Certainly one of my favourite methods to take photos with a smartphone is by utilizing the telephoto lenses on the again. The Galaxy S26 Extremely has at the least yet another lens than most telephones, giving Extremely customers much more methods to take superior pictures, regardless of how distant the topic is.
However I discovered myself a bit of… underwhelmed… by the standard of among the “telephoto macro” pictures I used to be taking with the Galaxy S26 Extremely. To say that many photographs seemed like they got here from a 2010 telephone is not an exaggeration, and I noticed too late after the truth that these photographs seemed genuinely horrible. Take a better have a look at any of the examples beneath to see what I imply.
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Focus “Enhancer?” I do not assume so.
See all that nasty compression and lack of element within the image of my cat when Focus Enhancer is enabled within the comparability above? Click on the full-screen button on the image so you possibly can see what I imply. It isn’t simply unhealthy, it is flat-out embarrassing for a $1300 telephone launched in 2026 to provide, nevertheless it seems that this is not the Galaxy S26 Extremely {hardware}’s fault. It is the software program.
By default, the Galaxy S26 Extremely’s software program robotically switches among the many 4 rear cameras based mostly on the telephone’s distance from the topic, the lighting, and the way far you are zooming in. Whereas this may work very nicely for some conditions, I discover that Samsung’s software program thinks it is smarter than it truly is. That is why I desire to show off these instruments and take management myself.
Don’t fret, turning off these choices will not take away your capacity to take macro photographs from any lens you need, however we’ll cowl that in a bit.
Step one is to show off Auto Lens Switching, which requires you to obtain Samsung’s digital camera assistant app. Fortunately, there is a shortcut within the digital camera software program, which eliminates a step Samsung used to require.
flip off Auto Lens Switching and Focus Enhancer
1. Open the digital camera app.
2. Faucet the choices button subsequent to the digital camera zoom buttons. It seems like 4 dots.
3. Faucet the settings gear to open digital camera settings.
4. Scroll all the way down to Digital camera Assistant and click on the obtain button subsequent to it.
5. When the Galaxy Apps retailer opens, faucet the Set up button to put in Samsung Digital camera Assistant.
Now that Digital camera Assistant is put in and prepared to be used, return to your digital camera app and open digital camera settings, then comply with these steps:
1. In digital camera settings, scroll all the way down to and faucet Digital camera Assistant.
2. Close to the highest, toggle the change for Auto lens switching to show it off.
3. Navigate again to the digital camera viewfinder and faucet the 3x zoom button.
4. Get inside a couple of inches of any object till the Macro button seems to the left of the zoom buttons. It seems like a flower.
5. Faucet the Macro button to disable Focus Enhancer. The icon might be greyed out and have a line crossed by it when it is disabled.
“Telephoto macro” will rework your smartphone digital camera expertise
As telephoto cameras have gotten higher through the years, I’ve loved utilizing them to reinforce my pictures and create photos that appear like they have been taken with a digital camera much more highly effective than the one in your smartphone. That is as a result of photographs taken with these sensors usually function a shallow depth of area and lovely bokeh (the background blur that makes a topic actually stand out), together with crisp element within the stuff you truly wish to {photograph}.
If you happen to’re somebody who likes to take photographs of animals, meals, flowers, and even simply artsy pictures for Instagram (folks nonetheless try this, proper?), then the telephoto macro strategy is what you’ve got been in search of. And now that the automated lens-switching nonsense has been turned off, you possibly can choose the lens and get the shot good, reasonably than play by the whims of software program that does not perceive context.
Subsequent time you are taking a photograph, strive tapping that 3x or 5x button and lining the shot up. You may want to tug the telephone again just a bit extra — normally a couple of extra inches — which additionally helps you body the shot extra deliberately.
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For meals, I discover this enables me to compose my frames very particularly, including a wealthy depth to the photograph that makes it appear like somebody with an expert digital camera took it. Footage of my household and pets are extra generally shot with telephoto lenses lately, as they spotlight the topic and produce wealthy, portrait-quality photographs with out the fringing and blur calculation errors that portrait mode makes.
I’ve additionally discovered that this helps get nice particulars into focus higher, as nicely, together with small components just like the pollen in a flower, or the bee buzzing across the petals. Making an attempt to rise up shut and seize macro pictures with the ultrawide digital camera — which is what the telephone usually makes use of when Focus Enhancer is enabled — produces photographs which are flat and lack depth or actual focus.
On the Galaxy S26 Extremely, the 5x lens is the most important of the 2 telephoto sensors, which suggests that you will have to tug a bit of additional again than on another telephones, however that bigger sensor and new ALoP (All Lenses on Prism) sensor design could make your photographs notably spectacular.
The Galaxy S26 Extremely offers you extra telephoto lenses than most telephones, so why not make the most of each’s distinctive atributes? Snap crisp, ‘Gram-ready photographs with the most recent sensors and upgraded software program.