OnePlus 10T review

No tele, basic ultrawide, and a 2MP macro

The OnePlus 10T has what we can pretty much call a midrange camera system. With a run-of-the-mill primary unit, a simple ultrawide and no telephoto, it will not be on photo enthusiasts' shortlists, and the 2MP macro isn't helping either.

That configuration is very similar to what the Nord 2T got, with the exception of the macro module here, which replaces the 'depth' camera of the Nord. The primary camera is based on the Sony IMX 766 sensor - it has a 1/1.56" optical format, 1.0µm pixels, and a Quad Bayer color filter array. It's paired with a 24mm equivalent lens with an f/1.8 aperture, which is stabilized.

The ultrawide relies on the OmniVision OV08 sensor - an 8MP 1/4" unit with 1.12µm pixels. The lens covers a 120-degree field of view, OP says, has an f/2.2 aperture, and its focus is fixed.

Joining these two is the 2MP close-ups camera, which uses the 2MP OV02 sensor (1/5", 1.75µm). The f/2.4 aperture lens has its focus fixed at around 4cm.

For selfies, the 10T employs a Samsung sensor; for a change - the S5K3P9 has a 1/3" optical format and 16 million 1µm pixels. The lens here has an f/2.4 aperture, 24mm equivalent focal length, and a fixed focus distance.

The camera app is the same as on any other Oppo or Realme phone, running ColorOS 12 or the latest OxygenOS OnePluses (with the notable exception of the Hasselblad-branded models and their orange accent color, of course).

Swiping on the viewfinder or the scroller below switches between modes, while the additional ones can be found under the "More" sub-menu. There's an option to re-arrange the modes to your liking.

The general Settings menu is found under the three-dot button in the upper-right corner of the viewfinder.

Naturally, a Pro mode is available too, offering control over the usual stuff like ISO, exposure, white balance, manual focus and shutter speed. There are also focus peaking and histogram to help you out.

Camera UI

Daylight image quality

In daylight, the OnePlus 10T's primary camera is capable of some really pleasing shots. The amount of detail is about the maximum you can expect from a 12-ish MP image, and it's rendered in a particularly gritty fashion, so it looks especially sharp - sharper than the 10 Pro. It's also a markedly different rendition to that of the Nord 2T, and it's superior, we reckon. There's a fair bit of noise, too, adding to that grittiness. It's a rather specific look, and we do like it.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

Colors are vibrant, and the white balance is mostly accurate, with the specific exception of flower shots that can be a little off. Dynamic range is reasonably wide, with a particular focus on highlight preservation, though some may find the shadows underdeveloped - you might need to tap expose for them if that's your thing.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

If you'd like some further boost of color saturation, the AI toggle will deliver that. We're not necessarily huge fans, but you do you.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

While there's no zoom camera on the 10T, the 2x setting on the zoom selector delivers very usable images. They don't have the per-pixel detail to deal with intricate textures, but straight lines are rendered nicely sharp.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x zoom)

The ultrawide camera has somewhat of a midrange vibe to it. The 8MP resolution with a field of view this wide doesn't allow for great detail capture, but it does alright for what it is. The graininess is here as well - apparently, OnePlus adopted a conservative approach to noise reduction across the board, and we're all for it. Once again similar to the main camera, the ultrawide is biased towards protecting the highlights and some could find the shadows too dark, but ultimately we wouldn't fault it for its dynamic range.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

Sadly, the ultrawide doesn't do autofocus, so trying to take close-ups on it would result in out-of-focus subjects. There's the 'macro' camera for that, but we wouldn't exactly call this 2MP unit useful/usable.

'Macro' samples

Low-light image quality

The 10T's approach to low-light shooting is to apply Night mode style processing in Photo mode by default when the light is below a certain threshold. It's not a setting you can turn off like on other phones, but there's little harm in that, as it's really quick to shoot and produces great results. We're seeing an excellent dynamic range and tonal development with likable, saturated colors - occasionally a touch too orange with certain street lights. Noise is barely there, and the detail is very good, though there is evidence of the heavy-ish Night mode sharpening - not excessive, but not natural either.

That said, in the scenes that were clearly left with no Night mode action (1, 6, 7, 9, 12) we're seeing more noise, but a bit more detail too, and less of that orange cast. That's not being detrimental to dynamic range either, making the 'true' Photo mode a viable option for low-light shooting, only the phone isn't giving you control over that.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x)

Here's how some of the same scenes look when shot in the actual Night mode. You'll note that differences can be seen in the images where Night mode didn't automatically kick in above, but not in the rest of them.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x), Night mode

The ultrawide camera behaves similarly to main one in terms of Night mode processing application, only here the instances where it chose not to engage were fewer. That's a good thing this time around, since the Night mode-less photos can end up pretty noisy and with limited dynamic range - the high-contrast bar shot is a prime example.

Other than that, and despite the relatively modest hardware, the 10T's results are quite respectable. Exposure and dynamic range are very good, colors don't suffer from desaturation, detail is okay if you manage your expectations.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera, Night mode

Once you're done with the real-world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the OnePlus 10T stacks up against the competition.

OnePlus 10T against the Asus Zenfone 9 and Xiaomi 12 Pro in our Photo compare tool

Portrait mode

Portrait mode on the OnePlus 10T comes with the option to shoot at two different zoom levels - the main camera's native field of view and a 2x zoomed-in crop. In principle, the former will get you finer quality but can warp facial features if shooting from up close, while the latter will mean improved perspective, but inferior pixel-level results.

In practice, the zoomed-in results turned out surprisingly good, even in moderately challenging light. Subject detection is excellent, the blur looks just right, and the HDR is working nicely, too.

Portrait mode samples, 2x

Still, at 1x, there's a notable improvement in detail on your subject if you look from up close.

Portrait mode samples 1x

Selfies

Selfies on the 10T are pretty solid on a global scale. Colors are generally pleasing, if a little too saturated in some scenes, producing overly pink faces. Dynamic range is excellent. What's not so great is detail when examined at 1:1 - this being a Tetrapixel sensor, it's not at its finest when outputting at its nominal resolution, and that's what we're looking at here. That said, at a fit-to-screen level and for social media, these images will look just fine.

Selfie samples

Portrait selfies aren't half bad either. Aside from occasional minor imperfections, subject detection works very well, and you don't have to sacrifice HDR in the process.

Selfie samples, Portrait mode

Video recording

The OnePlus 10T supports video recording up to 4K60 with its main camera - there's no 8K capability, which we tend to consider pointless anyway. What is unfortunate, however, is that the ultrawide can't do 4K (it doesn't have the necessary pixels on its sensor), and it doesn't support 1080p at 60fps either.

As usual, there's the option to use the h.265 codec (HEVC) for more efficient storage utilization than what you can get with the default h.264 codec. Stabilization is always on in all modes, and audio is recorded in stereo at 96kbps.

Video quality turned out to be a particularly strong suit of the 10T. Daylight 4K30 (50-62Mbps bit rate) clips captured on the main camera have excellent detail levels, up there with the best. Sharpening is pretty reserved, so the rendition is very natural too. Colors are vibrant and very likeable, and the high level of contrast does contribute to the overall pop, though it can rob you of some detail at the extremes. Aside from just barely stronger sharpening, the 4K60 footage is very much the same.

At the 2x zoom level, you can expect softer detail if you put your nose right up to a 4K screen, and that's to be expected, given the digital zoom. It's still decently high quality at normal viewing distances.

The ultrawide delivers okay videos. For one, it's capped at 1080p, so it loses to higher-res competitors, though in the realm of 1080p footage, it's quite respectably detailed. It's plenty contrasty, perhaps even more so than the main camera, while colors are a notch warmer and more saturated.

The always-on stabilization does a great job when you're just pointing in one direction and handles pans without issues. It's just a notch below the best when trying to iron out walking-induced shake - not terrible, but we've seen better.

In low light, the main camera does a respectable job with video capture. It has excellent dynamic range and develops the tonal extremes well, with minimal haloing around bright light sources. Detail is very good while the noise is kept to a low level. That's among the better overall renditions of this scene we've seen.

Little of the above applies to the ultrawide camera's footage. This one is very soft, underexposed and with limited dynamic range.

Here's a glimpse of how the OnePlus 10T compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

OnePlus 10T against the Asus Zenfone 9 and the Xiaomi 12 Pro in our Video compare tool