Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G camera review: The mid-range camera phone you’ve been waiting for

Realme is having a busy year. Earlier this year, the company launched the Realme GT series smartphones, which includes the Realme GT 6T and the Realme GT 6 in India. And now, the company is gearing to launch another flagship smartphone series, that is, the Realme 13 Pro series in India on July 30. This upcoming series includes two smartphones – vanilla Realme 13 Pro 5G and the more premium Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G. Ahead of the official launch, we took the Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G, which the company says features ‘Ultra Clear Camera with AI’, out for a spin to test out its camera capabilities. Here are our observations. Also Read: Realme GT 8 And GT 8 Pro To Launch On October 21 With Ricoh-Tuned Cameras: Expected Price, Specs

But before we get into the details, let’s take a quick look at its detailed camera specifications: Also Read: iQOO Neo 11 Display Details Revealed, May Launch Alongside iQOO 15 On October 20

Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G camera specifications

Rear camera Also Read: Realme GT 8 Pro India Launch Timeline Leaked: May Arrive Next Month With Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

– 50MP primary lens with Sony Lytia 701 sensor with OIS support

– 50MP periscope lens with Sony Lytia 600 sensor with OIS support

– 8MP ultra-wide angle lens with 112-degree viewing angle

Front camera

– 32MP lens with Sony sensor

Video

– 4K video recording at 30fps

– 1080p video recording at 60fps

– 1080p video recording at 120fps

– 720p video recording at 240fps (slow motion)

AI features

– HyperImage+ AI photography architecture

– AI features includes

AI Ultra Clarity, AI Smart Removal, AI Group Photo enhance, AI Audio Zoom

Image: Shweta Ganjoo/Techlusive

Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G camera design

The Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G features a luxury watch-like camera module at the back. It has a circular camera module that sits on top of a glass back in the mi]ddle. The Monet Gold colour variant of the phone has a golden coloured camera module that features 436 metal lines for a more premium look. While the circular camera module is quite large in size, it blends well with the overall design of the phone. The effect is that the phone looks classic and more premium.

On the front, the Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G has a single lens for clicking selfies. This front-facing camera setup is integrated nicely in the display giving a more premium finish.

Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G camera performance

Now let’s talk in length about the Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G’s camera performance:

Daylight camera performance

— The Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G performs exceptionally well in the daylight conditions. It does a good job at capturing colours in outdoor lighting conditions when there is ample light. What I like about this phone is that it does not artificially enhance or brighten the colours, which leaves you with a more natural looking image. It also offers a wide dynamic range, which means that the camera sensors are able to adequately differentiate between the lightest and darkest spots in an image. 

This image from the sea-side of a city in Thailand is an ideal example to understand this. The phone highlights the light-green patches in the mountains well. The other image with the golf course near the sea is another example to understand this.

– The phone also does a good job at capturing details and the shadows. The fence in the bustling street in Bangkok is a good example to understand this and so are the power lines. The images captured by the phone are clear enough for you to read the details on the rear number plate on the car even from afar.

– Coming to the front-facing camera, the Realme 13 Pro Plus does a decent job at capturing the details and isolating the subject from the background. It was quick to capture my transitioning grey hair. That said, I do believe there is ample scope to improve the clarity, especially when it comes to capturing facial features. Also, it tends to explicitly darken the face even when the light is adequate, which is counterintuitive to what selfie-lovers like.

Evening light camera performance

– The Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G does a good job in capturing colours and preserving details in the evening lighting conditions. The image below is a good example of how the phone captures the shadows and how it manages to distinguish between various patches of clouds. Take a look:

Low-light camera performance

– The Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G aces low-light photography as well. It captures Insta-worthy images when the subject is well lit even in low-light conditions. What this means is that it maintains clarity and colour when the subject is well lit. The image of the flowerpot captured by the phone is a good way to explain this. You can distinguish between various strands of the plant. You can also easily distinguish between the fibre strands or the strokes in the wall-hangings in the image next to it.

– Another thing that I like about the phone is that it also does a decent job at capturing colours and shadows even in low-light conditions. However, that’s not the case with the night sky, not always at least. The phone has its hits and misses when it comes to capturing the sky. 

Video performance

– The Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G offers a decent video performance, if not an exceptional one. While the videos captured on the phone are quite stable, thanks to the OIS feature, it misses the mark when it comes to clarity. The phone tends to darken the skin tone when the lens is completely zoomed out while shooting in the indoor lighting conditions. It maintains details and clarity during these conditions. As you zoom in, the colour improves but the clarity takes a hit.

AI features  

The Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G offers a bunch of AI features, which includes AI Group Photo Enhance, AI Smart Removal and AI Ultra Clarity. These features can be accessed from Realme’s Photos app. Here’s how well they perform:

— AI Group Photo Enhance feature: You don’t need to explicitly use this feature. As you capture a group photo with three or more faces, Realme’s AI algorithms automatically enhance the clarity of the subjects’ faces.

— AI Smart Removal: This feature can be used in two ways — using a Smart Lasso tool and using Paint Over tool. The Smart Lasso tool does an excellent job at detecting the edges of the object (or person) that you circle and removing it. This technique offers a flawless object removal.

Before using AI Eraser tool

After using AI Eraser Tool

The Paint Over, on the other hand, does quite the opposite. While it does remove the object or the person, it leaves a smudge mark instead.

Before and After using AI Eraser tool

— AI Ultra Clarity: This is a feature that you can use to enhance all your old and forgotten photos that are stored in the physical photo albums. Though the feature is still in the beta mode, it does a good job and enhancing the overall image, even if you are feeding in the image after capturing it from this phone. It smoothens out the skin and adds a dash of clarity to the image.

Top Before Image, Bottom After Image

Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G Camera Review verdict

Overall, the Realme 13 Pro Plus 5G excels at images under almost all lighting conditions. Be it daylight conditions or low-light conditions, it maintains colour and clarity. The phone offers some meaningful AI features that can bring even the old and almost blurry images to life, at least to a certain extent. Sure, there is scope for improvement. For instance, the phone could work on improving the skin tone and parts of the AI Eraser feature, but if you keep those aside, it could easily be your next camera phone.