The launch of the latest OnePlus flagships is well underway and one of the new OnePlus 7 Pro’s biggest features is its improved camera, now ranked at DxOMark as the third-highest ranking smartphone snapper ever.
On the primary sensors, the French photography benchmarking firm gave the new handset a score of 111 — using a firmware update that will be available on all of the devices by the end of the month. For selfies, a reduced but still respectable score of 86 was given.
The former score can be split between photos and video with 118 points for the former and a score of 98 on the latter. Autofocus, Flash, and Exposure are highlighted on each side, with stabilization also earning a high rank for videos. In fact, no area of the device’s cameras scored below a 70 in the benchmark.
Breaking those scores down, DxO indicates that a high level of accuracy can be had across a wide dynamic range from the new OnePlus flagship and that details remain preserved in all conditions and even in long-range shots.
Holding the score back, are frame sharpness variances in ‘walking videos’ and other discrepancies in clarity on that side of the equation. For photos, the firm says that luminance becomes a problem in indoor images and that white balance ‘casts’ are sometimes visible. Exposure of a photo’s subject isn’t always perfect either, especially when they’re backlit.
Selfie captures are understandably more varied in terms of where the camera performs or doesn’t, likely owing to its single sensor configuration. For instance, although categories of Exposure, Color, and Flash, were highly rated, Bokeh and Texture scored less than 60 for photos. For Videos, Texture, Focus, and Noise all scored below 70.
The OnePlus 7 Pro does, however, feature the best smartphone front-camera flash yet to be tested, the firm says. Where it falls short is in its narrow depth of field for both video and photos. DxOMark also points to clipping in high-contrast circumstances and other noise or distortions on the photo side, as well as camera shake and detail-dropping or artifacts on the video side.
Behind the score
Helping drive the OnePlus 7 Pro’s placement just a point short of the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G and Huawei P30 Pro is an array of brand new sensor hardware. That’s a three-camera array on the back and a single pop-up sensor on the front — which OnePlus has said can support over 40lbs and slide in and out over 300,000 times without mechanical issue.
The first of the three primary snappers is of a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor with a 12-Megapixel output. That’s a 26mm-equivalent lens with an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization (OIS), set over a half-inch sensor. The OIS feature is also found on the f/2.4 aperture 78mm-equivalent 8-megapixel telephoto sensor — for around three-times zoom. Finally, a 16-megapixel sensor is included that’s a 17mm-equivalent with an f/2.2 aperture.
The cameras are equipped with Laser and PDAF autofocus with automatic switching as well as video recording at 4K at up to 60 frames-per-second or 30 frames-per-second by default. A dual-LED flash is in place to back up that array.
On the other side of the flagship, OnePlus includes a 16-megapixel one-third-inch Sony IMX471 sensor with 1µm pixels. That’s fixed focus at the equivalent of a 25mm lens and has an f/2 aperture.
The cost of a better photo
Now, the OnePlus 7 Pro is loaded with a number of other features including one of the best displays yet added to a smartphone and “true” dual front-facing stereo speakers powered by Dolby Atmos. It has the latest hardware under the hood, driven by a Snapdragon 855 SoC, a choice of up to 12GB RAM, and UFS 3.0 storage that’s nearly 80-percent faster than the previous flagship or other available devices.
The camera isn’t only lauded by DxOMark either, as OnePlus hired a National Geographic photographer to go on assignment with only the OnePlus 7 Pro, explore the features, and present examples during its launch.
The impressive device isn’t able to hold down the company’s previous pricing traditions either as a result. With its cost reflecting the latest features all packed inside and a better camera than most other devices, buyers can expect to pay around $669/€669 for the base model, with steady increases for higher capacities and memory.
