[In-Depth Look #2] Spectacular Shots Made Simple: The Galaxy S10’s Groundbreaking Camera

Smartphone users count on Galaxy devices to deliver a camera experience that’s second to none. That’s because Samsung Electronics packs each new addition to the Galaxy family with innovations that make it easier for users to capture more moments in exceptional detail.

The Galaxy S10 line builds on Samsung’s camera leadership – which includes the company’s game-changing Super Speed Dual Pixel and Dual Aperture technologies – by introducing a slew of exciting enhancements and even more advanced intelligence. Together, these innovations offer users all the tools they need to take truly epic shots and videos.

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Each Galaxy S10 is like a professional-grade camera that fits in your pocket. The devices’ easy-to-use cameras were designed to allow you to capture any shot and angle. So no matter what you’re shooting, you’ll always have the right lens for the job.

At 123-degrees, the rear camera’s new 16MP Ultra Wide lens features a field of view that’s similar to the human eye. It covers approximately 4.3 times more area¹ than a 77-degree Wide-angle lens, and allows you to capture the world as you see it. Perfect for taking epic landscape shots, big panoramas (both horizontally and vertically), or simply fitting the entire family into a photo, the Ultra Wide lens ensures that you’re always able to capture the full scene.

Pictures taken with Galaxy S10’s Wide-angle (left) and Ultra Wide lens

Each Galaxy S10’s rear camera setup also includes a 12MP Wide-angle, Dual Aperture, Super Speed Dual Pixel lens. It combines an f/1.5-aperture lens with an f/2.4, and automatically adjusts to light just like our eyes to help users snap professional-looking photos, day or night. The Galaxy S10 and S10+’s triple rear camera setup also includes a 12MP Telephoto (zoom) lens. For those times when you need to get a little closer to your subject, the Telephoto lens provides two times optical zoom and ten times digital zoom.

Each Galaxy S10 comes equipped with a 10MP UHD Dual Pixel front-facing camera that’s perfect for taking high-quality selfies. The Galaxy S10+’s dual front camera setup offers improved megapixels and super-fast autofocus,² and includes an RGB depth lens for enhanced quality of bokeh effects.

A Smarter Way to Shoot

The Galaxy S10’s hardware is complemented by a next-generation Neural Processing Unit (NPU) – a layer of intelligence for all your photos – that streamlines image processing and makes already smart features better.

The addition of the advanced NPU makes the camera’s Scene Optimizer function that much more powerful. Now, Scene Optimizer is capable of analyzing even more complex scenes, and can simultaneously process more image recognition data than before. The camera recognizes up to 30 different types of scenes in all (up from 20 with the Galaxy Note9), including “Face,” “Baby,” “Dog,” “Vehicles,” and more. The function will also automatically optimize the color, saturation, white balance and contrast in order to ensure that the image you see on your screen appears as true to life as possible.

Pictures (right) taken with Scene Optimizer

When the camera recognizes specific scenes, it will also suggest other ways to potentially improve your photo. For example, if you’re taking a picture of a sunrise, the camera will automatically ask you if you’d like to switch to the Ultra Wide lens to ensure that you capture the scene in all its glory. If you’re taking a picture in extreme low-light conditions, it will propose that you take a Bright Night Shot for a professional-quality picture.

The camera also offers users instant, automatic recommendations on how to best frame their photo through its Shot Suggestion feature. Utilizing a database of over 100 million pictures, Shot Suggestion’s composition guide offers helpful tips to help you improve your photo’s proportions, positioning and overall composition.

The camera’s upgraded Live Focus mode allows you to customize your photos with artistic effects. The Galaxy S10+ utilizes its dual front cameras to support the feature, which includes options to add new spin bokeh, zoom bokeh, and color point effects, while the Galaxy S10 and S10e’s front-facing camera utilizes the NPU’s intelligence.

(From left) Live Focus’s new spin bokeh, zoom bokeh and color point effects

Silky Smooth Videos

Recorded videos are so much smoother with the Galaxy S10, thanks to groundbreaking innovations that ensure that users’ footage looks fantastic.

The camera’s Super Steady video-recording feature is the first of its kind on a smartphone, and offers users up to three times better video stabilization than conventional technologies. Powered by anti-shake stabilization technology (VDIS), Super Steady evens out shaky footage, allowing you to record fluid video during even your most active moments. So whether you’re dancing at a concert or recording a bumpy bike ride, with the Galaxy S10, the content you capture will be nice and steady.

Both the front and rear cameras are capable of recording pro-grade UHD footage, which allows users to step up their social game with true-to-life video quality. And in another smartphone first, the rear camera offers users the ability to take their recordings to the next level by capturing them in stunning HDR10+.

Utilizing dynamic tone mapping technology that provides 2.1 times broader color range than SDR, the Galaxy S10 allows you to take videos that are brighter and more dynamic than those taken with other smartphone cameras. That’s because the camera uses tone mapping techniques to go frame-by-frame and optimize the color for every scene.

A New AR Emoji Experience

Samsung’s latest flagships offer users a brand new AR Emoji experience, highlighted by a revamped design, greater customization options, and the ability to track not just your face but also your eyes, tongue and body movements, including your arms and legs.

AR Emoji’s new Mask Mode offers a fun way to touch up a less-than-stellar photo. Not satisfied with the expression you made in your last shot? Simply choose an AR Emoji that nails the emotion you want to express, and place its face over yours.

Users can also customize their AR Emojis like never before. In addition to choosing from the dozens of expressive stickers that are created for each AR Emoji, you can create your very own stickers, featuring unique backgrounds, expressions and other personal touches. Users who download AR World from the Galaxy Store app will also be able to access tons of new hairstyles, outfits and accessories that’ll make their AR Emoji even more unique.

Samsung’s Most Epic Cameras Yet

In addition to placing more fun and convenient features at users’ fingertips, the Galaxy S10 line’s powerful cameras allow you to capture moments in more detail – and with more lenses – than ever before.

The Galaxy S10 5G truly packs the power of a professional-grade camera into your phone by offering a total of six lenses – two on the front and four on the back. In addition to featuring all of the lenses included in the Galaxy S10+, the 5G model introduces Samsung’s next-generation 3D Depth Camera.

This innovative camera allows the device to accurately capture depth by measuring the length of time it takes for an infrared light signal to bounce off the photograph’s subject. The camera uses the resulting depth information to improve the quality of portrait-style images, and to power exciting new features like Video Live focus and Quick Measure. The former allows you to apply cinema-quality bokeh effects to recorded videos, while the latter enables you to use your phone to instantly measure distance, area or volume.

¹ At a distance of approximately one meter.

² Super-fast autofocus is included in the front cameras of the Galaxy S10e, S10, S10+ and S10 5G, as well as in the rear cameras of the Galaxy S10, S10+ and S10 5G.