Shootouts

This is the best smartphone camera of 2017

By Alvin Soon - 4 Feb 2018

The least worst flash

Google Pixel 2 XL. f/1.8 at 4.46mm, 1/30 sec, ISO 553, with flash.

The least worst flash

On-camera direct flash never looks good, but sometimes you just need to use it. What a surprise then, that the Google Pixel 2 XL manages to make flash look, if not jaw-dropping, then at least all right. The other smartphones vary from average to okay, but I actually thought the iPhone X would do better than it did (more below).

Winner: Google Pixel 2 XL

The Pixel 2 XL manages to make on-board camera flash look like subtle fill flash, with just enough to brighten up the subject and not so much that it makes subjects glow (notice how it softly fills in the subject’s rear hand in the image below, without blowing up the rest of the subject). The Pixel 2 XL also cleverly manages to retain more of the background then any other smartphone camera here, making the flash look more natural than artificial.

The iPhone X is our fast second when it comes to flash photography, but it doesn’t manage to blend background and subject exposures as naturally as the Google Pixel 2 XL. The key advantage the iPhone X has over the Pixel 2 XL is its Quad -LED True Tone flash, which changes the color of the flash to match the ambient light. Even though the flash’s color looks more natural, its intensity is more overwhelming than the Pixel 2 XL’s.

The U11 actually does a good job of blending background and subject when shooting with flash, but it just doesn’t have whatever magical HDR the Pixel 2 XL is conjuring. The Mate 10 Pro’s camera flash looks just like most on-camera flash, which is to say, not good. The flash tends to overwhelm the subject, and the Mate 10 Pro is not as good at keeping the background in. The LG V30+’s flash is even more overpowering than the Mate 10 Pro’s.

The Note8’s flash can also be overpowering. Even though it seems to have the ability to shoot rear curtain sync, it doesn’t seem to use it all the time, which is a pity. The Xperia XZ Premium actually does a decent job of keeping the background details when shooting with flash, but once again, it can’t compare with how well the Google Pixel 2 XL does.

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