S21 Ultra camera - terrible quality

[JulianeM]

Edit: After researching about it, the problem is on S21 Ultra on Europe version only, I bought mine in the UK and unfortunately received a device with an awful camera. I contacted Samsung that promised to contact in 1 week time to give me a video support but this never happened. I had no choice but to return the phone and ask the refund. I expected more from Samsung.

A detailed side by side on US x EU versions video: https://youtu.be/rsLJLk3nx8k

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I really think my phone has a hardware problem is not possible that a phone ranked on top of pixel 5 and iPhone 12 max pro is not taking simple photos and videos indoor with good light, but that's what I'm experiencing. I tried to update the system and the camera configurations, but still the same thing:

• Photos: All modes are bad, normal photos are never focused, they don't have details even if I take a 108Mb on a static object like a bottle on top of my table 1 meter away, my old phone takes a incredible better photos. Also the portrait mode just blur the whole photo. The zoom takes photos with a veryyyyyy low resolution, looking more a abstract paint. Well I tried all modes, that's basically the problem present in all.
• Videos: The videos don't have any stabilization, we see jumps on movements, problems on frame rate giving the feeling you are watching a stream in a low connection, and the focus and blur just changes randomly.

Here is some examples, first my daughter playing, in a very slight movement but as you can see all the static points are also blurry, and second photo a button with 100x zoom with focus locked and my arm supported by the table:

Portrait photo100x photo with focus locked

[London2tim]

seems some unlucky ones got the s20ultra refurbished as s21 ultra

probably samsung trying to get rid of some left overs parts 

[JulianeM]

I agree, unfortunately I was one unlucky, I already asked Vodafone to return the phone 😞 I'm not risking pay a fortune to this malfunction device

[Ifoundasound]

I've come from the Pixel line also and at first was very disappointed with quality of the camera, but then I started learning it's strengths/weakness with my favourite model (my cat!) And found that if you drop the exposure slider around a half of the way, pictures bring out so much more detail! 

The below photos were taken on the X10 zoom and the X3 zoom, no edits

 

 

[JulianeM]

Stunning photos of your cat, but in my case it didn't helped, it's definitely a hardware problem

[SimonTemplar14]

my main problem with camera is in lowlight. the noise aggression is just insane on the exynos version. makes some night time shots come out a smudgy oil painting mess especially off centre. the snapdragon version doesn't seem to have this same level of noise suppression so produces much sharper details and fine textures in low light. it's a great device with a cracking design and display. daylight and indoor shots beat my old s10+ which it's meant to replace but once I test it outside at night, it's like there's a 6th hidden camera that pops up and takes the most horrendous images not befitting a flagship device. certainly not one with a near £1200.00 price tag.
got the phone on Monday. There was a update avaible on the day so if it was even worse before that then you just have to wonder what's going on at Samsung. To my mind, it just beggars belief that they can release their vanguard device which costs so much with picture quality so horrible. really makes me want to return the devices and just keep my s10+ . Samsung need to do something about the insane noise reduction ASAP. its totally unacceptable!

[Simmo71]

 

 

 

I'm glad you said that, I went out to take some photos last night as it was the first dry one we've had all week and my pictures are very soft/blurred at the sides too.

I was so excited for this camera, seeing photos of others looking such good quality, but I'm increasingly disappointed by it indoors and night time now. I took lots of photos but binned most of them, even these I've posted have been cropped a bit to take out the blur 😞

I only upgraded for the camera from the S20+, really considering sending it back now though, only got my trade-in pack yesterday so I still have the S20+ if I decide to. 

My main concern is, can these issues be fixed with software updates or not? 

[SimonTemplar14]

I've actually just emailed Samsung customer services to begin the returns process. it could be improved with software updates but I'm not prepared to take the chance. the night time shots are just garbage for a 2021 flagship that costs this much.
one thing those of us in Europe need to stop doing is watching reviews done by US reviewers. they get the snapdragon which has a much better ISP than what's on the exynos chip. Same hardware but the snapdragon has a much better brain to make decisions before and after the shot is taken.
the night photo quality of the exynos is totally unacceptable for me. I'll be keeping my s10+ for now.

[Ifoundasound]

I agree with this. Even though I've been able to get some great shots so far the noise reduction is insane! 

Compared to my Pixel 5 which picks up every little detail in an image and costs half the price, Samsung needs to calm down with it when charging this amount 

[Simmo71]

I'm more annoyed because I seen a comment on an official Samsung post on Facebook for the unveiling, a UK person asked the question if we would get the Snapdragon chip and the official reply was yes! I wish I could find the post now but damned if I can. I'm going to give it a couple more days to see if I can get better pictures now the weather is improving and I can get outside a bit for walks, see if the latest update arrives with any improvement, if not it's going back before I send my S20+ Trade In back. I hope you have a good returns experience, so disappointing isn't it.

[SimonTemplar14]

have they released another update? got mine on Monday and there was an update which also mentioned improving camera performance. not sure if there's another update after that. I'm sure it will get better with time. they cannot possibly leave it this bad forever but the improvements would need to be drastic to get it to what I would find acceptable. not sure that's going to happen. the ISP on the exynos is just inferior to that on the snapdragon. it's unlikely to ever match the snapdragon version's performance with updates.