I repeat again: No optical zoom on S20/20+!

[CHMultimedia]

There is no optical zoom on both these devices. Not 3x, not 5x and certainly not 30x Space Zoom. They advertise "hybrid optic zoom", which is technically and blatant false advertising. The "zoom" lens is just a 1.06x true optical zoom! And the rest is a sensor crop. So yeah, previous gen S10/N10 and older will give you actually better zoom than these phones. But don't believe me, ask them: https://www.notebookcheck.net/F ake-Zoom-Samsung-Neither-Galaxy-S20-nor-S20-feature-real-Telephoto-or-Zoom-Cameras.453934.0.html

(Copy-paste the link in your browser and remove tje space between f and ake. If you wonder if this site is trustworthy, they are an excellent source like GSMArena, and they have an extensive list of CPUs and GPUs encyclopedia.)

The S20 Ultra has 4x optical zoom. To go to 10x, the same sensor crop trickery is employed.

And another reminder that the 30x/100x space zoom marketing gimmick is false. It's not a zoom, it's a very lossy crop.

Yes I am very touchy about bold, borderline false claims and actual false representation. I hate being fooled and I hate letting others being fooled too.

If you still want to buy them for the other things they offer, then you may go ahead. I just don't want anyone to commit to such a big expense (the most expensive they ever released in Canada) based solely on a lie.

[fuggyr]

thanks. this is awful and will not be buying it.

[CHMultimedia]

Yes such practices do leave me with a bad taste in my mouth

[MarcusBee]

s10 is a beautiful phone!

[CHMultimedia]

And still a great one too!

[Pupusik]

Thank you for the insight. Question. What smartphones if any have optical zoom features ? I have seen these physical addons lens that you attach to the back of your phone. Do these provide quality zoom?

[CHMultimedia]

Most phones who advertise zooming capabilities do have optical zoom. Previous gen Galaxy S phones do have true optical zoom.

Depends on the brand for those accessories. I'd use Moment lenses: https://www.shopmoment.com/shop/categories/lenses

Cheaper alternatives do exist but quality suffers drastically. You can't believe how expensive quality camera glass is.

[Pupusik]

@chmultimedia Thank you. I know my S9+ has 2 lens. Each with a different fixed focal length. Too me, an optical zoom is what I currently have in the lens of my DSLR cameras.

[Fatwa]

I havent seen much in the way of comparisons, and your link is dead. However, I was impressed by the crop detail (as compared to N10+) photo the a forum members posted a couple days ago.

[CHMultimedia]

Link is not dead. You must do as I said and copy https://www.notebookcheck.net/F ake-Zoom-Samsung-Neither-Galaxy-S20-nor-S20-feature-real-Telephoto-or-Zoom-Cameras.453934.0.html

Then remove the space between the "/F" and "ake-zoom..."

But if you were impressed by a single shot in good lighting conditions, what can I say? Anyway it was taken in the S20 Ultra, the only one with any actual optical zoom so it's a little besides the point.