Is Samsung S21 Ultra good for photography?
Thanks to its large sensor, the main camera is clearly the best of the four, with its 12MP files showing good detail across almost the entire frame. The wideangle camera isn't quite as good, with a more processed look to its images and some colour fringing at the corners.
The Bottom Line
The Galaxy S21 Ultra delivers a high-quality superzoom camera that truly works, supports Samsung's excellent S Pen, and sets the bar for smartphone features in 2021.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 lineup features Pro Mode, which allows you to manually adjust various settings including ISO, exposure, white balance and manual focus pulling. For landscape shots, the camera has a Super Steady feature that stabilises the camera — keeping things steady for long exposure pictures in Pro Mode.
Cons. Somewhat bulky and slippery. The image processing needs further refinements. We don't miss the microSD slot, but some of you might.
- 1 Launch the Camera app.
- 2 Tap on Camera Ratio.
- 3 Select 3:4 (64MP High Resolution)
- 4 When you are ready to capture your High Resolution shots tap on the Shutter button.
With the same bionic chips as each other, these two smartphones are similar in terms of performance. However, the S21 Ultra is more convincing when it comes to handling background applications and photography.
A 108M high-pixel image sensor mounted on the Galaxy S21 Ultra's wide-angle lens has a larger size compared to the camera image sensors of previous devices. The larger the image sensor, the longer the focal length is necessary. So, the closer the shooting object is, the image may be out of focus.
108-megapixel images
Tap it and you'll see the 3:4 108MP option. Tapping that will activate the high resolution mode, but keep in mind that with that active you won't be able to use any of the zoom lenses as it relies solely on the main camera's image sensor.
Samsung introduced its Expert Raw app in beta at the end of 2021; currently, it is only available for the S21 Ultra. The app allows you to control manual exposure settings for all four of the rear cameras, which is nice, but the more interesting thing it allows you to do is shoot multi-frame RAW files.
Galaxy S21 Ultra goes out, makes space for S22 Ultra
A previous leak suggested that Samsung could be mostly relying on its Exynos 2200 chip, which has a new GPU that is based on the AMD RDNA 2 architecture. Leaked website data suggests that the cameras could not be much different from the S21 Ultra.
What are the known issues with the Samsung S21 Ultra?
The most common Samsung Galaxy S21 problems include notification problems, Android Auto discrepancies, random reboots, and camera bugs. There are more than these, though, so keep reading to learn about other common problems and how to fix them.
IP68 Water and Dust Resistance Rating: The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has an IP68 rating against dust and water, making it a truly waterproof device. The IP68 rating means that the smartphone can withstand immersion in water up to 1.5 meters deep for up to 30 minutes without suffering damage.
Overall, the S21 Ultra is one of the best current photo smartphones. In bright light, the 108 megapixels of the main camera deliver impressive image quality. When it gets darker, we recommend 12 MP images.
Make sure you remove the oil, smudges, dirt, and dust properly. Many times a default setting in your camera app can cause blurriness in the front or rear camera blur. The next troubleshooting step for you is to disable the autofocus from settings.
The results were impressive: the S21 Ultra easily withstood a whole day of heavy use. Even with demanding tasks like gaming and streaming, the phone showed minimal battery drain thanks to its efficient hardware and software.
| From left to right S21, S21 FE, S21+, and S21 Ultra. | |
|---|---|
| Compatible networks | 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G |
| First released | January 14, 2021 (S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra) January 3, 2022 (S21 FE) |
| Availability by region | January 29, 2021 (S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra) January 7, 2022 (S21 FE) |
| Discontinued | February 25, 2022 |
For Galaxy S21 Ultra owners: You don't need to upgrade yet. The Galaxy S23 Ultra has a faster new processor and better cameras with improved low light and dynamic range. But the Galaxy S21 Ultra is still recent, and you're better off waiting to see what the Galaxy S24 Ultra has to offer.
While the iPhone has the advantage in processing speeds, the Galaxy comes with 12GB of RAM compared to just 6GB RAM on the iPhone, which helps keep more apps open in the background and is good for multitasking. Below, you can find A15 benchmarks and how they compare against the Exynos 2100 version of the S21 Ultra.
The S23 Ultra clocks in at 163.4 x 78.1 x 8.9 mm, while the S21 is relatively the same size at 165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9mm.
Note: On the Galaxy S22 Ultra, the S Pen comes integrated with the phone. However, for the S21 Ultra, the S Pen is an optional accessory and does not come included with the phone. You may purchase an S21 S Pen separately. The S Pen is not compatible with any other models in the Galaxy S series.
What is the camera problem on the S21?
Problem: Reduced camera performance and lag zooming or switching between modes. It seems like reduced camera performance was an issue for many Samsung Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra users out of the box, and for some users after a recent update — although the problem doesn't seem to have affected everyone.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has set a new benchmark for smartphone photography, and users upgrading from older models could find themselves in uncharted territory. Adapting to forward motion can result in an initial sense of blur, even if the camera is technically capable of delivering sharp images.
It's because after the optical zoom (i.e the lens, so for example on S21/22/23 ultra, there is a 10x zoom lens) it's a digital zoom so will continually lose quality.
Ultra High Resolution
Galaxy S21 Ultra's powerful high-resolution camera can crop clearer images with the new 108MP sensor. Using Advanced Remosaic processing, the new 108MP sensor of the Galaxy S21 Ultra provides images with more clarity and higher colour fidelity.
With an overall Camera score of 116, the Galaxy S21 5G is a solid performer, but it's not a big step forward compared to its predecessors: its Photo score of 123 ties the Samsung Galaxy Note20, for example. Some areas have improved, but they're balanced out by some slippage in texture and noise performance.
