The dual camera on the Galaxy S9+ is one of those features that I’m really enjoying a lot. The 2X zoom on the phone is very handy for making distortion free close-up pictures. Plus the “Live Focus” mode for taking a wide angle and zoom picture at the same time is very fun to use.
That being said, the basic operation of the dual camera was a bit confusing to me at first. When you first start up the camera you can see a little “2X” indicator on the screen as this picture shows:
Galaxy S9+ wide angle shot – click for viewing full screen
At first I thought that the “2X” was indicating that both cameras were operating or something. Pushing that makes it read “1X” and zooms the display. I figured I should leave it on 2X to keep both cameras working - after all I paid for a dual camera. LOL.
The 2X mode indicator is located in the bottom left of the cameras display near a yellowish looking fruit.
Pushing that changes the indicator to read “1X” and the display zooms in to look like this:
Galaxy S9+ 2X zoom shot – click for viewing full screen
Okay, I’m really confused here. It says “1X” but things are zoomed in. Is this the wide angle mode or the zoom mode? Are both cameras operating or is just one? Reading the manual doesn’t seem to help much, perhaps the person who wrote it was confused as well or there was some translation issue.
As it turns out this indicator is not indicating the current state of the camera but showing what state the camera will be in if you push the button. WHAT?
This seems like a confusing design flaw that breaks with convention, kind of like a red light labeled “GO”. So you are supposed to push the button to go into “GO” mode I suppose? What if I am going, am I supposed to go some more, or stop?
Okay, maybe I’m old fashioned but I find this confusing.
For another example, this is a switch clearly labeled “OFF”:
Switch in “OFF” position – click for viewing full screen
I would expect that whatever device is controlled by the switch would be “OFF” as in: no power would be flowing to it. I suppose you could label the switch “ON” as in: if you push this switch something will turn on.
Having it labeled the first way is a convention that fits with how a switch used to work way back when you could visually look at it and see if the contacts were closed or not. It really didn’t even need to be labeled at all, if you knew anything about how it worked.
I suppose that with an old fashioned switch with exposed contacts, if the contacts were labeled “OFF” and the switch lever open position was labeled “ON” that would make a certain poetic sense. Clearly one would move the switch lever into “OFF” position in order to turn the device on.
Being the confused person that I am, I might look at the contacts labeled “OFF” and assume that the power was turned off by the power company. Grabbing both contacts, one in each hand to prove that the power was “OFF” I would be posthumously awarded the Darwin award for my inability to understand a clearly labeled device. LOL.
Now that I have confused you completely I would advise that you go out and get yourself a Galaxy S9+ so everything will be clear as mud.
My fix: Have the dual camera indicator work just like the flash indicator and have it give text feedback when pushed like “Switching to 2X zoom” or “Switching to wide angle” with the button graphic displaying the current mode.
Thanks for reading! I always value your support and comments. The pictures were taken by me with my Galaxy S9+ and Galaxy S7 on March 22, 2018
