TECNO Spark 5 Camera Review

The TECNO Spark 5 is a budget device whose recommended retail has been set at KES. 13,999. As a replacement for the TECNO Spark 4, it is normal to draw comparisons for the two devices.

We’d already established in the YouTube video that the Spark 5 features a lot of similarities to the Spark 4, and the Spark 3 Pro. They have the same processors, the same amount of RAM, and the same displays. What wasn’t mentioned was that the Spark 4, Spark 3 Pro, and the new Spark 5 all have a 13MP main camera. And as it appears to me, you will be getting the same camera performance. Which isn’t to say that you should expect bad photos, no.

If you’ve read the Spark 3 Pro review, you know how I praised that phone’s lens. The Spark 3 Pro took really good pics for its price point. The review is linked down below. The Spark 4 did quite well too, and the same applies here with the Spark 5 since they’re really the same thing. Having the same processor, and the same lens means you should expect the same quality of pictures. What seems to have changed is the processing. The Spark 5 is snappier, and though it blows out certain details in pictures, with patience, one can take pretty good photos.

Here’s the lens details for the Spark 5:

I’d really love if TECNO came out clear on what the extra lenses on their phones do. There’s no point of having them unspecified, and not recognised. Why would there be 4 lenses in total yet there’s no wide-angle mode? I’ll say this once again (I’ve said it in a couple of Transsion reviews) don’t go for these devices because of 4 cameras. Go for them because of the main camera that’s specified, and the other specs like the battery, RAM and processors. The extra lenses never seem to be doing much.

Here are photos taken using the Spark 5.

Close-ups:

Closeups are always good. However, one needs to be very steady because a slight shake will cause a blurry pic. Also, one needs lots of light for good detailed closeups.

Landscapes:

This is one’s tricky. If you can see, when you focus on certain subjects, the highlights are blown out. For example, you need to really focus on the clouds to see them. If you focus on something else, they become white without any details. Something else is that the processing tries to force the greens to be quite saturated than in real life.

Portraits

Using portrait mode leaves a pretty bad effect on the edges. However, just taking pics without portrait mode takes pretty nice pictures. Here are pictures without portrait mode, but of close subjects.

Selfies

Selfies are okay. There’s never much to say about selfies with phones because there’s never lots of detail lost, and people have preferences with beauty modes and the likes. Here though there’s a dedicated beauty mode, you will still find some smoothing happening even when using the default mode.

What are your thoughts on the pictures? You can compare the pictures above with the ones shared in the reviews of the Spark 3 Pro and the Spark 4, and tell me your thoughts down below. Do you think the lenses are the same? Which camera do you think is the better one at taking pictures?

Here’s the Spark 5 video review:

Spark 3 Pro:

Spark 4:

TECNO Spark 5 Specifications and Price: