ASUS Zenfone 6 camera review: the eye of the eagle

“The camera on the Zenfone 6 impresses in almost all departments”

Asus Zenphone 6

The biggest member of the ASUS Zenfone family, the Zenfone 6 also flaunts the most powerful camera among its siblings, featuring a 13-megapixel sensor. ASUS has loaded the device to the brim with features, and in turn, has offered a great deal of functionality at a sweeter price point. However, today we are not going to be talking about all the features of the device. Instead, we going to review its 13-meg primary camera and the 5MP front shooter. For the purpose of the review, we have captured images using the Zenfone 6 in several situations. Do click on the images to view them in full resolution.

Long Shot

Asus Zenphone 6-05

This image captured by the 13-megapixel shooter might look ordinary at first, but when the image is zoomed in, the real quality shows up. Even distant objects are captured in decent sharpness and detail. The colours might be a tad oversaturated, but the variance makes all the difference.

Close Up

Asus Zenphone 6-08

The camera can churn out stunning results with zero bias in colour capture in almost all images. The tuned focus mechanism offers sharper images that are ideal for macros.

Close up (Zoomed in)

Asus Zenphone 6- close up

By zooming into the picture above, we see that the focus is not just limited to the centre. Thanks to the balanced focus and sharpness, the detail is not lost.

HDR off

Asus Zenphone 6-07

A noticeable difference can be seen without HDR mode, but the level of detail offered in both the images is the same.

HDR On

Asus Zenphone 6-06

The camera offers a super fast HDR capture as well, although we were a bit skeptical about the results due to the speed. In this image, there’s a great deal of contrast and variation between the high and lows making for a perfect picture, especially impressive while capturing the shades of the sky.

Indoor shot

Asus Zenphone 6-01

In low-light conditions, the camera gives up its balanced focus approach, and focuses the closest object. Although the images are a bit grainy, the level of detail captured is still higher than most 13-megapixel shooters at this price range.

Night shot

Asus Zenphone 6-10

In low light, considerable noise creeps in. However the sharpness is still maintained, and the contrast is surprisingly good.

Front camera

Asus Zenphone 6-12

As compared to the 13-megapixel rear shooter, the 5-megapixel front camera is not that impressive and can be regarded as average. The colors are saturated and there is considerable noise in lower light. However bright light brings out the devil inside the front camera with better images.

Low light

Asus Zenphone 6-16

Even without the flash, the camera captures low light shots with ease. However, this affects the focusing mechanism heavily by resulting in hazy and out-of-focus images.

Low light with flash

Asus zenfone 6-night shot with flash

With the use of the provide LED flash, the Zenfone 6 offers focussed and brightly-lit images. However as with the LED flash and its inherent problem the flash is only able to light up close by objects within the vicinity of 5-8 feet. Anything beyond that gets less illumination and therefore loses out on the detail and focus.

The ASUS Zenfone 6 has a marvelous shooter which, at the given price point of Rs 17,000, becomes all the more interesting. The camera offers great level of detail and has no colour bias. To Add to it a superb focussing mechanism that offers a great deal of sharpness and clarity. We we would not say that the Zenfone 6 has the best smartphone camera, but it’s definitely very capable. For a more detailed review of the ASUS Zenfone 6, stay tuned as we will be bringing the full review in the coming days.