Overview
Overview & highlights – Excellent exposure and autofocus
Achieving a DxOMark Mobile Score of 88 points the new Samsung Galaxy S7 edge ranks in 1
st
place on the current DxOMark Mobile database. Featuring a 12Mp rear
facing camera and 2160p@30fps video module, Samsung’s latest flagship
Smartphone is a great proposition for mobile photography enthusiasts.
The 26mm f/1.7 lens delivers very accurate and repeatable exposures,
which helped the S7 edges achieve an outstanding Exposure & Contrast
score of 90 during our tests. In fact, even in tricky high contrast
scenes, it captures great exposures thanks to its built-in auto HDR
feature, making it a great choice for landscape or backlit photography.
The modest 12Mp resolution also ensures a good compromise between noise
and detail on the S7 edge, which secures excellent DxOMark Mobile scores
of 91 for Texture and 89 for Noise.
Also scoring 88 points in the
Photo sub-category, the new Samsung S7 edge ranks in joint first place
for still photos alongside the S6 Edge and Sony Z5. The main strengths
of Samsung’s S7 edge photos are its excellent and repeatable exposures
in all conditions, fast and accurate autofocus, and a very good
compromise between noise and detail.
Samsung’s latest flagship
smartphone also offers notable improvements to its video performance,
achieving a Video sub-score of 88 points, compared to 84 points for the
S6 edge. Again, videos capture nice exposures, with pleasant color and
excellent video autofocus and stabilization performance, too.
Outstanding exposures and colors for indoor and outdoor pictures
With
an excellent overall exposure score of 90, with good dynamic range
captured both indoors and outdoors, the S7 edge is a great camera phone
for a variety of subjects. For landscape photography, exposures are
consistent and accurate, even on high dynamic range scenes where only
the very brightest tones are clipped. A high level of detail
preservation is evident, too, with well-controlled levels of noise,
which appears only as an inoffensive fine grain.
In good light, fine details are well preserved, with an inoffensive fine grain evident in homogenous areas.
Colors
are also vivid and pleasant in both lighting conditions, scoring 90 in
bright light, which drops to a very respectable 76 in low light. White
balance outdoors is generally accurate, too, although when shooting
indoors under tungsten light source, a warm or yellowish colorcast is
noticeable.
In
good light, white balance is generally accurate (left), with only the
occasional minor failure (center). Using a tungsten light source, white
balance displays a warm or yellow color cast.
When accurate color indoors is important, try shooting under daylight
light sources as opposed to tungsten. Where that’s not possible, some
color correction in post-production will help you achieve more
natural-looking results.
Excellent detail & texture for indoor and outdoor conditions
With
low levels of noise for both indoor and outdoor photography, the S7
Edge is capable of capturing rich and textured images in all conditions.
Shooting in good light, the S7 edge’s excellent texture score of 96,
combined with its solid exposures, make it a great choice for detailed
landscape or street photography. In low light, only the very finest
details get lost, but the S7 Edge’s low-light texture score of 86is
still excellent for this condition and particularly so considering the
low noise levels.
100%
crops of an image shot under a low light 20 Lux tungsten light source
show that fine details are still visible and that the level of noise
remains very low.
clipping and color fringing is evident on very high contrast scenes,
you should avoid shooting directly into the brightest parts of the sky,
for better overall exposure with minimal artifacts.
Autofocus: one of the best device available
Autofocus
is another of the S7 Edge’s strongest aspects, scoring 98in bright
light and 90 in low light. We found it to be fast and accurate in both
conditions, making Samsung’s latest camera phone a great choice for
restless subjects, such as children or animals, when you need to grab a
picture quickly!
Great shot with Flash
When
you need to use flash, images are better-exposed in the center, with
some vignetting (darkening of the corners) noticeable. Using flash
without an additional light source, white balance is accurate, but
mixing flash with tungsten renders a warm cast that would benefit from
some color correction. Flash exposures in both conditions are good,
however, with the S7 Edge continuing to offer high levels of detail and
texture when using the built-in LED unit.
Video – Outstanding autofocus and stabilization
The
S7 edge’s video results boast good overall exposure, with strong color,
together with high levels of detail preservation, particularly in
bright light. Video stabilization is often a weak point for many mobile
devices, resulting in shaky and jittery movies, even with minor walking
movement. Not so on the S7 edge, however, which boasts excellent
stabilization scores of 91 in bright light and 88 in low light, ensuring
smooth video capture. Some minor jitter artifacts, as well as a loss of
very fine detail, are evident in low-light videos, but the S7 edge is
capable of correcting minor handheld or walking motion for stable
videos. Video autofocus behavior is very good, too, with reliable
tracking as well as smooth and fast convergence that helps minimize any
annoying focus hunting.
Tip: When shooting video indoors, give
the S7 edge the best chance possible by making the room as bright as
you can by introducing additional light sources.
Details: Explaining the Score
Exposure & contrast (90)
The
S7 edge delivers accurate exposures in a range of different lighting
conditions, and exposures are repeatable, producing consistent results
for consecutive shots.
Even when shooting tricky high-contrast
scenes, the S7 edge copes admirably, rendering good contrast, making it a
good choice for strong backlit landscapes or portrait photography.
Images
are generally well exposed (right) including on high dynamic range
scenes, where only the very brightest tones are clipped (left &
centre).
Shooting under a very low 5 Lux
tungsten light source, the S7 edge also produces good exposures, which
are brighter than those of its main rivals.
Color (83)
Color
rendering is pleasant under all conditions, producing vivid results
with strong color while also correctly rendering difficult muted colors
accurately. The white balance is generally accurate, too, with
consistent and uniform color under most conditions. Under a tungsten
light source ,a yellow colorcast is sometimes visible, and while not
offensive, it’s a little more noticeable compared to images from the
Sony Z5.
Texture (91)
Achieving
an excellent texture score of 91 points, detail preservation is close
to the best in our database and surpasses most of its competitors. In
both bright and low light, the S7 edge succeeds in recording fine
details, and when capturing images under a low 20 Lux light source, it
is close to the best, only just behind Google’s Nexus 6P.
Noise (89)
Noise
is very fine — in fact, it’s barely visible in all conditions, and
Samsung has achieved an excellent compromise between noise, texture, and
detail for the new S7 edge. Test shots under a low 20 Lux light source
show that noise for the S7 edge is significantly less visible than for
its main competitors.
Autofocus (94)
Autofocus
is one of the outstanding attributes of the S7 edge, allowing
photographers to capture pictures quickly and reliably in all lighting
conditions.
Flash (86)
The S7 edge’s
built-in LED flash is successful in preserving most details and
rendering pleasant overall color in all lighting conditions. Flash-only
results are accurate, too, ensuring good pictures from the S7 edge even
in extreme low-light conditions.
