We test the LG G5’s new camera and video modes, including Popout, Multi-view, Snap and Time-lapse, to see if they’re any good. Here’s our full G5 camera modes review.
The LG G5 boasts a unique dual-lens rear camera, composed of a standard16-megapixel lens and a fresh new 8-megapixel wide-angle lens. Normally you’ll be selecting which lens to use for each shot, but they can actually work together to create funky effects.
To try the G5’s camera modes for yourself, open the Camera app and then tap the three dots in the top left corner and select ‘Auto’. You’ll notice the ‘Mode’ option along the left edge of the screen. Tap this and you’ll find all of these modes listed.
Read next: Our full LG G5 camera review
LG G5 camera modes: Popout
Popout superimposes a detailed shot from the G5’s 16-megapixel camera over another snap taken at the same time on the 8-megapixel wide-angle lens. You can choose to add funky effects to the background/border shot, including a fisheye, black and white, vignette or blurry finish, which are applied in real-time. These effects can be stacked too, if you want a seriously weird shot.
Of course, Popout is the kind of camera mode that the majority of users will likely never touch. You can get some quite trippy results with a bit of play, but it’s never actually useful in real life.
LG G5 camera modes: Multi-view
Fans of collages will get a real kick out of Multi-view. This simple camera mode allows you to take separate shots using some or all of the G5’s three cameras (the two rear lenses and the selfie cam), one after the other. These are then stitched together into a collage, with the layout selected before you start shooting.
Multi-view is basically an evolution of Dual Camera modes from other phones, which allowed you to take a shot with both front and back cameras at the same time. It’s one way of taking a group shot without leaving out the photographer, although the selfie camera features a wide enough angle to take a shot with five or six mates at one time (helped by the awesome fist-pump selfie activation feature).
LG G5 camera modes: Snap
The Snap video mode on the LG G5 basically allows you to shoot tiny video clips all in a row, which are automatically stitched together into one glorious whole. It’s a good way to avoid video editing on the fly if you want to shoot a few bits and combine them, and you can delete previous clips before saving as a single video.
The only problem we found was that the mic usually took a half second to kick in at the start of clips. Make sure you don’t start talking as soon as you hit the shutter button, or the start of your speech will be clipped off.
LG G5 camera modes: Panorama
If you don’t know what a phone’s Panorama mode is by now, then chances are you’ve been living in a hole in the desert for the past ten years or so. On the G5 it works exactly as expected, with you tapping the shutter button and then twirling (slowly) in a circle to capture a full 360-degree shot. And as usual, if there’s anyone walking about at the time, they’ll likely appear as a mess of disembodied limbs or a series of clones walking in a line.
LG G5 camera modes: Slo-mo
The LG G5’s Slo-mo video mode sadly isn’t as cool as the one found on the iPhone 6s, for instance. You can change the speed of your video, cycling between 1x, 1/2x, 1/4x and 1/8x after it’s been shot, but you can’t select a portion of the video to playback in slow motion. Still, the effect is decent.
LG G5 camera modes: Time-lapse
The G5’s Time-lapse mode doesn’t throw up any surprises either. Choose whether you want your video sped up x10, x15, x30 or x60, then tap the record button and away you go. The camera will shoot video at a low frame rate, so it looks like you’re fast-forwarding through your footage when you play it back.
Check out this example G5 Time-lapse that we shot at Oxford Circus one busy lunchtime.
Check out our LG G5 hub for all of our reviews, features and comparisons, and everything else LG G5 related.
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