Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 review

Versatile triple camera setup

The Galaxy Z Fold2 is no slouch in the camera department. However, it doesn't exactly employ the latest, and greatest Samsung currently has to offer. For that, you should probably look at the Note20 Ultra. The Korean giant decided to take a rather safe and less-experimental approach to the Z Fold2's main camera array, pretty-much borrowing the different modules from various other Samsung phones.

The main 12MP snapper has a 1/1.76-inch, Sony IMX555 sensor, with 1.8µm pixels, behind an f/1.8 lens. In terms of extra bells and whistles, it has Dual Pixel Phase detection autofocus and OIS. It doesn't take a lot of searching to discover Samsung borrowed said Samsung S5K2LD sensor, along with its other features, straight from the Galaxy S20.

The same is somewhat true for the 12MP ultrawide. It uses a sensor with the model designation Samsung S5K3L6. Nothing too fancy here - f/2.2 aperture and 1.12µm pixels. Notably, no autofocus, which would have been appreciated for macro shots. Most importantly, however, is that its specs don't exactly match any of the ultra-wides used on other Samsung phones.

Finally, the Z Fold2 has a third 12MP snapper - a telephoto camera, with 1/3.6" sensor size and 1.0µm. It does 2x optical zoom and also has PDAF and OIS. This one is likely to be borrowed from either the Galaxy S10 or the Note10. Though, the latter has it behind a slightly brighter lens than the f/2.4 one on the Z Fold2.

Relying on familiar camera hardware is, frankly, not a bad idea. Samsung can, at least, spare itself some of the RnD load for the Z Fold2. Plus, there are also cost and space concerns for including something like the beefier Samsung 108MP camera or the 5x periscope. Given what we have already seen from these camera modules, we expect solid, flagship-grade performance from the versatile camera setup on the Z Fold2.

As usual, we start the camera tour with the app. It is, unsurprisingly, a standard Samsung affair. All of the core features and on-screen buttons and notations have remained quite consistent in the last few years. Honestly, this is not a complaint, but actually rather appreciated.

Of course, the UI is going to appear quite different on the large internal display, compared to the cover one. And then there is the new Flex Mode camera UI variant, as well. That being said, it's impressive just how well Samsung has managed to scale this UI in a convenient manner.

Different camera UI variants

The tree icons are here to stay - '3 trees' means ultra wide-angle cam, '2 trees' denote the regular camera, and '1 tree' means the telephoto. Pinch to zoom is also available, and it switches seamlessly between the three cams. Alternatively, you can just drag your finger on the trees.

Basic operation is straightforward with side swipes for cycling through modes and an up/down action for toggling between the rear and front cameras. You can add, remove, and rearrange the modes in settings.

The HDR (Rich tone) setting is not only in the menu but it's even more convoluted as it has an on/off toggle, and then when it's on, you can choose whether to kick in automatically or be always on. This one we keep in auto.

There is only one new button here - one that controls the cover display. When the Z Fold2 is unfolded or in Flex View, pressing it simply turns on the cover display as a viewfinder so that your subjects can see how they look and pose for the shots.

When the Z Fold2 is folded, this button becomes a "selfie" switch. This prompts you to open the fold, and then it places the entire camera UI, complete with controls on the cover display, so you can capture your selfie using the main cameras while controlling them on the cover screen.

Selfie mode transition weirdness

12MP Main camera quality

In a huge surprise to nobody, the main 12MP camera on the Z Fold2 performs just as well as it does on the Galaxy S20. We are looking at a very-competent, flagship-grade processing, all around.

Main 12MP camera samples

Resolved detail is on point, so is noise suppression. Auto HDR is kicking in just right and helping with things like the sky. Shadows could have, perhaps, benefited from a slightly more aggressive boost.

While definitely a bit on the "sharper" side, as per Samsung tradition, the Z Fold2 does not go overboard in terms of processing. We would call it mature, especially in scenes with plenty of light and easily recognizable subjects, so the scene detection AI can really do its thing. Colors have a bit of extra "pop", for the lack of a better word, but are never really oversaturated. Samsung has honed their particular photo look that appeals to its customers over the years and is not doing any drastic alterations to it.

12MP Ultrawide camera quality

If Samsung deems the S5K2LA ISOCELL ultrawide sensor, behind an f/2.2 lens good enough for the entire Galaxy S20 family, all the way up to the Ultra, it's a relatively safe bet to assume that the very-similar S5K3L6 should be good enough for the Z Fold2, as well.

Ultrawide 12MP camera samples

'Good enough' is actually a nice way to describe the camera. It is far from the fanciest ultrawide out there and is still subject to all of the general shortcomings that tend to plague ultrawide snappers - things like relative softness and lower level of detail and dynamic range.

These complaints are general, though, and not specific to the Z Fold2's ultrawide. In fact, there is plenty to like here. Barrel-distortion correction is working great, and so is the noise-suppression algorithm. Samsung's achievements with color reproduction are admirable. Especially the level of consistency achieved between the different camera modules. Even with the ultrawide, you still get most of that particular Samsung color science.

12MP Telephoto camera quality

The telephoto snapper on the Z Fold2 has a native zoom level of about 2x. That's calculated from the main cam, which is the fair way of doing it. It delivers competent shots. Noise creeps-up rarely, mostly in larger areas with uniform colors. Dynamic range is good, if not stellar colors continue the much-appreciated trend of consistency.

Telephoto 12MP 2x camera samples

Honestly, in good lighting conditions, these results are quite comparable to the ones from the main camera.

Beyond the familiar "singe tree" toggle, which triggers 2x mode, there is also a linear slider on the Z Fold2, which goes all the way up to 10x, with another anchor-point set at 4x. Naturally, we tested those as well.

Telephoto 12MP 4x camera samples

As is the norm, there is cropping, interpolation and upscaling going on, behind the scenes here to get resulting 12MP images at higher zoom levels. Both the 4x and 10x zoom levels honestly surprised up in terms of detail and just how low the noise levels are. Of course, this all hinges on good lighting conditions. Even so, we deem both perfectly usable.

Telephoto 12MP 10x camera samples

Here is a single scene, shot with all three cameras, including 4x and 10x zoom levels, for your convenience.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 camera samples: Ultrawide • Main • Telephoto 2x • Telephoto 4x • Telephoto 10x

Overall, the Z Fold2 has most use cases well-covered with its versatile camera setup. The one notable omission is a dedicated macro mode, whether through a macro camera or autofocus on the main camera. You can still get pretty close to subjects with the main cam, though. Its autofocus works at just a few cms. You do need to be extra cautious with focus, though, since it is a bit hard to judge based on the viewfinder alone.

Main 12MP camera macro samples

In keeping with Samsung tradition, the Z Fold2 has Live focus mode, which is just another way of denoting portrait mode. The fancier name is quite fitting, though, since stills get saved in a special format that allows you to actually adjust focus and accompanying effects after taking the shot. That's not a new feature, but its cool enough to keep bringing it up.

Live focus mode

There are quite a few effects to choose from, including different background blurs, color modes, and even a "studio mode" as it's come to be known. All of these come with a slider to adjust intensity.

Live focus mode: Off • Various settings

Live focus mode: Off • Various settings

Honestly, we are not particularly impressed with the background blur effect. Subject separation seems to be consistently on point, which means that the Z Fold2 is both getting accurate depth information and making proper use of it. However, some parts of the background analysis algorithm appear to be getting thrown-off by patterns and shapes, leading to often inconsistent results. Hardly a major issue, but something that Samsung should address with an update.

Live focus mode inconsistencies

It is worth pointing out that for a while now, Samsung has been taking the camera data for its Live focus shots from the main camera and using the ultrawide for depth info instead of the other way around. This is the case here, as well, which does mean that you are limited to either using the main camera or the zoom one for portraits.

Of course, you can also use one of the two 10MP selfie cameras to capture portraits.

The much more appealing thing to do is just use the primary camera for selfies while using the cover display as a preview and camera control. That way, you get all of the benefits of the powerful camera trio.

Main 12MP camera selfies

Here is a full set of "selfie" shots with all three main cameras.

Selfies with the main cameras

Circling back to portraits, you can also use the main and telephoto cams for portraits in selfie mode. Naturally, the results are identical to what you would otherwise get from normal use.

Main 12MP camera selfie portrait samples

Telephoto 12MP camera selfie portrait samples

10MP Selfie camera quality

Since we are already on the topic of selfies, we need to mention the two dedicated 10MP selfie cameras. You get one on the cover display and one on the main, foldable panel. Both housed inside pretty tight punch holes - a massive improvement over the large notch solution, which was eating into the main display of the older Galaxy Fold.

Anyway, both of these cameras are identical and feature 1.22µm pixels and an f/2.2 aperture. It's nothing too fancy, with autofocus standing out as the most notable omission. However, that's not that big of a dealbreaker, considering the Z Fold2's ability to capture selfies with the full power of the trio of main cameras on the back. Hence, these selfies are not likely to see much actual photo use. Instead, there are present for extra convenience for video calls.

This deserves some extra praise since Samsung could have easily just gotten away with a single selfie, requiring the user to, say, always open the phone to use the selfie camera. This way, you get a lot more freedom to choose. For instance, you can just use the front selfie one-handed, as you would on any other phone. Neat!

Selfie 10MP camera samples

In terms of actual quality, the 10MP selfie snappers capture plenty of detail and look sharp. The lack of autofocus isn't a big deal either, since the focus plane is quite forgiving. Positive impressions, overall.

Not all Samsung long-standing traditions are great. The availability of two "field of view" options for selfies is one of the less-amazing ones. Mostly since the camera app defaults to the odd, cropped mode, which, in this case, produces stills at around 6.5MP. We aren't sure why Samsung persists with this, but it is a thing.

Selfie 6MP camera samples

Selfie 6MP camera samples

This is probably a good place to mention filters and Beauty Mode. Again, we get a familiar Samsung setup. This includes quite a few individual sliders for beautification. A set of pre-defined filters, as well as the nifty ability to automatically analyze a photo or image and create a custom color filter from that.

Beauty mode settings

It should be noted that there is a small amount of beauty correction applied to the selfie camera by default. You can always go in and turn it off entirely though. To its credit, Samsung's beauty mode is on the tamer and more-natural side compared to other solutions we have seen. You can still go overboard, but it's not easy.

Beauty mode samples: Off • Increasing intensity

Last, but not least, rounding the photo quality section, we have added samples from the Z Fold2's main and telephoto cameras to our extensive photo compare database. Feel free to pixel-peep.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 against the Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy Fold in our Photo compare tool

Telephoto: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 against the Samsung Galaxy S10 and the Sony Xperia 1 II in our Photo compare tool