The tipping point for me ....goodbye cameras

I'm on the lookout for a smartphone to perhaps use as my primary shooter too, and while I share your enthusiasm for the P20 Pro on paper, some of the results I've seen do give me cause for concern.

In particular there is the skin smoothing caused by the beauty effect, and I've read that you can't eliminate it entirely even turning the effect off.

I've also read that the AI detects the sky and makes it bluer, and I've seen a number of examples where the sky looks unnaturally blue, apparently because of this.

Then there's the video stabilisation - P20 Pro video seems to only be stabilised in 1080p/30fps. No stabilisation in 4K - camera shake with anything handheld is terrible - and incredibly no stabilisation in 1080p/60fps.

The P20 Pro is streets ahead of everything else as a low light shooter, and it's almost worth it to me for that reason alone, but the issues above do give me pause.

I would expect the AI would improve over time with software updates, but who knows with Huewei, and I can't buy a phone in the hope it will get better.

Huawei certainly have the hardware, but in comparisons with the Pixel 2 they clearly have some way to go in software to get to the level of Google.

Having said all that, I would love to see some photos from you comparing shots taken with your P20 Pro and, say, your X70.

activator wrote:

having recently got the Huawei P20 pro the zoom is great up to 5x.

I am happy with that......with quite superb results.....the resistance to the latest phones is normal I suppose on a camera forum......but its the way to go.

It is great I’m sure but aren’t phones getting ridiculously big and expensive? 6 years ago the Nokia 808 was a 4” device.

activator wrote:

I could do that..but you wouldnt see any difference on screen.

What you have read is not what I have found........there are two colour levels on the P30

if anyone doesnt like rich colours ...like deep blue skies .they can choose the lower one.

What would be really helpful is if you could post a couple of full-sized samples showing the difference between the two modes. Particularly something with blue sky and green foliage.

There is also full manual controls that replicate what you would get on a normal camera.

Does taking manual control mean you miss out on the automatic AI features like HDR? Or can you turn down the sharpening, noise reduction ans saturation the software applies to HDR?

There is an amazing ammount of black PR online....its interesting working out what peoples motives are when reviewing.

People have different tastes on how they like their images processsed.

Have a look at this one from the Photography Blog review, for example:

http://img.photographyblog.com/reviews/huawei_p20_pro/sample_images/huawei_p20_pro_52.jpg

I like punchy photos, but the blue the sky here is way over the top and just looks unnatural.

Compare it to this one, which looks like it's been converted from one of their RAW samples:

http://img.photographyblog.com/reviews/huawei_p20_pro/sample_images/huawei_p20_pro_53.jpg

This one looks much more natural. A little flat - I'd ideally prefer something in between. There is a lot of purple fringing in the church windows though, something the software obviously takes are of in the auto modes.

rEVOLVE wrote:

I just picked up a Galaxy S9+, and I feel similar.

I have a Galaxy also, early model, the last one with replaceable battery, whatever number that was. On a pixel level the images are OK in good light. But the flash doesn't work very well, or at all; usually it illuminates only a portion of the photo. In low light without flash the image looks foggy. Auto white balance is horrendous.

"This is why Samsung left the camera industry," I think to myself. Maybe they improved things by the S9, but the technology is so far off what Apple provides. The iPhone doesn't have any of the above problems.

Although, for traveling, I'd still want something for telephoto.

Yes, same problem with the iPhone.

activator wrote:

I am prattling on a bit about thr incredible P20 pro but its the rise of smart phone cameras I am championing generally......The Previous comment spoke about poor low light pics on an older smart phone and lack of zoom

The P20 pro's low light/night photography is just incredible thanks to Ai.....the shots are mind blowing..you would need a long exposure with a conventional camera on a tripod and to understand exposure well to get anything near.

That's nice, but the Huawei P20 lacks microSD card slot, and I want my music collection more than I want a better camera.

With this smart phone you hand hold it for 5 seconds..........multiple exposures are knitted together.........in perfect focus...........and the results .wow

My subjects are always moving in low light, so this is a non-solution for me.