I have been a Nothing Phone (2) user for about a year and a half and have witnessed its evolution in the photography department thanks to multiple updates that have improved color interpretation, processing speed, and low-light quality. Despite these advances, it is still not a photography benchmark, but it performs solidly in most situations.

In this review, we’ll look at how the Nothing Phone (2)'s camera has improved, what aspects are still its weak points, and whether it’s worth it for those looking for a good photography experience.

📷 Camera Evolution: Improvements and Changes

Since its launch, Nothing has worked on optimizing the Phone (2)'s camera with various software updates. Among the most important improvements is the arrival of Nothing OS 2.0, which optimized performance in low-light scenarios, improved contrast management in portrait mode, and increased facial sharpness.

The Nothing Phone (2)'s camera system consists of a 50 MP Sony IMX890 main sensor and a 50 MP Samsung JN1 ultra-wide sensor. These sensors have received software improvements, such as the implementation of True Lens, which allows capturing images with more detail and better balance. Additionally, processing time has been reduced, which was notably slow in previous versions. Now, photos save about three times faster than at launch, offering a smoother experience.

The 50 MP ultra-wide sensor provides very decent quality, surpassing many competitors who opt for lower resolution or quality sensors. Chromatic aberration is minimal, and colors are represented quite faithfully without generating exaggerated purple edges in high-contrast areas. Overall, the results with this sensor are good, although there is still a noticeable loss of detail at the edges of the image, which is common with this type of lens.

🎨 Color, Portrait Mode, and HDR

One of the most obvious changes has been the improvement in color interpretation. Initially, the Phone (2) offered overly saturated images, giving them an unnatural look. Now, the calibration is more precise, though some red tones still get overly dark, and HDR doesn’t always balance the bright lights well, causing overexposure in certain areas.

Portrait mode is one of the better-executed aspects. Subject cropping is precise, with no major errors, and the bokeh effect looks quite natural. In some cases, the blur may be a bit excessive, but overall, the result is realistic and competent.

Regarding HDR, its implementation has improved, but in some scenes, it may exaggerate the effect. That’s why I recommend taking the same photo with HDR on and off to compare which style you prefer, as in some cases, the non-HDR version may look more natural. If, after taking the photo, you notice that the colors are not entirely accurate or the image has too much contrast, you can make small adjustments with an editing app like Snapseed, which allows you to quickly correct lighting and color details.

🤳 Front Camera: Solid Performance with Room for Improvement

The Nothing Phone (2) has a 32 MP front camera, offering solid performance, especially with good lighting. The level of detail is notable, and dynamic range and colors are represented fairly accurately. In some situations, the tones may be slightly saturated, but overall, the balance is correct.

HDR in selfies does its job, but in backlighting, it can overly process the image, resulting in an exaggeratedly blue sky and overexposing faces and bodies, which can make the photo seem unrealistic or even like a fake. Still, in optimal conditions, the results are good and offer more than enough quality. In the following images, I show you a couple of unedited selfies. The first one is in a well-lit environment, and the second one is in the worst possible conditions, against the light.

🔍 Macro Mode: Is It Worth Using?

The Nothing Phone (2) features a macro mode that lets you capture images from a distance of 4 to 5 cm from the object. It works well in terms of detail but has the problem that, being so close, the perspective distorts: the front of the object appears exaggeratedly large, while the background becomes too small.

To avoid this effect, it’s better to use the main sensor with a 2x zoom, which allows you to back up a little more and get an image with a more realistic proportion. This way, you achieve better image balance without the distortion caused by the macro mode.

📷 Advanced Photography: RAW Mode and Pro Mode

The Nothing Phone (2) includes a RAW mode, ideal for those who want to edit their photos without losing quality. It also has a Pro mode that allows you to manually adjust settings such as ISO, shutter speed, exposure, and white balance, giving more control to advanced users.

📌 Do I Recommend the Nothing Phone (2) Camera Now?

The Nothing Phone (2) is not a phone for those looking for the best camera on the market, but it offers solid performance in most situations.

Its camera is versatile, functional, and can adapt well to different scenarios, especially with good lighting, where it can deliver remarkable and well-balanced results. Plus, it has improved over time, both in image processing and color interpretation.

If you need an all-around camera that works well in general and comes with software that continues to evolve, the Nothing Phone (2) is still a very valid option today.

Note: All the photos attached in this article were taken in auto shooting mode with the Nothing Phone (2) and were later retouched using the Snapseed app in a few seconds.

Source: Nothingtec (That’s me 😛) @ruudhesp

    Related discussions

    Thanks for reading me. I’ve updated with a few more photos.
    What do you think? Do you see any improvement in performance since you got the NP2? I’d like to hear your thoughts.

    I have been having overexposed photos still. A little bit of low light, and it falls apart, specially with humans in the mix. It is extremely bad at skin tones in low light/less light.

    RuudHesp

    I also feel the camera has improved over time . But what do you personally think about the video camera ?Has it really improved over time. Is it only me who think it didn’t make much of an improvement. I feel the video camera was just good and no much improvements where done .Also Nothing Phone 2 can support cinematic mode . But there is no cinematic mode for this phone a phone with 50 MP camera with ois and eis, the already used ai hdr enhancement features can be taken in advantage for enhancements of videos.And last but not the least it has a powerful chipset Snapdragon 8 plus gen 1. Please reply on what you think.

      The phone 2 struggle in night time i.e in low light and processing algorithms is not accurate, some times it takes photo excellant and some time the photo of same object get weird , the problem in low light can’t be solved because it’s sensor limitations but accuracy in photos to the natural or social media ready should be improved

        RuudHesp i am getting over exposed wrong colour toned images…. How did you capture these kind of awesome pictures?

            Aswath_Reacher How long have you been a Phone (2) user? Also “over the years”? This phone isn’t even two years old.

            I am actually glad the OP brought this topic up as some people keep complaining Nothing has done nothing to improve the camera, which is just plain wrong. There have been a number of improvements within the first few months after the phone has been released. Stacked image processing (like HDR and night mode) got better, the phone became less prone to movement and thus reduced the amount of blurry shots, HDR in general improved quite a lot, I’ve found it fairly lackluster right out of the box.

            To give a bit of background, I pre-ordered my first NP2 right away when pre-orders went live and received it in late July of 2023, it became my primary phone until January 2024, when I sold it. I purchased another NP2 in June 2024. Especially inbetween July 2023 and November 2023 there were numerous smaller updates which improved the camera.

            Of course there is still room for improvements, in my opinion Nothing’s image processing is sometimes too much and artifacts are visible in details of each image, they look unnaturally oversharpened and soft at the same time. Even with Nothing’s greatly announced Ultra XDR mode, I feel it still lags behind Samsung in terms of HDR performance. Sometimes it also has issues with color saturation, green in particular and it still rather tends to underexpose, which is something I don’t mind, as I prefer this to overexposure.

            In my opinion the camera, compared to right after unboxing the phone back in July 2023, has improved in key areas and it is a solid performer. However for people who really need the best possible camera quality, there are much better options for sure.

              VishwanathS_ghante I agree the night site has some issues in lx and 2x zooms but try the night sight in 0.6x it is soo good.

              Someone please comment on what do you think on the video camera of the Nothing has it improved over time.

                SreeRudranK_S

                I don’t do anything special, I just look for the right spot and try lowering the exposure or turning HDR on and off. The camera is unstable at times, but with a bit of “care,” I think the results are good. Then, for the best photos, I spend a few seconds with the Snapseed app and they turn out like this 🙂 I’m glad you like the photos I posted.

                Aswath_Reacher

                I didn’t have the NP2 phone in its first few months, I don’t doubt that. I think they’re gradually improving the camera, although it’s true that it’s at a slower pace than I would like.

                    RuudHesp It’s more like a luck to capture a decent photo with a nothing phone. Sometimes we get pretty good and sometimes it’s one of the worst to look upto. I guess the team have still not resolved the stable capabilities of the camera to capture a good photo. Even with many updates asked from the user, still it lacks a way bigger for nothing phones in terms of camera. And ofc about night photography, it’s better to not talk on it, i depends on enhancing apps and filtering app to make it look atleast better, the night photography is way terrible especially in NP2. It’s just a personal opinion 😃

                        CYPHER_LYNX camera is still lacking the optimisation it needs. Especially for phone 2. The camera is so so inconsistent 🤷

                          Of course camera is not the best in phone (2), but it also doesn’t mean it’s worse. I have been using it from the day it got launched. I feel the performance of camera is not uniform throughout. Sometimes it’s better, and sometimes it’s not.

                          9 days later

                          Hello again! 🙂

                          I’ve been taking photos with the stock camera of the Nothing Phone (2) for a while now, also using the GCam LMC8.4.

                          Honestly, the stock camera is getting better at interpreting colors and even recovering more information in brightly lit areas 📷

                          STOCK:

                          GCAM:

                          The problem Nothing needs to fix is the detail—there’s a horrible washed-out effect that destroys textures when you zoom in on any part of the photo. Just look at how it ruins the detail in the branches 🌳