Shooting Videos of Fancy Cars With the Galaxy S26’s New Camera Feature Is a Dream
While my esteemed colleagues from CNET were in San Francisco for the release of Samsung Galaxy S26 series, I was in Barcelona ahead of MWC 2026, visiting the sights and observing the luxury cars cruising the streets of the Spanish city.
Once my colleagues showed up with the Galaxy S26, I found a new use for one of its coolest features: shooting videos of Europe’s most expensive automobiles.
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It is not uncommon for a Porsche or a Maserati to roam the streets of Barcelona’s upscale neighborhoods. To capture them on video, I tried the Galaxy S26’s new horizontal lock, an extremely forgiving image stabilization mode. Like my colleague Abrar Al-Heeti noted in his first takeWith the camera feature enabled, you can tilt the phone as much as you want while the horizon remains steady.
First, I reviewed CNET’s hands-on sessions with the new mode. I rotated the phone 90 degrees one way and 180 degrees the other. The horizontal lock worked exactly as advertised, showing smooth footage that looks like it was shot with a very still phone.
It was a cool feature to try out on the streets of Barcelona, turning my flailing arm into a steady hand behind the camera as I followed the flashy cars speeding down Passeig de Gracia and Carrer d’Arago in the Quadrat d’Or.
With the horizontal lock straightening my footage, I could send videos back to my friends at home with undeniable proof that I’d seen some nice cars – like the Porsche Carrera GTS in the image above (a 904 from around 1964, if my Google search skills are to be believed).
The Galaxy S26’s horizontal lock is a perfect assistant if you’re shooting fast, agile subjects moving unpredictably. The feature could also recover video from shaky unusable footage, an obvious advantage when recording in emergencies, disasters, or in war zones.
And for everyday Galaxy S26 owners, the horizontal lock makes it easier to watch casual videos, ensuring they end up on the right photography subreddits rather than the wrong ones.
Learn more: The 11 biggest announcements from the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event
Watch this: The Galaxy S26 has a bigger screen, battery and price
