“We took the Samsung Galaxy A5’s shooters for a spin and here are the results”
The camera is one of the stronger points for Samsung smartphones, especially in the high-end range. That’s why it’s no surprise to see that its loaded flagship, the Note 4 (review | FAQs), being adjudged as the best camera phone of year 2014 in the 91mobiles awards 2014. But, photos are taken by almost every phone user, irrespective of the megapixel counts of their device. So, has the Korean brand been successful in bringing its camera expertise to its new Galaxy A series of mid-range smartphones? We’ve taken a number of shots with the recently-launched Galaxy A5 to find out exactly that.
Hardware-wise, the Samsung Galaxy A5 rocks a 13-megapixel primary camera along with a 5MP camera on the front. For low-light photography, the main camera is supplemented by an LED flash. The images embedded below are taken in 4:3 aspect ratio and can be viewed in their original sizes by right-clicking and opening the link in new tabs or windows.
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Long shot
The 13-megapixel snapper on the Galaxy A5 shows off its shooting prowess by capturing the lake, trees and everything in between in the image above. It has reproduced natural colours and details don’t blur when the image is zoomed in.
Close up
Taken from close quarters, the Galaxy A5’s camera is able to capture both the flowers and leaves well with true-to-life colours. All the leaves can be distinctly identified and ditto for the petals of the flower along with the bee.
Close up (zoomed in)
Zooming in on the same image, we can see that details aren’t lost and it’s very sharp, which is apparent from the fact that the bee is clearly visible along with veins on the petals of the flower.
HDR off
The above shot has been captured to test the HDR capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy A5. While the image looks nice overall with enough sharpness and colour fidelity for all the different subjects, let’s see if it becomes better by enabling the High Dynamic Range option.
HDR on
With HDR mode, the scene looks a lot brighter and pleasing to the eyes. Thanks to better contrast, the colour of sky, lake, trees and even the leaves has become more natural. Sadly, the device shoots the HDR images at a maximum of 8-megapixel resolution.
Front shot
With selfies on the rise, the Korean giant has ensured that the Galaxy A5 is well equipped for the task. In fact, the device along with its siblings (the A3 and A7) packs in the largest sensor at the front in Samsung’s stable – 5-megapixels. The shot above shows ample amount of detail and good colour reproduction, along with capturing the texture of the subject well.
Low-light shot
We’ll not blame you if you aren’t able to make out what the above shot is all about. Taken in poor lighting conditions, you are only able to see traces of balls, but the colours aren’t real, which will be clear once we shoot the same scene with flash.
Low-light shot with flash
Turning on the flash offers enough illumination to bring the whole scene in view. Now, we can see the exact number of balls along with their actual colours, along with the fact they were arranged on a basket.
Night shot
It’s not possible to use the flash everywhere, so here’s an image which shows how the rear camera on the Galaxy A5 fares at night, with the street lights being the only source of illumination. While the image is grainy, it has captured everything in the scene – trees, leaves and other things quite nicely.
We’re glad to say that the premise with which we started our camera review of the Samsung Galaxy A5 stays valid and the device hasn’t disappointed us in terms of its image quality. The camera has performed well in almost all situations, though we were hoping for a better experience in low-light situations. That said, it’s good to see that Samsung is bringing its shooting prowess to lower price segments as well. We are already impressed by the new design journey the brand is taking with the A5 (and its siblings), and we’ll have more to say on the smartphone in our review. So keep an eye out for the same.
