Samsung Galaxy J5 camera review: a good shot, but a few notches below the best

“Despite it being a budget offering, Samsung hasn’t cut any corners with the shooting capabilities offered by the Galaxy J5”

None of us want to miss out on capturing life’s important moments and hence the camera on our phone proves to be a great companion. Leading smartphone brand Samsung has gone a step ahead by allowing users to access the camera app in an instant (within 0.7 seconds) by simply double-pressing the home button, even if it’s locked or you’re using any app. The feature was introduced with the Galaxy S6 duo, but the company has also brought it to its budget offering, the Galaxy J5 (first impressions).

Samsung Galaxy J5 camera 01

While this feature is surely impressive, it doesn’t help much if the quality offered by the phone isn’t. And, that’s what we’ll be checking out in this review. In pure numbers, the Samsung Galaxy J5 sports a 13-megapixel snapper at the back and a 5MP front-facing shooter. Interestingly enough, the company is offering LED flash units along with both the cameras for providing illumination. Without further ado, read on to find out how the cameras of the Galaxy J5 fare in a variety of different conditions.

Long shot

Samsung Galaxy J5 camera review - long shot

In this landscape shot, the 13MP sensor on the Samsung Galaxy J5 shows its prowess to capture a good amount of detail. The scene is reproduced well, and even if you zoom in, it remains relatively sharp. Colours are also vibrant and look natural.

Close up

Samsung Galaxy J5 camera test - close up

Unlike many high-end devices, you might not find the bokeh effect, but the close-up image of the flower taken by the J5’s camera looks quite good. It has details and impressive colours, but now let’s see if our impression remain the same when it’s magnified.

Close up (zoomed in)

Samsung Galaxy J5 camera test - close up (zoomed in)

Even after zooming in, the image hasn’t lost any sharpness, since the edges of the flower don’t seem blurry. The veins of leaves are visible as well. 

Front shot

Samsung Galaxy J5 camera performance - front shot

The 5MP camera on the front of the Galaxy J5 looks good at the first glance, but as soon as you start zooming in, the object looks extremely pixelated. However, the colours and textures of the object are captured decently.

To assist shooting selfies in low-light conditions, the phone has an LED flash at the front, but it just works in torch mode… staying on when activated, instead of functioning like a proper flash.

Low-light shot

Samsung Galaxy J5 camera samples - low-light shot

In poorly-lit conditions, the camera can’t really capture the subject well. If you look closely, only then you can notice the colours visible faintly in the image above.

Low-light shot with flash

Samsung Galaxy J5 camera samples - low-light shot with flash

The flash definitely improves things a lot as the object is clearly visible. The flash is also uniform and the subject is illuminated well.

Night shot

Samsung Galaxy J5 camera performance - night shot

Capturing such a shot isn’t an easy task for any camera, since not only it needs to have fast shutter speed, but also has less light to reproduce the scene. However, the Samsung Galaxy J5’s 13MP primary camera has done a decent job in this case. You can easily differentiate between the different jet streams of the fountain, though it isn’t easy to differentiate between different colours like blue and green.

Despite it being a budget offering, Samsung hasn’t cut any corners with the shooting capabilities offered by the Galaxy J5. It shoots the scene almost instantly, captures ample amount of detail and reproduces vibrant colours. However, it’s odd that the device doesn’t have an HDR mode, something which is available in most devices these days and helps in improving the contrast of the scene by playing with the dynamic range. We also felt that the always-on mode of the front flash isn’t ideal, and for shooting selfies in poorly-lit environments, it’d have been more helpful if it triggers when one clicks on the shutter button.

Our full review of the Samsung Galaxy J5 is underway as you’re reading about its camera prowess, so just wait a tad to know more about the device and its capabilities.