All camera modes and more

Samsung Galaxy S series phones are equipped with some of the best camera systems that you can find in the market. While the Galaxy S22 Ultra takes the crown for having the best — and most versatile — camera system out of the three phones in the series this year, I think the vanilla Galaxy S22 cameras are also up there with the best in the business. Whether it’s for taking casual photos with the main camera or for some professional-looking photos with the “Pro” mode, I think the Galaxy S22 offers a lot of great features. However, not all of the camera features and shooting modes are completely obvious at first glance, especially if you’re using a flagship phone with an advanced camera system for the first time. So let’s take a quick look at some of the most important camera features and styles in the Samsung Galaxy S22 camera guide.

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Samsung Galaxy S22 camera system

The Samsung Galaxy S22 comes with three lenses on the back. All stacked in the corner as we saw on the Galaxy S21 last year. The Galaxy S22’s primary lens uses a 50MP sensor, which is a huge leap over the 12MP sensor from last year. The pixels are 12.5 megapixels, so keep that in mind. That same sensor is 1/1.56-inch larger than the Galaxy S21’s 1/1.76-inch.

In addition to the main shooter, you also get a 12MP ultrawide camera and a 10MP telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom. For selfies, we’re looking at the 10MP shooter housed within the punch-hole camera hole on the screen. All of these camera sensors come together to give an overall good experience. Photos taken with the Galaxy S22 look very impressive. It can even take some really good shots at night when the lighting is less than ideal. Our Galaxy S22 review has plenty of samples to look at, so let’s take a look at Samsung’s camera app and all the modes it brings to the table.

Samsung Galaxy S22: Camera app

For the Samsung Galaxy S22 series, you can either use the stock camera app that comes with One UI or download the Expert RAW camera app from the Galaxy Store to take advantage of more precise control over many of the basic camera functions. The stock camera app also comes with a “Professional” mode that lets you manually control many of these functions but Expert RAW was built around shooting in the RAW image format.

I think the stock camera app itself is sufficient for most users as it offers a lot of different functions and modes to choose from. Just like the OnePlus camera app, Samsung’s pre-installed camera app will put you in the main Photos mode as soon as you launch the app. Unlike the OnePlus Camera app, it doesn’t take you back to the same mode you were in the last time you closed it. The app automatically puts you back into Photos mode every time you restart the app, and that’s a good thing.

From the main viewfinder screen, you can swipe left or right to access the various pre-set camera modes that are easily accessible. You’ll also see a bunch of options at the top of the screen specific to the mode you’re currently using. If you’re using video mode, for example, you’ll see the option to change the resolution and frame rate of the recording, you can also enable “Super Steady” mode or change the aspect ratio of the video.

No matter which mode you’re using, you can also click the “1x” button to make the window larger or smaller. I also like how the camera app seamlessly switches between the lenses while zooming in or out without any lag. In addition to the main camera modes accessible through the viewfinder screen, you can click the More button to check out all the available options. Samsung’s stock camera app on the Galaxy S22 offers a large number of different modes to choose from.

Before heading into the camera modes, let’s take a quick look at some of the camera settings you might want to play around with. You can press the setting gear in the upper left corner of the viewfinder screen to enter the camera settings page. Here, you’ll see a bunch of options that are pretty self-explanatory. Samsung also gives you a quick summary of each option to give you a better understanding of what it does before you can go ahead and enable it.

Personally, I would like to enable the QR code scanning option as it is a lot easier for me to scan codes on a daily basis. I also recommend checking out the advanced video recording options to enable HDR10+ videos and the Zoom-in mic option. Also, be sure to disable the Location Tags option if you don’t want your smartphone to add location information to metadata. Anyway, I think it’s always best to remove the EXIF ​​data from your photos before you share them online. You can check How to Remove EXIF ​​Data Directory to know more about it.

Samsung Galaxy S22: Camera Modes

Here is a quick summary of all the modes available in Samsung’s stock camera app:

“Pro” and “Pro Video” modes: The “Pro” and “Pro Video” modes essentially give you manual controls for capturing still images and recording videos, respectively. To capture still images, you can also use the Expert RAW app which we will discuss later in this article.

Take once: This is a great feature that allows you to take multiple photos and videos with a single click of a button. The Galaxy S22 will capture whatever is in the frame for up to 20 seconds. You can then choose to share it as a video, cut it to a GIF, or take screenshots of it to share as individual photos.

night: This situation is self-explanatory. The Galaxy S22 is very good at taking photos in low light but the Night mode narrows things down by adding more detail to the shot. It is worth noting that the night mode on the Galaxy S22 does not turn on automatically, so you will have to enable it manually.

food: Food mode, as the name suggests, is specifically designed to take amazing photos of the food you eat. You don’t always have to use this specific mode to take photos of food, but you do get a couple of neat features like the ability to add a blur effect around the food or change the color temperature of the frame before you take the photo. picture.

panorama: This selected mode automatically uses the Ultra Wide lens and lets you pan across the frame to capture a wide perspective. We’ve had this mode in smartphones for a while now, and there’s nothing new to write home about.

Too slow motion: With the Galaxy S22, you can capture 720p super slow motion footage at 960 fps. The Galaxy S22 is, in fact, better than the Galaxy S22 Ultra in this regard, with the latter topping out at 480fps for super slow motion videos.

Hyperlapse: Recording Hyperlapse videos can be a lot of fun and the Galaxy S22 gives you some good options in this mode. You can record FHD or UHD Hyperlapse video using both the main camera and the ultra wide camera. You can also select the recording speed based on what you are shooting.

Vertical video: Portrait video is basically just a portrait mode for videos. Allows you to focus on any object or person in a scene while adding soft focus to the rest to give your shots a cinematic look and feel.

Director’s opinion: This is a great tool for advanced videographers as it allows you to switch between different rear view camera lenses while recording. You can also choose to enable the front camera in this mode to simultaneously look at the shots from all the camera sensors on the phone.

Bixby vision and AR area: Finally, you also see the options to enable Bixby Vision or AR Zone from the mode selection screen. Bixby Vision is basically Samsung’s version of Google Lens that lets you scan items in the frame to extract relevant results. Alternatively, you can also use it for text scanning or translation. On the other hand, AR Zone will let you add cool AR stickers or doodles to the frame. You can use these features to come up with some great results, although they don’t necessarily take center stage within the camera app.

Samsung Galaxy S22: The expert RAW camera app

Expert RAW, for those who don’t know, is Samsung’s advanced camera app that adds a selection of new features and controls to some of the company’s latest flagship devices. This specific app is compatible with the Galaxy S22 but does not ship with the phone by default. You can download it from Samsung Galaxy Store Provided you have a supported Galaxy phone with a Samsung account set up on it. Note that Expert RAW Camera app is not available for download outside the Galaxy Store.

As the name suggests, this camera app is aimed at advanced users who know their way around professional cameras and all their functions. Built around shooting in the RAW image format, Samsung even says that this app adds a wider dynamic range to add more detail, thus increasing your editing capabilities. The result is a 16-bit RAW image that can occupy up to 30MB of space on your phone. Additionally, the app also adds more fine-grained controls for ISO, shutter speed, EV, and more.

On the surface, the Expert RAW camera app isn’t much different from the pre-installed stock camera app. In fact, you can’t use the Expert RAW camera to shoot selfies, use the night mode, take selfies, or even record a video. Think of it as a dedicated ‘Pro’ mode app which can be easily accessed with a click of a button rather than going into the main camera app and then selecting ‘Pro’ mode. You get the graph tool which is not available in the main camera app. Samsung also says Expert RAW offers dynamic range enhancement through the use of multi-frame RAW files.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of taking RAW photos although I am aware of the post-processing capabilities it unlocks for each photo. It may take a while to get used to, but once you’ve mastered the art of RAW photography and make powerful edits to your photos, there’s no going back. But if you find the learning curve too steep, you can stick with Auto and let your phone do all the heavy lifting for you.

concluding thoughts

Well, that brings us to the conclusion of the detailed article for the Samsung Galaxy S22 camera. I hope this guide will be useful for those who are scratching their heads about the settings or camera modes to explore. I highly recommend checking out the Samsung Galaxy S22 review I linked earlier in this article to check out some camera samples. Alternatively, you can also take a look at our Galaxy S22 vs OnePlus 10 Pro comparison to look at more samples and see how they compare to shots taken using the OnePlus flagship with Hasan Hasselblad.

You’ll find all of these camera modes on the Galaxy S22 Plus as well as the Galaxy S22 Ultra, although the Ultra has a more advanced camera system. Which Samsung Galaxy S22 camera mode will you explore first? Let us know by dropping a line in the comments below. Also, be sure to share your favorite camera mode for shooting with the Galaxy S22 or Galaxy S22 Plus.