This summer, I'm activating a Galaxy S26 Ultra camera setting you should use too

Summer is great for photography. You've got bright skies, good light, and plenty of things worth shooting. And if you own a Galaxy S26 Ultra or even a Galaxy S26 or S26+, there's one small camera setting that you may not know about but can make a difference to your photos this time of year.

A lot of people assume that getting better photos means switching to Pro mode or messing with manual settings. You really don't need to. The standard Photo mode on the S26 Ultra, like any other smartphone, already does a lot of smart work in the background. It handles exposure, HDR, scene detection, etc., and you just need to point and shoot to get great results.

The only thing worth changing is the resolution.

By default, the S26 Ultra shoots at 12MP. That might sound strange for a phone with a 200MP sensor, but there's a reason for it — the camera combines multiple pixels together to produce cleaner, better-exposed shots, especially when the lighting isn't great. Most of the time, it's the right call.

But in summer? You don't really need that trade-off. When you're outside in bright sunlight, there's plenty of light, which means you can bump the resolution up to 24MP and not give anything up.

Samsung's 24MP mode sits between the default 12MP and the higher-resolution 50MP or 200MP options, and it's the sweet spot for everyday shooting.

The difference isn't always obvious when you're just scrolling through your gallery. Photos look pretty much the same at a glance, but the difference shows up when you zoom in or crop a photo after capturing it. The higher resolution means there's more room to zoom in on something before things start going soft.

Also, while 24MP mode gives you a higher-resolution output, it avoids some of the overexposure and noise issues that can appear in photos captured at 50MP and 200MP resolution. Another advantage is that unlike high-resolution modes, you don’t lose access to different zoom levels, as the camera automatically adjusts output resolution where needed.

Samsung doesn't make the 24MP option easy to find. It doesn't show up in the camera app by default. You need to unlock it first through a separate app called Camera Assistant.

Here's what to do:

It's a bit of an unnecessary extra step, but once it's set up, you won't have to think about it again. For everyday summer shooting, it's a simple upgrade that costs you pretty much nothing, so be sure to give it a try!