ZTE Axon 30 5G review

Four cameras on the back, one behind the screen on the front

for all intents and purposes, the camera setup on the back of the ZTE Axon 30 5G is almost identical to the Axon 20 5G's. The main 64MP Samsung GW1 sensor has been swapped for Sony's IMX682 alternative, but that doesn't necessarily mean better image quality. In fact, the main 64MP camera has the same specs as before - f/1.8 aperture, 1/1.72" sensor size and 0.8µm pixels.

No changes to the ultrawide too - 8MP. f/2.2, 120-degree field of view. A small bump in the macro camera - now 5MP but with the same f/2.4 aperture. The 2MP depth sensor is still around too.

The upgraded selfie camera is the centerpiece of this year's Axon 30 5G. In addition to the software algorithm and improved display transparency, the selfie shooter adopts larger pixels in a 4-in-1 binned configuration. The effective pixel size is 2.24µm, but it shoots in full 16MP resolution, to our surprise. It's paired with an f/2.5 aperture. Despite the downgrade from 32MP on the Axon 20, ZTE promises better light sensitivity due to the larger pixels.

Camera menus

Nothing out of the ordinary here - just a standard camera app with most of the modes arranged in a carousel. Swiping left and right switches between modes while the Video tab has a couple of extra modes baked in. The "More" tab will take you to the Macro, Manual and 64MP modes.

Default camera app

The Manual mode is as flexible as it should be, offering control over white balance, shutter speed, ISO, exposure and autofocus.

Daylight samples

Main camera

The overall performance of the main 64MP camera is average for its class or maybe a bit below average due to several issues we came across, which aren't common in the Axon 30's rivals. From detail and sharpness standpoint, the daylight samples are looking great. There's no artificial sharpening going on, so foliage and trees look natural, and so do buildings. The HDR algorithm may need some work as the software tends to go for brighter exposure most of the time, yet some shadows look crushed. You can even notice some clipped bright areas in some of the images.

16MP main camera samples

The brighter exposure has resulted in lower overall contrast, too, and some may find colors looking a bit dull. We can't really say that they are dull but definitely not as vivid as most people would like. If you look close enough, small traces of noise can be found on the uniform backgrounds, like the facade of the buildings or the sky. Noise becomes more prominent indoors, but sharpness seems somewhat consistent.

16MP main camera samples

Expectedly, the 64MP mode resolves more detail but also introduces quite a bit of noise as sharpness also takes a hit.

64MP main camera samples

2x zoom

Using the 2x zoom toggle in the default photo mode produces usable photos but definitely not on par with the real thing. Cropping from the main sensor results in softer, overexposed images with decreased detail. Identical processing to the standard photos, though.

Main camera 2x crop zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

We had low expectations of the ultrawide camera as the commonly used 8MP sensor in pretty much all midrangers makes an appearance here as well. The performance is just about average - rather soft pictures with not enough detail and washed-out colors. The overexposure tendencies are apparent here as well, maybe even more prominent than on the main camera due to the naturally narrower dynamic range. Indoor samples show that the ultrawide can't really work with shadows all that well.

Ultrawide camera samples

On the bright side, the lens correction algorithm does a good job of keeping the perspective in check while the color fringing towards the edges of the images is barely noticeable.

Macro samples

The macro camera on the Axon 30 5G is a small step ahead of the competition. Or at least most of it. The higher than usual 5MP resolution comes in handy when fine detail needs to be resolved, and sharpness is great too, but the lack of OIS and autofocus makes macro photography a more challenging task than it already is. Sadly, colors are pretty dull, and contrast is low.

Macro camera samples

Low-light samples

Main camera

The low-light performance of the main camera is about average too. Images do appear a bit on the soft side, and the software often goes for lower exposure values, often crushing the detail in the dark parts of the image. The noise reduction algorithm also appears to be overly aggressive and smears away fine detail, but at least there's no noise around.

Main camera, default Photo mode samples

The HDR is almost always active, as you can tell from the neon signs and the balanced highlights. That's actually one of the few midrangers that manages highlights and light sources so well. The contrast is good, and the colors pop just right. Depending on how bright the scene is, you can get a lot of fine detail, too, but don't always count on it. White balance is on point too.

With the Night mode turned on, you get brighter-looking overall photos with a lot more detail resolved in the shadows. Highlights look practically the same, though. The scenes are clearer with plenty of detail and some added sharpness for good measure. The best part is that the added detail doesn't come at the expense of noise, as the latter is kept to a minimum. Additionally, ZTE has struck a fine balance between additional processing and natural looks.

Main camera, Night mode samples

Most phones brighten up the shadows a bit too much, add too much sharpness and make the images look rendered. The Axon 30 retains the natural look of the scene without going overboard with the Night mode processing. You do have to wait about 3-5 seconds for the image stacking to finish when shooting with the Night mode, but it's a small price to pay for considerably better-looking nighttime pictures.

2x zoom

While the 2x zoom samples are often usable during the day, the low-light ones are looking a bit too soft to our taste. Fuzzy, even. Not that we were expecting good-looking photos when cropping from the main camera at night.

Main camera 2x crop zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera performs a tad better than what we were expecting. It does struggle with the highlights, sharpness and noise, but the contrast is good; shadows have quite a bit of detail, and colors aren't washed out. The shots are far from ideal, but they do seem a lot better than the fuzzy mess most 8MP ultrawide cameras produce.

Ultrawide camera, low-light samples

Here's how the primary camera on the Axon 30 5G stacks against the rest of the competition in the controlled environment of our Photo Compare Tool.

ZTE Axon 30 5G vs. Realme GT 5G and the OnePlus 9 in our Photo compare tool

Portrait samples

Portrait photos look convincing enough with a rather accurate color reproduction across the scene, including the subject's skin color. Of course, the camera performs better in ideal lighting conditions as it resolves a good amount of detail and is sufficiently sharp. The slightest drop in ambient light results in fine grain, washed-out details, and you'd have to make sure your subject doesn't flinch because most of the samples we took were a bit blurry. Case in point - the last sample.

Portrait samples

The edge detection algorithm separates the subject from the background without issues but struggles with more complex backgrounds or when the subject's hair is trendy enough.

Selfies

We have some good and some bad news about the selfie camera. The good news is that selfies look a lot better than before (read Axon 20 5G), but it's still far from being competitive in terms of overall image quality. Selfies are fuzzy, often lack fine detail and are exceptionally noisy. Perhaps what's even more irritating is the glow in all of the photos we took. That glow is typical for light refraction. Kudos for the improved light sensitivity of the sensor as well as the transparency of the glass panel on the top, but it's still far from competing with regular selfie cameras.

UD selfie camera samples

That glow makes it even harder for the algorithm to do proper edge detection, so portrait selfies look like a hot mess. Although we found them to be a bit sharper, probably due to the HDR not being active in Portrait mode. We often see this phenomenon where phones make sharper selfies with the Portrait mode turned on because the image stacking done by the HDR algorithm smears away some fine detail. Nevertheless, it's hard to recommend using this model due to the poor edge detection and the fact that it scales down the resolution to just 5MP.

UD selfie camera: Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait

Video

The maximum supported video resolution by the main camera is 2160p@60fps, and there's a toggle in the settings menu that allows you to turn off the EIS in case you are shooting videos using a tripod, for example. The extra field of view never hurts.

The ultrawide camera, however, is capped at 1080p@30fps for obvious reasons. And even though the SoC and the main camera are capable of doing 8K videos, this isn't an option with this unit. But we can't dwell too much on that given the scarcity of devices capable of playing 8K videos and having the appropriate screen for that too.

Let's take a look at the 4K footage first. It appears to be sufficiently sharp and detailed, and we are pleasantly surprised by the relatively accurate color reproduction. Contrast is good and the dynamic range is wide enough, but the brighter than usual white cars and the building in the distance suggest that the exposure is again a tad brighter. Not a big issue, though.

The ultrawide Full HD video takes a turn for the worse - it looks extremely soft, washed out, lacks contrast and doesn't resolve nearly as much detail, even for a 1080p video.

And here's a 4K@30fps video sample with EIS turned on. The stabilization seems to be adequate enough to eliminate most of the shakiness, but we've seen better implementations, too.

Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at our video compare tool to see how the Axon 30 5G stacks against the other phones we've reviewed.

2160p: ZTE Axon 30 5G vs. Realme GT 5G and the OnePlus 9 in our Video compare tool