The Galaxy S24 Ultra sets a high standard as it’s the flagship smartphone to beat this 2024. While the general media liked its overall performance with AI features, I particularly loved its Camera, especially the all-new 50MP 5x Telephoto lens. As shown in the recent Galaxy Unpacked event, the S24 Ultra’s 5x Camera is ideal for concerts and that’s the main reason why I got myself one. While my customer experience with the S24 Ultra was a rollercoaster ride, my replacement unit made it in time for my flight to Singapore for KPop-girl group IVE’s 1st World Tour – Show What I Have.
STAGE LAYOUT – VIP Standing View
I was quite fortunate to secure VIP tickets for the IVE – Show What I Have tour however my queue number was 3432 meaning I was one of the last people to enter as the VIP Standing PEN B had a cap of 3500. When VIP standing ticket holders entered the venue, we immediately positioned ourselves in our preferred area near the stage – I was roughly around the area with the blue dot. Check out the sets of photos and videos below to get a reference for my position.
The 10MP 3x lens is enough to capture a landscape shot of most of the members while the 5x 50MP and 10x 12MP crop mode are for solo captures of your bias, in my case, it’s Gaeul.
Galaxy S24 Ultra Camera Settings
Before we take a look at the stunning shots of the IVE members, let’s quickly discuss first the optimal camera settings of the Galaxy S24 Ultra for the best concert experience. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra camera does offer a bit of customization most of the important settings are hidden in the app.
Settings:
- Video Resolution – UHD/4K
- Video Frame Rate – 60 FPS
- Video Aspect Ratio – 9:16
- Auto FPS – OFF
- Video Stabilization – ON
- Tracking Auto Focus – OFF
- Video Format – H.264
- NOTE: If you prefer HEVC TURN ON HIGH Bitrate Videos and turn off HDR10+(if you want to upload on FB/IG)
Optional Settings
These settings do not impact video quality but will help you shoot videos better and sort your files faster.
- Grid Lines – ON
- Settings To Keep – Camera Mode – ON
- Location Tags – ON
Pro Mode Settings
- ISO – 50-400
- Shutter Speed – 1/125
- Focus – Center
- White Balance – AUTO
- MIC – REAR
TIP: Shoot in Pro-mode
Shooting in either normal Video mode or Pro-Video each has its own pros and cons. The decision to shoot in which mode will likely depend on how close you are to the stage and how you like to frame your shots.
Shooting in normal video mode gives you the flexibility of being able to switch from 0.6x, 1x, 3x, 5x, and 10x allowing you to change the lens on the fly should your idol get closer or further away. However, this comes at the expense of having poor exposure as well as a slower autofocus especially when there’s loud bass or you get bumped into while recording.
Shooting in Pro mode, on the other hand, limits you to only using one of the four lenses but in turn, gives you better lighting controls. Samsung’s decision to switch from a 10X 12MP Telephoto camera to a 5X 50MP Telephoto had fans and media divided but I personally agree with Samsung’s choice.
The 5X lens gives you more versatility to shoot as you aren’t robbed of the 10X feature – Samsung allows you to zoom in to 10X by getting a 12MP center crop of the 50MP sensor which arguably has better quality than the 10x 10MP telephoto of the S23 Ultra.
In this video, you could see me switch from 5x to 10x and vice versa to accommodate the IVE members’ stage movement and still get that beautiful shot. That said, switching from 5x to 10x is harder than switching from 10x to 5x. Switching to 10x requires you to pinch to zoom and then tap the 10x option to properly zoom – this introduces two zooms in your shot. Alternatively, you could just “YOLO” and estimate your zoom but there’s the risk of making your shot worse. Moreover, zooming over the 10x will also reduce your video quality – as switching from the 5X 50MP camera to 10x pixel bins to 12MP.
Switching from 10x to 5x only requires you to tap the 10x option in order for the 5x option to appear and smoothly zoom out.
VIDEO SCREEN CAPTURES
Here are some screen captures(still frame export via Adobe Premiere) of my videos. Do note that you’d get better quality photos if you are taking pictures using either the normal or pro mode than getting stills from your video recording.
IVE GAEUL FANCAMS
I’d say that the 50MP 5x Telephoto sensor is not enough to capture the beauty of IVE Gaeul but that’s just the fan boy in me. The versatility of the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s camera setup allows concert-goers to capture their favorite moments with their idols in high quality so that they can relive the moment when they watch it again on their screens. Here are some of my IVE Gaeul Fancams, captured mostly using the 5x 50MP telephoto camera.
Shameless Plug: subscribe to my personal youtube channel to see more fan cams especially if you like IVE, Twice, and UNIS.
Galaxy AI – Shots Made Better
Taking photos and videos in concerts rarely goes your way as there might be obstructions of the artist, something in the background catches the attention more than the subject, or even taking something off-angle. Well, that’s exactly what happened in the IVE Show What I Have concert. We’ve taken advantage of the AI features built on the Galaxy S24 Ultra to enhance our concert experience further.
Galaxy AI Slowmo
IVE interacted with the crowd during the sound check and I was lucky enough to get a flying kiss from IVE’s An Yujin! It was about two seconds but time really slowed down for me during that moment. Showing how it happened I used Galaxy AI’s slow-mo feature to relive the moment.
Galaxy AI Photo Assist – Magic Erase & Generative Edit
In this case, we’re using the same Yujin flying kiss clip. In the still frame, IVE’s Wonyoung is seen in the background. Using the magic eraser, we can remove Wonyoung(미안해요 Wonyoung) using the Erase tool to get a better photo of Yujin. Moreover, we can step it up to straighten and move Yujin to the center without zooming too much thanks to the Generative Fill feature.
Final Thoughts – The Standard for Concert Fancams
Coming from the Galaxy S23 Ultra when I attended Twice’s Ready to Be Tour in Bulacan, using the Galaxy S24 Ultra on IVE’s Show What I Have Singapore Concert has given me a lot of quality of life upgrades outside the obvious spec bump. A lot of it is thanks to the Galaxy AI features which saved some shots that would’ve been useless and also has improved already good ones. Of course, these “magic edit” features can be done manually and in a much cleaner editing than that we have today, but the time saved in doing it yourself and the current edit quality is more than enough for a social media post.
That said, I wouldn’t upgrade to a Galaxy 24 Ultra if I’m coming from an S23 Ultra as most of the non-hardware based AI features are already present in last year’s flagship with the recent updates. If you’re coming from a two-generation old phone however, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is a no-brainer. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is unparalled when it comes to taking concert photos and videos, most especially when it comes to the zoom function. Outside its camera capabilities, you still have a well rounded flagship phone with AI capabilities that only a few smartphones could even match.
Grant is a Financial Management graduate from UST. His passion for gadgets and tech crossed him over in the industry where he could apply his knowledge as an enthusiast and in-depth analytic skills as a Finance Major. His passion allows him to earn at the same time help Gadget Pilipinas' readers in making smart, value-based decisions and purchases with his reviews and guides.
