Camera Showdown. Galaxy S21 Ultra vs Note 20 Ultra

hey everyone over the past couple of

months samsung has released two

headlining flagships

the note 20 ultra back in august and the

galaxy s21 ultra a few weeks ago

but how did the two compare in terms of

cameras

sure the galaxy s21 ultra was released

more recently so it's more expensive

but is that price tag justified i'm

angie for juhura siddeki and this is our epic

showdown between two ultra smartphones

so at the camera comparison between the

galaxy s21 ultra

and the note 20 ultra begin

now first let's talk a little bit about

camera hardware

as the galaxy s21 ultra has a new camera setup

it has a second generation nano cell 108

megapixel main sensor

versus the first gen one on the note the

key improvements are in smart

iso pro which means that it should

leverage its dual native iso capability

and produce better results in low light

conditions it also has a wider lens for

the main camera

ois is present on both phones but sadly

neither

has that dual aperture capability that

we saw on the note 10s

and s10s of the past the ultrawide on

the s series phone

now has dual pixel autofocus which is

great but otherwise

it's the same camera as on the note with

the same 120 degree field of view

where the phones really differ is

telephotos the s21 ultra has two telecams

one mid-range three-time zoom telephoto

and one dual fold periscope lens that

gets 10 times zoom

on the note you get a single five times

tele camera on the bright side all of

the telephotos are stabilized

so with that aside how do these phones

compare in terms of photo quality

during the day both phones have

excellent flagship grade photos

while we expected the smallest amount of

differences here considering how similar

the main cameras are

we did find some discrepancies the s21

ultra had more natural colors while the

notes reds and greens were more in your face

dynamic range and tonal development are

pretty much the same

while the s21 ultra has sharper shots

probably due to tweaked sharpening

algorithms

the s21 phone also had more grain in the

shots due to samsung choosing to go

a more natural route on the processing

while the note has almost

flawlessly clean images it's not a lot of noise

but it is comparatively more noise now

zooming in is a different story whether

that means taking the snap

of a pristine mountaintop or something

less inspiring like a far away parking

sign because you're too lazy to cross

the street

let's start with two time zoom where

both phones use a crop from their main

snappers

it's mostly a toss-up in this comparison

and neither has particularly inspiring

detail which is disappointing because

two times zoom is useful in many scenarios

the s21 ultra is noisier in the skies

and has more sharpening

but other than that there's not much of

a disparity between the two

at three times zoom the battle rages

between the s21's telecamera

and the note's main camera though

occasionally some software magic will

include center detail from the notes

five times tell a camera we haven't

figured out when the star is aligned for

the combo to work

but when it does you'll get sharper

results in the center than what the s21

ultra can muster

that said when only the main camera is

triggered the s21 ultra beats out the

note in terms of detail

at five times zoom the note has better

detail and sharpness

it has better contrast and is noise free

too at 10 times zoom the s21 makes a comeback

which is to be expected with its

dedicated camera it had the sharper

images this time around

along with better contrast the further

and you zoom in

the more the s21 has the advantage and

at 20 times zoom you'll easily see more

detail on the ultra and fuzzier photos

on the note

the s21 ultra goes all the way to 100

times while the note doesn't even try

though at that point images aren't even

social media worthy

now if zooming out is more your thing

the s21 ultra has

a clear sharpness advantage during the

day though as before the note's photos

are cleaner when it comes to noise

dynamic range and color reproduction are

more or less identical

where the ultrawide camera of the s

really beats out the note

is close up shots thanks to the

autofocus the ultrawide camera of the s

series phone actually gets nearby

subjects sharp

while the note doesn't now everything

that we've set up until now

applies for daylight scenarios when the

light gets low

things are a little different when we

compared shots from the main cameras we

actually gave the note 20 the win

it has more detail clarity and retains

textures better

it's noisier than the s21 ultra for the

first time in our shootout

and the s-series phone has less grain to

show sadly it also has less detail and

less definition and fine textures than the note

the two phones render colors differently

too the s has more neutral colors

while the note processes warmer images

this is especially apparent with street

lights and we preferred the s

in this regard other than that the two

had similar exposure and dynamic range

if you switch on the night mode the

devices had pretty much identical levels of detail

both have a heavily sharpened look and around

the same level of texture dynamic range

is similar too and both have toned down

highlights and shadows with a modest lift

however in terms of white balance

there's even more of a difference here

and we

definitely prefer the color reproduction

of the cooler s phone

once you start zooming in you'll notice

that the note is sharper with more

detail while the s

has more realistic colors a two-time

zoom both produce

usable images though ones that aren't as

detailed as no zoom at all

at three times zoom at night the note

once again does some composite action

with the tele

and main cameras but the s produces

significantly more detailed photos with

better dynamic range

if you switch on the night mode at three

times zoom it works more reliably on the

s than the note also on the notes there is

less of a contrast with regular low

light photos

while night mode on the s21 ultra

improved shadows more noticeably

with five times zoom at night we didn't

love the performance of either phone

the note shots are filled with noise and

the s21

is just a smidge better the note

delivers slightly sharper shots and

scenes with a bit of light

but it's not a dramatic difference if

you switch on the night mode the shots

become pretty much indistinguishable

aside from the color processing

the very fact that you can shoot 10

times zoom photos in the evenings at all

is nice considering up until recently

telephotos didn't even work at night

now both phones output photos with muddy

textures and

fine detail but naturally the s21 is

superior when it comes to straight lines

and more regular shapes

if there's just a bit more light the s

will have more dynamic range

in reveal detail the note can't even

come close to even if you use night mode

which does help a little

on the opposite side of the spectrum

with ultrawide shots in the evening in

the regular photo mode the note beats

out its sibling

thanks to more detail in the shadows the

night mode is a huge

boon to the s where you'll see a lot

more detail on the newer phone

while the note gets much of its noise

cleaned up once again they're very

similar

aside from the orange cast on the note

there's only one

caveat that we'd mention and that's the

fact that the s phone

has a bit of a crop on the ultra right

camera when you switch the night mode on

so it's a little less ultra wide than

we'd like

both phones have faux bokeh modes so you

should know that the notes is called

live focus while the s21 ultras is

called

portrait mode they do the same thing

though you can shoot portraits with a

regular or two times magnification

but like we said before two time zoom

shots don't have the most detail on

these phones

a non-ultra s21 would actually perform

better in this regard

so when you decide to use these modes

you'll find that the note has warmer

skin tones

with a faint pinkish tint to them while

the s21 is more realistic

the new phone also renders more detail

while the note produces smoother and

more flattering results

both do an excellent job with subject

detection and the default blur level

portraits shot in the wider

magnification are sharper with more

detail but everything else stays the

same

which is to say really good in low light

though both phones

struggled of the two the note managed to

produce slightly sharper results

if you use subject detection with

non-human subjects the note performs a

little better

especially with our flower torture test

now let's turn this entire thing around

and take a look at the selfie cameras

the s21 ultra has a 40 megapixel selfie

camera

whereas the note only has a 10 megapixel

one

in any case the new camera and the more

realistic processing means that the s21

delivers selfies with a lot more detail

and texture

and though that means you'll be seeing

more wrinkles we like the level of

detail

the note has smoother skin and less

detail and when it comes to scenes with

backlighting

the s21 exposes your face a lot better

portrait selfies were comparable and had

a similar level of subject separation

while it wasn't as impressive as on the

back cameras it was passable

low light selfies aren't a strong area

for samsung in general and we didn't

love the results from either phone

of the two the note delivered a sharper

though noisier photo

things are better with night mode and

both have similar sharpness here

where samsung often reigns supreme is

video especially in the android world

so we were really curious to see how

these two phones compare in this arena

both phones can shoot up to 8k at 24fps

the s21 has more noise so we preferred

the cleaner note 20 ultra

but other than that we saw a similar

amount of detail while ak is a

spectacular marketing gimmick

it's not so useful yet especially when

you consider how much space it takes up

drop the resolution to 4k and you get a

little more detail on the note

both have similar dynamic range and even

the colors are evenly matched

with the note being a little bit more

realistic 4k

with the ultrawides revealed more

differences between the phones

the note has slightly more greenish

footage with flatter contrast while the

s21 had a more red tint

and more contrasty video with deeper

shadows the s was more aggressive with

the sharpening and the note is cleaner

when it comes to noise

but both had similar levels of detail at

two times magnification we'd give the

win to the note

thanks to its heavier sharpening but

only by a tiny margin

both have comparable detail though at

three times zoom the s21's dedicated

camera takes over

and it's really no contest here the note

doesn't stand a chance

at five times zoom the note makes a

predictable comeback with its dedicated

camera

but the difference isn't as dramatic as

with three times zoom and we're more

okay with the s phone's performance here

than we were with the notes performance

at three times zoom

4k at 10 times is a win for the s21 and

its dedicated module

though the note isn't doing too bad at

this level so in summary if you shoot

a lot of zoomed in video the galaxy s21

ultra will be a better fit for you

but the note 20 ultra doesn't lag too

far behind

now during sunset or twilight video

performance doesn't differ much between

the two

the note's footage is cleaner though

detail is about the same

dynamic range is alright and colors are

colder on the s phone though both

produce realistic colors

what was annoying was that the note had

a tendency to hunt for focus

which can really put a damper on your

videography experiments

the s21 didn't have that problem at

night the note didn't have

issues focusing for some reason but the

s21 ultra

wasn't as rock solid that said the newer

phone is superior in nighttime

conditions

as it has cleaner footage overall if you

decide to zoom in when the light gets

low the s21 wins overall especially

since it stays more consistent with

focusing

neither phone had amazing ultroid video

in low light

they don't really produce usable footage

though if we had to choose

one the note prioritizes brighter

exposure over noise reduction

so the clips are a little better

stabilization is available in all modes

including 8k

and there are options to turn it off if

you're using a gimbal or a tripod

with 8k the s21 was more proficient at

cancelling out your steps though both

phones had smooth pans with no abrupt

transitions at the end

with 4k whether it be the ultrawide or

the main camera both phones do a good

job of stabilizing walking footage

we saw no shake and no jellowing and

pans are smooth too

if you use the super steady mode you can

even record while running

the s21 lets you record in 60 fps and

does a little better here in terms of

the cropped in mode

but if you compare 30fps footage and the

wider magnification

there's little difference where the

stabilization of the s21 really comes

out on top is when zooming in

it's much steadier than the note though

we did notice some jellowing at five

times zoom

when it comes to a vlogger's most

important backup option

the s21 has a few advantages the selfie

videos it produces are sharper and more

detailed

though with more noise it has more

dynamic range and retains detail in the

highlights better than the note

it also produces better videos when it

comes to backlit scenes

the note has more saturated and warmer

colors while the s21 ultras are more

neutral and accurate

for everything that isn't faces we

appreciate the note's color science

better

but considering selfie videos are all

about the face the victory goes to the s21

possibly the first thing that's really

clear after getting through all this

is that both camera setups are amazing

and neither is perfect both have a

myriad of options

although the galaxy s21 ultra offers

slightly more

it also performs better when zooming in

aside from those moments when you zoom

in at five times where the note has a

dedicated camera and often trumped it

neither phone takes amazing photos at

two times zoom

which is disappointing because that's

equivalent to a 50 millimeter lens

which is one of the most useful focal

lengths around

and you're not gonna have as much use

with ten times zoom unless you're

a really avid bird photographer both

were strong in low light though

naturally the galaxy s21 ultra did

slightly better

thanks to the dedicated cameras both

phones are amazing when it comes to

videography

though the galaxy s21 has a slight edge

thanks to improved stabilization

especially when it comes to zooming in

so it's pretty clear that the galaxy s21 ultra

is better in some areas but it's not so

much better that it's worth upgrading

from the note 20 ultra

if you already have it now if you don't

have that particular phone

well you should know that the galaxy s21 ultra

has the best camera setup that samsung

has ever produced

thank you for watching stay safe and

i'll see you guys next time