4. Camera Department
Camera
The Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G boasts a trio of cameras on its rear panel, with the primary camera being a prominent selling point. This primary camera features a hefty 200MP Samsung ISOCELL HP3 sensor, complemented by a 23mm equivalent 7P lens, an impressive f1.65 aperture, and optical image stabilization (OIS). By default, the sensor operates in a 16 to 1 mode, resulting in 12.5MP images. However, it can also capture native 200MP images and utilize center crops to generate lossless 2x and 4x images.
In addition to the primary camera, the device includes an 8MP ultra-wide camera and a 2MP macro camera, rounding out the camera setup.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G camera application offers a fairly intuitive layout, with all major shooting modes conveniently placed at the bottom of the screen. Additional options and settings can be accessed by swiping down on the screen. The camera app provides standard features, including night mode, portrait mode, and pro mode. However, it’s worth noting that the pro mode cannot capture images in RAW format, which can be a significant limitation for photography enthusiasts seeking maximum flexibility and post-processing options.
Now for the image quality. The quality of images from the main camera was a bit underwhelming due to subpar color reproduction. All images have a magenta bias, which, in some cases, can be very noticeable. The colors also lack warmth, which mostly affects the reds, with the darker shades, like the red soil in some shots, often appearing brown. The magenta bias is especially destructive to skin tones, with darker tones often appearing pink instead of brown.
Our review unit also exhibited a noticeable issue with chromatic aberration in several shots, resulting in prominent purple fringing around high-contrast edges, particularly noticeable around tree leaves against the sky. Typically, chromatic aberration is a lens artifact that can be corrected through software processing, but it appeared that this correction wasn’t effectively applied to our unit.
Unfortunately, the color rendition in the camera’s images was less than ideal. Despite the images offering a commendable level of detail and dynamic range, there was a tendency to overexpose by a stop, a behavior reminiscent of Samsung phones. If Xiaomi can refine the color accuracy and exposure handling, this camera has the potential to deliver impressive results. As it stands, however, there are notable shortcomings in the camera’s performance.
A direct comparison was conducted between the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G and the OnePlus 11R to emphasize this concern. Although the OnePlus might display slightly less impressive shadow detail, it excels in color precision and rendition, closely replicating the scene’s appearance. This stark contrast underscores the significant disparity in color accuracy between the two devices.
Both devices produce images with similar levels of detail despite the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G having a sensor with four times the number of pixels. This is attributed to the sensor on the Redmi operating in a 16 to 1 mode, capturing only 12.5MP of data rather than compressing the full 200MP into a 12.5MP image.
However, having a 200MP sensor does offer an advantage when it comes to zooming. The 2x zoom on this device utilizes a center crop and a 4 1 mode to create a 12.5MP image, which appears exceptionally crisp and rivals the quality of images captured by native 2x telephoto cameras. Moreover, it benefits from superior optics and aperture, characteristics not typically found in native telephoto camera lenses.
The 4x images crop further and shoot in 1 to 1 mode, so they aren’t as sharp but still perfectly usable.
The native 200MP images offer abundant detail, but they come with considerably larger file sizes, ranging from 8x to 10x the size of the 12.5MP files. However, these higher-resolution images do not benefit from the same level of processing as the 12.5MP images. Consequently, they exhibit poorer dynamic range, and any issues with chromatic aberration become more pronounced and prominent in these images.
A more practical approach would have been to offer a 50MP mode with 4 to 1-pixel binning. This mode could have provided a good balance between detail, manageable file sizes, and improved image processing.
Shifting focus to the 8MP ultra-wide camera, it doesn’t appear exceptional. The resolution is insufficient for capturing the expansive perspective, resulting in understandably lower levels of detail. The images demonstrate decent dynamic range, and the color grading generally aligns with the main camera’s. However, it’s worth noting that this camera also exhibits purple fringing, suggesting that this issue may be systematic across the software rather than specific to a particular camera.
The 2MP macro camera on the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G represents an improvement compared to some previous iterations, but it still falls short in quality. The images lack significant detail, and the necessity to physically get very close to the subject, coupled with the use of essentially a wide-angle lens for macro shots, results in distortion and less-than-ideal macro photography.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the macro camera on this phone is its redundancy. This approach yields images with higher resolution, greater detail, improved color accuracy, enhanced dynamic range, and considerably less distortion, all while delivering a more aesthetically pleasing depth of field. It’s a recurring sentiment that macro cameras primarily serve to artificially boost the specifications sheet, creating the illusion of greater value when, in reality, they often fall short of delivering meaningful photographic benefits.
The 4K videos captured by the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G exhibit an appealing visual quality. They manage to strike a balance by avoiding the excessive oversharpening often observed in smartphone videos while still delivering the expected level of detail for 4K content. However, it’s worth noting that they still suffer from the magenta bias and color fringing issues observed in still images.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G employs a combination of optical image stabilization (OIS) and electronic image stabilization (EIS), which generally produces satisfactory results for handheld video shots. However, if you walk or run while recording, a noticeable juddering effect is not as effectively mitigated as on more premium devices.
The ultra-wide camera on the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G is limited to recording video at a maximum resolution of 1080p. The resulting videos from this camera tend to appear soft and underexposed, likely as a measure to conceal shadow noise. Despite these limitations, the videos can still be serviceable when captured in appropriate lighting conditions.