The Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23 Plus, and Galaxy S23 Ultra are among Samsung’s 2023 flagship models, and when those phones were announced at Samsung Unpacked last week, the cameras’ improvements dominated the talk. The front-facing camera has undergone several upgrades. Unlike the 108-megapixel sensor on the Galaxy S22 Ultra from the previous year, the main camera on the $1,200 Ultra phone has an improved 200-megapixel sensor.
What do these camera upgrades imply for you, though? We can go through all of the cameras and unique picture and video capabilities that each phone has while we’re still examining the Galaxy S23 series and evaluating their photographic abilities.
Every Galaxy S23 phone gets a new front-facing camera
All three of the Galaxy S22 smartphones—the $800 Galaxy S22, the $1,000 Galaxy S22 Plus, and the $1,200 Galaxy S22 Ultra—come with a 12-megapixel selfie camera that you can use for selfies, self-portrait videos, and video calls.
On paper, the S23 and S23 Plus’ 12-megapixel camera appears to be an upgrade over its predecessors’ 10-megapixel selfie cameras. Because the S22 boasts a 40-megapixel selfie camera, the new front camera on the Ultra may initially appear to be a downgrade. Less megapixels, though, aren’t always a negative thing. Samsung concentrated on improving the new selfie camera’s ability to effectively distinguish subjects from their backgrounds.
In testing for her evaluation of the S23 Ultra, my colleague Lisa Eadicicco discovered that pictures shot with the new front-facing camera are comparable to those taken with the previous model. She did notice, though, that when compared to selfies taken with the selfie cameras on the Pixel 7 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro, occasionally, photographs produced with the Galaxy S23 Ultra were artificial, exaggerated hair colour. Additionally, she said that the S23 Ultra’s selfie camera produces better nighttime photographs than the S22 Ultra’s did.
The new camera also supports Super HDR, which enhances color, contrast and brightness for video recorded at 4K 60fps.
Speaking of video, the Galaxy S23 lineup’s rear cameras can all capture video at 8K 30 frames per second, an improvement above the Galaxy S22 lineup’s 8K 24 frames per second. Frame rates are supported at 30fps in large numbers by apps like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. The 8K 30fps mode isn’t actually intended for daily use. However, 8K may be useful if you want to capture video for a movie, as Samsung constantly emphasised during their presentation, or if you want to enjoy your films on a bigger screen that supports 8K. It’s also important to keep in mind that 8K videos often require more storage than those shot in 4K or HD.
When shooting in 8K, Samsung also enlarged the field of vision on the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera, which is fantastic because the crop was really severe on earlier Galaxy S phones that supported 8K. The S21 and S22 series were able to make 8K footage captured by the primary wide-angle camera appear to have been taken with a telephoto lens.
Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23 Plus’ three rear cameras
Hardware-wise, the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus’ triple rear cameras are almost identical to those of their predecessors, but Samsung claims to have improved features like dynamic range and glare reduction. Although we haven’t tested the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus, the Galaxy S23 Ultra showed clear signs of these modifications. The cameras on the S23 and S23 Plus now resemble those on the S23 Ultra since Samsung reduced the camera hump.
So, what does each camera do?
Let’s start with the main camera, which is situated in the middle of the other two cameras and features a wide-angle lens. Your daily driver will be this. The primary camera has a 50-megapixel shooting option, however for the greatest quality, full resolution photos must be taken in well-lit environments. Although you may have 50 million pixels to work with, phone sensors and their pixels are very tiny and don’t absorb as much light as older DSLRs or modern mirrorless cameras. This increases picture noise and necessitates the employment of extra noise-reduction processing, which can muddy details and detract from the aesthetics of your photograph.
Instead, the camera software on Samsung phones defaults to 12-megapixel images, which merge many smaller pixels into one bigger pixel. Under medium- and low-light circumstances, the procedure is known as “pixel binning,” because it produces less picture noise and higher-quality photographs (think inside a dark restaurant).
The 12-megapixel ultra wide camera, which is similar to the one on its predecessor, is next in the camera array. Pinch in on your screen to switch to this camera’s 120-degree field of view if you want to capture more of your surroundings. The extra wide lens is perfect for filming vistas, and the exaggerated appearance allows for recordings that seem dramatic. It’s a great camera to use for slow-motion photography.
Galaxy S23 Ultra’s four rear cameras, include a 200-megapixel main camera
Samsung saved its biggest camera upgrades for its premium flagship Galaxy S23 Ultra. Unlike the other two S23 series phones, the Ultra features a quadruple rear camera system, annotated in the image below.
Super Quad Pixel, an enhanced focusing technique that employs 2×2 pixel groups to enable the camera’s focus lock onto elements like vistas or tree trunks even in low light, is another feature of the upgraded sensor. The Expert Raw app, which the S23 Ultra also supports, enables you to take pictures using Samsung’s computational methods and save them as raw files to preserve more image data and a wider dynamic range. Although raw files are often bigger than JPEG files, they are better for altering photos since they contain more picture data and settings. All of the cameras on the S23 Ultra are compatible with Samsung’s Expert Raw software, and after installation, the native camera app has access to the app’s features.
Instead of the single telephoto camera present in the S23 and S23 Plus, there are two telephoto cameras and a 12-megapixel ultra wide camera in addition to the primary camera. In comparison to the second telephoto lens, which has a 10x optical zoom, the first one has a 3x optical zoom. The second telephoto camera has a 100x digital zoom as well, but as you zoom in, the photos become noisier. The 10x telephoto lens should be able to shoot good images at magnifications up to 25x to 30x, which is far more than the Pixel 7 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro can do. This assumption is based on prior Galaxy Ultra phones.
Interested in knowing more about the Galaxy S23? Check out our review of the Galaxy S23 Ultra to learn more about how to preorder the device right away and why Samsung’s upcoming premium smartphones may be more expensive to purchase.
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