Huawei P30 review

GSMArena team, 12 April 2019.

4.4

A tri-camera blend of familiar hardware

The P30's camera setup in its entirety is unlike any other in Huawei's lineup, yet it's a mix of bits we've seen before. The primary cam, for example is almost the same as the one on the P30 Pro, though it does have a couple of notable differences. While still based on the 40MP IMX600y 1/1.7" sensor with an RYYB filter, the P30's lens is dimmer (f/1.8 vs. f/1.6) and it's not stabilized.

Then it's the ultra wide shooter lifted right off the Mate 20. This one's 16MP sensor isn't as high-res as the Pro's 20MP, but it's still one of the better offerings out there as it's got autofocus on its 17mm f/2.2 lens. Making our way to the telephoto, it's no fancy 5x periscope, but it's the 3x module from the Mate 20 Pro - an 8MP sensor behind an 80mm f/2.4 lens. This is the only cam on the P30 that has OIS.

The P30 also doesn't have the ToF camera of the Pro so it's got to rely on the other modules for depth mapping. And with the absence of ToF capability, the laser focusing tech for nearby objects remains.

The camera app isn't new either. Master AI now recognizes and tunes settings for up to 1,500 different scenes and its effects are toned down compared to early iterations. There's a toggle in the viewfinder if you wanna play with it on a shot by shot basis.

There's a mode selector on the bottom, which you swipe left and right to change modes, but you can't swipe on the viewfinder, just on the selector itself. Swiping up and down doesn't switch between front and rear camera either, you have a button for that (admittedly, it's at the bottom within easy reach). Basically, you're still wasting the viewfinder by not having gestures enabled on it, except for pinch to zoom.

As for zooming, a tap on the currently selected magnifaction indicator in the viewfinder toggles consecutively the 1x (25mm), 3x (80mm), 5x (135mm), and the Wide (16mm) magnifications. The 5x mode is here perhaps to match the Pro's real optical 5x, but on the vanilla P30 it's digital zoom.

There's a Pro mode even on the non-Pro P30, of course. Here you can adjust parameters yourself - ISO (50 to 204,800), shutter speed (1/4000s to 30s), exposure compensation (-4 to +4EV in 1/3 stop increments), and white balance (presets and specific light temperature). You can also choose the metering mode (matrix, center-weighted and spot), and the focus mode (single, continuous and manual). If the phone thinks you messed up the exposure, an icon will pop up to warn you.

The monochrome mode is still available in spite of the P30 Pro not having a B&W camera. It's in the 'More' section, where the extra modes are: Monochrome, Panorama, and HDR, among others. The Super Macro mode is also here, and it has 1x and 0.6x toggles, too. If you choose 1x - the camera will just crop the image from the ultra-wide-angle source.

As we've come to expect from Huawei phones, the P30 has both a Portrait mode and an Aperture mode. In Aperture, you can choose the simulated aperture in the range from f/0.95 to f/16. Post shot, you can change the aperture and the focus point within the Gallery.

In Portrait mode you can enable and disable the background blur, so that you only have the beatifications applied, though you can turn those off as well and basically get a regular photo. There are different kinds of blur shapes and you can change the simulated lighting too.

Camera UI

Image quality

There's a rule with recent Huaweis when it comes to what resolution images you'd get - if the ultra wide angle camera didn't take it, then it's a 10MP photo. This applies to 1x and 3x zoom images, even though the telephoto cam's sensor is 8MP. You could also get 40MP images at 1x magnification, but as we've pointed out before, that's not how the sensor is supposed to be used.

Camera samples, main camera, 10MP, AI off

Image quality is practically identical to the the P30 Pro, which means the P30 is one of the leading phones for picture-taking you can buy today. Detail is plenty - per pixel, that is, because higher-res imagers will resolve finer detail, but the vast majority of competitors are at 12MP and that's not a meaningful difference.

Colors are pleasing, neither dull nor over the top, there's plenty of dynamic range, and overall processing is very competent, lending a very... 'photographic' look, if you'll allow the term.

Camera samples, main camera, 10MP, AI off

40MP shots aren't necessarily packing more detail, though certain scenes do benefit from being shot in this mode. It varies from shot to shot, so it may be worth capturing in both 10MP and 40MP and then deciding afterwards.

Camera samples, main camera, 40MP, AI off

We weren't massive fans of the overly saturated look of the Master AI processing when it first appeared on the P20 Pro, but Huawei has toned it down and now it's more restrained. There's still a noticeable boost in skies and greenery, and you're free to enjoy it if that's your thing. We tend to keep it off, and only dial up the saturation in post processing when we see fit.

Camera samples, main camera, 10MP, AI on

Similarly to the 10MP vs. 12MP case above, the 16MP ultra wide camera of the P30 isn't meaningfully inferior to the 20MP one of the Pro. The 1mm longer equivalent focal length of the P30 means that it practically has the same pixels-to-coverage ratio so per-pixel detail is identical to the P30 Pro's shots. The slightly wider Pro camera will be preferred by ultra wide extremists, but for sane people the P30's ultra wide is more than excellent.

If anything, we'd say that the P30's ultra wide manages to stay sharper in the corners than the P30 Pro. Colors are rendered with a bit more punch than the regular cam, but the extreme nature of the ultra wide perspective works well with some boosted colors, we reckon. Dynamic range isn't quite as wide as on the primary module, but perfectly acceptable nonetheless.

Camera samples, ultra wide camera

Huawei has a dedicated super macro mode which uses the ultra wide camera. While it can indeed focus ridiculously close, the inherent issue with that is that you'll probably throw a shadow over your subject with the phone, not to mention spook it if it's a living thing. For still subjects in the right light, it's pretty great though.

Close-up shots

The telephoto camera is different on the P30 when compared to the Pro, but it's familiar nonetheless - it comes from the Mate 20 Pro. One could argue that the 80mm equivalent is more universally usable than the 125mm of the Pro, though there's no denying that reach is reach and the Pro is king.

In any case, the P30's telephoto images come out sharp and detailed, with colors similarly great as the ones from the main cam. Contrast isn't quite as stellar and there's a bit of a haze in high contrast areas, and dynamic range isn't quite up to the main cam standard, but we're liking the end results nonetheless.

Camera samples, telephoto camera

In low light, we expected the P30 to suffer from its slightly dimmer lens compared to the Pro's and from not having OIS. It turned out our skepticism was unwarranted, and the computational aspect of low-light photography makes a whole lot more of a difference than a third of a stop brighter stabilized lens. Not that a third of a stop brighter stabilized lens is a bad thing, obviously.

We figured we'd do a quick shootout with the P30 and P30 Pro to give you a general idea of how the two camera setup compare in terms of coverage and reach.

P30 samples: Main • Telephoto • Ultra wide

P30 Pro samples: Main • Telephoto • Ultra wide

And here's a different angle. Mind you, the weather wasn't ideal when we got to this bit, so no blue skies.

P30 samples: Main • Telephoto • Ultra wide

P30 Pro samples: Main • Telephoto • Ultra wide

Low-light shots are already excellent in the general Photo mode without resorting to the pseudo long exposures of the Night mode. The images are well exposed with nicely preserved highlights and no loss in color saturation. There's a ton of fine detail too and noise is kept low despite ISO being typically in the 2000-2500 range but also going as high as 25600 in very dark scenes.

Low-light samples, main camera, Photo mode

Night mode works just as on previous Huawei phones producing bright handheld night-time photos. It captures a bunch of photos and stacks them to create a final image of accurate exposure and lower noise. And while on many occassions there isn't a major difference between the normal and Night shots taken with the main camera, it does make a difference if you want to brighten those night skies and recover some detail in the highlight and shadow areas. Night mode shots also end up with livelier colors and are particularly appealing if you have colorful lights in the frame.

Low-light samples, main camera, Night mode

Here's a quick comparison between the Night modes of the P30 and P30 Pro.

Night mode comparison: P30 • P30 Pro

The ultra wide shots taken in low light in the default Photo mode aren't as great. The maximum ISO of 3200 coupled with the relatively narrow f/2.2 aperture means sometimes it just can't gather enough light for a proper exposure. And even when there is more light, images still turn out soft and noisy.

Low-light samples, ultra wide camera, Photo mode

Things change dramatically in Night mode, where the otherwise barely usable shots become almost actually good. Night mode helps reign in light in super dark scenes, and it also improve moderately well lit ones. The shots are saved at 10MP, in this case, mind you.

Low-light samples, ultra wide camera, Night mode

In most low-light situations the telephoto cam is put aside and if you tap the 3x button, you'd end up with digitally zoomed and upscaled images. As you'd imagine, they're not very pleasing to look at, Night mode or no night mode. Having said that, under the right conditions (above a certain light threshold), the telephoto will take over and take a reasonably good looking shot.

Low-light samples, telephoto camera, Photo mode