Galaxy S21 Ultra camera’s 100x zoom is pointless, but 10x? * chef *

Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Ultra, what is available to buy now with the rest of the Galaxy S21 series, represents the pinnacle of what the company can offer in a phone, with its powerful processor, massive live screen and 5G connectivity. But this is the camera setting I’m particularly interested in, and this is where the S21 Ultra pushes the boat out. There are four lenses at the rear: a standard zoom, an ultra-large lens, a 3x optical zoom and a 10x optical zoom. Along with the large 108-megapixel resolution of the main camera, the phone can achieve a large 30x zoom. (Here are all the New Galaxy S21 Ultra Camera Features and how to use it.)

TL; DR: This is the zoom that the hero is here. While the results at 30x are still pretty poor, the phone means to take photos with 10x optical zoom, that it can take photos that are simply not possible on competing flagships like the iPhone 12 Pro or OnePlus 8T.

While I would like more main features for the Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is here, is still impressive. And I’m leaving across Edinburgh to see what the phone can do.

I started in the beautiful Dean Village, with this classic view of the river. Taken with the standard camera, the phone captures a rich and vibrant scene, with a lot of detail on the admittedly very shady foreground.

If you look at the super wide view, there is little noticeable shift in colors, except for a little magenta hue in the top right corner. This is a well-balanced survey and there is a lot of detail throughout.

At 3x zoom, the clock tower looks sharp and vibrant.

At 10x zoom, the picture is still perfectly detailed, with a beautiful contrast and no shift in colors.

At 30x zoom, things don’t look so good. Yes, it’s clear what the picture is about, but there’s a general lack of definition. It’s hard to set up your lap if you’ve zoomed in so far, but Samsung has a clever stabilization mode that helped me keep the whole watch in the frame.

With its maximum 100x zoom, the details are still muddy, resulting in an image that is only really good as proof of something you’ve seen, such as rare wildlife. Yes, it’s a new feature that can be fun to try, but for most people the quality is not good enough for an Instagram post, for example.

The 10x zoom is the best place for me and it’s my favorite feature of the S21 Ultra’s camera. It allows you to capture photographic compositions that require a large telephoto zoom lens with a DSLR. By zooming in on this beach, I was able to show the curved water, the concrete breakers stretch across the scene and show the walkers clearly, giving the image an amazing scale.

And here I could fill the framework much more with the dramatic face of Fettes College.

Seen with the standard zoom lens, this shot that looks out over a golf course is not particularly exciting.

But activating the 10x zoom means you have to completely change the view and instead focus on the Edinburgh skyline, with the monuments on Calton Hill clearly visible.

If you zoom in 100% on the 10x zoom image, it’s clear that not much detail is captured. Realistically, images taken with the 10x zoom will not be of sufficient quality to print. Intact quality zoom will at least for now remain the area of ​​a DSLR with a tele-lens. That said, most of the photos I took with 10x zoom look good enough for posting on social media or for messages to friends, which is probably the bulk of what anyone wants to do with their recordings anyway.

The 10x zoom was enough to accurately figure out the details of this plane entering.

And it was the 10x zoom with which I was able to separate this couple from the distracting elements in the scene, which led to a recording that only focused on looking at them from a distance.

If you cut the image to 100%, it appears that there is a clear lack of fine detail when using this zoom level.

The super wide lens captures a huge amount of the scene and I am really impressed with how vivid and poignant this image is.

Although this shot from a cannon has excellent exposure, with a controlled clear sky and lots of shadow details on the rifle itself.

When I turn on the night mode, I was glad that the phone produces a bright and sharp image, even in a dark room. The colors here are accurate and there are enough details to be able to read the fine text on the candle. Impressive stuff.

It’s early days with the phone, but I’m already impressed with the photos I could get, with excellent dynamic range and accurate colors on most of the photos I’ve taken. The zoom is the outstanding feature here, but it’s just impressive up to a point. I like some of the photos I took with 10x zoom, but even then the details are pretty rough. Exceeding more than ten times reduces it a lot, and I still think the 100x Space Zoom is useless – I’d rather Samsung spend its time making the 10x Zoom look even better.

Read more: Galaxy S21 Ultra versus iPhone 12 Pro Max: cameras are being tested