s21 Ultra camera issues

[Cubus]

I just updated to the latest software this morning available to T-mobile customers. 

I don't have a protective film on the lenses. The camera takes absolutely horrid pictures of people. 

The camera takes very good macro pictures. Focus and clarity is excellent. Takes OK landscape pictures. 

However, the pictures of people are horrible. The pictures have extreme noise, are very grainy everywhere where skin is visible and subjects sometimes are lacking features. Smoothing of facial features is insane. 

I took a picture of my wife and one of her eyes was completely blurred out like processed in a way to provide depth of field with blurry background but here half of her face existed and half was blurred.

I have similar experience with Photo mode and Pro mode shooting in RAW. 

What is strange, the person can look absolutely clear in live preview but then the picture is blurred/grainy. 

Really weird. 

[CalderCay]

I hadn't taken photos of people yet, so just now, took some of my wife.

Using Portrait mode, all looks fine - fine detail and good white balance.

I switched to "Photo", and out of the four test shots, only one came out fine, as above, fine detail and good white balance.

So what about the three bad ones? With one photo, her whole face has a reddish tint. A second photo, only her forehead has this red tint. Those are shots where I used the preset 3x zoom.

In Pro mode, one photo looks fine with good white balance, but the second Pro shot, the white balance is way off, very noticably.

For grins, I took head shots of a couple cats ... there's no detail in the fur - the photo ended up so smooth, it doesn't look like fur.

So, my conclusion, is the camera is very inconsistent.

[Cubus]

yes, I can confirm that using a dedicated portrait mode pictures are much more sharp. From 2 ft away individual eyebrows are visible. Taking the same picture using a Photo mode, even with scene optimizer on showing portrait is a blurry mess.

[latoplano_6_625]

i didnt have chance to take pictures of people, but try submit a ticket on samsung members app, with the original photo included

they might be able to tell you what the issue is

[KittyFantastico]

Chiming in to say that I've been thoroughly unimpressed by the camera thus far. I take photos of adoptable pets for the local shelter and the S21 Ultra photos are worse than the S8 I just traded in. So much worse that I'm wondering if I can just have them send my S8 back. The photo of the white and grey cat is from my S8. The photo of the grey cat is from my S21 Ultra. Both unedited. I used the default photo mode, no zoom. Both photos were taken in the same room with the same fluorescent lighting. The photos were taken today, after an update this morning.

[Cubus]

Yes, I've noticed the similar with S9+ I traded in.
I couldn't figure out how to add pictures to already started thread on this forum and inadvertently initiated a topic for the same issue.
https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-S21/S21-ultra-camera-issue/td-p/1703806
Have a look at some pictures there.
I do think this is software/processing issue. One of the differences that this phone has in comparison to S8 or S9 is introduction of technology called pixel binning.
What it does is taking a picture with the 108MP large sensor in poor lighting conditions and then combining information from these several pixels into one virtual pixel that carries more captured light information. Then the image is stitched into a 12MB picture you've chosen in settings. If you followed phone camera development, at one point Apple said megapixels are silly, the size of the pixels is what matters in terms of capturing proper information in all light.
Pixel binning is a software way to say my camera pixel sensors are "larger".
What I think is happening here is twofold.
1. The "stitching" is not done properly, therefore, all subjects look fuzzy.
2. Samsung will override your lens selection when you tap the "leafs" and choose a 3x digital zoom instead of 3x optical lens or 3.3x digital zoom instead of 10x lens.

[SamsungAdam · Accepted solution]

At this time there are no reported known issues with the Galaxy S21 series devices. You can try the troubleshooting articles below. If camera issues still appear you are welcome to seek returns services through our eCommerce team1-855-726-8721, repair services through customer support by calling1-800-786-7864, or you may seek repairs with your local uBreakiFix walk-in center here: https://www.samsung.com/us/support/ubreakifix

Photos and Video are blurry or dark 

Camera does not focus on the subject