Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra camera: How Samsung’s foldable phone cameras have evolved

The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra has the best camera system Samsung has put in a Galaxy Z Fold. You can use the ultrawide for group photos and close-ups of your food or take selfies with the rear cameras while checking your framing on the cover screen.

The biggest changes have come over the past two years. The Galaxy Z Fold7 introduced a 200 MP main camera to the lineup, along with a new inner selfie camera with a wider field of view.

The Fold8 Ultra follows with a 50 MP ultrawide camera with a wider aperture and more video recording options for vlogging.

How the cameras have changed:

The ultrawide camera gets the biggest hardware upgrade, with both a higher-resolution sensor and a wider aperture.

The Galaxy Z Fold5, Fold6 and Fold7 used a 12 MP ultrawide with an F2.2 aperture. The Fold8 Ultra has a 50 MP ultrawide with a wider F1.9 aperture for more light gathering capability.

An ultrawide is particularly useful when you don’t have much room to step back. You might be taking a photo in a small room, standing close to a building or trying to fit everyone into a group photo.

The ultrawide also handles macro photography. The Fold7 already offered macro with its 12 MP ultrawide, while the Fold8 Ultra can take macro photos at up to 50 MP. Move in for a close-up of your food or a flower in Photo mode and the Focus enhancer feature switches to the ultrawide automatically.

The two selfie cameras remain at 10 MP, but their image processing has changed. An AI image signal processor handles skin tones and hair texture for more natural-looking selfies.

The Galaxy Z Fold7 increased the main camera’s resolution from the 50 MP used on previous models to 200 MP. The Fold8 Ultra retains that resolution.

Shooting at full resolution gives you more detail to work with when cropping afterwards. For travel photography, that could mean straightening a landscape photo or cropping to a smaller part of the scene while retaining detail. You can also crop a group photo to focus on one person.

The Fold8 Ultra also offers 2x optical quality zoom using a crop from the centre of the main camera’s sensor, rather than switching to a separate lens.

The main camera’s aperture widened from F1.8 on the earlier models to F1.7 on the Fold7 and Fold8 Ultra. The wider opening lets in more light for indoor and low-light shots. For portrait photography, the high resolution helps capture details such as hair and clothing.

The Fold8 Ultra also supports HDR in 200 MP mode, helping preserve detail in bright and dark areas while shooting at full resolution. That is useful when photographing a building against a bright sky, with part of the building in shade. It can also help with a sunny landscape where trees cast shadows across the ground.

You don’t need to use 200 MP for every photo. The Fold8 Ultra also offers 12 MP and 50 MP options on the main camera, while Samsung’s Camera Assistant app adds a 24 MP option on both the main and ultrawide cameras.

For more advanced photography, the Fold8 Ultra offers professional camera controls in Pro mode, which works with all its cameras, including the selfie cameras. RAW capture is available through Pro mode or Expert RAW.

The Fold8 Ultra’s ultrawide offers 34% improved brightness compared with the Galaxy Z Fold7’s. Its F1.9 aperture is wider than the F2.2 aperture used on the earlier models.

When you’re photographing friends in a dim restaurant or taking pictures at an indoor event, the wider aperture helps the ultrawide camera capture more light. The Fold8 Ultra retains the Fold7’s F1.7 main camera and improves low-light shooting on the ultrawide as well.

When you’re recording a concert or another dimly lit event, the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra’s Nightography^[1] processing works automatically. Its ProVisual Engine reduces noise based on the camera sensor being used.

Galaxy Z Fold smartphones, including the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra, feature a 10 MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and optical image stabilisation. Maximum zoom is 30x, with zoom beyond 3x handled digitally.

On the Fold8 Ultra, the zoom shortcuts are .6x, 1x, 2x, 3x, 10x, 20x and 30x. The .6x option selects the ultrawide, 2x uses the optical-quality crop from the main camera, and 3x selects the telephoto.

The telephoto is useful for photographing a performer on stage or your dog playing at the park without having to move closer. The higher digital zoom settings can give you a closer look at something farther away, such as text on a distant sign.

Portrait mode on the Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra offers 1x, 2x, 3x and 5x zoom, with intermediate levels available too. You can include more of someone’s surroundings at 1x or choose a closer head-and-shoulders composition with a higher setting.

The Galaxy Z Fold5 and Fold6 used a 4 MP under-display camera, hidden beneath the inner screen. The Fold7 moved to a 10 MP camera with a 100-degree field of view, increasing both the resolution and how much you can fit into a shot.

The Fold8 Ultra keeps the 10 MP, 100-degree camera and adds AI image signal processing for more natural skin tones and hair texture. The processing also applies to selfies shot with the 10 MP cover screen camera.

For group selfies, the inner camera’s wider view makes it easier to fit friends or family into the shot. You can also use the rear ultrawide for a wider group photo, with the cover screen showing the preview.

To take selfies with the rear cameras, unfold the phone, open Camera and enable Cover screen preview. Turn the rear cameras towards yourself, then drag the lock icon on the cover screen to move the shooting controls there.

The 200 MP main camera and telephoto are available for rear-camera selfies too.

One of the additions is APV, or Advanced Professional Video. It is designed to preserve image quality through repeated rounds of editing, making it useful for professionals who use the phone for content creation.

The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra also offers a Pro video mode, which works with the main, ultrawide, and telephoto cameras, as well as the selfie cameras.

Previous Galaxy Z Fold phones have offered 8K video recording on their main cameras for several generations. With the Fold8 Ultra, you also get the option to shoot at 8K using the ultrawide camera.

Ultrawide videos can capture more detail as a result. When editing a vlog, you can combine separate clips shot with the main and ultrawide cameras, both recorded in 8K.

The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra also records 4K video at 60 fps with its rear cameras and both dedicated selfie cameras. In standard Video mode at 4K30 or 4K60, you can switch between the ultrawide, main and telephoto cameras, or between the rear and selfie cameras, without stopping the recording.

This is useful for content creators when filming a vlog: you can show the place you’re visiting and then switch to the selfie camera to talk about it.

For smoother, more professional-looking handheld footage, Super Steady^[2] helps reduce camera shake. Its control lets you choose between Off, Super Steady and Super Steady with Horizontal Lock. Horizontal Lock helps keep the frame level when the phone tilts or rotates in your hand, such as when you’re walking and filming.

My FanCam^[3] lets you follow one person in a video you’ve already recorded. Open the feature in Gallery, select the person and tap Follow. You could use it to create a new clip that follows one player in a recording of a football match, or one performer at a concert.

For content creators, this can reduce the amount of manual reframing needed to follow a person through the video.

You can choose from 1:1, 3:4, 9:16, 2:3, 3:5, 4:5 and 5:7 aspect ratios. You can also make the new clip portrait or landscape, regardless of how the original video was filmed.

The large inner display is useful throughout the process. It gives you a bigger view when composing a photo or video and more space to review the result and make edits before sharing it.

The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra gives you different ways to photograph a place you’re visiting. Use the ultrawide to fit a whole building into the photo, or switch to 3x optical zoom for a closer shot of a friend posing in front of it. Cover screen preview lets friends or family check their position in the shot while you frame it on the main display.

For a hands-free video of yourself, you can place the Fold8 Ultra partially folded in landscape and use the inner camera, with the preview on the main display. The inner camera records at up to 4K at 60 fps, and the 8-inch display gives you a large view when reviewing or editing the recording.

Yes. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra builds on the Fold7 with a higher-resolution ultrawide camera, improved selfie processing, and more options for recording video.

The ultrawide increases from 12 MP at F2.2 on the Fold7 to 50 MP at F1.9. It offers higher-resolution ultrawide and macro photos and supports 8K video.

The main camera also supports HDR in 200 MP mode. APV recording is available on all rear and selfie cameras for footage you plan to edit.

Compared with older models like the Fold5 and Fold6, the improvements also include a 200 MP main camera instead of 50 MP and a 10 MP inner selfie camera instead of the 4 MP under-display camera.

The higher-resolution main camera gives you more detail when cropping, while the wider selfie-camera view makes it easier to fit friends or family into the shot.

^{[1] Nightography: Results may vary depending on light condition, subject and/or shooting conditions.}

^{[2] Super Steady results may vary depending on editing method and/or shooting conditions.}

^{[3] My FanCam feature requires a Samsung Account login. Availability may vary by video. Not supported if there is no subject to track. Accuracy of results is not guaranteed.}