The Galaxy S20 Ultra has several modules: there is a 12 megapixel main module, as well as a 108 megapixel module, which is designed for shooting in high resolution. The problem is that there is no particular benefit from 108 megapixels, besides, if you do not zoom in on the picture, the 12-megapixel photo of the main S20 Ultra module looks much better. The same applies to the S20 and S20 +, which have a 12-megapixel main and 64-megapixel additional modules – photos with a 12 megapixel camera without zooming are much better. Don't believe me? Then watch.
Do we need 108 megapixels? I think not yet
By the way, we previously compared the 100x magnification of the S20 Ultra and Huawei P30 Pro and realized that there is not much difference between them. Moreover, the zoom in the S20 Ultra itself is quite interesting.
Below is an example of 12MP and 108MP images on the S20 Ultra:
Photo on the 12-megapixel camera Galaxy S20 Ultra
Photo on the 108-megapixel camera Galaxy S20 Ultra
And this is an example of a photo on the S20 + in 12-megapixel mode and 64-megapixel:
Photo on the 12-megapixel camera S20 +
Photo on the 64-megapixel camera S20 +
How do you like it? It's obvious to me that the 12MP main module in the S20, S20 + and S20 Ultra is head and shoulders above all other modules in normal shooting. You may notice that photos on high-resolution modules are darker and weirder, it seems that the HDR mode with these cameras works somehow differently – worse. I am interested in your opinion on this matter, you can share it below in the comments or in our Telegram chat.
Why you need a 108MP module in the S20 Ultra
And this is an interesting question, because I still do not quite understand what the cases of using a 108 or 64-megapixel module can be. My Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite also has a 48MP shooting mode, but in this case the quality suffers, so it's not entirely clear why this is needed. In addition, we all take photos for the sake of publishing in Instagram, which greatly compresses the photo, which makes the main plus of the 108-megapixel module unnecessary.
However, the problem is also in the size of the photo. Let's compare:
- 12MP image weighs 4.6MB
- 64-megapixel image weighs 22.7 MB
- 108-megapixel image weighs 32.8 MB
And if we assume that you are active users Instagram, it is not difficult to calculate that 30 photos will take you a whole gigabyte of memory. The memory of the 128 GB model is enough for only 3,840 photos, and I still do not take into account a bunch of different applications and their cache. For example, in a month I managed to take more than a thousand photos, and this despite the fact that I am not particularly interested in this, therefore 108 megapixels are not yet entirely relevant in the issue of optimal use of phone memory.
But that's not all. Gmail has a limit on the size of the attached file – it cannot exceed 25 megabytes. Funny, huh? That is, you cannot share your 108-megapixel image with anyone without 'dancing with a tambourine'. Is it worth buying a phone for 70-100 thousand for this?
12 megapixels will be relevant for another 10 years
Now I will try to explain this position. Let's face it, when was the last time manufacturers offered us 2K or 4K resolution phones? These are isolated cases. The bottom line is that modern phones have enough FullHD resolution and pixel density of 300-400 ppi. A 12-megapixel image is enough to make a photo on such a screen in Instagram look clear and cool. Moreover, do not forget that while the Internet speed is not so high that Instagram could offer us 12 megapixel pictures in original resolution, if you go to the social network now and save any photo, you will notice that its resolution is 1080 × 1080 pixels, and a picture on a social network weighs an average of 400 KB.
Thus, we can once again make sure that even 12 megapixels today and in five years will be enough for us. Heavy pictures are always a problem for social networks, because on the Internet the main thing is download speed, not high quality, and if the eye on a smartphone does not see the difference between a 12-megapixel image and a 108-megapixel one, then why all this?
It is interesting to know your opinion on this matter, let's discuss this topic in our Telegram chat.