With the August Blue Moon supermoon approaching, I thought I’d revisit the myth, or rumor, or supposition that started in March, saying that the Galaxy S23 Ultra was faking its moon photos. While we knew there was some digital wizardry going on specifically to help shoot the moon, a blogger claimed that he could point the camera at a blurry photo of the moon and the camera would return an image that wasn’t real. It would sharpen the moon and add details that weren’t actually present.
This wasn’t a hoax, and in fact, it was part of the camera’s capabilities. It’s a feature, not a bug, as we say. Samsung has scene optimizers built into the camera that will use so-called AI features to recognize a scene and possibly add detail. It’s smart enough to know if you are taking a photo of the moon, and it will help out.
