Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra review

Updated ultrawide, otherwise the Z Fold7's setup

The Z Fold8 Ultra inherits the camera hardware from the Z Fold7, with a small update to the ultrawide camera - it's more or less the same story as the transition from the S24 Ultra to the S25 Ultra. That means a triple rear setup headlined by a 200MP main camera, and two 10MP cameras for selfies, one per display.

The main camera is based on the HP2 sensor, same as last year, and same as that on the S26 Ultra - Samsung's best, so to speak. The Folds' space constraints mean a somewhat dimmer lens - the aperture is f/1.7 here, same as on the Z Fold7, while the S26 Ultra's value is f/1.4.

As we mused in the review of the Z Fold8 (non-Ultra), the ultrawide camera is probably using a Sony IMX 858 imager - it's got the right specs and it's on the list of sensors that the phone reports (which contains a lot of bits that are clearly not to be found on board the Z Fold8 Ultra). The S26 Ultra and the S25 Ultra before it had an in-house JN3 sensor of essentially the same specs.

The telephoto reports the same 3K1 sensor we saw on the Z Fold7, which we saw on the S26 (but not the S26+ or the S26 Ultra). It's a smallish 10MP imager but you're still going to be getting 12MP photos.

The two selfie cameras are also specced at 10MP, but they're more honest and save 10MP files. We can't name the sensors (as Samsung isn't either), but we're fairly confident they're the same as on the Z Fold7. The two cameras still have different focal lengths - 23mm on the cover and a much wider 17mm on the internal one (as per the EXIF, at least; otherwise the field of view that Samsung quotes corresponds more closely to 24mm and 18mm).

• Wide (main): 200MP Samsung ISOCELL HP2 (S5KHP2, 1/1.3", 0.6µm-2.4µm); 23mm, f/1.4, OIS, multi-directional PDAF (18cm - ∞); 8K30/4K120 video recording.
• Ultrawide: 50MP Sony IMX 858 (1/2.51", 0.7µm-1.4µm); 13mm, f/1.9, multi-directional PDAF; 8K30/4K120.
• Telephoto: 10MP Samsung ISOCELL 3K1 (S5K3K1, 1/3.94", 1.0µm); 69mm (3x zoom), f/2.4, OIS, PDAF (17cm - ∞); 4K60.
• Cover camera: 10MP (1/3.52", 1.12µm); 24mm, f/2.2, fixed focus; 4K60.
• Internal camera: 10MP (1/3.52", 1.12µm); 18mm, f/2.2, fixed focus; 4K60.

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

The Z Fold8 Ultra's main camera captures excellent photos in broad daylight. We're looking at wide dynamic range, good contrast, and pleasing color output - there's nothing lacking and nothing looks overdone. Detail is pretty great too - the processing is quite reasonable and even random textures look natural more often than not.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

Human subjects have lively and mostly accurate skin tones though detail is perhaps not quite as sharp as in general photos - it could very well be intentional. The Portrait mode results are quite good too.

Human subjects, main camera (1x): Photo mode • Portrait mode

You can capture 50MP and 200MP photos at 1x zoom. We wouldn't say that the 200MP ones are worth their megabytes, but the 50MP ones are looking rather nice and detailed if you're shooting outdoors in good lighting.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 50MP

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 200MP

With that in mind, the photos taken at 2x zoom in the regular 12.5MP mode are a bit underwhelming. It's not that they're bad - they're reasonably sharp and detailed, but we'd be inclined to expect a little more from the 200MP sensor.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x)

Headshots at 2x are also not particularly sharp. The Portrait mode's bokeh action is a touch excessive too.

Human subjects, main camera (2x): Photo mode • Portrait mode

Telephoto camera

Moving on the telephoto, it wouldn't be the first time we'd say we're not loving it. The strong sharpening means visible halos and an artificial look to foliage, though global properties don't leave much to be desired.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (3x)

Headshots taken on the telephoto look pretty solid in terms of perspective, compression, and facial proportions, but detail is pretty meh. The default background blur in portrait mode is also too much.

Human subjects, telephoto camera (3x): Photo mode • Portrait mode

Ultrawide camera

The Z Fold8 Ultra's ultrawide camera captures sharp and detailed photos in outdoor scenes and it's also great indoors. Colors are well matched to the other cameras and are quite pleasing, dynamic range is nice and wide too.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

The full-res shots may not be pin-sharp at 1:1, but you could explore downsizing them yourself to maybe extract some additional detail. Dynamic range in difficult lighting is not as good in the 50MP photos though.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x), 50MP

Close-ups

Shooting close-ups on the Z Fold8 Ultra is best done on the ultrawide camera. At its own native focal length you can expect to throw a shadow on your subject and bump into it or otherwise disturb it, but you can really close and the perspective can make for an interesting shot.

Closeup samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

Alternatively, you can shoot at 1x with the Focus Enhancer turner on, which will get you a zoomed in photo from the ultrawide with a field of view to match that of the main camera. Quality is actually pretty solid when shooting this way.

Closeup samples, ultrawide camera (1x, macro)

2x zoom photos from the main camera aren't particularly high quality to begin with, and at close range they're not getting any better. The 18-ish centimeter minimum focusing distance isn't helping much.

Closeup samples, main camera (2x)

The telephoto camera can focus a centimeter closer, which doesn't make a world of difference for filling your frame with a tiny subject, and quality is pretty unremarkable anyway.

Closeup samples, telephoto camera (3x)

Selfies

As usual on a large foldable, you have a wide variety of options for shooting selfies. It's the easiest with the cover camera - no unfolding and no unusual gripping required. The photos are very good too, with excellent detail and great colors.

Selfie samples, cover camera

The internal camera captures similarly great photos, but with notably wider coverage. It may pose some usability issues though - hitting the shutter button while holding the unfolded Fold with just one hand is tricky, so you may be wise to default to the palm shutter release.

Selfie samples, internal camera

Those concerns are also there if you're shooting on the rear cameras, with the cover screen as a viewfinder, but you'll probably get used to it (and there's always the option to wave your hand to take a picture). Predictably, those are the best selfies you can get out of the Z Fold8 Ultra, with excellent sharpness and plenty of background blur. Somewhat surprisingly though, the low-light selfies turned out very soft.

Selfie samples, main rear camera (1x)

The ultrawide is another option for selfies. You can use that to get more of your background in the frame, or just spice things up with a more interesting angle.

Selfie samples, ultrawide rear camera (0.6x)

Low-light photo quality

Main camera

The Z Fold8 Ultra is a member of that new breed of Galaxies that don't normally have a standalone Night mode out of the box, but since we're typically not fans of the default output, we now installed the Camera Assistant add-on which lets you bring back Night mode. We shot in full auto and then in Night mode for comparison.

The full auto photos in low light are decent, but we find them lacking in a number of ways. Most notably, they're generally soft, not just in the shadows, but overall. Noise is also quite prominent. Still, dynamic range and color rendition remain very good.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x)

Night mode does bring more clarity, clearing up a lot of the noise and improving sharpness. It can also do weird things to white balance and the night sky, turning it purple, though the Z Fold8 non-Ultra seemed to suffer more from this.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x), Night mode

At 2x you can also expect softness and noise, perhaps more of each than at 1x. Even so, they're not really bad - not a lot of phones can do good 2x, and these just might be better than average.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x)

Night mode could clean up the noise somewhat and it will also improve sharpness, even if detail may start looking artificial.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x), Night mode

Telephoto camera

The telephoto camera's photos are also soft and noisy like the main camera's, but these are also dim and gloomy.

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (3x)

Night mode livens things up noticeably. Shadows get a boost, saturation is improved, sharpness gets better. They're not strictly great photos, but they're reasonably competitive.

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (3x), Night mode

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide is actually quite competent in the dark - its photos are only decently sharp in absolute terms, but pretty sharp for an ultrawide, particularly in this form factor. While not exactly noise-free either, they don't strike us as particularly noisy like the other two cameras, and within the ultrawide context they're not half bad in this respect. Dynamic range is wide and colors are great too.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

Night mode does dial up the sharpening and it can actually mean better definition in some scenes. Colors can also get a bit of a boost. A pretty solid showing from the ultrawide.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x), Night mode

Video quality

The Z Fold8 Ultra supports the full set of video recording capabilities that Samsung has to offer - Pro mode, codecs, resolutions and frame rates, it's all there.

In the regular Video mode, the phone can record up to 4K60 with all five of its cameras (including the two 'selfie' cameras), with the main and ultrawide rear cameras also supporting 8K30.

The Pro video mode adds a wide variety of other frame rates, including 24, 25, 48, 50, 100, and 120fps modes for 4K (the 100 and 120fps are only for the main and ultrawide cameras), and 24fps for 8K.

The out-of-the-box setting for the video codec is h.265 (HEVC), but you can opt for the older and less efficient h.264 codec. The Folds also get the Samsung-developed pro-grade APV codec (Advanced Professional Video) - the S26 Ultra had that, but not the plain S26s. It enables high-quality perceptually lossless encoding resulting in substantial file sizes (1.5GB for a minute of 1080p30), which is why Samsung recommends recording to external media in this case.

There's an option for 10-bit HDR10+ recording, as well as a Log option that can be enabled for both Pro video and regular Video mode, complete with a selection of pre-loaded LUTs (Standard, Blockbuster, Coming-of-age, Romance and Thriller). In Pro mode you also get finer control over focus and exposure (complete with zebras and false color aids), plus mic directionality settings and audio level indicators.

Video stabilization is available in all modes on all cameras, and you can disable it in settings if you have other means of keeping the phone steady. The Horizon lock stabilization mode is also available on the Z Fold8 Ultra, without any of the fuss surrounding the feature's announcement alongside the S26 series.

You can hit '> play' below and use the '>| next' button to advance through the playlist of all video samples, or you can watch the full playlist on YouTube.

The Z Fold8 Ultra's main camera captures very good 4K videos with its main and ultrawide cameras, with the telephoto footage being a bit behind. That description mostly tracks the sharpness, which is very good on the main and the ultrawide cameras, while the telephoto is more into alright territory. Otherwise, all three cameras are nicely matched and have excellent dynamic range and contrast, the white balance is on point and the color rendition is pleasingly vivid.

Video screengrabs, daylight: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x

In the dark, the telephoto's clips are quite soft and noisy - we wouldn't call them outright unusable, but they're not far from it. The main camera and the ultrawide are doing quite well at night, though, both of them having wide dynamic range and maintaining very good sharpness. The ultrawide, in particular, is hard to beat, particularly on a foldable.

Video screengrabs, low light: 0.6x • 1x • 2x • 3x

Video stabilization on the Z Fold8 Ultra won't disappoint. You can count on the main camera to smoothen out most walking shake, and all three cameras are nicely stable when shooting from a stationary position. Panning just might be a notch below perfect, with a hint of abruptness here or there, but that's more into nitpicking territory.