For some time, Google’s Pixel phones have been the kings of low-light and night photography. But the iPhone 14 Pro has mostly caught up, arguably beating Google Pixel 7 Pro in some shots. And the Samsung Galaxy S23 series could be released on February 1 to become the champion of night photography.
What makes me say that? Well, a recent teaser video on Samsung’s YouTube channel touts “Epic Nights Are Coming” and showed what the main trio of rear cameras look like on the Galaxy S23, S23 Plus and S23 Ultra – the first two should borrow the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s built-in camera design – to form the word “mooon”. And in these camera lenses, photos of the moon are reproduced in crisp detail.
Now that’s all video rendering. But this not only hints that the Galaxy S23 lineup will focus on improving low-light and nighttime photography, but it will also have an improved astrophotography mode. This feature came to Galaxy S22 phones, but required the use of Samsung’s Expert RAW app, which was not installed by default.
I would say this teaser would suggest that these low light features will be native to the Galaxy S23. And that piqued my curiosity.
Such capabilities will add to the range of the standard and next-gen Galaxy Plus phones, without needing to spend the money to get an Ultra model. As someone who liked the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S22 as a great mix of features and performance in a reasonably sized phone, the idea that Samsung could add more high-end features to its sub-$1000 phones is attractive.
That said, I’m very excited to see what the Galaxy S23 Ultra could do with improved low-light and night photography.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra could aim for the stars
One of the main features of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the secondary 10x telephoto lens, which is great for getting usable zoomed shots. But when the lights are out, her photos tend to get a little messy.
However, the improved low-light shooting and default astrophotography could not only make the most of the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10x telephoto lens, but also exploit the capabilities of three other cameras. Thanks to technology like sensor fusion, which allows multiple cameras to capture images at once and then stitch them together to create a sharper, more detailed smartphone photo, the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s zoom lens could harness its supposed 200MP main camera.
It could help capture a dimly lit scene with much more detail. So when shooting for the moon, literally, it could make zoomed-in shots look clearer, with shots of the celestial body closest to Earth looking much clearer than before. But it could also capture a more detailed astrological background and scene.
And that could see the Galaxy S23 Ultra deliver those starry cosmos shots you see in promo shots for astrophotography modes but are stupidly hard to recreate (for the average user) even with a tripod and the patience. of a saint.
The sensors working together can also help eliminate any shake from handheld shooting, meaning astrophotography could be much more accessible to those who don’t carry a tripod with them on nighttime excursions.
Of course, these are all my speculations based on a video teaser and previous rumors. But I expect Samsung to have made significant improvements to its low-light, nighttime, and astrophotography chops with the Galaxy S23 lineup. And if it manages to do that, we could see the mighty iPhone 14 Pro Max get knocked out of the top spot for best camera phone and even see the Galaxy S23 Ultra crowned best phone overall.
We’ll find out more on February 1 at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event.