OnePlus 10 Pro: The best phone camera for 2022
These days, it’s rare that I’m really smitten with a phone. It’s mainly because so many devices have gotten so good over the past few years. And having used Pixel phones for a while now (my daily driver being a Pixel 6 Pro), I feel like I’ve been spoiled… especially when it comes to the cameras.
So when I get a OnePlus 10 Pro to review, my first thought was that it will end up being another standard affair with another Android phone that doesn’t hold up to what I’m used to using or that doesn’t bother me. don’t impress. enough to think there could be something better.
Boy, I was wrong.
My original plan was to do a general review of the OnePlus 10 Pro. However, my colleague, Sandra Vogel, beat me to that particular punch in her review, “OnePlus 10 Pro review: A great display topping a great-value spec.” With that in mind, I thought I’d take a different approach and revisit the one aspect of the device that impressed me so much, I’m seriously considering ditching the Pixel 6 Pro and upgrading to the OnePlus 10 Pro.
The aspect in question is the camera.
OnePlus partnered with Hasselblad to tune the camera. Why should this matter? First, Hasselblad cameras captured some of the most iconic photos of the century. What makes Hasselblad cameras so unique are their massive sensors, which lead to larger pixels, lower noise and wider dynamic range. Hasselblad has been in the industry since 1841 and has a long history of manufacturing some of the most remarkable cameras in the world. These modern Hasselblad cameras can easily cost you over $30,000 and the results they produce are second to none.
So when OnePlus teamed up with Hasselblad to fine-tune the 10 Pro’s cameras, it’s a big deal and the results show it.
As well: OnePlus 10 Pro vs Google Pixel 6 Pro: Your $899 phone options compared
The specifications
Before we dive into the actual review, let’s have a few specs for the camera. The OnePlus 10 Pro includes the following:
-
Main Camera – 48 MP, f/1.8, 23mm (wide), 1/1.43″, 1.12µm, multi-directional PDAF, Laser AF, OIS 8 MP, f/2.4, 77mm (telephoto), 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS , 3.3x optical zoom, 50MP, f/2.2, 14mm, 150˚ (ultrawide), 1/2.76″, 0.64µm, AF. Features include Hasselblad color grading, dual-LED dual-color flash, HDR, panorama. Video options are [email protected], [email protected]/60/120fps, [email protected]/60/240fps, Auto HDR, gyro-EIS.
-
Selfie camera – 32 MP, f/2.2, (wide), 1/2.74″, 0.8µm. Features include Auto-HDR. Video options are [email protected], gyro-EIS.
Let me start by sharing the first photo I took with the OnePlus 10 Pro. This photo (Figure 1) was shot in low light using Portrait mode.
Figure 1
My keyboard could definitely do with a good dusting.
What I find so remarkable about this photo is that it was just a quick click and zero attention to composition or lighting. To me, that’s part of what makes the OnePlus 10 Pro camera so great – you don’t have to think much about what you’re doing. You point and click and the camera takes care of the details.
Of course, it’s much more than that. You have options…and lots of them. You can take photos with the following options:
- Night – for low light photos.
- Video – standard video.
- Photo – standard photo.
- Portrait – photos with a sharp subject and a blurred background.
- Pro – lets you take full manual control over things like ISO, shutter, EV, focus and white balance.
- PANO – panoramic photos.
- Movie – gives you full manual control over video settings.
- Slo-Mo – standard slow motion video.
- Time-Lapse – time lapse video.
- Long exposure – allows you to set the exposure time from 0 to 12 seconds.
- Duel Video – allows you to shoot video from both front and rear cameras.
- 150 degrees – allows you to shoot in a 150 degree field of view (which is quite wide).
- Tilt-Shift – allows you to take still photos that change the orientation or position relative to the film or image sensor (think “miniature tricking”).
- XPAN – wider than panorama and with more intricate detail.
So clearly you have tons of options for taking photos or videos with the OnePlus 10 Pro.
As for some sample photos, Figure 2 was done using Photo option and Selfie camera.
Figure 2: A selfie of me a little rough around the edges.
picture 3 is that of the plants that come out of the aquarium in my office.
Figure 3: One of my angelfish was ready for his close-up.
Figure 4 was my bad attempt to highlight the toggle function (which is never really easy to nail).
Figure 4: Trying to get a good tilt-shift photo can be tricky.
Another incredibly impressive feature of the OnePlus 10 Pro (which I can’t really show off here) is Slo-Mo video. I didn’t expect to be as impressed as I was. But taking a slow motion video of one of my cats walking was absolutely amazing. The fluidity of movement and incredible detail was truly impressive.
The conclusion
I really didn’t expect to come away impressed with the OnePlus 10 Pro. It had been several years since I had punctured tires on a OnePlus phone, so I didn’t expect to be blown away. The reality, however, was a phone that included the camera to beat in 2022. I’d be shocked if any phone maker was able to top what OnePlus produced in that calendar year.
If you’re looking for a new phone that packs a punch in the camera department, I highly recommend giving the OnePlus 10 Pro a try.