OnePlus launched its flagship OnePlus 6 smartphone in India last week, ad the phone comes with a new camera sensor. It equips a 16-megapixel primary rear camera with f/1.7 aperture 1.22µm pixel Sony IMX519 sensor with Contrast Detection Auto-Focus, Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) along with Electronic Image Stabilisation (EIS), compared to Sony IMX398 sensor on the 5T, which lacked OIS. It retains the same secondary 20-megapixel secondary camera with f/1.7 aperture 1.0 µm pixel Sony IMX371 sensor as the 5T to capture depth information in portrait shots. The front-facing 16-megapixel camera with Sony IMX371 sensor, f/2.0 aperture, and 1.0μm pixel size is same as the OnePlus 5 and the 5T.
The Camera UI is simple with toggles for timer, HDR, aspect ratio (4:3 / 19:9 / 1:.1), Flash on one side and front or rear camera toggle, shutter button and image preview button on the other side. You can just swipe left or right to switch between video, photo and portrait, and there is 2x zoom.
It adds new bokeh effects, including hearts, circles and stars so that lights in the background of your portrait shots will change based on your selection. The company has promised to bring Potrait Mode to front camera as well in future via an update. This will use AI algorithm to apply depth effect to selfies.
OnePlus says that is has improved its Smart Capture software to offer better clarity depending on the environment and time of day. Smart Capture selects which feature to use to optimize the photo for maximum clarity.
“With Advanced HDR, our improved High Dynamic Range algorithm,
the OnePlus 6 brings out shadows and enhances lighting in your photos,” says the company.
Talking about the camera performance, the OnePlus 6 takes good photos under daylight condition with very good details, color, and vibrancy, which is better compared to the 5T. Images taken in HDR mode is better with improved contrast and saturation, and brings out shadows and enhances lighting. Macro shots came out well. Dual camera has been improved, and edge-detection in portrait shots are better. It works a lot better with people and faces than with objects. Addition of new bokeh effects is good. The 2X zoom now has more clarity and detail compared to the 5T. Here is the comparison video.
Low-light shots are decent and has seen a lot of improvement compared to the 5T, but the camera boosts the ISO to maximum (6400) so it has much more noise compared to Galaxy S9 or Pixel 2 that maintains ISO around 1000 even in low-light shots. This should be fixed with an update. You can check out the camera comparison videos below.
Images with flash are good, and the flash is not overpowering. The company is still sticking to dual LED flash, instead of opting for dual-tone LED flash in most flagships. The front camera is good for selfies and video chats. It has beautify option in both front and rear cameras.
Check out the camera samples below (Click the image to view the full-resolution sample).
It can record videos in 4k or 1080p resolution at 60 fps, but OIS works only in 60fps, while EIS in used in 30fps. It has Slow motion video recording, which now has 480 fps option at 720p as well as 1080p at 240 fps, and slo-mo uses OIS as well. You can record slow-mo videos continuously for 1 minute and select trim down the slo-mo parts you need. The OnePlus 5T is restricted to 720p slow motion at 120fps and normal 4k recording at 30fps. The video quality is good with a lot of details. Thanks to OIS, videos are stable. Since it has dual microphones audio is crisp. Check out the video samples below.
Check out the complete review of the OnePlus 6 here and comparison with the Pixel 2 XL here. Check out more camera comparison videos with the flagships on our YouTube channel.