The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic is an entry-level smartphone but it still manages to come with a fairly respectable 3.2-Megapixel camera built in. With camera functionality becoming ever more popular, we thought we’d put it through its paces. Check out how it got on in our Nokia 5530 XpressMusic camera review…

The 3.2-Megapixel camera found on the back of the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic doesn’t come with Carl Zeiss optics, which is an integral part of the Nokia 5800 camera and even the Nokia N97. You’ll also find that this is a single LED Flash camera, so isn’t as versatile as the Nokia 5800 for using in low-light conditions.

Have you read our full Nokia 5530 XpressMusic review?

Stills Camera: Being a 3.2-Megpixel camera means you can get a full image resolution of up to 2048 x 1536 pixels, which is more than enough for loading up to Facebook, or even for printing out up to A4 with little or no trouble. Images are saved in JPEG format, so compression sizes make them easier to share.

You can access the camera using the dedicated Capture button on the right-hand side of the phone, where you’ll also find zoom controls – the camera has a 4x optical zoom function. Alternatively, you can load it from the touchscreen menu.

It uses the same software as you’ll find on the Nokia 5800. This means it uses the screen as a viewfinder with fixed controls down the right-hand side of the screen for Options, Mode, Flash, Capture and Exit.

On the left-hand side of the screen you’ll find the soft zoom functions, so you don’t need to use the dedicated hardware buttons, as well as mode icon and the number of shots left to take. Options allows you to go the image Gallery, change to video mode or enter Settings. Mode allows you to set the standard array of features, such as switching between video and stills images, setting white balance or colour tone and generally getting the bets out of your shots.

When it comes to taking pictures, you can use the dedicated Capture button but we’ve found this to be a little stiff, so using the software approach has proven easier. The main difference is that simply tapping the screen means you can keep the camera steadier.

The camera is really easy to use and while the screen is smaller than on the Nokia 5800, if you’re juts taking pictures of friends when out and about, you won’t really notice. Being touchscreen makes life a whole lot easier and we have found ourselves using the soft Capture as well as soft Zoom functions.

Image quality is more than acceptable, and we were surprised to find that even with only one LED in the Flash, you’re able to get fairly decent shots in low light. Check out our image gallery below for test shots.

Video Camera: You can also capture in video but this is in a reduced 176 x 220-pixel resolution and only at 15fps, so you won’t want to use this for anything but the more

That said, we were satisfied with the video results with the test footage we shot. It’s not about to replace a dedicated video camera and it won’t be the main reason you buy this phone but it’s practical and works well.

The Nokia 5530 XpressMusic camera very much lives up to what we expected from this smartphone. While it shares many things in common with the Nokia 5800, there are clear sacrifices made to hit the price point. If camera functions are important to you, the Nokia 5530 XpressMusic camera works well and getting decent snaps is fairly straightforward.

Check out our Nokia 5530 XpressMusic camera review image gallery: