3x Optical zoom? - Huawei P20 Pro Questions & Answers

How does the zoom actually work?
From the specs both colour lenses are fixed, so below 3 times, is this simply digital zoom on the wide lens?
At 3x it also does not seem to always switch to the telephoto lens. Why?
I bought the phone for the camera abilities but currently question whether they work as advertised.
One review mentioned Open Camera as a better alternative, so I tried that, but from testing, that seems to never use the telephoto lens in any conditions?
I notice as well that apps like Lightroom do not pick up an option for the second lens either.

Ajf350d said:
How does the zoom actually work?
From the specs both colour lenses are fixed, so below 3 times, is this simply digital zoom on the wide lens?
At 3x it also does not seem to always switch to the telephoto lens. Why?
I bought the phone for the camera abilities but currently question whether they work as advertised.
One review mentioned Open Camera as a better alternative, so I tried that, but from testing, that seems to never use the telephoto lens in any conditions?
I notice as well that apps like Lightroom do not pick up an option for the second lens either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I dont claim to be an expert, but I think I can answer your questions
Yes, any zoom level below 3x is effectively digital based. It's not a straight crop so you will get better results from using that zoom than cropping in to a wide shot later.
For 3x zoom will use the tele camera provided the subject is far enough away for it to focus, and there is enough light. i.e trying to take macro-type shots with the zoom lens is a no go, and in low light the software will use the big primary sensor as the tiny sensor used for the tele would just give a noisy mess of an image.
N.B: The image preview shown in the app when zooming doesn't always update to reflect the feed coming from the tele lens. (you can normally see it transition) when you actually take the image, it will use the correct lens for the conditions, even if the preview suggested otherwise.
Seems that third party apps can't access the other sensors, at least for now.
Finally, the same as above it true when recording video. Contrary to what some sites have reported the phone WILL switch to the tele camera for zoom levels of 3x+, and can do so whilst recording. The same applies as photos, 1-2.9x will be digital zoom (and for video is does appear to be a straight crop, no clever digi-zoom). In this range the quality is pretty poor, so try videoing a 1x or 3x only. (note the tele cam has ois which is great for shake-free video)

Thanks for thr clarification.
Think I understand better now what is happening!
I had also emailed Huawei support and their response was basically the same.
Think it would be good to have this clearer in reviews and spec sheets though.
I am generally happy with the camera but bought it to use the 3x a lot for close ups, which seems to be one scenario where it may not be using the actual tele lens in full.

Thank you!
I've been having same issue all day with my new P20 pro and been thinking that the phone or app is broken. So pleased the 3x works like that. I'll now try test it. ?
Thanks for giving this response. B&W sensor on it is insanely good so I was bummed by the broken 3x

Related

Purple-green line when recording selfie FHD+

Hi everyone,
I just reinstalled the Android 9 update on my dual sim p20 pro. When I tried to film in selfie mode with the highest resolution setting FHD+, I noticed a big horizontal line. Does anyone else experience the same glitch?
Hmm, no i dont have this but i guess this is why its called a beta update Have you tried to clear the camera cache and data?
Hi, I cleared it now but it seems to be the same. I did not have the beta update, I actually received the official 9.0.0.106 update. However, it seems to work just fine in open camera. So it seems to be a software issue for me...
Very interesting though. I just found out that if I activate stabilization in open camera, I get a similar effect but on the edges.
Wow, this phone has such garbage software. I hope this is the last thing I post about it but I just found out multpile things. First of all, all three lenses from the back are OIS capable but none of them use it except the telephoto lens, this means when zooming 3x (http://www.mobilenewsmag.com/huawei-lies-about-the-optical-image-stabilization-on-huawei-p20-pro/), but only in certain conditions. The green lines that appear on my selfie footage are from the digital stabilization algoryhtms badly applied. Also, when recording FULL HD, with 60 FPS, the telephoto lens does not work no matter how much you zoom. If, however, you select FULL HD with 30 FPS, digital stabilization kicks in for the wide lens, it crops my footage in order to compensate for the jittery movement instead of applying true OIS which it can do, and only then does the telephoto lens kick in at 3x zoom. Another "great" thing is that when filimg 4k, the crappy software also kicks in and crops my image making it much smaller than in live view, and it applies blurry digital stabilization... Worst decision to spend my money... never again buying chinese phones.

Is there a way to force the zoom lens at lower light?

The question is simple.
Sometimes it switches back and forth from the zoom lens to the main one and vice versa in lower light conditions.
Would be nice to have the option to manually select which one we want. Even tho the conditions are a bit darker the image would still look better with the zoom lens tho.
Btw I love the phone. Awesome piece of tech.
interesting question... follow it
Photone69 said:
The question is simple.
Sometimes it switches back and forth from the zoom lens to the main one and vice versa in lower light conditions.
Would be nice to have the option to manually select which one we want. Even tho the conditions are a bit darker the image would still look better with the zoom lens tho.
Btw I love the phone. Awesome piece of tech.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any zoom at 10X plus, it switches.
shollywood said:
Any zoom at 10X plus, it switches.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm mainly talking about the 5x optical one. In lower light it can switch to the other lens. It's more apparent with it's switching back and forth.
Photone69 said:
The question is simple.
Sometimes it switches back and forth from the zoom lens to the main one and vice versa in lower light conditions.
Would be nice to have the option to manually select which one we want. Even tho the conditions are a bit darker the image would still look better with the zoom lens tho.
Btw I love the phone. Awesome piece of tech.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found a way to trick it and switch to the zoom lense in low light conditions, zoom in to 5.1 instead of 5 and it will trigger the zoom lens.
I would also advise you to use the night mode while zooming in conditions where light isn't that sufficient.
Here are three images that I just took to show the difference. One is at x5 zoom, which used the regular lens, then at 5.1 which triggered the zoom lens, then also at 5.1 but in night mode.
Maher.k22 said:
I found a way to trick it and switch to the zoom lense in low light conditions, zoom in to 5.1 instead of 5 and it will trigger the zoom lens.
I would also advise you to use the night mode while zooming in conditions where light isn't that sufficient.
Here are three images that I just took to show the difference. One is at x5 zoom, which used the regular lens, then at 5.1 which triggered the zoom lens, then also at 5.1 but in night mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very useful. Thank you!
I tried that solution, but it still doesn't force it to change the lens. This happens on video as well. Any other suggestions??
soldier16 said:
I tried that solution, but it still doesn't force it to change the lens. This happens on video as well. Any other suggestions??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In like really really low light conditions, it won't work as the zoom lens becomes useless, unless you switch to x10 zoom.
As for videos, make sure you're not using 1080 60fps,because even during daytime, the camera will never switch to the zoom lens, as it's not capable of shooting at 60 fps.
Yeah its still very hit or miss even in night mode. I'll be in a well lit room and zoom in one of the objects. It'll start off with the perdicope lens and then switch back to the other one. The picture quality is very different from both
It switches back and forth due to lighting availability when it focused on the subject.
If light is not enough, the 5x optical zoom will shift into digital zoom because the 3.5 aperture will be dark enough to produce good photos and the main camera with 1.6 aperture will take over. It is just like how samsung shifts its camera mode during night shot where its telephoto lens was taken over by main camera due to poor lighting condition.
Try to shoot it both (digital and optical)and you'll see on the exif file that it is shifting camera mode, one is with 1.6f and the other one is with 3.4f.
Based on my observation during a good lighting condition, the camera is doing the following:
1x to 4.9x is digital zoom (using main camera)
5x optical zoom (using periscope camera)
5.1x to 10x is hybrid lossless zoom (using periscope)
10.1x-50x digital zoom (using periscope)
For pictures in pro mode you can enable raw file and it will restrict you to only optical which will force the 5x zoom lens but you can't use any digital zooming
Maybe in pro mode using tripod and long exposure time
Thats weird, I have never seen my model switch lens without my input.
Is it supposed to?
Saying that zoomed pictures in lowlight is a processing nightmare, they come out looking like drawings
Install this, select CAM 5 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lensesdev.manual.camera.pro
Maher.k22 said:
I found a way to trick it and switch to the zoom lense in low light conditions, zoom in to 5.1 instead of 5 and it will trigger the zoom lens.
I would also advise you to use the night mode while zooming in conditions where light isn't that sufficient.
Here are three images that I just took to show the difference. One is at x5 zoom, which used the regular lens, then at 5.1 which triggered the zoom lens, then also at 5.1 but in night mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found out that using the periscope camera at night or in low-light environments, for example, with 50x zoom, the Automatic Mode produces better overall quality photos than with Night Mode or HDR Mode. Maybe the Automatic Mode makes a better use/control of the periscope sensor OIS.
PS: loving the Aperture Mode - it produces DSLR-style photos with a short depth of field
☀ Sent from SUN
7UIS said:
I found out that using the periscope camera at night or in low-light environments, for example, with 50x zoom, the Automatic Mode produces better overall quality photos than with Night Mode or HDR Mode. Maybe the Automatic Mode makes a better use/control of the periscope sensor OIS.
PS: loving the Aperture Mode - it produces DSLR-style photos with a short depth of field
☀ Sent from SUN
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really because if you can shoot with periscope camera in manual mode, increasing the shutter speed you can reach result that cannot reach with prime sensor
Actually distance between the subject and phone also matters. If the camera is not able to focus at a subject properly it will shift to regular lens. The focal length of telephoto lens is different and requires some distance to trigger. Also if you want to force the telephoto lens to shoot then use Pro Mode.
In my opinion distance plays a more important role in switching to telephoto lens.
Reeb_Lam said:
Actually distance between the subject and phone also matters. If the camera is not able to focus at a subject properly it will shift to regular lens. The focal length of telephoto lens is different and requires some distance to trigger. Also if you want to force the telephoto lens to shoot then use Pro Mode.
In my opinion distance plays a more important role in switching to telephoto lens.
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Click to collapse
Looks like you need to enable RAW in Pro Mode to force the Telephoto sensor on zoom, otherwise it still defaults to the 40mp sensor if the subject is too close / it thinks it will get a better result
You can see if it has changed to telephoto by opening settings once it has zoomed, the max rez displayed of the sensor, also it will not allow digital zoom
*Detection* said:
Looks like you need to enable RAW in Pro Mode to force the Telephoto sensor on zoom, otherwise it still defaults to the 40mp sensor if the subject is too close / it thinks it will get a better result
You can see if it has changed to telephoto by opening settings once it has zoomed, the max rez displayed of the sensor, also it will not allow digital zoom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The quality of RAW mood is less better, you can do some tests

camera problems greyscale while zoom

Guys, anyone having this problem too? If you zoom from above 1x to 5x (before the switch happens) all pictures from my camera become almost monochrome, I screen recorded what happens.
Check this link, I uploaded a video of what happens to my viewfinder whenever I click the shutter button in zoom option.
Check for example the difference between 1x and then above it
https://streamable.com/5f5nx
Hey did you find a fix for this? I just picked up a P30 pro and i discovered the exact same behavior with my camera. im seriously considering returning this device because of it!!!
Errrrm, it's a grey cat sat next to a grey cupboard?
Yes, the issue is there on my phone too.... hope they'll fix it somehow
Telephoto lens is a lot lower spec than the main 1x lens, only 8MP
Sometimes for fairly close subjects like that cat and stuff, you're better off using main camera @ 1x and cropping
Help
Hi did you manage to get this fixed? I have the same issue when I zoom the viewfinder is full colour but the picture de saturates when you press shutter
I have been to. Huawei who replaced the camera and I'm still having the issue
Please help if you have the answer
Many thanks
This seems to be a lower specced lens or sensor more than software, it makes the telephoto lens useless.
I have the same problem. To debunk some of the replies, it's not because the cat is grey. It's not because the telephoto lens is of lower quality because it's not used between 1.1-2.9X zoom where muted colors happen and what does "only 8MP" have to do with the colors.
There's definitely a software bug. Like others said, it looks good in the viewfinder but comes out almost greyscale when saving. A bug, just like the main camera being out of focus when zooming back out in video recording. Such simple bugs but still not fixed.
Noticed this too :/
I have this problem too. I had it on emui 9 and now on emui 10. I writed to the support but they think it's hardware defect..
1 year with this phone and the problem isn't resolved yet. And not only that problem, white balance is too blue, the sharpness is really hard, absurd amount of contrast. I'm very disappointed with this phone, because was publicize as "the best photography phone" and It's a lie. This phone do "good photos" if you hate photography.

P20 Pro Tele Camera Problem?

Hi, I got my p20 pro as a 2nd hand/used phone.
So if I understand correctly, the top camera/tele lens is supposed to give a better image quality than the main camera's digital zoom, right?
Mine is the opposite. The tele lens...well....sucks big time. The image quality honestly looks like the image quality of a phone from 15 years ago. The digital zoom of the main camera is way better looking. The video in the link below is the video capture of the moment when it automatically switched to the tele lens. Everything seems blurry and glowing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NBkFjNTDnw
Physically, I can see that the lens is a bit murky, by shining a small flashlight directly above the lens. Anyone have a tip on how to clean the lens safely? Or is the only option is to replace the whole camera unit?
I found a replacement part on aliexpress, and watched a video of the replacing process on youtube. Seems simple enough, can a layman like me pull it off (replacing the part myself)?
Thank you in advance.
zoom outside on cars or trees not inside on an table.
there is no problem with your phone
!Manu! said:
zoom outside on cars or trees not inside on an table.
there is no problem with your phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello, thank you for the reply.
Actually that's the first time I noticed the problem, when shooting outdoor in bright daylight. I just didn't screen record it at the time.
Made another screen video, shooting in bright daylight, at 1 PM:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBIh3Y5P7a4

Why is video recording so much zoomed in on 1x?

I made new account just for be able to ask this. I don't know if its annoying to you but why is video recording so much zoomed in 1x, so much more compared to 1x on photo? I tried samsung, iphone even regular p30 and only only p30 pro is so much zoomed in.On other phone you can even turn off and video recording on 1x is same as taking photo on 1x. I can use wide when video recording but the quality just isn't the same as on 1x. Its really really annoying to the point i actually wanna sell my phone. Everytime i have to video something in front of me i have to step back few meters but most of the time well i just can't. I don't know if this problem is some kind of bug, error of whatnot. I thought maybe update 10 would fix this but nothing..
It's due to Huawei's implementation of image stabilisation. The camera is recording a slightly wider field of view than you actually see, but to compensate for hand movements the camera crops the frame and adjusts its position in real time relative to any movements. Each phone will do this in slightly different ways and it seems Huawei's implementation is heavier on the cropping.
NekoMichi said:
It's due to Huawei's implementation of image stabilisation. The camera is recording a slightly wider field of view than you actually see, but to compensate for hand movements the camera crops the frame and adjusts its position in real time relative to any movements. Each phone will do this in slightly different ways and it seems Huawei's implementation is heavier on the cropping.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its too heavy, its too much crop. You can't even record something in front you. Its so terrible. I wish we could turn off video stabilization like on other phones
I mean, an alternative is to zoom out to 0.9x and utilise the wide angle lens, then you can video at pretty much the same frame as 1x photography - just not ideal in low light situations as the wide angle lens (understandably) can't let in as much light per pixel.
I have same issue on huawei mate 10 pro. I downloaded other camera app (named open camera ) and it works normal. I use it mostly for videos to record something in front of myself.

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