flaws.
Believe Phonearena more since they are know for being tough to Android devices but they were impressed by Zoom's performance.
Another takeaway is the great battery life. Midrange SOC + 4000mah = you won't worry about your battery.
Build quality is also excellent. You will mistake this for a flagship device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot! :good:

GreekSpirit said:
Thanks a lot! :good:
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Click to collapse
Fingerprint scanner sucks and 4 GBs ram... CPU is cheap but the android stock is super fluid.
I bought a Xiaomi mi 9 and bricked the screen after 2 weeks. So i decided to buy the Moto One Zoom at 250€ (i used to have moto g 1, moto g5 plus) but honestly i am not satisfied with it even if i paid for it the price of the xiaomi screen repair (199.99€ in italy). -.-

Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 come out. A higher rating indicates that photos offer rich color (without over-saturating), sharp detail (with all subjects in-focus), and appropriate exposure (with even lighting).
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Dynamic range is pretty good comparing with "modern" tiny-sensored iphones.
Funny thing, that Nokia PureView 808 (2012) STILL provides better resolution and better signal-to-noise ratio.

S10 vs Mi Note 10
Hey guys. Here's a side by side picture showing the Mi Note 10 vs the Galaxy S10.
Unfortunately I've had to lower the size of the pics to 10MB because that's what the image host accepts.
On the right I included a cropped section from each camera. The Mi Note 10 has the higher megapixels
Notes: HDR auto enabled for both cameras
AI mode on for the Mi Note 10
Both pictures taken on the standard lens

MoneyFist said:
Hey guys. Here's a side by side picture showing the Mi Note 10 vs the Galaxy S10. ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks you! To me, the Mi Note 10 camera looks like a real winner. The detail of the Mi Note 10 shot is noticeably better, especially on the right side of the canal. I believe that the color balance is noticeably better, too.

I like the mi note 10 as the photos are not altered by the software more what you see and that's what you get. I love the Lumia 1020 and I used it for 2 years plus till it died, and I moved on to Samsung Galaxy S7, pic were good but unrealistic as colours were enhanced .
With this device I take more real pic.

If you edit the picture with Snapseed and +25 to saturation the Mi Note 10 pic looks almost identical to the S10 on the colour front

While waiting for my Mi Note 10 to arrive, I am starting to wonder if I have made a mistake. I am replacing a Pixel 3XL with the Mi Note 10, based largely on the initial camera reviews and the Dxomark rating.
But now I am reading less than rosy reviews of the camera, like this one:
https://www.androidpit.com/xiaomi-mi-note-10-camera-problems
I also saw the oversharpening and overprocessing with the telephoto lenses, as well as the fringing. Can others share their experience with the camera, compared to brands like Apple, Google and Samsung?
Also, how good is Xiaomi at fixing such issues with updates? I am afraid that like many other Chinese companies, they will drop support for the Mi Note 10 in favor of the bazillion new models they seem to have in the pipeline.

I received my Mi Note 10 and took a few shots. Overall, disappointing images, compared to my Pixel 3XL.
Main camera: The dynamic range of the main camera is not nearly as good as that on the Pixel. Even forcing HDR on the Mi Note 10 doesn't help much, as the Pixel shows more detail in both sun-lit and shadow areas. Strangely, given the higher resolution of the Mi Note, the definition of blades of grass in a landscape shot is noticeably better on the Pixel. Also, the colors are kind of "electric" on the Mi Note 10, not natural.
Portrait mode is poor in less than bright conditions.
In Wide mode, the dynamic range is also pretty poor.
Night city light shots from the Mi Note 10 are not as good as the Pixel, although in Night Shot mode the Mi Note 10 improves noticeably. But it still suffers from poor dynamic range.
The only shot where the Mi Note did better the Pixel was at 10x zoom. The Pixel 3 does it all with just one lens, and at its maximum 7x it had somewhat less detail than the Mi Note 10.
Sadly, the Mi Note feels like a second rate phone on the photography front. Funny enough, I don't have any issues with the rest of the phone. The fingerprint unlock is not fast, but I can live with it. I don't have touch issues on the edges. But the main reason I bought it was for the camera, which in my experience so far, is just not very good.
I am wondering what DXOMARK was testing and how they came up with their conclusions, which are so different than mine?

MacGuy2006 said:
I received my Mi Note 10 and took a few shots. Overall, disappointing images, compared to my Pixel 3XL.
Main camera: The dynamic range of the main camera is not nearly as good as that on the Pixel. Even forcing HDR on the Mi Note 10 doesn't help much, as the Pixel shows more detail in both sun-lit and shadow areas. Strangely, given the higher resolution of the Mi Note, the definition of blades of grass in a landscape shot is noticeably better on the Pixel. Also, the colors are kind of "electric" on the Mi Note 10, not natural.
Portrait mode is poor in less than bright conditions.
In Wide mode, the dynamic range is also pretty poor.
Night city light shots from the Mi Note 10 are not as good as the Pixel, although in Night Shot mode the Mi Note 10 improves noticeably. But it still suffers from poor dynamic range.
The only shot where the Mi Note did better the Pixel was at 10x zoom. The Pixel 3 does it all with just one lens, and at its maximum 7x it had somewhat less detail than the Mi Note 10.
Sadly, the Mi Note feels like a second rate phone on the photography front. Funny enough, I don't have any issues with the rest of the phone. The fingerprint unlock is not fast, but I can live with it. I don't have touch issues on the edges. But the main reason I bought it was for the camera, which in my experience so far, is just not very good.
I am wondering what DXOMARK was testing and how they came up with their conclusions, which are so different than mine?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I strongly believe that a 27 mp photo taken with a sensor 4 time bigger than the 12mp pixel 3 sensor has less detail compared with this one. Really, i believe that!! I swear!!
The dxomark test was made with the mi note 10 pro that have a 8p Lens system, but the difference Is very very little.
If you feel the pixel 3 photos Better than mi note 10, i suspect that you bought a mi note 3. Ahahahha

such awesome photo quality. I've got mi max 3 / note 8 pro / note 10 pro.
Note 10 pro is really really awesome and hassle free to install gcam
using this btw
burial: GCam_7.2.010_Burial-v6_release21.01.20.apk

mezza8512 said:
I strongly believe that a 27 mp photo taken with a sensor 4 time bigger than the 12mp pixel 3 sensor has less detail compared with this one. Really, i believe that!! I swear!!
The dxomark test was made with the mi note 10 pro that have a 8p Lens system, but the difference Is very very little.
If you feel the pixel 3 photos Better than mi note 10, i suspect that you bought a mi note 3. Ahahahha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Believe what you want. The issue is not resolution, it's dynamic range. Detail in strongly lit and in shadow areas is worse in images taken on the Mi Note 10, than in images taken on the Pixel 3XL. The color is also over-processed and looking just tacky.
I am really disappointed, because I thought I was getting a great bargain, but instead got less than I paid for (the Pixel 3XL is cheaper nowadays than the Mi Note 10 and the 4XL can be had for a $200 or so more, on Google Fi). I'll give this phone a week or so, just to make sure, but my initial impression is not good.
My guess is it's all software. I tried a couple of the GCam mods, one crashes after each shot, the other one is a bit better than the stock main camera, but still not nearly as good as the Pixel 3XL.
I am on the latest Global, with the January update.
I should also note that I am looking at the original camera images on a 30" calibrated monitor, where the differences are glaring. On the phone itself the over-processed Mi Note 10 images look pretty good, but while this may be good enough for some, it's not what I am looking for.

OK, just went for a run and took a few shots along the way with the Mi Note 10. Late afternoon, good light.
In my opinion, they are all are pretty bad, mainly because the dynamic range is so poor. On my calibrated monitor, they also appear overly processed and the grass takes an electric hue, which reminds me of Chinese phones from years back.
Here are a few Mi Note 10 examples here:
---------- Post added at 19:13 ---------- Previous post was at 18:49 ----------
And here is a few pairs of similar shots from the Mi Note 10 and a Pixel 3XL..
I can see a little more detail in the Mi Note 10 shots at 100%, but things are crushed and just don't look good:
I'd be really happy to be proven wrong, so I don't have to deal with returning the Mi Note 10.

Dear MacGuy2006,
I have been a silent reader until now, but I still have to give my comment here.
You say that the pixel images are better, I see it completely different. The resolution is worlds lower and the whole picture looks much more blurred when you look at it in detail.
I agree with you that the colors are a bit more intense, that's why the pictures look better at first, but that's not so. The Note 10 photos are just more neutral, but that doesn't say anything about the quality of the pictures, that’s only a part of the Software.
A small change in Photoshop (gradation curves and saturation) and the Mi Note 10 looks much better. I even think, after a little tuning in Photoshop you can't compare both cameras at all. In my eyes, the pixel is far behind. None of the photos of the pixel shown by you are better for me.
Regards
Pascal

Pentagrave666 said:
Dear MacGuy2006,
I have been a silent reader until now, but I still have to give my comment here.
You say that the pixel images are better, I see it completely different. The resolution is worlds lower and the whole picture looks much more blurred when you look at it in detail.
I agree with you that the colors are a bit more intense, that's why the pictures look better at first, but that's not so. The Note 10 photos are just more neutral, but that doesn't say anything about the quality of the pictures, that’s only a part of the Software.
A small change in Photoshop (gradation curves and saturation) and the Mi Note 10 looks much better. I even think, after a little tuning in Photoshop you can't compare both cameras at all. In my eyes, the pixel is far behind. None of the photos of the pixel shown by you are better for me.
Regards
Pascal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Pascal. I appreciate your point and I agree with it.
But I think the issues with the Mi Note are a bit bigger than a small change in PS. I just lined up an image from the Mi Note 10 and an image from the Pixel 3XL, both at 100%, and took a screen shot. One would expect a much greater difference in resolution between the Mi Note sensor and the Pixel 3 sensor, right? I certainly expected a lot better, both in terms of detail and dynamic range.
But while the Note image has a bit finer detail, there is a lot of smearing and feathering. The orange/red tree in the upper right looks painted in both, and it shouldn't really on the Note image. While when pixel peeping I like the Mi Note 10 image better, I am wondering if all the smearing is causing the compressed apparent dynamic range? It looks like a Pointillist painting.
But as I said, I hope I am just overreacting and missing something. I'd really like for this to be the great bargain I hoped for. But I am not feeling it right now.

Just use gcam and small tweaks or even just load up pre-configured xml file can easily solve all your problem and achieve better quality image

MacGuy2006 said:
Hi, Pascal. I appreciate your point and I agree with it.
But I think the issues with the Mi Note are a bit bigger than a small change in PS. I just lined up an image from the Mi Note 10 and an image from the Pixel 3XL, both at 100%, and took a screen shot. One would expect a much greater difference in resolution between the Mi Note sensor and the Pixel 3 sensor, right? I certainly expected a lot better, both in terms of detail and dynamic range.
But while the Note image has a bit finer detail, there is a lot of smearing and feathering. The orange/red tree in the upper right looks painted in both, and it shouldn't really on the Note image. While when pixel peeping I like the Mi Note 10 image better, I am wondering if all the smearing is causing the compressed apparent dynamic range? It looks like a Pointillist painting.
But as I said, I hope I am just overreacting and missing something. I'd really like for this to be the great bargain I hoped for. But I am not feeling it right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand what you mean and I've seen this kind of thing many times in pictures of Note 10. I guess the software just screws that up. The sensor itself is certainly much more powerful than you can see on some pictures.
It gives the impression that it tries too much to suppress the noise, so a lot of the details that should be there disappear.
Let's hope that a software update will come or Gcam will solve the problem.
- I would describe the camera like this: Right light, right situation, absolutely perfect shot.
- Minor problems with lighting (too little light or too high dynamic range) and the pictures are only average.
In my eyes it is not a camera that works well everywhere. The software simply needs more attention and time to take the right photo. By time I mean now the correct positioning or maybe manual settings on a photo instead of the automatic.
In any case the sensor has enormous power, but unfortunately not always and not everywhere

Pentagrave666 said:
I understand what you mean and I've seen this kind of thing many times in pictures of Note 10. I guess the software just screws that up. The sensor itself is certainly much more powerful than you can see on some pictures.
It gives the impression that it tries too much to suppress the noise, so a lot of the details that should be there disappear.
Let's hope that a software update will come or Gcam will solve the problem.
- I would describe the camera like this: Right light, right situation, absolutely perfect shot.
- Minor problems with lighting (too little light or too high dynamic range) and the pictures are only average.
In my eyes it is not a camera that works well everywhere. The software simply needs more attention and time to take the right photo. By time I mean now the correct positioning or maybe manual settings on a photo instead of the automatic.
In any case the sensor has enormous power, but unfortunately not always and not everywhere
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Click to collapse
OK, I've calmed down
I went home yesterday and spent some time taking night shots with the camera and viewed the whole batch on my TV set up (it's a very large TV, calibrated On a large screen, I can appreciate the additional detail from the Mi Note 10. And you are right, under the perfect conditions the images are great. In fact, when comparing on the TV, Xiaomi seems to be closer to images from the iPhone 11, which is a good thing.
But on a lot of images, there is smearing and definite crushing of color in high contrast scenes. It seems the greens can be particularly troublesome for the Mi Note. I compared 108mp to 27mp and the smearing and the color crush is really evident only in the 27mp.
I wish there was a 16x9 option using the 108mp sensor as is.
I guess I was expecting too much. The Pixel 3XL photos still look more dynamic on the TV screen, but in perfect conditions the Mi Note provides better detail.
I will probably keep it and hope that Xiaomi improves the camera app to better take advantage of the large sensor. What is the experience of others with Xiaomi updates?

Why do you need a 16:9 option on the 108mp sensor? Just crop the photo into 16:9 afterwards, cause that's exactly what other phones do that let you take 16:9 photos.

Why 16x9? Because most photos I keep are eventually viewed on large 16x9 screens (TV's). I would rather frame correctly while taking the photo than crop later. I'd imagine that others prefer this too, since there is always a 16x9 option for the main camera.
Plus, the file size would be smaller and likely the processing time will be less, too.

Why frame correctly? You can also frame it correctly after. The 108mp mode isn't made for point and shoot. It's meant to get the max out of it so you still have to tweak a few things after so you might as well crop it. Takes 2 seconds.

Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE come out. A higher rating indicates that photos offer rich color (without over-saturating), sharp detail (with all subjects in-focus), and appropriate exposure (with even lighting).
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

When compared to the regular S20 I noticed photos are often overexposed, so it loses detail in the white parts of the photo.
I noticed this in every photo comparison review.
I guess it's just a software thing, but Samsung needs to fix this.

Gray44 said:
When compared to the regular S20 I noticed photos are often overexposed, so it loses detail in the white parts of the photo.
I noticed this in every photo comparison review.
I guess it's just a software thing, but Samsung needs to fix this.
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Yeah, that seems to be a Samsung trait. It's really annoying. I'm looking to get a new phone, and Samsung have some great specced phones, but their photo processing steers me away. I gave up n my S10+ because of it, and went back to my pixel 3

Here's another comparison with the pixel 5, almost all photos and videos looks (imho) way better on the pixel 5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqAaofYe9a4
Google builds a cheaper phone with cheaper hardware including lenses and yet, the results are better.
Samsung really needs to step up a notch!

Gray44 said:
Here's another comparison with the pixel 5, almost all photos and videos looks (imho) way better on the pixel 5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqAaofYe9a4
Google builds a cheaper phone with cheaper hardware including lenses and yet, the results are better.
Samsung really needs to step up a notch!
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Really after seeing twice the video, i much prefer the s20 fe...

Random Pictures part1
here I show you some random pictures. I come from the Huawei P30 Pro and I am very satisfied with the camera.

Random Pictures part2
here I show you some random pictures. I come from the Huawei P30 Pro and I am very satisfied with the camera.

qbcgraphics said:
here I show you some random pictures. I come from the Huawei P30 Pro and I am very satisfied with the camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The worse thing that you can do it's to switch from a p30 pro which it's the camera killer to this Samsung that it's having awful photo quality... You didn't show us some comparisons between this 2 devices.. You'll be surprised that p30 pro it's still a flagship killer Also, the zoom on the p30 remains a king(p40 it's out of the discussion because of the lack of google service)

robi10101298 said:
The worse thing that you can do it's to switch from a p30 pro which it's the camera killer to this Samsung that it's having awful photo quality... You didn't show us some comparisons between this 2 devices.. You'll be surprised that p30 pro it's still a flagship killer Also, the zoom on the p30 remains a king(p40 it's out of the discussion because of the lack of google service)
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i am and have been a huge Huawei P30 Pro fan but i am not sure if your statement is correct...
Sure yes, that P30 Pro is a real killer but the s20 fe is really very good too! The pictures can't really be compared - sometimes the P30 Pro wins and sometimes and yet sometimes more often the S20 fe wins.
but it always depends on your own preferences, i agree with you. i am currently very enthusiastic about the s20 fe.

ive had mine for a bit over a month now and im quite impressed with it

robi10101298 said:
The worse thing that you can do it's to switch from a p30 pro which it's the camera killer to this Samsung that it's having awful photo quality... You didn't show us some comparisons between this 2 devices.. You'll be surprised that p30 pro it's still a flagship killer Also, the zoom on the p30 remains a king(p40 it's out of the discussion because of the lack of google service)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I've got my old P20 Pro here, a 5G S20 FE and a Mi 10T Pro and guess which one still 'subjectively' takes far clearer and defined - if a little overly processed - pictures? Yeah it's the one released in March 2018
According to GSMarena the P30 Pro uses the same main sensor which is pretty abysmal for low light videoing so that is why I have avoided it. Oh and the low light recording is pretty terrible (on par with my P20 Pro) but is absolutely outstanding on the Mi10 Pro (pictures are pretty average though even with that big sensor)

I have taken a few pictures, quality seems OK, maybe change some settings to get the wow factor

The pictures are very nice. I came from a mi9 with a 48mp cam but the 12mp of the Samsung gives at least the same quality and even better because of the ois

That's strange. I came from Mi 9 also and while there is more detail on photos took on S20 there is also more noise and colors are bit strange, unnatural. Colors on Mi 9 are much more realistic.
Also a lot of times I do get grainy photos with a lot of noise on S20 FE.
Pretty bad. I have exynos version.

After 40 days of use,
Coming from a Pixel 3a, im disappointed from the main camera, specially at night.
Exynos version, i get oversaturated yellows and oranges (with the AI enhance off), generally saturation is up giving unnatural colors and at low light:
1) it takes 1,5-4 sec for a photo, so forget any moving objects
2) Phone actually "freezes" while processing the nightshot, instead of doing the post-processing in the background, takes 2-5 sec to finish.
3) The depth of field is not that great.
4) I need to bring down exposure all the time, or my highlights are usually blown.
Tele 3X is just ok, ultrwide, i have seen better distortion correction, both have same saturation thing as above.