How to Use Galaxy Note 10 Camera App?

Samsung Galaxy Note 10 camera is one of the key selling points of Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+.

This Galaxy Note 10 guide explains how to use camera quick launch, the components and their meaning/usage of the camera app, and supported gestures in Galaxy Note 10 camera app.

Except for the depth camera, which is not discussed in this guide, Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10 Plus share identical camera components. So, this guide applies to both Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+.

How to use Galaxy Note 10 camera quick launch?

By default, on Galaxy Note 10, you can quickly press the Side key (see Galaxy Note 10 layout) twice to launch the camera. This is referred to as Galaxy Note 10 camera quick launch.

Of course, you can customize the side key to remap the double press gesture to other apps, as explained in this guide.

Anyway, in addition to tapping the camera app icon, or using voice commands (Bixby or Google Assistant), you can also use the Galaxy Note 10 camera quick launch to open the camera app.

As explained in this guide, you can remap the Side key for other apps, or use other Side key gestures for camera quick launch.

Understand the components of Galaxy Note 10 Camera App interface?

In recent years, Samsung tried to keep the Camera app consistent through their Android phones.

So, if you just migrate from Samsung Galaxy Note 9, or Galaxy S10, you will find the camera app interface is very familiar.

As shown in the screenshot below, typically, there are 10-15 components (depending on what you are using) in the camera app interface.

#1. the shutter button

You can tap the shutter button to take photos, just like in any other camera apps.

If you hold the shutter button, by default, the burst mode will be activated. You can deactivate the burst mode by assigning the long tap gesture of the shutter button:

• To take one picture (same as tapping the shutter button once).
• To create GIF animations.

Of course, inmost Samsung Galaxy phones, there are some other shooting methods. In addition to the shutter button, you can also use voice, floating shutter button, gesture, or volume button to take photos as explained in this guide.

Please note, if you change the camera mode to Video, live focus, super slow motion, slow motion, or hyper-lapse (modes in the right of the photo/auto mode), the shutter button will look different.

#2. Shortcut to the Gallery app

You can access the Gallery app in Galaxy Note 10 quickly from the camera app.

By default, the thumbnail of the last-taken photo will be used as the icon. But if you start the camera app without unlocking the phone (i.e., open camera from Galaxy Note 10 lock screen), then you will see the Gallery app icon. This is a security feature, not a bug.

#3. Front & rear camera switcher

You can tap the button to switch between the front and rear cameras.

You can also use gestures to switch the cameras (read on).

#4. Camera modes

By default, when you start the camera app, the default photo mode (Auto mode) will be activated. You can change it to last used mode in the camera settings.

If you want to use other Galaxy Note 10 camera modes, you can just swipe left or right, then select.

Please note, on Galaxy Note 10 (and some other Galaxy phones with Android Pie), there is no separate Recording button in the camera app. Instead, you need to change the camera mode to video, then use the shutter button to record videos.

#5. Scene optimization

Scene optimization can automatically apply some optimized settings based on the AI engine integrated into Galaxy Note 10.

It is recommended to leave it on (default).

If you do not like it, you can tap the icon to turn it off. The icon will be grayed out, and standard settings will be applied.

You can also turn it on/off in the camera settings.

#6. Zoom and camera lens selection

For both Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+, there are 3 rear camera lens: ultra-wide-angle, wide-angle, and telephoto.

You can tap the corresponding icon to choose the desired lens.

You can also tap and hold (long tap) on any icons to set the optical zoom (0.5x to 2x) and digital zoom, as shown below.

#7. Galaxy Note 1o camera settings icon

You can access the settings page for the camera.

Please refer to this page (coming soon) for details.

#8. Flash

You tap to cycle through 3 flash options for Galaxy Note 10 camera:

• Off (No flash).
• Auto  (depending on lighting conditions).
• On.

Normally, it is recommended not to use the camera flash, which usually results in poor photos quality. The photo looks washed out and lacking details.

If the lighting condition is not good, you may try the Night camera mode or the Pro camera mode.

Please note, the ultra-wide-angle camera does not support flash.

Some Galaxy Note 10 modes do not support flash as well. These camera modes include:

• Night mode.
• Food mode.
• Panorama mode.
• Video mode.
• Hyperlapse mode.

#9. Timer

You have 4 options for the timer of Galaxy Note 10 camera:

• Off.
• 2 seconds.
• 5 seconds.
• 10 seconds.

On Galaxy Note 10, there is no option to “Take 3” photos. So, you need to manually check the photo after it is taken.

Please note, the food and panorama modes do not support timer.

#10. Photo size (aspect ratio) settings

You can tap the button to set the aspect ratio as:

• 4:3
• 16:9
• 1:1
• Full (19:9).

There are NO photo size settings in Galaxy Note 10. Samsung removed the photo size settings since Galaxy S10.

Each aspect ratio has ONE size (which is the largest possible size of the sensor). You may check this guide on the explanation.

#11. Camera effects

If you want, you can still apply some camera effects for photos taken with Samsung Galaxy Note 10 without using any photo editing apps.

You can choose different filters and turn on/off the beauty mode. You can also download some camera effects from the Galaxy Apps.

Please note, the AR stickers are accessed from AR Emoji button (14).

#12. HDR

For HDR on Galaxy Note 10, you can

• Disable HDR (not recommended).
• Enable when needed (default, auto).
• Always on.

If you choose to enable HDR when needed (let the camera decide), you will see the HDR icon when HDR is enabled.

Galaxy Note 10 camera is quite smart, and you can leave the default on.

#13. Bixby vision

This button actually is a shortcut to the Bixby Vision app.

#14. AR Emoji

Both AR Emoji and AR stickers can be accessed from this button.

You can also create a shortcut for AR Emoji on Galaxy Note 10 Home screen so that you can use it without opening the camera app.

#15. Preview screen for Galaxy Note 10 camera

The rest of the screen is a preview screen. You can check the range of the photo to be taken.

Gestures in Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Camera App

Samsung introduced gestures to the camera apps in all Galaxy S and Note phones since Android Nougat update.

On the Galaxy Note 10 camera app, you can use 5 types of gestures.

1. Swipe up/down to switch front and rear cameras.
2. Swipe left/right to choose camera modes for the camera.
3. Tap to focus. You can tap anywhere to change focus to the tapped area. At the same time, this gesture also calls out the exposure settings for the camera.
4. Long tap (tap and hold) to lock AF/AE. You can lock the focus and exposure to the tapped area.
5. Pinch/spread to zoom in/out.  As mentioned above, you can also use the camera selection area to zoom in and zoom out.

Please do not confuse these gestures with navigation gestures.

Do you have any questions on the Galaxy Note 10 camera app?

If you have any questions on using the camera app on Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+, you may let us know in the comment box below.

The community will try to help you.

If you have other Samsung Galaxy Note 10 questions, you may check our Galaxy Note 10 guides.

You can read online or download a PDF version of the official Samsung Galaxy Note 10 users manuals in your language here.