The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra & S21 Review: The Near Perfect and The Different

Camera - Low Light Evaluation

Low-light photography of the new S21 series devices should be relatively uneventful. Both the Ultra and the regular models don’t have any superior light gathering abilities compared to their predecessors, so in general the differences between the generations should solely lie in terms of software algorithm updates – if there’s actually any.

[ S21U(S)  - ] [ S21U(E)  - ]
[ S21(E)  - ] [ S20+(E)  - ]
[ Note20U(S)  - ] [ iPhone 12 Pro  -  ]
[ Mate40 Pro  -  ] [ Mi 11  -  ]
[ Mi 10 Pro  -  ] [ Pixel 5  -  ]
[ X-T30 ( ) ]

In the first scenario, we see the S21 phones showcase excellent results in their respective night modes. There are small differences when it comes to colour temperature and blacks, where the new Ultra phones don’t seem to be as fine-tuned as the Note20 Ultra or the baseline S21, but generally fall in amongst the best performing phones.

[ S21U(S) - ] [ S21U(E) - ]
[ S21(E) - ] [ S20+(E) - ]
[ Note20U(S) - ] [ iPhone 12 Pro - ]
[ Mate40 Pro - ] [ Mi 11 - ]
[ Mi 10 Pro - ] [ Pixel 5 - ]
[ X-T30 ( ) ]

This scene really wasn’t kind to the new Ultras, as the Note20 Ultra produced significantly better and more realistic shots in all capture modes. We’re again seeing some of Samsung’s stark software inconsistencies at play.

[ S21U(S) - ] [ S21U(E) - ]
[ S21(E) - ] [ S20+(E) - ]
[ Note20U(S) - ] [ iPhone 12 Pro - ]
[ Mate40 Pro - ] [ Mi 11 - ]
[ Mi 10 Pro - ] [ Pixel 5 - ]
[ X-T30 ( ) ]

The S21 Ultra issues continue here as well, the Snapdragon unit is just far blurrier than the Exynos and the Note20 Ultra, while the Exynos’ colour temperature is too cool and overcompensates the orange sodium lamps.

[ S21U(S) - ] [ S21U(E) - ]
[ S21(E) - ] [ S20+(E) - ]
[ Note20U(S) - ] [ iPhone 12 Pro - ]
[ Mate40 Pro - ] [ Mi 11 - ]
[ Mi 10 Pro - ] [ Pixel 5 - ]
[ X-T30 ( ) ]

In this scene I was curious to see the dynamic range the phones would be able to retain in night mode – those lamps actually weren’t all that bright at all, it’s just that the rest of the scene was just very dim.

The Samsung phones didn’t improve all that much generationally, and still lag behind the leader in low-light dynamic range, Huawei.

[ S21U(S) - ] [ S21U(E) - ]
[ S21(E) - ] [ S20+(E) - ]
[ Note20U(S) - ] [ iPhone 12 Pro - ]
[ Mate40 Pro - ] [ Pixel 5 - ]
[ X-T30 ( ) ]

This scene is easier to analyse, as essentially, we’re seeing little to no differences with the new S21 series phones bar a bit of colour temperature variations.

[ S21U(S) ] [ S21U(E) ]
[ S21(E) ] [ S20+(E) ]
[ Note20U(S) ] [ iPhone 12 Pro ]
[ Mate40 Pro - ] [ Mi 11 ]
[ Mi 10 Pro ] [ Pixel 5 ]
[ X-T30 ( ) ]

Going into lower light situations, we’re seeing larger differences. The S21 Ultra Snapdragon falls flat on its face here in terms of night mode processing as everything is a blurry mess. The Exynos variant fares significantly better, and is actually along with the Exynos S21 the best results of any phones night modes, going as far as clearly depicting the Orion and Pleiades constellations in the background sky.

[ S21U(S) ] [ S21U(E) ][ S21(E) ] [ S20+(E) ] [ Note20U(S) ]
[ iPhone 12 Pro ] [ Mate40 Pro - ] [ Mi 11 ] [ Mi 10 Pro ] [ Pixel 5 ]
[ X-T30 ( ) ]

Lastly, just for fun and because I had an unusually clear night sky, I tried out pointing the phones at the sky to see what happens. These are all handheld shots without a tripod. Sadly enough, the Ultra phones lagged behind the regular S20 and S21, and far behind the Huawei Mate 40 Pro.

Low-light verdict: Pretty much the same

Low-light photography on the S21 series, hasn’t really changed all that much from the S20 series. Frankly speaking, in some scenarios, it might be even worse due to the immature software, particularly on the Snapdragon S21 Ultra. We didn’t really expect any improvements this generation as essentially, it’s all pretty much the same hardware, but I was still disappointed to see that the software side of things is still handicapping Samsung from achieving better results.

The same conclusion applies here as on the daylight shots, in that we don’t really have a conclusion. The results are too inconsistent, and I’ve already had two newer firmware updates I would need to re-test things on. The picture quality will undoubtedly improve, but it’s getting quite tiring to wait months for Samsung to sort things out.