How much better is the quality of pictures taken with a Fairphone 5 compared to a Fairphone 4?
Just a general subjective experience of users who upgraded from FP4 → FP5 will do.
Context
I’m happy with my FP4 except the camera. On holiday or special events, I still need to bring a separate camera (Fujifilm FinePix X10 from 2011) to have high quality pictures, especially in low light. While my friends 5 year old iPhone’s, budget Xiaomi or even Samsung of 200 € take satisfying pictures of higher quality.
Since there is no camera module upgrade available I’m considering buying a FP5, but only when there is a significant improvement in photo quality.
I’ve used OpenCamera, GCam (limited, crashes often) and FP4 stock camera (crashes on specific functions on /e/ OS).
There are topics where pictures taken with a FP5 are posted but I haven’t found a side by side comparison.
Hi, I can only compare with FP3 but the FP5 camera is really very much improved. It’s probably still not a phone you would buy because of the amazing camera, but it’s very serviceable and the low light pics it takes are very decent. I no longer feel the need to ask others to take pictures because my own would look like they were made with a potato.
Did you also used to use a FP2 by any chance? Was this a big difference with the FP3? My previous phone was a FP2 and the quality of the FP4 photos are not spectacularly better.
Thanks for referring this topic. Didn’t found it before.
Do they (Fairphone and DXOMARK) mean the software of the stock camera app? Or the driver on OS level? Will this benefit alternative OS users? The stock camera app is very buggy on /e/ OS (after installing the extracted apk from the Fairphone OS).
FarePhone 4 is 1080p resolution
FarePhone 5 is 4k Resolution. The only difference is that the 5 only rocords video at 30FPS in 4k.
It may not be the best when iPhone 8 recorded 4k up to 60FPS and the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE records in 4k at 120FPS. (back cameras only.)
The difference is that it is an upgrade from FP4. In terms of increased resolution. It’s OK for the he rear cameras. I’m pretty sure that the front facing is 1080p, but I could be wrong on that. (due to being built into the screen) I still recommend the improvement to overall. Being repairable and everything. If you’re a photographer, that might be a deal breaker. For everyday use it’s a Good experience overall. I’m quite happy taking photos and videos unwrapping the presents this upcoming holiday this year.
No sorry, never had an FP2.
However, the FP5 camera is not only better in terms of pictures; it’s also a lot better and faster to scan QR codes (for some reason, my FP3 regularly struggled to do that in less than ideal lighting circumstances). Maybe an autofocus thing?
They just updated the setting. When it was on android 12 it was a different story. Sorry for being wrong since updating the phone to android 13
'"No, both FarePhones can take 4k videos. " - Incanus
Thank you all for your replies.
I know from experience that specifications like resolution do not correlate to the “quality” of the end image.
My 8 megapixel DSLR camera from 2005 still makes better pictures than all high resolution cameras in smartphones I’ve seen.
I believe that the CMOS sensor and software for processing determine the quality to a higher degree.
When Fairphone says that they are working on improving photo software like @Meaghan mentions, on what level is this? On driver or firmware level? Or on app level?
I still use a ROM (/e/ OS) from early 2022 (updates fail for some reason). Would installing a newer ROM improve the camera performance? Or switching to the Fairphone OS?
I understood it’s about FP OS and hasn’t been completed yet. There have been some discussions on alternative apps and ROMs but I am too much of a newbie to follow;-)
