OnePlus 8 vs POCO X2 Detailed Camera Comparison By TecworkZ

"Music" Hey guys it’s Sagar from Tecworkz, and today we are going to compare the cameras on the OnePlus 8 with the ones on the POCO X2. I know these phones are not directly competing with each other, and there is a big price difference between the two. But a lot of you guys asked me to make this video, so here it is. This is going to be a very detailed video, with over 90 image and video samples, so go grab yourself some tea or coffee, and make sure you watch it till the end. There is a big price difference between these 2, so keep that in mind while we are taking a look at the image and video samples. Let us take a quick look at the cameras on both these phones, so you guys get a better idea of what we are dealing with.

OnePlus 8 gets a triple camera setup on its back. Primary camera gets a 48 megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor with F/1.75 aperture and a 25mm lens. Next camera gets a 16 megapixel sensor with F/2.2 aperture and a 14mm ultra-wide lens. And finally there is a 2 megapixel sensor with F/2.4 aperture and it gets a macro lens. POCO X2 is priced much lower than the OnePlus 8, but it still gets 4 cameras on its back.

Primary one being the 64 megapixel Sony IMX686 sensor, with F/1.9 aperture and 26mm lens. Next is the 8 megapixel sensor with F/2.2 aperture and a 13mm ultra-wide lens. Then there is a 2 megapixel sensor with F/2.4 aperture and it gets a macro lens. And finally there is another 2 megapixel sensor with F/2.4 aperture, and this one is used for sensing depth information for portrait shots. OnePlus 8 can shoot stabilised 4K videos at upto 60fps, while the POCO X2 can do it at 30fps.

OnePlus can shoot 1080p videos at 30/60/240fps, and POCO can take these at 30/60 and 120fps. POCO can also shoot 960fps super slow motion videos at 720p resolution. At the front, OnePlus 8 gets a 16 megapixel sensor with F/2.0 aperture. While the POCO X2 gets 2 cameras at front. Main one gets a 20 megapixel sensor with F/2.2 aperture, and the second one gets a 2 megapixel depth sensor with F/2.4 aperture. Interface of the camera apps are pretty straightforward on both the phones, and they also get full fledged pro modes, which gives you better control over your images.

If you want a detailed look at this, I suggest you guys check out my dedicated camera reviews of both these phones. I will leave cards to them on the top right corner of the screen, and also link them in the description section. Before we move on to the image and video samples, if you are new to this channel, please make sure to hit the subscribe button and bell icon next to it. That way, you wont miss out on any of the upcoming videos on this channel. Let us start with the day time images.

Both these phones have very high resolution sensors, so are no shortage of details, in any of these images. In this set of images, one from the OnePlus 8 is a bit brighter, and the POCO X2 seems to add a bit more contrast to its image. But this is not consistent behaviour from either of them. In this very next one, Image from the POCO X2 is brighter, and OnePlus 8 has added more contrast. So this keeps on changing from scene to scene.

I would have liked to have a bit more consistent results from both. That being said, no matter if you are taking these images outdoors or indoors, there are plenty of details in both of them. OnePlus 8 has a flagship processor to back it images, but it is nice to see the POCO X2 doing so well in comparison with a midrange processor. Colours look good from both these phones. You wont notice it when you look at POCO X2’s images alone, but when we compare it with the ones from OnePlus 8, there is a slight green tint in POCO’s images.

Other than that, these images look good. If I had to choose between the two, I would say OnePlus 8 is showing more natural looking colours. But colour is a personal choice, so which one of these you choose, depends on your liking. In some shots like this, POCO added a lot more contrast, making the shadows appear too dark. It was the same in this image.

Shadows appear bit dark in the image from the POCO X2, while OnePlus 8 did well to bring those up. OnePlus does better when the situation demands for a better dynamic range. It brings up more detailed from the shadows, while keeping the highlights in check. Look at these images, OnePlus brought back so much information from the shadows, while the shadows in POCO X2’s image barely have any details. While the POCO X2 is not too bad for its price, dynamic range on the OnePlus 8 is clearly better.

These were 12 and 16 megapixel images from the OnePlus 8 and POCO X2 respectively. Both the phones offer you the option to take higher resolution images. Here are how 48 megapixel images from the OnePlus 8 look against the 64 megapixel images from the POCO X2. If we zoom in, we see the images from the POCO X2 being much detailed and sharper compared to the ones from the OnePlus 8. These higher resolution images have slightly more details than their respective pixel binned ones, but only in very bright lighting conditions.

And you need to zoom in 5-6 times to see this difference. Higher resolution images are also much larger in file size and don’t show the best dynamic range. So my suggestion is to always stick to the default 12 and 16 megapixel mode on the OnePlus 8 and the POCO X2 respectively. But for some reason if you absolutely need these higher resolution images, ones from the POCO X2 are sharper and have more details in them. We have seen this image before, and this is how the primary camera sees the scene.

And this is how much more of the scene the wide lens on both these phones let us get in the shot. It is so nice to have this wide lens, as it gives a completely different perspective of the scene. Now the one on the POCO X2 is a millimetre wider, so it gives us a slightly wider field of view compared to the OnePlus 8. There is a shift in colour temperature and white balance when we switch from the normal lens to the wide one, on both these phones. Not only that, these wide shots are not as detailed or sharp as the primary ones.

This is much more apparent when we are taking these shots indoors or of some nearby objects. But it becomes less apparent when we are taking images outside like this. Out of the 2, wide camera on the OnePlus 8 is much sharper. Here is a quick focusing test, before we head over to the close up and macro shots. Both are quick at changing the focus from a near to far object, but the OnePlus 8 is a few milliseconds faster.

Its change in focus is also smoother compared to the POCO X2. This might not mater a lot while clicking images, but when you are shooting videos, it looks much more pleasing, compared to an abrupt shift in focus. The actual close up shots turned out really good from both. As we saw, OnePlus is a bit faster at setting the focus for these shots, and the POCO X2 sometimes takes a couple of attempts. This doesn’t happen too often, but I thought you guys should know it.

Once the focus is set, subject is very sharp on the close-ups from both, and thanks to the wide aperture and large sensor, background gets nice optical blur. For all these close up shots, ones from the POCO X2 are a bit warmer, while the one from the OnePlus 8 are showing cooler tones. These phones can also take macro shots. Since both get a measly 2 megapixel sensor for this camera, these images are not very good from either of them. But you can get much closer to the subject on the POCO X2, so in comparison, its images are looking good.

You need plenty of light for taking these images, else they will be filled with noise and the whole image looks grainy. Like I said in my OnePlus 8’s camera review, you can take much better and detailed images by digitally zooming in with the main sensor. Try it out. Coming to the portrait shots. You have heard me say this countless number of times by now, that this is my favourite mode to shoot, on any smartphone.

Portrait mode on these phones make your images stand out and make them look a lot more professional. Both the phones are amazing at detecting the edges and accurately separating the subject from the background. But just look at the dynamic range in the portraits from the OnePlus 8. It handles the bright background in such an amazing way, while the POCO X2 completely blows it. This is the 1st instance in this comparison, where we saw the POCO X2 fall noticeably behind.

That being said, it still takes amazing portrait shots, when the background is not too bright. It also gets is the movie mode, which lets us take 21:9 portrait shots with black bars at the top and bottom, giving these images a cinematic look. We don’t get this mode on the OnePlus 8. You can take portraits of objects on both, and in most cases the edge detection is equally good on both. While taking portraits of objects, may times OnePlus 8 just wont blur the background.

I don’t know if its a glitch or something, but it has happened on a few occasions since the latest software update. If it’s a widespread issue, hopefully they fix it in the next update. Even with this issue, for portraits, I would choose the OnePlus 8 because of the amazing dynamic range. Let us now move to images that I took in indoors, artificial and lower lighting situations. This is where, usually the lower prices phone start falling behind.

But as we saw in its dedicated camera review, POCO X2 has a very capable camera, even in these situations. Objects are sharper in OnePlus 8’s images, and they also show less noise compared to POCO X2. But in this image, OnePlus 8 tried to cool the image down, whereas the actual colour of the lights is as we can se in the POCO X2’s image. OnePlus 8 gets optical image stabilisation, so its sensor can capture light for a few extra milliseconds, which we see in some shots. All in all, these shots look good from both the phones so far.

Again OnePlus 8 messed up the white balance in this shot. Actually messed up is not the right word, because some people might actually prefer hot the OnePlus 8 made the image look. It’s just that I prefer that my phones capture the colours as they really were. We start seeing bigger difference between as we move on to even lower lighting situations. Images from the POCO X2 don’t have nearly as many details as the images from the OnePlus 8, and as I zoom in, we see POCO’s image filled with just noise.

It does get a night mode to help it take better images as the light gets even lower. And the night mode images do make a big difference. As you can see, with the night mode turned on, there isn’t much difference between these images from the first look. There is still more noise in POCO’s images, but you can’t tell that unless you zoom in and compare them side by side. Some images from the POCO X2 are even brighter of the two, but the ones from the OnePlus 8 look so much better overall.

So again in low light OnePlus 8 is a clear winner. That brings us to the front facing cameras. I think OnePlus really needs to work on its selfie camera, because its selfies don’t really feel like they were taken with a 16 megapixel sensor. Ones from the POCO X2 has more details in them. I still like the skin tones that OnePlus 8 captures, but overall for selfies, I would go with the POCO X2.

There is a secondary depth sensor at the font of the POCO X2 to help it with these portrait selfies. I think it would have been much better if POCO spent that money in refining the dynamic range of the main camera for these shots. I like how sharp these shots are from the POCO X2, but at the same time, I hate that it completely destroys the shot with overblown highlights. Again when the background is not too bright, POCO X2 does better job with the details in the face, so I choose it for taking portrait selfies as well. Here is a video from the front facing camera of the OnePlus 8 and the POCO X2.

You can see how both thes phones are handling overall colours of the scene, exposure and stabilisation, when I am walking around with them.4K videos are stabilised on both, but the POCO X2 can only shoot them at 30fps whereas the OnePlus 8 can also shoot them at 60fps. Videos from the POCO X2 are really good for its price, but one from the Oneplus 8 look better and capture more details since they have a higher bit rate. Slow motion videos also look better from the OnePlus 8, both the 1080p and 720p ones. But if you want to shoot super slow motion videos, POCO X2 is the only one that allows you to shoot 960fps videos at 720p right now. So after looking at close to 90 image and video samples in various lighting conditions, we have a fairly good idea that which of these has a better cameras.

In bright daylight, there is very little difference between images from these phones, which in itself is a big win for the POCO X2, because it costs less than half as much as the OnePlus 8. It falls behind in the dynamics range while taking portrait shots, and its overall low light performance is not up to the level of OnePlus 8. But that doesn’t mean it is bad at taking these images. If we look at its images alone, they look really good for a phone that starts at under Rs.20,000. Videos are better from the OnePlus 8, but again the POCO X2 gives us best videos out of any phones priced at under Rs.20,000. If you are trying to decide between these 2, and you have the extra money, you should definitely go with the OnePlus 8.

But if you just can’t stretch your budget beyond 20,000rs, POCO X2 is your best option, and you wont be disappointed when it comes to its cameras. What do you think about the cameras on these phones? OnePlus 8 costs more than twice as much as the POCO X2, so do you think its images were twice as good as the ones from POCO X2? Let me know in the comments. And if you don’t agree with my analysis of these images, you can go back to the start, Mute the video, watch it in the highest resolution on the biggest display that you own. And draw your conclusion that way. If you are planning on getting any of these phones, I will really appreciate if you get it from the affiliate links in the description section.

That is it for this video guys. Please hit the like button if you enjoyed this video, and subscribe to the channel for more quality tech videos like this. You can also check out some of the other videos from this channel. This has been Sagar, and I’ll catch you guys in the next video. Take care.

Source : TecworkZ