Digging through a drawer in my office shortly after theSamsung Galaxy S25 Ultraarrived , I came across a relic . It was a compact digital camera also made by Samsung , which I ’d buy on a whimsey before a trip about a X ago .
I have n’t used it since then , and seeing as I was already try a Samsung tv camera , why not add another to the inclination ? The next day I was head up out to take photos for my upcoming S25 Ultra reexamination , and I ’m so glad I was n’t relying on the old Samsung camera to document my time , as it would haveruinedit .
Meet the ST72
Picking the Samsung ST72 camera up again reminded me why I bought it : its size . It ’s less than half the sizing of the Galaxy S25 Ultra and I can easily take it around in my pouch or bag , barely knowing it ’s there . There ’s a sanely sized sieve on the back , a physical two - stage shutter waiver on the top , and it even has a zoom feature of speech .
I looked up the rest of the specification to compare it to the Galaxy S25 Ultra . The main 1/2.3 - inch sensor has 16.2 - megapixels and a 5x opthalmic rapid climb , plus it has that 3 - column inch LCD screen on the back . It ’s not quite up there with the Galaxy S25 Ultra ’s 200MP master camera , 50MP wide - angle , and two telephoto cameras , but it can ( on newspaper ) tally one of the visual zoom mode .
The problem was , I could n’t commend if the ST72 have good photo or not . I know I used it on a head trip , but expect back most of my memories from it were trance with my iPhone at the time . Was this because the ST72 film rubbish pictures ? I found out , and was n’t quite prepared for just how awful it really is .
Day out, ruined
The Samsung ST72 make out out in 2013 but you may still line up it for cut-rate sale today on eBay , and for a seductively low price . I certainly was n’t approaching this comparison as a way to offer serious purchasing advice , as I’dexpectthe $ 1,300 Galaxy S25 Ultra to take good photos than the $ 120 ST72 camera . What I did n’t expect was to see such a huge deviation , and it really shows how far thing have come .
Lets start out with a canonic , simple photograph of a church on a very brilliant winter day . It ’s astonishing just how piteous the ST72 ’s photo is , with messy blurring and smudging in the foreground , unsteady focalise throughout , a utter deficiency of detail , unwanted haphazardness , and no visual pop at all . Even looked at on its own , few would be proud of with the ST72 ’s photo and in all probability never return to it in the time to come .
Compare it with the Galaxy S25 Ultra ’s pic , and there ’s no contest . I love the S25 Ultra ’s colour and optic excitement , and the way it in truth enamor the wonderful winter gamey sky . The second photo shows a sundown after a day of rain , except I ’d have totell youthat was why I took the exposure if the only evidence I had was the ST72 ’s image . Its f/2.5 aperture does n’t help here at all , and it ’s unable to fascinate the depth of color visible to the au naturel eye . The S25 Ultra ’s picture looks with child , and no such verbal explanation of the shot would be required with the Galaxy S25 Ultra . The f/1.8 aperture means it ’s far more capable in low or unmanageable light , and although the photograph is n’t stark — it ’s a small smudgy and noisy — it ’s obvious why I took the photo , and with a little redaction it would be really beautiful .
Telephoto is a no-no
At this point I ’d only find out the ST72 ’s exposure on the camera ’s LCD screenland , and they did n’t expect enceinte then . However , I convinced myself the blind may not be doing the actual pic jurist , and continue to take photos during the day . The ST72 also has an optical rapid growth feature , just like the Galaxy S25 Ultra , and consider back this may have been a reason I select it . Even then , when I was n’t all that concerned or well-read about television camera or photography , I distinctly want the versatility of a capable zoom . However , I was to be very disappointed by the results .
There ’s such a huge divergence between the two 5x zoom photos of the bridge , it ’s practically insufferable to believe the span technically used the same feature . Picking the ST72 ’s photo aside seems like a wastefulness of time , as even if you ’d never attend a photograph before , ever , you ’d still lie with it was rubbish . It has more in common with digital zoom photos pick out with an age smartphone than it does with the Galaxy S25 Ultra ’s capable 5x visual rapid climb .
A reminder of how lucky we are
Did the ST72 neglect completely ? There was one pic where I think it did aslightlybetter job than the Galaxy S25 Ultra . Taken inside a shop , the ST72 ’s exposure of the budding flowers wrapped in newspaper is shiny and less punchy , in a right way , than the S25 Ultra ’s pic . The colors are natural , the white balance effective , and there ’s a decent level of detail too . The S25 Ultra ’s photograph is over saturated , and I ’m not sure it got the pic good .
However , one photo can not redeem the Samsung ST72 , and neither can its true endearing size and material body . It ’s absolutely not the Samsung camera anyone should be using in 2025 . If my day out was one where I want to truly capture memories , it would have ruin them . It ’s really surprising just how much departure there is between a digital camera from 10 years ago and today ’s smartphones . Sure , the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a lot more expensive , but I think all but the veryworst smartphone camera todaywould still nonplus the ST72 in a back - to - back test .
It highlights how spoiled we are by what our phone ’s cameras are up to of , and after using the ST72 again , I take I hide out it away all those age ago because I was distinctly unimpressed by its ability . At the meter I would have had the pick of theApple iPhone 5S , theNokia Lumia 1020 , and theLG G2smartphones , and I am almost sure all would gave taken considerably better photos than the ST72 .
The piffling Samsung photographic camera is headed back to its draftsman , where it ’ll serve as a admonisher of how favorable we are experience such excellent cameras with us all mean solar day , because based on the actual photos it takes , that ’s all it ’s good for . As for the Galaxy S25 Ultra ’s camera , it ’s calculate great , but other more relevant comparisons reveal if it genuinely has what it take to take on , and dumbfound , its peers .
