6 Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra camera settings you need to change

Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is the flagship smartphone of the year from the Korean technology giant. Equipped with a 200MP main camera, the phone can capture stunning photos regardless of lighting conditions. But by changing some camera settings, you can improve your photography experience from the S23 Ultra.

So, if you already own a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, check and change the rear camera settings.

1. Turn off the beauty filter

Thanks to Samsung's processing, the Galaxy S23 Ultra applies a large amount of skin smoothing across all photos. If you're not a fan of this feature, you can turn off the beauty filter to reduce this effect. Here's how:

1. Open the Camera app on Galaxy S23 Ultra.
2. Click the Effects icon in the right corner of the toolbar at the top of the screen.
3. Switch to the Face tab , then set the filter's strength to 0.
4. To completely turn off the skin smoothing effect, tap the Auto button on the right above the slider and select Off .

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However, this will not affect the skin smoothing effect for photos taken from the front camera. You need to turn off its beauty filter separately. The steps remain the same as above, but you must switch to the front camera before following.

If you like taking photos from the front camera, check out some tips for taking better selfies from your smartphone.

2. Change selfie color tone

Unlike most Android phones and iPhones, Samsung lets you heavily customize the image processing. Besides tweaking beauty filters, you can customize photos from your selfie camera to look more natural or warmer.

The natural look will make selfies taken from your Galaxy S23 Ultra look much closer to reality. However, you might not like this look because the colors and contrast won't be enhanced as much. To get that striking effect, go for a warm tone for your selfies.

1. Open the Camera app on Galaxy S23 Ultra and switch to the front camera.
2. Click the Effects icon located in the right corner of the toolbar at the top.
3. Switch to the Color tone tab and choose Natural or Warm depending on your preference.

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3. HDR10+ video recording

The Galaxy S23 Ultra can record video at up to 8K resolution at 30 frames per second. Thanks to the new 200MP main camera and faster Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, the phone can record significantly better videos than its predecessor. To take full advantage of your phone's video recording capabilities, you must record videos with HDR10+ enabled.

For those who don't know, HDR10+ is a High Dynamic Range video format supported by Samsung and Prime Video. It allows you to record videos with better dynamic range, higher contrast and brightness, and supports 10-bit color depth. By default, HDR10+ recording is disabled on the Galaxy S23 Ultra and you have to go into the camera settings to enable it.

1. Open the Camera app on Galaxy S23 Ultra.
2. Click the Settings icon in the upper left corner.
3. Select Advanced video options from the Video section and enable the HDR10+ videos option .

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Please note that HDR10+ videos are saved in HEVC format, which may cause compatibility issues on older PCs and devices. You must also have a TV or monitor that supports HDR10 to enjoy videos recorded from the Galaxy S23 Ultra to the fullest. Otherwise, they will play in standard quality.

4. Turn on Auto Frame when recording video

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Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can keep the subject in the frame when recording video. Auto framing is a useful feature to have when recording videos with lots of movement. In this mode, the camera will automatically switch between lenses to keep the person in the photo.

1. Open the Camera app on Galaxy S23 Ultra and switch to Video mode .
2. Tap the Auto Frame icon you see near the camera toggle buttons. Once auto-framing is enabled, you can no longer switch between lenses manually.

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Now when you record video, your S23 Ultra will automatically keep the subject in the frame by switching between lenses. Please note that in this mode, the video quality resolution is limited to 1080p at 30fps so the quality may not be the best choice. Additionally, you can only use the auto-framing feature with the rear camera.

Contrary to what you might think, the Galaxy S23 Ultra's 200MP camera is not a gimmick. Video recording is one of the areas where the camera has to apply a lot of power to get detailed footage.

5. Reduce shutter button delay

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Unlike the iPhone, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will not take a photo as soon as you press the button. Instead, the image will be captured when you lift your finger off the button.

This odd behavior may annoy anyone switching from an iPhone or Google Pixel (photos are taken as soon as you press the shutter button). This behavior is present on all Samsung phones, not just the S23 Ultra.

Samsung allows you to adjust this behavior using the Camera Assistant Good Lock module. Enable the Quick Tap shutter option in the app to shorten latency and make buttons respond faster.

6. Use Astro mode in Expert RAW

Expert RAW launched as an experimental camera app from Samsung. However, with the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Expert RAW has now found a place in the full Samsung Camera app.

As the name suggests, Expert RAW offers granular control over a variety of camera options, including the ability to capture images in RAW format. Even better, Expert RAW has an Astrophoto mode that aims to capture the night sky clearly.

If you're interested in photography or want more control over your Galaxy S23 Ultra's camera, check out Expert RAW. You can access the app from the More tab in Samsung Camera.

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Please note that the app is not pre-installed on the Galaxy S23 Ultra so when you select the mode for the first time, the app will download Expert RAW from the Galaxy Store in the background.

There are plenty of other modes in Samsung's Camera app that are also worth exploring.

Jessica Tanner

Update 11 October 2023