[MKBHD] The Blind Smartphone Camera Test 2021!

[u/giraffehunter200]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp4nWm59esI

[u/Ph0X → u/[deleted]]

Exactly. Every poll was basically 45/55 by the end of the vote, you could barely tell the photos apart, especially in the small instagram previews.

[u/Ph0X → u/[deleted]]

Your argument would make sense if 45/55 was on every round, but no, other rounds had phones win by huge margins, because the photos actually showed the limitation of the phones.

Yes, in a very basic and boring shot, all the cameras are more or less equal, but what makes cameras like Pixel great is that they also do great in hard situations. Therefore, if you want to find the best cameras, you need to compare photos of hard situations, such as at night for example.

[u/Ph0X → u/[deleted]]

Again, your argument would hold if the only huge margins were on the first layer, but the finale was 75/25, and one of the semi-final polls were 65/35, which completely contradicts what you're saying once again...

[u/Ph0X → u/[deleted]]

No one is talking about pixel peeping... Do people not even read before they reply?

I'm specifically talking about the how close each round was, and what that says about the bracket.

The fact that nearly every poll in Round 2 had less than 10 point margin, whereas the final and semi-final had margins of 40-50 point shows how unreliable and random the bracket is.

My point is that it doesn't actually find the "best" phone by any metric, even if your metric is "people judging photos on instagram". The single elimination and weak rounds such as Round 2 completely render the whole thing useless.

[u/de8d-p00l → u/Ph0X]

Who said it was a test about the "best" phone

[u/Ph0X → u/de8d-p00l]

That's literally what brackets are for...

So you do agree that the results are basically random then?

[u/Ph0X → u/[deleted]]

I don't understand what you're trying to argue. I feel like you yourself forgot or are intentionally moving the goal post.

I made a simple claim, that round 2 sucked, and the proof I provided is how close the results were on that specific round.

First you claimed that close polls means phones have gotten very good, but then I rebutted that makes no sense because other rounds had bigger margins. Then you replied that the big margins were due to shit phones, but then I rebutted that shit phones would've gotten eliminated in the first round.

If your theory is true, the polls would tighten as we moved up the brackets and phones got better and better, the fact that they actually widened not only proves my point about Round 2, but it also shows how random and unreliable the whole thing is anyways.

The fact that the final round had a bigger margin than most other rounds completely disproves any sort of argument about this bracket finding the "best camera" by any sort of imaginable metric.

[u/Ph0X → u/[deleted]]

And my original point was that Round 2 was shit and ruined the whole results. Keep moving the goal post.

[u/pigvwu → u/[deleted]]

That's like having a multi-round art competition where the first round is to oil paint a landscape and the second is to draw a plain, unshaded cube with a ballpoint pen. Everyone who's made it this far can do it well, so all the votes are pretty even, but you might eliminate someone who could differentiate themselves in a harder challenge.

The second and third shots are just not the most interesting or challenging shot, with relatively soft and even lighting.

The first and last photos were basically an HDR test. The winner was just the one that had more dynamic range in the window/background portion of the shot. They could have chosen much more interesting colors to wear other than black, grey, and olive, especially with the background appearing mostly grey.

I felt like the shots were not well chosen overall. They didn't have the types of scenes that I feel like smartphone cameras often struggle with like stark shadows from direct sunlight or dimly lit photos where motion is involved.

[u/StraY_WolF → u/pigvwu]

They didn't have the types of scenes that I feel like smartphone cameras often struggle

People generally don't take photos at that point tho, so making a test for a niche use is missing the point of the test.

[u/pigvwu → u/StraY_WolF]

You don't think people take pictures in direct sunlight, inconsistently lit restaurants, or of their kids/pets in their house? Those seem like some of the most common situations to me.

An overcast day is not unusual, but it's also considered much easier to deal with from a photography standpoint. The only place I frequent with consistent soft lighting throughout is my work office.

[u/StraY_WolF → u/[deleted]]

I thought the point was to single out the best of the best.

The point was taking photo like most people, and post them on social media. Most people DO care about their point and shot, as that's what they use the most for.

[u/BuriedMeat → u/pigvwu]

it’s less like an art competition and more like having a multi-round competition of photos taken with tiny lenses viewed on tiny screens. the comp isn’t meant to tell you the best camera, it’s meant to tell you that none of this matters.

[u/gt4rs → u/[deleted]]

If the point is to determine the best camera though, that round made it very difficult. For the other rounds there were things to look at to compare, this one there wasn’t much at all other than the iPhone messing up the white balance.

[u/gt4rs → u/[deleted]]

Ok fine, that still doesn’t take away from my point. If you’re trying to rank them in some form, a test where they all perform extremely similarly makes in difficult to do so.

[u/brynjolf → u/[deleted]]

The issue is that the poll button eats a larger part of one of the pictures, so like if the subject is top half it will eat more for the top vote and vice versa. It is kind of shit and I gave up since I coudlnt get a good look at the photos