Smartphone cameras get better every year, but lowlight photography is still one of the ways we try to work out which device performs best. Taking a good photo in darkness is naturally much harder than when you've got adequate lightning.
Of course, in addition to being literal, darkness can also be metaphorical. Haunting, even. Which is why we took three of the latest flagship smartphones - the standard Galaxy S21, and the standard iPhone 12, and the OPPO Find X2 Pro - to what's considered one of Sydney's most haunted locations at midnight.
Formerly known as the Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum, the Gladesville Hospital is the resting place of more than 1,200 people - the vast majority in unmarked graves. Gladesville Hospital is now a heritage sight owned by NSW Health - and no longer used as an asylum - but there have been countless reports of ghost sightings. You can even visit on a ghost walking tour.
These images were all taken from the phone's respective primary cameras.
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
The images above were taken with their phone's respective night modes, and sadly do not feature any ghosts that we know of - just the shadows of two tired tech journalists. The iPhone 12 took the warmest image out of the lot, bringing in some lovely orange hues. It's also the most balanced image out of the three, featuring brighter highlights than the Galaxy S21 but better contrast than the OPPO Find X2 Pro sample which is a little more flat.
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
The above are 100% crops of the previous photos. The iPhone 12 image is clearly the sharpest, followed by the Find X2 Pro and the Galaxy S21.
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
These photos are the same location as the first set, but with night mode turned off. The iPhone 12 fared worst in terms of visibility, but edged out the Galaxy S21 and Find X2 Pro on sharpness.
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
These images were all taken without night mode in our darkest camera test of the night, and the Find X2 Pro was the clear winner. The very abandoned toilet is actually visible
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
With night mode switched on, all three took very similar photos. The OPPO Find X2 Pro took the brightest image again, but the Galaxy S21 won out on sharpness.
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
These three images were all taken with night mode, pointing down a road. The iPhone 12 is the clear winner, exhibiting an ominous blue sky, moody orange lightning, spooky greens, and enough contrast.
The Galaxy S21 night mode applied too much brightness to the image, giving it somewhat of a washed out feel. Lastly, the OPPO Find X2 Pro really struggled to get a clear photo in this case. We're gonna chalk that one up to the ghosts.
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
The above three photos were all taken without night mode, and are pretty much on par. The Find X2 Pro has a slight edge in brightness, but all three shots are great.
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
Other than slight colour temperature variations, the OPPO Find X2 Pro has the only major point of difference in the above set of the images. As we've seen in other photos, the lights in this photo all exhibit pronounced lens flare.
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
The above images were all taken with night mode, and resulted in a win for the Galaxy S21. The colours feel the most natural, and it's done the best job of not blowing out highlights when it comes to building windows.
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
These images all turned out pretty similar, with the OPPO exhibiting its trademark lens flare, which masked some detail in the sky. The clouds are a little more visible in the Samsung image than they are in the photo from the iPhone 12. And the chair is just plain creepy.
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
*slaps tunnel* *echoes* You can fit so many ghosts in this bad boy.
These three images were all taken without night mode and reinforce the common themes. iPhone images are a little bit warmer than Samsung, Samsung images are a tad brighter, and OPPO is the brightest but prone to lens flare.
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
When you look at 100% crops of the above image, there are clear differences in sharpness and clarity. The Galaxy S21 wins out, followed by the iPhone 12 and then the OPPO Find X2 Pro which is noticeably blurrier than the rest.
iPhone 12
Samsung Galaxy S21
OPPO Find X2 Pro
These night mode photos don't really provide any new learnings in regards to camera performance, but they were too creepy not to include.
Final Thoughts
The iPhone 12, Samsung Galaxy S21, and OPPO Find X2 Pro all manage to hold their own when it comes to lowlight photography, exhibiting their own strengths and weaknesses.
The iPhone 12 tends to take the most balanced images with its night mode, but can perform worse than the other phones with night mode switched off. It's images also have a warmer hue, which is a lovely touch in some situations, but less so in others.
The Galaxy S21 can get brighter images than the iPhone 12 without night mode, but its night mode has a habit of making images bright to the point where they don't exhibit enough contrast.
The OPPO Find X2 Pro easily won in brightness without lowlight, but the images it took were softer than the iPhone 12 and Galaxy S21. The camera also captured pronounced lens flare in many photos, sometimes to their detriment.
Of course, it is worth remembering that good lowlight photography can require a bit of luck. It requires steady hands - especially when using night modes (which take a photo over a number of seconds - so it's very possible for one take to be better than another.
But all in all, the three phones we looked at are all solid choices if you're looking for a device with great lowlight prowess.
Alex Choros
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