The National Geographic chooses the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra as the first smartphone to film an underwater expedition
Samsung India and National Geographic have combined to carry out what they claim is the first underwater expedition filmed with a smartphone. Unsurprisingly, the pair used Samsung's current flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Not only can the handset record 8K videos at 24 FPS, but it also has a 108 MP primary camera that has a 1/1.33-inch sensor and an f/1.8 aperture.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra may be IP68 certified, but it is not waterproof enough to withstand an underwater expedition shown below. Nonetheless, the smartphone should withstand being submerged in up to 1.5 metres of water for 30 minutes, albeit only in freshwater. Saltwater is a different matter altogether, though. Unsurprisingly, National Geographic put the Galaxy S21 Ultra in a special underwater case for the expedition, although Samsung has not confirmed if this case is available to purchase.
Since Samsung financed this expedition, you should keep in mind that this is advertising. Nevertheless, the photos and videos that Malaika Vaz took are impressive, not least because Vaz shot them from within an underwater case. We should also stress that the photos were captured from an 8K video, which corresponds to a 33 MP resolution.
In our opinion, the stills do not do the video below justice. However, it is unclear if Samsung has professionally edited the video in post-production. Ultimately, this collaboration reminds us that one does not need specialist equipment to shoot in challenging circumstances.
