S24 Ultra camera is INCREDIBLY bad.

[JJJ91]

First off, let me preface this by saying that I am NOT an apple fanboy or something. I have never had an iPhone. My very first first smartphone was the Samsung S4 in 2013 and I have had a few more Samsung phones prior to purchasing the S24U. I have had the S24U since February so I've tried all of the tricks to try to fix this camera already. It is NOT user error. Stop gaslighting people. It is a software/hardware issue.

Taking a photo in dim light completely strips the photo of detail and is so noisy it's almost laughable. Trying to take a picture of a moving subject like a kid running around or a pet, 9/10 times it will come out blurry. The 50MP and 200MP cameras have so much post-processing, it looks terrible and renders the camera almost useless. I swear to god my 2016 Motorola phone that was $399 new took better photos. You can actually see in REAL TIME the photo go from a normal, accurate photo to a complete mess with inaccurate color, loss of detail, etc. My OnePlus 7 Pro that I "upgraded" from takes better photos...

The advice given from people who say "The camera isn't that bad" or "You just have to learn how to use it" is an absolute JOKE! 

1. "Just use 12MP only, bro"

Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of the camera having the 50MP/200MP sensors? That was one of the selling points of the camera. The 12MP has garbage detail too. This is not a "fix", this is just admitting that 50MP/200MP are broken and useless.

An even more frustrating piece of "advice";

2. "Just use Expert Raw and Pro Mode!"

So now I have to install a separate app? I have to manually change the camera settings like a DSLR from 2008?! This is a CELL PHONE CAMERA. Every cell phone camera is designed to be a point and shoot camera. If I want to take a picture of my toddler running around, I should be able to open the camera and click the capture button without it being a blurry mess. Even LOW BUDGET PHONES are able to accomplish this. Who is messing around with aperture, focus, and shutter speed on a cell phone camera outside of niche photography circles? It's insulting to even suggest this as a "fix".

Ridiculous advice and just a deflection from the fact that Samsung has given us a camera that is arguably worse than many $300 phones. Comparing this camera to my wife's iPhone 15 Pro Max... it's night and day which camera is better and produces CONSISTENTLY better photos. A friend has the new Pixel... WOW, that's a fantastic camera.

I really regret buying this S24U. I have been hoping that a software update would fix the camera, but I really believe it's impossible. Seems like a mix of software/hardware limitations that probably aren't easily fixed remotely. That's the real reason there hasn't been an update yet.

[bladenuke]

I totalt agree, and I hate that samsung dont fix anything.

[anush1]

Agree with all thoughts, I am a quality assurance engineer/software tester and I am upset how Samsung  masterfully ignoring all complaints and displeasures of his loyal users ,who were buying Samsung phones  more then 20  years and  by now , I can't belive they don't care , but as a specialist I can say that we always give priority to issues that are coming from support and real users , and fixing them ASAP no matter how high is the issue's priority in fact.. so how can they allow so many bad feedbacks from users who pay 1000$ for every phone and don't resolve the problems by this time... Hey Samsung are you even reading what's going on on your community platforms,or you just care for  marketing and sales for the phones that haven't yet sold ?😡

[Stevan011]

Well, they lost me as a customer. And I know at least 6-7 people, die hard Samsung fans, who were fed up and did the same mostly because of “we’ll fix it with updates” lies. Except for fake internet and youtube awards, paid hype, “phone of the year” and whatnot, at least from where I’m from, you can’t see many people around using Samsung. Way, way less then just 3-4 years ago. If they continue like this (and what they are doing right now with One UI 7 is pure joke), they will end up like Nokia or Sony at the best.  

[tashev2078]

These are exactly the kind of photos my S25U is taking. Disgusting.

[tashev2078]

I'm on the bridge to follow you on this path.

[tashev2078]

Guys, I just found something outrageous - the camera takes MUCH better photos with MUCH LESS noise if you shoot in Night mode during the day! Tested on S25U. It is outrageous because it demonstrates that Samsung didn't pay attention to the MAIN shooting mode - photos, no adjustments, 1x zoom. 

I am attaching examples. Look close at the shadows around the air conditioner... 

 

 standard shooting mode

 night mode

 wtf is going on?

[Stevan011]

Trust me, you won’t/wouldn’t regret it. No browsing through forums, experimenting with settings, watching turorials, waiting for updates, third party apps… simple take the phone out of your pocket, point and shoot. And you get great result. Probably the best thing is that cameras are reliable. Night, day, indoor, outdoor, scenery, moving subjects… not always 10/10 but constant 7/10, no results that you delete straight away, no trying 10 times to get usable pic/video.  In hardest conditions it pulls decent one. Experience with S23U made me not even try to take the phone and get pic/video in most situations, I already knew results will be frustrating  

The whole things with cameras translates to rest of the phone  

 

 

 

 PS the same subject, distance, the same (head) movement and lighting conditions (even harder on last two as light is pointing into the cam/it’s behind the dog), plus it’s portait mode on 14 Pro Max. Regular pic would probably be even sharper, but these, to me, already look like they were taken on phones that are 10 years apart  

 

 10x zoom on both. S23U (first picture) made it look like it was dark, but it was semi cloudy day. No movement. Iphone, not known for good zoom, even with movement (second pic) pulled out much better pic. Not by any means perfect, but side by side, it’s clear which is better. At least to me. 

[tashev2078]

I know. I'm sure I'd be much happier with the iPhone's camera. There is no questions about that. I didn't go for the iPhone because of Android and how much I'm used to it. The best phone is an Android with iPhone's camera.

[Stevan011]

Yeah, that were my thoughts exactly. “Iphone is limited”, “I’m using Android my whole life I could not get used to it”… So much that I borrowed Iphone from friend for vacations, holidays, celebrations (because of cameras) while I refused to buy it. Trust me, took me a day to get used to it. Besides split screen, there is nothing I missed. Notifications are never late, battery is superb, not to talk about speakers and mics, apps work and look better, no connection issues, no bloatware and double apps, software support is the best out there…. With Samsung, I had to restart it and reset it at least twice a month. I year and a half, I had to restart (turn on/off) Iphone ONLY once. Because viber would not open. Other than that- zero issues. Whole customisation and thousands of features things, when I switched -made me realize that my customisation ends up with moving icons and changing background and when it comes to Samsungs features - I really didn’t use most of them. On the other hand, Face ID, iMessage, Facetime, Passwords, iCloud and other Iphone related things, really can’t be matched. It looks I prefer simplicity and reliability…

[tashev2078]

Thank you for your opinion. One last question: if you have already switched to iPhone what are you still doing in the Samsung's community forum?