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00:00Hey guys, I'm Tom the Tech Chap and I want to find out which has the best camera, the
00:05Huawei P20 Pro or the Samsung Galaxy S9+.
00:09According to DxOMark, it's the P20 Pro which has just taken the top spot from the S9+.
00:14But I think these benchmarks should be taken with a pinch of salt, so I wanted to test
00:19it for myself.
00:20So I took both phones around Paris and a little bit of London, taking a bunch of photos and
00:24videos to find out which looks best.
00:27And if you want to see more of my photos and some behind the scenes pictures, then
00:30follow me on Instagram at The Tech Chap.
00:33Let's kick off with a nice daylight picture of Paris and the first thing I notice is the
00:38P20's photo really does stand out more.
00:41It's much sharper and more vivid, just look at the waves in the river.
00:44But if we crop in by 300%, then the P20 looks far too over sharpened.
00:49The colours on the S9 plus look a little washed out, but it's softer and I think it's got
00:53a more pleasant look to it.
00:55But if we compare the same photo, zoomed in but shot at 40 megapixels on the P20, well
01:00it's a completely different story.
01:02It's darker but it also lacks all that ugly over sharpening of the 10 megapixel image.
01:07So let's go back to the first picture I showed you, that's with the P20 at 10 megapixels.
01:12Now let's change that to 40, clearly there's a big difference between the 10 and 40 megapixel
01:17options on the P20, so that's something I'm going to look at later in this video.
01:22Moving on and with both cameras back to their default auto modes, well there's not much
01:26in it for this picture.
01:27It's quite hard to tell them apart.
01:29The colours on the P20 do look a bit more natural, whereas the S9 has a slightly warmer
01:33hue and if you look at the clouds, there's definitely more detail and dynamic range on
01:37the P20's image.
01:39Zooming in again by 300%, I don't really think there's a clear winner here.
01:43The text on the conveniently placed Galaxy S9 poster is ever so slightly sharper on the
01:48P20 and there's a little bit more detail in the clouds but that's about it.
01:53Now to see how all the cameras held up when taking photos of a fast moving object, well
01:57here is a husky puppy that would not stay still.
02:00I can't work out if he's cute or evil looking, maybe both, but between the two photos I definitely
02:05prefer the P20 here.
02:07It's more in focus, it's sharper and has much more natural colours.
02:12Let's have a look at how video quality compares and straight away you can see the P20 is really
02:16shaky compared to the S9.
02:19Incredibly the P20 has no optical image stabilisation when shooting 4K video.
02:24It doesn't even shoot 4K60 unlike the S9.
02:28To get decent stabilisation we have to drop the P20 down to 1080p which does make it much
02:33smoother but the S9 is clearly the winner here in overall detail and stabilisation.
02:38Now I really don't like selfies but I'll take a few just to test out the front cameras.
02:42I definitely prefer the S9's picture here.
02:45P20 modes are turned off on both but the P20 still looks far too soft.
02:49Now this is a tricky shot and a good test of the camera's dynamic range.
02:53They both handle it really well, there's not really much in it here and zooming in
02:56by 500% the slightly different colour temperature is about the only real noticeable difference.
03:02The S9 comes across as just a bit too warm.
03:05These photos were taken at the same time, about 8.30pm, but the S9 Plus uses its wider
03:10f1.5 aperture which makes it look a lot brighter.
03:13The real life colour was somewhere between the two, neither captured it perfectly.
03:17But what's interesting though is if we zoom in, since both cameras have telephoto lenses,
03:21you can also see the difference between the 2x optical zoom on the S9 Plus and the 3x
03:26optical zoom you get on the P20.
03:29In this shot the S9 handles the low tungsten light much better than the P20 which is far
03:34too orange.
03:35Although the P20's kept the man in the striped red jumper in focus whereas he's a bit of
03:39a blur on the S9.
03:41But for the colours alone, I think I prefer the S9 here.
03:44Group selfie time.
03:45We've got SuperSaf, MrWhosABoss and Nathan from Expert Reviews here, all the big names,
03:50but once again the P20 comes out just far too soft.
03:54I double checked beauty modes were off or set to zero, yet my face looks ridiculously
03:59smooth and soft.
04:00I know a lot of people do like beauty modes and that's fine, but it should let me turn
04:04it off completely if I prefer.
04:06So for me, I definitely prefer the S9's front selfie camera.
04:10So it's about 9pm on a gloomy night here in Paris and I really like both of these shots,
04:15but the P20 stands out for me with more vibrant and natural colours.
04:18There's a constant yellow-orange hue to the S9's pictures that I just don't particularly
04:23like.
04:24One last selfie in terrible lighting conditions and they both look pretty rubbish to be fair.
04:28None of that stands out as significantly better.
04:30I should definitely have used a flash here I think.
04:33Now what about low light video?
04:35Both are shooting in 4K here, but once again the S9 Plus is the clear winner in terms of
04:39video.
04:40The P20 is shaky, there's a lot more noise and it's just not as bright.
04:45In complete darkness, there's actually less between them.
04:48They both look pretty decent, but I'll always prefer the more stable looking S9 video.
04:54One last night time shot and the S9 is once again much brighter, but at the same time
04:59it also blows out some of the brighter highlights like the parking sign on the left, which looks
05:03better on the P20.
05:05So it's the next day, I'm back in London, St Pancras station to be exact and I thought
05:09I'd do another quick test of the video and because I'm standing still so we're not getting
05:13that ridiculous jerky shakiness, here I think I prefer the more detailed and better dynamic
05:18range on the P20.
05:20Now this is a time lapse of the London skyline and aside from slight colour temperature differences,
05:26there's not really much in it here.
05:27They both handle time lapses really well.
05:29As for slow motion, both phones shoot 960fps super slow motion at 720p, although the S9
05:37has better options for controlling it when it records the slow motion.
05:40Quality wise, they're both pretty bad even in good light, but I do think the S9 looks
05:44a little bit sharper and more detailed overall.
05:47Here's one more example of video, I'm walking through Hyde Park here, again both in 4K and
05:53once again the P20 is a shaky mess, but drop it to 1080 and it's super smooth.
05:58I do hope this is something that Huawei can fix with a software update, which is not unheard
06:02of, we did see something similar with the OnePlus 5.
06:07Now before we finish and conclude which is best, let me show you one more picture.
06:11I really like this shot and it proves how you really can't go wrong with either of
06:14these cameras, but for me, the P20 is just too sharp.
06:19Clearly the camera is software, processing is increasing the sharpness, but it's too
06:22much.
06:23But again, let me show you the difference if we take the same picture, but with the
06:26P20 set to 40 megapixels.
06:29To my eye, it's so much nicer.
06:31It's a little darker, but it loses the ridiculous over sharpening and offers a much more pleasing
06:35photo.
06:36Although you do then lack some of the stabilisation and also the ability to zoom in while in this
06:40mode.
06:41So what do you think?
06:42From these photos, videos and selfies, which do you think has the better camera?
06:46But for me, while obviously this is very subjective, I think the P20 takes a better photo with
06:52the rear camera.
06:53Overall, it has more accurate colours and more detail.
06:56I also like that you have the option between 10 and 40 megapixel photos and it's cool that
07:01the phone's AI will automatically pick the best camera settings.
07:04But I think the S9 Plus comes out on top for selfies and for video.
07:09So which is best kind of comes down to what you're going to use your camera for.
07:12But I think if I had to pick a winner, I think I would go with the Galaxy S9 Plus.
07:17Except for slightly warmer colours and sometimes not offering quite as good dynamic range,
07:21I think it's the best all-rounder.
07:24But again, you really can't go wrong with either.
07:26They're both terrific phones and have incredible cameras.
07:29So I hope you found that useful.
07:31If you did, click that like and subscribe button below and check out my Instagram at
07:34The Tech Chap for more photos like these.
07:37Thank you very much for watching guys and I'll see you next time right here on The Tech
07:40Chap.