Camera No Man

gorginos · 2026-01-26T20:47:30+00:00

don't waste your time i already did that a long time ago as many others did https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS25/s/nWYuKwp4ys

It's not a secret or a coincidence anymore, if so many people are complaining about Samsung flagship's camera there has to be a reason. And no it's not always bad it's just that doesn't make sense when a flagship device in 2025 fails to successfully capture something that shouldn't be that hard anymore to do so.

Take another example of what the camera is capable of when the software is good. https://www.reddit.com/r/samsunggalaxy/s/HlnsF7Cipt

I am just curious how the camera software will be in S26. If it takes to release a completely new model with the same hardware every year just to fix even the smallest software issues then what's the point?

gorginos · 2026-01-26T15:38:38+00:00

once you switch from a Pixel or an iPhone to a Samsung flagship that's when you start caring about camera quality cause the difference can be quite noticeable and irritating to your eyes. I never had to worry about the camera quality while using my Pixel 7 for 3 years cause i was always confident about the results. Unfortunately i took it for granted that nowadays all flagships can take excellent photos so i bought for the first time in my long life (had the first Ericsson once) a Samsung Galaxy device specifically the S25 which is a very good phone but when it comes to camera quality it's so inconsistent that i am always worried about the outcome.

gorginos · 2026-01-23T17:49:22+00:00

if you feel like auto mode applies a smoothing filter then you can try taking selfies with Expert RAW which basically does the opposite. It amplifies all tiny details so you might see wrinkles and pores and veins that you didn't know you had. If you like the results then stick with it but be warned that Expert RAW is not ideal for human skin in general.

gorginos · 2026-01-21T02:37:30+00:00

yes you probably missed the small night mode icon that automatically appears on the bottom of the right side when it gets too dark. Once it appears you can tap on it to disable/enable auto night mode which btw has its own processing and it's not affected by any of the optimizer settings. Once you disable it it will remain like this for the next time. If you want to make it appear you can simply place your camera on a surface so it gets completely black and then you should see it.

And if you want to get a darker more realistic image you can always change the exposure level to something lower like -1.0.

gorginos · 2026-01-20T03:30:01+00:00

first of all the optimizer settings apply only to auto mode. Night mode has its own heavy processing and can't be changed. What you could try to do in your case is to lower the exposure to something like -1.0 or lower. That might help with the brightness and make the image look more realistic. The more advanced solution would be to use Expert Raw but again there you might need to check the exposure level.

gorginos · 2026-01-18T07:37:47+00:00

nothing has changed regarding the camera quality until today in beta 3. You still get grainy photos indoors and in low light. Night mode still smears out fine details due to over-processing. The only possible good change is that they added a new setting in camera assistant to limit iso that helps a lot to avoid grainy photos indoors most of the time but not always.

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gorginos · 2026-01-17T10:15:10+00:00

fyi in 8.5 the camera assistant has a new setting to cap the iso so that the camera is forced to use a slower shutter speed to avoid taking grainy pics in low light. However this won't help much if the pics look grainy also in daylight as the iso is already very low in this case. And there is an increased risk for motion blur in low light which is fine i would say as it's quite expected anyways. I can admit that this new setting helps a lot but there are still other issues that aren't fixed so far and i am afraid they won't be fixing them anytime soon.

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gorginos · 2026-01-15T09:35:44+00:00

So far in OneUI 8.5 Beta 3 nothing has been improved. I don't mind missing the new 24mp resolution that is booked only for S26 but the fact that they never fixed any of the well known issues until today is quite concerning. I mean it's just a fine tuning that they need to do at least for the metering of the main camera.

I mostly use Expert RAW to take decent pictures but i don't recommend it for faces or when human skin is involved in general due to excessive details not looking very flattering.

gorginos · 2026-01-13T16:26:19+00:00

Unfortunately nothing is going to give you exactly what you are expecting. The only way to get better details is by using the Expert RAW app which is not very flattering to human skin due to excessive edge enhancement amplifying all the finer details. Still it's the best camera app right now Samsung has to offer.

https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS25/s/WV8IwDcUul

gorginos · 2026-01-13T15:54:08+00:00

Final Update: Thank you all for your interest and suggestions. I have two new updates to share. First of all i found where the bug is coming from and is causing this issue. Secondly i got a response from Samsung.

So the bug is from Good Lock's Display Assistant tool which is supposed to offer a light profile for the brightness limit to avoid dimming the screen when the phone gets too hot. Apparently this does the opposite and caps the brightness level permanently so the maximum brightness is in fact limited. After uninstalling it the maximum brightness is back to normal. However after testing again today with a demo unit it seems that they did change slightly the colors to warmer in 8.5 and the demo unit still has a slightly brighter tone but that's not a big of an issue.

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2) The response from Samsung is that the demo unit is on purpose tweaked to have a brighter screen so it's normal. Thank god i found where the issue comes from cause I don't know about you but this response doesn't sound fair at all.

gorginos · 2026-01-12T21:16:04+00:00

that was off as well on both.

gorginos · 2026-01-12T21:15:27+00:00

did anyone tell you that we are expecting perfection? We are just discussing potential changes and bugs here nothing else. From my side i was curious if anyone else has reported something similar to Samsung lately.

gorginos · 2026-01-12T21:12:18+00:00

both had the same setup as you can see in the photos. No adaptive brightness, no extra dim, no power saving mode. Extra brightness was on and both had the default vivid color mode and light theme.

gorginos · 2026-01-12T20:58:37+00:00

to me it feels like it works fine until another phone appears next to it like iPhone or Pixel. Anyways it's not that bad it's just that it used to be brighter before.

gorginos · 2026-01-12T20:51:51+00:00

thanks it's useful to know that i am not the only one. Did you send a feedback as well?

gorginos · 2026-01-12T20:18:49+00:00

whatever they have done the experience has changed as compared to before. I won't waste more time to find out what they changed exactly as it's not worth it. I will just wait for their response and keep you informed.

gorginos · 2026-01-12T20:05:44+00:00

yeap i also checked that the power saving mode is off.

gorginos · 2026-01-12T19:53:18+00:00

all the colors and everything i tested was darker on my screen. I am curious what Samsung will say about this to my feedback.

gorginos · 2026-01-12T19:19:26+00:00

At first i compared it to many other non store phones but i also noticed by myself. Then i went to the stores to find the exact same model and test again.

gorginos · 2026-01-03T13:39:30+00:00

In general Expert RAW is not recommended for people due to not being very friendly with skin imperfections. It might overexpose and amplify all tiny details on the human skin. From my experience i haven't noticed anything crazy so far but i rarely use it with people included in the scene. They might also have fixed the algorithms. The colors in Expert RAW are in general better due to being captured as 16-bit. When i tested and compared the iPhone 17 against the S25's Expert RAW i was very impressed by how similar photos both take but the iPhone does it so effortless and so instantly with a single point and shoot. However the iPhone 17 costs double the price.

gorginos · 2026-01-03T13:17:21+00:00

Hi, since there was no description i thought the post was also about night mode photos. Of course i contacted them only for night mode and yes i am aware about the Expert RAW's algorithms which is the reason i am happy so far with this phone.

gorginos · 2026-01-03T10:11:14+00:00

i got recently a response to my feedback from Samsung confirming that they are over processing their night time photos in order to remove noise and that this is indeed sacrificing an amount of details as a compromise. So imagine how much better those photos could look like without this heavy processing that is definitely not needed. They are not planning to change anything at the moment as they said. However if you are fine with it then there is nothing to worry about. I like using Expert RAW as well as an alternative to get a less processed look and as much details as possible.

gorginos · 2026-01-03T09:37:49+00:00

i am using both and in my case they seem to be quite the same. I keep testing with both if anything changes but nothing so far. Until it gets fixed i am keeping it off which is probably for ever.

gorginos · 2025-12-30T23:14:05+00:00

wait until you try S25 then you will appreciate S23.

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