Nothing Phone (3a) Pro review

Three rear cameras and a periscope telephoto

The camera hardware is arguably the biggest difference between the Nothing Phone (3a) and the (3a) Pro. Both phones now have a third camera on the back, which is new since last year's Nothing Phone (2a) and Phone (2a) Plus.

The two phones use a 50MP main camera, but it is not actually the same camera with the same sensor. Best we can tell, the Phone (3a) Pro uses a Samsung ISOCELL GNJ sensor, while the vanilla Phone (3a) uses a Samsung ISOCELL GN9.

The telephoto cameras are not identical across the two phones either. The Pro has a periscope-style 50MP 3x telephoto with a 70mm focal length equivalent. It is based on the Sony LYTIA 600 sensor with a 1/1.95" size, sitting behind an f/2.55 lens. Understandably, the periscope is equipped with OIS. As for the vanilla Nothing Phone (3a), it has a 2x "traditional flat-style" telephoto with a 50mm focal length equivalent and an f/2.0 lens. We know that it uses a Samsung-made 50MP sensor with a 1/2.74" size. There is just EIS on board, no OIS.

• Wide (main): 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL GNJ, f/1.88, 24mm (wide), 1/1.56", 1.0µm, dual pixel PDAF, OIS; 2160p@30fps
• Telephoto: 50 MP Sony LYTIA 600, f/2.55, 1/1.95", 0.8µm, 70mm (telephoto), PDAF (10cm - ∞), OIS, 3x optical zoom; 1080p@30fps
• Ultrawide: 8 MP Sony IMX 355, f/2.2, 1/4.0", 1.12µm, 15mm (ultrawide); 1080p@30fps
• Front camera: 50MP Samsung, f/2.2, 1/2.76" (wide); 2160p@30fps

The ultrawide cameras on both phones are identical. These use a Sony IMX 355 sensor (1/4" size) with fixed focus behind an f/2.2 lens with a 120-degree field of view. Nothing too special.

Finally, we have the selfie cameras, which also differ across the two phones. The Phone (3a) Pro has a 50MP selfie with a 1/2.76" Samsung sensor behind an f/2.2 lens. It is capable of 4K video capture. The regular Phone (3a), on the other hand, has a 32MP selfie with a Samsung-made 1/3.44" sensor behind an f/2.2 lens.

Nothing is particularly proud of TrueLens Engine 3.0. It is an image processing pipeline that uses AI to do tone mapping and scene detection across multiple shots that get combined into the final result. Nothing says it strives for tonal quality and a balance between highlight detail and shadow depth.

Regarding photographic processing, the Nothing Phone (3a) pair supports Google's Ultra XDR format.

We do want to mention that the camera switching logic in the camera app is a bit confusing. Selecting 4K resolution disables the ultrawide camera from the camera selection and, technically, the telephoto as well since it only supports 1080p. However, the camera app still displays the 3x toggle in 4K mode, and it captures that video by cropping it from the main camera.

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

The main camera captures very competent 12.5MP binned shots. The detail is great, and there is very little noise. Contrast and dynamic range are also good. The same goes for colors.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 12.5MP main camera samples

You can force the main camera to shoot in its full 50MP resolution, but there seems to be little to no point in doing so. You don't really get more detail. Perhaps a slightly less processed look, but the difference is hardly drastic.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 50MP main camera samples

The main camera can capture some solid 2x digital zoom photos. Detail is great, and so are the colors. A bit of noise and softness creeps up, but that is perfectly normal.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 12.5MP main camera 2x zoom samples

Before we move on from the main camera, here are some portrait shots at 1x and 2x zoom. Both look great with detailed facial features and pleasing skin tones. The quality of the background blur is also great.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 12.5MP main camera portrait samples

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 12.5MP main camera 2x portrait samples

Telephoto camera

While admittedly, it doesn't offer that much zoom at 3x (70mm equivalent), the periscope telephoto camera is arguably the star of the show. It captures very sharp and detailed photos and is well-matched to the main camera.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 12.5MP telephoto camera 3x samples

There isn't much point in forcing the telephoto to capture in its full 50MP resolution, either.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 50MP telephoto camera 3x samples

The telephoto is also great for portraits if you are into 70mm portraits. The details are great, and so are subject detection and separation.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 12.5MP telephoto camera 3x portrait samples

And speaking of added versatility, the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro is set up to capture macro shots with its telephoto by default. This works quite well, to be honest. You can get surprisingly close to your subject. Not that you really need to, in most situations.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 12.5MP telephoto camera 3x macro samples

Ultrawide camera

During the day, the ultrawide photos are very good for an 8MP camera. There is a very good amount of detail and nice colors.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 8MP ultrawide camera samples

Selfie camera

Selfies come from a 50MP front facing cam, at the native resolution, which is a bit excessive. The overall quality is good, with nice skin tones and texture but we feel it could have been even better with some pixel binning.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 50MP selfie camera samples

Low-light camera quality

The main camera holds up well in low-light conditions. It captures plenty of detail with low noise. Dynamic range is very good, with well-developed shadows and highlights.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 12.5MP main camera low light samples

The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro enables night mode processing automatically. A small icon on the camera UI indicates it. You can press that and disable night mode. However, the phone seems to continue doing at least some HDR stacking. There is very little difference between having night mode on or off.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 12.5MP main camera low light (no night mode) samples

2x digital zoom shots from the main camera at night are okay. They are definitely softer than the 1x shots. But other than that, they have very similar overall quality.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 12.5MP main camera 2x zoom low light samples

The telephoto camera does noticeably better in these low-light conditions. These 3x shots are a lot sharper and have more detail. Noise is kept very low. While still not very true to life, the colors are well-matched to the main camera. Light sources are a bit blown out.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 12.5MP telephoto camera 3x low light samples

At night, the ultrawide shots are soft but the dynamic range and contrast are quite good.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 8MP ultrawide camera low light samples

Finally, here are some pretty decent low-light selfies that the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro can capture.

Nothing Phone (3a) Pro: 50MP selfie camera low light samples

Video capture quality

The Nothing Phone (3a) Pro can capture 4K video only with its main and selfie cameras. Both the ultrawide and telephoto are limited to 1080p. As we already mentioned, if you don't switch down to 1080p, the phone will actually be taking your 3x zoom videos as crops from the main camera (not ideal!), but we'd call that more of a UI quirk than anything else.

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

The main camera captures excellent 4K videos. The detail is great, and so are the colors. There is practically no noise. Dynamic range could be a bit better.

As we said, if you're not paying attention, you can easily end up with a 4K 3x video from the main camera, which is not ideal. In order to get proper zoomed video from the telephoto, you need to switch the resolution to 1080p. And in this resolution, the telephoto really shines. It has much better detail and colors. We've included both samples so you can check them out for yourselves.

The full HD video from the ultrawide is decent, but there is nothing to phone home about. Quality-wise, it is serviceable, but we would probably avoid it if possible.

The main camera has Always-On stabilization at every resolution. It works very well to iron out walking shake.