PSA: Here’s why you may be making a big mistake with your Galaxy phone’s camera

I know how this could come off as a bit creepy, but I am fascinated by how people use their phones. That's because they're such versatile devices, which can be used in many different ways for different tasks. Of course, that also means I see people doing things the wrong way.

By "wrong," I usually mean that someone's performing a taks in a roundabout way, rather than making use of a shortcut. But there's one thing I truly believe is the wrong thing to do with your phone — it really bothers me more than anything, and it applies to Samsung phones in particular.

For whatever reason, the Camera app on Samsung's handsets offers more aspect ratio options than most other camera apps you'll find on different phones. It's useful for keen photographers, as being able to frame your shot in just the way you'd like it in the moment can be more useful than trying to crop it later. But the choice also seems to confuse some people as to the best one to use.

I'm talking about the "Full" setting in particular. Not only is this camera mode pointless in my opinion, it's actively making Samsung owners' lives harder.

The name "Full" sounds like it's the widest possible camera mode. It just makes sense right? But that's actually not the case. The 4:3 mode is the only one that uses the full sensor of your camera, itself a 4:3 rectangle, unless you're using something unusual like the iPhone 17 series' Center Stage selfie camera. All the other modes slice off the edges of your shot — including Samsung's Full aspect ratio.

That's fine if you know what you're doing. But the number of people I've seen with Full mode enabled on their Galaxy or similar phone, seemingly thinking they're getting the most out of their camera, is enough to make me want to put out this PSA.

Here's the proof that Full isn't a full shot

Let me show the difference with these shots of a local park, all taken standing in exactly the same spot with a Galaxy S25 Ultra. All of the shots are the same width, other than the 1:1 square image that cuts out the exact center of the shot. But you lose out on height. You see much more of the grass and sky with the 4:3 image, less in the 16:9 version, and even less in the Full version.

The same issue applies in portrait orientation too. In this shot of me holding an iPhone Air, with the phone again in the same position each time, you lose more and more of the phone and my shoulders as you switch from 4:3 to another mode.

It's best to think of "Full" as a roughly 20:9 mode, since that's the size of a typical smartphone's display. This is close to the 21:9 "ultrawide" standard seen on some monitors, or the ratio of widescreen movies, so there's a place for it the photographer's arsenal. But it's still best to leave your camera in 4:3 for most shots. That aspect ratio gives you the most megapixels of resolution to play with, meaning you can easily crop your photos after the fact, even just on your phone via the editing tools in the Gallery.

If you're a Samsung user, I hope I've helped you avoid future photo fails. And I hope you can help other Samsung users in your life to use their Galaxy's cameras to their full effect.

Maybe with enough pressure, we could even get Samsung to change the name of the Full aspect ratio to avoid the mix-up from ever happening again. Wouldn't that be a full-filling outcome?

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