Samsung Night Mode: Sharper Low-Light Photos

Night mode is designed for low-light situations. It takes multiple shots and combines them to produce a single, high-quality image with improved brightness and clarity. For optimal results, hold your Galaxy steady and make sure your subject doesn't move. On the Galaxy S26 series, it's incorporated into Photo mode. On older devices, you'll see it as a separate option.

How Night mode works

Multi-frame processing (Samsung refers to Night mode as using this method, combining 30 frames into a single picture) requires everything in-frame to remain still while multiple pictures are taken. Otherwise, there will be ghosting/blurring of edges (especially if you’re not using a tripod) or noticeable smearing of moving subjects (people, cars, etc.).

How long is this process? Several seconds, and Samsung says the phone will let you know how long you need to hold still. Holding still is important because moving subjects and camera shake will result in ghosting and less-than-sharp images.

Multiple frames are combined to reduce noise and increase brightness (particularly in darker areas of the scene). The resulting image will be cleaner and brighter than a single frame captured at that instant.

How do I turn on Night mode on a Samsung camera?

Where you’ll find Night mode depends on which version of One UI your Galaxy phone is running. On Samsung phones running versions of One UI prior to 8.5, open the Camera app, swipe across the bar of modes and tap More, then select Night. Tap the shutter button to take a shot. Alternatively, a crescent moon symbol might appear above the strip of photo modes in low light when you’re using Photo or Portrait mode. According to Samsung, if the crescent moon is yellow, this means it’s using Nightography to improve the photo; if it’s not yellow, Nightography is available, but hasn’t been used; if there’s no moon at all, it’s too bright to use. You might also get a notification suggesting you switch to Night mode if Scene optimiser is enabled.

On One UI 8.5 (pictured on a Galaxy S26 Ultra in Samsung’s guide), Night mode is included within Photo mode. In dim conditions, a Night shot button in the shape of a moon will appear towards the bottom of the screen. Tap this to choose between Off, Auto or Max. If you miss having Night mode as its own option, you can re-enable this using Camera Assistant.

Things change again with One UI 9 (pictured on a Galaxy S25 Ultra), which we checked in November 2026. This shows Night as its own mode alongside Photo in the horizontal list, but also includes a Night shot button you can tap when it gets dark.

1. 1

   Open the camera settings

   Open the Camera app and then tap on Quick controls (four circles icon) and select the gear icon.

2. 2

   Turn Night back on

   S26: Open Camera Assistant, then under Additional modes, turn on Night. S25 Ultra (One UI 9): The Additional modes only have Single take and Dual rec, since Night is already available from the mode strip.

3. 3

   Use the separate mode

   The mode bar has Night in the More section. The camera settings guide explains the rest of the menu.

How do I take sharp Night mode photos on a Samsung?

Blur is almost always going to happen when shooting in Night mode if you move your phone, so brace it as best you can. Most street scenes don’t require a tripod: lean your phone against a wall, rest it on top of a car, place it on the back of a bench or against a fence post, or find any other way of stabilising your phone. If you must shoot handheld, tuck your elbows in and lean your body against something sturdy. Tap-to-focus on a sharp edge of your subject can help make sure it’s in focus before you hit the shutter button. Hold the phone steady, and then softly press the shutter button (or use the camera timer), waiting until shooting is completed (don’t lower it too early, as that’s the most common cause of soft shots). It’s best to shoot stationary subjects or people who aren’t moving. If you can get someone to stop and hold still for a moment, go for it. Otherwise moving people are going to turn into grey smears. The blurry photo guide covers the other causes.

• Try using stationary objects as subjects.
• Use your phone’s tap to focus feature. Tap on an area of high contrast (such as an edge) to focus before taking the picture.
• Rest your phone on a flat surface (table, wall) or brace your arms on a fixed object (post).
• Keep your phone level and steady until you see that the picture has been taken. Only then, lower your phone.

Night mode or Pro mode at night

Samsung’s Night mode can be handy for quick snaps, especially when shooting in dim conditions with the phone in your hands. Samsung says the phone decides the exposure and white balance itself, and shadows can have a smooth, almost painted-over appearance after processing. You’ll get cleaner files with Pro mode (most of the time, if shooting on a tripod with a static scene). For longer exposures, switch to Pro mode and try ISO 50 with a shutter speed of 4 to 10 seconds. Set focus, then activate the 2-second delay so that pressing the shutter button doesn’t cause camera shake. In very low light you can increase the ISO (up to about 400) and lengthen the shutter speed, as Galaxy flagships permit exposures of up to 30 seconds. Keep an eye on highlights, as street lights, for example, will quickly become overexposed blobs. If this happens, shorten the exposure time. Pro mode is recommended for the aurora, and the northern lights settings guide lists the initial values.

Expert RAW Astrophoto for stars

Astrophotography, on the other hand, requires even more patience, since Astrophoto mode in Samsung’s Expert RAW app (available to download for free from the Galaxy Store) can take minutes to capture a single image. First introduced with the Galaxy S22 series, Astrophoto mode has since been expanded to a handful of other Samsung flagships and Galaxy Folds via software updates. To use it, head to Expert RAW and make sure your resolution is set to 12MP, then enable Special photo options. From there, you can enable Sky guide to see a constellation map and pick an exposure time. When Astrophoto mode rolled out to the Galaxy Z Fold4 in 2023, SamMobile reported that users could choose exposure times from four to 10 minutes, though in Expert RAW version 6.0.02.8 (the version we checked on a Galaxy S25 Ultra running One UI 9), those options are instead labelled Short, Medium and Long. Either way, you’ll need a sturdy tripod and preferably a location far from city lights, and you should resist the urge to mess with your phone until Astrophoto mode’s lengthy exposure has finished processing. The astrophotography guide walks through the full workflow.

Nightography video on the Galaxy S26 Ultra

Low-light photography and videography is branded as Nightography on Samsung Galaxy phones. Samsung explains on its support pages that the feature kicks in automatically when it detects low-light conditions and it’s always on when shooting in Night mode.

For cleaner videos, try to keep your Galaxy phone as still as possible, brace yourself or invest in a gimbal, and avoid shooting lights near the edges of your frame.

Night videos will be noisier than ones taken during the day, even on the newest Galaxy phones.

Samsung says that Nightography video has been enhanced on the Galaxy S26 Ultra. It says that its 200MP wide camera with an f/1.4 lens (the Galaxy S25 Ultra has an f/1.7 lens) gathers 47% more light than the equivalent camera on the S25 Ultra, while its 5x telephoto camera picks up 37% more light.

Settings for night video

There’s no switch to toggle night mode video on and off. Nightography kicks in automatically, according to Samsung’s Galaxy S26 support page. However, there are a couple of settings that could be tweaked to make the most of it.

Head into Camera settings > Videos and you’ll find options including Auto FPS. This is likely to be of most use when shooting in the dark, as Samsung says it’ll record brighter videos in low light conditions by optimising the frame rate. On our Galaxy S25 Ultra test phone running One UI 9 we see a Use for 30 fps videos only setting, so make sure you’re recording at 30fps to take advantage of it.

Any movement will be more noticeable in darker footage so pan slowly and try to keep the camera as still as possible (steadier than you would be during the day!). Prop your elbows against a wall or consider investing in a small gimbal to help stabilise your camera. For concerts and other dark events, the concert video settings guide builds on these settings.

How long does a Samsung Night mode shot take?

Samsung doesn’t reveal the maximum exposure time for Night mode on any of its phones. All the company’s help pages indicate is that the phone will tell you how long to keep it steady. According to SamMobile, on the S26 line, the label for the Max setting will have the maximum exposure time displayed on One UI 8.5. As you can see in the above screenshot, when shooting in Night mode in dark conditions on One UI 9 on a Galaxy S25 Ultra in November 2026, the app displayed 8 seconds. Some YouTube videos about shooting with Galaxy Ultra phones in Night mode with tripods reference longer exposure times, but we couldn’t find any Samsung corroboration, so we’re not including them here. If you’re looking for more in-depth information about S25 Ultra settings by scene, head over to our S25 Ultra night mode guide.

For full control, shoot in Pro mode on a tripod and dial in the shutter speed you want.

Which Galaxy phones have Night mode

While availability can vary by phone model and software version, according to Samsung, Night mode is available on almost every Galaxy phone released over the past handful of years, including the Galaxy Note10 and Note20; the Galaxy S10, S20, and all Galaxy S phones since (including FE models) up through the Galaxy S26 (where you’ll find it represented by a moon icon in Photo mode rather than its own option under More); the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip lines; and numerous Galaxy A series phones, including the Galaxy A54, Galaxy A55, Galaxy A56, and Galaxy A57.

Keep in mind that, while mid-range Galaxy phones shoot Night mode photos using the same multi-frame technique as Ultra models, their smaller camera sensors mean you can expect to see more noise in images taken in dim conditions.

If your Galaxy phone offers Pro mode and you have a small tripod on hand, the manual process detailed in the above table is also an option.