Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra review

A new, yet familiar triple camera setup

On the surface, not much has changed about the camera setup from the Zenfone 11 Ultra. Once we dug a bit deeper, though, some differences did surface. While the main camera is still a 50MP one, Asus has transitioned from the Sony IMX890, also known as the Lytia 701, to the IMX906, known as the Lytia 700. Let's call this a "sidegrade".

The main camera has, however, been upgraded to a 6-axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabilizer 4.0. The new system offers up to 5 degrees of correction and vibration compensation, which is a 66% improvement over the capabilities of the Zenfone 11 Ultra.

Other than that, you get the same 13MP ultrawide camera, 32MP OIS-enabled telephoto and 32MP front camera, lifted straight from the Zenfone 11 Ultra.

• Wide (main): 50 MP Sony IMX906/ Lytia LYT-700 f/1.9, 24mm, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, PDAF, gimbal-OIS (6-Axis Hybrid Gimbal Stabilizer 4.0); 8K@30fps, 2160p@30fps
• Ultra wide angle: 13 MP OmniVision OV13B, f/2.2, 13mm, 1/3", 1.12µm; 2160p@30fps
• Telephoto: 32 MP OmniVision OV32C, f/2.4, 1/3.2", 0.7µm, PDAF, OIS; 1080p@60fps.
• Front camera: 32 MP OmniVision OV8856, f/2.0, 22mm, 1/4", 1.12µm; 1080p@30fps

The camera app UI is a fairly custom affair. We would say it is surprisingly feature-rich without being chaotic. The camera app does a fair bit of automatic scene detection. This is indicated by a small scene icon in the top left corner and a Night Mode UI, which automatically pops up in the bottom right corner when the camera decides it is dark enough. Clicking on the Night mode icon itself presents two options for exposure duration. The numbers themselves are dynamic and also dependent on ambient light conditions.

Pro mode is surprisingly versatile. You get a level meter in the middle of the frame and a histogram in the bottom left corner. You get white balance, exposure compensation, ISO, shutter speed and a manual focus slider with focus peaking.

There is a Pro video capture mode, as well. It offers the same set of controls on the right-hand side as Pro photo mode and a nifty smooth zoom feature. You can just click on an area in the frame and have the phone gradually zoom in. The camera app also allows smooth switching between the main and ultrawide cameras while filming.

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

The main camera on the Zenfone 12 Ultra captures stills at 12.5MP due to pixel-binning.

These photos are solid overall. Detail is good, but it could be better. It's certainly better than a midranger but not quite at flagship cameraphone level. The same goes for dynamic range and contrast. Shadows are frequently crushed and highlights clipped. At least the photos aren't as heavily processed as they were on the Zenfone 11 Ultra. Colors also appear nice and natural.

Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra: 12.5MP main camera samples

Portrait mode photos look decent enough. Subject detection and separation is reliable and only trips up with very busy backgrounds. The quality of the background blur is nice.

You might notice that some of our sample portrait shots are zoomed in. Just like the Zenfone 11 Ultra, the Zenfone 12 Ultra can capture digital zoom portraits at 2x with its main camera. However, now there is also the option to capture 3x portraits with the dedicated telephoto camera.

Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra: Portrait mode samples

Telephoto camera

The 32MP telephoto camera on the Zenfone 11 Ultra triggers at 3x zoom and above in daylight conditions and captures stills at around 8MP resolution.

The shots look good, and the colors match the main camera well. However, these photos have a gritty look with high micro-contrast, which we like even if it comes at the expense of a more limited dynamic range. However, despite the textured look, zooming in reveals these photos are not very sharp.

Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra: 8MP telephoto camera 3x zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

The 13MP ultrawide camera is decent enough. The level of detail is okay for an ultrawide, but we feel the dynamic range could be better.

These colors are a bit more saturated than on the main camera, but not a bad match overall.

Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra: 13MP ultrawide camera samples

Selfie camera

The 8MP selfies from the Zenfone 12 Ultra look quite decent. If you shoot with your arm not fully extended, the facial features come through well-defined. Skin tones are nice too.

Once your arm is fully extended, sharpness worsens, and the face can appear even slightly out of focus. Which may not be such a bad thing as it can hide some skin imperfections.

Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra: 8MP selfie camera samples

Low-light camera quality

The main camera on the Zenfone 12 Ultra has pretty decent low-light performance. There is plenty of detail in the frame but also plenty of noise.

Dynamic range is pretty wide, and contrast and colors are good. Shadows are very well developed, but light sources are frequently blown out.

Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra: 12.5MP low-light main camera samples

The Zenfone 12 Ultra applies some automatic night mode processing through the regular photo mode.

Beyond that, a dedicated night mode offers a choice between a long and a short exposure time. Choosing the longer exposure time means you sometimes have to wait up to seven seconds for a photo to capture while the benefits are marginal. Night mode fixes up the highlights and noise nicely, but it’s at the expense of sharpness so the extra time spent taking each photo is probably not worth it.

Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra: 12.5MP night mode main camera samples

At 2x digital zoom, the main camera captures quite soft and blurry photos. Image quality is not great in this mode at night.

Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra: 12.5MP low-light main camera 2x zoom samples

The telephoto camera captures relatively clean, low-light photos, and they look really good. There is lots of detail, shadows and highlights are well exposed and contrast is nice. Colors look good but are not particularly well-matched to the main camera.

Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra: 8MP low-light telephoto camera 3x zoom samples

The ultrawide camera does a really nice job in low-light for this sort of camera.The level of detail is very good for an ultrawide, and the dynamic range is commendable.

Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra: 13MP low-light ultrawide camera samples

In case you were wondering, we did try the long exposure time night mode on both the ultrawide and the telephoto, and we don't believe the results are any better than just shooting in regular photo mode. We found that night mode was outright worse for selfies than regular photo mode.

Low-light selfies from the Zenfone 12 Ultra look good overall. Perhaps a bit harshly processed, but with plenty of detail and mostly natural skin tones.

Asus Zenfone 12 Ultra: 8MP low-light selfie camera samples

Video capture quality

The Zenfone 12 Ultra can capture video at up to 8K@30fps on its main camera. The ultrawide is limited to 4K@30fps, while the telephoto can do 1080p@60, and the selfie can do 1080p@30.

By default, videos get saved in a standard AVC/h.264 video stream at around 63Mbps at 4K and a stereo AAC 48 kHz audio stream inside an MP4 container.

Alternatively, you can also capture in HEVC/h.265 to save some space.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

The main camera captures pretty good 4K videos. Detail is great, and even though colors are a bit oversaturated, they look quite nice. There is practically no noise. Contrast is good as well, and the same goes for dynamic range.

8K video does not look particularly well, so we prefer to stick to 4K. It is there if you really need it, though.

The ultrawide camera has a good amount of detail in its 4K video capture. Colors are well-matched to the main camera. It's a decent showing for this sort of camera.

Despite its 1080p limit, the video from the telephoto camera looks relatively alright. Detail is decent, given the resolution, and colors appear mostly well-matched to the main camera.

The 1080p footage from the selfie camera is not very detailed. Skin tones and textures are lost, but it's definitely usable.

The main camera captures great low-light videos. The level of detail and colors are on point. Both the telephoto and the ultrawide capture decent video in terms of detail, but both tend to be a bit too dark for our liking.

As far as stabilization goes, the main camera has a 6-axis gimbal setup upgraded since last year to cover up to 5 degrees of motion in each direction. In keeping with Asus tradition, the Zenfone 12 Ultra offers two levels of video stabilization. One is called Adaptive, and as its name suggests, it dynamically punches into the frame and increases or decreases the level of EIS depending on the phone's motion. It does a pretty great job overall and can be used on every camera on the phone without lowering the resolution. In real life, this setting is good enough not only for walking, but running as well.

Beyond that, Super HyperSteady takes its footage from the main camera and is capped at 1080p. It is meant for aggressive motion compensation for sports and has been further improved this year. You'll probably want to stick with Adaptive most of the time.