Fairphone 5 review

Three 50MP cameras

The new Fairphone 5 uses a total of three 50MP cameras - two on the back and one on the front. However, all three sensors are different. The main camera, for example, offers a 50MP. 1/1.56", 1.0µm sensor paired with f/1.9 aperture and OIS, while the ultrawide relies on a smaller 50MP 1/.2.51", 0.7µm sensor. This one is coupled with f/2.2 aperture. The third cutout on the back is a 3D ToF sensor used for depth sensing.

For a selfie camera, Fairphone went with another 50MP sensor, but this one is the smallest of the bunch, measuring 1/2.75" and having 0.74µm pixels. The lens offers f/2.5 opening.

Camera menus

The camera app is business as usual. You get your most common camera modes in the main rolodex and an additional sub-menu for the rest of the modes. The general settings menu is located in the upper-left corner of the viewfinder.

Cammera app

The camera app also offers a Pro mode, giving you access to ISO, shutter speed, exposure, white balance and autofocus. The Pro mode works only with the main camera, though.

Daylight photos

Main camera

The main camera produces decent but unimpressive stills with a conservative approach to colors in general. A bit more contrast wouldn't have hurt either. But fine detail and sharpness are good. The samples below are not exactly a match for pictures from similarly priced competitors.

Daylight main camera samples

2x zoom

The 2x zoom samples are also quite decent for a simple crop, but we noticed a limited dynamic range judging by the clipped highlights.

Daylight 2x zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

We expected a lot more from the 50MP ultrawide camera, but in reality, it barely outperforms the commonly used 8MP ultrawide shooter in budget smartphones. There are random soft spots, the dynamic range is limited, and the overall detail is lacking. The photos, in general, look lifeless with dull colors.

Daylight ultrawide camera samples

Low-light photos

Main camera

The low-light photos are surprisingly good-looking. Even without resorting to the dedicated Night mode, the main camera captures sharp and clear low-light stills with plenty of detail, wide dynamic range and without much noise. Sometimes highlights get clipped, but not enough to ruin the photo. The Photo mode seems very natural, with accurate color reproduction and the right amount of contrast.

Low-light main camera samples

The Night mode balances out the highlights and lights up the shadows. It also adds a little bit of artificial sharpening so fine details pop out. So maybe in some cases, the dedicated Night mode is preferable, especially in darker scenes. Be prepared to wait a lot, though, as the image stacking process takes a while.

Night mode main camera samples

2x zoom

The 2x zoom samples are disappointing and are hard to recommend. There's no dedicated Night mode to help out either.

Low-light 2x zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

Without Night mode, the ultrawide camera is completely useless after dusk. It's like comparing photos from two different cameras. The standard photos have limited dynamic range, lots of noise and are extremely fuzzy. Luckily, the Night mode fixes all of the above, balances out the shadows and highlights and adds plenty of previously unresolved detail.

Low-light ultrawide: Normal • Night mode

Selfies

The selfies are great for the most part, as long as there's enough light. They have natural color, plenty of detail, sharpness and accurate exposure. However, the slightest drop in the ambient light makes them noticeably softer and dynamic range isn't always wide enough.

Selfies

Here's how the primary camera on the Fairphone 5 stacks against the rest of the competition in the controlled environment of our Photo Compare Tool.

Fairphone 5 against the OnePlus 11 and the Google Pixel 7 in our Photo compare tool

Video recording

Naturally, the Fairphone 5 can record in 4K with its main camera, and since the ultrawide is also 50MP, it can also do 2160p videos. They are all stabilized via EIS, but you can still turn that off if you use a tripod and need that extra field of view.

In any case, the 4K footage from the main camera is pretty solid for the most part, as it has plenty of detail, natural color reproduction, albeit maybe a bit dull. Sharpness is great too, but the dynamic range is narrow. The shadows under the trees are looking okay, while white cars and the buildings in the distance are completely burnt, which leads us to believe the issue is with dynamic range and not exposure.

The ultrawide camera produces similar videos but with even bleaker colors. Overall sharpness and detail are great for an ultrawide video, but dynamic range is once again lacking, and colors need some boost.

You can also take a look at our video compare tool to see how Fairphone 5 stacks against the other phones we've reviewed.

Fairphone 5 against the OnePlus 11 and the Google Pixel 7 in our Video compare tool