I find it quite interesting that smartphone makers these days are producing their very own chipset mainly dedicated to image and also video processing.

And the reason for that usually is that while almost all flagship or even mid-range smartphones produces amazing results on images and videos during the daytime, whether or not it’s an ultrawide, main lenses, portrait mode, or even the selfie and video footage, this dedicated chipset also helps with the low light capabilities of the cameras too.

So I have decided to test OPPO’s MariSilicon X NPU on their Find X5 Pro against another smartphone that is currently my daily driver Android smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, to compare with Samsung’s software Nightography low light performance. 

https://youtu.be/2trso5gfzFw

Now before I begin, a quick disclaimer that these comparison photos will be based on my personal opinion, and I do understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, so if you would like to come up with your own conclusion, let me know in the comments section of my YouTube video, and now let’s begin!

 

Images

Ultrawide Lens Night Mode

So let’s start with the ultrawide lenses; in terms of the specs, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with a 12MP, f/2.2, 13mm lens and the OPPO Find X5 Pro has a 50 MP, f/2.2, 15mm lens.

Looking at this first image, I have to say that both pictures look pretty close with no barrel distortion on both lenses, even though the Galaxy S22 Ultra is wider in focal length.

And then on the images on this second photo which was taken indoors, the images once again look very close with similar highlights and shadows with no noisier image.

However, in this third image, you will see how the Galaxy S22 Ultra does not handle the night spotlight as the glare coming from the light not only almost ruin the right side of the image, but the light itself was not as sharp as the OPPO Find X5 Pro, and even the “BAIJIU” signage towards the right again was more visible and sharp on the OPPO Find X5 Pro.

 

Main Lens Night Mode 

Then as for the main lenses, the Galaxy S22 Ultra has a 108MP, f/1.8, 23mm wide lens, and the OPPO Find X5 Pro has a 50MP, f/1.7, 25mm wide lens.

Looking at the photo comparison, in this first image, at first glance, it once again looks the same, where both images did produce a good balance of highlights and shadows without losing any details, but as how night shots are, the motion blur is just decent at best when it comes to moving subjects.

Then as for the second image, you will start to see some blurriness on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra as the night mode shots always need for you to be totally stable while taking a shot, while the OPPO Find X5 Pro takes longer to process the image, but it does produce sharper images in the main lenses, which was interesting as the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a bigger and larger sensor.

Then finally, looking at the third image, while both images handle the light cubes pretty well, but you will see some noise in the sky area towards the right on the Galaxy S22 Ultra if you really look close, as the Find X5 Pro cleverly has maintained to give it a deeper black, hence creating a cleaner image.

 

Portrait Lens

Then as for the portrait mode at night, while I do like how both of the images are produced over here, I have to say that I absolutely love the bokeh that the OPPO Find X5 Pro has on the background lighting, where it does maintain a great dynamic range and the skin tones is a bit more color accurate than the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

If there are no background lights, the images will look very similar, as seen in this second image.

And that’s the same even with situations where you are taking shots of low light but a harsher lighting situation. 

But I really love how the OPPO Find X5 Pro handles lights and skin tones better, as seen in this fourth image.

 

Selfie Night Mode

Then as for the selfie cameras, the Galaxy S22 Ultra has a 40MP, f/2.2, 26mm wide lens, and the OPPO Find X5 Pro has a 32MP, f/2.4, 21mm wide lens.

Looking at the first image, the good news is there was no noise present in any of the images. However, I do prefer the details on my skin on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra as the images produced on the OPPO Find X5 Pro looks like the beauty mode was turned on as my skin looks smoother than how wrinkly that my face is.

And the same can be said for the second image produced when taking photos indoors.

 

Video

[Check out my YouTube video for the video sample footages]

Ultrawide Lens Night Mode

Then as for video, both phones can record up to 4k 30 frames per second for the ultrawide lenses, and the image stabilization for both was excellent, but the OPPO Find X5 Pro has a bit better color accuracy once again, as seen in this first video footage.

But if you are looking at the second video footage, you will notice how the OPPO Find X5 Pro totally blows the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra away, with the fantastic shadows in the skies with no noise present compared to a pretty noisy footage on the Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Find X5 Pro also handles lights way better and sharper than the Galaxy S22 Ultra as well.

 

Main Lens Night Mode

Then comparing the 4k video mode between the both, since the Galaxy S22 Ultra can go up to 8k resolution, you will see that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is a bit brighter due to its bigger sensor, where image stabilization was equally as good, but once again, I just prefer how the OPPO Find X5 Pro handles the shadows better, where it has a more true-to-life deep blacks compared to the overexposing on the shadows, hence producing a slight amount of noise.

 

Selfie Night Mode

What’s super interesting is that even with the higher megapixel count and also the higher 4K resolution camera on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, the video produced on the front camera was better on the OPPO Find X5 Pro as it miraculously produced a cleaner image and kept a very good stabilization as well and this could be due to the MariSilicon X NPU which is working its magic over here.

 

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, as mentioned, flagship smartphones and even mid-range smartphones have been producing amazing photos during the day, and I think that we are at the point of time to start testing the low-light capabilities even more to really separate which is the best camera performer overall, especially since the nightlife is back here in Malaysia.

And based on my tests, as you have seen, the OPPO Find X5 Pro has the edge over the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which clearly suggests that the MariSilicon X NPU is indeed a great image processor.

Now speaking of which, I read some rumors that the upcoming OPPO Reno8 series might also come with the MariSilicon X NPU as well, so let’s see if that is indeed really true as I am really looking forward to that and of course testing out that camera, but do let know what you guys think of the camera performance as well in the comments section of my YouTube video and let’s discuss over there.