Samsung Galaxy S21 Review - The Only Video Camera You Need

The Samsung Galaxy S21 line up is definitely in the market to fight in the top league of smartphones. As a multipurpose tool, it’s been proven to be one of the most versatile and trustworthy pieces of equipment released in the latest times. But how good is it for one specific task: videomaking.

In the video and in this article we’re gonna break down all of its features and tools that will help you decide if it’s something you might wanna incorporate in your workflow.

Cameras

To start off, we’re talking about a 3 camera (at least, with the exception of the Ultra that features one extra cam) phone, featuring a ultra wide, a wide and a telephoto lens.

The ultra wides’s field of view is roughly a 13mm full frame lens, while the main and wide lens is a 26mm, with the telephoto on the bottom featuring a 70mm approximately lens.

All of which are stabilized, and feature an awesome response on sharpness, detail and colors. According to our tests definitely the Wide, as the primary camera, was the sharpest one, and performed better at 8K.

In the benchmarking website DxoMark the S21 5G scored a solid 116 points overall, with the Ultra being always the top of the S21 lineup, fighting against the XiaoMi’s and iPhone’s.

https://www.dxomark.com/samsung-galaxy-s21-5g-exynos-camera-review-s-series-base-model/

Resolutions

Mainly the S21 features 4 resolutions: HD, FHD, UHD and 8K. Each one with a specific set of frame rates: FHD 30, 60 and 120fps, 4K UHD at 24, 30 or 60fps and finally, 8K at 24 fps.

In our tests all resolutions performed quite well regarding sharpness, colors and overall detail.

In a comparison between the 8K cropped in and 4K footages, we determined that 8K downsampled to 4K looked considerably sharper, at the cost of sacrificing some stabilization.

Stabilization

The in body stabilization can be considered absolutely fantastic. Walking, running, whatever you do, it seems like the sensor has its way of counterbalancing the movement. For my extreme satisfaction, while using the phone at 4K UHD 24fps, the stabilization was incredible.

A new feature proposing a super stabilization is now present, on top of the screen It allows for a smooth movement, even in harsh conditions. It makes the phone scale back to FHD and tries to remove any shake present. During our tests we didn’t find it to be that more effective than the 4K stabilization, which wouldn’t justify its use. Probaly good news, meaning you can just stick to 4K and be happy.

Formats

On camera, you’ll see 3 main options: 1x1, 16x9 and Full. These mean the aspect ratio at which the smartphone will record your videos. While in photo mode this doesn’t affect the quality of your pics, in video it’s a whole new story. 4K UHD at 16x9 will create a normal 3840x2160 file, while the Full mode will create a 2400x1080 file, which is of a much lower resolution.

Hyperlapse

The hyperlapse mode was the one I was least impressed with. Few controls and just average results. The stabilization of the frames is great and definitely much easier than having to take dozens of pictures and focusing always in the same spot. But nothing more than this.

Slow Motion

The slow motion mode is simply incredible, and it’s composed of two different settings. The first one called simply Slow Motion, is a 1080p 240fps video. And the second it the Super Slow Motion that sets you back to 720p, but gives you 960fps, which makes absolutely everything look extra cool.

HDR 10

The phone is HDR10 compliant, and it means that anything recorded in this mode will be playable on the phone itself, but not necessarily everywhere else. On my computer for example, it was just turned into a very messy footage, so I had to convert it in the gallery to be able to include it in the video. On the phone, it managed to grab a bit more dynamic range than normal, but also came to be a bit more saturated, which wasn’t exactly something desired.

Pro Mode

Pro Mode is very impressive with many more options that I could expect. Shutter speed, ISO, focus points and also histogram, and audio monitoring! I’ve tried by coupling the phone with my Sony Headphones and using the Bluetooth to enter the audio. And it was a very successful and practical way of recording clean audio from far away and in the middle of a messy environment.

Director's View

The Director’s view was something that I was quite unsure if I’d ever use and actually I found it really cool. Since you’re capable of switching cameras in the middle of the recording, having the possibility of seeing beforehand a preview is awesome, to always nail it without having to stop recording.

Portrait Mode Video

Portrait mode works really well on the Samsung Galaxy S21, blurring out most of the background and not creating some false spots of blur where it shouldn’t. Hair detection wasn’t 100% but was good enough that it would be unnoticeable in a moving image.

Conclusion

Overall I was very impressed with the Samsung Galaxy S21 and very happy to see that it can perfectly well be a second camera to any other DSLR or Mirrorless camera if you’re looking for a way to tell a story without interruptions. All features were very welcome, the 8K recording actually was something very useful and superior to the other modes, perfect choices of frame rates available and much more.

Below you can watch the video on Youtube and if you’d like to get a S21, just follow the link to check it out on Amazon.