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Galaxy S23 update finally fixes 'banana blur' camera issue, adds 2x zoom
- Samsung has published the changelog for the August 2023 update.
- The changelog reveals the update contained more changes than anticipated.
- One of the changes reduces the “banana blur” issue Samsung acknowledged back in June.
Recently, Samsung rolled out its August 2023 security update for the Galaxy S23. Although there were no notes about improvements, the update came in at a sizeable 1.4GB. Now we know what was hiding in that patch, and one of the changes fixes a frustrating issue with the S23 and S23 Plus’s main camera.
Samsung has published a changelog for the August 2023 update on its Korean community page. According to the post (translated by Google), there are 10 changes in total.
One change that should make owners of the base model and the Plus happy is a fix for the “banana blur” issue. Despite being one of the best camera phones in 2023, Samsung acknowledged there was a permanently out-of-focus area when photos were taken with the 50MP main camera — something that was especially noticeable in close-ups. But the company claims this month’s update reduces peripheral image blur when shooting up close with the S23 and S23 Plus.
Continuing on with camera improvements, the changelog mentions that the entire series now has a 2x zoom option for photos and video. The feature uses an in-sensor crop to “provide optical lens-level image quality.” To use it, however, you’ll need to install the latest version of Camera Assistant. The 2x zoom can also be used when recording video in Super Steady mode on the S23 Ultra.
Another notable improvement in the changelog involves motion blur. The blur of normal illumination when shooting high-pixel 50MP/200MP in photo mode has been improved. Motion blur when shooting moving objects has also been enhanced.
Finally, it appears Samsung has increased the frame rate from 24fps to 30fps when recording video in portrait mode with Big Circle, Color Point, and Glitch effects. The front camera has also been adjusted in intensity for natural face shape correction.
Overall, the update seems to mostly focus on improvements to the Galaxy S23’s cameras and not much else. But that’s welcomed as some of these issues have needed a fix for a while.