Samsung Galaxy On5 camera review: a bit of good, a bit of bad

The Samsung Galaxy On5 comes equipped with a fairly capable 8-meg shooter, which performs well in abundant lighting”

The top-tier smartphones from Samsung have always come equipped with amazing cameras. But does the company put in just as much effort while loading the budget devices? The Galaxy On5 (first impressions) is one of the latest affordable smartphones launched by Samsung and comes equipped with an 8-meg primary snapper and a 5MP front-facing camera. To see how well the shooters on the On5 perform, read on for our camera review.

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The rear camera comes aided by an LED flash, but there’s nothing to help you click self-portraits in dimly-lit conditions. The default camera app is not very loaded and features few options. Below the viewfinder you will find the virtual shutter button along with video, front-camera, and other modes like Pro, Panorama and Beauty face to choose from. On top, there are the usual camera settings, a bunch of effects you can apply in real time while clicking pictures and options to control the flash and the timer. It’s interesting to note that the brand has not included the HDR mode. Although, most smartphone cameras deliver artificial looking pictures in the HDR mode, it has become one of the standard modes to be included in any camera app.

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We tested the camera in different shooting conditions and clicked pictures at the highest resolution of 8MP with an aspect ratio of 4:3.

Long shot

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The rear shooter on the Samsung Galaxy On5 is capable of capturing some lovely long shots in daylight. As you can see in the picture, the colours look vibrant and the reproduction is pretty much accurate. The image looks decently sharp as well. However, you will see blurred seams and muddy textures if you zoom into the image. Still, for the price it comes at, the On5 captures a decent amount of detail.

Close up

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The primary shooter does justice to the subject placed in close vicinity of the sensor as well, as you can see in the image of this beautiful flower. The depth in the scene has been captured impressively as well. Let’s take a closer look at the picture so see how well the details have been reproduced.

Close up (Zoomed)

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The magnified shot only impresses us more. The edges of the petals still look sharp and there’s no blurring at all. You can see the texture and veins on the petals as well as the tiny pollen in the centre of the flower pretty clearly.

Front Camera

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The 5-meg front facing shooter on the On5 is capable as well. The image turned out pretty sharp and the colours were reproduced well. As long as you’re not short on ambient lighting, you should be able to capture Instagram-ready selfies. 

Low light 

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The On5’s primary camera doesn’t deliver much in low-light conditions. There’s a whole lot of grain in the picture we can hardly make out what the object in the picture is. The camera has managed to capture some colour though.

Low light with flash 

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The flash saves the day, as it lights up the scene evenly without washing out the subject. There’s crisp difference between the object and its shadow and you can make out a lot detailing in the picture, like the wooden background and the grooves on this minion’s arm wings.

Night shot

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The night shots captured by the Galaxy On5’s shooter didn’t impress us, but they weren’t exactly disappointing either. There’s a lot of noise in the picture but as long as there’s some light, your pictures should turn out usable. As you can see, the building still looks comparatively sharp. However, the trees in the dark look murky.

The Samsung Galaxy On5 can shoot decent pictures in abundant lighting. While we would have liked it to perform better in low-light conditions and during night time, the phone delivers fair results for its asking price, which is Rs 8,990. As you read this, our in-depth review of the phone is in pipeline. While the Galaxy On5 should please regular folks when it comes to camera capabilities, keep watching this space to figure out how well it fares as a daily driver.