Both of these phones have pretty solid cameras and I used them both during the reveal of the handsets in order to snap pictures.
Both phones have the same 16 megapixel Sony selfie hole-punch camera. Around back though, things are a bit different.
The OnePlus 8 Pro, on the left in the shot above, gets a quad-camera setup consisting of..
- A telephoto 8 megapixel camera.
- An ultra-wide 48 megapixel Sony sensor.
- A 48 megapixel Sony main camera.
- A 5 megapixel colour filter camera for the “Photo Chromatic” cleverness I showed off before.
- 3x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom.
So, let’s talk in detail. The OnePlus 8 Pro has a 48 megapixel custom-made Sony sensor and a 48 megapixel ultra-wide lens with a 120-degree field of view. The telephoto lens does the 3x hybrid / optical zoom and then you get 30x digital zoom.
That main cam uses a Sony IMX689 sensor with a 1/1.4″ sensor to capture more light for brighter, clearer photos. It also has dual native ISO and a 2×2 on-chip lens for a balanced shot. On the ultra wide 48 megapixel lens there’s a Sony IMX586 sensor which makes it the most megapixels in any ultra wide smartphone camera. Video footage uses hybrid image stabilization, combining optical (OIS) and electronic image stabilization (EIS) together with 3-HDR tech too.
On the OnePlus 8, on the right above, you lose the colour filter camera and receive..
- A 16 megapixel ultra-wide sensor.
- A 48 megapixel Sony main camera.
- A 2 megapixel macros lens.
The main 48 megapixel camera has uses a Sony IMX586 sensor and there’s a Spectra 480 Image Signal Processor for capturing four times more pixels. The 16 megapixel ultra-wide lens has a 116-degree view.
Zoom Shots from the OnePlus 8
Despite having no Telephoto lens, the OnePlus 8 has three distance settings baked into the camera UI. Both the OnePlus 8 and the OnePlus 8 Pro have lots of settings – you can do Photos, Portraits, Nightscape, Slow-mo, Video, Panorama, Time-Lapse and Pro. Although you can wind up the quality to 48 megapixels, you’ll lose all your zoom levels on the OnePlus 8. On the OnePlus 8 Pro you’ll just lose one level.
Here’s a look at the three settings on the OnePlus 8. you can select these on the “tree” selector above. Sorry for the lack of interesting pictures, but these were all taken on a food shop to Morrisons in the middle of the coronavirus lockdown..
Wide
Normal
Zoom
Let’s compare those with the OnePlus 8 Pro..
Zoom Shots from the OnePlus 8 Pro
The 8 Pro gets much closer on the “zoom” shot (below) and the HDR on the zoom shot below seems to work better too. Shots are very clear.
Wide
Normal
Zoom
Zoom again!
What I wanted to show, and I don’t think really came through above, is the difference in the zoom. On the videos below I show the user interface (plus some of those filters) on both phones and a typical “zooming in” activity on an object in the distance. Note below how pixelated the OnePlus 8 is in comparison to the OnePlus 8 Pro shot..
First, the OnePlus 8 Pro..
Now the OnePlus 8, doing a similar thing..
OnePlus 8 Macro
Let’s give the macro shots a try shall we? You saw some of the up-close images I captured on the earlier post, but here’s some lovely flowers..
OnePlus 8 Pro Macro
Same again on the 8 Pro and it looks like this. Again, the HDR and white balance is just a whole load better here.
OnePlus 8 Portrait
OK, you know the deal by now – you can take a lovely shot of your friends, family, pets and blur the background. As I was on my own and doing an essential shop, I took a picture of a bollard. I know… hard times…
OnePlus 8 Pro Portrait
I got less of the sky on this so it’s less colourful, but still. Nice.
OnePlus 8 “Vivid” Mode
This, along with Matte and B&W, is available on the OnePlus 8. However the “Photochrom” isn’t. The latter was shown off earlier and inverts colours. With “Vivid” all the colour become richer. Great if you’re on holiday and want to make it look warmer than it is. You can see the “normal” version of this shot a bit lower down.
OnePlus 8 Pro “Vivid” Mode
Look at the greens on this shot too. Nice.
OnePlus 8 Pro “Photo Chromatic”
Only available on the Pro, this is a fun way of making your photos look really different. You can properly play around with it. I’ve taken some shots here using that mode just to show off.
OnePlus 8 Random Shots
OnePlus 8 Pro Random Shots
Overall
Both phones have very good cameras, however the 8 Pro is in a different class. The images are rich, warm and so clear. Although you’ll find that most shots are set to 12 megapixels (by default) on both phones to allow for zooming, there’s a sharpness to the shots on the 8 Pro which really shows through here.
More to come on the OnePlus 8 brothers. Stay tuned1