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I’m still using the Galaxy S23 Ultra for one important reason
Although the Galaxy S23 Ultra isn’t my main Android phone these days, it is one that I love coming back to — and for one reason. You can really see just how good the telephoto performance is in our Galaxy S23 Ultra vs. Google Pixel 7 Pro camera test. And as the weeks and months have passed since the S23 Ultra’s release, I’ve found a particularly great use for its telephoto capabilities.
I can technically take photos of birds, squirrels, deer, or other critters with any phone I’m using — but none of them let me get as up close and personal as the S23 Ultra does.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra can only do so much, and if you zoom in to 15x, 20x, or beyond, you will notice clear quality differences between using the main camera at a normal 1x distance. This is also something Tushar touched on earlier this year when he wrote about why he’s obsessed with the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera. Regardless if you’re taking pictures of geese, squirrels, elephants, or rhinos, the S23 Ultra handles them exceptionally well. As we make our way through the rest of 2023 and gradually creep closer to 2024, I’d love to see manufacturers take quality telephoto cameras more seriously.
There are still some stinkers here and there, but for the most part, you can safely rely on getting a dependable camera setup with the next phone you buy. There’s tremendous value in having a smartphone camera with such a reliable zoom — especially if you like capturing cute critters — and I desperately hope we see more of that soon.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra — here’s where the cameras beat the iPhone
Lots of people rolled their eyes when they heard that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra packed a new 200-megapixel main wide camera. Based on my testing for our Galaxy S23 Ultra review, I would say the 200MP camera is, in fact, very impressive, giving you a lot of options in terms of how you might want to crop and reframe your photos after they’re taken. Check out the versatility this main sensor brings in this photo, and you’ll start to see why Samsung won our Galaxy S23 Ultra vs iPhone 14 Pro Max face-off.
As you can see, the Galaxy S23 Ultra does a fine job capturing the Bryant Park sign, the yellow and red paper lanterns and the trees and buildings in the background.
I’ve been using the iPhone Pro series for years and I’ve never been able to get a photo of the moon like what I captured with the new Samsung phone. I found that the iPhone 14 Pro Max offered better detail in Night mode, and that it provided more realistic colors in certain scenarios, such as when shooting fruit, flowers and food.
But you can get more true-to-life hues from the S23 Ultra as I learned by turning off the Image Enhancer setting, which makes colors too saturated at times.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Camera test
We put the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra through our rigorous DXOMARK Camera test suite to measure its performance in photo, video, and zoom quality from an end-user perspective. Primary: 200MP 1/1.3″ sensor, 0.6 μm pixels, f/1.7-aperture lens, PDAF, AF, OIS Tele 1: 10MP 1/3.52″ sensor, 1.12 μm pixels, f/2.4-aperture lens, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom
Tele 2: 10MP 1/3.52″ sensor, 1.12 μm pixels, f/4.9-aperture lens, PDAF, OIS, 10x optical zoom
%s Outdoor Photos & videos shot in bright light conditions (≥1000 lux) BEST 160 Top score %s Indoor Photos & videos shot in good lighting conditions (≥100lux) BEST 132 Top score
%s Lowlight Photos & videos shot in low lighting conditions (<100 lux) BEST 149 Top score Accurate autofocus in both photo and video Cons Low contrast in backlit scenes It offered good performance across pretty much all test attributes, without major drawbacks in any area, making it a great smartphone imaging allrounder. Tele zoom at very long range was a strength, thanks to Samsung’s dual-tele approach with a dedicated 10x camera. Effective stabilization and a fast and accurate autofocus meant that the Galaxy S23 Ultra also did well for video. Compared to the predecessor S22 Ultra, the Samsung engineers managed to achieve improvements in several areas, including video stabilization, slightly better zoom, noticeably better video exposure, and improved autofocus speed in bright light.
Please note that all comparisons with the S22 Ultra in this review were made with the Snapdragon version of that device. Friends & Family is a new use case score, introduced with the latest version 5 of the DXOMARK Camera test protocol.
It has been designed to represent the test device’s ability to capture technically good photos and videos in the most common consumer use cases (family, friends, pets).
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is very capable of taking good quality portrait photos and videos in most lighting conditions. The device’s autofocus was very performant, managing to capture the decisive moment both in indoor and outdoor conditions. In low-light situations, however, our engineers observed a slight delay between the moment the shutter was triggered and the actual capture.
Exposure in photo was generally well managed, except when it came to challenging backlit situations, where low contrast gave faces an unnatural appearance. While the S23 Ultra managed to keep the scene’s natural color atmosphere, skin tones were sometimes rendered inaccurate.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – High level of detail, nice color rendering, and wide dynamic range (but slight halo effect around subjects) In low light, the S23 Ultra produced good exposure with a quite wide dynamic range, capturing decent detail in both the highlight and shadow regions of the frame.
Many competitors tend to take a more neutral approach to white balance in low light, but what you prefer is pretty much down to personal taste. The scores rely on objective tests for which the results are calculated directly by measurement software on our laboratory setups, and on perceptual tests in which a sophisticated set of metrics allow a panel of image experts to compare aspects of image quality that require human judgment.
The following section gathers key elements of DXOMARK’s exhaustive tests and analyses. Average and maximum scores for each price segment are computed based on the DXOMARK database of devices tested.
i About DXOMARK Camera Photo tests For scoring and analysis, DXOMARK engineers capture and evaluate more than 2,600 test images both in controlled lab environments and in outdoor, indoor and low-light natural scenes, using the camera’s default settings. The photo protocol is designed to take into account the main use cases and is based on typical shooting scenarios, such as portraits, family, and landscape photography.
The evaluation is performed by visually inspecting images against a reference of natural scenes, and by running objective measurements on images of charts captured in the lab under different lighting conditions from 1 to 1,000+ lux and color temperatures from 2,300K to 6,500K. In our tests, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra performed well for still imaging, capturing impressively high levels of detail in landscape shots.
The wide dynamic range is a slight improvement over the predecessor S22 Ultra, and ensured good highlight and shadow detail, even when capturing difficult high-contrast scenes. On the downside, in backlit portrait scenes, a lack of contrast on faces resulted in an unnatural look, and in dim light conditions, image noise could become quite intrusive.
All these attributes have a significant impact on the final quality of the images captured with the tested device and can help to understand the camera’s main strengths and weaknesses. It evaluates the camera’s ability to capture detail at subject distances below 10cm and magnifications as close as possible to 1:1. The Galaxy S23 Ultra did a good job of capturing detail in macro mode. the ability to render visible details in both bright and dark areas of the image.
Repeatability is also important because it demonstrates the camera’s ability to provide the same rendering when shooting several images of the same scene. In our tests, dynamic range was slightly wider on the new model, and in these samples, you can see the S23 Ultra preserved a touch more detail in the clipped background of the image.
The very slight improvement compared to S22 Ultra was also visible in our contrast entropy tests in the lab. As you can see, the S23 Ultra delivered slightly better entropy than the comparison devices across pretty much all light conditions.
The image quality attributes analyzed are skin-tone rendering, white balance, color shading, and repeatability. On the downside, skin tones were sometimes rendered unnaturally desaturated and with noticeable color quantization.
Focus accuracy is also evaluated in all the real-life images taken, from infinity to close-up objects and in low light to outdoor conditions. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra was overall a very good performer for autofocus, with fast capture in bright light and under indoor illumination, even in high-contrast conditions.
This is a significant improvement over the S22 Ultra, which took longer to capture images in outdoor conditions. Autofocus irregularity and speed: 1000Lux Δ7EV Daylight Handheld This graph illustrates focus accuracy and speed and also zero shutter lag capability by showing the edge acutance versus the shooting time measured on the AFHDR setup on a series of pictures. On this scenario, the backlit panels in the scene are set up to simulate a fairly high dynamic range: the luminance ratio between the brightest point and a 18% reflective gray patch is 7, which we denote by a Exposure Value difference of 7. However, there was a noticeable drop in performance in low light, with the Samsung taking a lot longer to capture the image than the iPhone.
Autofocus irregularity and speed: 20Lux Δ7EV Tungsten Handheld This graph illustrates focus accuracy and speed and also zero shutter lag capability by showing the edge acutance versus the shooting time measured on the AFHDR setup on a series of pictures. On this scenario, the backlit panels in the scene are set up to simulate a fairly high dynamic range: the luminance ratio between the brightest point and a 18% reflective gray patch is 7, which we denote by a Exposure Value difference of 7. Both Samsung devices were noticeably slower and captured the image only after the subject had moved closer toward the camera.
For natural shots, particular attention is paid to the level of details in the bright and dark areas of the image.
DXOMARK CHART (DMC) detail preservation score vs lux levels for tripod and handheld conditions This graph shows the evolution of the DMC detail preservation score with the level of lux, for two holding conditions. The S23 Ultra did a good job of capturing image detail across all light conditions.
For natural images, particular attention is paid to the noise on faces, landscapes, but also on dark areas and high dynamic range conditions. Overall, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra did a good job at controlling image noise levels and balancing it with texture.
i The artifacts evaluation looks at lens shading, chromatic aberrations, geometrical distortion, edges ringing, halos, ghosting, quantization, unexpected color hue shifts, among others type of possible unnatural effects on photos.
The goal is to reproduce portrait photography comparable to one taken with a DLSR and a wide aperture. Portrait image quality attributes (exposure, color, texture) are also taken into account. In fact, the look of the S23 Ultra bokeh shots was overall quite similar to those of its predecessor, with natural rendering and good subject isolation from the background.
However, some slight segmentation artifacts in complex scenes meant that it wasn’t quite on the same level as the best in class. Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – Bokeh mode under 50 lux Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – Segmentation error Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Snapdragon) – Bokeh mode under 50 lux Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (Snapdragon) – Segmentation error Apple iPhone 14 Pro – Bokeh mode under 50 lux Apple iPhone 14 Pro – Slight segmentation errors, lower blur intensity The evaluation is performed by visually inspecting the images against a reference of natural scenes, and by running objective measurements of chart mages captured in the lab under different conditions from 20 to 1000 lux and color temperatures from 2300K to 6500K. In the tele zoom department, the Samsung engineers have opted for a two-lens approach.
The S23 Ultra uses two tele modules with relatively small image sensors and 3x (69mm) and 10x (230mm) zoom factors, respectively. In contrast, most direct competitors, such as the Google Pixel 7 Pro, Huawei Mate 50 Pro and Honor Magic4 Ultimate, use just one tele camera module with a larger image sensor and a higher pixel count.
Thanks to the dedicated 10x module, performance was very good at very long range in bright light. However, the S23 Ultra lagged behind the competition at close range, where we would have expected better results, given the primary camera uses a 200MP sensor that should provide excellent digital zooming capabilities. However, it could not quite match the overall quality of the Huawei Mate 50 Pro or the Honor Magic 4 Ultimate, which delivered better results on most tested ranges. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, however, generally had the best results at very long range in bright-light conditions. This graph shows the video detail preservation score in low light, indoor and outdoor conditions when using zoom-in. The level of detail is measured at multiple focal lengths, including those that can directly be chosen via a button in the camera UI.
All image quality attributes are evaluated, with particular attention paid to such artifacts as chromatic aberrations, lens softness, and distortion. The S23 Ultra’s ultra-wide camera comes with a 13mm equivalent focal length, offering a wide field of view.
The score is derived from a number of objective measurements in the lab and perceptual analysis of real-life images.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra generally captured good detail at most zoom settings.
A boost is noticeable at 230mm, where images are captured at the dedicated 10x module’s native resolution. However, things looked less positive under indoor lighting (100lux) where the tele module’s relatively small image sensor struggled with noise.
1000 lux DXOMARK CHART (DMC) detail preservation score per focal length This graph shows the evolution of the DMC detail preservation score with respect to the full-frame equivalent focal length for different light conditions. Large dots correspond to zoom ratio available in the user interface of the camera application.
DXOMARK CHART (DMC) detail preservation score per focal length This graph shows the evolution of the DMC detail preservation score with respect to the full-frame equivalent focal length for different light conditions. Large dots correspond to zoom ratio available in the user interface of the camera application. DXOMARK CHART (DMC) detail preservation score per focal length This graph shows the evolution of the DMC detail preservation score with respect to the full-frame equivalent focal length for different light conditions. Large dots correspond to zoom ratio available in the user interface of the camera application.
DXOMARK CHART (DMC) detail preservation score per focal length This graph shows the evolution of the DMC detail preservation score with respect to the full-frame equivalent focal length for different light conditions. Large dots correspond to zoom ratio available in the user interface of the camera application. At close tele zoom range, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra generally captured good detail, but our testers expected more from the primary camera’s 200MP sensor that should, in theory, enable excellent detail, even when applying a degree of digital zoom. In terms of image detail at close range tele, the Samsung was on par with the best in class, but displayed higher levels of noise. Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – 50mm Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – Lack of detail, noise Huawei Mate 50 Pro – 50mm Huawei Mate 50 Pro – Lack of detail, well controlled noise Honor Magic 4 Ultimate – 50mm Honor Magic 4 Ultimate – Lack of detail, well controlled noise At medium and long range (approximately 69mm to 230mm equivalent), the Galaxy S23 Ultra was capable of capturing good detail.
However, there was also a big drop in detail toward the edges (click on the main thumbnails below to open up the full-size image). This said, the fusion algorithms did not always trigger, resulting in slightly disappointing texture and detail rendering, like in these samples that were shot at an 8x tele zoom setting.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – 190mm Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra – Loss of detail, noise Huawei Mate 50 Pro – 190mm Huawei Mate 50 Pro – Slight loss of detail, no noise Honor Magic 4 Ultimate – 190mm Honor Magic 4 Ultimate – Slight loss of detail, no noise The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra gets the most out of its 10x camera module when shooting in bright light. The relatively small photosites (1.12 microns) of the tele sensor struggled to keep noise down. In this sample scene, the Huawei Mate 50 Pro, which used its much shorter 90mm tele camera, produced an image with better detail and lower noise than the S23 Ultra.
At very long range, such as in the 100x sample below, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra was capable of achieving better detail than the best competitors. However, image quality at this kind of extreme tele zoom factors is generally low on all smartphones. i About DXOMARK Camera Video tests DXOMARK engineers capture and evaluate more than 2.5 hours of video in controlled lab environments and in natural low-light, indoor and outdoor scenes, using the camera’s default settings. The S23 Ultra’s video mode was tested at 4k resolution and 60 frames per second, with an auto-fps option activated by default.
Autofocus tracking was very good, with a fast and accurate performance ensuring that faces were in focus. Our testers also found white balance and color rendering to be mostly accurate in bright light and when shooting indoors.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Video scores vs Ultra-Premium Video tests analyze the same image quality attributes as for still images, such as exposure, color, texture, or noise, in addition to temporal aspects such as speed, and smoothness and stability of exposure, white balance, and autofocus transitions. the ability to render visible details in both bright and dark areas of the image.
Video clips captured on the S23 Ultra featured a wide dynamic range in bright light, recording good detail in both highlight and shadow areas of the frame. When recording in low light, we observed shadow clipping and a loss of detail, especially on dark skin tones.
In low light, our testers found skin tones to look unnatural in some scenes. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra video autofocus provided excellent performance in most conditions.
Only in very low light could focus transitions have been sometimes faster and smoother (visible at around 9s in this sample). Natural videos recordings are visually evaluated, with particular attention paid to the level of details in the bright and areas as well as in the dark.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra video footage offered good detail, with a lot of fine texture, especially when recording in daylight conditions.
Natural videos are visually evaluated, with particular attention paid to the noise in the dark areas and high dynamic range conditions.
In video mode, the ability to control noise is one of the biggest strengths of the Samsung. Again, things changed slightly under low light conditions, where luminance noise become noticeable on moving subjects and in the shadow areas.
Video stabilization worked reliably in our tests, counteracting even walking and running motion nicely. Natural videos are visually evaluated by paying particular attention to artifacts such as aliasing, quantization, blocking, and hue shift, among others.
Galaxy S23 Series Improved Camera
Samsung product specifications are subject to change; check for updated information at www.samsung.com. No consumer photographic images are collected, stored, or shared with any entity for any purpose.
This is the most unusual Galaxy S23 Ultra camera test I’ve ever done
Comparing phone cameras is a fine balancing act, where everything from the price of the device to the functionality is considered before taking the first photos. Let’s see if we can save you money or convince you to spend more with one of the most unusual camera comparisons we’ve done yet. The Samsung Galaxy A54 has an f/1.8 aperture, 50-megapixel main camera with a 1/1.56-inch sensor size, autofocus, and optical image stabilization (OIS).
For the purposes of this test, we’re not going to explicitly score each section, and we’re not going to seriously compare features where the S23 Ultra is clearly going to have an advantage. I left both cameras in auto and simply pointed them at a scene and tapped the shutter button. There’s more detail when you zoom into the tires, and the accumulated road dust shows up in the S23 Ultra’s photo too.
The different colors of the rose petals are subtle and attractive, whereas the Galaxy A54 goes for an in-your-face style, which lacks the detail found in the S23 Ultra’s photo. The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s wide-angle camera has a more obvious fish-eye effect, and edge enhancement is noticeable in photos taken with both phones.
In our second photo, the S23 Ultra’s slightly wider field of view is evident, as is its attractive treatment of colors and superior exposure.
Samsung adds a 2x zoom mode to the camera app, which encourages people to use it, and as you can see, the results aren’t very special. The clock face is pixelated, and the texture of the brickwork is lost in the digital enhancement. The Galaxy A54 brightens lowlight scenes considerably and actually takes good photos when there’s still some ambient light.
It’s clear the S23 Ultra’s night shot is technically superior, but it’s also obvious the software is hard at work behind the scenes. The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s multiple cameras really enhance the portrait mode, giving you the opportunity to zoom in and increase the level of background blur, no doubt adding some natural bokeh to the mostly software-created effect. The fluffy bauble is a great example where the S23 Ultra allowed me to stand back when taking the photo, which helps center the subject in a way that was impossible to accomplish with the Galaxy A54 and still retain the portrait effect. More realistic skin tones, brighter colors, a stronger portrait mode effect, and a whole lot more detail make the S23 Ultra’s selfies look far better than the Galaxy A54’s. The Galaxy A54’s main and wide-angle cameras take good photos, if a little saturated, and I suspect many people will look at the examples and consider them more than just acceptable.
Galaxy S23 Ultra video camera test: something amazing happened
It thoroughly impressed me in my full review of the device, and it handily beat Google’s best in our Galaxy S23 Ultra vs. Pixel 7 Pro camera test. It’s a question I wanted an answer to, but looking around online, hardly anyone is giving the S23 Ultra’s video capabilities the same treatment as its still photo performance.
After spending two days on the Isle of Wight off the south coast of the U.K. and staying in the historic Arreton Manor, I recorded more video with the Galaxy S23 Ultra than I have with any phone in years. A big part of the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s appeal is its three (or four, depending on how you look at it) different camera modes — main, wide-angle, 3x, and 10x zoom — all of which can also be utilized when taking video.
You can digitally zoom in to 20x on the S23 Ultra when taking 4K video, but like the iPhone 14 Pro’s 9x mode, it’s noisy and not particularly attractive, so it’s best avoided. The shots in the garden, early in the morning with the grass and bushes covered in a fine mist of rain, look almost exactly how they did in real life. Darker areas become noisy, and colors are influenced by the camera’s decision to dramatically brighten the scene, so they become less realistic. Interestingly, the iPhone 14 Pro takes a very different approach, barely brightening the scene at all, but it makes for a more stable, less blurry, and far more realistic look.
The iPhone’s superb white balance is evident throughout all the comparisons with the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which is never quite as precise, but it’s particularly noticeable in extreme lowlight conditions.
When you’re standing still, the Galaxy S23 Ultra provides an impressive amount of stabilization — even at 10x zoom — making it very easy to keep your subject in the viewfinder. I attached the Galaxy S23 Ultra to a window mount in a car, to see how much difference the Super Steady mode made to my recordings. That’s not the case with the Super Slow-motion mode, which at 940 fps, practically brings everything to a standstill, so it specifically needs very fast-moving objects to be effective.
The standard Slow Motion mode was my favorite additional feature (they are all hidden under the More menu in the camera app) and one I would often think about trying out to see what was captured. Shooting video with the Galaxy S23 Ultra has been fun, and it does add another creative dimension to the already versatile stills camera. The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera takes excellent photographs, and is far more versatile and creatively freeing than any other smartphone available today. I think other, less well-equipped phones may have quickly sent me back to taking still photos, but it’s clear the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s many cameras and features make both photography and videography fun and enjoyable.
It won’t be the last time I push myself to shoot video and not just take stills, and I have Samsung’s fantastic Galaxy S23 Ultra to thank for it.
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