With the rapid development of mobile phones in photographing in recent years, smart phones have long replaced card cameras and become the main tool for people to record their lives. The once bustling card machine market has also disappeared. Compared with the card machine, the mobile phone has the characteristics of small size, easy to carry, lower difficulty to use and better usability. But at the same time, it also has some drawbacks. Due to the limitation of the size of the phone body, it is difficult to plug large size sensors into the phone body. Therefore, the pace of smart phones in photography has slowed down in the past year, but this has not affected some brands that actively explore unknown areas. Huawei is one of them. In the spring and summer of 2018, Huawei brought us a heavyweight product, Huawei P20 Pro, equipped with Leica's three camera configuration.
When it comes to Huawei P20 Pro, the most concerned thing is the hardware configuration of the camera. The camera group is composed of three lenses with 4000+2000+8 million pixels, of which 40 million are color cameras, 20 million are black and white cameras, and 8 million are telephoto cameras (optical anti shake).
The specific parameters are as follows: the main camera is 40 million pixels, 1/1.7 inch CMOS (IMX600), F1.8 aperture, and supports 960fps HD slow video; Sub camera: 20 million pixels, 1/2.78 inch, F1.6 aperture; 8 megapixel 3x optical zoom sub camera, 1/4.4 inch, with optical anti shake, F2.4 aperture. This is also the most brutal camera configuration on smart phones at present. The total score of DxOMark Mobile is up to 109 points, including 114 points for taking photos and 98 points for videos, which is far away from other competitors.
Although Nokia first equipped a 40 megapixel camera on its mobile phone, the use experience is not superior. To some extent, it is more like demonstrating advanced technology. However, compared with the former, Huawei is more pragmatic this time. Although the effective pixels of this 1/1.73 inch sensor are 40 million, by default, Quad Bayer, that is, the technology of four pixels in one, will be used. Therefore, the default output is 10 million pixels of photos, which is also a safe way for small size and high pixel sensors to obtain high sensitivity, But this solution has higher requirements for the algorithm. Let's take a look at the specific imaging effect. Now let's see how the P20 Pro, which has been carefully polished, performs compared with other competitors.
Daytime scene
Top left - iPhone X | Bottom left - Samsung Note8 | Top right - Huawei P20 Pro | Bottom right - Xiaomi MIX 2s
Local amplification
Because of the addition of intelligent AI scene recognition, P20 Pro will carry out targeted color mixing according to different scenes, so the color orientation is slightly different, the overall appearance will be more pleasing, but the sense of oil painting is biased, so AI scenes are not used in the following comparison. 100% enlarged detail,
Top left - iPhone X | Bottom left - Samsung Note8 | Top right - Huawei P20 Pro | Bottom right - Xiaomi MIX 2s
Local amplification
The overall impression of this set of scenes is that the performance of the four models is basically at the same level, the white balance is very accurate, and the exposure is almost the same. The performance of the two flagship mobile phones in the daytime, especially the overall effect, is difficult to widen the gap, which is basically between Zhongbo. The real gap is often more prominent in dark environments. After local magnification, there are still some differences in details, such as glass texture details and logo and text on the top of the building.
Top left - iPhone X | Bottom left - Samsung Note8 | Top right - Huawei P20 Pro | Bottom right - Xiaomi MIX 2s
Local amplification
In this group of scenes, there are some differences in exposure. P20 Pro and iPhone X are basically the same. P20 Pro has better sharpening and noise control. The picture is relatively clean, and iPhone X has a little heavy graininess. Note8 performs well, but its exposure is slightly lower.
It should be pointed out that the P20 Pro's automatic mode uses the four in one pixel viewfinder, so the actual pixel of the photos output under the automatic mode is 10 million pixels, so it is understandable that the details are slightly inferior to the 12 million pixel sensor, but fortunately, the P20 Pro can also be switched to 40 million pixels for shooting, In this part, we will see the effect of the 40 megapixel shooting mode.
Automatic mode VS 40 megapixel VS iPhone X VS Samsung Note8
Top left - P20 automatic mode | Bottom left - P20 40 million pixels | Top right - P20 super night view | Bottom right - Samsung Note8
Local amplification
After the 40 million pixel mode is turned on, the improvement in discrimination is obvious, which not only greatly surpasses the automatic mode of the home, but also is stronger than the iPhone X and Samsung Note8. In particular, the edge of the building is sharpened and the details of the window are retained.
Top left - P20 automatic mode | Bottom left - P20 40 million pixels | Top right - P20 super night view | Bottom right - Samsung Note8
Local amplification
In this group of scenes, the advantage of 4000 pixels in the ultimate discrimination can also be reflected. The details of the main body of the building and the levels of the edge leaves are the best models to retain, and the picture purity is also higher. However, the algorithm has smeared the solid color part to a certain extent. On the whole, in the daytime performance, although the analytical power under the automatic mode is slightly insufficient, the ultimate analytical power of shooting under 40 million pixels is better than that of other flagship models with 12 million pixels. For ordinary users, it is relatively easy to use the automatic mode in daily situations. Although the pixels are not enough, there is no pressure for normal users to send friends, microblogs, etc., while the extreme imaging quality party that likes 100% magnification can open the 40 million pixel mode when the light is relatively bright, If Huawei can automatically switch 10 million/40 million pixels according to the light, it is believed that the experience will go to a higher level.
P20 Pro will adjust the color trend of the samples that stimulate scene recognition in the daytime samples, and the color of the pictures will be more pleasing, especially the trees and flowers, which will be more colorful and more optimized. This may be the preference of users who like Leica color mixing. In addition, P20 Pro retains two color blending modes: bright and soft, which also provides more choices for consumers who like Leica's color blending straight out effect.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that AI is helpful for taking photos. The Kirin 970 has a built-in NPU, which brings an AI function that can automatically select scenes when taking photos to adjust the photographing parameters. If Mate 10 is just a small test, the AI chip on P20 Pro has finally begun to make a big impact. This time, P20 Pro has added the scene recognition ability of more than 500 scenes in 19 categories. Intelligent scene recognition is still quite fast, and it will adjust the corresponding color trend and exposure duration according to different objects when taking pictures, although it cannot be said very accurately, However, its practicability is higher than that of other models that also claim to adopt AI intelligent scenarios.
Light scene
Top left - iPhone X | Bottom left - Samsung Note8 | Top right - Huawei P20 Pro | Bottom right - Xiaomi MIX 2s
Local amplification
As the light drops, several mobile phones finally show different performances. Exposure takes this as millet iPhone X、 Huawei P20 Pro is similar to Note8. The color temperature is also slightly different. The P20 Pro is relatively warm. The Samsung Note8 is also very similar in color temperature. The P20 Pro has a slightly better color perception. After partial magnification, P20 Pro is the cleanest picture, followed by Samsung Note8. It has a slightly grainy feel, and iPhone X has a heavier grainy feel. The image of Xiaomi MIX 2s is also very clean, with good details and sharpening, but the color performance is somewhat unnatural.
Top left - iPhone X | Bottom left - Samsung Note8 | Top right - Huawei P20 Pro | Bottom right - Xiaomi MIX 2s
Local amplification
In this group of samples, the color temperature of Huawei P20 Pro is close to that of iPhone X, while that of Samsung Note8 is close to that of Xiaomi. The colors of the first two are obviously more pleasing. After partial magnification, the Samsung Note8 performs best, with good sharpening and noise control. The second is Huawei P20 Pro. The text is also clear, slightly grainy, and sharpening is not so heavy. Xiaomi also did a good job, but the sharpening effect was general, so the performance of the text was not outstanding enough.
Low light scene
Top left - iPhone X | Bottom left - Samsung Note8 | Top right - Huawei P20 Pro | Bottom right - Xiaomi MIX 2s
Local amplification
When it came to the low light scene, the gap was finally widened. P20 Pro's purity performance was good. Even without magnification, it could see that the purity of the picture was higher than the other three. The graininess was very light. Especially, it was the highest overall picture brightness among the four mobile phones, which made such purity even more valuable. After local amplification, although the P20 Pro also has slight noise, it is better than the other three. In addition to the advantages in picture purity, its performance in details and sharpening is also quite excellent. It can be said that it is the most excellent model for sharpening at present, and its night view performance is indeed one grade higher than the other three models.
Top left - iPhone X | Bottom left - Samsung Note8 | Top right - Huawei P20 Pro | Bottom right - Xiaomi MIX 2s
Local amplification
In this group of samples, the overall appearance of the four samples is not much different. Except for Xiaomi's moving noise, the other three sets have no obvious graininess. After partial magnification, P20 Pro still has advantages in image purity. The image is smeared clean without obvious noise, and the sharpening is still excellent. Next is Samsung Note8, and then iPhone X. The noise is really moving. It is worth mentioning that Xiaomi MIX 2s can be divided into night view mode and HDR mode at night, but the performance is worse after the automatic HDR function is turned on. However, in these two groups of low light scenes, Xiaomi has activated HDR mode, so... the effect of local magnification is a bit terrible.
Automatic mode VS super night view VS iPhone X VS Samsung Note8
Top left - P20 automatic mode | bottom left - iPhone X | top right - P20 super night view | bottom right - Samsung Note8
Local amplification
If the automatic night view mode still has a contrast in the overall appearance, Huawei P20 Pro, which has opened the super night view mode, will open a greater gap in the leading edge. Under the condition that the shooting subject and the bright part are not exposed, the brightness of the dark part is also improved to the greatest extent. Even if there is no overall effect comparison of amplification, the other two contrast models are also abandoned. The gap is more obvious after the dark part is enlarged. Only the small square near the lake that opens the super night view can be called "retaining the details". Although the overall outline can be seen in the automatic mode, it is still blurry, but it is still ahead of the other two comparison models.
Top left - P20 automatic mode | bottom left - iPhone X | top right - P20 super night view | bottom right - Samsung Note8
Local amplification
In this group of scenes, the performance is also similar, both overall and local, showing the far ahead night shooting ability. The performance in extreme low light is really amazing, which can explain why P20 Pro easily topped the DxOMark Mobile list to a certain extent. After all, the current flagship mobile phones are difficult to open the gap under sufficient light, and the night view is the main battlefield of each family.
For the super night view mode with excellent performance, it is time to mention NPU again. In addition to its application in intelligent scene recognition of photography, Huawei also integrates AI into anti shake. This anti shake technology integrating optical, electronic anti shake and AI is named AIS anti shake. In the super night scene, the AIS anti shake function is shown. In our dark light test scene, the night scene needs a shooting time of 4-6 seconds. We use handheld photography, and the photos are still not blurred. As we all know, it is difficult for ordinary people to keep their arms from shaking for a long time, especially for such a long exposure time, which has never been seen in smartphones in the past. Even Samsung, which is famous for its photography experience, still needs to maintain stability for a short time after triggering HDR.
Telephoto lens
In terms of telephoto, Huawei P20 Pro's solution is different from that of iPhone X and Note8. The latter two adopt the solution of wide-angle lens+telephoto lens. When shooting telephoto, they mainly rely on the telephoto lens. Huawei has previously tried color wide-angle+black and white high pixels, and the telephoto is completed through high pixels+sharpening+algorithm, which is another popular telephoto solution. This time, Huawei tried the solution of color wide-angle+telephoto lens+black and white high pixels on the P20 Pro, mixing the advantages of the two solutions, which is why the P20 Pro uses up to three cameras.
Top left - iPhone X | Bottom left - Samsung Note8 | Top right - Huawei P20 Pro | Bottom right - Xiaomi MIX 2s
Local amplification
Although the solution seems somewhat complicated, it is obvious that Huawei is worth the ticket price. The color wide-angle+3 times telephoto+20 million black and white hybrid solution has obvious advantages in terms of ultimate discrimination. It does well in both details and sharpening. In theory, the 3 times optical telephoto has advantages over the 2 times telephoto of the three comparison models, When zoomed in to the same size, the focus section of the P20 Pro has not been exhausted, let alone the 40 million pixel main camera and the 20 million black and white camera.
Top left - iPhone X | Bottom left - Samsung Note8 | Top right - Huawei P20 Pro | Bottom right - Xiaomi MIX 2s
Local amplification
This set of scenes also illustrates the problem. P20 Pro performs better both in terms of text performance and glass wall texture. In addition to Huawei, the Samsung Note8 is the best performer. Most of the texture has been retained, but the dark loss is relatively large. The performance of the Xiaomi MIX 2s is really a bit different from that of this class of models. Although it is the best model in the Xiaomi series both in terms of photo experience and imaging effect, there is still a certain gap from the top flagship's photo ability.
Top left - iPhone X | Bottom left - Samsung Note8 | Top right - Huawei P20 Pro | Bottom right - Xiaomi MIX 2s
Local amplification
As the first three camera model and the first model adopting the color wide-angle+telephoto camera+black and white high pixel hybrid telephoto scheme, it has almost no rivals in terms of ultimate discrimination, which also provides a good model for other mobile phone manufacturers. However, the requirements of three camera collaborative work on algorithms are also higher than those of traditional double camera, and the soft power test of manufacturers is also more demanding. In addition, the viewfinder range of the 3x zoom is smaller than that of the 2x zoom, so there will be a slight limitation in the use of the scene.
Automatic mode VS 40 million pixels VS 3x telephoto VS 5x telephoto
Since the default output of P20 Pro's automatic mode is 10 million pixels, some users may be curious about the analytical power of the 40 million pixel mode. Therefore, we conducted a comparative test on P20 Pro's automatic mode, 40 million pixel mode, 3x telephoto, and 5x telephoto.
Top left - automatic mode | bottom left - 3x telephoto | top right - 40 million pixels | bottom right - 5x telephoto
Top left - automatic mode | bottom left - 3x telephoto | top right - 40 million pixels | bottom right - 5x telephoto
Top left - automatic mode | bottom left - 3x telephoto | top right - 40 million pixels | bottom right - 5x telephoto
Among the four modes of local amplification and contrast, the best performance is obviously the effect of triple telephoto. Although the triple proof is not a complete optical scheme according to the analysis of the pixels of three cameras, it is the shooting mode closest to the pure optical scheme in the four modes. It is the best one in terms of resolution, sharpening and imaging stability. It is worth mentioning that the 5x telephoto also has high practicability. Although the stability performance in dark light is average, it is still better than the automatic mode and the 40 million pixel mode. In the first group of scenes, it even slightly wins the 3x telephoto.
summary
As the model with the most luxurious camera configuration among smart phones, Huawei P20 Pro is undoubtedly a heavyweight product. Its Leica three camera combination of 40 million+20 million+8 million pixels is the first smart phone in the industry that uses a large base+ultra-high pixels+combined camera group. Although the 40 megapixel camera once appeared in the era of Nokia PureView, it is more dazzling than practical value, and does not reach the imaging height of P20 Pro.
As one of the current masterpieces of smartphone photography, Huawei P20 Pro can be said to refresh our understanding of night scene photography to some extent. The performance of super night scene has left us a deep impression. It is not enough to call it "night vision device". In addition to its outstanding night scene ability, its telephoto shooting ability also shows the ability of crushing. The ability of 40 million pixels main shooting+3 times telephoto+20 million pixels black and white is amazing. In the current mobile photography field, especially night photography and telephoto, P20 Pro is undoubtedly the most powerful model at present. This time, P20 Pro is truly worthy of the title of DxOMark Mobile.
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