The iPhone X scored 97 on DxO Mark calls it "the top performer for stills", just a point lower than the Google Pixel 2

[captain_to_fire]

Source: DxO Mark

 

 

Quote

Conclusion: Apple’s flagship smartphone delivers the goods

With all of the analyses completed, the scores calculated, and the results verified, the iPhone X turns in an excellent result, delivering outstanding images for smartphone photography enthusiasts. It’s exceptional for stills, achieving the best Photo sub-score yet at 101 points. The overall score is affected by a slightly lower result for video, but at 97 points, the iPhone X ties with the Huawei Mate 10 for the second-highest score in our database of overall mobile image quality. For portraits, the improved telephoto lens delivers sharp results even indoors, and the bokeh simulation produces a natural and pleasing background blur. Outdoors, exposures are outstanding, with great dynamic range, impressive skies, good fine detail, and punchy color rendering. Add to all that the extra features on the front-facing camera, including a Portrait mode for blurred-background selfies, and the iPhone X delivers one hell of a smartphone camera.

Pros

• Very good exposure, with good shadow and highlight detail preservation in HDR scenes
• Accurate color rendering and white balance in all lighting conditions
• Good detail preservation and low levels of noise in most lighting conditions
• Good detail preservation using zoom in all lighting conditions
• Bokeh effect looks natural

Pros

• Accurate color rendering and white balance in most lighting conditions
• Good exposure with fast convergence during lighting changes
• Fast and accurate autofocus performance
• Effective stabilization
• Good detail preservation

Cons

• Autofocus is occasionally a little slow
• Underexposed pictures with visible red-eye in flash-only shots
• Ghosting artifacts noticeable on moving objects

Cons

• High-frequency oscillations during walking movements
• Luminance noise visible in low light
• Slight loss of sharpness during tracking in low light

A note about image formats for this review: The iPhones 8, 8 Plus and X record photographs in the DCI-P3 colorspace, which their displays also use. DCI-P3 is newer and larger than the sRGB color space that most devices use and most web browsers assume. So to ensure that the images we used in the review display properly on a wide variety of browsers and devices, we converted the originals from DCI-P3 to sRGB using Photoshop (which is why the published test photos show Photoshop as the creator). This can slightly reduce the richness of color in some cases from what you would see when viewing the original images on a DCI-P3-calibrated display with appropriate software. We also captured the original images using the new HEIF (High-Efficiency Image Format), but then converted them to very high-quality JPEGs for viewing in standard browsers and image editing software. (HEIF is very similar to JPEG, but provides better compression for similar image quality, so the conversion makes the sample image file sizes larger than they were when shot.) Please note, however, that unlike our test images, some of the comparison photos used in this review were shot in JPEG and used as-is for illustrative purposes, and were not used to compute scores.

 

But then again, would people suddenly switch platforms just because one phone is higher or lower by one point in DxO Mark? MKBHD made a video explaining the methodology used by DxO and how they rate cameras. For the most part, DxO ratings are very subjective regardless of the phone.

Personally, the Pixel 2 camera interests me more since they can do bokeh without the need for a second lens and they do this by machine learning which may creep some people. At the moment, here's the current DxO Mark ratings and surprisingly it still includes the Nokia 808 Pureview which runs on Symbian OS and not the Nokia Lumia 1020 which is a more usable phone.

 

Quote

The advantage of the hardware stabilized secondary camera on the iPhone X shows compared with the 8+.

Quote

iPhone X, 2x zoom

iPhone 8+, 2x zoom

Just to add the video capabilities of the iPhone X, it was compared with a Panasonic GH5 and for the most part, video recording with the iPhone X is sometimes more color accurate than the GH5.

 

But then, DxO Mark ratings should be taken with a grain of salt even though for the most part, their testing methodology is pretty much scientific. There's no doubt however that the iPhone X takes beautiful pictures and videos especially 4K 60 fps which not many cameras are capable right now. Personally, I'm still bummed that Apple took out Touch ID for the iPhone X.

[emosun]

4 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

4K 60 fps which not many cameras are capable right now

well not many phones , heck one could argue the iphone x is also not really 4k. it's sill a very small sensor and a very small lens. so more like a sharp looking 1080 than actual 4k.

I do get the feeling though if anyone is this interested in photography they should use an actual camera over a cellphone. 

[Droidbot]

Wait until the Pixel Camera SoC is enabled, then we'll see. 

[iRileyx]

I am by no means a mathematician, but if it scored a point LOWER than the Google Pixel2.. how can it be the TOP performer?

 

Oh it's only top performer for stills, okay  

[captain_to_fire]

10 minutes ago, emosun said:

well not many phones , heck one could argue the iphone x is also not really 4k. it's sill a very small sensor and a very small lens. so more like a sharp looking 1080 than actual 4k.

I do get the feeling though if anyone is this interested in photography they should use an actual camera over a cellphone. 

What is photography anyway? 

Basically anyone who takes a picture using a device with a sensor and optics is a photographer and that includes smartphones. 

 

Also, what do you mean “actual camera”? 

From that definition, both a smartphone camera like the one in the iPhone X and something like a Panasonic GH5 are both cameras. Both have a shutter button, a backside illuminated CMOS sensor and a viewfinder. 

[emosun]

8 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

From that definition, both a smartphone camera like the one in the iPhone X and something like a Panasonic GH5 are both cameras. Both have a shutter button, a backside illuminated CMOS sensor and a viewfinder.

u ok? did I trigger you or something?

I'm saying if you want to get into photography get an actual camera and not a cellphone.

with a cellphone your money is being spent on non photography features. while a 1300$ camera will be a dedicated piece of hardware that can support better modes , more settings , better larger lenses , better sensors , ect....

don't get all triggered that a mechanic recomended a real set of tools over a pocket knife. jeez

[D13H4RD]

Meh.

 

I'm pretty sure a lot of modern smartphones these days are capable of handling the core photography experience superbly well. Where some companies excel where others tend to not focus so much on is computational photography and IMO, Google is leading.

 

But that doesn't mean Apple doesn't have a formidable camera package. It does. Pretty sure this will be one of the top phone cameras of the year, especially in terms of consistency.

[captain_to_fire]

1 minute ago, emosun said:

u ok? did I trigger you or something?

I'm saying if you want to get into photography get an actual camera and not a cellphone.

with a cellphone your money is being spent on non photography features. while a 1300$ camera will be a dedicated piece of hardware that can support better modes , more settings , better larger lenses , better sensors , ect....

don't get all triggered that a mechanic recomended a real set of tools over a pocket knife. jeez

I don’t think calling me a snowflake proves or disproves anything. If you’ve just noticed, I was correcting you based on “semantics” if you even know what it means. 

[emosun]

2 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

I don’t think calling me a snowflake proves or disproves anything.

where did i call you a snowflake?

I understood your dictionary quoted argument of "if it qualifies as a camera then it's a camera". It's a poor argument for a comment that had almost nothing to do with your response. Me saying "i recommend a real camera" , is just that. Me recommending a real camera and not a cellphone. 

6 minutes ago, hey_yo_ said:

I was correcting you based on “semantics” if you even know what it means. 

yes I understand quite well.

it essentially means you took offense to me recommending a better piece of hardware for the job. Then went to the weakest source for a rebuttal. The dictionary. 

hell , if i were you I would have said something more along the lines of "this is a good starter camera for those that want it integrated into a phone". I can't argue with that. 

[Deli]

17 minutes ago, emosun said:

u ok? did I trigger you or something?

I'm saying if you want to get into photography get an actual camera and not a cellphone.

with a cellphone your money is being spent on non photography features. while a 1300$ camera will be a dedicated piece of hardware that can support better modes , more settings , better larger lenses , better sensors , ect....

don't get all triggered that a mechanic recomended a real set of tools over a pocket knife. jeez

When Apple labels a 50mm equivalent "tele lens".....

 

And the phone can shot 4K 60p. Soon all the major Hollywood studios will start using smartphones to shoot all the blockbusters.

 

Some people believe their smartphone cameras are so good. A real camera is no longer needed for photography. Let them be.

[emosun]

Just now, Deli said:

Soon all the major Hollywood studios will start using smartphones to shoot all the blockbusters.

lol i know

gee why do they need this huge panavision when Iphone is best?

 

[emosun]

btw

here's a good reason to get a real camera rather than a "hope the software works" cellphone camera.

[ashypanda]

these DxO mark scores are becoming as useless as geekbench scores, sure at first it was a nice to see a number given to how good something is, but now it's just a pissing contest, and seeing as DxO changed their measuring procedure every device needs retesting otherwise the score doesn't matter.

[Doobeedoo]

It's ok. 

[TroubleKlef]

At this point, I would be very happy with any camera from Apple, Samsung, or Google.

[Suika]

So basically if you don’t care about video, the iPhone X is the best. 

[suicidalfranco]

yeah but...

Spoiler

you can't see the picture as it was shot on the pixel

 

[mr moose]

9 hours ago, emosun said:

lol i know

gee why do they need this huge panavision when Iphone is best?

 

 

Clearly that guy is compensating for a very small penis.  Same with this guy:

 

 

 

9 hours ago, ashypanda said:

these DxO mark scores are becoming as useless as geekbench scores, sure at first it was a nice to see a number given to how good something is, but now it's just a pissing contest, and seeing as DxO changed their measuring procedure every device needs retesting otherwise the score doesn't matter.

 

I was thinking the same,  It's getting to the point where people are starting to argue over things like  Mhz on a part that works in Ghz.

[vanished]

If you're comparing a camera that scores 70 and one that scores 95, it's probably pretty obvious which is better, but once it gets to the point where they're both scoring in the high 90s (well really this applies to two similarly scoring cameras at any grade, but I digress), you really have to ignore the overall score and check each individual category to see how it does for the things you care about most.  As we can see from this, there are some significant differences between the two when you dig into it.  Which is better for you may or may not be the one that scores 1 point higher overall.

 

That said if you're making your decision about iphone vs Pixel based on the camera alone you probably should reevaluate your priorities.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

What I think of every time I see camera reviews

 

[79wjd]

11 hours ago, emosun said:

with a cellphone your money is being spent on non photography features. while a 1300$ camera will be a dedicated piece of hardware that can support better modes , more settings , better larger lenses , better sensors , ect....

 

10 hours ago, Deli said:

When Apple labels a 50mm equivalent "tele lens".....

 

And the phone can shot 4K 60p. Soon all the major Hollywood studios will start using smartphones to shoot all the blockbusters.

 

Some people believe their smartphone cameras are so good. A real camera is no longer needed for photography. Let them be.

In fairness, a camera that is ALWAYS on you is better than one that isn't. I have a D7000, but it's not always on me whereas my phone always is. So, while a cellphone camera can't compete with a high end camera, it does do a better job for a lot of people. 

[mrchow19910319]

https://twitter.com/b3ll/status/927952731288899584

[PlayStation 2]

12 hours ago, Deli said:

When Apple labels a 50mm equivalent "tele lens".....

 

And the phone can shot 4K 60p. Soon all the major Hollywood studios will start using smartphones to shoot all the blockbusters.

 

Some people believe their smartphone cameras are so good. A real camera is no longer needed for photography. Let them be.

What the ability of 2160p60 video on the iPhone 8/X proves more than anything is that the hardware needed for encoding it is genuinely possible with a small footprint. So while it may not be great or even good 2160p60 video, it is 2160p60 video and that can mean a whole lot in a year or two, even for DSLRs. It's still markedly expensive to get a camera that can shoot at that for a variety of reasons but a cheap-enough encoder/decoder that could do it (at HEVC no less) opens a big door (the door to even 1080p60 on a DSLR is a bit more expensive than it needs to be).

[ARikozuM]

2 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

That said if you're making your decision about iphone vs Pixel based on the camera alone you probably should reevaluate your priorities.

I don't think said person evaluated said priorities to begin with. 

 

How long until Apple just makes a camera/DSLR? 

[vanished]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

How long until Apple just makes a camera/DSLR? 

I highly doubt they would do that for a variety of reasons.  I might even go so far as to say I'd be more surprised to see a DSLR from them than a car