Oppo has recently made significant investments in the research and development of imaging technology. After teaming up with Hasselblad in 2022, Oppo announced that it is making imaging technology the centre of its development strategy starting this year with its latest flagship, the Oppo Find X6 Pro.
On paper, the Oppo Find X6 Pro is one of the best flagship smartphones at the moment which runs on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. In the camera department, the Find X6 Pro features a “triple main camera” setup that consists of a large 1″ Sony IMX989 sensor for the main 50MP main camera and two 1/1.56 sensors for both ultra-wide-angle camera and telephoto lens.
With the ambition to provide exceptional imaging capabilities, Oppo established a Photography Insights Team that consists of professional photographers. The team is tasked to critically analyse current shortcomings and limitations of smartphone photography and to provide recommendations for next-generation devices.
Superior periscope telephoto lens
Despite the wide availability of telephoto cameras on flagship smartphones, Oppo’s imaging team discovered that the feature is rarely used in practice. This is due to several factors such as smartphone makers being too focused on achieving focal length with multiple zoom levels while sacrificing image quality.
Most periscope modules for telephoto cameras are quite large which restricts the sensor space and this results in insufficient light. In challenging low-light situations, the images captured are typically riddled with distortion, overexposure and high noise levels.
To address these telephoto imaging concerns, Oppo has introduced an improved structure which reduces the size of the periscope lens and allows more room for a larger sensor and a large periscope prism. With a larger 1/1.56″ IMX890 sensor, the Oppo Find X6 Pro users will not be forced to switch to the main camera with digital zoom even in low light. The larger prism helps to minimise mirror shakes and it enables full image quality capture in low-light or high-contrast environments.
DSLR-like bokeh on a smartphone
There are plenty of smartphones these days that can do bokeh shots with AI-assisted portrait mode. However, it is still far from perfect as most portrait modes still struggle to recognise people accurately and some photos have unrealistic bokeh backgrounds.
To achieve DSLR-level of professional portrait shots, Oppo’s bokeh algorithm generates a progressive level of bokeh for everything except for people, which is determined by the distance from the lens. The bokeh light spots in the background are also handled by the bokeh algorithm which calculates the natural luminance distribution to provide the correct spatial relationship and brightness levels to the flare.
Understanding the shortcomings faced with current smartphones, Oppo has also improved its capability of detecting handheld objects, gestures and circular items with algorithm training. This enables Oppo devices to provide a natural and seamless bokeh effect in Portrait Mode. As a result, Oppo claims that you can get a portrait shot as if it was captured with an optical lens which has precise image matting that’s blended perfectly with the backdrop.
Capturing authentic lights and shadows accurately
Oppo says it has taken a two-pronged approach to better capture and reproduce the authentic essence of light and shadow for the Find X6 Pro. Firstly, it makes full use of all three cameras to capture an extensive range of light information. This is followed by using advanced algorithms to accurately process light information at every stage from image capture to image display.
With its Next-Generation Image Processing Architecture, the Find X6 Pro claims to offer 10 times more computing power than its predecessor which provides improvements in image quality, shadow and colour. The Find X6 Pro is said to offer a 30% improvement in image quality and a 60% reduction in image noise.
On top of that, Oppo also uses its Photon Matrix Technology to display natural light and shadows more accurately. The Find X6 Pro is said to be capable of recording 12 million photos of luminance information which allows it to expand the maximum dynamic range to 8 times of conventional SDR technology.
Unfortunately, the Oppo Find X6 Pro is not coming to Malaysia. However, Oppo is bringing its mobile photography technology to other devices including its upcoming Oppo Reno 10 Pro+ 5G. Oppo Malaysia is launching its Reno 10 series next week on Thursday, 6th of July 2023. You can watch the Oppo Reno 10 series launch live at 11:00am.
In the meantime, you can check out our hands-on and first impressions of the Oppo Find X6 Pro below:
