Best smartphone cameras for under €500

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Beste smartphone camera's voor onder €500

Whether you are a professional vlogger or just enjoy photography, a good camera is a must. Not everyone has space or budget for an expensive photo camera. Fortunately, smartphone cameras are now very suitable for taking beautiful photos or videos. To help you get started and make a well-informed choice, we have put together the top 4 best smartphone cameras under €500.

In this blog we will compare the following 4 smartphones: Google Pixel 6A, OnePlus Nord 2T, Xiaomi 12 Lite and Samsung Galaxy A34. Each of these smartphones excels in certain areas. This means that one smartphone camera is not better than the other. This depends on what you want to use the smartphone for.

Best all-round smartphone camera: Google Pixel 6A - €350

Google smartphones are known for their good cameras. Of course, this does not only apply to their flagship models. An example of this is the Google Pixel 6A. The Google Pixel 6A is one of Google's cheaper models.

The Google Pixel 6A has an 8MP selfie camera and a 12.2MP rear camera. In addition, the Google Pixel 6A can film 4K at 60fps.

The photos you take with the Google Pixel 6A are very detailed thanks to the Sony IMX363 sensor. This allows you to take beautiful nature photos or selfies with this phone. The phone is 6.1 inches in size, which makes it easy to operate the phone and fits the phone still in your pocket, so you can take the most beautiful photos anywhere, anytime.

The biggest downside of the Google Pixel 6A is its mediocre battery life. If you plan on taking photos all day, don't forget to bring a power bank !

The photos have beautiful pronounced and natural colors. The camera quality of the high-end models is of course better, but for a phone in this price range, the Google Pixel 6A is one of the best options. The Google Pixel 6A is already available for € 350

Best phone camera in the dark: OnePlus Nord 2T - €300

Another budget phone with a very good camera is the OnePlus Nord 2T. The OnePlus Nord 2T has a 50MP main camera. This is the same camera as the OnePlus Nord 2, but the OnePlus Nord 2T camera has been slightly improved due to software adjustments that have been made.

The main camera of the OnePlus Nord 2T takes beautiful photos with a lot of detail. In addition, the photo app works very quickly, so you can also take good action photos. The camera can also take very good night photos, this is due to the night mode of OnePlus. This allows you to take beautiful photos or recordings during your evening walks.

Besides the 50MP main camera, the phone also has an 8MP wide-angle lens and a 2MP monochrome lens. Both of these are not very impressive. The wide-angle lens has a lot less detail and the monochrome lens is meant to take black and white photos and that can also be done with a simple filter.

The phone is slightly larger than the Google Pixel 6A, namely 6.43 inches. In addition, the OnePlus Nord 2T charges with 65 watts, which means the phone is charged in 27 minutes, so you can immediately continue taking beautiful photos. The OnePlus Nord 2T is already available for € 300.

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The best selfie camera: Xiaomi 12 Lite - €220

Within this price range, there is a clear winner in the field of selfie cameras and that is the Xiaomi 12 Lite. This phone is one of the few with a 32MP selfie camera. This allows you to take sharp and detailed selfies with this phone. In addition to the good selfie camera, the Xiaomi 12 Lite also has a main camera with 108MP.

This camera can take beautiful detailed photos. Even in low light, the camera can take excellent photos with good contrast. The Xiaomi 12 Lite does not have optical image stabilization, so it is very important to keep the phone still and stable.

If you have trouble with this, you can of course use accessories that keep the phone stable, such as a Gimbal .

The Xiaomi 12 Lite is on the large side, the phone has a 6.55 inch screen. The battery is relatively disappointing for the size of the phone, because it is only 4300 mAh. This will cause the phone to run out of power faster than the other phones on this list. The Xiaomi Lite 12 is available for € 220.

For long photo sessions: Samsung Galaxy A34 - €260

The Samsung Galaxy A34 is also a very good option if you are looking for a good smartphone camera. The Samsung Galaxy A34 has a total of 4 cameras. This allows you to take many different types of photos. The phone has a 48MP main camera, 8MP wide-angle lens and a 5MP macro camera.

With the main camera you can take excellent detailed photos. The photos have a nice contrast, however the camera captures the colors a bit saturated, which can cause the color variation in your photos to be less. This is not too bad with the main camera, but is noticeable with the wide-angle lens.

You can zoom up to 2x with high resolution. This allows you to take beautiful close-up photos without sacrificing the quality of your photos.

The A34's camera does struggle to capture enough light in the dark, though. If your goal is to take beautiful photos in the evening, you're better off choosing the OnePlus Nord 2T.

The Samsung Galaxy A34 is relatively large, which can make the phone difficult to operate if you have smaller hands. The Samsung Galaxy A34 does have a very large battery, which allows you to take photos for longer periods of time. The Samsung Galaxy A34 is available for €260.

Conclusion

All phones in this blog are ultimately suitable for taking good pictures. However, one smartphone camera excels in a different area than the other camera. This is why you need to have insight into what you want to use your smartphone camera for. We have summarized the advantages of the different smartphone cameras here once again:

The Google Pixel 6A performs best overall and is therefore best for all-round use.

The OnePlus Nord 2T takes the best photos in the dark, making it a good choice if you often take photos at night.

The Xioami 12 Lite has the best selfie camera
The Samsung A34 has the best battery and can therefore take photos for longer periods of time without running out of power

If you have any questions about smartphone photography after reading this article, please feel free to contact us !

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