detailed camera review of s21 ultra

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The Galaxy S21 Ultra is Samsung’s bet for early 2021, boasting a new 108-megapixel main camera, and both 3x and 10x optical zoom cameras, along with many other top features.

Samsung’s Galaxy S Series smartphone range has always promised excellent camera performance but hasn’t always delivered. Phones like the Galaxy S10 Plus and the S20 Ultra struggled to meet the challenge presented by Apple and Huawei when they were released, despite high-spec hardware.

Excitingly, the tech advancements translate into excellent performance, showing that after several years of trying, Samsung is now not only at the top of its photographic game, but it’s leading the industry too.

Design, Build, and Camera Hardware

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is a big smartphone. The Dynamic AMOLED screen measures 6.8-inches, the chassis is 8.9mm thick, and in all the phone weighs 227 grams. It’s comparable to the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, but a little more compact than the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. The large camera module in the back is made from metal and is blended into the chassis itself, rather than mounted separately on the glass back panel. It gives the S21 Ultra a distinct, modern style.Samsung’s build quality is always superb, and the Galaxy S21 Ultra feels every bit as expensive and well made as the $1,200 price suggests. You’re paying for the beautiful screen — it has a maximum resolution of 3,200×1,400 pixels, a 120Hz refresh rate, and up to 1,500 nits of brightness —- the top Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, and the impressive camera tech. It’s all absolutely worth the premium you pay over the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21 Plus, which do not have the same camera system and are made from different materials, making them arguably much less desirable.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra is the S21 series phone to get, particularly if you want the best camera performance Samsung offers at the moment. The main 108MP, f/1.8 aperture camera, which uses Samsung’s latest ISOCELL HM3 1/1.33-inch sensor, has Phase Detection Autofocus, laser autofocus, a 0.8nm pixel size, and optical image stabilization. It’s joined by a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera with a 120-degree field of view and dual-pixel autofocus, and a pair of 10MP telephoto cameras. The two telephoto cameras both have optical image stabilization at 3x and 10x optical zoom, and dual-pixel autofocus.

All of this adds up to Samsung’s most advanced, feature-packed camera system yet. However, Samsung has excelled in camera hardware specs before, but this time things are different because it has improved the software and artificial intelligence to really make the best use of the camera’s ability.

Software Features

Before we get into how the software affects photos, let’s talk about the many features inside Samsung’s camera app. The phone uses Samsung’s OneUI 3.1 user interface, set over the top of Google’s Android 11 operating system, and the camera app is fast and easy to use. That said, sometimes it’s not entirely logically laid out, mostly due to the mass of features it has to pack in.

Main camera

What’s instantly apparent when you start taking photos with the Galaxy S21 Ultra is how much Samsung has improved the balance in its photos. Prior Galaxy S Series phones have often over-saturated the scene, but the S21 Ultra is far better at balancing blues and greens, due to drastically improved HDR.

The colors, shadows, and ambiance in the photo above are just right. The trees reflected in the river retain their color, the water has movement and texture, and the white and grey clouds in the sky are properly represented. It sounds like a small thing, but many smartphone cameras wouldn’t get the balance right, focusing too much on the blue sky or green grass. Samsung used to be one of them, but not with the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

100x Zoom

It’s a similar story for the 100x zoom. The quality of the digitally zoomed photo isn’t great, but the improvement over the S20 Ultra’s 100x zoom level is considerable.

This sign was shot at 100x zoom, and while the photo is pixelated and low quality, the words on the sign are readable, and the subject is recognizable. You may not use 100x zoom very often, but when you do, you’ll actually be able to tell what it is you’ve taken a photo of. In the past, this wasn’t guaranteed at all.

Shot inside in very low ambient light, the S21 Ultra can take detailed photos using Night Mode, with realistic colors and a good level of detail. The image below required a three-second exposure, which is judged and implemented by the camera app, so all you have to do is press the shutter button. It was handheld and there’s no evidence of blur. You can even make out the Lego stamp on some of the studs.

With almost no light at all the results are nowhere near as good, when even a six-second exposure doesn’t pull in enough light to show your subject. Still, Night Mode also works with the zoom and the wide-angle cameras, again increasing versatility.

A Much-Improved, Reliable Camera Experience

Throughout my time with the Galaxy S21 Ultra, my trust in the camera has only grown, to the point where I’m happy to take photos and not immediately check the Gallery app to make sure the shot is what I wanted: I trust it took something excellent. This is important to note because I’ve not had this experience with a Samsung camera before due to problematic over-saturation, focus problems, and issues in difficult lighting. The S21 Ultra’s camera is reliable, incredibly capable, and the best I’ve used on a Samsung phone.

Are There Alternatives?

The Galaxy S21 Ultra is challenged by the Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max, which equals it in size and price and also has an extraordinarily capable camera system. If the size of the phone puts you off, the Google Pixel 5 may not have the same optical zoom system, but Google’s computational photography expertise means it’ll still take incredible photos in most situations.

Should You Buy It?

Yes. The Galaxy S21 Ultra is one of the very best smartphones you can buy today, even without taking the camera into consideration. Add in the superb camera, and the S21 Ultra becomes a must-buy for anyone who demands the very best in mobile tech.