In an unusual move, the South Korean giant has announced the release of a standalone app that will enable Pro Mode support for the telephoto zoom lens on Galaxy S21 Ultra handsets.
Photo credit: Upgradde | Twitter: @Othershawnlong
Because of its flexible camera setup, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is arguably the best smartphone camera of 2021, and it even outperforms the iPhone 13 Pro Max in most cases. In Pro mode, however, the stock camera app only supports the primary and ultrawide cameras.
Samsung has announced Pro Mode support for the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s telephoto cameras today, but it will be available through a separate app.
A software update could have simply added the feature to the default camera app, but Samsung has decided that a standalone option is the best solution.
The primary, ultrawide, 3x telephoto, and 10x telephoto cameras on the Galaxy S21 Ultra can all be used in Pro mode with this new app.
While shooting images and videos, you can change the exposure value (EV), focus, ISO, shutter speed, and white balance.
Contrast, highlights, shadows, saturation, and tint can all be tweaked, just like in the stock camera app’s Pro mode. You can also use the histogram to see if any parts of the image are overexposed or underexposed.
Any zoom you get here is entirely digital, which is a shame because the Galaxy S21 Ultra has one of the best zoom lenses on the market today. While most people are unlikely to use Pro Mode on a regular basis, it is still an option for those who want to use all lenses and have expert controls.
The Expert RAW camera app can save images in Lossless JPEG and 16-bit Linear DNG RAW formats, and it also supports HDR. DNG RAW files can be opened directly in the Adobe Lightroom app (via a dedicated button on the image viewer screen) and edited as desired.
Photo credit: Freed | Twitter: @FreedMX
The app can take pictures with less noise, more sharpness, more details, and a wider dynamic range.
The Expert RAW app can only be used on the Galaxy S21 Ultra running Android 12-based One UI 4.0, according to Samsung. The app is currently in beta, but Samsung promises that a stable version will be released soon.
We also hope that the app’s compatibility will be expanded to include Samsung’s other high-end smartphones.
You can download the Expert RAW camera app from this link if you have a Galaxy S21 Ultra and have already updated to the stable One UI 4.0 release. The camera app is also available on the Galaxy Store, but it appears to be unavailable outside of South Korea.
Since it’s still in beta, you might run into some issues. Samsung, on the other hand, intends to release a stable version soon.
Samsung may release it in other regions in the coming weeks.
Leave a Reply