Huawei Pura 70 Ultra review

Camera

The camera system on the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is something that everyone will be talking about for a while. There are three cameras on the back - a 50MP primary, a 50MP telephoto and a 40MP ultrawide.

The primary one is the most interesting one - it uses a 50MP Sony IMX989 1" sensor with sensor shift stabilization and retractable lens with variable aperture. Huawei added a retractable mechanism to the main camera's lens which pops the camera up when in use. The rotating telescopic lens features an intricate motorized structure which Huawei tested for 300,000 cycles of expansion and contraction.

The main shooter has a variable f/1.6 - 4.0 lens and features a 22.5mm focal length. Huawei introduced a new XD Motion engine to help handle fast moving objects.

The second camera on the back uses a 50 MP sensor, which sits behind a periscope 90mm f/2.1 telephoto lens featuring OIS and 3.5x optical zoom. There is hybrid (lossless) zoom up to 10x. This camera also doubles as a macro shooter, allowing you to get as close as 5cm from your subject with its 35x super macro mode.

The ultrawide shooter has a 40 MP sensor and 13mm equivalent focal length. It offers autofocus and is also capable of macro photography.

Finally, the selfie camera uses a 13MP sensor coupled with an 18mm f/2.4 lens. Autofocus is supported. There are three crop modes here, just like on other Huawei phones - 0.6x (full view), 0.8x and 1x.

Camera app

The camera is no different than the ones on the last few Mate and P phones. It offers Huawei's AI, just as before. It recognizes and tunes settings for a ton of scenes. There's a toggle in the viewfinder for turning AI enhancements off and on, so you don't have to go into settings for that.

Camera app

There's a Pro mode, too, where you can adjust parameters yourself - aperture for the main camera (f/1.6, f/1.8, f/2.0, f/2.2, f/2.5, f/2.8, f/3.2, f/3.5, f/4.0), ISO, 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 focus mode (single, continuous, and manual). If the phone thinks you messed up the exposure, an icon will pop up to warn you.

The Pro mode works on ultrawide and telephoto cameras, too. RAW mode is available across all rear cameras, too.

By the way, Pro mode is available for video as well, and the maximum ISO there is 6,400 (3,200 for the UW and tele cams). And you can set the desired shutter speed.

Both the selfie and the primary camera interface offer zoom levels. For the back setup, you get W, 1x, 2x, 3.5x and 10x options. Meanwhile, for the front one, you get W, 0.8x and 1x. The selfie camera has a higher-than-advertised resolution sensor, so most, if not all, zoom levels should be lossless.

Daylight photo quality

Variable aperture for the main camera has become something we come to expect from Huawei and it is also present on the Pura 70 Ultra. Unlike other solutions on the market, Huawei offers the most options and you can choose between 9 fixed steps starting with f/1.6 and ending with f/4.0.

The variable aperture feature is a huge benefit for the camera - it allows you to control the depth of field and the light that gets through naturally. Long story short, shooting at the largest f/1.6 aperture will give you an incredibly shallow depth of field (DoF) with excellent bokeh. Large aperture is also excellent for night shots. Smaller apertures are ideal for when we require better depth of field of natural-looking non-HDR-enhanced photo.

And here are two scenes we took with different apertures.

f/1.6 • f/2.0 • f/2.5 • f/4.0

f/1.6 • f/2.5 • f/4.0

The primary camera saves outstanding 12MP photos and of them were shot with f/2.0 aperture. The resolved detail is immense, the sharpening is not extreme, noise is non-existent, and the white balance is spot on resulting in accurate color presentation. The dynamic range is not super wide, making for more realistic photos.

Huawei's rendition is nicely balanced with natural-looking detail evident across all photos - foliage, cars, people.

1x zoom, main camera

The 2x lossless zoom lives up to its name - the quality is almost the same as the standard 1x zoom. If we go in pixel-peeping mode we can see some artifacts or artificial-looking areas that posed a challenge to the processing, but this is an incredibly rare occasion and almost unnoticeable.

2x zoom, main camera

Huawei also advertises the primary camera for its capability to shoot fast-moving subjects. So we shot this hooded crow and while we are not going to post all photos, do believe us when we say there was not a single blurred one. Then move moved to zoom in on the said hooded crow.

Shooting the hooded crow

The telephoto camera in its default 3.5x zoom mode saves excellent photos. The same things we said for the main camera apply here and we are happy to see Huawei being so consistent with the photo quality across the cameras. The 3.5x zoomed photos are incredibly rich in detail, with no noise, accurate white balance and lively colors. The natural rendition once again deserves praise.

The telephoto camera also offers telemacro capabilities as it can shoot from as close as 5cm away! The macro photos look amazing.

3.5x zoom, telephoto camera

The telephoto camera offers up to 10x hybrid zoom - meaning up until around 7x it is nearly as lossless as on the main camera and then we go to upscaling and some other AI something software mojo. The important thing is that the 10x zoomed pictures are not simply usable, they are quite nice! Sure, the resolved detail is not on par with what we have experienced so far, but it is enough. The noise is cleaned well, the colors are accurate and there is no heavy over-sharpening one would have expected for such zoom level.

Overall, the 10x zoom is something you should not be afraid to use, on the contrary.

10x zoom, telephoto camera

The ultrawide photos offer very wide field of view and turned out great - there is plenty of detail, the sharpness is just right, the colors are punchy and the dynamic range good. Noise is minimal, if any.

The ultrawide camera supports autofocus and can also double as a macro shooter. While the closeups are good, the telemacro are simply better-looking for their bokeh.

0.6x zoom, ultrawide camera

The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is a proficient portrait kit, saving the perfect portraits in 1x, 2x and 3.5 magnifications. The color saturation is a bit over the top, though.

Portrait: 1x • 2x • 3.5x

Portrait: 1x • 2x • 3.5x

And there is something we would like to see on every other cameraphone - a selfie camera worthy of such title. It has three zoom shortcuts - W (0.6x), 0.8x, and 1x, each corresponding to 18mm, 22mm and 27mm in 35mm equivalent FoV. The camera saves 13MP photos even though the sensor appears to be larger (14.4MP). This is probably why all three FoV modes offer equally detailed and sharp photos - as there is more cropping than upscaling.

Indeed, no matter which zoom option you choose, the selfies are always superb - sharp with a ton of detail, low noise, vivid colors and great dynamic range. The natural rendition is also present here with great looking subjects, foliage and whatnot.

Selfie: 0.6x • 0.8x • 1x

Selfie: 0.6x • 0.8x • 1x

Low-light photo quality

Huawei did pioneer the nighttime photography with its Night Mode, so it is only natural we expect a lot from its phones. The Pura 70 Ultra main camera bas the largest mobile sensor on the market, enhanced by sensor-shift stabilization and f/1.6 aperture lens.

Some sort of automatic night mode kicks sometimes, mostly on the ultrawide-angle camera, but it happens quite rarely and in very dark conditions.

The default low-light shots from the main camera are excellent - they have plenty of resolved detail, no visible noise, superb color saturation and good exposure. The dynamic range is great, too.

The noise reduction seems a bit harsh at times and is probably responsible for the polished look observable in some photos.

1x zoom, main camera

Night Mode is available, of course, and it usually captures photos with 2s-3s simulated exposure. The pictures are unrealistically bright and colorful, but they do offer better developed sky and shadows.

Night mode 1x zoom, main camera

The default 2x photos are good, though you can tell they have been digitally zoomed from the default ones. Sure, they are plenty usable, but the detail is average.

2x zoom, main camera

The Night Mode on the 2x zoom makes for sharper and more detailed photos, but the overall look is incredibly unrealistic and with a notable red tinge.

Night mode 2x zoom, main camera

The 3.5x zoomed photos are solid - the detail is quite enough, the noise is kept low, the color saturation is great, and the dynamic range is superb.

3.5x zoom, telephoto camera

The regular zoomed photos are bright, but the Night Mode will do for even brighter and once again artificial-looking images. And while the center of the photos is alright, the corners are often blurred.

Night mode 3.5x zoom, telephoto camera

The 10x zoomed photos look like a simple digital zoom most of the time, but some do look quite impressive all things considered. Yes, the detail is below average, sometimes poor, but the rest is great and they would do just fine for them social networks.

10x zoom, telephoto camera

The 10x Night Mode offers blurred photos most of the time, so using this mode is pointless.

Night mode 10x zoom, telephoto camera

The ultrawide photos are good at night, but not as great as we found them to be on the Huawei P60 Pro. They have a good amount of resolved detail, low noise, great dynamic range, and excellent color saturations. Their exposure is bright, but not over the top.

The excessive noise reduction is probably responsible for the washed out/blurred look, which will not be everyone's cup of tea.

0.6x zoom, ultrawide camera

If you want brighter with an even more washed-out look, then the Night Mode is the way.

Night mode 0.6x zoom, ultrawide camera

Video recording

The Huawei Pira 70 Ultra captures videos up to 4K at 60fps on all of its cameras and there is always-on stabilization process. This is why, in video mode, each camera has a certain level of cropping, resulting in slightly higher magnification - the 3.5x zoom camera shoots 4x zoomed videos.

The daylight videos are good, but far from the best we've seen. The resolved detail is good, but not as high as we expected it to be, and all videos look overexposed. The dynamic range is super wide, the colors are mostly accurate, and there is no visible noise.

The nighttime videos are good - the main camera offers some excellent footage with a lot of fine detail, top-notch color saturation, dynamic range and noise reduction.

The low-light video from the ultrawide camera is very good, but washed out. The 2x and 10z zoomed videos are digitally zoomed, while the 4x is usable even if noisy.

Finally, the stabilization works great on the primary, ultrawide and selfie cameras. It can help when panning with the telephoto camera, too.

Overall, we expected a flagship-grade video camera from this phone, but what we got is just average. Pity.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.