I Took the $650 Galaxy S24 FE From New York to Orlando to Test Its Cameras

From New York’s Highline to Orlando’s Kia Center, I took the $650 Galaxy S24 FE along on my travels to test its cameras across a number of different environments and scenarios. And while Samsung hyped up the fact that the new phone has the same Galaxy AI features as its Galaxy S24 siblings, it’s the S24 FE’s cameras that could be one of the biggest reasons to consider it over less expensive phones like the $400 Galaxy A35 or Google’s $500 Pixel 8A.

The S24 FE has a trio of rear lenses (wide, ultrawide and telephoto) but lacks the extreme 100x zoom seen on the $1,300 Galaxy S24 Ultra and the higher end cameras and processor found on the $800 Galaxy S24. Whether I was in well-lit outdoor environments, dimly lit bars or under high-contrast concert lighting, the Galaxy S24 FE was largely able to keep up, providing some truly detailed shots and a few images that were just OK. 

Here are a number of stills I took with the Galaxy S24 F4 that show off just how versatile its cameras are and where it was pushed beyond its limits.

Galaxy S24 FE’s 50-megapixel wide camera

The Galaxy S24 FE’s main camera has a wide-angle lens with and f/1.8 aperture and a 50-megapixel sensor. The camera has optical image stabilization which helps especially in lower light situations when the camera needs to have a longer shutter speed.

This photo taken from New York’s High Line illustrates what the phone can handle in ideal lighting. Even though the sun is in the frame, the image still has good details in the shadows (look at the street) and along Manhattan’s Little Island in the background. You can even see the textured pavement of the street and the small print on the bus’s sign on the right side of the photo.

On the other hand, here is a photo I took at Heart of Gold in Astoria under a dim environment — made even darker by the fact that I removed the table’s light fixture. The photo has decent detail, notice the water droplets on beer glass and the bits of spice seen in my bowl of pasta. It’s not perfect, the fork on the right has basically turned black. But the main focus of the photo is intact despite it being quite dim.

When I was at Orlando’s Kia Center to see Charli XCX and Troye Sivan perform, I took this photo of the arena as the lights went down for the opening act, Shygirl. I was in the back of the arena, and between that distance and the mixed high-contrast stage lighting, the S24 FE’s turned out OK. As a consequence, the photo’s details around the stage look soft and any movement on the stage was reduced to colorful blurs.

However, if you look closely at the static parts of the image, like the flags in the back and the “Sweat” logo on the front of the stage, you can actually make them out. You can also see people in the crowd get ready for the show, checking their phones or looking at the stage. It’s a challenging photo — especially in a darker environment — but you get a mix of all the various lighting sources with a minimal amount of image noise. It would be amazing if the S24 FE could have captured more details from the people throughout the arena, but for a phone in this price range I’m happy we can make out as much as the camera can.

Galaxy S24 FE’s 12-megapixel ultrawide camera

Samsung’s 12-megapixel camera with an ultrawide lens is a step down from the Galaxy S24 FE’s main camera, but it’s no slouch. While it lacks the main camera’s built-in image stabilization or pixel binning, it handled bright environments rather well.

I took this photo at an intersection just outside of New York’s Columbus Circle on a cloudy day using the ultrawide camera. Thanks to the ideal lighting, the photo has a lot of detail, including puffs of steam from street vents on the left. Take a close look at the subway entrance on the right; you can even make out the signs and text above it.

There are even smaller details in the far background where Columbus Circle official is, albeit with some softness. This includes a Citibike rider, where you can see enough blue to know that it’s part of New York’s commuter bike program, but text at that point suffers. But you cannot see the Columbus Circle street sign on the right of that intersection well when zooming in.

For comparison, I took the same photo using the wide lens, which doesn’t include as much in frame to the left and the right of the initial intersection, but has much better and sharper details of the Columbus Circle just beyond. You can make out the detail and text on the Columbus Circle street sign, a small statue that’s further back and on the left a red sign delineating “20+” eateries in an Underground Market. This image shows the tradeoff between the wide and the ultrawide: You either get more details with the former or a wider frame of view with the latter.

I also wanted to try a more unusual method of testing the ultrawide camera by using it to take a photo of a breakfast sandwich in front of me. This result is a photo of my entire table, including the sandwich, water, coffee and silverware. In the center of the image, the camera does preserve flaky colors of the croissant. You can see the melted cheese on this sandwich, but I also see that the cheese blends in with the egg, making them harder to differentiate.

Moving to the wide camera, you can now make out the melted gruyere cheese on my eggs, which blended in a bit more when using the ultrawide camera. You also get a better look at the croissant’s textures, including the pastry’s reflectiveness of light. You can even see the different browns of the grilled mushrooms.

Galaxy S24 FE’s 8-megapixel telephoto camera

I’m quite impressed by the 8-megapixel telephoto camera that has optical image stabilization and a 3x optical zoom. Remember the Galaxy S24 FE’s starting price is $650, so including a telephoto camera that is anything more than 2x is remarkable. However in terms of image quality, the telephoto camera is a step down from the main one.

Here are two images from the S24 FE taken on the High Line, one taken with the main 50-megapixel main camera, and the other the with the 8-megapixel telephoto camera. Notice the same flower in each shot. The dynamic range of the main camera image is impressive as is how much detail the 3x zoom photo has, too.

Here’s another photo I took at the Kia Center, but this time with the S24 FE’s telephoto camera. Troye Sivan requested that the audience turn on their phone’s flashlights, which inadvertently helped boost the brightness of this telephoto image. He’s still far away, but you can make out the wrinkles on the bedlike platform he is sitting on. While that additional light really helps improve the stage’s visibility, it washes out the shadows (notice the lighting above and the Kia car on the top left). But I like how all the flashlights in the audience take precedence, and this was my clearest photo yet for one of the show’s headlining acts.

I wanted to try to get the closest photo I could, even if it meant using digital zoom, a weak area for the Galaxy S24 FE. I took a deep breath, held the phone as still as I could and pushed the zoom in to 30x for this photo of the singer on stage. It isn’t flattering, but you can sort of see his outfit, his hair and that he’s holding a microphone and that it’s a performance. That’s as good as it’s going to get, and other phones I’ve used in this price range or cheaper would have rendered this as a blob of light. Now it’s more of a painting than a blob.

Samsung Galaxy S24 FE’s 10-megapixel selfie camera

Rounding out the cameras on the Galaxy S24 is the 10-megapixel selfie camera. In my review, I showed off an ideal selfie photo taken on a rooftop, but I also tested the 10-megapixel front-facing camera in more challenging environments, like CNET’s TV lab.

In this photo, I closed the blackout curtains so only a trace amount of light could enter, and I paired that with the phone’s selfie flash. There’s a lot of image noise as a result, but you get a clearly rendered photo of me that is slightly blurry — likely from a combination of the longer shutter speed needed to collect more light and some hand shake from me holding the phone. You can see flecks of my facial hair and a few wrinkles in my shirt, while my hair blends in with the dark background. Basically, near pitch black environments aren’t great for selfies from any phone cameras, but the Galaxy S24 FE can power through to get a serviceable shot if needed.

To wrap up this photo test, here is a selfie I took at the end of the Charli XCX and Troye Sivan concert of myself and my boyfriend Ryan. The lighting was mixed, with our faces being a bit darker than the bright arena that backlit us. As a result, the S24 FE had to  compensate and brighten up the two of us, but everything in the background looks brighter and washed out. We still have the point of the photo — a quick yay moment after watching an amazing show.