Samsung Galaxy S5 Active review: Ready for battle
16MP camera
The Samsung Galaxy S5 Active has a 16 megapixel camera, Samsung doesn't know the exact specs, but judging from the photos produced, we'd say it's the same large ISOCELL sensor found in the Galaxy S5.
It's a 16:9 sensor, so widescreen shots use the full sensor. Again, we're assuming there's a phase-detection autofocus sensor inside the Galaxy S5 Active.
The interface is the same as in the S5. There is a column of shortcuts on the left, of which the middle two are customizable. All settings are collected in a shortcut grid so you can access everything more easily.
The new camera interface • all settings
The Mode button has also been simplified, now it's just a drop-down box at the bottom. Several options have been combined in Shot & more - Best Shot, Best Face, Dramatic Shot, Eraser and Panoramic Shot .
Mode selection • color effects
The Walkthrough shooting mode is similar to panoramas, except you can move forward, turn left or right, move around a bit more. The result is an animation of your camera movement, the phone will even draw a map with your way. Other modes can also be downloaded.
Selective focus is another cool mode. It takes two photos and processes them so you can shoot a close-up subject and blur the background or blur the object and keep the background in focus.
A quick note on the walkthrough and selective focus shots - they produce a single, easy-to-share JPG file. When viewed, it appears as a single photo, but you will need a compatible Galaxy device to display additional functions (refocus or playback of the virtual tour). As a result, the file sizes are also quite large.
We wish Samsung had enabled an option to export walkthroughs to videos so they're much easier to share.
Image quality
The Samsung Galaxy S5 Active camera is an excellent all-rounder. Photos taken in daylight have a commendable level of detail, and while the processing is a bit harsh, it shouldn't be noticeable unless you're looking. 100% pictures.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Active 16MP Camera Samples
Samsung Galaxy S5 Active low light example: Flash off • Flash on
Samsung Galaxy S5 Active HDR Mode: Off • On •
Photo quality comparison
The Samsung Galaxy S5 Active camera produces great shots for the 16MP league - follow the links to our tool to compare the device to other smartphones we've tested.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Active on our photo comparison tool
The video quality is amazing
The Samsung Galaxy S5 Active can record 2160p video at 30fps (in this mode some features are disabled), 1080p at 30fps and 60fps. There is also a slow motion mode at 120fps at 720p.
Videos are stored in MP4 files with bitrate varying by mode. 1080p@30fps videos are always captured at 17Mpbs, 60fps mode goes up to 28Mbps, while 2160p videos are at a whopping 48Mbps. a short 30 second video is 180MB - keep this in mind if you're recording a video you want to share later.
In all cases, the sound is recorded in stereo at a bit rate of 128 Kbps and a sampling rate of 48 kHz.
The video camera doesn't have as many fancy shooting modes as the still camera, but dual shot is available and you can take time-lapse videos.Time-lapse videos can speed things up to 8x , with resolution and frame rate remaining at 1080p@30fps.
Touch focus is available before and during video recording and you can switch back to continuous autofocus if you prefer. There is also digital zoom available up to 4x and the quality is pretty good even at most high level.
Videos shot with the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active offer stunning detail, especially if you shoot them at 2160p. Noise levels are low, color accuracy is good, and there are few traces of aggressive post-processing (unlike the camera).
Same goes for 1080p video mode - you obviously don't get as much detail, but the much smaller file size and better compatibility (many computers can't play 2160p properly, especially when it's in a Flash container) make us think what mode will be used the most.
Here is also an intact
Video 2160p@30fps
To download.
Video quality comparison
The Samsung Galaxy S5 Active is a 2160p capable camera. The resolution chart (third) shows image quality that will give 8MP cameras good value for money. Image quality in good light is excellent, although some compression artifacts are starting to creep into the shadows. In low light most of the fine detail is gone, we'd go with 1080p in the dark.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Active 2160p in our video comparison tool
Samsung Galaxy S5 Active 1080p in our video comparison tool