A new Xiaomi Mi 10T arrives, as always, at the end of the year as a lighter version of the flagship. It features a 64 MPx main camera, an LCD display with a refresh rate of 144 Hz, and a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor with 5G support.
After publishing our article, where we informed you that we’re already testing the Mi 10T, many of you asked about the camera. We decided that we’ll bring you a camera test even before the full Mi 10T review. In this article, we used for comparison one of the best value-for-money camera phones: Xiaomi Mi Note 10.
Camera specifications
To start, we’ll list the technical specs of the cameras of both smartphones.
Mi 10T has a trio of main cameras:
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- Main: 64 MPx with a focal length of 26 mm and an aperture of f/1.9
- Ultra-wide: 13 MPx with an f/2.4 aperture and a 123° field of view
- Macro: 5 MPx with an f/2.4 aperture
- Selfie: 20 MPx
Mi Note 10 has up to 5 cameras on the back:
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- Main: 108 MPx with a focal length of 25 mm and an aperture of f/1.7
- Two telephoto lenses: 12 MPx with a focal length of 50mm, aperture f/2.0 with 2x optical zoom, and 5 MPx with aperture f/2.0 and 5x optical zoom
- Ultrawide: 20 MPx with a focal length of 13mm and aperture f/2.2
- Macro: 2 MPx with aperture f/2.4
- Selfie: 32 MPx
Based on the specs, Mi Note 10 wins. But let’s see what the reality is like, and whether you can actually see these differences in photos. We took the photos in fully automatic mode with AI turned off.
Xiaomi Mi 10T vs Mi Note 10: Main camera
Let’s start right away by showing what the main cameras can do in full resolution. As we mentioned above, for the Mi 10T it’s 64 MPx and for the Mi Note 10 it’s up to 108 MPx. You need to enable full quality in the camera app settings; otherwise, several pixels are combined and the resulting photo is smaller.
The photos in this article have been resized. In full quality, you can download them from this link.
Both photos are very high quality and sharp. However, the colors are slightly different. The colors in the Mi 10T photo are a bit more faded, while Mi Note 10 has more vivid and richer colors. You can see it especially in the sky and on the roof of the main tower of St. Elizabeth’s Cathedral.
With closer zoom, for example on the clock on the main tower or the information board in the bottom-left corner, you can see that Mi Note 10 has a higher number of megapixels. Details are better visible and the photo is sharper.
We also took several photos in standard quality. In general, we can say that in good lighting conditions during a sunny day, the photo quality is very good on both phones and the differences aren’t big. We did manage to get one better shot with Mi 10T, and at other times it was better with Mi Note 10.
Xiaomi Mi 10T vs Mi Note 10: Dynamic range and shooting against the sun
We used the sunny November weather to test the dynamic range. We aimed the smartphones at the window where the sun was shining. Shooting towards a light source is a challenge for many smartphones, so we were curious how Mi 10T and Mi Note 10 would handle it.
To our surprise, in this respect Mi 10T is the clear winner. The outdoor sky is more overexposed and the colors are slightly more saturated, but the interior looks great without significantly underexposed parts.
The photo from Mi Note 10 has a sort of weird yellow-green tint, and the colors are so far from reality. There are also more underexposed areas, so for example a plant on the right side of the photo almost disappears.
Another demanding test was shooting against the sun at lunchtime.
Mi Note 10 managed to suppress the sun’s glare more effectively, but the bottom part of the photo is darker. The photo from Mi 10T is lit more by the sunlight, and some details disappear in places—but for example, the sky is captured more beautifully right here.
Ultrawide lens: Xiaomi Mi 10T vs Mi Note 10
The first scene shot on Mi 10T is slightly darker compared to Mi Note 10. There are more areas here that fade away and blend into the background. In the second scene, Mi 10T has overexposed the building in the left part more, on which details disappear. These aren’t very visible even on the building in the background. In both cases, we like the photos from Mi Note 10 a bit more.
Zoom in and macro
Mi 10T unfortunately didn’t get a telephoto lens, so in this category, with higher zoom it’s a clear winner for Mi Note 10. After zooming in, of course, details start to fade on the photos from Mi 10T, but even without a telephoto lens it’s not that bad. Especially 2-times zoom is quite decent.
For the macro shots, we expected a better output from Mi 10T, since it has a 5 MPx macro lens, while Mi Note 10 only has 2 MPx macro. In reality, photos from Mi 10T using the macro lens were less sharp than those from Mi Note 10.
Portrait and selfie camera
When shooting portraits, the goal is often to achieve the most natural skin tone possible and a perfect bokeh effect. How did Mi 10T and Mi Note 10 handle it? At first glance, you can tell that in portrait mode “Portrait”, as Xiaomi calls it, the focal length is noticeably different.
As for the bokeh effect, it’s similar on both phones. The portrait itself, however, we like more on Mi Note 10.
We weren’t too satisfied with selfie photos on either smartphone. The photo from Mi 10T is too overexposed, while the selfie photo from Mi Note 10 is too dark.
Interior with artificial lighting and night photos
Shooting at night or under artificial lighting is often the stumbling block for many smartphones. Photos often include various flares from the lighting, or high noise.
But that’s not the case with the smartphones we tested. Both handle night and indoor photos at a very decent level with minimal noise.
In the supermarket, there are many strong light sources, and both smartphones handled them very well. Color saturation is something we like a bit more in the photo from Mi 10T.
Let’s move on to night photos outdoors. First, we took photos with automatic settings, and then with night mode. With a light banner in the background, Mi 10T did better—the text is easier to read and the colors are more true to life. With dark areas without direct lighting, however, Mi Note 10 handled things a bit better.
We also tested shooting intensely lit objects. We followed the same procedure as in the previous comparison. We took photos with the night mode turned off and on. Here, Mi 10T wins for us. The colors are clearer and more vivid, details are more visible, and the photos are less overexposed by the strong lighting from the rides.
Final assessment
As you had a chance to see in the photos from the article, this matchup is pretty close. Both smartphones take very good photos, but in more tests, Mi Note 10 had a slight edge. However, both smartphones have very high-quality cameras, with which you can take great photos in various conditions.
Xiaomi Mi 10T 5G Global
TIPExpress delivery from the German warehouse with no customs duty and no VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local German warehouse. Delivery from Germany usually takes 7-10 days, and it’s brought by courier. When it arrives, you don’t pay any extra fees—no customs duty or VAT.
TIPExpress delivery from the German warehouse with no customs duty and no VAT.
This product will be delivered to you express from a local German warehouse. Delivery from Germany usually takes 7-10 days, and it’s brought by courier. When it arrives, you don’t pay any extra fees—no customs duty or VAT.
Mi 10T impressed with the quality of its night shots, but the mild drawback of this model is the lack of image stabilization, which you’ll especially notice when shooting zoomed-in shots.
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