OnePlus 7 Pro hands-on camera samples show off 3x zoom, Nightscape mode

The new OnePlus flagship, the OnePlus 7, is set to arrive May 14 alongside a more premium model, the OnePlus 7 Pro. Ahead of their launch, Wired has had a chance to go hands-on with a "near final" pre-production version of the OnePlus 7 Pro to offer some thoughts on its camera.

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The OnePlus 7 Pro is coming with three rear cameras and will be capable of 3x optical zoom functionality. Optical zoom is a hardware-based zoom solution which offers superior quality to digital zooming — which essentially crops the viewfinder to zoom. We've seen some flagships touting 5x and 10x zoom recently, like the Huawei P30 Pro and Oppo Reno, respectively, and many more also boast 2x optical zoom — such as the previous OnePlus flagship, the OnePlus 6T.

Wired

3x optical gives the OnePlus 7 Pro that slight advantage over its predecessor in shooting objects at a distance, and the initial snaps suggest its shaping up well (one such 3x zoom example can be seen above). Wired notes the 7 Pro's zoomed images retain a fair bit of noise but that it adds to the authenticity of the images — they don't look like they've been artificially smoothed too much with post-processing.

Wired also spoke highly of the HDR capabilities, and video captured at 3x zoom. The publication also gleaned some camera details from OnePlus imaging director Simon Liu, including:

• A focus on a simple interface (it's much like the OnePlus 6T camera interface, apparently)
• 0.3 seconds or less shutter lag
• 10x digital zoom support
• No time-of-flight (TOF) sensor
• Auto HDR enabled by default
• A "more natural" portrait mode

A low-light shot taken with the OnePlus 7 Pro.

Wired

Liu said he believes the OnePlus 7 Pro has "a shot at competing with the first tier phones," but not that it can necessarily outdo them. "I don't think we can beat them, but the imaging world is always subjective," he said. This suggests phones like the Galaxy S10 Plus and Huawei P30 Pro may still have the edge, though the OnePlus 7 Pro could potentially be hundreds of dollars less expensive.

Finally, Liu also said OnePlus is looking to get user feedback on the camera as soon as possible to make improvements for the next device — presumably, the unannounced OnePlus 7T.

Find more camera samples over at Wired and let us know how you think the OnePlus 7 Pro is shaping up in the comments.

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