The Honor 7 packs in a good camera sensor, along with ample options to control settings on the specifications page. How good is it, in real life outdoor conditions?
The smartphone photography market is growing at a rapid pace – competent image sensors giving better photographs with each new generation of products. The Honor 7, recently launched in India, packs in a 21-megapixel camera at its rear, powered by the Sony IMX230 image sensor. In light of this, we decided to test the Honor 7’s camera, in tandem with the recently-launched Lenovo Vibe Shot and the Moto X Style’s cameras. Here’s how each fared, in similar conditions.
Note:
1. All three cameras were left to their default settings.
2. All camera images have been resized to scale. Honor 7’s images have been resized in 1:6.4 ratio, Lenovo Vibe Shot’s images have been resized in 1:8.196 ratio, and Moto X Style’s images have been resized in 1:8.221 ratio.
Outdoor (Direct Sunlight)
We closely focused on a central object, under direct incident sunlight. These are how the images looked:
Taken by Honor 7
Taken by Lenovo Vibe Shot
Taken by Moto X Style
Neither of these cameras turned out ‘bad’ photographs. The Honor 7’s camera, under direct sunlight, shot the image with lower contrast and shadows than the other two, with the Moto X Style’s photograph looking the sharpest (owing to the higher contrast and saturation levels). The photograph taken by the Honor 7 looks flat, owing to the lack of texture in the leaves. The Lenovo Vibe Shot’s captured photograph returned higher highlights and a cooler colour temperature, in comparison to the Moto X Style. The photograph captured by the Moto X Style turned out to be the better one here, with a warmer tone and richer textures.
There was, however, ample clarity in all three photographs.
Outdoor (Shade)
This photograph was taken in shade conditions:
Taken by Honor 7
Taken by Lenovo Vibe Shot
Taken by Moto X Style
Under shade, the Honor 7 gave the most balanced performance – warm, distinct blacks and near-accurate colour temperature in the range of 6000-7000K. The Lenovo Vibe Shot had deeper colours, higher contrast and was the sharpest of the three cameras. However, the colour temperature was off the shade mark, somewhere in the range of 5000-5500K. The Moto X Style tried to accommodate more light in the condition, ending up with lower contrast, lighter black level and an overall washed tone to the photograph. Although the greens here appear similar to the Honor 7, the shadows are lighter, leading to lower texture in the letters and the leaves’ veins.
The Honor 7 here gave the most balanced photograph, although the Vibe Shot’s sharpness may find a lot of takers despite the inaccurate colour temperature.
Outdoor (Direct Sunlight Reflection)
The third photograph in our camera experience test was taken to find out the dynamic range, and clarity of reflection that the three cameras could process. Here are the photographs:
Taken by Honor 7
Taken by Lenovo Vibe Shot
Taken by Moto X Style
The Honor 7 and Moto X Style’s camera automatically switched itself to HDR mode, while the Vibe Shot stuck to default settings. The HDR Mode decreased the blacks from the surroundings that happen because of the camera facing direct incident sunlight, and returned the best contrast and true-to-source colour. Although the shadows on the first tree in the background look the darkest among the three photographs, the blacks are not overpowering. Alongside, the high contrast gives the sharpest image among the three, while also retaining the sky’s tone and the road (the sky tone in the Moto X Style here was a little unnatural). The Lenovo Vibe Shot here shot a thoroughly overexposed photograph, and as a result, bleached the background sky and the mid-ground road strip. Even the sunlight reflection is too sharp, and there is a loss in fidelity in the background objects. The Moto X Style's HDR photograph bleached the entire photograph in process of reducing the blacks in less-lit areas of the photograph. However, the Moto X Style managed to process the sky, the green of the trees in the background and the road in the mid-ground well, albeit returning slightly unnatural colours. Clarity remained intact, and our office in the reflection of the visor is clearly visible.
The Lenovo Vibe Shot will require more manual controls to obtain the best photograph, and the Honor 7 and Moto X Style directly went for HDR Mode to balance the vast range of difference in luminance across the photograph’s plain. The Honor 7 managed to balance the range of the photograph, while keeping the colour and contrast of the subject of the photograph intact. The Moto X Style, unfortunately, bleached the entire photograph.
Outdoor (Extreme close-up in Shade)
This macro photograph was taken in the shadow of leaves. Here are the three photographs:
Taken by Honor 7
Taken by Lenovo Vibe Shot
Taken by Moto X Style
It is here that the differences in the three cameras come out really pronounced. The Honor 7’s camera is the most balanced out of the three (in default settings), which leads to a difference in the scale of details in each photograph. The Honor 7 produced warm colours, clean whites, and processes light better than the other two. The Vibe Shot’s high contrast levels render shadows entirely black, and the overall photograph is oversaturated. The Moto X Style, yet again, suffers from trying to accommodate more light along with keeping elements clear. In turn, the photograph appears lacking in overall clarity (as if through a Neutral Density filter), and vivid lack of contrast.
The Honor 7 takes all the honours here, with the most balanced photograph among the three. The Moto X Style came a distant second, owing to the fact that shadowed areas in the photograph were still visible, while the Vibe Shot completely darkened the area under the leaves.
Inference
In amply lit outdoor conditions, the Honor 7 provides the most balanced performance. Contrast and saturation levels are well balanced, and exposure adjustment is decent. Clarity is uncompromised, and overall brightness and texture of photographs is very good.
The Lenovo Vibe Shot’s camera has a very high contrast level, and produces oversaturated images by default. The images are crisp, and black levels are really deep. However, default auto shooting renders images that are too sharp in contrast. Lenovo’s Vibe Shot offers an array of manual settings, which we shall detail soon. On initial impressions, though, the Vibe Shot’s default automatic algorithm does not render the best images.
The Moto X Style falls short by trying to accommodate more light in indirect sunlight conditions. This, in turn, leads to bleached contrast levels, and an overall washed out tone to the photographs.
In real life outdoor photography, the Honor 7’s camera unit is a competent performer, delivering a very balanced performance, even in comparison to other smartphones in its own category. With that, it lays the ground for a good, overall smartphone unit.
Buy Honor 7 at Rs. 22,999 on Flipkart
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Souvik Das
The one that switches between BMWs and Harbour Line Second Class. View Full Profile
