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Samsung’s smartphone cameras are up there with the best in the business; the company’s flagships are always jockeying with Pixels and iPhones for best smartphone camera honors. Modern Samsung phones have a lot of camera features that aren’t entirely obvious at first blush — some squirreled away in a whole second camera app. Looking to make the most of your Galaxy S22 phone’s cameras? Here are a few tips to try.
Shoot in full resolution
By default, your Galaxy S22 doesn’t take photos at the full resolution of its primary camera sensor. Like many Android phones, it employs a technique called pixel binning that’s meant to boost low-light performance at the expense of some resolution. That’s typically a good thing, but if you want to grab some shots in full 50- (or 108-) megapixel resolution, the option is tucked away behind the camera app’s aspect ratio options:
Tap where it says 3:4 and choose the option on the far left (it’s still 3:4, but also 50 megapixels on S22 and S22+ or 108 megapixels on S22 Ultra). The full-res setting will stay on until you switch it back manually, so don’t forget — those big files add up.
Take photos with your voice
This novel feature is not easily discoverable; Samsung lets you snap photos with your voice. Here’s how.
- Open the Camera app.
- Tap the settings icon in the top left corner.
- Under General, tap Shooting methods.
- Toggle Voice commands on.
With this setting enabled, you’ll be able to take a photo by saying “smile,” “cheese,” “capture,” or “shoot.” This is great for taking group photos without having to hold your phone.
Make quick GIFs
By default, swiping down on the shutter button in the S22’s camera app will capture a burst of photos. That’s a handy tip in itself (you’re welcome!), but you can also have the phone stitch those frames together into an animated GIF.
Capturing a GIF on Galaxy S22 Ultra.
- Open the Camera app.
- Tap the settings icon in the top left corner.
- Under Pictures, tap the Swipe Shutter button to.
- Select Create GIF.
Swiping down on the shutter button and holding will start a counter near your thumb; that’s the number of frames in your GIF. These GIFs are captured at a resolution of 480×640 and compressed, so their files shouldn’t end up too large to conveniently send, the way GIFs exported from Motion photos can sometimes.
Get flat top-down photos
If you’ve ever tried to take a photo of a flat surface — a sheet of paper on a desk, say — you may have noticed that it can be hard to get the perspective right. If you’re just a little off-axis and your subject looks deformed. Point your S22’s camera down, though, and you’ll see two circles appear. When they’re lined up, that means your phone is parallel with the ground — and in position to take a nice, level photo of the surface below.
Left: Off-axis top-down photo. Right: Flat photo with level aligned.
The cameras on some phones, like Pixels, also help you get level shots when they’re not pointed straight down. Unfortunately, the default camera app on the Galaxy S22 doesn’t have that functionality — but you can get it in Samsung’s Expert RAW app. Speaking of…
Try Expert RAW
Manual camera settings can be overwhelming, so Samsung opted to stick them in an entirely separate app. If you want to try them out, head over to the Galaxy Store and download Expert RAW. As the name implies, the app does capture RAW files of your photos alongside the usual JPEGs — you can then edit in compatible apps like Lightroom or Snapseed. But it also affords you access to settings like shutter speed, ISO, and white balance. There’s even a horizon level, a feature that’s bizarrely missing from Samsung’s stock camera. Just keep an eye on your storage space: the RAW files the app saves can be 20 megabytes or more.
If you find you prefer Expert RAW to the normal camera app, you can set it to open with a double-press of the side key:
- Go to Settings.
- Tap Advanced features.
- Select Side key.
- Tap Open app and select Expert RAW.
Unlike with the stock camera app, though, you’ll need to unlock your phone to take photos in Expert RAW.
Get the most out of your phone’s camera
For more mobile photography tips and if you’ve got a Pixel 6, we’ve discovered six things to try with your Pixel 6’s camera. If you’re looking to get a little more out of your Samsung, try our 14 best Android and One UI software tips for your Samsung Galaxy phone.
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