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Huawei P20 Pro quick camera test

We take a quick look at the Huawei P20 Pro’s highlight feature — the triple cameras. We ran simple tests and took some shots to see how it performs.


Huawei P20 Pro Cameras

More doesn’t always mean better, but that wasn’t the case with the Huawei P20 Pro. The phone’s highlight feature is undoubtedly the triple camera system co-engineered with Leica. It has a combined 68MP which consists of a 40MP RGB sensor, a 20MP monochrome sensor, and an 8MP telephoto sensor.

Editor’s note: All sample images on this post has been resized in Adobe Photoshop with quality set at 70. No other alterations were made.

huawei p20 pro camera

Before we begin, let’s take a look at the P20’s sensors.

The primary 40MP camera uses a large-than-usual 1/1.78-inch Quad-Bayer sensor, which is capable of capturing 20% more light than the ones used by its rivals. Having more light means it can take better quality photos with more detail and colors.

The main sensor is supported by a 20MP monochrome camera with a 1/2.78-inch sized sensor. This secondary sensor has several purposes: one, it provides depth information that helps the camera adjust for bokeh or that blurred background effect that’s taking smartphone cameras by storm; two, it helps minimizes image noise, improves dynamic range, and adds more details; three, it assists in digital zooming; and finally, four, it can also be used to shoot monochromatic or black and white photos.

The third camera uses an 8MP 1/4.4-inch sized RGB sensor with a telephoto lens. This offers a long 3x optical zoom, and up to 5x hybrid zoom when working with the other two cameras.

All three sensors have optical image stabilization (OIS), laser autofocus, and a color temperature sensor that helps keep white balance accurate.

To achieve the maximum performance from the sensors, the phone takes 40MP resolution photos, and compiles all the information and the details it captured into a 10MP image. Take note that you can use the full 40MP through the camera settings if you want, but the general consensus is that you’re better off at the default 10MP.

The results are well-balanced and clean photos with good detail, vibrant colors, great dynamic range, and minimal noise.

Here are some photo examples from the P20 Pro.

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

Super Night Mode

The P20 Pro’s large sensor helps it capture more light, allowing it to produce one of the best low-light results of any phone. The phone uses a pixel binning technique, that stacks images taken at various exposures into a single image. The process is assisted by Huawei’s AI technology, and allows users handheld shooting at low-light with a 4-second shutter speed.

Here are some samples taken during night time. I was surprised to cloud details, as well as a couple of stars.

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

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Zoom

The triple camera system also affords the P20 Pro a 3x optical zoom and 5x hybrid zoom. Details on the 3x zoom are decent with good colors. At 5x, the image is still good, but with minor loss of detail and sharpness.

Sample images:

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

huawei p20 pro camera

Conclusion

I’ve been using the Huawei P20 Pro as my go to camera phone since I had it. I can confidently say that it is one of the best cameras on any smartphone right now. Camera-wise, it has a good lead over competition. Huawei has outdone themselves with this one.

I highly recommend it to those who want to improve the quality of their photos, but don’t want to invest on a DSLR system or a prosumer camera.

As the saying goes, the best camera is the one you have with you. And right now, the Huawei P20 Pro is the best

Huawei P20 Pro Specs:

  • 6.1-inch Full HD+ OLED Display (2240 x 1080, 408 ppi)
  • 18:9 Aspect Ratio, 3D Glass
  • Octa-Core HiSilicon Kirin 970 Processor + i7 Co-Processor
  • Mali-G72 MP12 GPU
  • Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU)
  • 6GB RAM
  • 128GB Storage +microSD
  • Triple Rear Leica Cameras 40MP RGB (f/1.8)+ 20MP Monochrome (f/1.6) + 8MP Telephoto (f/2.4), 5x Hybrid Zoom, 4K
  • Video, 960fps Super Slow Motion
  • 24MP Front Camera, f/2.0
  • Dual SIM
  • 5G, 4G LTE
  • Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Dual Band
  • Bluetooth v4.2
  • GPS
  • Fingerprint Sensor
  • NFC, USB Type-C
  • IR Blaster
  • IP67 Water and Dust Resistance
  • EMUI 8.1, Android 8.1 Oreo
  • Colors: Twilight, Midnight Blue, Graphite Black
  • 4,000 mAh Battery

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Bryan is a geek at heart and a tech enthusiast by choice. He has a strong background in corporate communications, marketing services, and customer relations having worked in the telecommunications and banking sectors for over two decades. In his spare time, he enjoys watching clips on YouTube and binge watching shows on Netflix.

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