The most effective digital camera is at all times the one you might have with you. That makes a smartphone’s digital camera certainly one of its most essential options—in any case, telephone makers have been vying for the title of the “greatest digital camera telephone” for many years. Apparently, the highest Chinese language telephones at present have loopy good digital camera {hardware}; specifically, massive sensors that promise to improve the standard of the images captured on a telephone. Sadly, you may’t purchase most of them within the US.
However to seek out out which telephone befits the crown, and the way these massive sensors stack up, I carried out a digital camera shootout with the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, Oppo Find X7 Ultra, and the Honor Magic 6 Pro. For a preferred level of comparability, I included the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus. I shot numerous images with these telephones. Beneath are only a few examples, with temporary explanations of the completely different {hardware} and software program approaches the producers have taken and why.
With every set of images, I’ve ranked them with my favourite first, however you could disagree. All of the images have been taken with every telephone’s automated settings, as that’s how most individuals will use them. Honestly, there isn’t an important distinction more often than not. I put images from the Samsung Galaxy S24+ final for comparability.
The {Hardware} Specs
Every telephone options an unlimited digital camera system filled with cutting-edge digital camera tech. Right here’s a fast breakdown of the principle digital camera specs:
- Xiaomi 14 Extremely: 50-MP foremost digital camera, 50-MP ultrawide, 50-MP telephoto, 50-MP periscope telephoto
- Oppo Discover X7 Extremely: 50-MP foremost digital camera, 50-MP ultrawide, 50-MP periscope telephoto, 50-MP periscope telephoto
- Honor Magic 6 Professional: 50-MP foremost digital camera, 50-MP Ultrawide, 180-MP periscope telephoto
I am not pitting the Galaxy S24 Plus towards these three; it’s included for comparability functions. However listed here are its specs anyway:
- Samsung Galaxy S24+: 50-MP foremost digital camera, 10-MP telephoto, 12-MP ultrawide
Essential Cameras
The primary digital camera is the one you’ll use most frequently. All three telephones have wonderful, versatile foremost cameras able to capturing gorgeous images in several circumstances and eventualities. Level and shoot, and most of the time, you’ll be happy by the outcomes. Nonetheless, there are important variations within the technical capabilities.
All of those telephones have massive sensors. The Xiaomi and the Oppo have the Sony LYT-900 1-inch sensor, whereas the Honor has a smaller H9000 OmniVision 1/1.28-inch sensor. The bigger the sensor, the extra gentle it could possibly soak up shortly, so low-light images needs to be clearer and fewer vulnerable to movement blur.
The aperture is the opening of the lens that lets gentle in, and it really works very similar to the pupil of your eye. Each the Xiaomi 14 Extremely (f/1.63 to f/4.0) and the Honor Magic 6 Professional (f/1.4 to f/2.0) have variable apertures. The f-stops point out the aperture measurement, with a decrease quantity denoting a bigger aperture able to letting in additional gentle. The Oppo Discover X7 Extremely (f/1.8) has the identical fastened aperture because the Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus (f/1.8).
The potential drawback with a big sensor and a big aperture is which you could find yourself with a shallow depth of subject. The digital camera has issue specializing in the whole lot. That may be nice if you end up taking a portrait shot and desire a bokeh impact, however with close-ups, you would possibly get blurring across the edges, and with panorama pictures, you would possibly lose focus within the foreground or background. A variable aperture reduces that drawback, permitting for a wider depth of subject to maintain the whole lot in a bunch shot or panorama in focus. (We clarify many of those digital camera phrases in our How to Shop for a Camera guide.)