Best Camera Smartphones in Nepal [Updated]

Photos are a huge part of our life these days. Everything we do, we don’t forget to take a snap of it. A single click lets you capture the moment for a lifetime. Just by turning a photo album, you can relive a moment that puts a smile on your face and in some cases, tears. However, with the advancement of time, you don’t have to waste a day roaming in search of a reel for your camera. You can simply take a snap through your smartphone and see the photos whenever convenient. Also, while traveling and trekking, carrying a separate camera add a burden to your luggage. Therefore, carrying a smartphone could possibly be the best alternative. Here, we’re discussing the best camera smartphones currently available in Nepal.

Nowadays, every smartphone is equipped with a decent camera. With the popularity of social networks, people are eager to share their lifestyles through visual means. As the craze for photos is peaking, manufacturers are obliged to include better cameras (both primary and secondary) to prevent themselves from the downfall in the race of being the best in the multitude of smartphones.

With the myriad of phones in the market with lots of flagship kinds, camera/photography comparison is far from easy. And in photography, a megapixel is just a number. It does not give complete information about the photos it will capture. So after the tough job of comparison, we came through a list of best camera smartphones, which will let you capture a moment and relive it whenever it is fading from your mind palace.

• To know about the camera terms click here. 

Best Camera Smartphones in Nepal 2020 – Summary

1. Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

The Galaxy S20 Ultra is Samsung’s most ambitious phone to date. While it has a slew of “new” features to get excited about, the predominant of the bunch is definitely its cameras. Here, the big 1/1.33″ 108MP Samsung ISOCELL HM1 sensor uses new “Nona Binning” technology which effectively takes 12MP images using 3×3 pixel-binning, for a better “per-pixel-detail”. What this means is that you’ll get excellent low-light photos with the S20 Ultra.

Even better, the phone can dynamically swing around the ultra-high resolution 108MP and pixel-binned 12MP mode depending upon the environment. You’ll get high-detail images under the standard 108MP mode, with plenty to spare even after cropping them.

Besides the 108MP lens, S20 Ultra’s 48MP 1/2.0″ periscope lens is another thing to get excited about. Grabbing the title for “the world’s first phone with 100x zoom” feature, this phone is capable of 10x hybrid zoom, and the aforementioned 100x “Space Zoom”. Though the 100x zoomed images aren’t all that useful, the S20 Ultra is an ideal middle ground for 30x or 50x zoomed images.

Moving on, it has a 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle lens which gives off accurate shots with good exposure and color reproduction in almost all lighting conditions. Similarly, the 0.3MP 3D DepthVision camera also yields good depth effects in the subject and a strong blur effect. Finally, S20 Ultra’s 40MP front camera captures great selfies with an accurate color tone too.

In terms of videos, the phone is capable of recording at 8K/24fps or take a 33MP still image during the shoot itself. However, for reasons like no stabilization, losing subject in the frame, and a big storage hog, we suggest this “radical” feature be left out for the standard 4K/60fps videos instead; which is adequately enough for most purposes.

S20 Ultra Camera Features

2. iPhone 11 series

Can there really be a list of best camera smartphones without the mention of an iPhone or iPhones in this case? It has a powerful processor, improved battery life, and many other notable improvements over its past iterations. The iPhone 11 series includes three phones namely – iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Quickly going through the details, iPhone 11 has a dual-camera setup whereas both 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max include a triple camera setup on the back.

The camera setup includes a 12MP wide-angle lens with f/1.8 aperture with OIS and True Tone flash. It is capable of recording 4K videos at 60fps and slo-mo of 1080p at 240fps. The other lens is a 12MP 120-degree ultra-wide lens with f/2.4 aperture. It has features such as 2x optical zoom out and digital zoom up to 5x.

iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max have the same two lenses along with an added 12MP telephoto lens of f/2.0 aperture. It is capable of 2x optical zoom in and digital zoom of up to 10x.

There are indeed a couple of reasons why the iPhone 11 series has one of the best cameras on a smartphone. Firstly, the added telephoto and wide-angle lenses in the case of 11 Pro and 11 Max or just a wide-angle in the regular iPhone 11 are capable of adjusting and capturing what your frames miss out.

Then there’s the Deep Fusion for optimized texture and details in your photos. Moreover, the night mode on them is amazing. Furthermore, the 12MP lens with f/2.2 aperture on the front is also great for taking selfies. One has the option to take wider selfies for group shots. Because of all these excellent camera capabilities, the iPhone 11 series are one of the best camera smartphones in Nepal.

iPhone 11 series Camera Features

3. Samsung Galaxy S20/S20+

Next on the list are the other two members of the Galaxy S20 series – the standard S20, and the S20+. Here, both phones have the same camera setup, except for an additional 0.3MP ToF 3D DepthVision sensor on the bigger S20+. Other lenses include a 12MP primary wide-angle lens, a 12MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, and a 64MP telephoto lens.

In terms of regular images, these phones deliver the classic Samsung photography – pleasingly oversaturated. The images also have great exposure and dynamic range, like the S20 Ultra. Despite not having the 108MP sensor like S20 Ultra, the smaller 12MP primary lens is still capable of delivering excellent images. And the updates have consistently improved their performance too. Its autofocus is pretty fast and has great low-light photography as well.

Similarly, the 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens is incredible too, with great sharpness and detail. And while the S20 Ultra boasted a whopping 100x Space Zoom, S20/S20+ max out at 3x hybrid optical zoom and up to 30x space zoom with their 64MP telephoto lens.

And in an optimal lighting condition, 30x images are somewhat useable and “alright”. Yet, that’s not always the case and we found 5x or 10x zooms to be quite impressive. Also, the zoom caps out at 10x when you’re shooting under night mode.

Galaxy S20+ also features a 3D ToF DepthVision sensor which gives off good subject focus and a pleasing background blur. However, the standard S20 uses software for generating a bokeh effect.

Upfront, you get a 10MP selfie camera on both phones and the resulting images are slightly smoothened, though still pleasing to look at. It can shoot up to 8K videos at 24fps but that’s not quite useable, so we suggest you stick with the standard 4K/60fps instead.

Samsung Galaxy S20+ Camera Features

4. Samsung Galaxy Note 10+

Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ falls just a few steps short of the iPhone 11 series in the race for best camera smartphones. Its rear cam setup consists of a 12MP primary lens a 12 MP telephoto lens, a 16MP ultra-wide lens, and a ToF Depth Vision sensor.

The DxOMark camera rating of the Note 10+’s camera is 117 and it gets 126 points in its photo score. One can buy Note 10+ in either an LTE version or a 5G version. But don’t worry, camera performances on both of them are equally good. However, you will find a few differences here and there in the photos from the devices.

One does not have to worry about the lighting conditions while taking photographs from this device due to its consistency. Furthermore, it provides dynamic range and excellent colors in almost all instances.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ is capable of taking great portraits with the perfect blur effects. Moreover, its wide-angle camera is considered to be best out there in terms of taking outdoor shots. Overall, it’s the cameras are truly some of the best in the market, and it comes second only because you know, an iPhone is an iPhone!

Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ Camera Features

5. Huawei P30 Pro

Huawei has its issue with Google and thus is well and truly preparing for a Google-less era. However, keeping all the issues aside, Huawei has done a brilliant job in terms of providing a beast in terms of camera performance with the P30 Pro.

Huawei P30 Pro has a quad-camera setup on the back. The primary lens a 40 MP Super Spectrum lens. It is further complemented by a 20MP ultra-wide lens, an 8MP Periscope Telephoto lens, and lastly a 3D ToF sensor. As for the front camera, it has a 32 MP selfie shooter.

One of the main reasons why the camera on the P30 Pro is great is since the main lens has an RYYB filter. As a result, it can gather ample light resulting in great low-light images. You get sharp pictures with enough details in them. And obviously, there’s the AI optimization in photos.

Another “big gun”, in its arsenal is the Periscope lens. It can offer a 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom, and up to 50x digital zoom. It has OIS and therefore you get stable images. The ultra-wide lens is also quite decent and it comes with a super macro mode too.

The front camera also does justice to the device. When we tested the camera, it gave images with a cooler tone and the images had sufficient details in them. Moreover, portrait selfies are great too.

Huawei P30 Pro Camera Features

6. Xiaomi Mi 10

After having practically conquered the budget and mid-range smartphone market, Xiaomi Nepal has now launched the flagship Mi 10. And in doing so, this smartphone managed to dish-in a couple of majorly important Nepal-first titles. Mi 10 is Nepal’s first phone with Snapdragon 865, 5G capability, and more importantly a 108MP camera sensor. On top of this, it suffices its quad-camera setup with a 13MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 2MP macro, and a 2MP depth sensor.

Here, the 108MP camera is the Samsung ISOCELL Bright HMX sensor which is the same one you find in the Mi Note 10. Though the sensor is a variation of the one found in Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra, it comes with the standard quad pixel-binning instead of nona-binning.

Yet, the 25MP pixel-binned images are excellent (yes, 25MP and not 27MP as the math would dictate). The color reproduction is great, and so is the dynamic range, sharpness, and exposure. However, you’ll get even better details on images when shooting in the native 108MP mode.

The 13MP ultra-wide lens, on the other hand, is a little disappointing. It misses out on any sort of autofocus. However, you can most definitely get good-enough images in a well-lit environment – though they come off a little soft. Disappointingly, Mi 10’s camera setup is just not as diverse as we’d have liked as Xiaomi has skipped a telephoto lens here. Rather, it’s opted for depth and macro sensors instead.

However, they’re quite nice compared to the ones found in cheaper budget and mid-range phones that add these sensors just for that “quad-camera” title. In terms of selfies, you get a 20MP front-facing camera which is the same found in the fancier Mi 10 Pro. Getting to the videos, the Mi 10 is capable of recording 8K videos at 30fps! Yes, that’s marginally better than the ultra-expensive S20 Ultra.

Xiaomi Mi 10 Camera Features

7. Samsung Galaxy S10+

This is the second entry from a Samsung device in this list, more to come? Well, read on to find out. Anyway, the Samsung Galaxy S10+ takes the fourth spot according to us. The camera specs include a 12MP primary lens with OIS, a 12MP telephoto lens that offers 2x optical zoom and a 16MP ultra-wide lens. And up front, it has a dual-camera setup with 10MP and an 8MP lens.

The device falls behind Huawei’s P30 Pro primarily because it lacks the camera hardware innovation that Huawei possesses. However, it does get all the basics right. It can capture excellent images and the Auto mode on this one is near perfect.

One of the strongest features of the S10+ is that it does a very good job in terms of implementing HDR. It boosts the color vibrancy of the captured images and also does a great job of retaining shadow details. And the best thing is that despite AI optimization, your photos will still look natural.

Samsung Galaxy S10+ Camera Features

8. Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite

Yup, back to back spots for Samsung devices. And the last one I swear!

The camera specs on Galaxy Note 10 lite somewhat match Note 10+’s but not exactly. On the backside, there’s a triple camera array. It is composed of a 12MP primary lens, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a 12MP telephoto lens. Both the primary lens as well as the telephoto lens receive the gyro-EIS feature. Furthermore, the telephoto lens is capable of 2x zoom too.

This setup of the triple camera allows you to capture some great photos. Your images won’t get overexposed and it takes decent enough pictures in low light conditions too. And that is despite not having a dedicated night mode in it.

Moreover, the 32MP selfie shooter upfront does a great job of producing detailed images. However, be wary of the fact that the images can seem a bit patchy once you zoom in. Other than that the setup is quite great.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite Camera Features

9. OnePlus 7T

The second last spot in our ranking for the best camera smartphone goes to the OnePlus 7T. The camera setup in this one includes a 48MP Sony IMX586 primary lens. Other sensors in the triple camera setup are a 16MP ultra-wide lens and a 12MP telephoto lens. Two of its lenses are similar to that of the OnePlus 7 Pro, though the telephoto lens is a bit different in this one.

Daylight images shot with its camera are really great. They can capture almost all the dynamic range and has a good color reproduction too. The details in the images are great too. However, the closer inspection might leave you a bit unimpressed. Still, it’s great than most out there.

The telephoto lens also produces great images. In fact, photos taken from it are comparable with that taken from the 48MP primary lens. Another impressive thing about its camera setup is that it has a dedicated night mode. Its nightscape feature allows you to capture good low-light images. You’ll find that the exposer is good in the photos and it has a great dynamic range too.

Now about the front camera. The selfie shooter in the OnePlus 7T is a 16MP Sony IMX471 sensor. It is the same as that of the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro. The front camera does a great job in preserving the details and the skin tones look accurate too.

Oneplus 7T Camera Features

10. Samsung Galaxy A71

Next on the list, we have Samsung’s latest upper mid-range smartphone, the Galaxy A71. Though it is one of the least powerful devices in this list in terms of performance, the Samsung Galaxy A71 has an impressive quad-cameras. It includes a 64MP primary sensor, a 12MP super wide-angle lens, a 5MP macro lens, and a 5MP depth sensor.

Here, the 64MP Samsung ISOCELL Bright GW1 sensor produces great results though they’re definitely not comparable to the more expensive phones on this list. You get good enough details, dynamic range, contrast, and colors. Though it sounds underwhelming, the images from the primary camera are adequately pleasing to look at. It also uses quad pixel-binning to give out great-detail 16MP shots.

Moving on, the 12MP ultra-wide-angle images are quite nice as well. Just like the primary sensor, the photos from this sensor have good detail, sharpness, colors, and dynamic range – especially when turning on the Auto HDR option. Similarly, the 5MP depth and macro sensors are okay as well.

The macro camera is a little disappointing and feels gimmicky as the images are quite blurry even when getting the distant right which is about 5cm. Getting to the front camera, the A71 has a 32MP selfie shooter which is quite good too, just like the primary lens.

In terms of videos, the Samsung Galaxy A71 is capable of shooting 4K videos at 30fps without any stabilization. Thus, stable videos can only be recorded under lower resolutions. The phone has gyro-EIS which results in admirably stable 1080p videos. Moreover, you can also shoot 960fps slow-mo videos.

Samsung Galaxy A71 Camera Features

Special Mention: Huawei Mate 30 Pro

Last but not the least, I’d like to include the Huawei Mate 30 Pro as a special mention in this list. The main reason for its exclusion from our main list is that it does not have Google Mobile Services (GMS), therefore invalidating itself as a recommendable phone despite the top-notch hardware. However, take that fact aside for a while, the Mate 30 Pro is a terrific camera smartphone.

On the backside, it has a quad-camera setup. It includes a 40MP RYYB Cine Camera primary lens, a similar 40MP ultra-wide lens, an 8MP RGB telephoto camera, and a 3D ToF sensor. Upfront it has a 32MP selfie shooter with 3D depth sensing. DxOMark ratings reveal that it has a photo score of 132. Moreover, its overall score of 121 actually beats the like of Samsung Galaxy Note 10+. Lack of GMS really messed it up for the Mate 30 Pro.

Images captured from the Mate 30 Pro are well espoused even in low-light conditions. You get a more saturated color and the white balance is great too. In terms of low-light images too, this device comes out as one of the best out there. If you are only concerned about taking good photos and don’t care about the lack of GMS, then Mate 30 Pro is certainly a good option.

Huawei Mate 30 Pro Camera Features