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S21 Ultra Camera and Video - TRASH. Exynos, ABU98

(Topic created on: 25-02-2021 02:26 PM)
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Bobolinho
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First Samsung phone so went for the big one. So disappointed in many ways, but the camera and Video quality is soooo bad I can't quite believe it. 

Video quality is worse than an iphone 8Plus, colors are laughable and it's all so grainy.

Some decent shots with the camera but it doesn't focus properly, switched between camera randomly and faces look terrible.

I'm sure most of this can be fixed with software updates but I'm not going to be waiting for that. 

Can't believe a flagship phone can come out with this many issues. Really really bad. How disappointing.

24 REPLIES 24
JR28
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My S21+ exynos has received 3 updates since launch with 'camera improvements' being listed in the details but I've noticed no difference and the video recording still looks very grainy and blurry no matter what options I have on, low/indoor lighting footage is virtually unusable. How has the video camera improved for you since the updates?  

Babishko
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I only shoot 4K 60fps video JR28but I live in any area where there are several small churches so I have been out filming these to get my camera optimized better. Most people are only shooting indoor videos with Covid restrictions and all and this is of no benefit for running in purposes. At first my indoor video in even middle light conditions was shockingly poor with rampant grainy noise in any darkened or shaded areas and things looked out of focus and blurry when going from a lighter to darker area but now the noise levels indoors at middle lighting are much much better with only slight noise overall and very very rare detail dropout and the finished video is much sharper too and it looks great and impresses my wife who has a Note 10+. I avoid low light level videoing indoors at the moment as this is only teaching my phone bad habits in my eyes. The stabilization is brilliant when shooting video and there is an improvement in video shot with all the lenses. My 10x lens has a problem when recording video though as I may or may not have mentioned in that when recording the footage in the viewfinder is jumping around a lot but when the footage is played back it is stable and smooth with no jumping at all?.. Peculiar. I have switched to 4K 30 just to help further with optimization on a couple of instances JR28 and this looks very good indoor in fair lighting and outdoors (with HDR 10+ on) it provided very colourful and sharp video with a 54 Mbits a second Bit rate which is all good. 4K 60 video with normal HDR on shoots at about 42 Mbits now in fair to good lighting. The first appalling videos I shot were at a woeful 12 Mbits a second so I can really see my phone improving JR28 and this is actually exciting as video capture is everything to me. My photos are perfect though as I have said and I take more of these now but my camera still gets much warmer than my old Note 9's but it has not overheated yet. This is when taking photos as my phone runs cooler shooting video as I am shooting video more often. Good luck JR 28. 👍👍
JR28
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oh I forgot to ask in the last reply, can you use the flash on the Ultrawide camera when taking photos or videos as you can on the S20+? Thanks for going into detail for me, I'm glad to hear its improved on the Ultra. You're right about filming in lockdown, I've only been able to test the camera in my garden or kitcken lol. My S21+ on 4k30/60 or 1080p30/60 hasn't improved in lower or indoor light at all no matter what I do and looks much worse than my S20+. I switched to HDR10 and the bit rate increased but it still looks terrible and grainy/blurry. Maybe the updates only really improved the Ultra and the regular S21's will be coming later but either way, I'm not impressed with the phone in general, especially the camera so I'm returning it and keeping my S20+ for a bit longer. I'm seeing what One plus or Xiaomi have to offer.
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Babishko
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It seems as if you cannot have the flash on whilst using the ultra wide camera JR28 which is a shame but you can have night mode on with it so some you lose some you win I guess. The Exynos video performance is a massive disappointment to many people and this will cost Samsung money if they don't sort it out pronto. Surely they tested the phone thoroughly before it came out?.. I just can't see how it can be allowed to be released for sale when the camera is not finished. Taking people's money under such false pretences is at best not very ethical. 👍
JR28
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Thanks for getting back to me, that's a real shame, I hope they add the option to use it in an update because its very handy. I hate when companies take things away for no reason😒 but then add small minor changes and claim things to be completely 'new' and 'improved'. And I agree with your second point, it seems they rushed the release this year and didn't even test it properly, I feel we're essentially the beta testers for their phones.

p.s. some screenshots on my S20+ where you can select the flash on the UW.

Screenshot_20210227-193106_Camera.jpg

Screenshot_20210227-192952_Camera.jpg

Bobolinho
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Spent all day outside on a lovely day with the the S21U today. Performance just isn’t there for most of the videoing and camera. 3x and 10x good in great light, but average in anything’s else. The standard 1x seems a complete disaster to me. I’m new to Samsung - have they always had an issue with faces ?!? The shot can look decent and someone’s face can look blurry and pixelated. So bizarre.

will wait for the next update which I think is due soon, but I can’t see how they sort all this in one refresh so o expect it will be returned. Hopefully late adopters will get the benefit.

isko01
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Hi :smiling-face:

 

So what is your last update? :smiling-face:

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Bobolinho
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AUB9

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Babishko
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This one is mine isko01 Sorry for butting into your conversation!. I wasn't sure if you were talking to me or not... 👍👍

Screenshot_20210227-212626_Software update.jpg

isko01
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Thx a lot @Babishko,

 

Do you still have problem with overheating when using camera?

 

And did you do wipe-chace after this last update?