OnePlus just launched their OnePlus 8 Series in a live launch event yesterday. We even covered the live launch event by providing live updates on an article. While the OnePlus 8 Pro seems to be okay, OnePlus 8 is a disappointment over the OnePlus 7T – especially when we take camera into consideration.
Even though OnePlus devices have decent cameras, they never had the “best” camera. And that is okay – considering the price. However, it seems like things went downhill this year – especially for the camera.
OnePlus 8 comes with the 48MP IMX586 with f/1.75 aperture and a 6P lens as its primary camera. Now, this would have been okay if the OnePlus 7T – which is the predecessor didn’t already have a better setup. If you don’t remember, OnePlus 7T came in with the same 48MP IMX586 sensor as primary. However, it was a 7P lens setup and it had a wider f/1.6 aperture.
Having a 7P lens instead of a 6P lens means that the quality of the light passing through would be quite a bit better. This would reduce some imperfections you see around a subject. And having a wider aperture means you’ll have more light passing through the sensor. Also, the natural bokeh on the image would be much better.
That was the first degrade on the OnePlus 8’s camera system. And we still have more to talk about. The ultrawide angle lens on the OnePlus 8 also took a hit – it’s just a minor hit though. OnePlus 7T and OnePlus 8 – both have a 16MP f/2.2 lens. However, the field of view on the OnePlus 8 is 116° while it’s 117° on the OnePlus 7T. That’s just 1° of difference – but it’s a difference, nonetheless.
Now, let’s move to the third camera on the OnePlus 8. It’s a “dedicated” 2MP f/2.4 macro camera. While the OnePlus 7T didn’t have a dedicated macro camera, it was able to pull off the macro mode through the wide-angle lens. And the results which people got through that mode were good enough to justify one doesn’t need a “dedicated” macro camera for the same.
As we are done with the rear camera, let’s just move to the selfie camera as that has taken a hit as well. OnePlus 8 comes with a 16MP IMX471 sensor with f/2.45 aperture. This is the same sensor which has been used in OnePlus devices since several generations now. So, even OnePlus 7T came with the same 16MP IMX471 sensor. However, it had f/2.0 aperture – meaning more light would come in while taking selfies at night.
That’s all the cameras present on the OnePlus 8. But wait! There’s one more sensor on the OnePlus 7T – which we need to talk about. It’s the 12MP f/2.2 2x Telephoto Lens. This sensor doesn’t even exist on the OnePlus 8 – which means that we have zero optical zoom. With the OnePlus 7T, you at least had the option for optically zooming in whenever required. Thanks to OnePlus 8 – It’s gone now!
After looking at such direct comparison, it’s pretty much safe to say that the camera on the OnePlus 8 is a huge disappointment. That disappointment even increases when we take pricing into consideration. Sure, it’s not only the camera on which the pricing is based on. Hence, I’ll soon publish another article comparing almost every aspect of these devices – along with pricing. Stay tuned for that.
Note: All the comparisons here are based on the specifications available on the site of OnePlus as well as the images I’ve previously seen from the OnePlus 7T. I do not have these devices to compare the images. If I somehow end up getting them, I’ll write an article comparing the shots from those cameras.
