Photo quality

[XDA_RealLifeReview]

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Xiaomi Mi Note 10 come out. A higher rating indicates that photos offer rich color (without over-saturating), sharp detail (with all subjects in-focus), and appropriate exposure (with even lighting).

Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

 

[spacedrone808]

Dynamic range is pretty good comparing with "modern" tiny-sensored iphones.

Funny thing, that Nokia PureView 808 (2012) STILL provides better resolution and better signal-to-noise ratio.

 

[MoneyFist]

S10 vs Mi Note 10

Hey guys. Here's a side by side picture showing the Mi Note 10 vs the Galaxy S10.
Unfortunately I've had to lower the size of the pics to 10MB because that's what the image host accepts.
On the right I included a cropped section from each camera. The Mi Note 10 has the higher megapixels

Notes: HDR auto enabled for both cameras
AI mode on for the Mi Note 10
Both pictures taken on the standard lens

 

[MacGuy2006]

Hey guys. Here's a side by side picture showing the Mi Note 10 vs the Galaxy S10. ....

Thanks you! To me, the Mi Note 10 camera looks like a real winner. The detail of the Mi Note 10 shot is noticeably better, especially on the right side of the canal. I believe that the color balance is noticeably better, too.

 

[truffle1234]

I like the mi note 10 as the photos are not altered by the software more what you see and that's what you get. I love the Lumia 1020 and I used it for 2 years plus till it died, and I moved on to Samsung Galaxy S7, pic were good but unrealistic as colours were enhanced .

With this device I take more real pic.

 

[MoneyFist]

If you edit the picture with Snapseed and +25 to saturation the Mi Note 10 pic looks almost identical to the S10 on the colour front

 

[MacGuy2006]

While waiting for my Mi Note 10 to arrive, I am starting to wonder if I have made a mistake. I am replacing a Pixel 3XL with the Mi Note 10, based largely on the initial camera reviews and the Dxomark rating.

But now I am reading less than rosy reviews of the camera, like this one:

https://www.androidpit.com/xiaomi-mi-note-10-camera-problems

I also saw the oversharpening and overprocessing with the telephoto lenses, as well as the fringing. Can others share their experience with the camera, compared to brands like Apple, Google and Samsung?

Also, how good is Xiaomi at fixing such issues with updates? I am afraid that like many other Chinese companies, they will drop support for the Mi Note 10 in favor of the bazillion new models they seem to have in the pipeline.

 

[MacGuy2006]

I received my Mi Note 10 and took a few shots. Overall, disappointing images, compared to my Pixel 3XL.

Main camera: The dynamic range of the main camera is not nearly as good as that on the Pixel. Even forcing HDR on the Mi Note 10 doesn't help much, as the Pixel shows more detail in both sun-lit and shadow areas. Strangely, given the higher resolution of the Mi Note, the definition of blades of grass in a landscape shot is noticeably better on the Pixel. Also, the colors are kind of "electric" on the Mi Note 10, not natural.

Portrait mode is poor in less than bright conditions.

In Wide mode, the dynamic range is also pretty poor.

Night city light shots from the Mi Note 10 are not as good as the Pixel, although in Night Shot mode the Mi Note 10 improves noticeably. But it still suffers from poor dynamic range.

The only shot where the Mi Note did better the Pixel was at 10x zoom. The Pixel 3 does it all with just one lens, and at its maximum 7x it had somewhat less detail than the Mi Note 10.

Sadly, the Mi Note feels like a second rate phone on the photography front. Funny enough, I don't have any issues with the rest of the phone. The fingerprint unlock is not fast, but I can live with it. I don't have touch issues on the edges. But the main reason I bought it was for the camera, which in my experience so far, is just not very good.

I am wondering what DXOMARK was testing and how they came up with their conclusions, which are so different than mine?

 

[mezza8512]

I received my Mi Note 10 and took a few shots. Overall, disappointing images, compared to my Pixel 3XL.

Main camera: The dynamic range of the main camera is not nearly as good as that on the Pixel. Even forcing HDR on the Mi Note 10 doesn't help much, as the Pixel shows more detail in both sun-lit and shadow areas. Strangely, given the higher resolution of the Mi Note, the definition of blades of grass in a landscape shot is noticeably better on the Pixel. Also, the colors are kind of "electric" on the Mi Note 10, not natural.

Portrait mode is poor in less than bright conditions.

In Wide mode, the dynamic range is also pretty poor.

Night city light shots from the Mi Note 10 are not as good as the Pixel, although in Night Shot mode the Mi Note 10 improves noticeably. But it still suffers from poor dynamic range.

The only shot where the Mi Note did better the Pixel was at 10x zoom. The Pixel 3 does it all with just one lens, and at its maximum 7x it had somewhat less detail than the Mi Note 10.

Sadly, the Mi Note feels like a second rate phone on the photography front. Funny enough, I don't have any issues with the rest of the phone. The fingerprint unlock is not fast, but I can live with it. I don't have touch issues on the edges. But the main reason I bought it was for the camera, which in my experience so far, is just not very good.

I am wondering what DXOMARK was testing and how they came up with their conclusions, which are so different than mine?

I strongly believe that a 27 mp photo taken with a sensor 4 time bigger than the 12mp pixel 3 sensor has less detail compared with this one. Really, i believe that!! I swear!!

The dxomark test was made with the mi note 10 pro that have a 8p Lens system, but the difference Is very very little.

If you feel the pixel 3 photos Better than mi note 10, i suspect that you bought a mi note 3. Ahahahha

 

[pakudaboy]

such awesome photo quality. I've got mi max 3 / note 8 pro / note 10 pro.
Note 10 pro is really really awesome and hassle free to install gcam

using this btw
burial: GCam_7.2.010_Burial-v6_release21.01.20.apk

 

[MacGuy2006]

I strongly believe that a 27 mp photo taken with a sensor 4 time bigger than the 12mp pixel 3 sensor has less detail compared with this one. Really, i believe that!! I swear!!

The dxomark test was made with the mi note 10 pro that have a 8p Lens system, but the difference Is very very little.

If you feel the pixel 3 photos Better than mi note 10, i suspect that you bought a mi note 3. Ahahahha

Believe what you want. The issue is not resolution, it's dynamic range. Detail in strongly lit and in shadow areas is worse in images taken on the Mi Note 10, than in images taken on the Pixel 3XL. The color is also over-processed and looking just tacky.

I am really disappointed, because I thought I was getting a great bargain, but instead got less than I paid for (the Pixel 3XL is cheaper nowadays than the Mi Note 10 and the 4XL can be had for a $200 or so more, on Google Fi). I'll give this phone a week or so, just to make sure, but my initial impression is not good.

My guess is it's all software. I tried a couple of the GCam mods, one crashes after each shot, the other one is a bit better than the stock main camera, but still not nearly as good as the Pixel 3XL.

I am on the latest Global, with the January update.

I should also note that I am looking at the original camera images on a 30" calibrated monitor, where the differences are glaring. On the phone itself the over-processed Mi Note 10 images look pretty good, but while this may be good enough for some, it's not what I am looking for.

 

[MacGuy2006]

OK, just went for a run and took a few shots along the way with the Mi Note 10. Late afternoon, good light.

In my opinion, they are all are pretty bad, mainly because the dynamic range is so poor. On my calibrated monitor, they also appear overly processed and the grass takes an electric hue, which reminds me of Chinese phones from years back.

Here are a few Mi Note 10 examples here:



---------- Post added at 19:13 ---------- Previous post was at 18:49 ----------



And here is a few pairs of similar shots from the Mi Note 10 and a Pixel 3XL..

I can see a little more detail in the Mi Note 10 shots at 100%, but things are crushed and just don't look good:









I'd be really happy to be proven wrong, so I don't have to deal with returning the Mi Note 10.

 

[Pentagrave666]

Dear MacGuy2006,

I have been a silent reader until now, but I still have to give my comment here.
You say that the pixel images are better, I see it completely different. The resolution is worlds lower and the whole picture looks much more blurred when you look at it in detail.
I agree with you that the colors are a bit more intense, that's why the pictures look better at first, but that's not so. The Note 10 photos are just more neutral, but that doesn't say anything about the quality of the pictures, that’s only a part of the Software.
A small change in Photoshop (gradation curves and saturation) and the Mi Note 10 looks much better. I even think, after a little tuning in Photoshop you can't compare both cameras at all. In my eyes, the pixel is far behind. None of the photos of the pixel shown by you are better for me.

Regards
Pascal

 

[MacGuy2006]

Dear MacGuy2006,

I have been a silent reader until now, but I still have to give my comment here.
You say that the pixel images are better, I see it completely different. The resolution is worlds lower and the whole picture looks much more blurred when you look at it in detail.
I agree with you that the colors are a bit more intense, that's why the pictures look better at first, but that's not so. The Note 10 photos are just more neutral, but that doesn't say anything about the quality of the pictures, that’s only a part of the Software.
A small change in Photoshop (gradation curves and saturation) and the Mi Note 10 looks much better. I even think, after a little tuning in Photoshop you can't compare both cameras at all. In my eyes, the pixel is far behind. None of the photos of the pixel shown by you are better for me.

Regards
Pascal

Hi, Pascal. I appreciate your point and I agree with it.

But I think the issues with the Mi Note are a bit bigger than a small change in PS. I just lined up an image from the Mi Note 10 and an image from the Pixel 3XL, both at 100%, and took a screen shot. One would expect a much greater difference in resolution between the Mi Note sensor and the Pixel 3 sensor, right? I certainly expected a lot better, both in terms of detail and dynamic range.

But while the Note image has a bit finer detail, there is a lot of smearing and feathering. The orange/red tree in the upper right looks painted in both, and it shouldn't really on the Note image. While when pixel peeping I like the Mi Note 10 image better, I am wondering if all the smearing is causing the compressed apparent dynamic range? It looks like a Pointillist painting.

But as I said, I hope I am just overreacting and missing something. I'd really like for this to be the great bargain I hoped for. But I am not feeling it right now.

 

[pakudaboy]

Just use gcam and small tweaks or even just load up pre-configured xml file can easily solve all your problem and achieve better quality image

 

[Pentagrave666]

Hi, Pascal. I appreciate your point and I agree with it.

But I think the issues with the Mi Note are a bit bigger than a small change in PS. I just lined up an image from the Mi Note 10 and an image from the Pixel 3XL, both at 100%, and took a screen shot. One would expect a much greater difference in resolution between the Mi Note sensor and the Pixel 3 sensor, right? I certainly expected a lot better, both in terms of detail and dynamic range.

But while the Note image has a bit finer detail, there is a lot of smearing and feathering. The orange/red tree in the upper right looks painted in both, and it shouldn't really on the Note image. While when pixel peeping I like the Mi Note 10 image better, I am wondering if all the smearing is causing the compressed apparent dynamic range? It looks like a Pointillist painting.

But as I said, I hope I am just overreacting and missing something. I'd really like for this to be the great bargain I hoped for. But I am not feeling it right now.

I understand what you mean and I've seen this kind of thing many times in pictures of Note 10. I guess the software just screws that up. The sensor itself is certainly much more powerful than you can see on some pictures.

It gives the impression that it tries too much to suppress the noise, so a lot of the details that should be there disappear.
Let's hope that a software update will come or Gcam will solve the problem.
- I would describe the camera like this: Right light, right situation, absolutely perfect shot.
- Minor problems with lighting (too little light or too high dynamic range) and the pictures are only average.
In my eyes it is not a camera that works well everywhere. The software simply needs more attention and time to take the right photo. By time I mean now the correct positioning or maybe manual settings on a photo instead of the automatic.
In any case the sensor has enormous power, but unfortunately not always and not everywhere

 

[MacGuy2006]

I understand what you mean and I've seen this kind of thing many times in pictures of Note 10. I guess the software just screws that up. The sensor itself is certainly much more powerful than you can see on some pictures.

It gives the impression that it tries too much to suppress the noise, so a lot of the details that should be there disappear.
Let's hope that a software update will come or Gcam will solve the problem.
- I would describe the camera like this: Right light, right situation, absolutely perfect shot.
- Minor problems with lighting (too little light or too high dynamic range) and the pictures are only average.
In my eyes it is not a camera that works well everywhere. The software simply needs more attention and time to take the right photo. By time I mean now the correct positioning or maybe manual settings on a photo instead of the automatic.
In any case the sensor has enormous power, but unfortunately not always and not everywhere

OK, I've calmed down

I went home yesterday and spent some time taking night shots with the camera and viewed the whole batch on my TV set up (it's a very large TV, calibrated On a large screen, I can appreciate the additional detail from the Mi Note 10. And you are right, under the perfect conditions the images are great. In fact, when comparing on the TV, Xiaomi seems to be closer to images from the iPhone 11, which is a good thing.

But on a lot of images, there is smearing and definite crushing of color in high contrast scenes. It seems the greens can be particularly troublesome for the Mi Note. I compared 108mp to 27mp and the smearing and the color crush is really evident only in the 27mp.

I wish there was a 16x9 option using the 108mp sensor as is.

I guess I was expecting too much. The Pixel 3XL photos still look more dynamic on the TV screen, but in perfect conditions the Mi Note provides better detail.

I will probably keep it and hope that Xiaomi improves the camera app to better take advantage of the large sensor. What is the experience of others with Xiaomi updates?

 

[Kasallamacher]

Why do you need a 16:9 option on the 108mp sensor? Just crop the photo into 16:9 afterwards, cause that's exactly what other phones do that let you take 16:9 photos.

 

[MacGuy2006]

Why 16x9? Because most photos I keep are eventually viewed on large 16x9 screens (TV's). I would rather frame correctly while taking the photo than crop later. I'd imagine that others prefer this too, since there is always a 16x9 option for the main camera.

Plus, the file size would be smaller and likely the processing time will be less, too.

 

[Kasallamacher]

Why frame correctly? You can also frame it correctly after. The 108mp mode isn't made for point and shoot. It's meant to get the max out of it so you still have to tweak a few things after so you might as well crop it. Takes 2 seconds.