Samsung Galaxy Note 4 camera review

I found an app that lets me record HDR video in 4K on my Note 4 (Exynos). The 4K setting is enabled with a beta checkbox in the settings. Unlike the stock app that disables HDR once you start shooting the 4K video, the Open Camera app will record 4K video with HDR. I do not agree with Menneisyys, but maybe his Snapdragon Note 4 is different. And what is better is that the saturation is not amplified like in the stock camera app. The HDR on the Open Camera app looks natural where the HDR video in the stock camera app can look over-saturated. And another thing is 24p can be set, and it looks legit. I don't know if having a Snapdragon Note 4 will make a difference.

Ignore me if you don't like my posts.

Thank you Menn. I'm appalled by how ugly the skin tones are OOC with anything but strong light so I greatly appreciate your posts to help me find other tools. Thank you!

Menneisyys (Past)
Always good posts - Thanks!
Aina hyviä postauksia - Kiitos!

how is that more comprehensive than what we do? It's simply a different kind of article. We've done shootouts in the past and hope to do them again, but it's all a matter of resource.

this comment just shows you don't appear to use many smartphones, otherwise you'd know that it's impossible to fine-tune exposure in the same way as you can do with a DSLR. Also comparing ISO numbers is pretty much meaningless, they are all over the place on those devices.

"I don't understand the pointless 'pixel level image quality' comment either"

It's easy: the per-pixel sharpness of the iPhone is definitely better than that of the Note4. (Heck, even the lowly, 1/3.2" iPhone5 has turned out to have better pixel-level sharpness.) However, the Note4 still has better overall sharpness because it has two times the pixels.

BTW, the same stands for the 808 (or the 1020) vs all "low-Megapixel" flagships like the iPhone, the Note4 etc. The per-pixel sharpness of the 808, in the 41 Mpixel native mode, is _much-much_ worse than that of even the Note4. (Actually, this - the per-pixel softness - is why you can safely shoot at 75% JPEG quality in the 41 Mpixel mode on the 808; higher-quality JPEG won't result in better output, only in significantly higher file sizes.) However, after downsampling, it still easily produces better-detailed images than even the Note4, let alone any iPhones.

"Yes even if the iPhone has microscopic 1/3 sensor and has 4MP output, they will still say it has much better pixel level image quality than Samsung, Panasonic and Nokia phones with bigger sensor. =D Since when that ever happened to iPhone camera? If you happen to see those miserable advertising photos shot from iPhone blown up to 20x30 inches in the subway, you will definitely do facepalm =D"

Look, I'm in no way an Apple fanboy (I've had some very serious battles vs. some Apple enthusiasts even here in the iOS subforum) but what you state is plain wrong.

I with my own hands have done some excessive Note 4 (using Snap camera HDR with the best possible post processing) vs 808 vs. iPhone comparison and can tell you even the old iPhone5 had better per-pixel sharpness (resolution) than the Note4, and it had significantly better resolution than the 808. It's in no way Apple fanboy BS.

Again, after downsampling the 16/41 Mpixel images, they're overall better-detailed than the iPhone ones

Significantly better resolution? Upsize the iPhone output to 16MP or 41MP then tell us if it has better resolution, sharpness and detail. Shoot a subject with fine detail or distant objects. And yes the other way to compare it is by downsizing 16MP/41MP to 8MP.

"Significantly better resolution? Upsize the iPhone output to 16MP or 41MP then tell us if it has better resolution, sharpness and detail"

I've talked about the overall lens + sensor pixel-level resolution (that is, pixel-level quality), which largely depends on the lens quality. That is, the effective resolution you see when zoom to 1:1 level.

1, iPhone shots do have better pixel-level quality than the Note4, let alone the 808.

2, of course, those other handsets use way higher pixel counts, so, not on 1:1 level and/or after downsizing to 8 Mpixel, they easily beat the iPhone.

Yup, no RAW. Nevertheless,

- most other handsets (incl. all iPhones) don't have RAW's either
- if you do have a Snapdragon 805-based Note4, you can still have, noise reduction and sharpening-wise, RAW-like JPEG output, which is far superior to that of the stock Camera app.

Raw is not an acronym, there's no need to capitalize all its letters

I thought it stood for "Really....Awesome... Wow".

There are Windows phones that shoot raw, there's the new Android Panasonic 1" smartphone that shoots raw.

Technically no raw is not an acronym, but the raw file types DNG, PEF, CR2, and NEF are acronyms. So "RAW" makes sense in those terms.

@w50 Geez you must be bored...

The point is it CAN*, but it doesn't. I know iPhones can't either, but I don't consider iPhones an aspiration device. Still prefer my phone over any other, but quite dissapointed in this.

(*caps added for emphasis. I know the word CAN is not an acronym)

"The point is it CAN*, but it doesn't. I know iPhones can't either, but I don't consider iPhones an aspiration device. "

Sorry to sound like a broken record, but do you have a Snapdragon-based device? Then, you can have almost-raw/DNG output, much superior to the (pretty bad) output of the stock app as long as you don't need WB, the lack of lens correction or 9+ bit color channels.

Dunno if it's an Exynos vs. Snapdragon issue as I don't have access to an Exynos-based model.

On my Snapdragon 805-based Note4, adaptive exposure has always worked excellently when panning subjects with vastly differing brightness. In my strictly synchronized iPhone vs. Note4 tests (I've,in effect, taped together several iPhones and the Note4 to guarantee they are turned in exactly the same way) I didn't find the Note4 having worse exposure adaptation.

A phone with a locked exposure (e.g., the iPhone5), however, is just incomparably worse WRT pano dynamic range than the Note4 or any other phone / pad with adaptive exposure (all iPhones starting with the 5S, all iPads starting with the Air and the retina Mini etc. Of course, the significantly smaller iPad sensors severely decrease the DR of a scene.) But, again, it only applies to Snapdragon 805 handsets - Exynos ones may work differently.

(cont'd below)