Product review of Oppo Reno8
I’ve been using the Oppo Reno8 for 2 weeks and these are my impressions.
I got the phone in Shimmer Gold and I must say that this is the most beautiful phone colour. As the name suggests, the phone literally shimmers in the light. At different angles, the surface of the phone reflects light differently and appears in rainbow colours. On top of it, it is fingerprint resistant. In fact, I was reluctant to put on a phone case. Fortunately, the phone comes with a clear phone cover with a cut out for the camera, included in the box! Here are some images of the beautiful phone:
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Weighing only 179g, with a large screen size of 6.4 inches, I could watch videos on the move while holding my phone comfortably. The colours were also nice and vibrant, with a screen resolution of 2400 X 1080 pixels. I often edit photos on my phone, so the range of colours displayed is really important for me.
The operating system is ColorOS 12.1. A super cool function I discovered the phone had was Air Gestures. This function allows you to scroll, answer phone calls or play/ pause videos without touching the phone. I tried it out while trying to follow a video to cook a new dish and it was super convenient. I could easily pause and play the video when I needed more time for any step without touching the phone (and making it oily or covered with flour!)
For a photographer, the cameras on the phone are crucial. Oppo Reno8 features the Dual Sony Flagship Sensors. There are 3 rear cameras. The specs of the main camera are 50MP, 1/1.56"; f/1.8; FOV 86°; 7P lens; AF. The specs of the Macro camera are FOV 89°; 3P lens; FF and the specs for the wide-angle camera are f/2.2; FOV 112°; 5P lens; FF. Specs for the front camera are 32MP, 1/2.74"; f/2.4; 32MP (f/2.4); FOV 85°; lens: 5P, FF. I was impressed by the quality of the selfie camera due to the high resolution. It also has some “beautifying” effects which makes me look good even when I didn’t have time to put on any make-up!
I put the cameras to the test the moment I unboxed it. One known limitations of phone cameras is the ability to function in low light settings and this was what I tested out. You can check out my unboxing video to see how it performed. I then tested taking photos at 1 location using the default “photo” mode, the “night” mode and also the “pro” mode. I often use the pro mode when I want to control the iso and exposure time but I was curious to see how the night mode performed for users who may not be comfortable with using the pro mode.
The subject I chose was the rain vortex at Jewel, Changi Airport. F 1.8 and 5.42mm was used for all 3 photos, using the main camera.
The 1st photo was taken using default settings, iso was 3609 and exposure 1/100sec.
The 2nd photo was taken using night mode. I was prompted to hold the phone steady. The iso was reduced to 967 and exposure time increased to 1/20 sec. Note that if you do not hold the phone steady, the image will be blurred.
The 3rd photo was taken using pro mode, I set the iso at 100, the minimum (to decrease noise), and exposure 1/3 sec, the longest possible without having over-exposed areas (to create the silky water effect).
Comparing the 3 photos (unedited, straight out of phone), you can see that the pro mode was sharpest and had most silky water effect. The night mode is a good “in-between” for users who are not familiar with using pro mode. One limitation to note is that the pro mode can only be used with the main camera and not wide-angle camera.
I also took tested taking portraits at night using both the main camera and selfie camera. The subject appeared bright in spite of low ambient lighting. These are some of the shots.
11 minutes was all that was required for me to charge the phone up to 50% using the 80W SUPERVOOC charger included in the box. It sounded too good to be true until I tried it out for myself. The battery was super long lasting; I brought it out for an entire day taking photographs and uploading them to Instagram and there was still 50% left when I got home at night!
In conclusion, it was a beautiful phone with good screen resolution and battery life. I was pleased with the performance of the camera at night and surprised at how well the selfie camera performed. The price point is also very competitive. Give it a try and you might be impressed as well!
Related
Is there any way to get better pic quality from the Hermes camera? When taking pics indoors the pics are REALLY bad quality! Outside is a different story as they don't look too bad.
Just wanna know if there's any way of improving the quality of pictures taken with the phones 2mp cam.
Thanks!
I totally agree, the picture quality of the photos is RUBBISH and there's no reason for it.
[1] I have an old O2 Mini XDAII which only has 1.4 Mega Pixel camera which takes WAY BETTER photos than the Hermes
[2] When I've emailed a photo I've taken with the Hermes camera to my friends, they've used PhotoShop to fix up the photo to perfect quality ! ! !
IE There's no reason why the photo quality from the Hermes is rubbish
This is due to the camera sensor... The more mp you cram onto the same tiny sensor, the worse the 'noise' gets.
In low light, the camera effectively boosts the sensitivity (ISO equivilant) causing noise. The reason your older 1.4mp camera looks better is because there are less pixels to pick up the noise. Kinda confusing, google "digital ISO noise" and read up on it. You'll understand why it's like that. If you want great indoor pictures, invest in a camera
Poor photo quality from camera phones is mainly due to the type of sensor used: CMOS. This sensor is slightly cheaper and needs less power but is not as sensitive as CCD and therefor produce more noise. CCD sensors are the most common in regular digital cameras in all except the large dSLR cameras where CMOS is mostly used instead, again due to the cost and power requirements. But in dSLR's the sensors are very large and therefore produce almost as low noise as CCD.
Actually I believe most dSLR's use CCD sensors, with a couple exceptions. The major one being Canon.
I think you're partly right. A few dSLR producers:
Canon: CMOS in all their dSLRs
Nikon: Latest models (D300 and D3) are CMOS cameras while their older (like the D40X) were CCD.
Sony: DSLR-A700 is CMOS, DSLR-A100 was CCD. The CMOS sensor is a new type they call EXMOS and claim to be similar to CCD in sensitivity.
Olympus: Latest use NMOS(???) sensors while their older were all CCD.
Pentax: Only CCD.
Sigma: Only CMOS.
Okay, but with the subject at hand, I think the bigger problem with the phone is the sensor size though, not the sensor type.
Look at Pentax, Their 6mp dSLR's show better high ISO performance than their newest 10mp dSLR. Why? The sensors are the same size, but they crammed more photosites onto it. The more photosites on the same size sensor, USUALLY means more noise (especially visible at high ISO levels).
That same reasoning is why the 1.4mp camera phone has better picture quality indoors than that of the 2mp camera phone.
-Nick (Event Photographer)
So really, "mp" is not really a good measure of the quality of a camera. Let that be a lesson to all of us.
So when we go to buy a camera, and we are offered a 6 mp camera or an 8 mp camera, what question should we ask ?
Before deciding on a camera, go to DPReview.com and compare the specs, including sensor size.
If you think this camera's bad on the Hermes you should have seen the pics on my XDA Exec!
Hi!
At the moment i still have my SE P1i is got 3.2 m pix camera wth autofocus make butiful pix be honestly, but due lack of the software i turned 2 WM device i used bafore SE P990 unfortunatelly after the SE P910 something goes wrong. sony forgot develop??? tose last 2 PDA P990,P1i is the utterly crap.So just still waiting SE wth WM6 so far :-( but i love my Hermy now thanks 2 u guys, that is WORKING fine amazing connectivity and speed. battery hungry beast yeah, but 3000mAh solve this problem thanks.
The Hermes can produce fairly good photos. Here's one photo I shot with my first JASJAM:
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Having said that, my current (second) JASJAM doesn't produce anything like the above photo. Instead it's more like the JAMin, with it's heavy-handed noise reduction turning all photos into water-color paintings. :-(
My outdoor pics look fine OK.
It's indoor pics with bad lighting in the day or with the indoor lights turned on at night where the pics look bad... Anything in bright daylight indoors, or in the daytime outside is fine usually.
im thinking the variation in quality between phones might have to do with the crappy transparent plastic in front of it. Not all plastic pieces are equally clear
Im too lazy at the moment, but my camera really sucks and the plastic on my phone is cracked and scratched. I'll remove it one day and see how it goes with no plastic in the way.
Ways to improve the picture of the camera are to
1. Take the sharpening from default 7 to 1
2. Reduce the contrast from default to 1 or 2
3. Change the metering mode Centre mode to Area (this help in low light)
4. Change quality from fine to super fine.
5. Manually switch between the white balance settings in low light to see which one is best.
Wam7 said:
Ways to improve the picture of the camera are to
2. Reduce the contrast from default to 1 or 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have owned a total of four different Hermes (three old HT649 HERM100 and a recent HT716 HERM200) and concluded that they are equipped with two types of cameras:
- The first type for which the above contrast setting does a great help to improve picture quality but at the same time the camera is not so sensitive and produces quite dark photos in low light. But this camera handles automatic white balance very well.
- The second type for which the above contrast setting completely ruins photos! But this camera is much more sensitive in low light but with very, very poor handling of auto white balance where for example dark magenta will appear as blue(!) and manual selection doesn't improve this.
so ive upgraded to a z2 but after comparing the side by side shots of both devices, the z is so much more sharper to the point where it has better details
orginal z
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z2
look at the clouds infront of the sun, total lack of sharpness on the z2. both shot superior auto and both automatically chose the backlight scene. oddly enough the z2 has almost double the file size.
andyukking said:
so ive upgraded to a z2 but after comparing the side by side shots of both devices, the z is so much more sharper to the point where it has better details
orginal z
z2
look at the clouds infront of the sun, total lack of sharpness on the z2. both shot superior auto and both automatically chose the backlight scene. oddly enough the z2 has almost double the file size.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the higher the resoltution of your picture the worse quality, as always but lowering to 2mp makes pictures almost identicle across all xperias aside the effects of different lense sizes given your taking a daylight shot
also take note that almost all current avaliable firmware versions have a small camera issue causing pictures to turn out yellowish or very unfocused
Envious_Data said:
the higher the resoltution of your picture the worse quality, as always but lowering to 2mp makes pictures almost identicle across all xperias aside the effects of different lense sizes given your taking a daylight shot
also take note that almost all current avaliable firmware versions have a small camera issue causing pictures to turn out yellowish or very unfocused
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The z2 captured at 8mp and the z at 12 mp (their superior auto modes).
After further experimentation. The camera is very sensitive to minor discrepancies in the autofocus. If I capture the same scene, some of them will be clear and others not. Also, I believe that the physical camera button adds am extra element of shake.
andyukking said:
The z2 captured at 8mp and the z at 12 mp (their superior auto modes).
After further experimentation. The camera is very sensitive to minor discrepancies in the autofocus. If I capture the same scene, some of them will be clear and others not. Also, I believe that the physical camera button adds am extra element of shake.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well i did find the Z2 camera to be realy good in manual mode but auto mode just makes pictures horrible, even in manual mode if your settings are auto they still turn out sharper than in auto,
i did do a test up against auto mode and we determined auto mode makes pictures less sharp and unbalanced in color
we also descovered the same issue for all 4.4 xperias, some being worse than others in auto mode
The SA mode on z1/z2 is extremely easy switch to sport mode when you just got minor hand shake and that will bump up the shutter speed and ISO. Thus the photo will probably appear more noise, darker and softer.
TheEndHK said:
The SA mode on z1/z2 is extremely easy switch to sport mode when you just got minor hand shake and that will bump up the shutter speed and ISO. Thus the photo will probably appear more noise, darker and softer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I absolutely agree with this. The Sport mode is ridiculous overzealous. I was just attempting to capture a totally static living room scene and the sport mode was flashing on and off whilst I was holding the device as still as possible.
So I got an s9+ and part of the reason I wanted the upgrade was the telephoto lens and having optical zoom. But within an hour of using the phone, by playing around with the camera and covering different lenses while browsing through the options, I noticed that I could not get the telephoto lens to activate only but a few times and for maybe a picture or two. Everything is being operated through the main sensor with variable aperture.
I guess my main question regarding the 2x telephoto lens is when exactly is it supposed to come into action? As far as my device goes, I have only consistently been able to get it to work with live focus, with the ability to see both wide angle and telephoto after the fact, so at least I know in some form it does work.
There have been many times when I first enter in the camera app, instantly press the 2x and noticed that the cameras did actually shift, only to have it switch back permanently within seconds.
Shooting video has been a mixed bag as well, i have tried different settings and zooming in and out and there have only been a couple times shooting videos that when 2x is hit, it actually changes to the 2x lens and it takes over from there. Besides those few times, there is absolutely no switch, both proved by the lack of choppy transition from each lens as well as the fact I can cover the sensor and nothing happens on the viewfinder when it says it's in 2x zoom.
Attached are some youtu.be links that I screen recorded in various situations, using Pinch to zoom, and also using the actual 2x zoom icon in the stock camera app. But still not being able to get the 2x to work. It seems like since I've noticed this issue, I can't get the lens to switch unless I'm using live focus and it has to take a photo from each lens. What's weird is the phone will go digital zoom all the way from 1x up to 10x and it is horrible, and I could've swore samsung advertises it being a 2x optical zoom with added digital zoom to achieve 10x but how could that be?
Any ideas of what Im doing wrong, if anything? Or is this something I should bring up to Samsung? Also I got my phone at Verizon so possibly try to get a replacement?
Thanks to everyone in advance!!
Interesting. Try live focus, the phone switches to that second camera. So does that mean in theory the s9 could also have 2x zoom by way of cropping image size?
Edit: should had read your whole post, but I am seeing the same.
Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
Ryan Cordero said:
Interesting. Try live focus, the phone switches to that second camera. So does that mean in theory the s9 could also have 2x zoom by way of cropping image size?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sry I misspoke a little on previous post, when I said live photo I meant using live focus. And yes, using live focus is the only real way that I can see proof the module is working, as after the picture is take I still have the option to select and edit either the main sensor or the 2x sensor.. It's very strange!
The telephoto camera is configured to only work in bright sunlight. Which is annoying.
trenzterra said:
The telephoto camera is configured to only work in bright sunlight. Which is annoying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats not true. I have tested it just now in my room, with no bright sunlight nor other bright light. When I click the x2 it zooms optically with the telephoto lens, I see it when I put my finger in front of it. What I saw, is that when I cover the telephoto lens completely, it then switches to the other lens, but if it is clear it works.
So I was able to do some more tests first thing after sunrise, and I am also seeing this being a lighting issue, or rather lack of light that's causing the main sensor to take over..
Most of my previous tests were done in my room and also in other dimly lit areas. Which explains why I was only able to get it working a couple times and the situation has to be right..
I tried it out last night and I noticed the 2x lens was being used only when I had a background light in the picture, and as soon as the light got out of the viewfinder, it would switch back to the main sensor.
I really appreciate your guy's help on this..
I'm not sure I like how samsung has this 2x lens setup and it's almost like the 2x sensor is so bad compared to the main sensor, that in almost all situations the main sensor will end with a better and cleaner picture. Is this how the Note 8 handles its 2x lens as well?
I've been playing around a little with my S9+, it looks like in auto mode, when set to "X2", it only switches to the secondary (narrow) camera when the light is very bright.
In pro mode (where I would've expected to be able to control the sensor in use), I couldn't get the secondary camera to work at all (even if I manually select F2.4 aperture, that matches both cameras).
I've also noticed the X1/X2 indication in auto mode gets mixed up on certain conditions.
I've been noticing this since day 1. Mostly indoors and low lighting, it's the digital zoom from the main shooter that comes into play. Rarely the Telephoto lens is used for 2x zoom and is used primarily for live focus.
android 9 tossed the "2x"
I just (02/23/19) upgraded my Galaxy S9 to Android 9 and have found that the camera app no longer has the "2X" on the screen to allow usage of the optical zoom lens. I there another way to access that?
It looks like this now
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this 52mm lens is bothering me.
Photos from 2x zoom under normal light and lowlight environment most of them are digital zoom photo from 26mm lenses (fake 52mm photo,digital zoom). Difficult to switch to real 52mm lens, sometime the 26mm digital zoom and 52mm preview screen have been switching continuously after press 2X button ,nonstop. sometime delay, sometime lagging.
I know that sometimes multiple cameras will be “camouflaged” into other focal lengths based on light level with digital zoom.But the requirement to switch to real 52mm lens is too harsh in xperia 1. In a restaurant normal light environment you just can't switch to 52mm.
In the same low light , when you lucky switch to a 52mm lens, the picture clarity is much better than the 26m digital zoom from 2X ,I compared a lot are all same result. Ps4 gamepad is illuminated with a desk lamp and use a phone tripod for stable，2X always on 26mm digital zoom status,try switch 1x-2x like 50 times,finally got a 52mm one. Hope this is just a software issue or separate case, I need to know do I have to go service or wait update.
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from 2X (52mm)
from 2X (still 26mm digital zoom)
left 52mm, right 26mm digital zoom,both 2X
rom 2X (still 26mm digital zoom)
from 2X (52mm)
J9110 Hong Kong version 55.0A.2.2.278
I just tried a few other xperia1 in store all the same problem, under bright light shooting dark object it switching continuously between 26mm digital zoom and 52mm lens ,.sometime delay, sometime lagging. It seems this is a software problem ，also 52mm lens focusing slow and unfocus in short distance sometime. Other say that the Note9 used to have the same problem.Hope this can be adjust better in software update.
After some trial，I found that when 2X macro shooting , it uses the 26mm digital zoom to get closer distance. This is no problem. The problem is that switching between 2X lenses and the main lens digital zoom in some common normal light environment is still annoying，for example, under regular supermarket lighting take some distant products,the effect of 52mm is much better than the digital zoom of the main camera,the camera seems very difficult to choose which one to use.The only way to sure switch 52mm is to use portrait mode, then drag the background blur effect to 0 , But the photo capacity is 15M, which is three times of the normal camera mode.
I tried other mobile phones, some of the main camera pixels are very high, so it is advisable to use the digital zoom of the main camera to simulate telephoto in some scenes.In xperia1 case need more detailed adjustment.
Same issues here ..
Hi All,
Could anyone explain to me if there is any real "proof" of the fact that Samsung Galaxy A52s 5G has Optical Image Stabilization (OIS)? I have compared it with Galaxy A32 4G phone and from the point of image stabilization settings there is no difference. Both have the "Video stabilization" option like in the attached picture so this must be a setting for EIS, not for OIS because A32 lacks OIS. In addition OIS I think also works in still picture mode.
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This confuses me a lot. Is OIS an "always on" feature that cannot be controlled? Like a hidden feature? I cannot tell the difference from the user/UI point of view when comparing A52 with A32 in this regard...
Best Regards,
ak_dev
Yes, OIS is always on. It is a mechanical feature and therefore you cannot turn it off. EIS (like with the video stabilisation) on the other hand is a software feature and so you can turn it off in software. OIS is far more powerful with still pictures than Electronic Image Stabilization.
If you look at the specs from Samsung you will notice that the camera of the A52s is listed as OIS and no one with credibility has doubted this.
OIS is mechanical and cannot be turned on or off.
The A52 uses OIS on it's main lense and can use EIS when you turn on Super Steady Mode which uses the Ultrawide lense.
Is it echoing in here….?
gerhard_wa said:
Is it echoing in here….?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh sorry
Thank you guys for confirming this.
In the meantime I have performed some side by side tests of A52s and A32 phones and I must say OIS is definitely there in A52s. I have turned off "Video stabilization" feature on both phones and took some videos. A32 videos were more shaky (I have a bit shaky hands) and the real difference could be seen when shooting a video at 10x zoom. A52s preview window was very stable, almost like there was little difference if I additionally turned on the "Video stabilization" feature. On the other hand, A32 videos were really shaky with "Video stabilization" feature off and went stable when I turned the stabilization feature on. So "Video stabilization" feature is for sure controlling only EIS.
I must add however that OIS is not strictly mechanical, but electro-mechanical method and nothing prevents this technology to be controlled from the phone if desired. Here is a nice whitepaper from STM32 on this topic:
https://www.st.com/content/ccc/resource/technical/document/white_paper/c9/a6/fd/e4/e6/4e/48/60/ois_white_paper.pdf/files/ois_white_paper.pdf/jcr:content/translations/en.ois_white_paper.pdf
Cheers.
There is a difference between electro-mechanical and electronic. The electro part of the OIS is a way to control the moving lens parts by electromagnets and the electronic part of EIS is a way of using the CPU to retain the picture steady in memory.
I will stick to my earlier statement that OIS is mechanical and EIS is electronic. I know of only one scenario when it could be of use to disable OIS and that is astrophotography. But to be honest I really do not think anyone will use the phone for this! There is no need to implement totally useless settings.
You can tell there's OIS just by looking on the lens when the camera app is on. Wiggle the phone around slightly and slowly and you can see the middle lens slightly lagging behind the motion, sometimes even showing parts of flat ring around the lens. When you turn the camera off, the lens doesn't do that.
Also when you look to viewfinder and wiggle the phone with normal camera, it feels much smoother than with e.g. non-stabilised wide camera.
And if you just shake the phone (doesn't have to be on), you can hear slight clicking of the floating lens.