Camera Features and Video Quality

The Milky way Note four comes with a strong ready of photographic camera features similar previous Samsung handsets, though this time effectually they've made information technology easier for stop users to grasp. The photographic camera interface has had a lot of its clutter removed in favour of a few basic buttons, and very niggling focus and shutter lag allows you to capture images very quickly.

The only setting that Samsung hasn't hidden is HDR mode, which once more is fantastic on the Milky way Note 4. In scenarios with lots of shadows or loftier contrast, enabling HDR fashion really brings out the detail in these areas. Samsung continues to be a leader with mobile HDR technology, and thanks to the latest hardware y'all also get a live HDR photographic camera preview, allowing you lot to see exactly what the camera will capture.

Despite improvements to HDR over the past few years, getting to a point where it's basically real-time, it's still non suitable for all conditions which is why there's a toggle. Occasionally I found HDR photos to wait a chip as well washed out, dulling what would otherwise be a good image. Ideally I'd like Samsung to have an car-HDR mode too like many competing products, but I guess this will have to wait for a future device.

Hidden under the settings cog you can find all the usual features, including live furnishings, flash settings, timers, and manual controls. Video settings are besides found under here, because the photographic camera app does not dissever the video and still modes. None of the settings should come as a surprise to regular smartphone camera users, especially those who are familiar with the Milky way S5.

Under 'mode' is where most of the special camera features can be establish. Some of these aren't too interesting – shot & more than allows you to apply effects to flare-up shots, beauty confront smooths out your blemishes, and dual camera takes photos with both sensors simultaneously – though others could be useful.

Selective Focus is unchanged from the Galaxy S5, simulating background blur in a semi-effective way. The mode is restrictive in its requirements, and doesn't always correctly find the edges around a subject, only when it does the results can be quite pleasing. Virtual Tour is also unchanged from the Galaxy S5, and to be honest, it's a characteristic I never found to be all that useful.

Rear Cam Selfie is a genuinely useful feature that solves a tricky problem with wanting a amend quality selfie from the rear camera: how do you hit the capture button? The manner scans for a face, counts downwards for two seconds when it registers one in the frame, and boom, you have a selfie from the rear photographic camera without having to hit the capture push.

The front-facing photographic camera also gets a new photo style: Broad Selfie. Basically this is a panorama mode for your selfies, allowing yous to tilt the Note 4 to go more people into the frame. It works surprisingly well and could come in handy if you want that perfect group selfie that has everyone in it. It should also be mentioned that in regular selfie mode, tapping the heart charge per unit monitor will have photo, though I never found that to be overly useful.

Every bit for video, the primary shooting mode the Notation 4 supports is 4K Ultra HD at 30 frames per second with a chip rate of 48 Mbps (High profile H.264), pregnant ane minute of footage will occupy a whopping 360 MB of space. Audio is recorded in stereo with a bitrate of 244 kbps, which is higher up what we usually come across for smartphone video recording.

Almost 4K recording from smartphones is excellent, and the Note 4 is no exception. Downscaled to 1080p (unfortunately I don't take a 4K display to test with merely all the same), the footage looks well-baked and highly detailed; it's as good quality every bit xxx nonetheless images from the photographic camera displaying on my monitor every second. It besides looks excellent on the Annotation four'due south Quad Hard disk drive display, definitely a notch above the 1080p shooting style.

Other modes the Notation 4 supports include smooth motility (1080p at 60 FPS), fast motion (basically a time lapse), and dull move (720p at 120 FPS). On that last shooting mode, Samsung offers a 1/8x ho-hum motility mode, which would indicate it captures footage at 240 FPS. But don't be fooled: it simply captures 720p120 and plays it back at a stuttering 15 FPS, so I'd recommend sticking to 1/4x.

The above video was recorded in the Note 4'due south 1080p 'Smooth Motion' (aka. 60 FPS) way. Although YouTube does at present support 60 FPS playback, if it'southward not working for you, y'all can download the video directly.

For those interested in deeper tech specs, the 1080p60 mode records at 28 Mbps, which is decent for this sort of recording and provides first-class quality shine move. 720p120 is 12 Mbps when played back at xxx FPS, indicating it captures at 48 Mbps, which is likely a hardware limit.