A52S 5G 64MP Main Camera and large files.

[Judesman]

I am thinking of buying an A52S 5G.  I  want a good camera and I am concerned about the size of file that a 64MP  picture would create if saved to the phone. I assume that there is an option to take photos in 12MP but does this produce a poorer quality picture. Can anyone with one of these phones help please.

[GeorgeBriant]

If money doesn't matter try having the largest amount of internal storage on your phone and check if it has expandable storage

[Judesman]

Thank you.  I believe that you can add extra storage with this model but, I am wondering about the quality of pictures take at a lower resolution.

[GeorgeBriant]

Well I took this with my note 10 plus 5g and that has a 12 mp camera so I think you'll be just abt fine

[Judesman]

Thank you for that.

[GingerSteve]

Seeing as the A52s uses a quad Bayer sensor,  the default size is 12mp.

Yes it can take shots at the full 64mp but that isn't what the quad Bayer is truly meant for. 

The A52s takes usable images but depending on your requirements in a camera , I'd suggest researching Web sites like gsmarena , which has a camera review for the A52s.

The stock camera can't shoot raw files,  for that I use Adobe lightroom.

But that app won't allow you access to the full 64mp.

[GingerSteve · Accepted solution]

On my A52s the 64mp images file sizes changes a little between shots.

But averaging about 12.5mb per photo.

You can shoot in heif to save file size though

[Judesman]

Thank you. Yes I have read the Gsmarena review. I am not very technically minded and assumed that the main camera on this phone shoots pics at 64MP.  I think that you are saying that without any change to settings these pics average about 12MP.  So, can I reduce the resolution in settings (I have an old S7 that I want to replace) and does that affect the quality of the photo? Thank you for your help.

[Judesman]

Thanks for your help.  I have found an interesting article about pixels and the significance of different sized pixels.  It explains everything. 

[GingerSteve]

Yes the majority of android phones now use quad bayer style sensors , so the 48,50, 64, 108mp , etc actually capture images better when binned in to the standard megapixel size.

So the Google pixel 6 , 50mp outputs images at 12.5mp I think

Samsung s21 ultra,  108mp outputs at 12 or 16mp again I think...and so on

so think of it has the old way of image stacking for hdr, which is how I use to do hdr back in the early 2000's 

They aren't really stacked I don't think, but they are combined.

In the standard 16MP for standard and pro photos, and 12mp for night shot photos on the A52s, you should in theory get better tonal control, less noise, better light gathering.

I wasn't a fan of the 64mp shots, but in day time with a good light source, you should still get usable images, apart from in say detailed foliage where it can appear smeary , and edges jagged.

I do not understand all the quad bayer stuff myself, and I would have preferred just a standard 12mp big sensor...but that isn't how phones are going.   

The image quality in general if left at 16mp is better for all out quality...but some people prefer the full resolution even if it means sacrificing some quality. 

Also be warned if you set your standard camera mode to "heif" mode in the file formats section, yes it will reduce the file size while stored, but when you edit the photo, it then gets saved back at standard jpeg, which will increase the size slightly.

and some social media sites aren't compatible with heif yet, but a work around is to "share" the image to your twitter or instagram or whatever, not just "upload" as there is an automatic option within the samsung photo album which converts heif to jpeg when sharing to as to make images more widely compatible again. 

 https://www.gsmarena.com/quad_bayer_sensors_explained-news-37459.php