Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus (SM-N975) In-Depth Review!

Samsung Galaxy Note10 Plus Cameras | Video Bokeh | Audio Zoom!

Single Front Camera

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ (USUK | AU | SGMY) has a single 10 MP Dual Pixel camera in the front, like the Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10e smartphones

However, they reduced the aperture from f/1.9 to f/2.2, which would slightly reduce the amount of light and its low-light performance.

And as many critics have noted, a 10 MP front camera is puny in the Megapixel Wars, especially compared to the 48 MP front shooters in Samsung’s own Galaxy A70, or HUAWEI nova 4e and the HONOR 20 Lite.

However, this 10 MP front camera is arguably a superior shooter for two reasons :

  • it uses a Samsung S5K3J1 Dual Pixel sensor, which allows for faster and more accurate autofocus
  • that image sensor also has much larger 1.22 µm pixels, for lower noise levels and better low-light performance

Still, we wished Samsung stuck with the f/1.9 aperture from the S10 series, or even reused the f/1.7 aperture from the Galaxy Note9.

 

Triple Rear Cameras

In the back, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ (USUK | AU | SGMY) has a quad camera system, that is made up of :

  • 12 MP Dual Aperture Camera (f/1.5 and f/2.4) : 77°, Dual Pixel, OIS
  • 16 MP Ultra-Wide Angle Camera (f/2.2) : 123°, 0.5X optical zoom
  • 12 MP Telephoto Camera (f/2.4) : 45°, 2X optical zoom, OIS
  • 3D DepthVision Camera : ToF emitter and sensor with VGA (320 x 240 pixels) resolution

The 3D DepthVision camera is actually a pair of ToF (Time of Flight) emitter and sensor that provide 3D data to the main camera for features like Video Bokeh and 3D scanning. It doesn’t take any photos.

Look at how useful the three cameras are in aiding your creative composition :

Note that only the main dual-aperture camera, and the telephoto camera (both with 12 MP sensors) support optical image stabilisation (OIS). The 16 MP ultra-wide angle camera does NOT support optical image stabilisation.

This is important when you take videos, because you will lose optical image stabilisation if you switch to the ultra-wide camera. Your video will still be stabilised by electronic image stabilisation though.

 

The Galaxy Note 10 Plus Camera vs The Competition

The 12 MP Samsung SAK2L4 image sensor used in the main and telephoto cameras is the fourth iteration of the S5K2L1 sensor from the Galaxy S7. It is still a great image sensor, but it is getting a little long in the tooth.

HUAWEI specifically pointed out how their recently-launched Mate 30 Pro uses far better image sensors. Not only do they have much higher resolutions, they are also much larger in size.

We should also point out that the 2X telephoto camera is also getting rather dated. The HUAWEI P30 Pro boasts a 5X optical zoom, and the HUAWEI Mate 30 Pro comes with 3X optical zoom.

Now, megapixels are not important. Even 48 MP shooters used in the Xiaomi Mi 9 and the Samsung Galaxy A80 default to 12 MP, combining four pixels into one to reduce noise and improve low-light performance.

However, Samsung definitely needs to increase the sensor size and the zoom range in their next flagship smartphone, or they will get left behind in the photographic department…

 

Video Bokeh

This is a really exciting feature for those who record videos. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ (USUK | AU | SGMY) with its DepthVision camera can blur out the background of your videos using the Video Bokeh feature.

This will give your videos a real cinematic flair with adjustable depth-of-field effects. You can also add special effects in real-time!

Later in this review, we will share with you a video sample to show you just how easy or difficult it is to get the Video Bokeh effect, and how the effect looks like in real life.

 

Audio Zoom Capability!

This is an incredibly important new feature, at least for those who do a lot of video recording without using external microphones.

In addition to the usual two microphones, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ (USUK | AU | SGMY) comes with a third microphone, which is hidden in the edge of the rear camera bump.

When you turn on Audio Zoom, the Galaxy Note 10+ will use the other two microphones to cancel out noise recorded by this third microphone.

The effect is adjusted on the fly, so it will change the range of sound captured as you “zoom” into the action, letting you “focus” on the subject that you are recording, and reducing ambient noise.

This is probably its most important video recording improvement over the Galaxy S10+, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10e smartphones. But we will share with you later in this review, how well Audio Zoom works in real life.

Next Page > Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus : Audio Jack | DeX | Battery | IP68 | Ergonomics

 

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