Galaxy users need this camera fix: Turn your Galaxy S23 Ultra into the camera Samsung failed to make

As someone who’s been following the smartphone camera evolution for years, it’s difficult to ignore the fact that photos coming out of Samsung and Apple’s flagship phones in the past 3-4 years look increasingly more artificial. But what really helped cast a shadow on this problem is other Android flagship phones like the Xiaomi 13 Ultra.

In fact, Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro photos can look good in isolation, but as our most recent YouTube camera comparison shows (you'll find it in the end of the story), Samsung and Apple’s cameras suddenly start falling apart when put against a real camera phone, which focuses on delivering an authentic photographic experience.

Unlike the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro tend to take overexposed and oversaturated photos. Their low-light images are also lacklustre when compared to the Xiaomi. However, by far the biggest problem with Samsung and Apple’s cameras is their tendency to oversharpen, and overprocess photos, resulting in unnatural landscapes, faces, and textures overall. In other words, photos from Galaxy S23 Ultra don't look like they are coming out of a dedicated camera. They have that "smartphone" look to them.

But I’m here with some great news! While Apple has been historically bad at letting users take full control of their cameras, Samsung is on the other end of the spectrum. Thanks to that, I can (and will) show you how to turn the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s artificial-looking images into far more authentic photos only with a few quick camera settings! The best part? You'll never need to touch those settings ever again.

Fixing the biggest problem with Galaxy S23, S23+, S23 Ultra, Galaxy S22 camera; Samsung phones can take much better photos if you change Samsung’s default camera settings

Although some of you might expect the secret to taking more natural photos with your Galaxy S23 Ultra (or another recent Galaxy phone) is to start taking 50 or 200MP photos, that’s actually not necessary. Sure, shooting in 200MP will increase the natural detail in your photos but those will be incredibly large in size and will fill up your storage very quickly. What’s also unnecessary for most “normal people” is to shoot in Pro mode or RAW format (available via Samsung’s Expert RAW app found in the Galaxy store).

What you want to do instead is to continue taking 12MP photos - this resolution is more than enough to give you a detailed image. But you also need to tweak a few camera settings - it quite literally takes seconds. That being said, unfortunately, Samsung hasn’t made the process as simple as it should be, but (unlike on iPhone) at least you can still fix the camera of your Galaxy S23 Ultra in almost no time.

You must change your Galaxy S23, Galaxy S22, Galaxy S21 camera settings immediately - if you want to fix Samsung's mistakes and take much better, more realistic photos

• Turn off the Scene Optimizer - tap the settings button in the top left of your camera and turn the Scene Optimizer off; the Scene Optimizer is Samsung’s "smart" algorithm that’s supposed to make your photos better but what it actually does is make your photos less realistic; with Scene Optimizer enabled the sky in your photos will look bluer, the grass will be greener, and your food will look more vibrant, which often contributes to that overprocessed look of photos I’d like to avoid

• Download the Camera Assistant app from the Galaxy Store - this is one of Samsung’s countless apps for adjusting your camera setting; you want to open the Camera Assistant, tap on Picture softening, and set it to Medium; this is the magical setting that gets rid of the oversharpening in your regular, 12MP photos and you no longer need to shoot in 200MP to get a more natural look; it's truly a game-changer that you need to try right now

• Experiment with Auto HDR, which is the first toggle you see when you open the Camera Assistant app; I say “experiment” because while turning Auto HDR off will pretty much result in a more natural, less processed image, it can also ruin some high-contrast photos, like when you’re shooting against the sun; that’s because Samsung’s HDR is rather aggressive, allowing no middle ground - HDR is either really on, or really off

That’s it! Your Galaxy S23 photos should now look far more natural, realistic, and authentic to what you were seeing when you took the picture. For example, you might’ve noticed that the sky and grass in some of the samples I took are less blue/green - that’s because the Scene Optimizer was turned off, making landscapes look… real.

Meanwhile, setting Picture softening to Medium helps make tree leaves, branches, grass and most other textures (including clouds in the sky) look softer but in a good way. What's interesting is that setting picture softening to medium will also reduce the noise in your photos, even those taken in daylight! Still, Galaxy S23 Ultra photos have noticeably less detail than photos taken with a Xiaomi 13 Ultra, so Samsung has a long way to go.