I was given the opportunity to test out the camera on its latest flagship, the HONOR Magic5 Pro, during my time in Barcelona for the phone’s launch. These are my initial thoughts on the new Star Wheel camera system after spending several days with it serving as the main device to document my trip.
In case you’re not that familiar with the phone’s specs, the Magic5 Pro is geared with a triple camera module consisting of a 50MP primary sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide, and a 50MP periscope telephoto lens. Despite the lower megapixel count for the telephoto, all three sensors are equipped with larger apertures compared to last year’s Magic4 Pro, which should improve the camera’s light-gathering capabilities.
The camera is definitely the star of the show as it was for the phone’s predecessor, improving what was already a great offering with useful AI features such as Falcon Capture and fusion zoom. These features allow the Magic5 Pro to take sharp pictures of moving subjects and even improve the result of 100x digital zoom shots.
Images come out vibrant and sharp in outdoor conditions with colours that pop without being oversaturated. That being said, you can see from the third image that it loses a lot of detail when it comes to leaves in the background.
The Falcon Capture technology, which includes the AI Motion Sensing feature that chooses the best photo among multiple shots within 1.5 seconds before and after pressing the shutter button, is a shining example of what the camera is capable of. One of the most impressive samples I took using this camera is of the rowdy dogs, where the phone somehow managed to capture all the details despite the dogs moving quite fast at the time.
Subjects in motion stay crisp and focused, but it works best using the primary sensor as photos taken using the telephoto lens can still end up a bit blurry, like with the picture of the flying pigeon.
The ultra-wide is still quite decent but is undeniably the weakest performer of the bunch. It has a tendency to over-expose a photo, causing them to look blown out in some cases, especially with harsh backlight.
On the other hand, the main camera handles backlit photos much better than the ultra-wide, though it isn’t perfect and can sometimes be a bit too dark. In general, the main camera has an issue where it isn’t very consistent in how shots end up, with it being possible for two of the same photos taken a few seconds apart to look noticeably different.
One major quirk I discovered is that photos taken using the primary lens can have wildly different results depending on which mode you use. Everything is fine and dandy when using the standard mode, which bins pixels from the 50MP sensor to 12MP images, but if you switch to the 50MP mode, the images end up looking dull and darker.
The HONOR Magic5 Pro is a strong mobile photography performer that manages to outperform its predecessor. Look forward to a full review that will be coming out soon where I will be testing the camera to its limits but in the meantime, check out my hands-on experience with the flagship phone.
