Recently the Galaxy S23 Ultra got a new feature in the Expert RAW for the camera.
It has an ND filter setting.
ND is short for Neutral Density.
As far as I know, it's only available for the S23 Ultra
In its simplest terms, it's a filter to put on a camera lens to reduce the amount of light into the camera.
Bit like putting sunglasses on in a way.
The one I have for my camera is a variable ND Filter I can adjust by turn the adjustment ring.
But you can get separate filters with different gradients of tint.
The software feature on the S23 Ultra gives a similar effect on the camera.
One way to use the ND setting, is for long exposure photos.
As an example, I used this waterfall as my subject.
First image is just in auto and JPEG
Plenty of detail, but to get that flowing water effect, a longer shutter speed is needed.
So the next image is in Expert RAW and with the ND filter setting off
ISO 50 and 0.5 second shutter speed.
As you can see it's a blown out mess.
Basically the slower shutter speed is letting in too much light.
Now the same settings but with the ND filter setting on and set to 4 Stops.
As you can clearly see. It makes a big difference to the photo and you get the image and the silky water effect.
The water is still over exposed, but I'm just exaggerating the photos to show the difference more.
You can go for as, long a shutter speed as the phone can do and set the ND as high as you want.
But you will need a tripod, as the longer the shutter speed, the more still and stable it will need to be.
I did these hand held and didn't sadly have my tripod with me to get a better result. But I'm super happy to have this feature now.
Its going to be a handy feature to have.
