Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is the best travel camera

I visited Barcelona recently and while the plan was to use Ricoh GR III and Nikon Z6 on the trip, funny thing happened and here I am, writing a post about Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

I guess everybody knows we are talking about a smartphone. Or is it a proper camera? I’d say it’s a camera which can be used as a mobile phone. I mean, this is pretty cool, right? 😎

Flying over Oslo Fjord Flying over Oslo Fjord. See in full resolution on Flickr

Oslo city center from airplane window 10x shot of Oslo city. See in full resolution on Flickr

Windmills in the sea See in full resolution on Flickr

Landscape pattern See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona buildings See in full resolution on Flickr

La Barceloneta See in full resolution on Flickr

You must love the versatility of this camera (phone). It has five cameras. The main sensor is a 100mpx one for super fine details. You have 3x and 10x optical zoom cameras. Come on, in a phone? Isn’t that awesome?!

Streets of Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Streets of Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Graffiti in the streets of Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Magic Fountain in Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Magic Fountain in Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Magic Fountain in Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Magic Fountain in Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Magic Fountain in Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Magic Fountain in Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Magic Fountain in Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Magic Fountain in Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Have you seen this photos of Magic fountain in Barcelona? All of them were taken with the Expert RAW application from Samsung Store. I am not sure if it’s available for any other models than S22 series though.

Long story short, you have access to all settings as you would normally have on a proper camera. So you can choose ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation and all the good stuff which can help you get the photo you want.

Barcelona streets See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona streets See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona streets See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona streets See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona cityscape from Tibidabo Amusement Park Shot from the main camera. See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona cityscape from Tibidabo Amusement Park Shot with a 10x telephoto camera. See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona cityscape from Tibidabo Amusement Park Shot with a 10x telephoto camera.. Can you spot the Camp Nou? See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona cityscape from Tibidabo Amusement Park Here is the 30x digital zoom photo of Camp Nou if you had difficulties noticing it 😊. See in full resolution on Flickr

I mean, are this photos “tack sharp”? Nope. Are they good enough? Yep. Do you like to make memories? I surely do, and this device helps me a lot.

The Church of the Sacred Heart on Mount Tibidabo See in full resolution on Flickr

Tibidabo food truck See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona cityscape from The Church of the Sacred Heart on Mount Tibidabo 100mpx shot. See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona cityscape See in full resolution on Flickr

Parc Güell 100mpx shot. See in full resolution on Flickr

Parc Güell See in full resolution on Flickr

Parc Güell See in full resolution on Flickr

Parc Güell See in full resolution on Flickr

Buildings of Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona streets See in full resolution on Flickr

It needs to be said that I took a lot of photos with 3x camera. 10x can feel a bit tight most of the time (at least in Barcelona), but 3x can save you a bit from walking and still get the shot you wanted. Compression is also nice, and the lens is plenty sharp. You can also take nightography shots with it (funny but cool word, thanks Samsung).

Barcelona streets See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona streets See in full resolution on Flickr

BARCELONA - STAINLESS STEEL HEAD SCULPTURE See in full resolution on Flickr

Buildings of Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona streets See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona streets See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona streets See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona streets See in full resolution on Flickr

Colorful indoor restaurant See in full resolution on Flickr

Colorful indoor restaurant See in full resolution on Flickr

Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Mammoth in Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Mammoth in Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

If you still haven’t noticed, dynamic range on smartphone cameras today is just WOW. So you just take a shot and image processing does the rest. It doesn’t always look that good, if you don’t like the HDR look. But you can tweak settings a bit so you don’t oversaturate the photo for example (I don’t like that either).

However, standard DSLR/MILC cameras suck at this - you can either get highlights or shadows exposed correctly. Sure, with RAW files you can fix that quite a bit, but it’s not as convenient as getting the “same” result with just one shot.

Gaudi’s Fountain in Parc Ciutadella Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Gaudi’s Fountain in Parc Ciutadella Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Gaudi’s Fountain in Parc Ciutadella Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Gaudi’s Fountain in Parc Ciutadella Barcelona 1x camera. See in full resolution on Flickr

Gaudi’s Fountain in Parc Ciutadella Barcelona 10x camera. See in full resolution on Flickr

Gaudi’s Fountain in Parc Ciutadella Barcelona 30x digital zoom. See in full resolution on Flickr

I am still impressed how the 30x digital zoom looks like. Samsung did put a lot of effort here to make this shots more than usable.

Arc de Triomf (Arco de Triunfo de Barcelona) See in full resolution on Flickr

Streets of Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Streets of Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Streets of Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Streets of Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Streets of Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

If you are in Barcelona, a local football club (it’s called Barcelona, not sure if you have heard about it 😏) can be playing on their Camp Nou stadium. It is quite an experience, having 99,354 seating capacity. I would buy ticket for a game anytime again, and this is coming from somebody who is not a football fan at all. But being there at the stadium and hearing all the noise just makes me wanna go back again. Definitely will.

Camp Nou Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Camp Nou Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Camp Nou Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Camp Nou Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Camp Nou Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Camp Nou Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Camp Nou Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Camp Nou Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

Camp Nou Barcelona See in full resolution on Flickr

The time has come to fly back home, so here are some shots of the airplane I took. Just look at the details on the 10x photo. Incredible.

Flyr Norwegian airplane See in full resolution on Flickr

Flyr Norwegian airplane 10x shot. See in full resolution on Flickr

Barcelona beach from airplane window See in full resolution on Flickr

Spain mountains from airplane window 100mpx shot. See in full resolution on Flickr

Of course the battery life after shooting all the time will not be great at all, but luckily with fast chargers these days, you will be topping up you battery pretty quick, while having a coffee for example.

Coffee in indoor cafe See in full resolution on Flickr

I know, I know, there are other phones with similar setup/cameras, and while I would like to try them all, that’s not really sustainable for my wallet.

However on this trip I had Samsung with me, and I couldn’t be happier. It was so easy just to take photos with it and forget about other gear.

Do you think you could use it as your main travel camera?