Samsung Galaxy A56 review

Familiar camera system with upgraded selfie

The Galaxy A56's camera system remains largely unchanged from last year. The device has the same 50MP main, 12MP ultrawide and 5MP macro cameras. The 32MP selfie unit from the A55 has been swapped out for a far better 12MP shooter, though, so at least there is an upgrade there.

• Wide (main): 50MP Sony IMX906, f/1.8, 1/1.56", PDAF, OIS; 2160p@30fps
• Ultrawide angle: 12MP Sony IMX258, f/2.2, 123˚ (ultrawide), 1/3.06", 1.12µm, fixed focus; 2160p@30fps
• Macro: 5 MP, f/2.4, fixed focus.
• Front camera: 12MP Samsung S5K3LC, f/2.2, 2160p@30fps

Unfortunately, we couldn't get a hold of more detailed specs for the selfie unit, but at least we know the sensor's model and make.

The camera app is the updated version where the modes are at the very bottom of the screen, and none of the UI elements cover the camera viewfinder entirely.

Daylight photos

Main camera

The main camera produces somewhat underwhelming stills even in favorable lighting conditions. The pictures are detailed, and the colors are punchy, for the most part, but there are the occasional clipped highlights or at least slightly overexposed highlights. Along with the overall soft nature of the photos, it leaves more to be desired.

Main camera photos

And image quality deteriorates considerably once you take the phone indoors. The photos become even softer, and color saturation drops a little.

We took some photos using the full-resolution 50MP mode, but the results are not so hot from up close, so we can't recommend this mode outright.

50MP resolution photos

The portraits are a bit underwhelming too. They come off a little soft.

Portraits: Photo mode • Portrait mode

2x crop zoom

The device doesn't have a dedicated zoom camera, but there's a 2x zoom toggle that crops from the main camera. The results are okay-ish in the context of the 1x pictures. A noticeable sharpness decrease is expected, but everything else looks par for the course.

2x crop zoom photos

Here are some 2x zoom portrait photos. We found them to be soft and we had issues with the AF and exposure.

2x portraits: Photo mode • Portrait mode

Ultrawide camera

Even though the Galaxy A56 features a better 12MP camera than other phones in the same class, at least on paper, the stills are far from ideal. They come out soft, and with limited dynamic range. Colors and contrast are accurate but tend to be slightly desaturated when shooting indoors.

Ultrawide camera photos

Macro

The device features a dedicated 5MP camera for close-up macro photography and it looks like a much better implementation than the common 2MP units used by other brands.

Then again, don't expect much. It's a tiny 5MP sensor, so detail is limited, and the results strongly depend on the lighting conditions. Also, the fixed focus distance makes it hard to get it right the first time, so we suggest taking several photos from various distances to make sure you get at least one in focus.

Macro camera photos

Selfies

In stark contrast to the main and ultrawide cameras, the selfie unit produces excellent photos. The upgraded 12MP sensor takes clean and sharp selfies with wide dynamic range and great colors.

Selfies

Low-light photos

Main camera

As is usually the case with Samsung phones, the camera app rarely uses the Night mode when shooting with the main camera. In fact, the system refused to take Night mode pictures even when the dedicated mode was selected.

Main camera photos, Auto Night mode

To our surprise, the standard Photo mode pictures look better than the Night mode ones. Sure, you can spot the occasional clipped highlights and light sources, while sharpness leaves more to be desired, but the Night photos post-processing is downright bad.

Main camera photos, forced Night mode

There's some sort of purple/pink-ish tinge on some of the photos, the white balance is completely off (it tends to be a lot colder than it should), colors appear washed out and contrast is lower. In addition, the dedicated Night mode doesn't seem to provide any benefits in terms of sharpness and detail. The non-Night stills are on par with the Night mode pictures in this regard.

2x crop zoom

Rendition in the 2x zoom mode remains the same with the exception that sharpness deteriorates severely. The 2x zoom photography is pushing it too far at night.

2x crop zoom, low light photos: Auto Night mode • Night mode

Ultrawide camera

Regardless of the shooting mode you use, the ultrawide camera produces extremely soft, fuzzy nighttime photos with some visible noise. Dynamic range is also rather limited and the white balance in Night mode is completely off once again. Notably, the stills are a tad cleaner and sharper with Night mode.

Ultrawide camera, low light photos: Auto Night mode • Night mode

Video recording

There are no major changes to the video recording capabilities, as all cameras support 2160p video recording at 30fps. That includes the front and the ultrawide cameras. Notably, the selfie camera gains better video recording quality and Super HDR feature, which probably suggests a wider dynamic range.

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

The main camera produces excellent results, outputting sharp, detailed and colorful videos with a wide dynamic range. The footage looks clean and free of noise. We are pleasantly surprised by the nighttime video as well, even though the exposure could be slightly lower to avoid the clipped highlights and light sources. Despite the brighter shadows, the noise isn't as apparent. The low-light video is sharp and detailed for a phone in this price bracket.

The ultrawide camera captures good videos too, especially compared to other phones with 8MP ultrawide cameras. The Galaxy A56's 12MP ultrawide shooter has a clear advantage in with crispier and more detailed videos. Dynamic range could be better, but we are nit-picking at this point.

The system offers EIS in 4K video mode and the results are excellent. No jittery movement, just stable-looking footage.