Samsung Galaxy S III i9300 Full Review

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The Samsung Galaxy S III has an 8 megapixel camera with auto-focus and an LED flash. It can capture video in full HD (1080p) resolution, and there’s a mode to capture video and images at the same time.

Even though the Galaxy S II and this model have the same sensor resolution, and Samsung supplies Apple with iPhone cameras, the unit on the Galaxy S III is new, according to Chipworks.

The user interface continues to be as intuitive as on the previous model, allowing easy tweaking of options for customers who may not be happy with the automatic mode.

Although Samsung doesn’t advertise the camera as the main highlight of this smartphone, the quality of image samples was impressive, especially for a device that doesn’t carry brand-name sensor or optics, such as Nokia’s Carl Zeiss or Sony Xperia’s Exmor R.

The image below was captured in daylight conditions in auto mode. Zooming in for a 100% crop in the dark areas we see that there is just some noise in the section containing the carport’s roof, a better performance than the Galaxy S II’s camera.

When it comes to macro mode, the image is over-exposed, but the detail is captured properly and a nice bokeh generated in the background.

In a low-lit office image the flash also performed well, reproducing colours correctly, even though it is a single LED component.

Video capture quality is lower than expected, as the stabilization felt slightly off, the exposure correction was slightly slow, and the moiré pattern too evident – not a device able to replace point-and-shoot video cameras, but usable for short clips usually recorded with mobile phones, such as family birthday parties.

The Galaxy S III captures full HD video in 1920 x 1080 pixels at 30 frames per second, using the H.264 codec with a bitrate of 16 410 kbps. Sound is captured in stereo at 128 kbps and 48 kHz.

Aside from the disadvantages of video recording, the image capture on the Samsung Galaxy S III lives up to its expectations and the unit overall can be considered a selling point of the smartphone.

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