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

[SimonTemplar14]

the zgcam shot looks better to my eyes especially around the head and face. Once the sun starts to go down, from early evening onwards the s21u performance starts to dip and by the time you get to night time you're left with total garbage. not worthy of a flagship even 2yrs ago never 2021.

[Simmo71]

I thought that ZGCAM looked better too. I'll take comparison shots outside home later when it's completely dark

[Simmo71]

 

Not fully dark when I took these earlier but still, Samsung way brighter. Both ZGCAM and Samsung need work on their camera software for this phone 

[SimonTemplar14]

did the Samsung trigger night mode? I always keep scene optimiser off at night because it keeps triggering night mode.
another thing to note aside from the very aggressive noise suppression which causes a lot of issues is the excessive compression that happens. one thing all the poor low light and night shots I've taken have in common is small file sizes. the worst picture I've taken which was just a smudged out mess was only 1.67mb. the one that pleased me the most almost 5mb. all shots under 3mb are bad those above 3.5mb tend to look better. they will improve stuff like that with updates as they optimize the software to overrule some of the daft judgements the exynos ISP makes. however the ISP is the ISP. it's just not as clever as the one on the snapdragon. I just Don expect Samsung to make that up with software updates. they'll improve it but it'll always be inferior to the 888 version.

[Simmo71]

I selected night mode, that image was 1.23mb, all of those I took yesterday were under 1mb. I'll try to suss out how to get longer exposures, they only seem to be 5 secs max

[Darbis]

Yes, night mode was trigerred auto.

 

 

 

[Ev3rM0r3]

I stopped into a verizon this weekend and this is the first thing I did with the phone, I snapped a picture with half resolution and then full resolution.  Zoom into the picture and it looked out of focus, dithered and ISO'd to hell and back.  Tried several times, both close and far away in the mall area.  The S21 which i was hoping would be the replacement for the similar problem I have with my v60 just won't happen.  It's definitely the camera.  And anyone who say's it isn't just hasn't seen a better camera to know the difference.  Hell even my v30 was better then the s21 and that was only a 16MP.

[Ifoundasound]

Not the best example due to lockdown but here's a hanging pot on my balcony. The first is auto and the second Nightsight. The pit was also swinging slightly due to wind and feel the camera performed well for this! 

 

[Darbis]

Now I dont know if the above are good or bad

[SimonTemplar14]

the snow helps to brighten the scene so those shots are on the respectable side. not a lot of smudging going on in those. would be a different result though if there wasn't snow on the ground.