Huawei P30 review

Portraits

The P30 Pro takes portraits with the 40MP main cam and the ToF module, but the P30's different hardware setup necessitates a different approach - it's the main cam and the telephoto at work. You get three zoom settings - 1x, 2x, and 3x, and in the fist two the image is captured with the main cam, while the telephoto aids with depth, as opposed to the 3x mode where it's the other way around.

Each of these settings has its own issues. The 3x mode is the best distance for portraits, but the images turn out colder than ideal and they're also not particularly sharp.

Portraits at 3x

The 2x setting still lets you stand at a reasonable distance from your subject, but being upscaled from the 10MP regular camera image (itself technically taken on a 40MP sensor, urgh), it's not very sharp either. At least the colors are more pleasing.

Portraits at 2x

The 1x setting yields the sharpest and most detailed photos, which is nice, only you need to be a little closer to your subject than comfortable.

Portraits at 1x

Those peculiarities aside, the P30's portraits do have excellent subject isolation and very nice background blur, which is what counts most here.

Aperture

Aperture mode is the other simulated blur mode, this one meant for isolating non-humans. You can vary the simulated aperture while capturing the image or post shot in the gallery, where you can also pick where the focus is. The 1x/2x/3x selector from the Portrait mode is here too and the mechanics of which camera does what are the same.

Aperture samples at different simulated aperture: f/0.95 • f/2.8 • f/4.0 • f/16

Aperture samples at different zoom level, from same spot: 1x • 2x • 3x

Selfies

The P30 shares the selfie camera of the P30 Pro - a seemingly impressive 32MP unit. The thing is, it doesn't have autofocus and its lens is fixed focus instead.

That aside, the 32MP selfie cam does a respectable job. It's got excellent dynamic range as selfie cams go, the colors are on point and there is plenty of detail, even if not quite as much as the resolution would make you believe. Something to keep in mind is that the focus sweet spot is not at an arm's length. If you are of above average height you'll need to slighly bend your arm so your face doesn't end up out of focus.

Selfie samples

The front camera has the same Portrait mode as the main one, but the subject separation isn't quite as great. Depending on the complexity of your hair and the relation of your face to the background, you can see ears and hair gone missing on some of the shots.

Selfie portraits

Lighting effects are available as well, but they serve mostly to emphasize the flaws in the subject detection.

Selfie portraits with effects

Video recording

The Huawei P30 can record video with any of its three cams in 2160p/30fps (but no 2160p/60fps) as well as 1080p at 30 and 60fps. Technically, the telephoto camera cannot capture 60fps footage, so in that mode you'd be getting a zoomed in image from the main camera, which looks properly appalling on the phone's screen already and it doesn't get better when viewed on a PC.

Electronic stabilization is available on all cameras in all modes, which is nice, but it can't be disabled, which is slightly less nice.

An upcoming Dual-View Video feature will allow you to record video simultaneously with two of the rear cameras in split-screen fashion.

Main camera

Similarly to the P30 Pro, the P30's 4K footage from the main camera has excellent dynamic range and true to life color rendition and great contrast. Resolved detail is lagging slightly behind competitors, however.

The 4K clips have a video bitrate of 21-33Mbps (compared to a fairly typical value of 42Mbps), which may be one of the reasons for the less than ideal sharpness - excessive compression might wipe some of that away. Or maybe the always-on electronic stabilization has taken its toll on the picture quality. Or both.

The 1080p videos shot at 30fps, except for the lower resolution, offer similar sharpness, dynamic range, colors and contrast. For our balcony scene the bitrate is a crazy low 6Mbps (usually around 17Mbps), though go up to 15-ish Mbps for the walk in the park stabilization clip.

Finally, the 1080p clips shot at 60fps have less resolved detail than the 30fps ones which is sadly the norm, though we've started to see exceptions.

Ultra-wide-angle camera

Footage from the ultra wide cam is passable, but nothing more. It's not on par with the other two when it comes to detail in both 4K and 1080p, but can still be used to offer a unique perspective. High-contrast scenes will end up with lost detail at the extremes, however, due to the rather low dynamic range.

And the 60fps clips from the ultra-wide-camera are extremely low in detail and have an almost cartoonish look to them. While technically not good, you can use this mode for the fun of it.

Telephoto camera

Videos shot on the telephoto camera let you get close to the action and offer reasonable quality as well. While detail is again not spectacular, there's really not any competition beyond a 2x zoom, so the P30 should easily be high on your list if you often find yourself shooting from far away. Of course, the P30 Pro does offer even more reach.

Video stabilization

Electronic stabilization from the main cam works flawlessly in 1080p ironing out shake from walking and also delivery some of the smoothest pans we've seen. It's not as spectacular in 4K, though it does manage to cancel out a lot of the vibrations. The ultra wide footage benefits from the EIS too, but it's not ideal and there's a bit of a wobble effect that's really unpleasant.

Here's a glimpse of how the P30 compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

Huawei P30 against the Galaxy S10 and the LG G8 ThinQ in our Video compare tool