Myth debunked: Samsung’s 100X zoom doesn’t fake moon photos

30 January 2021
It was believed that the moon photos produced by the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra are faked textures of the moon.

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  • D
  • Dave Granger
  • mnQ
  • 30 Jan 2021

That's a pretty lousy shot from the full-frame camera, I've taken pictures of the moon with my M43 camera that are 10x better.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • gBV
    • 30 Jan 2021

    Anonymous, 30 Jan 2021As my previous comment mentioned, the P30 Pro uses AI in or... moreI want to correct something. I wanted to say:
    "physically, if both lenses are sharp, it's impossible that the P30 Pro can capture as much moon detail as the S21 Ultra or that it captures more moon detail than a Canon M50 + Sigma 105mm at f/25. This proves that the P30 Pro invents or guesses detail."

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • gBV
      • 30 Jan 2021

      And yes, it is wrong that a Sony A7RIII would take such a moon photo with a high quality 600mm lens with the right settings. I have a Panasonic Zs60 as well as a Canon M50 + Sigma 105mm lens. The Zs60 at f/8 produces much sharper moon photos (edited raw file) than the S21 Ultra result, if the focus is right. The M50 + Sigma 105mm at f/8 produces sharper moon results than the S21 Ultra, too.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • gBV
        • 30 Jan 2021

        Anonymous, 30 Jan 2021I just noticed that my previous comment is not visible: ... moreThis was also from my previous comment, which isn't visible:

        And regarding Huawei it was obvious that machine learning was adding a lot of detail, when I compared published sample images with a camera like the M50 + Sigma 105mm. As far as I remember the P30 Pro moon sample images looked similarly detailed as the S21 Ultra, although it suffers even more from diffraction and had noticeably less sensor pixels per object. Anyway, the Huawei moon photos looked quite unrealistic or artificial.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • gBV
          • 30 Jan 2021

          Anonymous, 30 Jan 2021As my previous comment mentioned, the P30 Pro uses AI in or... moreI just noticed that my previous comment is not visible:

          The S21 Ultra photo in the article isn't really special at all. You get much, much better results with a sharp 600mm lens or with an edited Panasonic Zs60 raw file. Theoretically, due to diffraction, the result of the S21 Ultra should be nearly identical to the result of a Canon M50+ Sigma 105mm at f/17. I have tested that and indeed an upscaled Canon M50 + Sigma 105mm tripod raw / jpg file at f/16 produces a similar amount of details of the moon. Though the contours of the S21 Ultra moon look smoother and the S21 Ultra result looks a bit cleaner with maybe a tiny bit more detail in certain areas, but in other areas it had a tiny bit less detail. Physically it is not really possible to perform better than the Canon M50 + Sigma 105mm at f/16 due to diffraction, no matter which algorithm, unless you invent or guess details and that's exactly what machine learning is doing.
          As a whole an edited f/16 Sigma 105mm Canon M50 jpg file probably has produced a very slightly(!) better result than the S21 Ultra, so the S21 Ultra performed maybe even slightly worse than it could physically.(probably an edited raw file of the periscope camera would lead to slightly better results).

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • gBV
            • 30 Jan 2021

            ypcx, 30 Jan 2021so a 10x zoom on S21 Ultra takes same or worse Moon photos ... moreAs my previous comment mentioned, the P30 Pro uses AI in order to produce detail that it physically can not capture due to diffraction. I have tested that as I explained. That's why the P30 Pro moon images also look artificial. The P30 Pro suffers more from diffraction than the S21 Ultra regarding the moon, so physically, if both lenses are sharp, it's impossible that the P30 Pro can capture as much moon detail as the S21 Ultra or a Canon M50 + Sigma 105mm at f/25. This proves that the P30 Pro invents/guesses detail.

              • y
              • ypcx
              • 0Vg
              • 30 Jan 2021

              so a 10x zoom on S21 Ultra takes same or worse Moon photos than my 2 year old P30 Pro with 5x zoom? Plus the S21 Ultra has to use the 3x zoom all the way until 10x can be applied? I think I'll pass again on this one.

                • D
                • AnonD-940827
                • 8pQ
                • 30 Jan 2021

                But s10/20/21 series still suffer from ghost touches...

                  zodiacfml, 30 Jan 2021not worth it to engineer something like that to a camera an... moreAgreed. Volkswagen engineers should have thought like that.

                    Would still rather take an A7R3 over this phone.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • pN4
                      • 30 Jan 2021

                      Shadocx, 30 Jan 2021After watching all these: https://eskerahn.dk/wp-content/u... moreIt probably does, but because it also orbits us, and we also rotate, it basically stays mor or less fixed.

                        90th comment. Yay!

                          Anonymous, 30 Jan 2021XD bruh. We can only see one side, the one that is facing e... moreAfter watching all these:
                          https://eskerahn.dk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/P1030652_R2.jpg
                          https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4230395
                          I'm starting to believe that the Moon does rotate, but not like Earth, it's always the same face like you said but it's a little upside down, check clearly.
                          My guess would be since the Moon is in orbit around Earth it can only show one side and rotate in a different direction.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • pN4
                            • 30 Jan 2021

                            Anonymous, 30 Jan 2021Take this free fact: The moon rotates around itself too, ta... moreXD bruh. We can only see one side, the one that is facing earth. That's why the other side is called "the dark side of the moon". We can only see the side facing earth. It doesn't rotate from our point of view.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • IbG
                              • 30 Jan 2021

                              Imperator Neubaticus, 30 Jan 2021Course not. They're no Huawei.I don’t think Huawei does it either

                                Anonymous, 30 Jan 2021Take this free fact: The moon rotates around itself too, ta... moreI assume Samsung was clever enough to implement several pictures of the moon into its software. So depending on date, time and location (GPS, 3G/4G, WLAN... Data) you get the right fake image of the moon.

                                  Anonymous, 30 Jan 2021Maybe he works for Samsung's marketing department..Could be, or a large dog gave the lens a thorough lick...

                                  But on a more serious note, my guess would be one of those that thinks manually focussing the lens 'all the way out' is sharp at 'infinity', so if he had positioned the focusplane with a little thought, I bet he would have gotten better images....

                                  Googling for
                                  sony a7r 600mm moon
                                  shows quite a bit to pick from

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • Fht
                                    • 30 Jan 2021

                                    Sibambam, 30 Jan 2021The pattern will ALWAYS similar. It's the moon afteral... moreYou must be popular.

                                      • M
                                      • Matyasnazaretskyy
                                      • 3Tv
                                      • 30 Jan 2021

                                      Samsung is killin the camera game🔥🔥😎

                                        Great to have a toggle for AI details enhancements so you know if its being used..