Huawei honor 5C - Mobile Camera Review

I have been using the Huawei Honor 5c for almost a month now and have captured photos at various locations and in different lighting situations. Being a photographer, I try and review mobile phones specifically on the basis of their camera performance. With a price tag of Rs.10,999, this is a mobile phone which can help you capture photos with great image quality.

Before I get into details, let’s first have a look at some of the key camera features of the Huawei Honor 5c:

13-megapixel rear camera F/2.0
8-megapixel front camera F/2.0
Automatic scene recognition
4 stops optical image stabilization
Face/smile detection
Video at 1080p@30fps
Manual mode which allows you to adjust shutter speed, exposure value, white balance and ISO manually

Camera placement and Handling

Talking about the placement of the camera, it is positioned at the top center of the phone. This helps in avoiding of the index finger getting touched and leaving the fingerprint on the camera.

The handling of the Honor 5c is good, even without the phone cover. This helps in clicking photos without the phone slipping out of your hand. Being a budget mobile camera phone, you can not expect an additional shutter release button.

Focusing

One of the reasons why I love the camera of Honor 5c is its ability to focus on the subject really quick. Trust me, the focusing speed is faster as compared to other phones in this price range. Also, the camera focuses really close and is ideal for close-up photography.

There were minor misfocusing issues while trying to focus on a distant subject and in low-light conditions, but it performs like a champion during the daylight.

Another reason why I can not stop praising the Honor 5c camera is that it allows you to select the focusing point as well as the metering point separately. Yes, you can select a different metering point by simply dragging the small circle on the screen.

You can also adjust the exposure compensation by simply tapping on the focus point and moving the bar scale up or down.

huawei honor 5c camera — The blue circle is the focusing point and the white circle with a sun shaped icon is the metering point.

Sharpness and Dynamic Range

I have captured more than 100 images using this mobile camera, and at no point was i disappointed by its image quality. I was able to capture sharp photos and the focus was spot on. I was also happy with the ability of this camera to capture dynamic range as the Huawei Honor 5c captures the contrast between the highlights and the shadows brilliantly, much better than its competitors. Though you can always use the HDR more to increase the dynamic range.

I was also happy with the ability of this camera to capture dynamic range as the Huawei Honor 5c captures the contrast between the highlights and the shadows brilliantly, much better than its competitors. Though you can always use the HDR more to increase the dynamic range.

Low light performance

The low light performance of this mobile camera is average, while using the auto mode. Wish there were less grains while using the camera in low lighting conditions. If you want to click photos during evening time or night using automatic mode, you would get sharp images but the noise would be there. As mentioned previously, the focusing is an issue in low light conditions and I had to manually set the focus (using the manual mode).

But, if you are using the Honor 5c camera during low light conditions in manual mode, it will produce brilliant results as you can always select the lowest ISO sensitivity (which is ISO 100).

Manual Mode

I always prefer clicking photos on manual mode, be it a DSLR or a mobile phone camera. The fact that I can use the manual mode on a mobile phone which costs only Rs.11,000 is in itself a great thing. Honor 5c camera app allows you to adjust the shutter speed, which ranges from 1/4000 second to 8 seconds.

Honor 5c camera app allows you to adjust the shutter speed, which ranges from 1/4000 second to 8 seconds. From freezing a fast moving object to capturing light trails, you can capture it all. Another great thing about the manual mode is that you can set the ISO anything between ISO 100 to ISO 1600. Though you will start getting heavy grains beyond ISO 400.

I was able to choose from three different focusing modes: AF-S (single focus), AF-C (continuous focus tracking) and MF (manual focus). Manual focus is a great mode if you are clicking multiple frames of a stationary subject, and the AF-C is ideal mode if you want to capture a moving subject.

All in all, a fantastic mobile camera if you are a manual mode user. By simply investing Rs.11,000, you can capture various situations by adjusting the shutter speed, focus modes, white balance and the ISO.

All Focus Mode

Basically what this mode does is that the camera will capture multiple frames and display a single image in your gallery. You can anytime click on this image and change the focus point by simply tapping anywhere on the image. This is an amazing feature as it lets you change the focus point after you have captured the photo.

If you are in a hurry and do not want to waste your time in setting the focus on the desired subject, all you have to do is click photos using the all focus mode. Later on, you can change the focus point to the desired position.