Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra long-term review

Camera: daytime samples

The S21 Ultra's rear camera system is one of the most versatile on the market right now, if not the most. You get four shooters, and maximum framing flexibility. Not just that, but all of the basics are covered really well - the main camera and both zoom lenses are optically stabilized (as they should be), while the ultrawide has autofocus which means you can also use it for close-up shots, and this is a proper 12 MP sensor you have at your disposal. Needless to say, it's much more practical and delivers much better results than the 2 MP or 5 MP "macro cameras" out there.

Still, at this price point none of this is out of the ordinary. The main sensor is the new Samsung ISOCELL HM3, keeping the 108 MP resolution of its predecessor and the Nona-pixel Bayer filter pattern which enables 9-to-1 pixel binning for 12 MP effective resolution.

During the daytime, it produces excellent, if rather over-sharpened shots. It goes all in with "that Samsung look", that's for sure, but it's undoubtedly an effect that's pleasing to the eye and it seems like most people who aren't photography geeks enjoy it very much. We won't lie, we kind of dig it too - but do always keep in mind that what you get from the camera is not exactly an accurate representation of the scene.

White balance is surprisingly good, and while the colors are more saturated than in real life, the difference generally isn't big enough to take us into 'cartoonish' territory. Otherwise, dynamic range is outstanding, and there's barely any noise anywhere. Detail levels are very high too. Overall, if you like the look, you'll be very happy with this camera during the day.

Daytime samples from the main sensor

As usual for long-term reviews, we chose to stick with the Auto settings, and that means we didn't use the 108 MP mode, which gives you the full resolution of the sensor at the expense of much less detail and added noise. These pixel binning cameras aren't supposed to be used this way, and we're betting most people won't ever change from the default mode.

The ultrawide photos are good, but definitely not the best we've seen from ultrawides lately (Huawei and Oppo have better ones). The over-processing contrasty theme continues of course, but because of the lower quality sensor compared to the main one, here this sometimes results in loss of fine detail, in what we assume is a bid to obliterate noise. Colors are accurate, if over-saturated, and dynamic range is good, if not as good as on the main cam. Automatic distortion correction works well, but it's middle of the road - we've seen better, we've seen worse.

Daytime samples from the ultrawide

Although both telephoto sensors are 10 MP, the results you actually get are upscaled to 12 MP - we assume in order to have the same resulting resolution on all four cameras. The slight issue here is that the upscaling algorithm adds even more sharpening, and sometimes it gets a bit much even for our taste. The 3x zoom photos during the day come out with decent detail levels, accurate (if very saturated) colors, low noise, and great dynamic range.

Daytime 3x zoom samples

The 10x zoom shots are really similar, but there's an extra 'wow' effect you get when you view them after capture - because of how far you are from the thing they're showing. This is probably the best 10x zoom periscope camera we've ever seen, and yet of course it's not perfect. But it enables a lot of creepy shots, which we assume some people might be into.

Daytime 10x zoom samples

Peeking inside windows from afar? Very doable. Is there any other use case for 10x zoom pictures of this quality? Probably, but hard to find, especially in a crowded city. Anyway, the pictures have decent detail levels generally, with accurate (yes, over-saturated) colors, good contrast, and great dynamic range. If you pixel peep you will quickly notice issues, but for a 10x camera on a phone that probably counts as nitpicking.