yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ajarosz:
As for GCAM, just check the thread. Not working out of the box is normal case for any of them, as this preloads with wrong config and you need to do a trick when lunching it for the first time. As for me, worth spending 5 minutes of reading the manual and doing actual trick in like 15-20 seconds.

As for processing, all depends hop the whole pipeline of processing looks like. It might be easy, it might be not. I would like to see that happening as well, or if we are dreaming, having dropdowns for things like sharpening, noise reduction, saturation etc. with 3-4 different values.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] JohnTheFarm3r:
It sucks in comparison to GCAM, yes.

If you like it, fine, use it, no one is stopping you from it. But just because you don't notice the issues, it doesn't mean no one else does.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Deepgreen23:
Tried all the 'tricks' at the time - nothing worked. I just use my Canon R5 for proper photography - it's just far easier than trying to force my phone to do something different! Anyway, back on topic, I wonder when the 'upgrade' will reach the UK?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] CarlosLopezES:
Gcam it's like magic on low quality phones, but on flagship like S23U, some things are better on Gcam, and others not.

Also, every week we have a Gcam config update, changing everything, and restart again. It's a pain in the ass for people that only want to take good pictures. Modders doesn't know when to stop, and it's not a critic, it's just a commentary for most of the users.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ajarosz:
As for the photos, I don't use any of the Samsung apps at all. For videos, it is the other way round. Samsung Camera app is the way to go. I just like much, much more what GCAM produces in stills, and for the photos I take, it was always superior to Samsung apps. But it is just a matter of personal preference, and I assume that might be a situation where GCAM is not that good.

As for changes - true. That's why I have just settled with the config that I liked and I'm on it from like 2 months now and not planning to upgrade until something really breathtaking will take place, like e.g. Samsung allowing 3rd party app to use full sensor resolution etc.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Deepgreen23:
Yes - not clear why full sensor resolution would be restricted anyway - how does it benefit Samsung?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Klaudas:
Future updates. When the hype of s23u will be over maybe they will unlock this "feature" for 3rd party to attract more geeks to play around with this sensor.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Fl1nt91:
Have the done it with s22 ultra?

I don't think is something in plan
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Deepgreen23:
Paid updates? If not, then the benefits are small as they bring out a new model every year anyway. The positive publicity they would gain from the high quality output from the start would surely boost sales more and earlier than possible future upgrades.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Klaudas:
No no. Don't give apple ideas of paid updates lol. S23u is the best selling android high end phone so I don't think they care much about "slight boost" with unlocking everything they have for 3rd party developers.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Deepgreen23:
This is Samsung, rather than Apple.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Klaudas:
But samsung is apple of android world. I'm surprised that gcam exist at all for this beast for example
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Burnout62:
Anyone received the update? Started rolling out in some countries.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] xwonic:
I changed my S23Ultra (SM-S918B) to THL CSC from EUX this weekend and got it.

It's missing the High Resolution capture speed on camera assistant, I don't know if they have changed this by improving it (maybe its both faster capture and post processing at same time now).

Since i'm not used to seeing the diference in time i can't say how much has it improve.

Other then that and the option to set 2x on portraits, i don't see other improvements.

But ofc it's a 2.2GB update so something must be new.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Vitalik666teen:
Samsung stopped uploaded new base.. They say this rom have problem..
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] :
I haven't noticed any problems with the new base until then.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] The Atomic Fart:
Still waiting on the UK rollout.

Did notice today that there has been an update for the camera assistant app on the Galaxy store today. Don't know if that was included in the firmware update or whether that will give you the option again.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] xwonic:
I don't have a new update on camera assistant yet. still on 1.1.01.0 from march 30th.

Camera App is on 13.1.01.35.

I did get a Expert Raw app update to 2.0.09.1 after updating.

Also i have to not encountered any bugs yet using this AWF1 update that i notice but it all depends usage i guess.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] pratik_193:
how about battery life? people who got it says their battery life has gone down now
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] CarlosLopezES:
This, 99% of the time, it's bull****, personal impressions and placebo effect for one side or another
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ajarosz:
Well after each update it can down for a while, because it might be the case, that update is cleaning some not compatible date/cache and has to collect that again. It can be the case with battery data as well. So people can see that, but probably it might be also very short term thing.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Ejjskakejdndnnxnawjjd:
About time lol
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] coolhead:
And where is here?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] nmt1900:
One test that I did before to see how post-processing works is to take a picture of sharp text displayed on Retina Macbook screen.

Before AWF1 update text had always awful halos around contours if Picture softening was set to Off (default setting) in Camera assistant and they were almost absent if setting was at Medium. Now I tried same thing and it looks like halos are absent or much less pronounced even if Picture softening is set to Off. This implies that some changes might really have been made...
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] CarlosLopezES:
Update available now on Europe :) (Updating in Spain)
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] _GRIZZLY_:
Europe- Poland too available :)
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] mastermind666:
updating in germany rn
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ekerbuddyeker:
918B always seems to get it first.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] NullZeroNull:
His "here" is not my "here"

These updates usually come earlier in the month... Kinda late in June.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] RaZoR No1:
Anything new?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Aleks95:
• 2X zoom for Portrait mode

• Fixed camera autofocus issues

• Better Night mode processing

• Smoother One UI transition animations

• Subtle improvements to haptic feedback

this is what sammobile wrote
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] citytrader:
EXPERT RAW vs STOCK PRO RAW: AWC8 vs AWF1 - 50mpx Zoom 200x no retouch

AWC8 was shoot with ExpertRaw not updated.

Soft focus is gone in ExpertRaw F1 - Stock still with less detail from what I see with my eyes the real painting

EXPERTRAW​

EXPERTRAW​

STOCK Zoom 200x 50mpx
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] V0latyle:
I have moved several posts from another thread to this one.

Please do not create a new thread when one exists on the topic:
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] HorizonJ:
Downloading AWF1 now in the UK. Download is quite slow though
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] citytrader:
Zoom 200x - 50mpx RAW ExpertRAW vs Stock (sharpened) - STOCK PRO RAW is totally unusable, horrible with smeared details everywhere.

The yellow small horizontal lines are bugs of the STOCK camera.

Don't use STOCK PRO RAW.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] citytrader:
JPG TEST 50mpx - Zoom 200x : STOCK NORMAL JPG (2nd best and not bad in this firmware, good option for non RAW shooters or the only option if need the flash) - EXPERT JPG - EXPERT RAW (This one by long the best)

SHOOT ON TRIPOD
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] shigit56:
Does anyone has idea on when this june update will be released on Taiwan variant (SM-S9180) ?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] AJ732101:
200MP image rendering after the June update when color corrected in Lightroom and scaled down to half the resolution

When putting some effort in the image like I would do from any other "real" camera the output can look quite fine
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ZayaanAhyaan:
Got the update....definitely some improvements to Autofocus have been made. as that was my biggest gripe.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] citytrader:
I still don't know what is the use of night mode, I never used it in any of the cellphones I had, the same for portrait mode, I don't like the idea of the fake bokeh.

My camera for stills is fixed at 50 mpx and I only use that mode in both ExpertRAW and normal camera when I need flash or pano shoots (12mpx).
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] borijess:
Update is out for ATT U1.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] DUTCH Van Atlanta:
Update is also out for unlocked S23 Ultra in the US. Just did it, and it didn't take all that long.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] arlequin2k3:
Hello ,

I see that the latest version ( S918BXXU2AWF1 ) has been released everywhere in Europe except EUX . Can I take any rom from a European country or not?

With the S20FE you could do it with another EU country. However, there was no European version (EUX) as with the S23 Ultra.

Thank you for your answers.

@+
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] _GRIZZLY_:
EUX is clean CSC rom for Europe. I receive this update 2 days ago for exactly EUX - Poland ( Central Europe) but in this case Poland isn't important..

Are sure that are you have EUX CSC and tried check update in settings?

My girlfriend had problem in S22U in back year with receive 1 update. She wait month or more and with too clean EUX.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] xgerryx:
I'm wondering if anyone saw anything break upon installing this update in the US? I'm on the Samsung unlocked but I'm sure any variant would apply. This is a forced update, as in it keeps scheduling to auto install it, and I keep pushing it back. I would rather wait a week or two to see if people have issues.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] hand-filer:
Nothing broke on mine. I ran Galaxy App Booster right after updating. Battery life is as good as before the update.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] arlequin2k3:
My problem is that I can no longer receive the update because my smartphone is rooted. That's why I need the EUX rom to install it with Odin. But the Roma EUX is still not there

On the other hand, the other European countries have it. See it here:

https://samfrew.com/model/SM-S918B/

Which I can install but without operator like SFR or Bouygues for the France for example ;

Thank you for your answers .
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] NXUS:
Do you have a bug in enhanced comfort mode?

I have it set to turn on eye comfort shield and enhanced comfort on at a set schedule.

Whenever I turn off my screen, OUTSIDE of the schedule, enhanced comfort turns on. Toggling off and on eye comfort shield reverts screen back to normal until the screen turns off, then enhanced comfort turns back on.

This was not previously the case. Previously, enhanced comfort and eye comfort would only turn on during the scheduled hours and then turn off.

Only fix right now is to turn off enhanced comfort. Any one else test this?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Virgo_Guy:
India receives "AWF3" build.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] johnnyman25:
The night mode processing still needs much work...
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] johnnyman25:
Sorry double post.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] johnnyman25:
Same here mate!
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Ipse_Tase:
I always wipe the cache partition and run App Booster (mind you, Samsung claims it's automatic in S23ULTRA) and things look MOSTLY normal.

Problems noticed:

- fingerprint image is slow to display, therefore logging in is slower

- the Performance profile icon doesn't show up in the status bar for a while

- phone switches to WiFi calling despite signal being good and Mobile being the preferred phone method

- I don't see HDR improvements and the pics look as flat as before in standard mode. Expert RAW is good

- slight color saturation boost that was definitely not needed
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Ipse_Tase:
After 2 more days to better evaluate the changes:

- the fingerprint slowness seems to be due to the Developer Options for Animation speed being reset to 1x (was 0.5x before the update)

- Also in Developer Options, "Force Dark mode" was disabled after the update

- battery life in Deep Sleep has improved back to what it was before the May update (0.25-0.3 %/hr at night)

- I still passionately hate HDR...such a good concept and powerful ISP but a sh.tty result due to erratic interpretation of original scene. This is 2023 FFS, my 5 years old Mate 20 Pro still does HDR better.

All in all, enough to justify the update for those on the fence.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] MrDusan:
It seems to me like they didn't even fix the HDR issue. I have a few scenes where i still have the halo effect over objects.

Apart from that, the zoom cameras seem to have much softer pics and videos.

Looking into older videos and comparing to new ones, new ones actually look worse.

I feel like the camera is less reliable now than on may update.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] erik2041999:
I can definitely confirm the HDR halo effect...
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] benbird7:
I waited to update to AWF1 until others had commented, the camera feels worse and battery life isn’t quite what is was before, I am hoping that the issues faced with the camera will be fixed when they eventually roll out AWF3.

I did reset the whole phone to update it too, it took a little while for the battery to settle but still feels like its draining a little faster than previous version.

I think if they fix the items with AWF3 I will look to leave this installed and not update any more.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] MrDusan:
I agree that the camera got worse.

Sadly, I saw that the camera version is the same in both awf1 and 3...
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] benbird7:
I've got two s23u, both updated to latest firmware one 256gb and the other 512gb.

If I take the exact same shot with exact same default settings on the zoom lens say 10x or 30x the 256gb model has better low light detailing at the same ISO than the 512gb.

Attached example shot from each but every time the 256gb model is clearer and resolves better detail - 256gb photos end in (1).

It also focuses better in lower light, in some instances it can focus where the 512gb version just cycles through without locking.

I've checked he info and everything is the same other than the storage and ram.

What's going on here, is it just variance between the devices. Am I bring pedantic over such minor differences or is it justified they should match one another?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] aureum:
Poor quality control so can be differences between phones...
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Ipse_Tase:
Shockingly, AWFD dropped today (for me at least):

- 419MB, unclear what is new besides the security update

- July security update

Will come back after a week to report what I notice changed - I jumped on it because I read a few comments about some vulnerability that's pretty major to justify the fast update.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Virgo_Guy:
Users with T-Mobile carrier are getting "AWFD" afaik, not the unlocked ones. At 419MB and carrier locked, maybe it's just a security patch @ July.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] benbird7:
Currently downloading this update on 1p mobile s23u UK.

Notify Update
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Mozie:
Guys what are recommended camera settings for best general outcome on auto mode, which ones are you using?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ajarosz:
Next week I will have Xiaomi 14 Ultra, so I will make a similar comparison to this one:

https://xdaforums.com/t/major-updat...-series-improves-camera.4570457/post-88386541 with S23U with the base camera app, pro mode, expert raw and Xiaomi. We will see which one will be to stay as a daily. And as I was not using Samsung camera apps, I am wondering whether they have improved after that year or not.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ajarosz:
Part 2 - Samsung RAWs after one year of updates (or rather downgrades).​

For RAWs comparison, I will have 5 different files. Camera App PRO 12 Mpix, 50 Mpix, ExpertRAW 12 and 50 Mpix, and GCAM 12Mpix.

When I was starting my Samsung journey, my understanding from Samsung materials was that ExpertRAW is an application for people who shoot in RAW most of the time and would like to squeeze everything that you can do from the camera sensor. Is that the case?

For a scene this time I chose a dark room, as I wanted to see how much I could play with these files. All of them were shot from hand and with all settings on auto.

Size:

GCAM: 24 495 KB

PRO 12: 35 614 KB

PRO 50: 129 849 KB (!!)

ExpertRAW 12: 20 402 KB

ExpertRAW 50: 86 727 KB

As for parameters, I would not look at them. All of them reported exposure times around 10-17s (while longes one did not take longer than a second to hold a phone steady) and ISOs between 1000(Camera App PRO mode) and 2888 (GCAM).

On import, I made sure that everything was on default, except for sharpness. I had to dial down to 0 for all of them.

And that is the default preview for all of them:

First is GCAM, then both PRO (12 then 50), and after that ExpertRAW (same order, 12 then 50). We can see that each app went with a different default exposure and color balance.

For the next step, the only sliders I had modes were highlights and shadows, to the max, to check how well files would behave.

Without zooming GCAM is the cleanest, second best is ExpertRAW 12. In ExpertRAW 50 and both PRO even on preview, we can see either extensive color cast or noise.

Let's look closer.

GCAM is soft, but has all the details, just like the RAW file should look. PRO outputs are RAW-like as well, but much, much noisier. ExpertRAW does not look like RAW at all. 12 Mpix one has already applied a ton of sharpening and noise reduction, which cannot be undone (all details sliders are set to 0). The same applies to 50Mpix ExperRAW, but here it makes all small details lost because of too much noise reduction.

That one truly shows how impressive GCAM RAW is. All the details are there, and also there is almost no noise. PRO 12 is rather on the noisy side with a lot of chrome noise. PRO 50 is just a mess with a lot of color noise.

Expert RAW 12 again has a lot of sharpening and noise reduction applied, which makes it look much more like painting here. Expert RAW 50 lost all details.

Also, for all Samsun DNGs, it was not possible to use LR AI noise reduction, which can be applied on RAWs only. That indicates that even Samsung PRO raws and not truly RAWs anymore - which was not the case for PRO mode in the past! It was changed around April last year.

Conclusion: If you would like to use RAWs on S23 Ultra, just go for GCAM. Period.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] _GRIZZLY_:
Nice comparasion. But if use stock app camera in your opinion photoes are a lot worse after year?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ajarosz:
I would say that JPGs from the stock app in 12 Mpix resolution got a bit better. 50 Mpix and 200 Mpix are to be used only in perfect light conditions and that did not change enough.

As for RAWs quality itself did not change that much. They are just bad. Ones from the Stock app are much RAW-like, but they lack quality, and the ones from ExpertRAW are just a joke in terms of being RAWs. Overall ExpertRAW app is a joke to me. Processing is very off, JPGs are much worse than in Stock, and RAWs are full of artifacts and preprocessed. If you use them in good light conditions, sure, it will look okay at best. But as for me, ExpertRAW app should be removed, and stocked "RAW" should be a toggle in the PRO tab in the stock app.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] cfds:
I am using my S23U's camera for wat it is...it takes good pics when I am on the go but that's all I can say.

These pictures look good on social media when viewed on a phone or tablet but that's where it ends.

As soon as I put these pics on my laptop which has a 4k display you get slapped in the face.

Lets be honest...200mp in this device while my Sony system camera A7R4 has "only" 62mp?

They have come a long way and at first glance these images taken by flagship phones are looking good but when you sit down and start comparing these with pictures taken by a proper camera that's where the boy's are separated from the men. I am in no means a pro but I am under no illusion that flagship phones will replace proper cameras any time soon. I think that the commercial departments combined with the Youtube influencer's are doing a great job selling us the lie of these megapixel sensors...just compare the size of a fullframe sensor from a camera with that of a sensor found in a flagship phone. I leave the rest up to you.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ajarosz:
Well, you cannot cheat on physics. So bigger sensor and bigger lens will give better results. But there is a small but. Smartphones do apply a lot of processing and for a quick snap, quick share, and for people that do not give a damn about postprocessing or/and post pictures on social media, sometimes photos from smartphones look better. Have better DR, already sharpened, etc.

When it comes to Samsung, I can say only one thing - I am very, very disappointed by what Samsung apps are producing. They have a lot of features, a lot of toggles, switches, etc but it is quantity, not quality. If not for GCAM, I would sell my S23U after a week or two. All these major updates did not improve image quality too much. We got the option to soften images instead of better processing in the first place, an option to sacrifice quality for moving objects, etc. We have workarounds and no solutions to problems that Samsung image processing has. Also, don't forget about broken DNGs.

And that is why I have decided to switch to Xiaomi 14 Ultra after a week of testing. Yes, Samsung has richer software. Yes, the ecosystem is better. Yes, the OS itself is much better, has more customizations, and is much more polished. But for me, the smartphone is 90% about pictures. While GCAM is very good thanks to people who put a lot of effort into preparing it, I don't want to wake up one day with a not working camera, because Samsung did break API (as they did with S24U).
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Android083:
Thanks for the above comparisons on the S23U shooting modes.

Were you able to compare the images from. Thr S23U and the Xiaomi 14 Ultra?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ajarosz:
I will post that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. :)
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] Mozie:
Thanks for the great comparison, appreciate it.

As a not actively user of photographing, which settings would you recommend for using on auto mode with regular Samsung camera app? Would really appreciate if you'd share your thoughts on that 🙏
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] dj24:
+1
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] SpaceFolding:
I'm out of the loop. What happened with S24U, its API, and Gcam functionality?
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ajarosz:
There were a few weeks, when GCAM was basically not working on S24U, because of some issues on the Samsung side. It was fixed, but still.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] ajarosz:
Well, no, it does not. Processing is mediocre I would say, Extensive noise reduction, sharpening, halos around objects, and details are not there (50Mpix ExpertRAW has details, but the problem is that Samsung applies NR and Sharpening that you cannot get rid of). It's ok when you are looking at the photos without zooming. The painful part is that especially primary sensor has so much potential, as installing GCAM shows that a 12 Mpix photo can be so much better than anything that any of the Samsung apps produces, same goes for DNG files.

So we are glad you are happy with the quality of the pictures, but unfortunately, they are far from being brilliant.
[Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra] bodomfan:
Any samples