Shooting in low light is a fun challenge for any type of kit, but many smartphones take a lot of the hard work away, and yield very decent results. It’s something many smartphone makers have been keen to shout about in marketing materials, so there’s been quite a lot of effort from all the major producers to outdo each other in this field. Almost all the current smartphones have a Night or Low Light mode, which often kicks in automatically when there’s not much light detected in the scene.
Of course, one good thing about your smartphone is you’ll generally always have it on you, ready to grab a quick shot. Smartphones are also good if you’re not keen to lug heavy kit such as tripods around. Most smartphones, if they have a night mode, work entirely handheld, allowing you to get good results with minimal effort.
But some do perform better than others. Generally you’ll (unfortunately) find the best-performing night modes on the more expensive flagship phones – which we’ve mostly included here. But you can save cash by going for an older-generation model, or buying used.
How does a smartphone’s night mode work?
While not all smartphones are the same, the reason most allow you to shoot night shots handheld is down to the way they operate in low light. As a rule, they work by shooting several multiple
