The best smartphone cameras still don’t compare to traditional cameras

Google’s Pixel 3
smartphone.
Hollis Johnson/Business
Insider

• Google’s Pixel 3 smartphone has one of the best cameras
  on any smartphone.
• It takes gorgeous photos, just like its iPhone
  equivalent.
• But even the Pixel 3 still struggles to keep up with a
  traditional camera.

Google’s new Pixel 3 smartphone is an
excellent device in lots of ways. 

It’s got sharp design, lightning-fast internals, and a
best-in-class camera. In fact, the Pixel 3 camera is widely
regarded as having the best camera available on a smartphone —
even besting the latest iPhone.

One glance at this delectable-looking cookie my
colleague Avery bought is a strong argument for how great the
Pixel 3 is at taking beautiful, highly detailed photos:

Who knew that Pret A
Manger had such impressive cookies?! (Apparently Avery
did.)
Avery Hartmans/Business
Insider

But there’s a big difference between photography and video, and
when it comes to video, even Google’s Pixel 3 camera is still
miles away from competing with the likes of traditional cameras.

I was reminded of this while watching YouTube, of all things.

As someone obsessed with food — the eating and the cooking
thereof — I watch every new
video published by legendary food publication Bon Appétit.
It’s an invaluable resource for my daily life. 

Which is why I was taken aback when, seemingly out of nowhere,
the fidelity of BA’s latest video was a massive dropoff from the
usual standard. We’re talking about food videos here — quality is
of prime importance. And this video in particular, a crucial
video about making Thanksgiving turkey just weeks before the big
day, was really rough.

Take a look:

What could’ve happened? A change in cameras? A new video producer
who made a mistake?

Digging into the video’s information section unearthed an answer:
The video was inexplicably shot on Google’s new Pixel 3
smartphone instead of a traditional camera. Google tells us it’s
part of
an ongoing sponsorship paid for by Google with Bon Appétit’s
parent company, Condé Nast. We’ve asked representatives for
Condé Nast about how the show is normally shot, but have yet to
recieve an answer. 

The video is intended as a demonstration of the Pixel 3’s
quality. Instead, it serves to highlight how far smartphone
cameras still have to go to catch up with traditional video
equipment.

Look no further than this other recent video from Bon Appétit to
see for yourself:

Same guy (Bon Appétit senior food editor Andy Baraghani), same
YouTube video series (“Andy Makes…”), but a massive difference
in quality. 

That’s because the latter video was shot with BA’s usual video
equipment — dedicated camera bodies with swappable lenses —
rather than a smartphone. 

The video shot on the Pixel 3 looks like a home movie.

The framerate is jittery, and the focus is all over the place,
and there’s a lot of noise in the image. It looks amateur, like
it was shot on a phone, whereas the latter video has a stable
framerate with clear detail. The second video looks professional,
while the first video — shot on Pixel 3 by professional video
producers — looks distinctly unprofessional.

The turkey looks shiny and
plastic. The colors are sharp.

Condé
Nast/YouTube

Commenters on the video were similarly taken aback.

“This is not a good ad for the Google Pixel 3,” reads the latest
comment. “Please don’t use the Pixel in the next videos, the
quality compared to the old content is just worse. Great turkey
tho!” another reads. “Please do not use a Pixel 3 to make videos.
The quality of picture is not up to par with your other videos,”
says yet another. They go on and on like that.

None of this is to say that the Pixel 3 isn’t capable of
capturing attractive video; it absolutely can, and that’s
particularly true when it comes to home videos. But the work that
Bon Appétit’s video production department does is pro-level video
work, and it’s clear that the Pixel 3 — the best smartphone
camera out there — is nowhere near capable of matching that level
of work.

Rather than advertise the Pixel 3’s ability, the video
demonstrates just how far we still have to go with video captured
on even the best smartphones.