subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 9 May 2020
Samsung Galaxy
S20 Ultra
Samsung’slatestsmartphoneoffersimpressive
specs,butataprice.AndyWestlakeexamines
whetherit’soneofthebestsmartphonecamerasyet
Testbench
ÔT
hisis thephone
thatwillchange
photography’.So
Samsungproudly
declaresaboutitslatestGalaxy
flagship,theS20Ultra.We’veseen
similarclaimsaroundhigh-end
smartphonesbefore,butSamsung
hasthrownin someparticularly
eye-catchingspecs,includinga
108MPmaincamera,10x‘hybrid
optic’zoom(equivalentto 250mm
in full-frameterms),andan
extraordinary100x‘spacezoom’.
Thefirm’slastmodel,theNote10+,
is ourreigningSmartphoneCamera
of theYear,sowe’rekeento see
exactlywhattheS20Ultracando.
Firstof all,let’sconsiderwhya
smartphone might benefi t from so
manypixels.Thekeypointis that
smartphonesdon’tuseoptical
zooms,insteademployingmultiple
cameramoduleswithdifferent
lenses,andrelyingondigitalzoom
tofill in thegaps.Thisis brutalon
resolution:forexampleapplying
3xzoomtothe12MPsensorused
bytheNote10+leavesyouwith
1.3MP,whichis marginalevenfor
socialmediause.Increasethe
pixelcount,andyoushouldbe
abletozoomin furtherwhile
maintainingreasonablequality.
Samsung’sGalaxyS20Ultrasits
at thetopof a familyof three
similarlynamedmodels.ItsS20
andS20+siblingsoffera lower
speccamerasystem,witha 64MP
main sensor, 3x hybrid optic zoom,
and30xsuper-resolutionzoom.
TheS20sportsa 6.2inscreen
andcosts£899,whiletheS20+
hasa 6.7indisplayfor£999.
Camerafeatures
Intermsof hardware,theS20
Ultraemploysthreepicture-taking
modules.Themainwideangle
camerapairsa 25mmequivalent
f/1.8opticallystabilisedlenswitha
108MPsensorthatfeatures
on-chipphasedetectionfor
autofocus.Thissensoris largeby
smartphonestandards,measuring
app rox imately9.6x7. 2m m ,
makingit 60%of theareaof the
1insensorusedbymostadvanced
compacts.It employsan
unusual ‘Nonacell’ design:
Ataglance
£1,199128GB£1,399 512GB
●Androidsmartphone
●6.9inscreen
●Triplecamera– ultra-wide,wide,
andtelephotomodules
●108MPmainsensor
●10xHybridOpticZoom
● http://www.samsung.com/uk
TheS20Ultra’s
ultra-wideanglelens
allowsforsome
strikingimages
13mmequivalentlens,
1/950sec at f/2.2, ISO 64
