With intense scrutiny of devices in the budget segment nowadays, we take a deeper look at the camera performance of the recently-launched Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus with Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 3.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 left us massively impressed on the overall sense, but its camera performance left us wanting for more. Xiaomi’s smartphones have held a reputation for commendable imaging performance in the past, and with the Redmi Note 3 excelling on most grounds, the lack of refinement in imaging performance was distinctly noticeable. In light of this, in came the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus. Priced significantly lesser than the Redmi Note 3, the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus houses a 13MP CMOS BSI sensor. The Redmi Note 3, meanwhile, is powered by a 16MP Samsung S5K3P3 ISOCELL sensor. How do these fare, across same situations? Read on.
Camera app performance
Xiaomi’s own camera app, on an overall sense, is simply better to use in terms of ergonomics and ease of usage. It support touch shutter on focus point, which helps when you are shooting with one hand. On the other hand, Lenovo’s camera app has a more traditional layout of settings. In terms of shutter response, the Redmi Note 3 is simply faster and more accurate than the K5 Plus. The Redmi Note 3’s camera app is simply more responsive, and beats the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus easily.
Camera apps: (L) Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, (R) Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
Image galleries
Daylight performance
We shot multiple images under daylight conditions, including shadow, direct sunlight and close-up under direct sunlight. The primary difference between the two sensors reflect in the sharpness of the images. Images clicked by the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 are much sharper, and colour contrast and saturation levels are richer than the photos clicked by the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus. Despite the vibrant colours, the noise levels in the photographs clicked by both are jarring to really term either of them great.
The colours, despite appearing similar, are less warmer on the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus. As a result, the Vibe K5 Plus has a more flat colour reproduction, misses the slightly accentuated contrast levels on the Redmi Note 3's captured images. Due to the lack of sharpness, images appear softer and noisier than the Redmi Note 3. Overall, Xiaomi takes the cake for being the better performer, albeit with much compromise.
Indoor performance
While shooting indoors, the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus performed decently in simpler mis-en-scene under bright ambience. The major deterrent here for the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus is the lack of sharpness in photographs, that will almost certainly not leave you any room for post-processing and cropping.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, meanwhile, shoots sharper images along with a warmer colour tone. It is not the most accurate colour reproduction, but will appeal to many. Noise is a constant deterrent, although the higher megapixel count on this camera is a visible advantage over the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus. The only area where the Vibe K5 Plus pleased us is while shooting in warm ambience – the camera balanced the amount of warmth in the photograph, to present a pleasant tone. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, with its slightly accentuated sense of saturation and contrast, leads to marginally harsher amber ambience on photos. The algorithms on Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus perform better here. In terms of colour, we found both comparable, and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 wins here only by virtue of better sharpness.
Low light
If the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 disappoints with its low light performance, the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus disappoints even further. Neither click anything worth mentioning in poorly lit situations, and the Vibe K5 Plus’s low light performance borders on being really, really poor. For both the cameras, the level of noise in photographs totally distort colours and details, and it is safe to say that photographs clicked in low light situations are hard to be presented even under acceptable, casual circumstances.
Verdict
On an overall note, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is undoubtedly the better shooter one. However, it is far from good. For the most part, the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus performs decently close to the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 in well-lit situations, and as a standalone unit that is nearly Rs. 3,500 cheaper than the Redmi Note 3, the imaging performance is acceptable. When it comes to low light, neither are really acceptable, and you’ll probably use the camera in low light situations only when you really, really have no other choice.
However, the richer contrast and saturation levels, along with good colour accuracy and lesser noise levels, do come into account while talking about camera performance. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is significantly more expensive than the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus, but for anyone hoping for a reasonably decent camera performance to go with their smartphone, the Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus is not the device to choose.
Buy Lenovo vibe k5 plus at Rs.8499 on Flipkart
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Souvik Das
The one that switches between BMWs and Harbour Line Second Class. View Full Profile
