Camera

While Asus hid their camera information in the MeMO Pad 7, information technology's obviously visible in the Zenfone 5. The rear sensor is a Sony IMX219PQ CMOS: a 1/4.0" BSI sensor with a resolution of 8-megapixels, equating to a pixel size of one.12µm. It's paired with a 29mm-effective f/2.0 lens, which is surprisingly broad for an entry-level device.

The front-facing camera is a 2-megapixel 4:iii CMOS paired with an f/2.four lens. This camera can't tape at 1080p because it doesn't accept a large enough active pixel area, nonetheless the rear facing camera does support 1080p, and likewise comes with an LED flash.

Similar the vast bulk of entry-level handsets, the camera is the main weakness, commonly being a 'you get what y'all pay for' state of affairs. Sony's IMX219PQ sensor is actually quite capable in proficient conditions, capturing vibrant colors with decent accuracy, simply there are many areas where the Zenfone v's camera falls beneath average.

While images can be expert in strong lighting, dynamic range is weak, often leading to shadowed areas where yous wouldn't expect them. Clarity is good, although in all just the absolute brightest conditions there are noticeable artefacts due to severe sharpening filters getting applied in postal service. The filter is so potent that it can wait like an artistic Photoshop filter has been practical, especially when viewing 100% crops.

The main event I take with the Zenfone five'southward camera is poor functioning in questionable conditions. Photos in bad lighting are mediocre from a number of angles, whether it'south grain and a general loss of clarity, undersaturation, and odd white balance. The f/2.0 lens appears to practise little to improve low calorie-free images, and that's likely downward to a small pixel size in the sensor.

Many photos in indoor conditions either suffer from high ISO-related grain, or motion mistiness, depending on whether you enable the software image stabilizer or not. Hold the photographic camera steady and y'all could go a one-half-decent shot, but it'southward far from guaranteed.

When the camera assesses that information technology's really dark, like you're shooting in a nighttime nighttime-time surround with depression visibility, a footling owl icon will appear allowing you to enable night mode. Basically this just boosts the ISO and lowers the shutter speed slightly, giving the camera the tools to make dark images brighter. It has a like effect to taking photos with a HTC One, and it can be useful fifty-fifty if information technology often produces subpar images.

The Zenfone 5 also has a HDR mode, simply information technology produces some really foreign results. I've seen exposure increased in the wrong areas, creating weird halos around bright regions such every bit windows. I've also seen HDR style take ii images that differ in exposure too much, combining to produce an image with far also low contrast and general undersaturation. I'd avoid using this mode.

For an entry-level device, though, the range of shooting modes rivals high-cease devices. Time Rewind fashion captures a outburst shot of images earlier and after you press the shutter button, allowing you to choose the best shot after the fact. Two other modes, GIF Animation and Smart Remove, besides use outburst captures to either create animations or remove unwanted objects from a scene.

Miniature mode allows you to have tilt-shift images, making things expect smaller than they actually are. Like many flagship smartphones, the Zenfone 5 as well comes with an artificial depth-of-field mode that attempts to blur the background out by taking a burst shot and estimating distances. In some cases the Depth of Field mode is effective, but there's no manner to adjust the effect, and ofttimes it completely misses the mark and fails to properly appraise the edges of objects.

The Zenfone v records 1080p/30 video in Baseline-profile H.264 at eighteen Mbps, and the results are okay, but not fantastic. Quality is slightly worse than what you lot'd become from the nevertheless camera, and the audio capture is substandard.