OnePlus Nord 5 is a performance-centric smartphone. These types of devices generally don’t have powerful camera performance. But the Nord 5 seems like an exception, at least while reading its hardware specifications.
It packs a dual rear camera setup with a 50-megapixel Sony LYT-700 primary lens and an 8-megapixel ultrawide lens. This is a typical camera setup you get in this range, nothing special, nothing extraordinary.
But things get exciting when we move to the selfie camera. It packs a 50-megapixel Samsung JN5 selfie lens with the support of auto-focus. The sensor size of the lens is 1/2.75″ and the aperture value is f/2.0. We don’t even get a sensor as good as JN5 for the selfies in this range, let alone the support of auto-focus. It easily packs the best selfie camera hardware in this segment. Heck, it is even better than some of the flagship devices.
But but but, hardware is not everything, right? There’s no point in having top-of-the-line hardware when software basically can’t make the right use of it. And that’s why I had to write the camera review of the device – to cover its real-life performance and go beyond the on-paper specifications.
So let’s get started!
OnePlus Nord 5: Rear Camera Performance
The dual rear camera setup is decent enough for its price. Until or unless you want a camera-centric phone that has a telephoto and a strong ultrawide, this device won’t disappoint you. The primary lens is Sony LYT-700 with the sensor size of 1/1.56″ and aperture value of f/1.8. The equivalent focal length is 24mm. The sensor comes with the optical image stabilization support.
For the ultrawide, it comes with a mediocre 8-megapixel lens thas 1/4″ in size, has the aperture value of f/2.2 and an equivalent focal length of 15mm.
Talking about the primary camera, it captures really good shots in daylight. The image comes out to be sharp enough and has good contrast. However, it sometimes ends up crushing shadows, but hey, that’s very rare.
As for the artificial and low-light conditions, it performs well here as well. However, the lack of detail is pretty much visible. But aside from it, the images are well-processed and look good.
It can shoot portraits in 1X and 2X zoom. Since there is no telephoto lens, the device uses in-sensor crop to take a portrait in 2X zoom. It takes decent portraits. It is not the best, but it is not the worst either. The edge detection is good, but it occasionally misses detecting hairs and other fragile components of the image. The skin tones are also managed well.
Now, let’s talk about the ultrawide lens. I’d say that it’s good only when you take images in outdoor scenarios. The overall image comes to be soft, all thanks to its low-resolution lens.
The sensor doesn’t support auto-focus means no macro capability. The low-light images are near-useless. You are better off taking panoramic shots with the main lens in such situations.
OnePlus Nord 5: Selfie Camera Performance
Selfies are the best part of Nord 5’s camera system. When I say that it’s the best selfie device in the range, I mean it. The images come out to be sharp enough with HDR, and colors are managed well. Most of the devices in this range end up having faded colors and poor HDR management, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with Nord 5.
The sensor has an equivalent focal length of 21mm, which means it is a perfect choice for group selfies. Because of the auto-focus, the main object in the image comes out to be really sharp. The indoor and low-light performance is as good. The night performance is decent, I’d say. But again, it takes better night selfies than what most midrange devices can achieve.
You can’t go wrong with the OnePlus Nord 5 if you want to really good selfie camera.
OnePlus Nord 5: Video Performance
You can record up to 4K 60FPS video from the main lens and up to 1080 30FPS video from the ultrawide lens. And what’s even more surprising is that the selfie camera can shoot videos at 4K 60FPS as well. The selfie camera and the primary camera capture really good videos. It doesn’t seem to have any focus hunting issues.
The videos have nice colors, the HDR tuning is on point, and it adjusts nicely when pointed towards a source of light. The night and low-light performance of the video is also nice. However, I recommend shooting videos at 30FPS at night as it allows the sensor to grab more details and lights into the footage.
The ultrawide lens just has the video capability for name. You are not getting any good output from this lens. It even gets worse in low-light and night conditions.
Final Verdict
Being a performance-centric device, the camera output of the OnePlus Nord 5’s primary lens and selfie lens is amazing. We can easily say that unless you want a camera-specific device with powerful auxiliary lenses, the Nord 5 will not disappoint you. The combination of powerful hardware with software that actually makes the best use of it is commendable.
Final Rating: 4.2/5
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