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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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Click to collapse
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.

optical zoom in low light conditions

hi, plz who can confirms this, does optical zoom work in low light conditions?

Unfortunately no. It switches to software based zoom in low light. I wish there was a way to control this yourself as I think it turns to software zoom a bit to quickly.

i don't know why, zoomed pictures from concerts seems to be done through periscope lens, even though, light condition is low.
what do you think

Just switch to pro mode if you want to force optical zoom, however the sensor used for the periscope doesn't capture much light. Therefore it is a little hard to capture sharp pictures hand held.
This is a night shot with the periscope :

i hope so

40mp mode removed from night mode on EMUI 9.1

Anyone still on EMUI 9? can anyone give me 40 mp night mode vs normal on low light condition? i haven't save it yet
The emui 9.1 remove 40mp from night mode , why huawei remove their top feature? the night mode can't replicated with pro mode, it takes multiple frame to remove noise, bring up brightness and detail. Using these with 40mp is awesome and make low light shot with 40mp useable, also this feature is only on huawei other 48mp does not give night mode on 48mp mode CMIIW

It has wide angle and zoom, which don't operate at the 40 mp setting.

yes, but before i can change to 40mp and choose night mode so the 40mp res can have better useable image in low light. The 40mp mode by itself is capable taking pictures on the night as long there's enough light, with the help with night mode it capable to take any picture in various condition
and the wide angle night mode is 10mp only now, before on EMUI 9 it was fully 20mp, still the wide angle camera is nothing to write about,it have different league with the 40mp sensor

amdultra said:
Anyone still on EMUI 9? can anyone give me 40 mp night mode vs normal on low light condition? i haven't save it yet
The emui 9.1 remove 40mp from night mode , why huawei remove their top feature? the night mode can't replicated with pro mode, it takes multiple frame to remove noise, bring up brightness and detail. Using these with 40mp is awesome and make low light shot with 40mp useable, also this feature is only on huawei other 48mp does not give night mode on 48mp mode CMIIW
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Click to collapse
In Emui 9.0 night mode have only 10MPX option not 40MPX

In night mode at any resolution you have only 10MP. The same is valid for Aperture and Portrait modes. There is no difference between 9 and 9.1 about this.
The camera, in addition to the slightly changed interface, generally has positive changes in the quality of the photos.
1. AI is less aggressive, the colors in AI mode are more natural than before. But in general, Auto mode without AI, Night and HDR seem to me closest to reality.
2. The night mode seems to me more realistic and the colors do not appear so yellowish
3. Zooming is smoother. Unfortunately, the zoom controls are still only on the right side when shooting in portrait mode and this is not so convenient for those holding the phone with the left hand. 30x zooming is usable if the phone is completely motionless, otherwise it is blurry.
4. HDR is slightly softer with less sharpening (probably cons for someone)
5. On a wide-angle camera the noise at darker pictures is less. But it still seems to me that the wide angle camera behaves better in the P30 Pro, although the hardware is the same. Generally, with a wide-angle camera, photos with AI included are brighter than those turned off

techops said:
In night mode at any resolution you have only 10MP. The same is valid for Aperture and Portrait modes. There is no difference between 9 and 9.1 about this.
The camera, in addition to the slightly changed interface, generally has positive changes in the quality of the photos.
1. AI is less aggressive, the colors in AI mode are more natural than before. But in general, Auto mode without AI, Night and HDR seem to me closest to reality.
2. The night mode seems to me more realistic and the colors do not appear so yellowish
3. Zooming is smoother. Unfortunately, the zoom controls are still only on the right side when shooting in portrait mode and this is not so convenient for those holding the phone with the left hand. 30x zooming is usable if the phone is completely motionless, otherwise it is blurry.
4. HDR is slightly softer with less sharpening (probably cons for someone)
5. On a wide-angle camera the noise at darker pictures is less. But it still seems to me that the wide angle camera behaves better in the P30 Pro, although the hardware is the same. Generally, with a wide-angle camera, photos with AI included are brighter than those turned off
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Click to collapse
nope, there's 40mp size for night mode, there's other people confirming the same issue. You can use 40mp and choose night mode and your photo will still 40mp with the help of dark mode

10 mp night mode only on my mate 20 pro emui 9

amdultra said:
nope, there's 40mp size for night mode, there's other people confirming the same issue. You can use 40mp and choose night mode and your photo will still 40mp with the help of dark mode
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Click to collapse
Wrong. Never available night mode and 40 Mpix

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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Click to collapse
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.