Database Develop

3x Optical zoom?

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.
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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

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.

Camera recording capability, and 8kp50?

I am inquiring about the phones video recording capabilities, and the possibility to do 8kp50.
I've tried to get rudimentary answers from support, not good.
At 4kp60 and 8k HDR, how far can the data rate go up in h265 or h264, deep the pixel depth go and format (4:2:0, 4:2:2, 4:4:4)? This is both a sensor, chipset and software question, as each of these constrict the maximum performance.
I haven't been able to find a datasheet for the sensor, but it; s said to support full 48mp at 30fps, this data rate is close to 8kp50. So, even with minor over clocking the sensor can be read at this rate. However, the 855 chipset does not support 8k video officially, but it can pull frames from the sensor a lot faster than the video mode. So, like what the Nokia 9 Pureview does to do computational photography, all the processing systems on the phone could be used to process and compress these 8k still frames to higher quality. So, is this possible?
The remaining question is, how fast can the still modes compress 8k frames (can it get continuous video rate)?
USB-C for storage.

I messaged their Facebook asking if it can even do 1080p 240fps but no response, despite having read the message.
Not good support

Manual camera controls on WW?

I just joined up since this is one of the more active places for ROG Phone 2 info. Can anyone give me the low down on what manual controls are available in the stock camera app (for the global variant, in case there's a difference)? I'm especially interested in the maximum shutter time, if focus peaking is available, and if there's any microphone settings for video.
I do a lot of long exposure photos and occasionally go to the local drag strip to video jet cars. My LG V20 is one of the best phones for that stuff, so I'm trying to get an idea of how this would stack up against it.

Is this what you're looking for?

Cammarratta said:
Is this what you're looking for?
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Yes, good to see that 32 sec max shutter!
Can it do manual video controls as well?
Something else I forgot to ask was about the resolution/pixel binning. Can you switch between 48MP and 12MP at will? I know some manufacturers force things like that depending on lighting conditions. Samsung and LG don't let you use the telephoto lens in dim light, even if that's what you want, hence my reason for asking.

You can switch. The 48mp picture takes a bit longer to take though so be careful as you'll end up moving the phone before the picture is done.
No video controls that I can see.

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.
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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.