There’s been a whole load of click-bait articles out there stating that the “Photochrom” setting on the OnePlus 8 Pro gives some sort of magical X-ray vision which lets you see through clothes and other obstacles. The reality is somewhat less amazing, and I’ll show you some examples here.
Some colours and shades are inverted – light becomes dark and dark becomes light. On others it isn’t. As an example, some black shades will appear as black and others won’t. You can see this on the shot below, where my son is wearing a black onesie. It has black material and a black zip, but only the black zip shows as black on the “Photochrom” image.
In some (albeit rare) instances then, if you’re wearing a material that’s dark, it’ll appear lighter, and the material below might show through.
Here’s another example below. This is black material, but it shows brown and you can slightly see through it in the light..
With “Photochrom” disabled you can still see through the material, but because it’s black it’s perhaps slightly less pronounced..
Likewise, on plastics, the Photochrom is a little hit-and-miss if you’re looking for cool “see through” effects.
On a lot of plastics it just shows black – so my TV, other phones and sunglasses all just appeared….. black. However, if you’ve got a black slightly see-through plastic – like on your remote control – this becomes a lot more visible with the Photochrom setting.
Here’s some good examples..
The Sky TV remote, on the far right, and the other two remotes all have their infrared “windows” clearly visible here but they’re black to the human eye.
Likewise, the IR receiver on your Sky or other set-top box will show as see-through to a degree.
The remote keyfob for my car is made of a certain plastic which makes it visible on this setting too..
So yes, in some circumstances, if it’s very thin or dark see-through plastic or dark see-through clothing, you can perhaps see something – but it’s not exactly a magical X-ray gadget.
If you want more detail on the OnePlus 8 or the OnePlus 8 Pro (plus the wireless Warp Charge 30 charger), head here!