The Galaxy S21 Ultra's zoom skills make it a photography champ

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Samsung's Galaxy S21 Ultra

sits right at the top of the company's lineup of phones for 2021. No wonder then that it's got a huge list of elite specs, including a meaty processor and super-fast 5G connectivity. It's Samsung's answer to Apple's flagship

iPhone 12 Pro Max

. But it's the camera setup that stands out. There are four lenses on the back: a standard zoom, an ultra-wide lens, a 3x optical zoom and a 10x optical zoom. With the huge 108-megapixel resolution of the main camera, the phone can achieve a whopping 100x zoom overall. (Here are all the

new Galaxy S21 Ultra camera features

and how to use them.)

TL;DR: This zoom is the hero here. While results at 100x are still mediocre, the phone's ability to take sharp photos at 10x optical zoom means it can get images that simply aren't possible on competing flagships such as the

iPhone 12 Pro

< p> or

OnePlus 9 Pro

. You can also see our

shoot between the S21 Ultra and the iPhone 12 Pro Max

Although I would have liked more

Galaxy S21 Ultra main features

, what's here is still impressive. And I drove through Edinburgh to see what the phone can do.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

I started in beautiful Dean Village, with that classic view overlooking the river. Taken with the standard camera, the phone captured a rich and vibrant scene, with plenty of detail in the admittedly very dark foreground.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, super wide lens.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Zooming in on the very wide view, there's little noticeable change in colors, beyond a slight magenta tint in the top right corner. It's a well-balanced shot and there's plenty of detail throughout.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, 3x zoom.

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With 3x zoom, the clock tower is crisp and vibrant.

Galaxy S21, 10x zoom.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

With a 10x zoom, the image is always perfectly detailed, with nice contrast and no color shifts.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, 30x zoom.

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With a 30x zoom, things don't look so good. Yes, the photo is perfectly clear, but there is a general lack of definition. It's hard to line up your shot when you zoom in, but Samsung has a smart stabilization mode that helped me keep the whole clock face in frame.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, 100x zoom.

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At its maximum 100x zoom, those details are blurred even more, resulting in an image that's only really good as evidence of something you've seen, like rare wildlife. Yes, it's a new feature that can be fun to try, but for most people the quality isn't good enough for an Instagram post, for example.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, 10x zoom.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

The 10x zoom is the sweet spot for me and it's my favorite camera feature of the S21 Ultra. It allows you to capture photographic compositions that would require a large telephoto zoom with a DSLR. Zooming in on this beach I was able to show the curves of the water, the breakers stretching across the scene, and clearly show the walkers, which add a wonderful scale to the image.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, 10x zoom.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra's zoom skills make it a photography champ

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

And here I was able to fill the frame much more with the dramatic view of Fettes College.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, standard lens.

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Taken with the standard zoom lens, this shot overlooking a golf course isn't particularly exciting.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, 10x zoom.

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But turning on the 10x zoom means changing the view completely, focusing instead on the Edinburgh skyline, with the Calton Hill landmarks clearly visible.< /p>

Galaxy S21 Ultra, 10x zoom, 100% crop.

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Zooming in to 100% on the 10x zoom image, it's clear that there isn't much detail being captured. Realistically, images taken with the 10x zoom won't be of good enough quality for print - pristine quality zoom will remain the territory of a DSLR with a telephoto lens, at least for now. That said, most of the photos I've taken at 10x zoom look good enough for social media posting or messaging friends, which probably accounts for the vast majority of what anyone would want to do with it. his pictures anyway.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, 10x zoom.

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The 10x zoom was enough to accurately make out the details of this landing plane.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, 10x zoom.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

And it was the 10x zoom that allowed me to isolate this couple from distracting elements in the scene, resulting in a shot that just focuses on them looking away.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, 10x zoom, 100% crop.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Again though, cropping this image to 100% shows that there is a definite lack of fine detail when using this zoom level.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, ultra-wide lens.

Andrew Hoyle/CNET< /p>

The ultra-wide lens captures a lot of the scene and I'm really impressed with how snappy and mage is.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, ultra-wide lens.

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Although this shot of a gun has great overall exposure, with bright sky control and lots of shadow detail on the gun itself.

Galaxy S21 Ultra, night mode.

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By activating night mode, I was pleased to see the phone produce a bright and crisp image, even in a dark room. The colors here are accurate and there is enough detail to be able to read the fine text on the candle. Awesome stuff.

It's early days with the phone, but I'm already impressed with the photos I've been able to get, with great dynamic range and accurate color in most of the images I've taken. The zoom is the standout feature here, but it's only impressive up to a point. I like some of the photos I took with 10x zoom, but even then the detail is pretty rough. Going beyond 10x reduces it considerably and I still think the 100x Space Zoom feature is useless - I wish Samsung had spent its time making 10x zoom even better.