OnePlus 5 Dual Camera Review: Tele Camera Only Has 1.6x Optical Zoom & 2x Digital Zoom
OnePlus 5 is catching headlines after the launch of 'flagship killer' smartphone. The smartphone is launched with some top-air-specification and features. However, the main highlight of the latest smartphone is its Rear Dual-camera setup, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 and Dash Charging feature, which, according to OnePlus, claims to charge a whole day battery in only 30 minutes.
According to Phone Arena, for the OnePlus 5, the company is taking an approach which is almost same as to what Apple iPhone 7 Plus carries. At its back side89, there is a main 16MP camera designed to be universally good in most situations. As for the secondary camera, it is built around a 20MP image sensor and provides 2X magnification.
It looks like the OnePlus 5 marketing promised more than the engineering team delivered. The chipset processor isn't as fast as benchmarks indicate, and the camera's 2x optical lossless zoom actually. No, really, it isn't optical or lossless, and the camera isn't 20MP either.
According to GSM Arena, OnePlus' Co-founder Carl Pei confirmed on Twitter that the second lens of the camera on the back offers 1.6x optical zoom then digital zoom makes up the remaining 0.4x to reach the claimed 2x zoom. That final upscaling means that the effective resolution of the dual-rear camera is less than 20MP, however, in reality, it's closer to 16MP.
The Chinese smartphone maker still claims "2x lossless zoom", but that is arguable. And it could have done a better job making it clear that it's not optical zoom. Also, the EXIF information reveals that the wide-angle and tele lenses have focal lengths of 24mm and 36mm (in 35mm equiv.), which would make the zoom 1.5x. If Carl Pei's information is correct, the actual focal length of the tele lens is 38.4mm.
OnePlus 5's quality in videos is getting an increase with the adding of higher-grade microphones. The added microphones are capable of capturing even louder sound without crackling distortion.