Oppo Reno5 5G / Find X3 Lite review

A standard quad-camera setup on the back

As most midrangers out there, the Reno5 5G offers a quad-camera setup on the back and a single shooter on the front. A 64MP f/1.7, 1/1.73", 0.8µm camera does the main lifting and is aided by an 8MP ultrawide shooter with a familiar 1/4.0" sensor. The advertised field of view is 119-degrees, and it uses an f/2.2 aperture.

The other two shooters are 2MP f/2.4 - one is used for depth sensing while the other is used for macro shots. The camera on the front is 32MP with f/2.4 aperture, and the sensor itself is 1/2.8" big with 0.8µm pixels.

Camera menus

The default camera app isn't anything out of the ordinary. The camera modes are arranged in a typical carousel-style list with the Macro mode tucked away in the More sub-menu. The default photo mode offers four toggles - one for the ultrawide, one for the main 1x mode and two zoomed ones of 2x and 5x. Both crop from the center of the main camera, of course.

Default camera app

Some additional controls over HDR and the AI mode can be found on top of the viewfinder. The Settings menu gives you the standard set of options along with a so-called AI ultra-clear mode for bokeh shots.

Daylight samples

Main camera

The daylight photos taken with the main camera are good, with little to complain about. Just for the record, we left the AI switch on since it was on by default. We've provided a couple of non-AI photos below to see the difference for yourself. The AI adds a little bit of brightness and color to the images but nothing too major. If you are more into the natural look, keep the AI switch off. In both cases, you will be getting lively colors, though.

Main camera 16MP samples

Sharpness is okay, and detail is far from impressive too, but the overall quality of the images is good if you don't zoom too much, and we would argue that this is often the case. Some fine grain can be observed in uniform areas. Dynamic range is also on par with the competition, meaning there are no underexposed or clipped areas in the images. They look well-balanced, with plenty of detail in the highlights and shadows. Keep in mind that the AI may, in some rare situations, produce rather bright, overexposed-looking shots, especially if direct sunlight is shining onto the subject.

Main camera 108MP samples

To our surprise, there's no way to take native 64MP pictures with the main camera. Instead, Oppo has opted for upscaled 108MP photo mode to keep up with the similarly-priced competition that already offers 108MP cameras. It's needless to say that the results are sub-par. The 108MP images are soft and noisy despite the marginal gain in detail compared to the binned 16MP images.

2x zoom

A toggle for 2x and 5x zoom is available, but since it crops from the main camera and there's no proper telephoto snapper, we suggest that you stick to 2x zoom at most. And even then, prepare for grainy and soft images - oftentimes unusable and blurry. Otherwise, expect pretty much the same rendition as standard photos.

2x zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

Perhaps to no one's surprise, the ultrawide camera doesn't perform as good as the main one but it seems to be slightly better than the competition, mostly in terms of contrast and sharpness. The latter isn't stellar, but it's much better than what we are used to seeing from this popular 8MP sensor.

 

Ultrawide camera samples

And mostly due to its low resolution, images don't come out as detailed as they should too. Edge softness is a standard with all ultrawide cameras, no matter the class, along with some color fringing that doesn't really get in the way. Expect a narrower dynamic range with a tendency to go for a lower exposure. On the other hand, the lens distortion algorithm seems to be doing an impressive job, and as you get closer to the subject, you may get a pretty good level of detail. Don't get too close, though, as this ultrawide unit doesn't support AF.

Low-light samples

Main camera

The night shots are just about average for the price range struggling mostly with contrast, highlights, light sources and sharpness. We've also noticed that it goes for a tad brighter exposure, which explains why the highlights are clipped, and the shadows look well-exposed with plenty of detail. Noise isn't missing, but it's mostly visible in the dark areas.

 

Low-light samples

Switching over to Night mode improves things drastically. The biggest downside is that you have to wait quite a bit for each shot. It takes roughly 5-7 seconds for a single picture, and that's way slower than most midrangers we've tested. But it's definitely worth it.

Night mode samples

The shots are slightly brighter without clipped highlights, cleared up noise and considerably sharper. The added sharpness brings out more fine detail from the shadows too. Highlights are no longer clipped, and contrast is adjusted accordingly. Light sources, while not ideal, look a lot better too.

 

So despite the longer wait times, we strongly recommend using the Night mode after dusk, no matter the scene. Some of the scenes may come out a bit over-processed for the liking of some, but the difference between the Night mode samples and the standard Photo mode images is night and day. No pun intended.

2x zoom

Zooming at night would just reveal the imperfections of the nighttime photos taken with the main camera. The issues we described above are amplified, and the Night mode can do so much to fix them. We suggest that you use the 2x magnification with Night mode to get better results.

2x zoom samples: Normal • Night mode • Normal • Night mode • Normal • Night mode

Ultrawide camera

We weren't impressed by the ultrawide camera's performance during the day so we doubted it would be good at night. And we were right to assume it for the most part. With standard Photo mode, the ultrawide images are murky, lack detail, contrast and have plenty of noise in them.

 

Ultrawide low-light samples

Luckily, the Reno5 5G is one of the few handsets around these parts to offer Night mode for its ultrawide camera. In fact, it takes just as long as it takes for the main camera to capture a Night mode photo. Upon close inspection, Oppo may have gone too far with the sharpening, but the end result is excellent.

Ultrawide Night mode samples

We can even go as far as saying that low-light ultrawide pictures are not just usable but look pretty good too. The Night mode clears up the fog of noise and softness and replaces it with a sharp and detailed image. Light sources are well-contained, contrast is boosted, and dynamic range is drastically improved.

 

Get ready for some more pixel-peeping with our photo compare tool to see how the Reno5 5G compares to its rivals.

Oppo Reno5 5G vs Xiaomi Poco F3 and the Samsung Galaxy A72 in our Photo compare tool

Macro camera

The macro camera is business as usual or, in other words - just about average. Since everyone is using the same old 2MP sensor for this kind of photos, the end results rarely vary. It all boils down to software optimization.

 

Macro samples

Anyway, the focusing distance is 4cm (the viewfinder kindly reminds us every time we switch to the macro) and it's fixed focus, so capturing moving subjects is a big challenge. Sufficient light is also a must-have. Expect rather sharp photos with colors that may be a bit on the dull side as well as good sharpness.

 

Portraits

Portraits are looking good and rather convincing, mostly because of the precise edge detection. The faux bokeh effect is looking really good, while sharpness and detail are more than satisfactory. The subject's skin could have been a bit less exposed because it looks pale and hardly captures the natural reddish nuances.

 

Portrait samples

We were surprised by the indoor performance and even got a pretty nice result in dim conditions. A good example is the fourth photo. Moreover, the subject upfront is blurred out too.

Lastly, the HDR is competent enough to bring out the subject's face even in more challenging conditions and at no point did the background look clipped or overexposed. And expect even better sharpness outside.

Selfies

The selfies aren't binned, they are in native 32MP but don't seem as sharp as one would expect from a 32MP sensor. Only a handful of the photos turned out good for posting, so hitting the right focusing distance is a challenge too. The level of detail is rather good, though, and so are the colors, and so is the dynamic range. Maybe the subject's skin is once again a bit on the pale side.

Selfies: Normal • Portrait

We've also noticed that the portraits are consistently sharper than the standard selfies, and that's due to the lack of HDR. Portrait selfies often skip the HDR, and as a result, you get limited dynamic range (as you can see from the last photo), but you do get some extra sharpness. The edge separation is a bit rough, which is usually the case with selfie portraits.

Video recording

Video recording caps at 2160p@30fps, but there are various modes before that. For instance, an AI Highlight video is a feature that supports only 1080p@30fps recording while proper slow-motion video is at 720p, but 1080p mode is also available at lower frame rates.

Let's start with the standard 2160p@30fps video. It looks pretty good with plenty of detail, natural color reproduction, wide dynamic range (notice how well the trees are exposed without the white building in the background being too bright) and with virtually no noise. Contrast is also on point. To be honest, there's nothing bad we can say about this sample video, especially in this price range.

The AI Highlight video mode caps at 1080p, pumps up the color saturation and goes for a brighter exposure, which ultimately results in clipped highlights. The white and bright-colored cars are easy to spot too. We can't say it's a good alternative to the standard video recording at 4K.

The ultrawide camera also caps at 1080p and the video quality is far from ideal. It's soft, maybe a little noisy, and lacks dynamic range - underexposed shadows and clipped highlights. 

When it comes to EIS, the device doesn't support stabilized 4K videos, but there's an Ultra Steady mode that gives you an action camera-like stabilization. The trade-off is that it's cropped, and it's 1080p. So at a reduced quality and field of view, you can get action camera-like videos. And to further solidify that action camera feel, the phone records at 60fps in this mode.

Turning on the Ultra Steady mode will reveal a switch on the viewfinder, which in turn will activate the so-called Pro Ultra Steady mode. It's still 1080p video but cropped even more aggressively for even better stabilization, and the framerate is dialed down to 30fps. The con of using this mode is the floating objects around the edges of the video. Notice the buildings in the distance that are near the left edge of the video.

 

Here's a 4K video without EIS for reference.

Once you are done with the real-world examples, take a closer look at our video compare tool to see how the Reno5 5G stacks against the competition.

2160p:Oppo Reno5 5G vs Xiaomi Poco F3 and the Samsung Galaxy A72 in our Video compare tool