Photo taking tips/advice

[Tmel14]

Great to see some more positive feedback on the camera since the updates!

What resolution/mode are people finding best for general point and shoot? Auto or 3:4 (if so, with or without 108MP)?

Also, hoping for a bit of advice on the best ratio and mode to use in the following scenarios:

- Under artificial light indoors

- In low light

- Capturing movement without it being one big blurry mess (I tried taking a few of my dogs whilst they were running in the park and couldn't get any focus or features at all)

 

[jtcannonball]

Burst mode is often suggested. I’m sure some of the pros on here can chime in.

 

[Mooncatt]

Great to see some more positive feedback on the camera since the updates!

What resolution/mode are people finding best for general point and shoot? Auto or 3:4 (if so, with or without 108MP)?

Also, hoping for a bit of advice on the best ratio and mode to use in the following scenarios:

- Under artificial light indoors

- In low light

- Capturing movement without it being one big blurry mess (I tried taking a few of my dogs whilst they were running in the park and couldn't get any focus or features at all)

I don't use Samsung, so can't speak to any of their auto modes and other algorithmic tricks (I prefer manual mode regardless). In general, I would stick with the pixel binned 12MP resolution at 4:3 on the main sensor.

More pixels doesn't always mean better quality, and can hurt quality with such extreme counts. On my LG V60, the binned 16MP images are great, but the 64MP non-binned images are a noisy mess. Binned images effectively give each pixel 9x the amount of light gathering area (your camera uses a 3x3 arrangement), which translates to better low light performance and less noise. The native resolution is a 4:3 ratio, so I would stick with it. If you choose anything else, the software is automatically cropping the native resolution to match. I would rather capture everything the sensor can, then crop if necessary during editing. This gives you more flexibility both in actually capturing fast action in the first place, and then how to adjust composition with cropping.

I would stick to those options across the board, in all situations. There may be times you'll want to stray from that, such as needing the wide angle in a tight location or the 108MP option for capturing Bigfoot at a distance, but those will be the exception and not the rule for most people. If you actually need to switch it up, by all means do so. It's just been my experience that the secondary cameras tend to have worse optics that translates into low quality images, or the manufacturer is only prolonging the spec war that has little to do with reality.

For capturing your dogs, that would need great lighting to start with. If the sun is obscured or low in the sky, you'll have to start ramping up the ISO to maintain a workable shutter speed. Auto mode may not adjust this properly (remember, it was programmed by some random person you've never met, much less one that knows what you are trying to accomplish), and you would either need to use something like a sports mode or use manual mode. The problem is on such small sensors, ISO noise becomes problematic quickly. That means in less than ideal lighting, ramping the ISO up can easily cause you to lose the fine details like fur textures. Unfortunately this is needed to freeze the action while still being properly exposed.

Something else you could try is setting ISO a little lower but keeping the desired exposure time, which purposely creates a slightly dark image. Then edit that with a decent program to increase the exposure levels. It may not be the best option, but can work in a pinch if you already have a high ISO but it's still not bright enough.

 

[bill-e]

Take lots of shots, trade off noise for sharpness (faster shutter speed), Always focus on the eyes, I agree with the above comment on pixel binning, and did I mention lots of shots?

 

[Tmel14]

Thank you both for the advice. Having had an opportunity to play around with the camera more, my main difficulty (particularly compared to my partner's iPhone) is capturing the dogs while they're moving. I have experimented with burst shots and also motion photos to allow me to try and pick the best shot afterwards but it's really not ideal having to sift through a load of shots to try and find the most usable one.

I find that if I just point and shoot, the photo will often just be a blur with no distinguishable features - whereas the iPhone seems to capture the dogs in motion pretty well. By motion I don't just mean in full flight either, at times my dog will be lying/sitting and just one head movement seems to completely nerf the photo.

Any tips as to modes/settings or how I can better capture these shots on the phone?

 

[bill-e]

What I do when I shoot my grandkid sports on my DSLR is go into manual mode (Pro mode on the 21 Ultra) and set the shutter speed for the appropriate speed for the sport being shot and then open the aperture as wide as I can to get the most light and let auto-iso adjust for the exposure. Like I said above it's better to have a sharp photo that is noisy than a blurry one that is not.

And simply put, there is no phone on the market today that can compare to a DLSR with good glass.

Now here's an example of manual Pro Mode and auto Photo mode on the S21
I have a picture of my truck as a wallpaper on one of my monitors.

I set the Pro Mode for 1/500s, f1.8, iso 800. I wish there was an auto iso mode. and I just snapped a picture with the Photo mode which set itself to 1/40s, f1.8 and iso 400. Using my swivel chair I swept the camera though the about 100° to simulate motion and snapped the shot when I saw the truck.

Pro mode first



And now Photo



Pretty dramatic difference. While a DSLR might be better in the auto mode I think this should be impetus to learn the use of PRO mode and learn a little about exposure. there is a great book on exposure that is inexpensive on Amazon, Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson which is a good book and there's a newer edition as well.

 

[L0n3N1nja]

I've concluded the 108mp mode is useless on the Note 20 Ultra. In most lighting conditions the images are noisy and contain less detail than the 12mp photos created from Pixel binning and even in bright outdoor sun light there is little increase in detail from the pixel increase. My assumption is the lenses/glass in front of the camera isn't high enough quality to resolve the level of detail 108mp should provide.

The standard 4:3 aspect at 12mp is what you should use most of the time if not all of the time.

 

[Mooncatt]

My assumption is the lenses/glass in front of the camera isn't high enough quality to resolve the level of detail 108mp should provide.

Not even pro level DSLR lenses on a full frame camera can resolve 108MP, and that's a massively larger sensor compared to phones. So you would be correct there. Smaller pixels also inherently generate more noise (which is averaged out with pixel binning), which explains that problem.