Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra // Camera Test & First Impressions

Am using s21 it's the best phone have ever used..

Sir,, S21 ultra vs Note 20ultra which is best in pro mode night photography ??? Urgent….

Which camera app do you uses with Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra

Ahh man! What a mixed bag the camera has turned out to be (for me). I have the 256GB Exynos, here's my findings on the photography front…

In general I think it's fair to say this phone expands the shooting possibilities far beyond any other device I've had to date, which most recently include the S20 FE 5G, Pixel 4XL, Pixel 2XL. For me the choice of focal ranges is what i've been looking for and something I didn't ever expect to see in a package like this. I thought triple lens cameras would be the limit, so the S21 Ultra came as a surprise and I hoped mistakes made in the past generation would be ironed out. The hardware itself is definitely more than capable of handling a multitude of shooting scenarios but it is ultimately let down by the software that I VERY much doubt will be fixed, ever!

My first impressions were of the sensor & lens choices themselves, all seem very capable, all include massively improved stabilization and autofocus capabilities and even the pixel sizes are promising particularly on the tele lenses. A clue to Samsung engineering decisions comes with the assumed improvement over to the 108MP pixel binning sensor compared to the S20 Ultra last year, but it serves far more than just taking photos in the wide setting. Samsung are clearly borrowing ideas from the AI kings at Google, but their implementation is weak and in many scenarios I have found using the cameras terribly frustrating.

Overall, in brightly lit daytime shots indoors and outdoors with all lenses I cannot complain, but that's as long as you're pointing the camera at certain targets that are deemed ideal for the lens mode you are in! When I venture outside these ideal scenarios I'm ending up with unexpected and awful results. In medium and low light scenes my problem is exacerbated further through Samsungs smart choices that you have no control over whatsoever, giving me further disappointing results.

So what am I banging on about here Well in a nutshell it's Samsungs focus assist mode. As an end user you only know it exists because you can selectively turn it off between the 0.6x UW and 1x W lenses when moving a subject much closer to the lens itself…But, you cannot turn it off between the 1x W, 3x tele and 10x tele lenses! In scenarios Sammy deem fit for telephoto shots, ie. extra long focal length scenes (generally) in good light the tele lenses are always picked at the set 3x and 10x magnifications. Pictures are often impressive but at times smoothing could be better and sometimes I get light haloing around objects, but still a big improvement on anything i've had before.

It all goes terribly wrong when I bring my subjects much closer to the lenses in either the 3x or 10x tele modes. These lenses have great autofocus and are more than capable of handling this scenario, but what the software does (after a second or two) is pick the next sodding lens down and then upscale the flaming image! Some might say, that's my fault because I've pushed the ISO or shutter speed too much, but no, it's happening when there's more than enough light available to these lenses and even if it wasn't, night mode would overcome this in dark scenes anyhow!

Which moves me onto the 108MP sensor, Sammy picked it not just for the 4x binning extra light crud. It also makes for a great cropping in option when deemed necessary, and you'd think the results would be comparable to the 3x tele, but sadly no, in almost every shot i've taken where it's used the 1x to crop in the results are still very disappointing compared to the optical lenses. Smoke and mirrors people, smoke and mirrors!

Focus assist should be optional for ALL lenses and if you do turn it off, all it needs to do is warn you that a shot might not come out as well as you expected. Although to be blunt the results with it permanently on are terrible anyway! In fact I personally feel it shouldn't be doing what it's doing at all. Anyone who has ever held a camera and taken a photograph will know these things cannot work miracles, and Samsung are literally trying to trick you into thinking it can, with awful results!

If you get the over processed, smushed images they are all coming from the lenses dropping down and upscaling or cropping in from the 108MP sensor. Utterly awful engineering decisions that make it all look seamless and magic but you more often that not get terrible photos.

I'm from Nepal kathmandu i also have this phone this phone was amazing performance

is there actually a away to mute the shutter sound?

Watching this on galaxy s20 fe

Please make videos on photo raw file and how to edit.

I'm a new almost sub u have super good audio and very detailed ur definitely earning my sub

Hey Demas! I'v been so busy lately that I haven't had time to watch. Brilliant video brother and loving your new backdrop. I have been watching your stories on instagram and you've been making me hungry with all your meet ups at cafes ;~) lol. 20000 subscribers already man, YOWZAH big time respect 👊🏻. Till the next video mate..

gua kira gadgetin nji wkwk

My home is full of flagships

great review mate 🙂 can i ask what variant you s21 ultra is ? snapdragon or exynos ?

240g so it is not "lightweight"

How about the shutter lag, my s9 plus always has serious shutter lag