Valerie starts photographing today's adventure almost immediately upon exiting the car

I spot a bunch of squirrels running around Abalone Shoreline Cove Park, but miss an opportunity to film multiples

I try to get closer to one, but it keeps moving away

Yes, Valerie and I have returned to Abalone Cove for another hike, but this time we arrive an hour BEFORE low tide. Though I have brought my DSLR, I plan to rely upon my new Samsung Galaxy S21 for wide and ultra-wide angle shots. Somehow I messed up the focus on this shot...but at least the colors look good

This is the same vantage point as the previous shot, but through my DSLR's 70-200mm lens...at its widest FOV

Same lens, just before we start down the trail to the cove

With proper focus, I get the impression that Galaxy S21's camera is quite a bit sharper than my previous S9's...even though both phones capture photographs in RAW at the same 12 megapixel resolution. This could be because the S21 actually uses its 64 megapixel sensor, but I am still unclear when Samsung's new hardware chooses each sensor and lens to use. All I know for certain is that I cannot shoot 64 megapixel photos RAW, but can in JPEG format...through one of the phone's matched wide angle lenses.

My initial impression is that the color depth of S21's RAW images is closer to my DSLR's than the S9's

Valerie photographs something on the rocks

Water continues to trickle on to the beach from this crack in the hillside

Valerie sits on the rocks. She definitely seems to be in her happy place

A lot of people are checking out the tide pools today. I hope everyone is wearing masks and observing social distancing

Whoops! I miscalculated...and one of my shoes got wet

I was already having a hard time finding stable footing while walking on the rocks, but it will be impossible while it is wet. I am going to have to take a chance and stay off these rocks until I can reach dry sand.

The S21's ultra wide angle camera also provides an interesting new option in that it too can shoot RAW. I have already tested this phone's validity as an action camera thanks to this FOV and an excellent combination of optical and software based image stabilization. Like a GoPro, this lens has fixed focus...

...but, unlike my action camera, this one can shoot 12 megapixel stills RAW! I'm pretty impressed.

This is not an ideal time for capturing shots of Terranea Resort...but it is interesting to compare this with the S21's ultra-wide shots to see exactly what details get lost

Though I do not plan to take many telephoto shots with my S21 during this outing, I am still curious exactly when the camera switches from cropping to upscaling. Supposedly the S21 can zoom optically up to 3x via cropping on the 64 megapixel sensor (would have assumed it could go at least as high as 5x given that 12x5=60). I think I took this particular shot with 10x zoom...and it definitely looks upscaled to me. That said, on a phone screen it looks pretty dang good...and even though I can only take such shots in JPEGs, a little bit of processing still brings ithe resulting colors fairly close to what I got from the DSLR...which means I may opt to use it more than I originally expected.

Okay...it's time to run!

Valerie and I reach the tide pools, but not before both of my shoes got soaked by an incoming wave. Valerie and I both saw it coming, but I couldn't jump on to a dry rock quickly enough. Now my socks feel all sloshy.

Hopefully my feet will dry out while we marvel at anemones like this.