A guide to using the Camera Assistant app on Samsung Galaxy smartphones

Samsung Galaxy phones are among the most powerful camera smartphones available right now. With long-range zoom, impressive portrait mode, and AI features baked into the camera, Samsung has improved its camera performance in a big way. It has also made a number of clever changes to the software so its users can take full advantage of the cameras on Galaxy devices.

With Samsung Galaxy phones, you can customise the camera to have an extra shutter button that you can move around the screen. You can also make the camera take a picture whenever you say “cheese.” For Samsung, those settings are not enough and it offers even more camera control to its users who want to take maximum control of their photography experience.

Camera assistant: Samsung device support and what you need to know

For those looking for maximum camera control on Samsung Galaxy smartphones, the Korean company offers an app called Camera Assistant. The app is essentially an assistant for all the camera settings that are available on Galaxy devices.

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You can use Camera Assistant to disable automatic switching between lenses in low light and even choose whether the phone camera takes a picture as soon as you put your finger on the shutter or when you take it off. While shooting videos, the Camera Assistant app allows users to force the audio that’s being recorded to play through an external device like Bluetooth headphones at the same time.

This app is not meant for Galaxy smartphone users who are looking for a simple point-and-shoot camera. It is designed for those who like to take complete control of their photography experience, one that extends beyond the Pro mode available on the camera.

Camera assistant for Samsung: How to get started

In order to use the Camera Assistant app, you will need a Galaxy smartphone running Samsung’s One UI 5.1 or higher. The app is available for a select range of Galaxy devices:

1. Samsung Galaxy S20 / S21 / S22 / S23 / S24 series

2. Samsung Galaxy Note 20

3. Samsung Z Flip3 / Z Flip4 / Z Flip5

4. Samsung Z Fold2 / Z Fold3 / Z Fold4 / Z Fold5

While the flagship Galaxy S series got support for Camera Assistant, the company recently added its fan edition smartphone – Galaxy S21 FE – to the supported devices list. If you have any of these phones, you will need to download the Camera Assistant app from the Galaxy Store. You can either download the app from this link or search for “Camera Assistant” in the Galaxy Store app.

Once you download the app, you will see a new set of camera controls within the camera app. Open the camera app on your supported Galaxy smartphone and tap the settings option in the upper left of the screen. Scroll down and tap Camera Assistant.

Camera assistant: What can you do with this app

Your smartphone camera is more capable than you think. In the case of Galaxy phones, which have multiple image sensors, Samsung makes a lot of decisions as to how these lenses work on behalf of the user. With the Camera Assistant app, Samsung is giving back control to its users (sort of) and also allowing them to make other changes. Here’s a look at the options available with the Camera Assistant app.

1. Auto HDR

One of the criticisms of the Samsung Galaxy camera experience is that its HDR can be too aggressive, especially in high-contrast scenes. This is because Samsung sets Auto HDR on by default and you can disable it with the Camera Assistant app. Once you disable it, there’s no way to turn it back on for individual shots and you will have to visit the Camera Assistant menu to do it.

2. Auto lens switching

This too is switched on by default and you can turn it off to prevent the camera from switching lenses automatically. This can be annoying in certain circumstances and in low-light scenarios.

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Samsung Galaxy camera has been found to switch to the main camera and use digital zoom instead of using the telephoto lens in low light.

3. Picture softening

By default, it is set to off but you can choose between medium or high.

4. Quick tap shutter

By default, Samsung Galaxy cameras capture an image as soon as you take your finger off the shutter button. You can change that behaviour to force the camera to capture an image as your finger touches the shutter button. The result of this setting is that your camera will use fewer frames to create your final image and you can capture the shot faster.

5. Capture speed

This is another setting you can use to change the shutter performance on your Galaxy smartphones. Instead of fully overriding the normal shutter behaviour, you can choose from three settings: prioritise quality, balance speed and quality, or prioritise speed.

6. Video recording in photo mode

Disable this if you want to limit your camera’s ability to record video when you long-press the shutter button in photo mode.

7. Timer multi-photo options

In timer mode, the default option is for the camera to take one photo. However, you can change the setting to force the camera to take up to seven photos and also vary the interval between shots from one to three seconds.

8. Camera timeout

By default, the Galaxy camera will automatically close if it’s inactive for two minutes. You can use Camera Assistant to shorten or extend this time and choose a value from a minimum of one minute up to 10 minutes.

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9. Dim screen while recording

This is off by default but you can force the screen to automatically dim to save battery if there’s no input while recording a video. You can choose a time of up to 10 minutes.

10. Clean preview on HDMI displays

You can enable it to see the preview on another display over HDMI without showing the buttons and settings options.

While you might have used the Pro camera mode or captured RAW images or shot LOG video on your Galaxy smartphone, there is a whole host of camera settings available for you to tinker with. All you need is the Camera Assistant to get started.