this is what the camera of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can do

Rarely have we seen a brand focus so heavily on photography as Samsung with its Galaxy S23 Ultra. That is not surprising: other factors, such as the shape, play a more role with other types of devices. Moreover, it is mainly the camera in which the S23 Ultra distinguishes itself from the rest. A 200 megapixel camera, a new way to put pixels together and better deal with twilight: Samsung promises it, but does it live up to it?

Tour of San Francisco

During a tour through San Francisco in the evening and in the morning, we put the device to work. We are not professional photographers and did not use a tripod for the photos, but just snapped freehand. That is important to know, because we have known for a long time that this device can take phenomenal photos and videos.

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But, what about the daily use, the way people use the smartphone in daily life? Quickly take a holiday snapshot from a boat, or snap that beautiful dish for Instagram. We wanted to try out how the smartphone holds up, because yes, it is understandable that it is very well prepared as a camera for a photo studio or even a film. Below you will find all kinds of photos that were taken purely with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, ranging from ultra-wide angle to photos in the dark, and from as close as possible to food photography.

Normal daytime shots

We also have it in the Netherlands: that ‘white’ weather. Often in the winter, then the whole sky is white and that transfers a bit to everything, including photos. American cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco are stars in it and you can see that in some of these photos. It all tends to turn out a bit whiter and duller sometimes, but that has to do with the circumstances. On the other hand, it is not always a clear blue with a radiant sun in the Netherlands, so at the same time it may be very representative of photos that you may take at home with the device.

This is a regular photo with Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

This photo is zoomed in a bit

The Golden Gate Bridge as we know it, photographed during the day

The Golden Gate as you probably don’t know it very well, from the bottom, after sunset

An ordinary photo of a rather unusual place. The foreground in particular is rendered excellently

To zoom

Zooming, this phone can do that. If anything has surprised you, it’s the impressive zoom on the device. Below you see first two photos (wide angle and normal) and then two zoomed photos. Do you see that you can suddenly read a text that you could not possibly have seen with the naked eye?

Far away and a little less far away

And then a lot closer

Here it is the sunset from a distance (also see what is floating in the sky at the top left)

As always with zooming, the colors are a bit boosted, but you see a lot more detail right away in the heli.

Low light conditions

One of the things that Samsung emphasizes with this phone is the ‘nightography’. Being able to take good pictures in dim conditions. Low noise, just what you see. The phone partly succeeds in this:

The contrast between the light and the background is large, but the Samsung Galaxy 23 Ultra knows how to handle it

City lights? No problem

What we might like even better is how this smartphone handles the multitude of different light sources in a city. Watch:

The rather fanatically lit gate in Chinatown does not get overexposed

This phone is not easily fooled when it comes to light

The ‘flower’ was so brightly lit that you could barely look into it without blinking flowers for another five minutes. You can see that the smartphone has some difficulty with it, but actually gets away with it very well.

It is a quick snapshot of a moving object, but this Samsung has the potential to shoot a beautiful picture here (if you were to lie still).

Sometimes night modes have the drawback of being a bit ‘too much’: it almost looks like daytime in this photo.

Lots of different lights, but it’s still Greta who grabs the attention.

Colorized

We are less charmed by the coloring that the phone does. There is of course artificial intelligence in the device that ensures that colors are slightly adjusted to display them better, but it seems that it sometimes does not quite know what to do with it:

Is it red, pink or translucent? Especially in the middle picture, the smartphone is very ambitious with its color saturation.

We also find the smartphone not always strong when it comes to sharpness up close.

But in terms of food photography, you can send a message to the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: almost every food photo is very beautiful with the food filter.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review: coming soon!

You can expect the extensive review of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra soon. Want us to try something different for you with Galaxy S23 Ultra’s camera? Then let us know in the comments.

Buy Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is the top model in the Galaxy S23 series. This phone has five very extensive cameras, a 6.8 inch QHD + AMOLED screen, the fast Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, a 5,000 mAh battery and much more.

From 1399 euros

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