Nothing Phone (4a) Camera Test: 500+ Photos that Prove It Punches Above Its Price

The Nothing Phone (4a) is shaping up to be one of the most ambitious launches of the company this year. On paper, this is a stellar camera system seen in this segment, with a 50MP 3.5x tetraprism periscope lens as the highlight. The results are so good that I have already taken over 500 photos in just a week of using it. So, let me take you through the good, bad and ugly aspects of its camera and compare its shots with other phones in the segment, in this Nothing phone (4a) camera test.

Nothing Phone (4a) Camera Breakdown

Here is a detailed breakdown of the camera specifications of the Nothing Phone (4a):

Camera	Sensor	Size and Aperture	FOV / Focal Length	Video Recording
Main (50MP)	Samsung GN9	1/1.57", f/1.88	24mm/ 84.5˚ FoV	4K 30FPS/ 1080 60FPS
Ultra-wide (8MP)	Sony IMX355	- , f/2.2	15mm/ 120° FoV	1080 30FPS
Telephoto (50MP Periscope)	Samsung JN5	1/2.75", f/2.88	80mm/ 49.5˚ FoV	4K 30FPS/ 1080 60FPS
Front (32MP)	Samsung KD1	1/3.42", f/2.2	22mm/ 89˚FoOV	1080 60 FPS

Besides the camera, here are the rest of the key specifications of the Nothing Phone (4a):

Nothing Phone (4a) Key Details

Processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 4

Adreno 810

Rear Camera

50MP (Wide-angle)

Samsung ISOCELL GN9

8MP (Ultra-wide)

Sony IMX355

50MP (Periscope)

SAMSUNG ISOCELL JN5

Hybrid Stabilization

4K@30fps

RAM/Storage

8GB (LPDDR4X)

128GB (UFS 3.1)

Display

6.78" (120Hz)

1.5K AMOLED
HDR10+

Battery

5400mAh (Lithium Polymer)

50Watt (wired)

Front Camera

32MP (Wide)

Samsung ISOCELL KD1
4k@30fps

Design

Gorilla Glass 7i (Front)

Glass (Back)
Plastic Frame (Side)
IP64 (Dust and Water Resistant)

Android (Nothing OS)

3 year(s) of OS Update

See full specifications

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Test

The main highlight of the Phone (4a) is the new 3.5x telephoto camera. It is a big step up from the 2x telephoto from the Phone (3a). I have already praised the cameras in my detailed Nothing Phone (4a) review, calling it hands-down one of the best camera mobile phones in its segment.

The 3.5x optical zoom helps you get very close to subjects, without any loss in detail. Photos come out sharp, clean and very detailed. The colours also look natural with balanced tones that don't look over-processed. When I shot a temple decorated with flowers, the reds and yellows looked vibrant but not saturated. Even at night, the photos look clean with minimal noise.

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 1

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 2

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 3

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 4

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 5

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 6

Zooming into 7x, the image quality is almost lossless. As you can tell from this photo, I took of the Qutub Minar with all the carvings highlighted very clearly. Even at 10x, the images remain sharp and usable.

But once you go beyond that, you can see AI stepping. At 20x, details start looking artificially enhanced. The over-sharpening is obvious, especially around edges like the petals in orange flower shots. You can push it to 70x, but honestly, that’s more for bragging than practical photography.

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 7

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 8

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 9

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 10

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 11

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 12

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 13

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 14

Nothing Phone (4a) Telephoto Camera Shots 15

Portraits at 3.5x also turn out to be stunning with proper edge detection, and a subtle bokeh blur behind the subject. That said, the facial details do look slightly off, and I expected just a bit more crispness from a 50MP sensor with OIS. But overall, the quality of the photos here is one of the best in its price class, right in line with the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro and the Vivo T4 Pro.

Nothing Phone (4a) Main and Ultrawide Camera Test

The main and the ultra-wide lens are the same on the Phone (3a). That does not mean there haven't been any improvements. Nothing has definitely refined the colour science and exposure handling this time, so the photos look a tad bit better.

In good lighting, the results are impressive. Photos look natural with well-balanced contrast and mostly accurate tones. HDR is also handled well. Daylight shots of the Qutub Minar turned out great, with good details in the monument’s textures and patterns. Even the night shot of a temple decorated with flowers was decent. I am quite happy that Nothing has somewhat fixed the overblown exposure issue this time.

However, there is a weird issue with lens glare from time to time. Photos also appear slightly faded when clicking in 2x. As a result, reds look boosted, and the skin tones are washed out. Images from the main camera also fall apart as soon as you zoom into them, lacking most details. But overall, the main camera is an improvement for the most part.

Meanwhile, the 8MP ultrawide lens is serviceable. It allows for grander shots of large landscapes and lets you capture giant monuments in a single frame. However, given the low resolution, the shots won't hold any detail when you zoom into them. It also suffers from colour disparity between the main and telephoto cameras.

Nothing Phone (4a) Ultrawide Camera Shots 1

Nothing Phone (4a) Ultrawide Camera Shots 2

Nothing Phone (4a) Ultrawide Camera Shots 3

Camera Comparison: Nothing Phone (4a) vs Motorola Edge 70 vs Redmi Note 15 Pro

To further test the camera capability of the Nothing Phone (4a), I compared the images against two other phones in its segment: the Motorola Edge 70 and the Redmi Note 15 Pro. Both lack a dedicated telephoto lens, but given they are the most recent launches in the price bracket, I thought they would make suitable contenders. Here is a breakdown of the camera specifications of both phones:

Phones	Camera	Size and Aperture	Focal Length
Moto Edge 70	Main (50MP) + Ultrawide (50MP)	f/1.8, 1/1.56" (Main) + f/2.0, 1/2.76" (Ultrawide)	24mm + 12mm
Redmi Note 15 Pro	Main (200MP) + Ultrawide (8MP)	f/1.7, 1/1.4" (Main) + f/2.2, 1/4.0" (Ultrawide)	23mm + 15mm

Starting with the main camera photos, all three phones take decent looking images from the main lens. But on closer inspection, I noticed that the colours on the Redmi Note 15 Pro appear quite bland. Meanwhile, the Motorola edge 70 slightly saturates the colours, to the extent that the greens look pretty unnatural. Only the Phone (4a) managed to take close to natural photos.

Nothing Phone (4a) Main Camera

Motorola Edge 70 Main Camera

Redmi Note 15 Pro Main Camera

Nothing Phone (4a) Main Camera

Motorola Edge 70 Main Camera

Redmi Note 15 Pro Main Camera

Motorola Edge 70 and Nothing Phone (4a) has the closest clash in cameras. Both offer really good looking photos, with Moto's images standing out with sharper details. The colours also pop from the Edge 70 samples. But the Nothing takes a lead with a more natural appearance.

Nothing Phone (4a) Main Camera Shot 1

Nothing Phone (4a) Main Camera Shot 2

Nothing Phone (4a) Main Camera Shot 3

Motorola Edge 70 Main Camera Shot 1

Motorola Edge 70 Main Camera Shot 2

Motorola Edge 70 Main Camera Shot 3

In indoor and low light shots, the Motorola took the lead with the sharpest photo among the 3 with Phone (4a) in second place and Redmi at last.

Nothing Phone (4a) Main Camera Indoor Shot 1

Motorola Edge 70 Main Camera Indoor Shot

Redmi Note 15 Pro Main Camera Indoor Shot

Nothing Phone (4a) Main Camera Indoor Shot 1

Motorola Edge 70 Main Camera Indoor Shot

Redmi Note 15 Pro Main Camera Indoor Shot

In ultrawide photos, Moto takes the lead since it has a higher resolution sensor. So, the images turn out rich with detail, which is not the case with Nothing and Redmi. That said, Nothing does improve the quality of the shot with processing, so it does not look bad.

Nothing Phone (4a) Ultrawide Camera

Motorola Edge 70 Ultrawide Camera

Redmi Note 15 Pro Ultrawide Camera

Finally, I tried to see some zoomed in photo. I knew Nothing was going to win this section by a landmark thanks to the dedicated telephoto camera. But as you can tell from the shots, Motorola did do well in 2x and 5x zoom ranges. Redmi tries its own tricks to recover the image quality with AI. However, the windows look very smudged and only the Phone (4a) retains the all details.

Nothing Phone (4a) Main Camera 2x Photo

Nothing Phone (4a) Main Camera 5x Photo

Nothing Phone (4a) Main Camera 10x Photo

Motorola Edge 70 Main Camera 2x Photo

Motorola Edge 70 Main Camera 5x Photo

Motorola Edge 70 Main Camera 10x Photo

Redmi Note 15 Pro Main Camera 2x Photo

Redmi Note 15 Pro Main Camera 5x Photo

Redmi Note 15 Pro Main Camera 10x Photo

At 10x zoom, Redmi Note 15 Pro's falls flat with a smudgy photo. The Motorola Edge 70 also hands over the processing to AI, with only the Nothing Phone taking strong and clear shots.

Nothing Phone (4a) Selfie Camera Test

The Phone (4a)'s selfie camera is also same as the Nothing Phone (3a) and Phone (3a) Pro. The images look good with decent details and overall colours. However, the skin tones appear brighter than they should. The darker hues of my skin appear to be a shade or two lighter in the Phone (4a) selfies. But apart from that, the rest of the front camera images, even the portraits turn out fine.

In comparison to the Motorola Edge 70 and the Redmi Note 15 Pro, the selfies look best on Motorola. The skin colour is accurate, there are a lot of details in the face and the clothes, and the edge detection is perfect! Nothing is a close second. Other than the brighter skin colour, the details are on point but the edge detection is a hit or miss. Redmi scores last again with low details, softer tones and poor edge cutouts.

Motorola Edge 70 Selfie Camera Shot 1

Motorola Edge 70 Selfie Camera Shot 2

Motorola Edge 70 Selfie Camera Shot 3

Redmi Note 15 Pro Selfie Camera Shot 1

Redmi Note 15 Pro Selfie Camera Shot 2

Redmi Note 15 Pro Selfie Camera Shot 3

Is the Nothing Phone (4a) the New Camera King Under Rs 30,000?

With all the improvements to the camera processing and the additional camera hardware, it wouldn't be wrong to call the Nothing Phone (4a) one of the best camera phones under Rs 30,000. It is on par with, if not better than, its competitors in terms of camera quality. And since it will be available with discounts at launch, we can consider it as a sub-Rs 30,000 phone. With that price tag, it will be very hard to beat, and it would be interesting to see whether any other phone in 2026 manages to dethrone the Phone (4a).