Why does the Galaxy Note 20 have 3 camera lenses? Here's what they can do

Richard Peterson/CNET

Samsung

Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra

are packed with awesome technology that puts them

telephones

squarely in the elite category alongside the

Galaxy S20 Plus

and

iPhone 12 Pro

. With

5G connectivity

, huge screens and the S-Pen stylus, both phones are well equipped for office life. But how useful are they for photographers?

We've released the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and we're about to take a closer look at its camera features.

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Galaxy Note 20 Ultra: Hands-on first impressions

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Note 20 Ultra main camera

The triple camera setup is pretty standard: there's a standard view, an ultra-wide-angle view, and a telephoto lens for zooming in on distant objects.

Note 20 Ultra Standard Zoom Lens

Note 20 Ultra Standard Zoom Lens

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Note 20 standard zoom lens

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Note 20 standard zoom lens

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Images from the standard camera are superb, with plenty of detail and a good balance of exposure between light and dark areas. Colors can sometimes look a little too saturated, which we've seen on more recent Samsung phones.

The huge resolution of the Note 20 Ultra

While both phones have a triple-camera setup on the back, the Note 20 Ultra has the higher specs. The biggest improvement is in the resolution of the main camera, which hits 108 megapixels on the Ultra for improved zoom, which I'll get to shortly. The standard Note's main camera has a resolution of 12 megapixels.

Shooting at 108 megapixels maximum on the Note 20 Ultra produces huge image files of 12000x9000 pixels, around 26MB instead of around 3-4MB. Images of 4000 x 3000 pixels in normal mode. This allows you to crop your image a lot more, but in my experience so far there isn't much detail in the image even at such a high resolution.

Note 20 Ultra standard view, normal mode (rotated to fit)

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This is an image taken in normal resolution, rotated to fit this article more easily.

Standard resolution, 100% crop

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108MP mode, 100% crop

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At 100% crop, it's clear you can get much closer to your images using the 108-megapixel mode, but details are very soft and blurry. Standard mode may not have the same resolution, but it seems to produce sharper images. My advice would be to leave it in normal shooting mode.

Both phones use optical image stabilization on their main camera lenses, which should help keep stills looking nice and sharp while hopefully minimizing camera shake when shooting. video shooting.

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Note 20 zoom lenses

The Note 20 Ultra's telephoto zoom features a 12-megapixel optical zoom that offers a 5x zoom level. The Note 20's standard telephoto lens features a 64-megapixel zoom for 3x hybrid zoom (optical and digital crop).

Note 20 Ultra 5x zoom

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Note 20 5x Ultra Zoom

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Note 20 Ultra Zoom 10x

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With 5X zoom the images are still so rich in detail that I doubt you know they weren't taken with the regular lens and even with 10x zoom the shots are still of a satisfactory clarity.

images taken at 100x zoom on the S20 Ultra

, and even the 50x zoom on the Ultra doesn't particularly produce images.

Note 20 Ultra zoom 50x

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The overall shape of this oil rig is clear enough - there's no doubt what it is at least - but the details are so blurry that it looks more like an impressionist painting than a digital image .

Note 20 Ultra zoom 50x

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It's pretty much the same story here with this image of a cormorant. It's pretty much possible to tell what the bird is, but beyond that this image is of such poor quality that I would never want to use it for anything.

Wide angle lenses

The Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra are on par with their super wide-angle lenses, with the same 12-megapixel lens found on both. On paper, it's the same ultra-wide lens as the S20 Ultra, so it's no surprise the performance is similar.

Note 20 Ultra Wide Angle Lens

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Note 20 Ultra Wide Angle Lens

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Note 20 Ultra Wide Angle Lens

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The Note 20 Ultra's wide-angle lens can capture vivid and sharp images, with little image degradation towards the edges of the frame. I love playing around with this shot view because you can capture a lot of the scene in front of you, which leads to some really interesting compositions.

8K video

Both phones can shoot in huge 8K resolution at 24 frames per second, easily surpassing the 4K resolution available on most other high-end phones today. But it's not just about resolution. Samsung has equipped the Notes with professional video options to manually control the settings. They also have the ability to shoot in a 21:9 aspect ratio, which gives a more cinematic and widescreen look to your footage.

Richard Peterson/CNET

The optical image stabilization found on both phones' main cameras should help keep your footage nice and smooth, although you can't tell yet if you can use the stabilization when shooting at full 8K resolution. but we're testing 8K video on the Ultra and will update this piece with our findings as soon as possible.

Note 20 night mode

Like the S20 Ultra, both Notes have night modes for capturing bright images in low-light scenarios by taking multiple images in seconds and merging those exposures to maximize available light, while minimizing image noise. .

Note 20 Ultra Night Mode

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We haven't thoroughly tested the Note 20 Ultra's night mode yet, but early tests are promising. This image looking down a long, extremely dimly lit tunnel has a lot of clearly visible detail and it doesn't seem like image noise is much of an issue. The S20 Ultra wowed us with its night modes, but with most flagships - including the iPhone 11 Pro and OnePlus 8 Pro - offering incredible night shooting skills, the Note 20 has plenty of competition.

Note 20 selfie cameras

It's an even playing field here like the Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra pack 12-megapixel front cameras. These are single lenses, much like the single lens found on the front of the S20 Ultra. It might have been nice to see a wider-angle camera to let you squeeze more of your friends together in a group shot, but given that the Note is the most business- and productivity-focused range of the Samsung's lineup, it's perhaps unsurprising that adding more selfie options isn't high on the priority list.

See as well

Galaxy Z Fold 2, Note 20, Tab S7 and more announced

Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra first impressions: Mermaid or Cyclops?

Galaxy Z Fold2: Samsung fixes the ugliest thing about the foldable phone

The new Samsung Tab S7 blurs the line between tablet and laptop

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