The S21 Galaxy Ultra from Samsung is no doubt an impressive phone, with especially impressive cameras. The cameras on the S21 Ultra even rival those of the iPhone 12 Pro Max. But what exactly makes the S21 Ultra cameras that much more impressive than those of the S21 or S21+?
All S21 series phones have Single Take and Director's View functions. Though, with those extra telephoto lenses on the S21 Ultra, Single Take gets a slight upgrade. But these few camera features are unique to the S21 Ultra.
1. Zoom Features
Although all phones in the Galaxy S21 series have a telephoto lens for better zoom, the S21 Ultra is a bit more special. The S21 Ultra has two telephoto lenses, one with 3x zoom and one with 10x zoom. Used together, you can get a 30x zoom, though often you should stop at the 10x zoom for the best clarity.
There's even a 100x zoom available with the S21 Ultra, similar to the S20 Ultra, but as with the 30x zoom, it might be so blurry it's not even worth trying to use. There's a Zoom Lock feature that is supposed to help minimize blurriness due to shaking, but a tripod setup will still give you the best results.
The 10x zoom feature is the shining star of the S21 Ultra cameras. It can produce high quality, crisp details on a majorly zoomed in picture. In the images above, from left to right, there's a picture taken with the rear wide camera, the 3x zoom telephoto lens, and the 10x zoom telephoto lens.
2. Night Mode
Night mode is always tricky to nail. When you compare phone cameras to DSLR cameras, they will always pale in comparison due to their smaller sensor size. And quite frankly, you're still going to get a better Night mode photo with a DSLR camera compared to one taken with the Galaxy S21 Ultra camera.
However, there have been marked improvements from the S20 series as well as the S21 and the S21+, mainly because of the telephoto lenses. The S21 Ultra uses all of its lenses together to help capture the most light possible and provide a quality photo for you.
Because it has better lenses than the other two phones in the S21 series, it's able to produce better, brighter photos in Night mode.
Although the phone will naturally improve settings when taking a picture at night, you have to actually turn Night mode on to get everything the S21 Ultra can give you.
When you're taking a picture, you can scroll to More on the mode panel, where you would usually switch between Photo and Video mode. There, you'll see all kinds of optimized modes for your S21 Ultra cameras, including Night, with a moon icon above it.
3. Improved Software for the 108-Megapixel Images
The Galaxy S20 Ultra's main camera sensor also had a 108MP resolution, but the S21 Ultra's main 108MP camera has had a few software improvements. The S21 Ultra camera uses Advanced Remosaic processing to give you clearer, more detailed images.
It's truly amazing how much detail the S21 Ultra's main camera is able to capture and is a world of difference from the S20 Ultra's main camera.
4. Support for 12-Bit RAW Images
The S21 Ultra also supports 12-bit RAW photo files. Similar to Night mode, this is another feature that you'll need to manually access. Your phone won't know to automatically switch to taking RAW photos.
If you don't know what a RAW file is, it essentially saves a copy of your picture without any of the processing that makes your picture look better. For most novice photographers, you won't need to capture any RAW files. The digital editing that your phone does will be plenty.
But for more advanced photographers, RAW files are essential because they allow them to do all of the digital editing themselves when they download the file.
The setting is a little hidden. To capture RAW files:
- Slide the scrolling mode panel to More.
- Tap on Pro mode.
- When Pro mode opens, you should see a settings cog in the top left corner. Tap on this to open the camera settings.
- Select Format and advanced options and toggle on RAW copies. This will save both JPEG and RAW copies of any pictures taken in Pro mode.
Keep in mind that RAW files take up a lot more space than simple JPEG files.
Go Forth and Take Photos
If you have a Galaxy S21 Ultra, be in awe of everything your cameras can do. If you're still thinking about whether you should splurge on the S21 Ultra, what are you waiting for? These cameras take amazing photos in many different modes with such clarity. The S21 Ultra cameras will turn you into a novice photographer that falls in love with taking pictures.
If you're new to owning the S21 Ultra or any of its less expensive siblings, make sure you do these essential things before getting started.