nubia Z70 Ultra review
Vari-aperture 35mm main unit, odd zoom interface choices
The Z70 Ultra continues in the footsteps of previous nubia Zs and ZTE Axons and features a 35mm-equivalent lens on its main camera. The new addition this year is the ability to change its aperture - from the wide open f/1.6 to f/4.0.
A few more differences await on either end of the zoom range, with some questionable decisions being made on the UI side of things.
Take the telephoto, for example. It's using the same sensor as the one on the Z60 Ultra, but it's mated to a new lens, now with a 70mm equivalent focal length. We like more zoom, not less zoom, but in this particular case the loss of reach isn't that big, while the gain in close-focusing capability is a lot more noticeable, and most welcome.
The thing is though, the camera viewfinder still has the same 18-35-85mm buttons for zoom that the Z60 Ultra had and to get to the Z70 Ultra's native 70mm, you need to tap once on the 85mm to switch to the telephoto, once more to get to 140mm, and then a third time for the 70mm.
It's a similar story with the ultrawide, which is now a lot wider than before, at 13mm. But the 13mm is only accessible by cycling the modes - so 18-24-13mm. Of course, pinch to zoom is always an option, but we feel like the button operation is a bit of a mess. Also, the ultrawide's extra coverage now comes at the expense of sensor size - the 1/1.55" unit of the Z60 Ultra has been replaced with a 1/2.88" one.
Under-display cameras are a big deal on nubia phones (and their relatives from the Axon and Red Magic lineups) and this one is the 7th iteration, now also leveraging generative AI to make up for the loss of pixels that it needs to share with the display.
- Standard (main): 50MP Sony IMX 906 (1/1.56", 1.0µm-2.0µm), f/1.6-f/4.0, 35mm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS; 4K@120fps/8K@30fps
- Telephoto: 64MP OmniVision OV64B (1/2.0", 0.7µm-1.4µm), f/2.4, 70mm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS; 4K@120fps
- Ultrawide: 50MP OmniVision OV50D (1/2.88", 0.61µm-1.22µm), f/2.0, 13mm, multi-directional PDAF; 4K@60fps
- Front camera: 16MP OmniVision OV16E (1/2.8", 1.12µm), f/2.45, 24mm, fixed focus; FullHD@30fps
There's the company's usual Street mode that can be activated with the slider on the left side of the phone or form the viewfinder mode switcher. It shows exposure parameters, has a manual focus capability and a few more preset zoom levels (but still no 13mm or 70mm either).
Slider has been moved to the left • Shutter release on the right
The slider has been relocated for this generation to allow more room on the right side of the phone, where a shutter release button has appeared. It's a tiny two stage mechanical button (unlike the Oppo Find X8 Pro's pressure-sensitive solution) that can also be used as a shortcut to launch the camera. More is often better, particularly when it comes to shortcuts and control options, it's just that we're not entirely sure smartphone cameras need dedicated physical buttons.
There's also an underwater mode that lets you cycle modes using the volume up button and use the volume down for capture. The modes that being cycled are Photo, Video, and Street - in case you're underwater on the street.
Daylight photo quality
Main camera
The Z70 Ultra's main camera captures good photos during the day, but they don't necessarily impress. We're seeing a relatively digital detail rendition - not that film is what we're after, it's just that textures don't look particularly organic. There's also some grain mixed, itself not an issue just an observation. The Z60 Ultra as we remember it took cleaner and more natural looking photos. Dynamic range is reasonably wide, and we do like the colors in these shots.
Daylight samples, main camera (35mm)
The phone would always appear to shoot at f/1.6 in our test scenes if left in full auto mode. Changing the aperture is only possible in Pro mode and in our minds stopping down makes sense if you're shooting from up close and need some more depth of field, which is otherwise pretty thin. The DoF standpoint aside, we don't think that stopping down brings a meaningful improvement in sharpness.
Daylight samples, main camera (35mm): f/1.6 • f/2.0 • f/2.8 • f/4.0
People shots at 35mm are pretty good. The shooting distance is nice and comfortable, facial proportions don't suffer from distortions, there's a good level of background separation. Skin tones are also quite appealing. Weirdly enough, Portrait mode can have ever so slightly more natural facial detail rendition - and that's with all beautification turned off in both modes.
Daylight samples, main camera (35mm), Photo mode
Daylight samples, main camera (35mm), Portrait mode
The full-res 50MP samples look like upscaled versions of the regular ones - no point in using this mode.
Daylight samples, main camera (35mm), 50MP
The 50mm zoom level produces images that are a little too soft for our liking, plus it more readily exposes the other flaws like the grain and false color artifacts.
Daylight samples, main camera (2x)
Telephoto camera
Tap on the 85mm button in the viewfinder and you'll get an ever so slightly zoomed in view from the telephoto camera. That means that pin-sharp detail may elude you, but it's not too bad - there's still plenty of definition. Colors are generally likeable and dynamic range, while not the widest, is still not an issue.
The fact that you can focus really close with this camera (we measured around 17-ish cm) is perhaps its biggest virtue, and at or around minimum focus distance you can throw backgrounds out of focus and do some nice closeups.
Daylight samples, telephoto camera (85mm)
The thing is, you stand to gain better detail on a pixel level if you shoot at the native focal length, though getting there is done in a roundabout way, as already mentioned, and you may not have the time (or inclination) to do it.
Daylight samples, telephoto camera (70mm)
85mm is a classic portrait focal length so it's no wonder that the nubia's photos of people at this zoom level have a nice perspective and facial features look well proportioned. You also get an 85mm zoom level in Portrait mode, but it's only in Photo mode where you can shoot at 70mm - you can't have the native focal length together with the extra bokeh.
Daylight samples, telephoto camera (85mm), Photo mode
Daylight samples, telephoto camera (70mm), Photo mode
Daylight samples, telephoto camera (85mm), Portrait mode
There's an extra level of weirdness in the full-res samples. They had the field of view of the 70mm focal length at the time of our initial samples hunt, which makes sense, but an update during the review process made things so that you get 64MP 85mm shots for some reason. That is also the case on the ultrawide camera.
Daylight samples, telephoto camera (85mm), 64MP
Since you can't get to 70mm without cycling through 140mm, we shot a few samples at the nubia's longest preset zoom level. Not great, not terrible.
Daylight samples, telephoto camera (140mm)
Ultrawide camera
The ultrawide camera defaults to 18mm, and at that level it's not looking too hot. Sharpness is low, and there's little microcontrast.
Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (18mm)
The native 13mm mode improves things a bit in terms of pixel-level detail, but it's still not amazing. Highlights are a bit too harsh and washed out in some instances. Again, color rendition is quite appealing, though.
Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (13mm)
There's also a 24mm mode which produces shots that are borderline unusable.
Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (24mm)
As was the case with the telephoto, we have samples from the ultrawide camera at full resolution, and those samples have the native 13mm focal length. But by the time we got to writing these lines, a software update has apparently changed the Full size mode's behavior on the ultrawide so that it captures at 18mm. At least it corresponds to the button in the viewfinder.
There's also the added peculiarity that the ultrawide camera saves 12MP shots in Photo mode and 48MP ones in Full size mode - from a nominally 50MP sensor - but that doesn't strike us as all that odd by this point. And with the quality we're getting in this mode, nubia might as well have scrapped it altogether, for all cameras.
Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (13mm), 48MP
Selfies
Selfies from the nubia Z70 Ultra need to be examined with the right attitude and perspective. The best part about this camera is that it leaves your display without an obvious hole in it at all times. Another positive standpoint would be to compare them to the results we got from the Z60 Ultra, whether regular or Leading versions - the Z70 Ultra is a meaningful step up. So while the photos may not be objectively great, they're passable, and we'd say the trade off is well worth it.
Low-light photo quality
Main camera
The Z70 Ultra's main camera does quite alright at night. We'd point out its tendency to boost yellowish street lights and produce all too warm results in scenes that are dominated by such lighting. But more color and a bit of extra warmth on a winter night sounds like the side to err on. Alternatively, a little slider action in your favorite photo editing software should fix things. Exposures are well judged, dynamic range is excellent and both tonal extremes are developed well. Detail is very good too.
Low-light samples, main camera (35mm)
Telephoto camera
The telephoto's 85mm shots are very good in most ways, even if pixel-level detail suffers a bit from the upscaling shenanigans and some facades aren't as well defined as we'd like. Dynamic range is excellent and colors are a bit more neutral than out of the main camera, though perhaps still a notch over the top.
Low-light samples, telephoto camera (85mm)
The 70mm photos have a minor advantage in definition at 1:1, but in these conditions the difference is perhaps not significant enough.
Low-light samples, telephoto camera (70mm)
At 140mm things are looking pretty sketchy. But if you'll only be showing the photos on the phone or at fit to screen on a PC, they're decent enough.
Low-light samples, telephoto camera (140mm)
Ultrawide camera
The ultrawide handles street lighting and color with a bit more accuracy. Dynamic range is great and exposures are nicely bright. Detail isn't going to be winning any contests, but it's decent given the modest hardware.
Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (13mm)
Video recording
The Z70 Ultra records video at up to 8K30 with its main camera, which is also capable of 4K up to 120fps. The telephoto also maxes out at 4K120, while the ultrawide is capped at 4K60. The underdisplay selfie camera is good for 1080p at 30fps.
The default codec is h.264 and that even works for 8K30 and 4K120, though you can change to h.265, of course. There's an HDR toggle that enables HDR10 capture in 4K30 on the main camera only. Electronic stabilization is optional and is available in all modes except for 4K120 and 8K.
You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.
Video quality out of the Z70 Ultra's main camera isn't easily likeable. Detail is gritty and noisy, and you can see that even without specifically looking for it. The strong sharpening doesn't help either. The wide dynamic range and overall pleasing colors are still something, but not nearly enough. The telephoto's footage looks nicer from a pixel-peeping perspective, and it's even okay at 85mm, not just the 70mm native focal length. It's a little shaky though. The ultrawide is fairly good from a quality standpoint, and actually quite great in terms of stabilization. Even the 35mm main camera irons out walking shake competently too.
In low light, the ultrawide and the telephoto are more or less unusable. The main camera does a passable job but is far from greatness.
Reader comments
- yslee
- 3 hours ago
- IWQ
Some major disappointments here: 1. Going from 18mm 1/1.5" ultrawide to a 13mm 1/2.88" ultrawide. That's a huge downgrade; I'm very certain the lens is worse (it's not a proper rectilinear and software corrections will m...