Galaxy S26 Ultra camera: Expert RAW beats auto night shots

The Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra's camera system, lauded for its versatility, offers enhanced low-light performance through its Expert RAW mode. While the phone integrates night mode into its main camera settings, the Expert RAW application provides a more potent solution for capturing challenging nocturnal environments. This mode is particularly effective for astrophotography, enabling the phone to capture faint stars and extensive details in near darkness.

Users can also reinstall a dedicated Night Mode via the Camera Assistant app, which also brings back Dual Rec and Single Take features. However, the Expert RAW mode, once installed from the Galaxy Store, offers distinct advantages. It includes specialized features like astrophotography, virtual aperture, and ND filters. New additions such as Ocean Mode for underwater shots and Virtual Reflector for portrait lighting broaden its utility.

For astrophotography, the S26 Ultra requires a stable setup, like a tripod, due to exposure times that can extend up to 12 minutes. This extended capture period allows the sensor to gather substantially more light than standard modes, resulting in remarkably clear and detailed images. While any movement during these long exposures can cause motion blur, the quality of static night scenes is exceptional, revealing details invisible to the naked eye.

Testing revealed that the integrated night mode and the restored dedicated night mode yield virtually identical results, both utilizing approximately four-second exposures. Expert RAW's astrophotography mode, however, surpasses these by a significant margin, producing stunning clarity and sharpness, even in near-total darkness, transforming dim landscapes into richly detailed photographs.