Samsung Galaxy S20 review

Video capture quality

The Samsung Galaxy S20 is a pretty capable video capture device. Something understandably aggressively advertised by the Korean giant. Especially the 8K recording part.

Before we go into deeper detail about the S20's 8K video recording, we should go over some of the capabilities and reiterate a few specifics of the S20 video capture in the lower resolutions.

The S20 offers a surprisingly versatile selection of recording options. First off, you can choose between two zoom levels in the UI, just like on the S20 Ultra.

Beyond the choice of which camera to use, you also get a fairly versatile set of recording resolutions. Besides the rather odd, 1:1 (1440 x 1440 pixels) and Full (2400 x 1080 pixels), there are also 720p@30fps, 1080p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 2160p@30fps, 2160p@60fps and of, course - 8K, 4320p@24 fps. The latter merits some dedicated attention of its own.

By default, the S20 captures videos in AVC format, alongside a two-channel, AAC, 48 kHz audio stream. Pretty standard stuff. You can also opt to use the more efficient HEVC codec and save some space. The difference in quality between the two isn't really noticeable without pixel-peeping, so doing so does make sense. Still, as per our usual practices, we opted to stick with the default MP4 container and AVC, plus AAC setup, to ensure the best possible results.

Dropping the resolution down to 1080p still left us with perfectly usable footage. Flagship-grade, if you prefer that designation. We also experimented with the two 60fps modes available. Those don't really result in a doubling of the capture bit rate, though. Instead at 1080p, it goes from around 14Mbps to 21Mbps. 4K has it a bit better, with 30fps at around 38Mbps and 60fps at 69Mbps. Hence, you are still, technically, losing a bit of quality opting for the higher frame rate. But, it is hardly noticeable in practice and there is no other substitute for the effect. If that is what you are after.

The ultrawide can also switch between 1080p and 4K. It has no option for 60fps capture, which is traditionally the norm with ultrawide snappers. It seems these simply can't be read from at such a high rate. The level of consistency in colors and general processing across the regular camera and the ultrawide is pretty impressive. The latter does appear to have a slightly narrower dynamic range and shows signs of corner softness. Even, so, the clips it produces are impressive.

Zoom video capture quality

Zoom video capture is definitely something you can do on the Galaxy S20. In fact, the zoom can go up to the impressive 12x. You also get the familiar set of presets, including 2x, 4x, 10x and 12x. Just like in photo mode, there is a "hidden" 3x preset as well, accessed by simply pressing the tree icon in the camera app. We really do wish Samsung organized these in a more coherent manner.

Then again, just like with stills, all of these video zoom levels are simply handled by the 64MP, technically telephoto snapper, via cropping and while making good use of both its OIS and some additional EIS stabilization. Especially at higher zoom levels.

Just like the ultrawide, the 64MP camera can't really do 60fps capture. So, you are limited to 30fps, with the other options conveniently grayed-out in settings when you toggle a zoom mode. Another, less logical limitation, is that there is no apparent, easy way we managed to find to shoot "un-zoomed" 4K video via the 64MP camera as you can do with stills. The best you can do is to use just the tiniest bit of pinch zoom until you see the viewfinder flip from the 12MP camera to the 64MP one. Doing this, you still get a crop from the 64MP, so it's not exactly what we are after.

Super steady video capture quality

Samsung has already chewed through a few iterations of its Super steady video technology and the improvements definitely show. What you end up is footage which is surprisingly visually-similar to what you'd get with a gimbal stabilizer, complete with plenty of "floaty" movement and the occasional controlled shift in framing.

The nice thing is you don't have to record only with the default ultra-wide camera. There is a toggle to switch to the main camera too, where you even get auto focus. It's inevitable that the field-of-view is slightly cropped as the SuperSteady mode relies on digital stabilization.

8K video capture quality

8K video recording across the Galaxy S20 family is definitely one of the spotlight features, as per Samsung PR. And PR plays an important role here as it's probably the sole reason for this particular push to 8K. Before you light your torches and head to the comment section, with discussion about the usefulness of 8K in general, though, we should clarify that this is not what we are referring to here.

The 8K videos captured by the Galaxy S20 looks pretty great. In terms of overall quality and processing, there is no immediately apparent compromise to point out, compared to 4K capture. The dynamic range looks comparable, even if not exactly identical, which does make sense, considering that 8K footage comes from the 64MP camera, not the primary 12MP one.

Screen grab left: 4K • right: 8K (downsized to 4K)

There even seems to be a more fine detail in the 8K footage. However, that difference isn't really earth-shattering. The more cinematic look, which comes about as an unintentional consequence of the 24fps cap of the 8K clips, does make for a slightly different look of pans and moving objects. So there is that.

But is 8K four times better than 4K as the difference in resolution suggests? Why isn't it at least twice as good? Well, there really is no simple answer to that, unfortunately. Looking at the metadata in an S20 8K clip, a few things stand out. The resolution of 7680 x 4320 pixel is definitely there - it sounds amazing that a single frame has a resolution of 33MP.

Looking over at the actual bitrate of the video, we find it hovering just shy of the 80Mbps mark. Inspecting a 4K@30fps clip from the S20, also captured in HEVC gives us a bitrate of 22Mbps. So, quick napkin math - 8K is four times the number of pixels of 4K, plus accounting for the 6 frames per second, or so, less in the 8K feed, the bitrate multiplication numbers, actually, kind of check out. That being said, while there is no official goal or yardstick to aim for when it comes to video bitrates, 80Mbps still sounds a bit low for 8K. An estimate, courtesy of the folks at the 2019 8K Video Summit puts desirable bitrates at a minimum of 84Mbps and a recommendation of 120Mbps.

At the end of the day, however, none of these numbers strike as particularly outrageously bad or insufficient. The simple fact is that without a proper, functioning 8K screen, we can't really say whether we are pushing against some limit of diminishing returns or not. Even the S20 family, with its PR focus on 8K doesn't have native 8K displays to playback these 8K videos. Samsung's current idea of how to make use of your 8K footage involves, ideally in their mind, shelling out for a Samsung 8K TV and then consuming the content locally.

To be fair, progress is progress and every step along the way is important. Plus, strides are already being made all around the place. For example, we had practically no issue uploading the S20 8K samples you YouTube and having these streamable to you.

But from a subjective point of view - 8K videos don't look any different than 4K videos when played back on the phone's screen. They don't look any different when watched on a 1080p computer monitor either. The only difference comes through when you zoom in the video player but who does that? Not to mention that our computer coughed its lungs trying to playback the huge video file. So yes, we're all in for progress and technical innovation but if you ask us, 8K videos are still a gimmick.

Samsung Galaxy S20 low-light video capture quality

Since we already went all-out for the camera section of the S20, we definitely couldn't skip on some low-light video samples.

The Galaxy S20 definitely keeps its cool and produces pleasant results. There is no extra "magic" going on behind the scenes either to account for the lack of light. 4K video still leverages the main 12MP camera, while 8K switches to the 64MP one, for its extra resolution.

There are some notable differences between the clips produces from the two. The 8K footage seems to be a bit noisier and struggles slightly more with dynamic range, especially when both very bright light sources, like headlights, and very dark spots are present in the frame. The 64MP camera also seems to blow-out light sources a bit more. All of these are merely observations and minor nitpicks on what is otherwise impressive footage, through and through.

Technically, you can capture zoomed video at night as well, but you probably won't like the results.

Here is the S20 in our extensive video compare database as well.

4K: Samsung Galaxy S20 vs Samsung Galaxy Note10 and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra in our Video compare tool

We made sure to include 8K frame grabs in there as well. Though, it should be noted that not many other devices have been able to contribute to the still select group of 8K video recording. So, there isn't really much to compare at the moment.

8K: Samsung Galaxy S20 Telephoto vs ZTE nubia Red magic 3 and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra in our Video compare tool

10MP selfie camera quality

Circling back to photos, for a bit, we do need to say a few words about the 10MP selfie camera on the S20. As reported by our unit, it uses the Samsung S5K3J1 sensor. The same one, apparently, found in the Galaxy S10e. Though, not really identical in other aspects. The S20 has it placed behind a darker f/2.2 lens. Oddly enough, despite an identical pixel size of 1.22µm, in the S20 it is marketed as having a slightly different overall size of 1/3.2". Probably a rounding issue. But we digress.

Samsung Galaxy S20 selfie samples

Quality-wise, we have little to actually complain about. The dynamic range is quite impressive and colors and vibrant. Autofocus is great to have and works well, overall. Working in conjunction with some artificial bokeh algorithm, however, leads to the occasional inconsistency in the blur in the background.

Background blur comes and goes

We really don't get Samsung's ongoing insistence it offering a cropped field of view in selfies by default. You can always switch back to the "wider" option, but it feels like that is an extra click on most occasions, not one click less. And worst of all, the camera will not remember you last used setting so you'd have to toggle it over and over again.

Samsung Galaxy S20 selfie: default • wide • default • wide *default • wide

Naturally, or rather unnaturally so, there are plenty of beauty filters to apply to selfies as well. The same full array of slider, like on the main camera, in fact. Plus, a general skin tone slider, which we already mentioned in the camera settings section.

Beauty filter selfie samples

Live focus mode

Last and probably least, given the enormous expanse of features and options to delve in on the Galaxy S20, there is a portrait mode, or as Samsung calls it - Live focus. You can use it for both stills and videos and there is a large number of effects to choose from. Each with an adjustable intensity.

Life focus mode options

Shots generally come out looking good with the Live focus effect. Though, it should be noted that unlike its two siblings, the vanilla S20 lacks any dedicated depth-sensing camera hardware. Its absence does show from time to time, in this one very particular use case. The algorithm can mistake parts of the background. Some effects also look better than others.

Live focus samples

Still, if you are patient enough and take your time to ensure the algorithm got the subject separation right, you can get really nice shots.