Learn to use your Samsung Galaxy Note 2 camera.
How to take Photos on Samsung Galaxy Note 2
- Taking pictures with your devices built-in camera is as simple as choosing a subject, pointing the camera, and then pressing the camera key.
Note: When taking a photo in direct sunlight or in bright conditions, shadows may appear on the photo.
- From the Home screen, tap Camera icon.
- Using the devices main display screen as a viewfinder, adjust the image by aiming the camera at the subject.
Note: Use either the Up and Down volume keys or spread/ pinch the screen to zoom in or out. For more information, refer to How to navigate through the screens on Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
- If desired, before taking the photo, use the left area of the screen to access various camera options and settings.
- You can also tap the screen to move the focus to a desired area of interest.
- Press Camera icon until the shutter sounds. (The picture is automatically stored within your designated storage location. If no microSD is installed, all pictures are stored on the Phone.) For more information, refer to Camera Options below.
Note: Touch and hold Camera icon to take a burst shot. These are saved using a Fine image quality.
Camera Options on Samsung Galaxy Note 2
- Options are represented by icons across both sides of the screen.
- The following shortcuts are available for the camera:
- Focus area: displays the area of the image used as the main focus area. If the image is too close, the square will turn red.
- Self portrait: allows you to set the front camera so you can take pictures of yourself.
- Flash: allows you to set the flash options to Off, On, or Auto flash.
- Shooting mode: allows you to set the shooting mode to one of the following:
- Single shot: takes a single photo and view it before returning to the shooting mode.
- Best photo: takes a series of photographs simultaneously, and then allows you to cycle through the available thumbnails and choose the best photo to keep. Tap Done to select the photo.
- Best face: takes a series of photographs simultaneously, then allows you to cycle through the available thumbnails and choose the best photo showing the subjects best face. Tag subject from the image, tap a desired image, and select Save to store the photo.
- Face detection: adjusts the camera focus based on face detection technology.
- Panorama: takes a landscape photo by taking an initial photo and then adding additional images to itself. The guide box lets you view the area where the second part of the panoramic picture should fall within.
- Share shot: uses Wi-Fi Direct to share your pictures quickly with your friends.
- HDR: takes pictures in HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode to increase image detail.
- Buddy photo share: uses face recognition from pictures in your contacts to send your friends or family pictures of themselves.
- Beauty: adjusts the contrast to smooth facial features.
- Smile shot: the camera focuses on the face of your subject. Once the camera detects the persons smile, it takes the picture.
- Low light: adjusts the aperture and light settings to take better images in low light conditions.
- Effects: allows you to change the color tone or apply special effects to the photo. Options include: No effect, Cold vintage, Warm vintage, Posterize, Solarize, Green point, Blue point, Red-yellow point, Washed out, Cartoonify, Black and white, Sepia, and Negative.
- Share shot – Share with: tap to display the current participants sharing images with you via an active Wi-Fi Direct Share shot session.
- Share shot – Shooting mode: lists the current shooting modes available from with the Share Shot mode.
Camera Settings Samsung Galaxy Note 2
- Edit shortcuts: allows you to set shortcut icons for the settings that you use the most.
- Burst shot: allows several photographs to be captured in quick succession by touching and holding the Camera button.
- Self-portrait: allows you to set the front camera so you can take pictures of yourself or video chat.
- Flash: allows you to set the flash options to Off, On, or Auto flash.
- Shooting mode: allows you to set the shooting mode.
- Effects: allows you to change the color tone or apply special effects to the photo. Options include: No effect, Cold vintage, Warm vintage, Posterize, Solarize, Green point, Blue point, Red-yellow point, Washed out, Cartoonify, Black and white, Sepia, and Negative.
- Scene mode: allows you to set the Scene to help take the best pictures possible. Options include None, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Party/Indoor, Beach/ Snow, Sunset, Dawn, Autumn Color, Text, and Candlelight. Helpful tips are shown for each scene mode at the bottom of the display screen.
- Exposure value: allows you to adjust the brightness level by moving the slider.
- Focus mode: allows you to set this option to Auto focus or Macro. Use Auto focus for all other focal situations.
- Timer: allows you to set a timer for how long to wait before taking a picture. Options include: Off, 2 sec, 5 sec, and 10 sec.
- Resolution: allows you to set the image size to either: 8M (3264×2448), W6M (3264×1836), 3.2M (2048×1536), W2.4M (2048×1152), W0.9M (1280×720), or 0.3M (640×480).
- White balance: allows you to set this option to one of the following choices: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Incandescent, or Fluorescent.
- ISO: ISO determines how sensitive the light meter is on your digital camera. Choose from Auto, 100, 200, 400, or 800. Use a lower ISO number to make your camera less sensitive to light, a higher ISO number to take photos with less light, or Auto to let the camera automatically adjust the ISO for each of your shots.
- Metering: allows you to set how the camera measures or meters the light source: Matrix, Center-weighted, or Spot.
- Outdoor visibility: activates/deactivates a screen brightness setting that allows you to better view the screen when outdoors.
- Auto contrast: provides a clear image even under backlight circumstances where intensity of illumination can vary excessively.
- Guidelines: allows you to turn the guidelines On or Off.
- Auto share shot: allows you to make share shot an automatic action.
- Anti-Shake: compensates for camera movement.
- GPS tag: allows you to turn GPS On or Off (also known as Geo-tagging). The location of where the picture is taken is attached to the picture.
- Shutter sound: allows you to set the Shutter sound to On or Off.
- Contextual filename: (requires GPS tagging) allows you to adjust the filename based on contextual information such as your current GPS location.
- Take photos using voice: allows you to use your voice to take a new photo vs tapping the Camera button. Activate the camera function then uses commands such as Capture, Shoot, Smile, or Cheese to take the new photo.
- Save as flipped: allows you to automatically save a new images as a mirror image flipped of the original.
- Image quality: allows you to set the image quality to: Superfine, Fine, or Normal.
- Storage: allows you to configure the default storage location for images or videos as either Phone or Memory card (if inserted).
- Reset: allows you to reset all camera or camcorder settings to the default values.
- Image viewer: allows you to access the Image viewer and the various viewing options for a selected picture. The last picture you took, will be displayed as a thumbnail in the Image viewer icon.
- Camera button: takes a photo when pressed in Camera mode.
- Camera Mode: allows you to take a photo in various modes. Once you change the mode, the corresponding indicator appears at the top left of the display. Slide the button up for Camera, or down for Camcorder.
- Storage location/Charge Status: indicates the current storage location (Phone or Memory card) and the charge state of the device.