From streets to food and portraits: Putting the Galaxy Z Fold7’s camera to test

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 comes with a big leap in almost every aspect — be it the new design, slimmer profile, or the updated hinge that nearly hides the crease. But perhaps the most noticeable upgrade is the camera system. For the first time in years, Samsung has replaced the 50MP main sensor with a massive 200MP ISOCELL HP2, the same sensor used in the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

The announcement happened at Galaxy Unpacked in Brooklyn, and while attending the event, I took the opportunity to explore the streets of New York — from Wall Street to Brooklyn to Times Square — through the Galaxy Z Fold7’s cameras.

And the difference is obvious.

The 200MP sensor captures more detail than ever before. Whether it was tight street shots around Wall Street, panoramic views from the Brooklyn Bridge, or the lights of Times Square in the evening, the Z Fold7 held up well.

But, before concluding, let’s explore a little more about the Z Fold7’s new camera setup and how it holds up in various shooting conditions.

200MP triple is a big upgrade
The story about the Z Fold7 is going to revolve around the new 200MP sensor that comes straight from the Galaxy S25 Ultra – the implementation, however, is borrowed from the S25 Edge.

In detail, the sensor is Samsung’s ISOCELL HP2 — and it is the first major upgrade to this lineup’s primary camera in years. We know and have seen this sensor in action in Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S25 Edge – It’s fast, sharp, and reliable in most conditions.

Z Fold7 sample

But the story does not end here. Z Fold7 also has two other sensors – mostly similar to the previous generation – Z Fold6 — a 12MP ultra wide with f/2.2 aperture and fixed focus, and a 3x 10MP telephoto lens with OIS. While the sensors are unchanged, Samsung has said that they’ve fine-tuned it further to deliver better results overall. How does that translate in the real world? Well, that’s something we will see later in this article.

Z Fold7 sample

For now, the sensor setup is good – if not the best. And, the 200MP primary will be the centre stage here.

Streets of New York with 200MP sensor

As much as I love exploring new places, I enjoy it more when I have a capable camera to capture those moments to keep them as memories. This time that load was on the Z Fold7’s camera and to my expectations – it faired pretty well.

I started with the streets, and as expected, the 200MP sensor, in daylight conditions, delivers sharp and detailed photos. The dynamic range is one of the best you can find in a foldable phone. Moving on to the colours – photos aren’t that saturated – in typical Samsung fashion. As a point-and-shoot camera, Galaxy Z Fold7 is a good companion. That’s because you can simply double-press the power button and start shooting. This is where the fast focus system comes in handy.

Z Fold7 sample

There’s plenty of texture even in foliage and shadows, and skin tones look natural. I didn’t feel the need to toggle between 12MP, 50MP or 200MP modes often — the standard pixel-binned output is what most people will appreciate. The 200MP mode pulls in slightly more detail but that extra resolution comes at the cost of softness and that’s something I wouldn’t use personally unless I want to edit photos massively later and even for that, the Z Fold7 comes with Expert RAW and Pro mode support that captures RAW photos with so much details that you can take the photos to Photoshop or Lightroom and tweak it accordingly.

Z Fold7 sample

If you love Portrait photos like me, then you’ll love the Z Fold7’s camera. Portraits from the main sensor turned out surprisingly well, especially when taken at 2x digital zoom. While it’s not a dedicated zoom lens, Samsung’s crop-based 2x mode performs better than expected. Details hold up well for subjects in the foreground. But, the dedicated 3x telephoto also delivers impressive skin tones, and the bokeh effect is well balanced across the photos– even in complicated situations. What came as a surprise is that Z Fold7 also has a 5x mode for portrait photos, and while I don’t use that level of zoom unless I am capturing something pretty closely. If you like close-up shots, then it would not be a problem, as the cropped mode delivers decent-looking photos too.

Z Fold7 sample

For instance, the image captured at Times Square is impressive. Despite being a complicated shot, the blur levels are good, and the separation between the background and subject is on point.

The same applies to the Pizza and pasta shot below. The blur in the surroundings is good and colour, though a little vibrant, but the surroundings were a little warm too.

Darkness does not make the Z Fold7 crumble
Low-light photos or Nightography in Samsung’s language are on point from the 200MP sensor. The low-light image quality without the Night mode is somewhat okay-ish. But, the Z Fold7 comes with Auto Low light mode, which allows the sensor to trigger it automatically to help compensate for the lack of light in the frame. The output is detailed and sharp. The colours are managed well, too. The best part is that no oversharpening or overbrightening is happening here. That’s a good thing.

Z Fold7 sample

Look at this building shot. The sharpness levels are on point, and even the colours in the window are vibrant. The sky appears dark too. Another photo of the street of Brooklyn appears well balanced, which also showcases that the Z Fold7 can capture good dynamic range even in low light conditions.

Z Fold7 sample

However, not everything is impressive here. The noise level sometimes creeps in, and this is something Samsung should fix.

Capable supporting cast
While the ultrawide and telephoto lenses haven’t received dramatic hardware changes, Samsung has made them more usable. The ultrawide camera now supports autofocus, which makes a genuine difference for macro shots. It locked focus quickly during close-ups of flowers and coffee mugs, and produced reasonably crisp results with good colour retention.

Z Fold7 sample

The 3x telephoto lens still feels like the weakest link. In good light, it does the job — especially when shooting buildings or candid portraits — but it struggles when the light dips. At night or indoors, this camera produces soft images, and even with Night mode enabled, the results don’t match the sharpness or clarity of the main sensor.

Z Fold7 sample

Night mode, in general, has improved — when it kicks in. On the Z Fold7, the Auto Night mode triggers as and when needed. So you don’t have to worry about photos getting dark or anything. The overall low-light photo quality is on point – details are good, sharpness levels are fine-tuned, but once you manually enable the dedicated Night mode, the improvement is instantly visible: better contrast, cleaner noise levels, and more realistic colours.

Two selfie cameras and video
Samsung replaced the under-display camera on the foldable inner display with a 10MP sensor that’s essentially the same as the one on the outer screen — except with a wider field of view. Surprisingly, the inner selfie camera consistently produced better skin tones and exposure than the outer one. Both lack autofocus, but for video calls or quick snaps, the improvement over the Z Fold6 is clear.

Z Fold7 sample

As for video, the Z Fold7 now supports 8K at 30fps, 4K at 120fps, and even adds Galaxy Log for manual colour grading. It’s serious creator-level stuff — and Samsung backs it up with good performance from the main sensor. Videos looked clean, well-exposed, and full of detail in most conditions. Even the 2x crop video looked serviceable. The 3x and ultrawide videos weren’t as sharp, but they’re usable.
Low-light video was a mixed bag. The main sensor held up decently, but both the 3x telephoto and ultrawide cameras struggle a bit. Samsung’s new AI Audio Eraser was a nice touch — especially for removing wind or crowd noise from travel clips.

AI is effective
Samsung already offers a host of AI features when it comes to editing and fine-tuning photos. Generative AI still remains one of the best implementations here. On top of that, Samsung has also added a before-and-after preview while editing the photos. AI Object eraser, AI Shadow eraser, etc are there. Samsung has also added a new distortion-fixing tool with the One UI 8 update. Overall, the AI features in the Gallery app work as expected and deliver good results.