Mate 40 Pro - Still one of the best camera phones?

Djingonthenet said:

Short answer is, yes I think so. Had it over a year, coming from a P40 pro, P30 Pro then Mate 20 pro (HTCs prior to that) so from a phone point of view always looked to the camera as the main factor for purchasing. I'm no photographer by any stretch of the imagination but do like how consistent this phone is, for me it does the job perfectly. These were all taken in standard mode (some with AI some without). You'll have to forgive some of the skies, they may seem featureless, but this is the UK we don't get much more than grey sky for most of the year!)

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I agree with your assertion, as overall photography experience&performance is my main requirement. Have placed my view here , it should be rather in this thread

Just few shots more, mode chosen as needed, there is no problem picking whatever suites best your composition (e.g. perspective) as the whole system is well balanced and thoughts as "which lens gives best sharpness", or "isn´t 8 Mpix too low?" are irrelevant.



















--
Vlad

A few more, showing night mode and 50MP AI.




Standard shot showing the dynamic range.




Main Lens (night mode off - standard shot)




Taken in near darkness, except for the light from the lantern of course. Night mode off.




Taken in a wood at night, no light pollution, night mode om (6 second handheld exposure).




Light painting (handheld) cropped from the original - Motion blur due to my shaky hands!




Light painting mode (handheld) taken in pitch darkness, cropped from original.




Ultrawide Monochrome



View attachment 64387238503e413080f24c5ef50761b3.jpg
50MP AI on (Apparently iPhones and S21 ultras can do better, please show me haha)




Standard mode (AI on)




Ultrawide




Standard Monochrome




10x Hybrid Zoom (Handheld)



View attachment c1ad8a153afa484890c5b28b05a9a5ee.jpg
50MP AI on



View attachment 3a592fbdbf9a48ac8ebdecd605846ed7.jpg
50MP (Into direct sunlight)

The picture of Daisy (my dog) was taken on the Ultrawide lens not Main.

_vlad said:

Djingonthenet said:

Short answer is, yes I think so.

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Click to expand...

We discuss this lot of times here Huawei is unmatched when we say about pure image quality out of the box and most compelete camera system on the market. Sadly Mate 40 PRO is last real camera phone from Huawei and no google services is big problem. My P40 PRO had installed GMS natively, but it stopped working some day. I had move to Xiaomi, which works fantastic with GCAM. Huawei is proably done by US Sanctions

Djingonthenet said:

Scarborough Lighthouse (10x Hybrid zoom - Ok not brilliant but it's a phone!)

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In my opinion the best image. I like the dreamy sky background. Technically this may be the worst, but as Vlad suggest it really doesn't matter much; motive, composition, etc. are more important.

Drzewoid said:

_vlad said:

Djingonthenet said:

Short answer is, yes I think so.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

We discuss this lot of times here Huawei is unmatched when we say about pure image quality out of the box and most compelete camera system on the market. Sadly Mate 40 PRO is last real camera phone from Huawei and no google services is big problem. My P40 PRO had installed GMS natively, but it stopped working some day. I had move to Xiaomi, which works fantastic with GCAM. Huawei is proably done by US Sanctions

Click to expand...

AFAIK - they are building rapidly new facilities for producing their own new chips, estimated to be ready within 2 years. Until then they must undergo US torture. We´ll see what will happen later. M50(60 if ever) will be a tuned clone of P50(60), still I am pretty sure they are working on completely new solutions (aka fluid lenses etc). Nevertheless - we shall see.

I tried to move on to the Mi 11 Ultra, main sensor on stock cam produced average results - certainly wasn't impressed as the hype and physical sensor suggested a real monster! Installed GCAM and it really didn't improve anything of any note, maybe I installed the wrong port? Like you say, greed and the ability to control the market to whoever they feel fit has won the day and to some extent lost it for the rest of us, I'm sounding like an Huawei cheerleader but I'll be sticking with my Mate, will maybe take an interest in the upcoming mate 50 pro depending on what internals it has i.e. hopefully Kirin and not SD888 etc.

_vlad said:

Djingonthenet said:

Short answer is, yes I think so. Had it over a year, coming from a P40 pro, P30 Pro then Mate 20 pro (HTCs prior to that) so from a phone point of view always looked to the camera as the main factor for purchasing. I'm no photographer by any stretch of the imagination but do like how consistent this phone is, for me it does the job perfectly. These were all taken in standard mode (some with AI some without). You'll have to forgive some of the skies, they may seem featureless, but this is the UK we don't get much more than grey sky for most of the year!)

Click to expand...

I agree with your assertion, as overall photography experience&performance is my main requirement. Have placed my view here , it should be rather in this thread

Just few shots more, mode chosen as needed, there is no problem picking whatever suites best your composition (e.g. perspective) as the whole system is well balanced and thoughts as "which lens gives best sharpness", or "isn´t 8 Mpix too low?" are irrelevant.

Click to expand...

From a SOOC jpeg viewpoint yes, I compared mine (which I had for about 3 months, just couldn't 'survive' without google stuff though) to many other phones, and it was easily better, maybe the Sony Pro I is better now, not sure.

--
Jostian

_vlad said:

Djingonthenet said:

Short answer is, yes I think so. Had it over a year, coming from a P40 pro, P30 Pro then Mate 20 pro (HTCs prior to that) so from a phone point of view always looked to the camera as the main factor for purchasing. I'm no photographer by any stretch of the imagination but do like how consistent this phone is, for me it does the job perfectly. These were all taken in standard mode (some with AI some without). You'll have to forgive some of the skies, they may seem featureless, but this is the UK we don't get much more than grey sky for most of the year!)

Click to expand...

I agree with your assertion, as overall photography experience&performance is my main requirement. Have placed my view here , it should be rather in this thread

Just few shots more, mode chosen as needed, there is no problem picking whatever suites best your composition (e.g. perspective) as the whole system is well balanced and thoughts as "which lens gives best sharpness", or "isn´t 8 Mpix too low?" are irrelevant.

Click to expand...

Obviously you're right, I want a quick and easy device that will do what I want it to do at that particular moment in time, I want to be able to capture that moment so I can look back on them (I'll say in my old age - I'm getting on a bit now, but not quite past it yet haha) This does it all and does it so well that the issue with GMS doesn't even become a factor any more, a year without GMS is quite liberating - apart from snapseed the one bit of Google that I still use.

_vlad said:

Click to expand...

Djingonthenet said:

Short answer is, yes I think so. Had it over a year, coming from a P40 pro, P30 Pro then Mate 20 pro (HTCs prior to that) so from a phone point of view always looked to the camera as the main factor for purchasing. I'm no photographer by any stretch of the imagination but do like how consistent this phone is, for me it does the job perfectly. These were all taken in standard mode (some with AI some without). You'll have to forgive some of the skies, they may seem featureless, but this is the UK we don't get much more than grey sky for most of the year!)

View attachment a8dc78e47de04ed5b96b11a7c520cc0e.jpg
Peasholme Park - 50MP AI Mode (It was a very featureless, leaden sky)

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Something really odd for the photo above from the 50MP AI mode. The foreground plants are in focus in the middle, as well as the far away landscape, yet somehow the trees in between (for example, on the right side of the frame) seems to be out of focus? Does the AI mode also do focus stacking? Otherwise, I am not seeing how this could be possible with the aperture having near and far elements in focus, but not anything in between??

Djingonthenet said:

A few more, showing night mode and 50MP AI.

View attachment 64387238503e413080f24c5ef50761b3.jpg
50MP AI on (Apparently iPhones and S21 ultras can do better, please show me haha)

Click to expand...

There is again some oddity with this 50MP AI photo re: focus that looks very unnatural. The whole frame, far and close, are in focus this time despite the wide aperture. But, the left side starting from closer to the edge of the frame seems to be out of focus. This doesn't seem to be lens quality, because the right side up to the very end of the edge are 100% sharp.

Again, not sure what AI does to the photo. What's your take on this phenomenon?

JaczZ said:

Djingonthenet said:

A few more, showing night mode and 50MP AI.

View attachment 64387238503e413080f24c5ef50761b3.jpg
50MP AI on (Apparently iPhones and S21 ultras can do better, please show me haha)

Click to expand...

There is again some oddity with this 50MP AI photo re: focus that looks very unnatural. The whole frame, far and close, are in focus this time despite the wide aperture. But, the left side starting from closer to the edge of the frame seems to be out of focus. This doesn't seem to be lens quality, because the right side up to the very end of the edge are 100% sharp.

Again, not sure what AI does to the photo. What's your take on this phenomenon?

Click to expand...

One possibility is that these hi-res AI shots take about 3-4 seconds to capture, they aren't instant, so it could well be my hand movement causing an issue, how that affects the photo I'm not sure. Obviously if it was an issue with the lens or sensor I would see this in any photo taken with the main camera.

Djingonthenet said:

JaczZ said:

Djingonthenet said:

A few more, showing night mode and 50MP AI.

View attachment 64387238503e413080f24c5ef50761b3.jpg
50MP AI on (Apparently iPhones and S21 ultras can do better, please show me haha)

Click to expand...

There is again some oddity with this 50MP AI photo re: focus that looks very unnatural. The whole frame, far and close, are in focus this time despite the wide aperture. But, the left side starting from closer to the edge of the frame seems to be out of focus. This doesn't seem to be lens quality, because the right side up to the very end of the edge are 100% sharp.

Again, not sure what AI does to the photo. What's your take on this phenomenon?

Click to expand...

One possibility is that these hi-res AI shots take about 3-4 seconds to capture, they aren't instant, so it could well be my hand movement causing an issue, how that affects the photo I'm not sure. Obviously if it was an issue with the lens or sensor I would see this in any photo taken with the main camera.

Click to expand...

Agree partly, however 50MPix will reveal any lens imperfections-which you will hardly ever see in 12,5MPix shot. And the fact is, that even FW can partly compensate for this. I remember my P30P with faulty lens which was slightly unsharp on one edge (shooting long distance objects) with first FWs. With later FWs issue was mostly eliminated for 10MPix (not for 40MPix though)

Your shot might indicate slightly decentered (or maybe misaligned) lens, as right edge is near perfect. Problem is that AI (i.e. HDR + NR+ slight software increasing of DOF+vignette control) + 50MPix + lens imperfection all combined together will reveal what is normally not seen.

I tried the same today and I saw it only in far corners. And parallel DNG was completely free of this issue. My lens is not perfect either (I have not seen such so far) - it is somewhat weak at +/- 10% from the top (in clouds area) when it does not matter at all. Have to be carefull though, when shooting in portrait mode.



--
Vlad

_vlad said:

Djingonthenet said:

JaczZ said:

Djingonthenet said:

A few more, showing night mode and 50MP AI.

View attachment 64387238503e413080f24c5ef50761b3.jpg
50MP AI on (Apparently iPhones and S21 ultras can do better, please show me haha)

Click to expand...

There is again some oddity with this 50MP AI photo re: focus that looks very unnatural. The whole frame, far and close, are in focus this time despite the wide aperture. But, the left side starting from closer to the edge of the frame seems to be out of focus. This doesn't seem to be lens quality, because the right side up to the very end of the edge are 100% sharp.

Again, not sure what AI does to the photo. What's your take on this phenomenon?

Click to expand...

One possibility is that these hi-res AI shots take about 3-4 seconds to capture, they aren't instant, so it could well be my hand movement causing an issue, how that affects the photo I'm not sure. Obviously if it was an issue with the lens or sensor I would see this in any photo taken with the main camera.

Click to expand...

Agree partly, however 50MPix will reveal any lens imperfections-which you will hardly ever see in 12,5MPix shot. And the fact is, that even FW can partly compensate for this. I remember my P30P with faulty lens which was slightly unsharp on one edge (shooting long distance objects) with first FWs. With later FWs issue was mostly eliminated for 10MPix (not for 40MPix though)

Your shot might indicate slightly decentered (or maybe misaligned) lens, as right edge is near perfect. Problem is that AI (i.e. HDR + NR+ slight software increasing of DOF+vignette control) + 50MPix + lens imperfection all combined together will reveal what is normally not seen.

I tried the same today and I saw it only in far corners. And parallel DNG was completely free of this issue. My lens is not perfect either (I have not seen such so far) - it is somewhat weak at +/- 10% from the top (in clouds area) when it does not matter at all. Have to be carefull though, when shooting in portrait mode.

Click to expand...

IF this is lens imperfections, could it be caused by bumps or drops of the phone? Sometimes we forget how delicate lens elements are, and we wouldn't handle our phones the same way we would with a camera body and lens.

My old LG G5 used to have a focus issue, and out of frustration i throw it on a chair, and that somehow fixed the focus till this day. Not suggest anyone do it, but would this be the cause?

Also, is this type of issue really that common for phones? Or maybe the phone's post processing (excessive sharpening, smoothing, noise reductions, multi-frame etc.) mask all such problems? Haven't really have people complained about this.

JaczZ said:

_vlad said:

Djingonthenet said:

JaczZ said:

Djingonthenet said:

A few more, showing night mode and 50MP AI.

View attachment 64387238503e413080f24c5ef50761b3.jpg
50MP AI on (Apparently iPhones and S21 ultras can do better, please show me haha)

Click to expand...

There is again some oddity with this 50MP AI photo re: focus that looks very unnatural. The whole frame, far and close, are in focus this time despite the wide aperture. But, the left side starting from closer to the edge of the frame seems to be out of focus. This doesn't seem to be lens quality, because the right side up to the very end of the edge are 100% sharp.

Again, not sure what AI does to the photo. What's your take on this phenomenon?

Click to expand...

One possibility is that these hi-res AI shots take about 3-4 seconds to capture, they aren't instant, so it could well be my hand movement causing an issue, how that affects the photo I'm not sure. Obviously if it was an issue with the lens or sensor I would see this in any photo taken with the main camera.

Click to expand...

Agree partly, however 50MPix will reveal any lens imperfections-which you will hardly ever see in 12,5MPix shot. And the fact is, that even FW can partly compensate for this. I remember my P30P with faulty lens which was slightly unsharp on one edge (shooting long distance objects) with first FWs. With later FWs issue was mostly eliminated for 10MPix (not for 40MPix though)

Your shot might indicate slightly decentered (or maybe misaligned) lens, as right edge is near perfect. Problem is that AI (i.e. HDR + NR+ slight software increasing of DOF+vignette control) + 50MPix + lens imperfection all combined together will reveal what is normally not seen.

I tried the same today and I saw it only in far corners. And parallel DNG was completely free of this issue. My lens is not perfect either (I have not seen such so far) - it is somewhat weak at +/- 10% from the top (in clouds area) when it does not matter at all. Have to be carefull though, when shooting in portrait mode.

Click to expand...

IF this is lens imperfections, could it be caused by bumps or drops of the phone? Sometimes we forget how delicate lens elements are, and we wouldn't handle our phones the same way we would with a camera body and lens.

Click to expand...

I would say yes, depends how the mechanics is constructed (materials and design). My P30P (one year ago) and now M40P dropped down really harshly and ... you can imagine. I made some testing and luckily nothing happened (alignment of lenses plus AF function) however it might end-up completely differently.

JaczZ said:

My old LG G5 used to have a focus issue, and out of frustration i throw it on a chair, and that somehow fixed the focus till this day. Not suggest anyone do it, but would this be the cause?

Click to expand...

I used G4 for quite some time and never ever had this problem. But G4 (LG V10) had another problems

JaczZ said:

Also, is this type of issue really that common for phones? Or maybe the phone's post processing (excessive sharpening, smoothing, noise reductions, multi-frame etc.) mask all such problems? Haven't really have people complained about this.

Click to expand...

They can mask and they can reveal. With 12,5 MPix processed from 50 MPix there is plenty of room to correct some issues of this type. In pure 50 MPix you are balancing on the edge.



--
Vlad