Beyond 10x, it’s all digital zoom on the 10x zoom lens. But since it’s digital
zooming from a native 10x, the images don’t look so bad up to about 30x.
The S21 Ultra shines in daylight at 10x and 30x zoom. Shots at 10x are actually
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aren’t the mushy haze you get with the S20 series or the small S21. At 100x
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the place, and handheld shots are better. Not great, but better.
It’s worth noting that the S21 Ultra can do 4K60 video recording at up to 10x
zoom and can do 8K video at 24fps using its main lens. While recording 8K
video, you can pull out 33MP snapshots.
IS THE PRICE JUSTIFIABLE?
The Galaxy S21 Ultra is an impressive, high-quality superzoom camera phone,
and I can recommend it in ways that I absolutely couldn’t recommend the S20
Ultra. It’s still big, heavy, and expensive, and some of its features rely on
networks that don’t exist yet. It does a lot of awesome things, but the Samsung
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The S21 Ultra’s top competitors, as big phones, are Samsung’s own Note 20
Ultra ($1,299.99) and Apple’s iPhone 12 Pro Max ( $1,099.99). The Note 20
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future-facing as a long-term investment. The iPhone has nothing like the S21
Ultra’s superzoom, but it has somewhat better night performance and, for
serious photographers, a much better ecosystem of third-party camera apps and
integration with Mac computers.
If you don’t have the money to burn and don’t need superzoom, there are some
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the future network support; ditto the iPhone 12 ($799). The OnePlus 8T ($749)
has speedy software and super-fast charging. The Galaxy S20 FE ($699) lacks
the superzoom and future network support, but has everything you probably
need right now. That said, the S21 Ultra can be a good investment if you prefer
Android and Windows, enjoy photography as a hobby, and want a high-end
phone that will serve you well for years.
PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION (^) I SUBSCRIBE (^) I MARCH 2021