Many smartphone makers work hard on features that will help users worry less about the most specific camera settings and point and shoot at an individual or scene. However, at an equivalent time, they need to balance these automatic features with controls that will satisfy more advanced mobile photographers. This “Pro Mode” has been a staple of the many premium smartphones lately. Still, Samsung could be finally taking it a step further by enabling that mode for its telephoto cameras.
Camera Pro modes attempt to offer an equivalent level of control and sometimes even an equivalent “knobs and dials” that photographers are familiar with from digital cameras. Smartphones are, of course, more limited in terms of hardware capability, but these options a minimum of allow more seasoned photographers to fine-tune their output, especially when they’re aiming for a particular effect that auto modes can’t achieve.
Pro modes, however, have always been limited to the phone’s primary camera. That convention is predicated on the idea that most cameras are usually the simplest among the opposite cameras on an equivalent phone. With Samsung giving its Galaxy flagships more capable telephoto cameras, however, it’s probably time to challenge that assumption.
Indeed, some users are asking for a few Pro modes for the telephoto camera, particularly on the newest Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy S21 Ultra. Thankfully, it seems that Samsung has been listening to those requests. Consistent with a forum moderator in Samsung’s South Korean community, the corporate is looking into that very possibility. The moderator only mentions the power to open the zoom lens from various angles, but other controls like ISO, exposure, and white balance will presumably be available also.
Fortunately, such a feature wouldn’t require new hardware but only an update to the firmware and, therefore, the camera app. If Samsung does manage to beat others to the punch with a Telephoto Pro Mode, it could help raise the photography profile of its flagship phones higher, albeit they don’t exactly get the highest scores in some benchmarks and reviews.
