We don’t have to tell you that the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra<\/a> camera is incredible – the 50 photos we’re including in this camera deep dive speak for themselves.<\/p>\n We tested the S20 Ultra 100x telephoto lens, which Samsung calls ‘Space Zoom’, and have our first thoughts on that. We’ve got photo samples from shooting on a tripod as well as while handheld; most importantly, we put the phone’s photos side-by-side with those shot by top competitors (the likes of Apple, Google, OnePlus).<\/p>\n As you can tell, we’re taking our Galaxy S20 Ultra camera very seriously<\/em>:<\/p>\n Yeah, we’re kind of nuts when it comes to properly testing smartphone cameras.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The photo comparison gallery is below<\/strong>, however, if you have specific requests for a comparison or shot scenario, ask us about it on Twitter<\/a>. We’ll try to update this ongoing S20 Ultra camera review with answers. Yes, we’ll include the S20<\/a> and S20 Plus<\/a> as comparisons when we get those phones in for review, too.<\/p>\n For now, we’ve photo galleries on multiple pages (to break up the photos that will load, not to annoy you with multiple pages, we swear!) showing the results of the following S20 Ultra camera modes:<\/p>\n Now onto the Galaxy S20 Ultra photo comparison gallery below.<\/p>\n What’s it like in ‘Space Zoom’? That’s the No. 1 question we had when we first did our Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra unboxing and fired up the camera. In a few words: impressive, but not always useable at the maximum 100x times zoom level.<\/p>\n Samsung’s folded lens, similar to the Huawei P30 Pro<\/a>‘s periscope lens, sits sideways inside the smartphone to give it extra room and uses a mirror to turn 90 degrees and take shots out of the back of the phone. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be getting to extreme zoom levels with a thin smartphone.<\/p>\n Using a tripod for this first test, here are the results, starting with 1x (no zoom) and going to 2x, 10x, 30x and 100x, then back down to 0.5x for the ultra-wide.<\/p>\n Edit:<\/strong> We went back and re-did our testing to include both day and night to see what happens when more shadows creep in.<\/p>\n The S20 Ultra camera at 100x isn’t something you’d post to Instagram – it’s almost a stylized hand-drawn version of what New York City’s Grand Central Terminal clock looks like. But this is close to what 10x digital zoom looks like on Samsung’s competitors.<\/p>\n Essentially, Samsung’s camera is making 10x optical hybrid zoom fairly useable when that’s the maximum digital zoom on many of its rivals (and its own previous cameras). Even 4x and 30x (which are preset zoom levels on the camera UI) are usable in the right scenarios (read: good lighting conditions and with a steady hand or tripod), while the 100x zoom feels like a neat tech demo and similar to the quality of 10x digital zoom on other phones cameras.<\/p>\n Looking at the Galaxy S20 Ultra camera’s photos is helpful, but examining them alone isn’t good enough for our testing. So we’ve included several of Samsung’s rivals and two of last year’s Samsung phones in many of the scenarios.<\/p>\n Here’s what we’ve included and why:<\/p>\n Now onto the Galaxy S20 Ultra ‘Live Focus’ mode, which is Samsung calls its portrait mode, and more comparisons to tell how Samsung’s new phone stacks up to its competitors.<\/p>\n There’s a lot of hype attached to the 108MP camera on the Galaxy S20 Ultra<\/a> (which is exclusive to the Ultra, by the way), and it does in fact offer a bit more detail, according to our comparison tests. The same goes for the 40MP selfie camera.<\/p>\n But we’re not sure if we’re going to use it as much as we thought, at least not for the reason we original thought, which was to immediately get better photos and selfies.<\/p>\n Here’s where we think 108MP and 40MP selfie photos will be useful:<\/strong> Let’s take a look:<\/p>\n At first, we noticed few differences between a 108MP and default 12MP photos from the Galaxy S20 Ultra – especially when we looked on the new phone’s 6.9-inch screen and on various computer monitors. We don’t have one of the 8K Samsung TVs<\/a> we saw at CES<\/a> or Samsung’s The Wall TV<\/a> to test it out on something much, much larger.<\/p>\n But then we started cropping-in on a few example photos.<\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra – 108MP main camera photo<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra – 12MP main camera photo<\/strong><\/p>\n So far the two versions look similar, but let’s take that ex-employee example and run with it. Someone leaves the company just after a promotional workplace photo is taken (happens all of the time), and that person can easily be cropped out.<\/p>\n S20 Ultra – cropped 108MP photo<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra – cropped 12MP photo<\/strong><\/p>\n Workplace photo saved – and our cropped S20 Ultra camera examples shows less quality loss from the 108MP version, with more noticeable oversharpening in the 12MP version. Thankfully, both Aaron (right) and Andrew (middle) are still very much part of Future. Thanks for posing, guys.<\/p>\n Wait, now we want a photo of the magazines in the background and forgot to take one. There’s going to be even more distortion punching in that far, but the 108MP handles it better.<\/p>\n Galaxy S20 Ultra – 108MP cropped photo of magazines<\/strong><\/p>\n Galaxy S20 Ultra – 12MP cropped photo of magazines<\/strong><\/p>\n When we crop to look at a single magazine cover, both begin to degrade in quality, but we can at least read all of the text on the version that was originally 108MP. Just look at the text underneath ‘Windsors’.<\/p>\n So cropping in anywhere on a photo could give you an entirely new subject without distortion – or at least not as much distortion as normal. Look at the bottles at this sleepy New York City diner in the top left corner.<\/p>\n Again, they look the same in both photos, until you crop in.<\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra – 108MP main camera photo<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra – 12MP main camera photo<\/strong><\/p>\n All of a sudden, the 108MP version (which was about 11.6MB) showed the labels a bit better. Look for the word ‘Silver’ on the second bottle from the left. You can still read that on the 108MP version, but it’s blurry on the 12MP version.<\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra – cropped 108MP photo<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra – cropped 12MP photo<\/strong><\/p>\n Now, take this example, and imagine having a wide landscape photo of a city street. You’ll be able to isolate a single taxi in the distance into its own photo, like you were taking a 12MP photo of that taxi from the very beginning. <\/p>\n So, will you get better photos at 108MP? That all depends on what you plan to do with them.<\/p>\n Closer subjects exhibit fewer differences – the cups have a bit more reflection in the 108MP cropped version than the 12MP cropped version, and if you were to zoom in further on the ‘Warning’ sign, the smaller text is somewhat legible in the 108MP shot.<\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra – 108MP photo cropped-in<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra – 12MP photo cropped-in<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, you could always use the 48MP telephoto lens to capture distant subjects, but what the 108MP camera does is give you more control after the shutter button in pressed.<\/p>\n Now, onto the 40MP selfie camera.<\/p>\n We did appreciate the wider field of view in the special 40MP mode. But overall? It won’t make your selfies look that much better if you don’t intend to crop them in. It’s a small difference, but when you want to cut someone out of a selfie photo, this may be useful in a real-life scenario if you want to maintain the highest quality.<\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 40MP selfie camera<\/strong><\/p>\n A crop of that same Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 40MP selfie photo (notice the gleam in the eye)<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 10MP selfie camera<\/strong><\/p>\n A crop of that same Samsung Galaxy S20 10MP selfie photo (notice the loss of detail when we crop in?)<\/strong><\/p>\n We’re still testing the Samsung’s portrait mode, and the fact that the S20 Ultra<\/a> has Time of Flight cameras (something missing on the normal S20), meaning it should be able to better sense depth and differentiate the foreground from the background.<\/p>\n That’s not always the case, as the S20 Ultra looks about as good as the Note 10<\/a> in our sample photos when it comes to determining the edges. However, our mobile editor, David Lumb, looks sharper in the S20 Ultra photos.<\/p>\n And, for what it’s worth, Samsung has consistently had ‘the most fun’ camera to use with its filters like Color Point (the selective back and white filter), even if it wasn’t always ‘the best’ camera. This year, it could claim both titles.<\/p>\n Every phonemaker does it differently, with some leaning into the bokeh (background blur) more than others. These phones also vary in how much they crop in to get that effect, so you may have to stand further back from your subject than you would to capture a normal.<\/p>\n Really, it comes down to taste, though, we have have another set of portrait photos examples coming soon. Watch this page.<\/p>\n iPhone 11 Pro Max portrait camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Google Pixel 4 portrait camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus portrait camera<\/strong><\/p>\n OnePlus 7 Pro portrait camera<\/strong><\/p>\n The OnePlus 7 Pro softened David’s face in every attempt in this mode, so while we liked the OnePlus 3x telephoto camera, the portrait mode left something to be desired.<\/p>\n Google Pixel 3a portrait camera<\/strong><\/p>\n For a camera phone that’s $1,000 cheaper than the S20 Ultra, the Google Pixel 3a isn’t bad by any stretch.<\/p>\n We’re almost ready to call it: the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra<\/a> is poised to have the best selfie camera we’ve seen yet, according to our early testing. It’s not the 40MP hype, though – you have to specifically select that in the UI anyway and the 40MP version is not really meant for dark environments due to the smaller size of individual pixels.<\/p>\n It’s the fact that our faces are well lit, colors pop nicely but not aggressively, and the camera UI is so easy to use compared to those of several other smartphones out there. We have a bit more to say about the group selfies UI, too, but here are the front-facing camera photos – note we are very cold in this pictures, but we do it for you.<\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 10MP selfie camera<\/strong><\/p>\n iPhone 11 Pro Max selfie camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Google Pixel 4 selfie camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S10 camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S10 5G selfie camera (because it has a depth sensor, the S10 doesn’t)<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus selfie camera<\/strong><\/p>\n OnePlus 7 Pro selfie camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Google Pixel 3a selfie camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Here’s something we haven’t noticed in other smartphone cameras before: you can zoom out for group selfies (OK, that’s been in the Google Pixel 3<\/a>, iPhone 11<\/a>, and S10 series, etc), or<\/em> you can have the camera do it for you based on face detection.<\/p>\n That’s right, pointing S20 Ultra front-facing camera at multiple friends will uncrop the front-facing camera in an effort to fit everyone in. Yet if you’re taking a photo alone, it remains set to that more intimate zoomed-in perspective (note: the wide selfie is not actually a separate wide camera like on the Pixel 3, Samsung just crops selfies a bit more than it has to by default).<\/p>\n It’s a smart effect that other phonemakers have been including, but they make you manually press a button to get it to work. This is one less thing to worry about when trying to grab a quick selfie photo with several friends.<\/p>\n We took more photo comparisons of the main and ultra-wide cameras to see how the camera mode captures more of what you want – which it does, but only sometimes. There’s still some natural distortion and moving subjects have prone to blur more than on the main camera. But in the right scenario, you can really take advantage of Samsung’s wide 120-degree field of view.<\/p>\n More to come on with daytime ultra-wide photos in the next few hours.<\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra main camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra ultra-wide camera<\/strong><\/p>\n iPhone 11 Pro Max main camera<\/strong><\/p>\n iPhone 11 Pro Max ultra-wide camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Google Pixel 4 main camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Oh, that’s right – no ultra-wide camera on the Pixel 4<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S10 main camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy S10 ultra-wide camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus main camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus ultra-wide camera<\/strong><\/p>\n OnePlus 7 Pro main camera<\/strong><\/p>\n OnePlus 7 Pro ultra-wide camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Google Pixel 3a main camera<\/strong><\/p>\n Nope, Google didn’t make an ultra-wide camera here either<\/strong><\/p>\n So, in the first test, we used a tripod to take the best possible shots on a the ‘Space Zoom’ setting. While shooting, we noticed New York City taxis whizzing by us on Park Avenue were creating tiny vibrations that affected the zoom.<\/p>\n But really, we wanted to see what the camera was like while shooting handheld, because people will naturally use it that way. Here are our samples – this time from zoomed-in to zoomed-out.<\/p>\n\n
So how’s that Galaxy S20 100x ‘Space Zoom’?<\/h3>\n
![\"Divider\"](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/WeAzGVGa9HsyWbpcPmS5Ph-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBesides the S20 Ultra, here’s what we’ve included<\/h3>\n
\n
<\/p>\nS20 Ultra vs last year’s big Samsung phones <\/h3>\n
<\/p>\nS20 Ultra vs much cheaper phones<\/h3>\n
\nCropping in on specific subjects. Maybe it’s something in the background you want to isolate into its own photo, or maybe you just want to cut someone out of a photo group selfie (like an ex or an employee who leaves the company after a workplace photos is taken?). Whatever the case may be, you can do so without a tremendous loss in quality.<\/p>\n108MP camera<\/h3>\n
![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/dRn7JjtqWCPbEcGWYyMHaU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/HmT5kLDLntXTENDdYWV8Lm.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/7M5BihxhZAcdWESvrP5h3U.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/LkWNAtENbj4mFXNFHYYPyk.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Ua4bLxENydCyUnpfsSEnRT.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/7zjNwt4C3pKZ7nPwV6tLok.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/kCSCpnXmSagug45ohZ2CzS.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/EVjuCVFpGtQf3atQZz2f5m.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/koFkwaFBeqAkxHjTvLhk2Y.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/NgUraisJ78MsvFwsXRSxSX.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/cjqVNZmb5tAP6AzTkKf7Qm.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Un3YVrhRNzUFiMRvLaoFVm.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/YLiAfixV2yyL4vg233yZom.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/De6sgWzHgdG6AkdrtGg2dm.jpg\")
<\/p>\n40MP selfie camera<\/h3>\n
![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/fiC88xSpQQYsxGWCdBEosR.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/8AHi3ZtmNu28noQUxYrrHQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/gvMW9kg2kmTdBvxhDczKbR.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/UKcts4LtguuLjLjMUQC7tQ.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSamsung Galaxy S20 ‘Live Focus’ portrait mode<\/h3>\n
Galaxy S20 Ultra’s biggest rivals in portrait mode<\/h3>\n
![\"iPhone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jopYWymcxnoxMxNzvAyxG9.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Google](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/CodSDqgNp6kqYoss7j8mEJ.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLast year’s Samsung phones<\/h3>\n
![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/iJtgWWmuZZV8B9YDQzDa9D.jpg\")
<\/p>\nS20 Ultra vs cheap phones<\/h3>\n
![\"OnePlus](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ggdRe5q8PCaR765KhdwppK.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Google](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/qBH3GYfbAEBBk7SiwA8AGT.jpg\")
<\/p>\nUpgraded normal selfie photos comparison<\/h3>\n
![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/XhUhWXpN3TNt4gxYURyLjM.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHow do S20 Ultra selfies compare to Samsung’s rivals?<\/h3>\n
![\"Selfie](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/YbLSbviECXJSH2syDjHVnA.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Selfie](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/CAJRZDhG3umrQKDDnGivgC.jpg\")
<\/p>\nS20 Ultra vs last year’s big Samsung phones <\/h3>\n
![\"Selfie](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/R6vMHJ5PgjeuwhmU27gEsC.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/CFX9rNicxfEKgcaHYnC7QM.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/GMYX498nZghow2nESgPzYM.jpg\")
<\/p>\nS20 Ultra selfie camera vs cheap phones<\/h3>\n
![\"Selfie](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ioish78jMQMBzpsktp8u2C.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Selfie](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/9DoZqnw8eAN984wvHTC95B.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBetter group selfie camera UI<\/h3>\n
![\"Samsung](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/g6e3EbGD9n9HtoqFismpzH.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThat main and ultra-wide camera<\/h3>\n
![\"Smartphone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Wx5nXStxooGFXBHtGMCjJn.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Smartphone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Rxoc7KZkPebFFFGwh84t4a.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHow does the S20 main and wide cameras compare to its rivals?<\/h3>\n
![\"Smartphone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/eBgfBa4eLYXNRSfGrYgykk.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Smartphone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/GmAPByDVeW6jTeJWT5QspZ.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Smartphone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/mo7mjmdsQhM4zichPmDtEo.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/L4EmgMDApa6M2WGeEE52d4.jpg\")
<\/p>\nS20 Ultra vs last year’s big Samsung phones <\/h3>\n
![\"Smartphone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/zx62Gphp9MukYWGWsT2hV.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Smartphone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/SFdVg6QKPbiQ58dZpnMVXb.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Smartphone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/W3WDsrbVoenaLaUywyUzD.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Smartphone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/faHKctYip869repGnuzuSc.jpg\")
<\/p>\nS20 Ultra vs cheap phones<\/h3>\n
![\"Smartphone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/rd8VBMMw4b34TQfMzWMxWm.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Smartphone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/DmrZX23aJsXZ32zAcpQFEb.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Smartphone](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ge4DdqkbieaAhxZPzAugun.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Google](\"https:\/\/newsnfeeds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/5RebUzMYKG2sWdTCUiASTV.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHandheld S20 Ultra telephoto lens shots <\/h3>\n