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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  • Anonymous
  • 8pc
  • 30 Jan 2021

Sibambam, 30 Jan 2021The pattern will ALWAYS similar. It's the moon afteral... moreTake this free fact: The moon rotates around itself too, taking about 27 days to perform a full rotation! So clearly not faked.

    Course not. They're no Huawei.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • pN4
      • 30 Jan 2021

      Shady69, 30 Jan 2021at least we can all agree that the moon landing was fake.Why would they launch a rocket that cost hundreds of billions of dollars, multiple times, just to look cool? That's not how it works...

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        • Sibambam
        • xhm
        • 30 Jan 2021

        The pattern will ALWAYS similar. It's the moon afterall. Only one side of the Moon is visible from Earth

          at least we can all agree that the moon landing was fake.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • pN4
            • 30 Jan 2021

            Zalias, 30 Jan 2021Here's the image I took with my Lumix G9 (micro 4/3) a... moreIt seems like the sony one here was out of focus or smeared with vaseline xD. There is something fishy going on. I am not a camera nerd but I know that there is alot more room for hardware in a mirrorless camera than a smartphone.

            I wouldn't call smartphone photography a photography anymore. It looks like an artificially rendered image with help of satellite photos or AI in general.

            Nice photo btw. I like it.

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              • angryllama
              • Ld{
              • 30 Jan 2021

              My guess is that some photographers are so enamoured with the cost of their gear they don't even know how to choose the right tools any more. Raymond Wong presumably used a 4,800$ gear setup to take a shot which is more blurry than the one I took last year from the top of my house. You can see it at https://imgur.com/I4g358d.

              Also, my photo was taken with a second hand DMC-FZ1000 (cost slightly below 400$, shop price about 600-700$ at the time I bought it), hand held at the maximum zoom level with manual settings to control exposure and sharpness.

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                • AnonD-558092
                • IBQ
                • 30 Jan 2021

                I did a much better picture a while ago with my A6300 with my 350mm, miles above both images given in the article. It was very sharp. That A7R picture is so bad, I have a hard time believing it came from one.

                Besides, here's another myth debunked: Samsung has 100x zoom. No. It has a huge lossy crop function.

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                  • Dash
                  • 6PT
                  • 30 Jan 2021

                  Yuri84, 30 Jan 2021"The moon picture coming from that phone is REAL"... moreWell for that defination shoot the picture in raw.

                    YUKI93, 30 Jan 2021Oh wow, that is dead impressive even for an M43 camera. Did... moreI was very eager to see how the camera could handle in auto so I didn't make any manual adjustments. I could probably take an even better one if I tried though.

                      Zalias, 30 Jan 2021Here's the image I took with my Lumix G9 (micro 4/3) a... moreOh wow, that is dead impressive even for an M43 camera. Did you do any manual setting or just leave it in Auto mode?

                        YUKI93, 30 Jan 2021I so agree with you. It is illogical to see a FF Sony Mirro... moreHere's the image I took with my Lumix G9 (micro 4/3) and a Leica 100-400. This is a single shot un-edited photo. All I did was crop it.

                        https://imgur.com/nYAThDl

                          VectorR, 30 Jan 2021Suspect you're a proud owner of expensive DSLR or Mirr... more"The moon picture coming from that phone is REAL"
                          That depends on the definition of "REAL". For me "real" in photography is actual, realistic, natural representation of light coming from a certain object. That is not what happens in S21 Ultra with scene detection enabled. The source article explains that at the end. It shows a "REAL" image of what that camera actually captures - a white blob. I suspect one can get a much better image if they take a picture in manual mode using a tripod. The picture we're discussing is an image made using special scene optimization mode that uses AI to enhance the photo if it detects the scene. But that is no longer a real photograph, but computer-assisted render.

                          That is just a conflict of definition.

                          PS: I don't have any expensive photo gear, and found out about this "conspiracy" from this very article this very day. It was a fun read!

                            I am much more interested in 2022 Samsung flagship camera specs, than this years.

                              YUKI93, 30 Jan 2021I so agree with you. It is illogical to see a FF Sony Mirro... moreExactly, the fact that the image is so bad makes me really suspect of the whole article.

                                Zalias, 30 Jan 2021I don't understand what's going on here. Why is t... moreI so agree with you. It is illogical to see a FF Sony Mirrorless camera to produce such "terrible" photo. I can only assume that the guy was paid to do this.

                                  Read the input mag article to find answers to your questions and doubts, Raymond Wong did a fantastic job

                                    Viper, 30 Jan 2021https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4230395 the one ... moreAhhh, now this is interesting. Thanks for the link.

                                      Anonymous, 30 Jan 2021Thanks. I tried Autostakkert but it gave errors that my fra... moreIf you watch the first video link, he uses a program call "PIPP" to change the photo size and type.

                                        What some people dont understand is why this is remarkable. It is not because it beat a mirrorless camera but because the technology on these phones are already so good that normal users can now leave their big, heavy camera setup behind and rely on their phones to do the job.

                                        I remember a hundred years ago when i had to carry slightly larger carryon bag when travelling just to put my camera, my laptop, my phone and the extra batteries, then when you go to tourist spots put that heavy camera around your neck. Now you can just take your phone and do it all. Thats the convenience that i appreciate. The quality of the picture may not be dslr professional level but it has come a really long way