**A Tale of Two Cameras: Samsung's Galaxy S24 Ultra Outshines Google Pixel 8 Pro**

When it comes to camera performance, both Samsung and Google are known for pushing the boundaries of what is possible. But which one reigns supreme? In this article, we'll put the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra up against the Google Pixel 8 Pro to see which camera comes out on top.

**Low-Light Photography**

One of the most critical aspects of camera performance is low-light photography. Both phones were put through their paces in a dimly lit environment, with the goal of capturing as much detail and color accuracy as possible. The results were impressive, but ultimately, one phone emerged victorious: the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

In this example, the Galaxy S24 Ultra's camera was able to capture both sharpness and color accuracy that left the Pixel 8 Pro in its wake. The image of "The Thin Red strip of Lights" along the side of the trash wheel and the series of ropes that kept it mored in place was particularly impressive, with the Samsung phone revealing a level of detail that the Google device couldn't match. Similarly, the yellow buoys that helped to funnel the trash toward the wheel were captured with stunning accuracy by the Galaxy S24 Ultra, while the Pixel 8 Pro had trouble even getting them right.

The final straw was when we flipped the cameras around and took a selfie shot. The Galaxy S24 Ultra once again proved its superiority, managing to capture more detail and color accuracy than the Pixel 8 Pro. Even in the background of this shot, Samsung's camera was able to reveal subtle details that Google's device couldn't see.

**Background Detail**

One of the most impressive aspects of the Galaxy S24 Ultra's performance was its ability to capture fine details in the background of our images. In a scene showing apartments across the harbor, the Samsung phone revealed a level of detail that the Pixel 8 Pro simply couldn't match. The Google device reduced the buildings to bright yellow and white blobs, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra showed every intricate detail, from individual windows to the textures of the building's façade.

**Selfie Performance**

The selfie shot was another area where Samsung's camera excelled. Not only did it capture more color accuracy and detail than the Pixel 8 Pro, but it also managed to smooth out subtle shadows that gave our face a more natural appearance. Even the stitching on my cap and beard were captured with precision, while Google's device reduced them to simple blobs.

**Color Accuracy**

Color accuracy is another critical aspect of camera performance, and both phones delivered impressive results in this area. However, Samsung's colors were once again more accurate, particularly in our jacket, which was rendered in a stunning shade of slate blue. The Pixel 8 Pro, on the other hand, leaned towards a greenish hue, and even the red fleece liner inside my jacket came out looking almost like wine.

**Comparing Original Shots**

Let's take a closer look at the original pair of images showing the boat mored in the harbor. One of the first giveaways was that Samsung once again pulled a much brighter shade of green from both the hull of the ship and the water of the harbor, just as it did in the ultra-wide shot. Additionally, the Galaxy S24 Ultra captured significantly better details in the planks of the dock and along the water line where the metal supports reached the harbor.

**Night Mode Performance**

While both phones excelled in many areas, there were a few quirks that set them apart. One notable difference was in night mode performance. Samsung's camera was lightning-fast to kick into night mode, taking only a second or two to recognize the need for longer exposure. In contrast, Google's device often required three or four seconds of darkness before kicking in, and even then, it might not always be perfect.

**Autofocus Speed**

Another difference between the two cameras was their autofocus speed. While both phones were quick to lock onto our subject, Samsung's camera was noticeably faster than Google's in this regard. This is especially important for users who plan on using a tripod or stabilizing their phone while taking photos.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has proven itself to be the superior camera in many areas, particularly when it comes to low-light performance, color accuracy, and background detail. While Google's Pixel 8 Pro is still an excellent camera, it falls short of Samsung's efforts in these key areas. Whether you're a photography enthusiast or just someone who wants to capture high-quality images on the go, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is definitely worth considering.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: entake a look at this photo now take a look at this one at a glance they look pretty similar both show the same boat on the same dock in the Baltimore Harbor taken at night however one was taken using night sight on the Google pixel 8 Pro while the other was taken using night mode on Samsung's new Galaxy s24 Ultra the question is can you tell which one is which there are some differences in how Galaxy Ai and the tensor G3 process their lowlight photos so let's get into how night photography works and whether Samsung or Google actually has a better claim to the night mode Crown if you already know how night photography or night ography as Samsung likes to call it works you can probably skip ahead for the next minute or two with this video if not strap in cuz it's kind of an in-depth process with a dedicated camera like a DSLR or a mirrorless setup low light photography relies on a careful balance of three things you either have to keep your shutter open longer you have to raise the iso or the amount ount of grain in your photo or you have to open your lens wider to let more light in up front over time photographers learn how to carefully balance all three of these elements while setting up a shot knowing that any miscalculation can result in an underexposed photo an Overexposed photo or just too much grain that you can't make out your subject on a smartphone however low light photography uses a series of exposures and a number of postprocessing algorithms to achieve a pleasing result night sight has been around since Google introduced it on the single lens pi pix 3 but it's only grown and become more powerful as phones have picked up more rear sensors more powerful processors and machine learning has come a long way in practice you usually see night mode manifest as a 1 to 3 second countdown after you press the shutter during which time you have to keep your phone as still as you possibly can while you watch those seconds tick off your phone is actually capturing a series of exposures some shorter which means they're darker but have slightly finer details and some longer which means they're going to be brighter but they're going to be a little fuzzier this process is called bracketing but those initial bracketed images aren't actually saved to your phone individually instead they're put into at least in the pixel's case what's called A Memory Bank your phone can then take those shots in the memory bank combine them into one final pleasing image and that's what you'll actually see in your camera roll now with that spark notes of an explanation out of the way let's get to some samples we'll come back to the pair of boats from the introduction in a second but up first we have a pair of ultra wide images taken facing Baltimore's Inner Harbor although both capture many of the same details the first difference you're probably going to notice is the vastly different color Recreation the Samsung Galaxy s24 Ultra for example pulls a lot more of the green tones out of the treated wood and the water of the harbor itself while the pixel 8 Pro leans a little bit more towards a natural Brown shade in both elements another difference between the two is how they handle the series of lights that stretches all the way across the harbor both above and below the water line Samsung is able to capture slightly more detail above the waterline especially to the left side of the image where you see see the red neon sign it's able to get a little closer to the words Rusty Scupper which is what the sign actually says while the pixel 8 Pro kind of reduces it to a red rectangle however the advantage flips once you go below the waterline and start looking at Reflections the pixel 8 Pro makes up for its Rusty Scupper shortcomings with much cleaner details in the blue reflection off to the right side of the image it manages to separate the blue Shades that are reflected from the waves in the aquarium so you can actually make out a couple different blue tones while the Galaxy s24 Ultra turns them into a generally shapeless blue Mass this probably comes down to the difference between Samsung using a lower resolution 12 megapix Ultra wide sensor and Google using a higher resolution 48 megapix Ultra wide sensor that it then has to been down in process afterwards this next pairing punches into 5x Zoom which just so happens to be the length of the optical telephoto sensor on both the pixel 8 Pro and the Galaxy s24 Ultra it shows another Inner Harbor staple lovingly called Mr Trashman man and offers a better illustration of the detail that both phones are capable of capturing in low light and if I'm honest this is one of the samples that I actually let out an audible oh wow as I was capturing it simply put the Galaxy s24 Ultra pretty much wipes the floor with the pixel 8 Pro in this example its image is both sharper and more color accurate preserving both The Thin Red strip of Lights along the side of the trash wheel and the series of ropes that keep it mored in place the Galaxy s24 Ultra also nailed the strip of yellow buoys that helped to funnel the trash toward the wheel itself while the pixel8 pro gave up on both detail and colors switching from a true yellow to a little bit more of an orange shade Samsung's final success at the 5x telephoto length comes once you start looking into the background it's far sharper showing plenty of detail in the apartments that sit across the harbor while the pixel 8 Pro kind of reduces them to bright yellow and white blobs flipping the cameras around tells a similar story with the Galaxy s24 Ultra handing in a better selfie shot too although being brighter isn't necessarily an immediate key to success Samsung manages to find a better balance between brightness and detail that Google's tensor G3 just doesn't seem interested in matching you can actually pick out individual hairs in my beard in the Galaxy s24 Ultra photo as well as the line of stitching across the brim of my cap while Google kind of reduces my beard to a brown shape and you don't get any of the stitching on my hat Google also Smooths out a bit of the Shadow across my face while the Galaxy s24 Ultra is able to keep a couple different tones both on my nose and around my eyes Samsung's colors are once again more accurate especially in my jacket the Galaxy s24 Ultra pulled out a much better shade of kind of slate blue as well as the red fleece liner inside of my jacket while the pixel 8 Pro leaned a little more towards a green shade and made a much darker red color almost like wine now let's cycle back to the original pair of images showing the boat mored in the harbor based on what you've seen in the last few examples it's probably a lot easier to figure out which shot came from which phone one of the first giveaways is that Samsung once again pulled a much brighter Shade of Green from both the hull of the ship and the water of the harbor just like it did in the ultra wide shot it also captured significantly better details in the planks of the dock and along the water line where the metal supports reach the harbor on the other hand the pixel 8 Pro missed out on several of those same details whether due to the night sight processing itself or the lower resolution primary sensor that being said some people might still prefer the pixel 8 Pro's final result as it doesn't quite feel as artificially brightened and the green shade on the boat is actually closer to real life ultimately though you'll have to make that decision for yourself now before you click onto another video there's a couple things that I noticed during my comparison shooting that didn't quite fit into any one pair of images the first being that Samsung's night mode is lightning fast significantly faster than Google's I took all of the same photos in the exact same situations with both devices but I rarely had the Galaxy s24 Ultra ask for more than a 1se second countdown while the pixel 8 Pro regularly ask for two or three seconds Google's need for a longer exposure might also make picking up a tripod more of an essential purchase once you reach three or maybe even push it up to 6 seconds of a countdown it's going to be pretty hard to keep your phone steady so you might want something to prop it up on another night mode Quirk that I noticed is that Google is much quicker to kick into automatic night sight than the Galaxy s24 Ultra is to ask if you want to use night mode it doesn't need that much darkness before I already see a one or two second timer pop up while the Galaxy s24 Ultra usually Waits until it's really dark and then it'll still ask if you want to try night mode instead I'll admit that I was kind of surprised by the results of this shootout we've trusted Google and its censorship as the go-to for post processing for a few years now but Samsung turned in the much stronger performance across telephoto selfie and the original photo when it comes to details it captured better colors and more detail than the pixel 8 Pro and it did so with shorter exposures across the board I'm going to say there's a new night mode King in town and its name is the Samsung Galaxy s24 Al ult ra if you want to dig deeper into the photos specifically used in this comparison or check out a whole bunch more you can do so over on androidauthority.comtake a look at this photo now take a look at this one at a glance they look pretty similar both show the same boat on the same dock in the Baltimore Harbor taken at night however one was taken using night sight on the Google pixel 8 Pro while the other was taken using night mode on Samsung's new Galaxy s24 Ultra the question is can you tell which one is which there are some differences in how Galaxy Ai and the tensor G3 process their lowlight photos so let's get into how night photography works and whether Samsung or Google actually has a better claim to the night mode Crown if you already know how night photography or night ography as Samsung likes to call it works you can probably skip ahead for the next minute or two with this video if not strap in cuz it's kind of an in-depth process with a dedicated camera like a DSLR or a mirrorless setup low light photography relies on a careful balance of three things you either have to keep your shutter open longer you have to raise the iso or the amount ount of grain in your photo or you have to open your lens wider to let more light in up front over time photographers learn how to carefully balance all three of these elements while setting up a shot knowing that any miscalculation can result in an underexposed photo an Overexposed photo or just too much grain that you can't make out your subject on a smartphone however low light photography uses a series of exposures and a number of postprocessing algorithms to achieve a pleasing result night sight has been around since Google introduced it on the single lens pi pix 3 but it's only grown and become more powerful as phones have picked up more rear sensors more powerful processors and machine learning has come a long way in practice you usually see night mode manifest as a 1 to 3 second countdown after you press the shutter during which time you have to keep your phone as still as you possibly can while you watch those seconds tick off your phone is actually capturing a series of exposures some shorter which means they're darker but have slightly finer details and some longer which means they're going to be brighter but they're going to be a little fuzzier this process is called bracketing but those initial bracketed images aren't actually saved to your phone individually instead they're put into at least in the pixel's case what's called A Memory Bank your phone can then take those shots in the memory bank combine them into one final pleasing image and that's what you'll actually see in your camera roll now with that spark notes of an explanation out of the way let's get to some samples we'll come back to the pair of boats from the introduction in a second but up first we have a pair of ultra wide images taken facing Baltimore's Inner Harbor although both capture many of the same details the first difference you're probably going to notice is the vastly different color Recreation the Samsung Galaxy s24 Ultra for example pulls a lot more of the green tones out of the treated wood and the water of the harbor itself while the pixel 8 Pro leans a little bit more towards a natural Brown shade in both elements another difference between the two is how they handle the series of lights that stretches all the way across the harbor both above and below the water line Samsung is able to capture slightly more detail above the waterline especially to the left side of the image where you see see the red neon sign it's able to get a little closer to the words Rusty Scupper which is what the sign actually says while the pixel 8 Pro kind of reduces it to a red rectangle however the advantage flips once you go below the waterline and start looking at Reflections the pixel 8 Pro makes up for its Rusty Scupper shortcomings with much cleaner details in the blue reflection off to the right side of the image it manages to separate the blue Shades that are reflected from the waves in the aquarium so you can actually make out a couple different blue tones while the Galaxy s24 Ultra turns them into a generally shapeless blue Mass this probably comes down to the difference between Samsung using a lower resolution 12 megapix Ultra wide sensor and Google using a higher resolution 48 megapix Ultra wide sensor that it then has to been down in process afterwards this next pairing punches into 5x Zoom which just so happens to be the length of the optical telephoto sensor on both the pixel 8 Pro and the Galaxy s24 Ultra it shows another Inner Harbor staple lovingly called Mr Trashman man and offers a better illustration of the detail that both phones are capable of capturing in low light and if I'm honest this is one of the samples that I actually let out an audible oh wow as I was capturing it simply put the Galaxy s24 Ultra pretty much wipes the floor with the pixel 8 Pro in this example its image is both sharper and more color accurate preserving both The Thin Red strip of Lights along the side of the trash wheel and the series of ropes that keep it mored in place the Galaxy s24 Ultra also nailed the strip of yellow buoys that helped to funnel the trash toward the wheel itself while the pixel8 pro gave up on both detail and colors switching from a true yellow to a little bit more of an orange shade Samsung's final success at the 5x telephoto length comes once you start looking into the background it's far sharper showing plenty of detail in the apartments that sit across the harbor while the pixel 8 Pro kind of reduces them to bright yellow and white blobs flipping the cameras around tells a similar story with the Galaxy s24 Ultra handing in a better selfie shot too although being brighter isn't necessarily an immediate key to success Samsung manages to find a better balance between brightness and detail that Google's tensor G3 just doesn't seem interested in matching you can actually pick out individual hairs in my beard in the Galaxy s24 Ultra photo as well as the line of stitching across the brim of my cap while Google kind of reduces my beard to a brown shape and you don't get any of the stitching on my hat Google also Smooths out a bit of the Shadow across my face while the Galaxy s24 Ultra is able to keep a couple different tones both on my nose and around my eyes Samsung's colors are once again more accurate especially in my jacket the Galaxy s24 Ultra pulled out a much better shade of kind of slate blue as well as the red fleece liner inside of my jacket while the pixel 8 Pro leaned a little more towards a green shade and made a much darker red color almost like wine now let's cycle back to the original pair of images showing the boat mored in the harbor based on what you've seen in the last few examples it's probably a lot easier to figure out which shot came from which phone one of the first giveaways is that Samsung once again pulled a much brighter Shade of Green from both the hull of the ship and the water of the harbor just like it did in the ultra wide shot it also captured significantly better details in the planks of the dock and along the water line where the metal supports reach the harbor on the other hand the pixel 8 Pro missed out on several of those same details whether due to the night sight processing itself or the lower resolution primary sensor that being said some people might still prefer the pixel 8 Pro's final result as it doesn't quite feel as artificially brightened and the green shade on the boat is actually closer to real life ultimately though you'll have to make that decision for yourself now before you click onto another video there's a couple things that I noticed during my comparison shooting that didn't quite fit into any one pair of images the first being that Samsung's night mode is lightning fast significantly faster than Google's I took all of the same photos in the exact same situations with both devices but I rarely had the Galaxy s24 Ultra ask for more than a 1se second countdown while the pixel 8 Pro regularly ask for two or three seconds Google's need for a longer exposure might also make picking up a tripod more of an essential purchase once you reach three or maybe even push it up to 6 seconds of a countdown it's going to be pretty hard to keep your phone steady so you might want something to prop it up on another night mode Quirk that I noticed is that Google is much quicker to kick into automatic night sight than the Galaxy s24 Ultra is to ask if you want to use night mode it doesn't need that much darkness before I already see a one or two second timer pop up while the Galaxy s24 Ultra usually Waits until it's really dark and then it'll still ask if you want to try night mode instead I'll admit that I was kind of surprised by the results of this shootout we've trusted Google and its censorship as the go-to for post processing for a few years now but Samsung turned in the much stronger performance across telephoto selfie and the original photo when it comes to details it captured better colors and more detail than the pixel 8 Pro and it did so with shorter exposures across the board I'm going to say there's a new night mode King in town and its name is the Samsung Galaxy s24 Al ult ra if you want to dig deeper into the photos specifically used in this comparison or check out a whole bunch more you can do so over on androidauthority.com\n"