Best Night Mode Cameras: Top Picks And Reviews

Night mode is a feature on smartphone cameras that allows you to take vivid, highly optimised photos in low-light conditions. This feature is now available on most flagship devices from Apple, Google, Samsung, Huawei, and LG.

The best camera phones with a night mode feature include the iPhone 15 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Google Pixel 8 Pro, and the OnePlus 12.

iPhone 15 Pro Max

The iPhone 15 Pro Max is a great choice for a camera phone with Night Mode. It has been hailed as the "best overall phone for photo and video" by Digital Camera World, with its stunning quality and ease of use.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a powerful camera system with a 48MP main camera, a 12MP ultra-wide lens, and a 5x telephoto camera with optical zoom. This allows you to capture sharp and detailed photos and videos, even in low-light conditions. The Night Mode feature on the iPhone 15 Pro Max automatically turns on when it detects a low-light environment, increasing the exposure time and improving photo quality.

To use Night Mode on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, open the Camera app and look for the moon icon in the upper left corner. If it is yellow, Night Mode is auto-enabled and ready to use. You can adjust the exposure time by tapping the arrow and then the moon icon. It is important to keep the phone as steady as possible during Night Mode capture to ensure blur-free and sharp images.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max also offers other camera features such as Portrait Mode, Time-lapse videos, and Live Photos. It is a versatile and powerful device for both photo and video enthusiasts, with its compact size, ample storage options, and excellent camera performance.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is a high-end smartphone with a range of impressive features, including a powerful camera with night mode.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is equipped with a 200MP camera, which delivers exceptional image quality. The camera system includes a 200MP main sensor, ultra-wide, telephoto, and periscope lenses, allowing for versatile shooting options. The camera captures sharp and detailed images, even in low-light conditions, thanks to its advanced night mode feature, known as "Nightography". This mode enhances your photos with vivid colours and reduced blur, making it perfect for low-light photography.

Other Notable Features

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra offers:

• A large 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED display with a sharp Quad HD+ resolution and a peak brightness of 2600 nits, providing an immersive viewing experience.
• A powerful processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, ensuring smooth performance and seamless multitasking.
• A long-lasting 5000mAh battery, providing up to 30 hours of video playback or 95 hours of music playback on a single charge.
• An embedded S Pen, which can be used for note-taking, drawing, and navigating the interface.
• AI-powered features like "Circle to Search", which lets you search for information by circling objects on your screen, and "Live Translate", enabling real-time translation during phone calls.
• Water and dust resistance with an IP68 rating, protecting your device from accidental splashes and dust ingress.
• Generative Edit, an AI-powered photo editing feature that lets you move, resize, or erase objects in your photos with ease.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is an excellent choice for anyone seeking a high-performance smartphone with a powerful camera, a large display, and a host of innovative features.

Google Pixel 8 Pro

The Google Pixel 8 Pro is an Android smartphone with a 6.7-inch Super Actua display, a triple-camera system, and a 24-hour battery life. It is powered by the Google Tensor G3 chip and features a range of Google AI enhancements.

The camera system includes a dedicated 5x telephoto lens, improved autofocus, and full-resolution photography with Pro controls. The camera app has an intuitive, redesigned interface, and the phone also has a new temperature sensor on the back that allows users to quickly scan an object to get its temperature.

The Pixel 8 Pro has been praised for its camera quality, with improvements to low-light photography, and its video quality. It also offers unique Google Android features, a sleek and sophisticated design, and powerful security features.

However, some users have noted that the performance of the phone could be better, with the Google Assistant being described as "incredibly glitchy". The battery life has also received mixed reviews, with some users reporting that it struggles to last a full day.

Overall, the Google Pixel 8 Pro is a feature-rich smartphone that offers excellent camera and video quality, a sleek design, and useful Google AI enhancements. While there are some minor drawbacks, it is a competitive option in the smartphone market.

Apple iPhone 15 Pro

The Apple iPhone 15 Pro is a great choice for low-light photography. The iPhone's Night mode feature automatically turns on when the camera detects a low-light environment, and you can also manually adjust the exposure time for longer Night mode photos. The iPhone 15 Pro also has a new 5x telephoto camera, offering a beautiful natural blur on portraits.

Night mode improves photos by increasing the exposure time of your iPhone's camera, resulting in some incredible low-light shots. This feature is available on all iPhone 11 models and newer, as well as iPad Pro.

To use Night mode, open the Camera app and look for the moon icon in the upper left (bottom left in landscape orientation). If the moon icon is yellow, Night mode is enabled and ready to use. You can then tap the arrow and the moon icon to adjust the exposure time. Finally, hold your iPhone steady during the capture, and a countdown will appear above the shutter button.

The iPhone 15 Pro also has a Night mode Portrait feature, allowing you to take stunning portraits even in low light. Additionally, you can use Night mode Time-lapse with a tripod to capture videos with longer interval frames in low-light conditions.

While the iPhone 15 Pro doesn't have a pro mode for manual photography, its automatic mode's photo processing is impressive. The iPhone 15 Pro is a powerful device with a brilliant camera, making it a great choice for those seeking high-quality low-light photography.

OnePlus 12

The OnePlus 12 is a powerhouse smartphone with a supercharged processor and excellent battery life. It features a 5400 mAh battery and supports 80W wired charging and 50W wireless charging. The phone is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, backed by up to 16GB of RAM, and boasts a super-bright 120Hz ProXDR display.

The OnePlus 12's camera system is a collaboration with Hasselblad and includes a 50MP main camera, a 48MP ultrawide camera, and a 32MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. The main camera has a large 1/1.4" sensor and an f/1.6 aperture, which should help with low-light performance. However, reviews of the OnePlus 12's camera have been mixed, with some users reporting disappointing night mode image quality.

The phone runs on the OxygenOS 14 interface, which is based on Android 14. OnePlus promises four years of software updates and an additional fifth year of security updates for the device.

Overall, the OnePlus 12 offers a compelling package with a powerful processor, excellent battery life, and a bright, vibrant display. While the camera system has received some criticism, it still offers a range of features and capabilities that make it a solid choice for mobile photography, especially in good lighting conditions.

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