This new smartphone is probably the mid-range camera king

Who wouldn’t want a smartphone with great cameras, a sleek design, and long battery life—all without breaking the bank? Oppo is once again aiming for this magical combination of features and price with the launch of the Reno 16 FS.

You can sometimes find it cheaper on amazon.com or at other retailers than directly from the manufacturer. Nevertheless, its price places it at the upper end of the mid-range.

Great camera system

In return, the Oppo Reno 16 FS boasts one of the best camera systems we’ve seen recently in a phone in this price range. Manufacturers often cut corners on either zoom capabilities or the selfie camera—and it’s not just a matter of cost: They also want to differentiate their more affordable phones from their flagship models.

The Oppo Reno 16 FS, on the other hand, features a 50-megapixel main camera and a telephoto zoom camera with 3.5x magnification. Both take sharp photos in daylight and allow for clean zoom up to about 10x. Even though a 60x zoom is possible via software, the resulting photos end up being quite grainy and require significant AI post-processing.

Wide-angle and video

However, the wide-angle camera only has a resolution of 8 megapixels; while it takes decent snapshots of the surroundings, you can’t make out fine details in the images. This is often the case even with significantly more expensive phones.

You can also record videos in 4K quality, though only at 30 fps. While the autofocus doesn’t always work perfectly, the resulting footage usually features good colors and plenty of detail.

The selfie camera is impressive, too

The front camera has a resolution of 50 megapixels and takes very nice selfies with fine details and good dynamic range.

The camera system’s weaknesses become apparent when lighting conditions aren’t ideal: in such cases, the images become very grainy, and details and colors appear washed out.

For even more details on the Oppo Reno 16 FS and additional sample photos from the camera system, check out our in-depth review.