By the time Samsung released its flagship device the Galaxy S5 in the global market, it was already too late for the company to enjoy the appreciation alone as other flagship devices from premium smartphone makers like Sony and HTC joined the league.
However, thanks to Samsung's market position, in the global smartphone markets, the South korean tech giant managed to pull in all the attention as possible from the global Android community. One of the most crude note that the company faced after the launch of the handset was that it was tagged as an upgrade to the company's previously launched Galaxy S4.
Also among all the other camera-oriented handsets that we have already been launched, Samsung didn't finch at them. Moreover, instead of competing with these devices, Galaxy S5 came sporting a 16MP rear camera, which in ordinary terms stands low if compared with Xperia Z2, HTC One M8 and Lumia 1020.
Obviously, Samsung knows very well that the "X" value of Megapixel alone is not responsible for creating best pictures. Thus, Samsung claimed that despite of having a 16MP camera, Galaxy S5 can shoot photographs close to the quality of what DSLR cameras offer.
Well, what is the picture quality of an image shot by Samsung Galaxy S5 camera in real sense? This is the very question what bothered most of the fans. Thus today GizBot has come up with an in-depth review of the Galaxy S5 camera and the supporting applications that help the shooter.
First lets take a look at the technical specs. The feature-rich phone uses a 16 MP rear camera with LED flash which bears 1/2.6'' sensor size and offers a 1.12 µm pixel size. It can shoot image at the 5312 x 2988 pixels quality. It has a Dual Shot feature, simultaneous HD video and image recording, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization and HDR. S5 can also shoot videos at three qualities viz. 2160p at 30fps, 1080p at 60fps and 720p at 120fps. The camera also has an HDR, video stabilization and dual-video recording mode.
In the front, you will find a 2MP shooter which can shoot video at 1080p at 30fps. You can also make a dual video call from the phone and do Skype calling.
Now lets take a look at the notable camera features of the Galaxy S5 smartphone along with some sample shots taken by GizBot in the sliders below:
Fastest Autofocus
In Samsung's very own word, Galaxy S5's camera has the fastest autofocus mechanism, which allows the user to shoot pictures in less than 0.3 second. That's in fact an impressive feature.
This enables users to shoot fast moving subjects in a nick of time. Moreover, making it more convenient, Samsung has also given an option of tap to shoot which is very smooth to use and doesn't take much of your time as well. The implication of the Touch Focus which is lot faster and accurate compared to other existing camera phones, gives the handset a way good position.
Camera Options
Very much like Galaxy S4 smartphone, Samsung has offered a wide range of options in the setting panel of the camera app. Among all the new options, the most impressive is the addition of the UHD resolution at which the camera can record video and a very high resolution pictures. You also get ISO of upto 800 which means you can take night shots well.
At the same time, Galaxy S5 owners will get to choose an exposure value from the same setting palette. Other interesting features are the Voice Control, Remote Viewfinder and more.
HDR Mode
Normally HDR mode takes 3 pictures and combines them together to form a better image with balanced exposure and color. But the Galaxy S5's camera only takes a single one on HDR mode and users can also record video on same mode. Also a real time HDR mode lets you see how your photo can be enhanced before shooting.
Selective Focus
Selective focus is another option that offers you DSLR quality images by selecting the area of focus and blurring the rest. It can work in macro mode, which means you can take some close-up shots and have the background blurred out.
It's an easy process, where you will have to take a shot and after taking a shot, change the focus to your likes. There are three options in the selective focus mode viz. Near focus, Far focus and Pan focus.
This feature will attract almost every smartphone owner who loves shooting images in a go.
Overall
If you are looking for a DSLR quality pictures from a smartphone's camera, it is not justified at all. You can compare the camera oriented phones with the point-and-shoot compact cameras but not SLRs. Both extremely vary in term of hardware and mechanism. However, if you compare the images with the ones taken from compact cameras you will barely find any differences.
It's not only the camera feature that makes the phone a super like-able and 'most wanted' by many Android fans but also the phone's hardware has made a lot of difference. The inclusion of the fingerprint sensor Samsung's health oriented sensors, Qualcomm's one of the latest Snapdragon 801 processor are equally responsible for the popularity of the handset.
