Galaxy S26 Ultra Zoom: When to Use 1x, 3x, 5x and 10x

Samsung claims all four (2x, 3x, 5x and 10x) provide optical-quality zoom on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but there are really just two actual telephoto cameras, a 3x and a 5x.

Knowing when to use which telephoto will save you time and frustration. The answer usually comes down to how far away the subject is and how large or small you want them to appear in the frame.

In this guide we’ll show you the shooting distances for each lens on the S26 Ultra, including one gotcha that surprises a lot of people: the closest distance the 5x can focus.

The S26 Ultra's cameras and zoom steps

The biggest changes are on the 5x camera, though. Samsung is no longer calling this a periscope camera, and teardowns reveal an ALoP (All Lens on Prism) setup.

This still uses a prism to fold light around within the camera module, but it's smaller than a standard periscope setup, with a circular opening instead of the rectangular opening on the S25 Ultra. This means that out-of-focus lights are circles or ovals instead of rectangles. The f/2.9 aperture also lets in around 37% more light than the S25 Ultra's f/3.4.

How far to stand for each lens

Distances are calculated from the above focal lengths for a 4:3 aspect ratio photo taken with the phone in portrait orientation (where applicable). Try moving in or out a little to get just the shot you want.

The 3x is ideal for head-and-shoulders portraits as this puts you at a normal talking distance from your subject. The 5x needs plenty of room indoors to take full-length portraits as you’ll be standing more than six metres away.

Which lens to use for which subject

Our telephoto lens guide covers the zoom cameras found on previous generations of the Ultra line, and the S26 Ultra camera review covers the remainder of the hardware.

Close-ups and the 5x minimum focus distance

However, there’s a catch. The minimum focus distance for the S26 Ultra’s 5x camera is reportedly around 52cm (source: SamMobile via GSMArena), double that of the S25 Ultra’s 5x (26cm). You may have noticed that Samsung’s official support website lists the S26 Ultra’s 5x minimum shooting distance as 80cm (the S25 Ultra’s is 30cm). In practice, while 52cm is the closest distance at which the S26 Ultra’s 5x can focus, 80cm is the safe shooting distance for sharp photos.

Get any closer with Auto lens switching turned on and you run the risk of the phone using a cropped-in photo from the main camera instead, which will likely lack the detail of an actual 5x shot. If your 5x close-ups are coming out looking a bit soft, try moving back to at least 80cm, or take the shot using 3x or 1x and crop in later. Check out this camera not focusing guide if your 5x isn’t focusing. It'll tell you why your phone changes lenses and how to prevent it.

But for close-ups of really small objects, the ultra-wide lens is the better option, and you can let Samsung’s Focus enhancer (the flower icon in the viewfinder) switch to it automatically if you get in close enough. See our macro photography guide for further information about close-ups.

Background blur at 5x

Backgrounds are more magnified (and hence more out of focus) on 5x than 1x. So long as there are a few metres between subject and background (stand a couple of metres from your subject), 5x can separate people from busy backgrounds that 1x can’t manage. The lens’s circular aperture gives round (or oval) highlights on lights in out-of-focus backgrounds. You don’t even need Portrait mode to get a portrait-like effect.

The 5x camera shows less of a scene than the 1x camera (hence the magnification effect). Areas of busy background at 1x can become simple shapes at 5x.

If the background blur from the lens is not strong enough, Portrait mode adds it in software. It would be good to run them both on the same subject and compare.

Where optical zoom ends

Samsung also calls the 2x and 10x zooms optical quality, but those are actually digital crops from the centre of the 200MP and 50MP sensors. The 3x and 5x are optical zooms. Anything else, like 4x or 7x, is a crop from one of the cameras. Beyond 10x zoom, Samsung’s Space Zoom feature takes over, showing a small image to help you frame your shot. From 10x to 100x, your Galaxy S26 Ultra is cropping a small portion of an image and using processing to enhance the shot.

We recommend using the 30x zoom and beyond as last resort zooms. Images at this level will lack detail compared to zooms of 10x or less. We suggest propping your phone up against something stable or using a tripod when zooming in. Our 100x zoom guide covers getting usable results at the long end.

Note that the 200MP image mode can only be used with the main camera. If you switch to the 24MP image mode (which can be enabled through Camera Assistant), you’ll have access to the 3x and 5x zooms. Our Camera Assistant guide shows how to enable it.

Why the answer changes at night

However, in low light, you may actually get better results by shooting with the brighter f/1.4 main camera and cropping down in post rather than shooting at 3x. This is because the main camera’s 1/1.3-inch sensor is much larger than the 3x camera’s 1/3.94-inch sensor and the 5x camera’s 1/2.52-inch sensor. Keep this in mind when shooting at night, because if you zoom to 3x or 5x and Auto lens switching is enabled, the phone might use the main camera, depending on the lighting.

If you specifically want to use the telephoto camera at night, perhaps for the compressed look or because you can’t get any closer to your subject, turn off Auto lens switching in Camera Assistant and use a steady hand or prop your phone up somewhere to keep it as stable as possible. Just keep in mind that images shot with the telephoto cameras will likely be noisier than those shot at 1x. For how the whole system compares with last year's phone, see S26 Ultra vs S25 Ultra.