Photos, videos, and more!
CAMERA PERFORMANCE/QUALITY:
Photos taken during the daylight using the main camera have an amazing colour reproduction, very good contrasts, and brightness, and are overall sharp. Though I did notice that the images can turn out slightly saturated but this can be neglected as it does not destroy the overall image. The pixel-binning technology is shown off when zooming in, as the images return sharp with little noise. It’s not oversharpened to a point everything looks like there’s too much stitching.
When there’s not enough lighting, the camera suffers from significant quality loss. Noticeable in totally dark areas. Although, I don’t see this as a negative as this is just how a camera works. With lower lighting, there would be fewer details and a lot of noise.
However if you’re taking a night shot with ample lighting, the quality of the cameras shines. Although the phone over-processes the images making them more vibrant than they actually are. Thanks to quad-bayer pixel binning, zooming in during the night show less pixels. The image taken is actually 16mp in size but thanks to pixel binning, these 16mp images are processed into four, resulting in a noiseless, higher-detailed image.
I also tested the cameras under totally dark areas with its Night Mode feature. Obviously, using the normal mode is not advisable as this results in a nearly unidentifiable image with very spongy colours, poor contrasts, and large amounts of grain. There’s a reason why a lot of companies use Night Mode. It’s to solve the problems I mentioned earlier.
ULTRAWIDE SHOTS
I also have tested the ultrawide camera. Unlike other phones I’ve tested before, Samsung only allows you to use 0.5x zoom for the ultrawide, zoom in more and you will be switched to the main camera.
Because it uses a quad-bayer system, there would be some noticeable cropping and quality differences when switching over the three cameras. There are buttons that allow you to switch between these three seamlessly which is what I did.
If you observe carefully, you’ll notice that ultrawide shots are softer than the 64mp main camera shots even during daylight. It’s also less vibrant than the 64mp main camera (noticeable if you look closely at skin tones) but it does an amazing job handling contrast and clarity, and it does not oversharpen the image as a means to compensate for the lower quality.
Ultrawide Night Shot
The quality difference between the 0.5x zoom and the normal 1x zoom is most obvious at night. For the ultrawide shots, I see that colours are blown out and the Ferris wheel has a large bluish tint that feels unnatural. The highlights aren’t as good either, there is way less contrast, and the image is just softer. While it’s tolerable, as much as you can, just use the normal 64mp camera if you wanted better, higher-quality results.
MACRO
I was pretty much surprised how the macro turned out. Other companies wouldn’t have been generous enough to even give you a decent macro shooter, as many of them would just give you a pretty useless 2mp camera. Here on the A52 4G though, it’s 5mp. It may not be enough to ensure a high-detailed image, but at least it’s more than 2mp.
The macro camera activates upon hitting 2x zoom and this camera can be digitally zoomed up to 10x. The way Quad-Bayer works is that an AI algorithm digitally crops an image in order to preserve quality. This is noticeable when zooming in 2x.
As expected, the photo quality is more on the softer side of things. It also has a much cooler temperature in comparison to the main and ultrawide cameras. For 5mp though, the quality is impressive but you shouldn’t expect so highly of it. The noise is less noticeable if there’s an ample amount of daylight, although from what I can see, the camera app tends to oversharpen the image so much that I can notice some grains. There are so much grains that you can probably fill an entire Korean buffet.
I tested this camera to the limits by jumping straight to 10x. I’m surprised that, even without a telephoto camera, this 5mp macro managed to capture a still identifiable object in the image. It’s not high quality though and you can see the phone overprocessing the entire image before actually giving it you. It’s not a periscope per se but let’s just say it’s a poor man’s version of a telephoto camera.
I tested this camera to the limits by jumping straight to 10x. I’m surprised that, even without a telephoto camera, this 5mp macro managed to capture a still identifiable object in the image. It’s not high quality though and you can see the phone overprocessing the entire image before actually giving it you. It’s not a periscope per se but let’s just say it’s a poor man’s version of a telephoto camera.
PORTRAIT MODE:
Portrait mode is done through the camera’s main lens and is processed through the gimmicky 5mp depth sensor. What I like about this is that the bokeh effect can be adjusted even after taking the photo. Other phones would not allow this unless they are flagship phones.
Portrait shots turned out to be nice and natural, unlike others which feel like they just applied a plastic-like blurring effect that can easily be done through Photoshop. The main sensor can identify which is the subject and which is the background nicely. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty accurate and is mostly a hit. Even in darker areas, it managed to identify the person who is the subject from the background, without also accidentally blurring out the little things like sleeves and hair.
The quality of the portrait camera is also pretty good at night. The AI of the phone still managed to identify the subject from the background and managed to isolate it without too much problem. All in all, it feels professional whether daytime or nighttime as expected from a phone with a high price. One thing’s for sure, the quality of the night portrait is softer and produced more grain. It’s still enough for social media posting.
FRONT CAMERA:
Selfies are surprisingly still a thing and while manufacturers don’t give them a lot of attention than they used to be, they are still viable for capturing the moments you, your friends, and family members deserve. We tested the front camera both in the day and at night. This is a 32mp sensor that’s unusual, as most phones would leave you with a 16mp sensor.
The daylight shots turned out to be pretty good, not for its price range, but it’s what I call “generally good”. The image is a little soft even during the day but there’s little to no noise upon normal observance. The colour reproduction needs some improvement as our skins look pale. It looks way worse at night.
There’s also a portrait mode that was achieved thanks to AI algorithms. These portrait shots don’t feel “artificial” and the camera does a good job of separating the subject from the background without the need for a gimmicky depth sensor. It’s usable for one person but having more may lead to unwanted artifacts.
VIDEO
As I mentioned earlier, the phone can take video up to 4K@30fps. There’s OIS but only for the main camera and you’re stuck with 1080p@30fps and you couldn’t zoom in or out either. There’s also a noticeable quality difference especially at night. We’ll get to the details later.
You can record in all three cameras. You can also record in 4K using all the lenses. Though the ultrawide and macro cameras do not have OIS (Optical Image Stabilization). EIS is only available for 720p and 1080p@30fps for all lenses. (FHD@60fps is only available for the main lens and EIS cannot be enabled/disabled here. It’s disabled by default).
1080p@30fps without OIS
Starting off with 1080p@30fps, which is the standard for video-taking nowadays. The quality is ‘standard’, nothing too shabby or unique in comparison to other phones with the same price range. Nothing much to say here really, except the sound, where it actually sounds quite decent, as if I had a microphone set up (I had it on top of the phone but is unplugged, so no cheating here). There’s a bit of sharpening on the sides of the video and I did notice that there’s a bit of fuzzing even with the gentlest movement. Still, it’s usable under normal conditions if you aren’t choosy.
1080p@30fps STEADY
Aside from vlogging, I also tested the video steadily. We were in a dark hallway near SM Megamall when we filmed and I thought it would be a perfect place to test the steady video as there isn’t enough light and there are a lot of vehicles passing by through this tunnel-like entrance.
The video here seems a little oversharpened but the colours are fine. Its quality is similar to the video I’ve shown earlier where I was walking. Although what’s noticeable here is that the far-most corner is overexposed, that’s not the main focus of the video so I chose to ignore it.
1080p@30fps WITH OIS
Like I said earlier, you can only record OIS using the main 64mp camera capped at 1080p@30fps. Samsung calls this mode “super steady mode” and you cannot zoom in or out through this mode.
It is easily activated by a push of a button and it does the job pretty well. Although if you violently move, the video will slightly become distorted but overall the OIS works well if you’re moving or walking normally. Yes, even when you’re running or moving rapidly, the OIS will still manage to take the video smoothly as if you’re walking gently.
When you start recording you can already notice a big difference. Unlike the previous non-OIS video, the quality of the video with OIS is much worse. There seem to be fewer colours now at the cost of making your video steadier. It seems to be softer and has lesser brightness in comparison to normal FHD video. It’s less noticeable during the daylight but when the sky becomes dark, that’s where you can notice obvious lapses in quality.
Overall, use this mode only during the day and only use it at night in the direst situations, or download third-party camera apps that allow EIS because you can take video with similar quality as non-OIS modes while also making your video steadier. Although I do not guarantee that the video would be as steady as OIS since EIS is software and AI-based.
1080p@60fps
I pretty much expected this as the phone isn’t exactly in the “budget” range but rather in the higher midrange tier. Neither EIS nor OIS is available through this video option but because it’s in higher FPS, the video would move a little smoother with less jagging when compared to 30fps
Because it has no OIS, moving even in the most subtle and gentlest way would cause a violent shaking. In the video shown, I was walking normally and I wasn’t even trying to violently shake the phone. The quality of the video as well as the sound are very similar to each other.
1080p@60fps STEADY
Like the previous test, I also took a steady video sample for the 60fps video, as expected, vehicles move a lot smoother. Funnily enough, there’s less grain in this version than the 30fps and there’s also less stitching. Colours are nearly the same as the 30fps version and the sound is almost as identical.
4K@30fps
The phone can also record in 4K but you’re stuck at 30fps and no OIS. 4K video has more pixels, therefore, requiring more data for each pixel and thus, increasing video size. Normally I wouldn’t recommend using 4K unless you’re filming something big as it will take a large chunk of your available storage left as well as upload speed and data.
One thing’s for sure, the quality of the 4K video is more true-to-life than the others. It’s not as sharpened as the FHD videos and the colour accuracy is also much better. In terms of audio, it’s slightly clearer but the difference is subtle. There’s also less stitching and you can see a minimal amount of artifacts. The same is true for the steady video.
4K@30fps STEADY VIDEO:
As I mentioned earlier, the quality of the Steady Video is similar to how it is when moving. There is less pixelation, or none at all. The sound is very good for the price, it isn’t watery and you can hear all the frequencies without it sounding like a 1950s radio, and there aren’t any visible artifacts. Colours are also reproduced accurately.
Despite being in a clearly dark tunnel, there’s barely any noise I can see, though YouTube’s decompression may ruin the video slightly. Using 4K is not recommended for lengthy videos unless you have a large storage option. Most viewers may not even tell the difference between the quality of 2160p and 1080p unless they’re using a big screen, like most televisions these days.
OIS vs Non-OIS Video | NIGHT
OIS videos take a toll in quality in contrast to a video without OIS. And it’s not subtle either, it’s actually pretty much unusable at night. Colours are washed out, the video is very soft and it’s very grainy. If all you want is to make your video steady and you don’t worry about quality differences, then this is okay.
FRONT CAMERA VIDEO:
720p@30fps
Just for cracks and giggles, I decided to test the 720p video for the front camera, and the quality is terrible. Even during daylight, there’s a lot of grain, the sound isn’t as immersive or as “bassy” as 1080p video and the colours are pretty lacking. Because there’s no OIS, this makes 720p a less viable option unless of course you’re trying to manage your data or internet consumption and needed something to upload quickly. I don’t recommend using it. Just go for the 1080p option.
1080p@30fps
Just like the front camera, the quality of the video using the front camera is a little pale. My skin is a little whiter than usual and there are fewer details seen here. Although I’m a little surprised that the video is actually steadier here even without OIS, I was walking normally too. The sound quality is stronger in the mid frequencies than trebles or bass but it is pretty good for its price. The field of view is narrow and I already am stretching my arms as far as I can yet the camera still feels very close. If there’s two of you, I couldn’t.
1080p@60fps
I mentioned in the video that the 60fps feels like you have OIS even when it’s not present. That’s because the higher frame rate makes things a little smoother, but not exactly steady, so I apologise if there is a misunderstanding with the term.
Anyway, the 1080p@60fps video has a lot better audio. It has a higher clarity and feels closer to the audio performance of the Galaxy A52 4G. There are fewer grains compared to the 1080p@30fps version. The colours look paler here because I’m recording in direct sunlight, but as expected, the quality of the front camera isn’t as great as the main camera. The two most likely use different kinds of sensors.
4K@30fps
The higher the quality you go, the better it gets. That’s true for the 4K video at least. Because it has no OIS, the video has a lot of jagging and shaking as if the phone is trying to match each pixel piece by piece quickly and fails to catch up every time. in other words, there’s stitching present. Other than tiny nitpick, the audio and video quality of the 4K video is a lot closer to life and is more colour accurate. It still is paler in comparison to the main camera, but at this point you kinda expected it.
PANORAMA
The Samsung Galaxy A52 4G can take panorama both vertically and horizontally, from right to left, up and down, and vice versa. This offers flexibility that is incomparable to competing handsets as it allows you to take panorama shots in whatever directions you choose, obviously except diagonal-wise.
Both the ultrawide camera and the main 64mp lens can take panorama shots. The macro camera can’t for some reason but that might have something to do with the fact it’s meant for close-ups and it has a fairly low resolution of just 5mp. I tested the panorama mode using both the regular lens and the ultrawide lens. The ultrawide lens is obviously much much thinner but also provides a wider field of view, hence the name.
Panorama shots using the main 64mp lens resulted in a great quality image. The image feels life-like and the colours are pretty accurate too. There’s little to no obvious stitching and artifacts, and the camera did an amazing job with maintaining the distortion and perspective. However the closer you look into the photo you’ll notice that the image becomes softer and there are subtle stitching and uneven lines in some corners or parts of the picture. Still, I did not notice this at first and I only noticed it quite late into the making of this article.
While the Ultrawide panorama shots have similar true-to-life accurate colours and great quality as the main lens, it does suffer from stitching problems. Open the image and zoom in and you’ll see jagged lines on some ceilings and on the cable lines. Thankfully it’s not obvious at first glance but surely is a little annoying because this stitching can be an eyesore to some. If you aren’t too observant and you ignore this problem, you should be fine. Take note that I took this image in the same exact location as the previous panorama shot.
Please click the next page for our stance on the phone’s performance!
You must be logged in to post a comment.