There’s a clear winner in our Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs. Z Flip 5 camera shootout

If you’ve been looking at the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 and have the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in your pocket, you may be wondering if it’s worth upgrading due to the camera on the new model.

There are some meaningful hardware changes between them, so I found out if they make a considerable difference by taking more than 100 photos with both over the course of a few days.

The results are very interesting, and I’ll come to a firm conclusion at the end, but take a look at the images and judge for yourself in the meantime.

Camera spec differences

Samsung has made an upgrade tempting

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 has a 50-megapixel main camera with an f/1.8 aperture, a 12MP wide-angle camera with an f/2.2 aperture, and the ability to shoot “optical quality” zoom photos at 2x.

This is the same specification as the Galaxy Z Flip 6, but the processor inside is different, with the Z Flip 7 using Samsung’s own Exynos 2500 compared to the Z Flip 6’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

It’s an upgrade, hardware-wise, from the Galaxy Z Flip 5. The older phone has a pair of 12MP cameras for the main and wide-angle, and no optical quality mode for zoom shots either.

Main camera

The Z Flip 5 is off to a bad start

There are considerable differences between the two main cameras.

The Z Flip 5 is a great example of Samsung’s past obsession with oversaturated colors and high contrast levels in its cameras.

The Z Flip 7 tones this down, which usually results in a more natural image representative of the actual conditions.

The photo of the orange Porsche Boxster Spyder shows this off well, from the color of the cars to the treatment of the trees and the sky.

Arguably, the Z Flip 5’s photo is more instantly suitable for social media, but zoom in, and the Z Flip 7’s photo is sharper and contains more detail.

You can see more of the high-contrast look in the second photo, which I rather like, and it makes the Z Flip 7’s photo look almost washed out in comparison.

While there are times I don’t hate the Z Flip 5’s unique look, the photo of the lake shows just how superior the Z Flip 7’s camera is.

There’s less noise in the sky, more detail in the background, more natural colors, and more accurate exposure.

I like how the Z Flip 5’s treatment makes the water look, but the rest falls way behind the Z Flip 7’s photo. I felt this way about the majority of the main camera photos I took with the two phones, meaning the Z Flip 7 is the winner here.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7

Wide-angle camera

The upgrades continue to show

Many of the positive changes in the main camera have carried over to the wide-angle camera, and the photo of the lake shows almost all of them.

The rocks in the foreground look natural, and the improved exposure brings out far more detail, plus there’s less noise in the clouds, and far more accurate colors, too.

The Z Flip 7’s wide-angle camera isn’t perfect, though. In the photo of the cars, you can see a lot of smoothing, considerable “barrel distortion” at the far edges, and a lack of visual punch.

The Z Flip 5’s photo has some of that missing punch, and the additional brightness makes the image more fun.

The Z Flip 7’s wide-angle camera can take better photos than the Z Flip 5, but not always.

Winner: Draw

2x zoom

Samsung’s optical quality upgrade is worth it

Samsung worked hard to improve the Galaxy Z Flip 7’s 2x zoom mode, which is activated by a shortcut in the camera app, prompting people to use it.

Colors are strong, but not quite as saturated as the Z Flip 5’s image, but there are genuine changes in detail, sharpness, and less evidence of digital enhancement.

In the photo of the flower, edge enhancement is immediately obvious in the Z Flip 5’s photo, but less so in the Z Flip 7’s photo.

In the photo of the cars, the detail is far sharper, and you can see it on the license plates and in the crowd in the background. The Z Flip 7 also adds a more pleasing depth of field to the photo.

Having confidence in the 2x mode makes the Z Flip 7’s camera more versatile, especially in environments like a car meet, where there are more opportunities to use a telephoto. The Z Flip 7 easily wins here.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7

Night mode

The processor change comes into play

Night mode is interesting. There are definite improvements in the Galaxy Z Flip 7, but they don’t always show through.

In the photo of the cat the Z Flip 7 shows more definition in the fur, sharper detail in the wood of the table, and less obvious smoothing.

The photo was taken in moderate-low-light conditions, and required a two-second exposure.

The second photo required a four-second exposure, and it was taken in almost darkness. The Z Flip 7’s photo is well stabilized, has surprisingly accurate colors, and less noise.

With just these two photos, it would seem the Z Flip 7’s low-light ability is far greater than the Z Flip 5’s, but it wasn’t always the case.

In the final photo, the Z Flip 7 introduces quite a lot of noise and, while the lower brightness is arguably more representative of the conditions, the Z Flip 5 doesn’t overly brighten the scene, and avoids too much digital enhancement.

For the most part, the Z Flip 7 takes better low-light images, and the difference in processor may be the cause of its inconsistency.

Winner: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7

Is it worth upgrading from the Z Flip 5?

Based on this test, the Galaxy Z Flip 7’s camera is a decent upgrade over the Galaxy Z Flip 5’s, with both the main and the wide-angle cameras producing more natural-looking, more detailed, and better balanced photos.

If you decide to consider an upgrade, you’ll also get a larger cover screen and a new processor. However, I still consider the Galaxy Z Flip 5 more comfortable to hold than the Z Flip 6 and the Z Flip 7.

The other thing to remember is that the overall experience of owning a compact folding phone hasn’t really changed either, so your Z Flip 5 will feel equally cool and modern as the Z Flip 7.

If you’ve been frustrated by the Z Flip 5’s camera and would like to experiment more with a simple telephoto, you’ll probably really enjoy the Galaxy Z Flip 7.