While the Samsung Galaxy S20 and S20 Ultra boast an incredible camera system, it seems early adopters of the device are suffering from underwhelming features. According to Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra reviews, the camera system is leaving much to be desired and the 100x zoom is just a terrible experience with even worse results.
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Early review units have been sent out to publications in the US and so far they are not happy with the overall experience. PC Mag and Input both report that the autofocus system is unreliable and often takes too long to lock onto a subject and focus on it. Sometimes it fails to lock on completely.
One major flaw in the device is its so-called “100x” zoom which tech journalists have now discovered is actually just a glorified digital zoom. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 100x zoom also fails to focus on any object when making use of the feature and according to hand-on reports, the image quality is blurry, it shakes too much and the overall result is less than impressive.
Input reports in their review that the camera system is great up until you go past the 30x zoom then it is unusable, image quality is extremely bad and you can just take a normal photo and pinch-zoom into it to get the same result.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”Input” link=”https://www.inputmag.com/reviews/samsung-galaxy-s20-ultra-review-camera-comparison-flawed-autofocus” color=”#9FDF2D” class=”” size=”21″]Impressive as all the zoom is, shooting with the 100x zoom is a terrible experience. Not only is the camera ridiculously shaky at the highest zoom, but the image it takes is so blurry, I have to wonder why even bother including this much zoom? For bragging rights? Just because you can include something doesn’t mean you should.[/perfectpullquote]
Above – Statue of Liberty at 100x zoom (Input)
PC Mag explains how the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra camera system is really just a 10x camera with a digital zoom
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”PC Mag” link=”https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/samsung-galaxy-s20-ultra” color=”#DF2D2D” class=”” size=”21″]On the back of the phone there are four cameras. There’s a 12MP 0.5x camera, a 108MP 1x camera (which defaults to 12MP using nine-pixel binning), a “48MP” 4x camera (which creates 12MP images using quad-pixel binning), and an infrared time-of-flight sensor. Between 4x and 10x, the phone combines the 4x camera with a cropped shot from the 108-megapixel 1x camera to create a supposedly lossless, zoomed 12-megapixel image. Any level above that involves heavy digital zoom; the phone suggests that you go to 30x and then to 100x.[/perfectpullquote]
We have not received a phone to review from Samsung and I don’t think we ever will so we can’t share our experience. However, if you plan on buying the device to make use of the 100x zoom then maybe hang on and see what consumers say when the phones are released early next month.
