Getting snappy with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3

by W. Andrew Powell
Fallsview Casino

This summer I’ve been trying something new, at least for me. I used to cart around my big, full-frame camera everywhere, but I’m now trying to just take my phone with me everywhere to snap memorable life-moment sort of photos. These are the kinds of photos I take because I like to look back and see random things I did with my family, or other adventures covering events for The GATE.

Don’t get me wrong, there is really no replacing my amazing camera–it’s a wonder–but my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 does a wonderful job for the day-to-day moments that I want to capture, and it goes places I don’t always want to drag my camera. Plus, I can post right to Facebook from it, and thanks to the apps I use, I also always have backups of those photos and videos that I take right on my desktop and laptop.

The camera on the Galaxy Note 3 is an all-around great option for taking photos in almost every condition. The image stabilization helps a lot, especially for darker conditions, and there are multiple modes depending on what you’re trying to shoot, but the auto mode works well overall. The panorama and surround shot are great for capturing big scenes, and then there are modes for beauty face, best photo, sound with a shot, or HDR for scenes that are both dark and bright.

The camera quality is also great if you’re like me and want to capture a lot of video. You can see my footage of Lorde at the MMVAs for a sample of that.

The Galaxy Note 3 is also handy if I want to snap a photo of something and then make notes on it to send to family or for work, thanks to the S Pen stylus and built-in apps for editing on-the-fly.

Of course, I do have my complaints with the camera on the Note 3. Zooming in does not provide the best image quality, the camera doesn’t always get the best shots in dark conditions (like concerts), and it could be just a notch faster at taking photos, but these are all minor flaws, and they’re fairly universal to camera phones. I still wouldn’t trade in my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 for anything else since I love the huge screen size, Android, and all of Samsung’s built-in features on the device.

Otherwise, you can see some of the photos I take while I’m out covering things for The GATE in the Samsung Snaps category (or over on The GATE’s Instagram or my personal Instagram), but I thought I should share some more shots for a change, since I don’t always post everything from my phone here on the site.

Here are some random personal photos, travel shots, and photos from press events. Let me know what you think of the photos below in the comments, or tweet me a few of your own.

William Moseley and Alexandra Park of The Royals
William Moseley and Alexandra Park of The Royals
Robin Lord Taylor, Donal Logue & Ben McKenzie
Robin Lord Taylor, Donal Logue & Ben McKenzie
Kiernan Shipka at the MMVAs
Kiernan Shipka at the MMVAs
Image Dragons at the MMVAs
Image Dragons at the MMVAs
CMW's Indie Awards
CMW's Indie Awards
Samsung Curved TVs
Samsung Curved TVs
My wife and our little girl
My wife and our little girl
Latke Grilled Cheese at Fionn MacCool's
Latke Grilled Cheese at Fionn MacCool's
Doctor Who birthday cookies
Doctor Who birthday cookies
GATE logo cookies
GATE logo cookies
Toronto Ribfest
Toronto Ribfest
Horse-drawn carriage
Horse-drawn carriage
Trillium in New Brunswick
Trillium in New Brunswick
Panorama of the Mount Washington Hotel
Panorama of the Mount Washington Hotel
View at Mount Washington Resort
View at Mount Washington Resort
Fallsview Casino
Fallsview Casino
Black Creek Pioneer Village
Black Creek Pioneer Village

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