Does the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra's 100x Space Zoom work?

"100x Space Zoom" is easily the Galaxy S20 Ultra's standout feature. Samsung is proud of it to the point where they slapped the phrase right on the back of the phone, as part of a rather sizeable camera bump.

100x zoom is, however, a rather bold claim. It's an unprecedented feature for a smartphone. We've seen 50x zoom and 60x zoom, but Samsung has pushed further than rival devices like the Huawei P30 Pro and the OPPO Reno 5G. 

As such, it's natural to have questions. Does it work? Is worth the $1,999 price tag?  Are the photos any good? 

The Galaxy S20 Ultra's camera configuration is made up of four rear-facing lenses. These include a 108MP primary lens, a 48MP 4x zoom telephoto lens, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a Time-of-Flight sensor for capturing depth information.

The secret behind the Galaxy S20 Ultra's 100x zoom is the 48MP zoom lens. The lens allows for 4x optical zoom (where the lens does all the work) and 10x hybrid zoom (where software is used to zoom in beyond what the lens is physically capable of). After you push past the 10x barrier, the zoom is all digital. No further information is captured, so you're essentially just cropping in on part of a 10x photo. This holds true all the way up to 100x.

100x zoom is impressive both on paper and in practice. It's kind of crazy that a smartphone camera is capable of that kind of zoom range. However, it's important to be aware of the realities of the technology.

Every a tiny shake of your hand is magnified significantly as you zoom in with a camera, so even the slightest movement can entirely change the composition of your shot. If you want to make the most of the Galaxy S20 Ultra's zoom functionality, you'll want a tripod. The Galaxy S20 Ultra camera app has secondary viewfinder that will help frame up your shot, but tapping the shutter button is potentially enough to mess up your shot.

Secondly, image quality degrades rapidly when you pass 10x zoom. Photos start to take on a bit of an impressionist painting vibe. You lose the sense of realism, you lose all detail.

Here are couple of examples of how the tech works:

Alex Choros

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Alex Choros is the Managing Editor of WhistleOut Australia and an award-winning journalist. He's been writing about consumer technology for over a decade and is an expert on the Australian telco sector, to the point where he knows far too many phone and internet plans by heart. In addition to leading the WhistleOut editorial team, Alex is responsible for ruining the office Sonos with his troubled taste in music.

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