I can’t believe how much I trust the OnePlus 13’s camera zoom

Though it is a vital a part of my job when testing a brand new smartphone digital camera, I do not use the long-range zoom in my day-to-day life that always. Whereas it is generally enjoyable to impress buddies and whip up one thing from Baltimore Harbor, I not often save the ultimate photographs, not to mention publish them anyplace after I’m achieved. So when the OnePlus 13 boasted an up to date 3x telephoto sensor, I anticipated extra of the identical. I believed it might be fantastic as much as about 10x magnification and fantastic as much as 30x, however no extra. I used to be mistaken.

As a substitute, I believe OnePlus has discovered the right stability between telephoto {hardware} and AI processing software program, making the OnePlus 13 a pressure to be reckoned with. Here is what I believe the key is and the way it compares to Apple and Google’s flagships.

Once I sat down for my first OnePlus 13 briefing, I anticipated it to be like some other briefing. I figured that OnePlus would in all probability discuss the way it has up to date the digital camera sensors, improved them and given them stabilization right here, there and in every single place. And that is nearly precisely what it did. The convention touched on the truth that OnePlus dropped its telephoto sensor from 64MP to 50MP, stored the 3x optical zoom and switched to a three-prism design to make the sensor thinner, and that was about it.

Nonetheless, what I did not count on was how AI processing would issue into the up to date equation. See, OnePlus talked about new options like AI Element Enhance and AI Unblur — that are just about copies of what Google’s Pixel cameras do — however it revealed among the extra primary components of picture processing. It utterly missed the truth that its AI telephoto zoom would not kick in in any respect till you get previous 30x zoom, and notably ignored the truth that the OnePlus 13’s picture preview will nonetheless make Patterson-Gimlin movie appear to be it was shot. in 4K.

However when he picture processing BEN First off, the OnePlus 13 has a approach of peculiar you. Or, a minimum of, it stunned me once in a while. In the direction of the top of the OnePlus 13 launch occasion, I discovered myself wandering downtown Miami with just a few hours to kill. So I did what anybody primarily based on the brackish Chesapeake Bay would do—I headed for the intense blue-green waters close to Bayfront Park. In spite of everything, it might solely be hours earlier than I used to be again within the chilly, grey Mid-Atlantic. I picked a yacht and determined to see what the OnePlus 13 may do. I zoomed… and zoomed… and zoomed, as much as a most of 120x. Here is how my fast zoom take a look at turned out:

As I touched on in my full OnePlus 13 evaluation, the outcomes aren’t excellent – however they’re fairly good to my eye. There is a slight change in shade profile as you go from 2x zoom to 3x zoom and change to the telephoto sensor, and the pink of the American flag is noticeably darker, nearly black, by the point you attain 30x zoom. That stated, the traces and shadows at longer focal lengths are what actually impressed me. You possibly can nonetheless simply see the stains behind the letters within the yacht’s identify, and the balls evenly spaced alongside the railing are straightforward to identify.

Certain, it is easy to say that the OnePlus 13 is a superb digital camera telephone in a vacuum, however that is not a good evaluation. In spite of everything, one thing can look nice proper out of the field, solely to look utterly common when in comparison with the outcomes from different high-end digital camera telephones. So with that in thoughts, let’s put the OnePlus 13 up in opposition to the most recent from Apple and Google to see if it is nonetheless as spectacular.

Nonetheless, earlier than I get to the outcomes of my fast and funky digital camera shoot, I ought to in all probability remind you what each digital camera telephone does. First, Apple introduced a major change to the iPhone 16 Professional this yr: It modified from 3x to 5x optical zoom for its 12MP telephoto sensor. This brings it extra in step with the sensor on the bigger iPhone 16 Professional Max and makes the primary 48MP sensor do much more heavy lifting at shorter zoom lengths. Nonetheless, it is a barely bigger sensor, which implies the iPhone 16 Professional has extra gentle to work with whenever you go inside.

Google’s Pixel 9 Professional, however, determined to not repair what wasn’t damaged. It retained the identical 48MP 5x optical telephoto sensor because the earlier Pixel 8 Professional, as a substitute counting on its up to date Tensor G4 chip for many of the digital camera enhancements. There are some new (or new) digital camera options within the works, like Zoom Improve, which lastly arrived almost a yr after it was introduced, however that is extra of a Google Photographs characteristic than a correct Digital camera add-on Pixel.

So, with that lined, let’s journey again to my hometown to see how these flag bearers deal with a basic collegiate structure.

As a former highschool monitor star (simply kidding), I believed the most effective place to place my three flagships by means of their paces could be an empty monitor in the midst of recess. I would not need to compete with athletes coaching or fear about workers asking what I used to be doing. Because it turned out, the monitor was additionally an excellent place to see how my three telephones dealt with some totally different textures. Additionally, I ought to point out that I caught to the iPhone 16 Professional’s default zoom lengths for my take a look at, however solely as a result of it presents the least flexibility of the bunch.

Nonetheless, there’s not a lot to decide on between the OnePlus 13, iPhone 16 Professional or Pixel 9 Professional on the widest focal lengths (1x and 2x zoom). Sure, all three provide totally different shade profiles, with the OnePlus lighting up runway pink and Google lighting up sky blue, however all the main points are fairly constant.

As soon as inside, nonetheless, you discover just a few different variations. The OnePlus 13 as soon as once more has a noticeable change in shade science when you get previous its telephoto sensor, adopting a a lot darker shade of blue for the Franklin & Marshall mark. Google’s Pixel 9 Professional stays lighter throughout the vary, conserving the lighter shades of blue for the emblem and the bezels themselves, however retaining fairly good element contained in the press field, equivalent to 400 meter races.

That stated, I finished the take a look at on the high finish of Google’s zoom vary, however it did not come near the utmost of the OnePlus 13. I may have pushed it even nearer, much like what I did with the yacht photographs above, however that might had made a troublesome head-to-head comparability.

After which, there’s the iPhone 16 Professional. I am not stunned that the 12-megapixel sensor struggled after eclipsing the 10x zoom, however I am slightly upset. Though photographs aren’t blurry, Apple’s digital camera is the one one which suffers seen grain at 20x and 25x zoom. The iPhone 16 Professional did not even appear to determine the wood planks on the underside of the press field, turning them right into a grey, stone-like line, whereas the Pixel and OnePlus 13 retained a bit extra of the wood-grain character, if you would like

After all, when you get previous the iPhone’s grainy outcomes, selecting between the Pixel 9 Professional and the OnePlus 13 turns into a matter of private choice. To my eye, the sharper particulars and cleaner traces of the OnePlus 13 win the day, as they really feel extra like a mirrored image of the supplies used within the press field. I believe Google’s shade profile may very well be extra correct, however it’s simpler to paint right in post-processing than to extract extra element from a picture with out sharpening the photograph extra.

Granted, these digital camera samples are additionally from a brilliant, sunny day, so there’s at all times an opportunity that Google or Apple may break OnePlus’ success in harder lighting conditions, however that is not what I’ve skilled to this point. now. I will maintain taking pictures with all three digital camera telephones, although, and make sure to replace this comparability if the OnePlus 13 begins to falter.