OnePlus 12R review

Two and a half cameras on the back

The OnePlus 12R quickly reveals its non-flagship identity once you have a look at its camera specs. The primary camera is alright and we don't doubt it will produce solid images, but the lack of any telephoto, the modest ultrawide, and the very presence of a 'macro' camera scream 'midrange' from afar.

OnePlus 12R camera specs

• Wide (main): 50MP Sony IMX 890, 1/1.56", 1.0µm, f/1.8, 24mm, omni-directional PDAF, OIS; 2160p@60fps
• Ultrawide: 8MP Sony IMX355, 1/4.0", 1.12µm, f/2.2, 112˚, fixed focus; 1080p@30fps
• Macro: 2MP OmniVision OV02B, 1/5.0", 1.75µm, f/2.4, 22mm, fixed focus.
• Front camera: 16MP Samsung Isocell S5K3P9, 1/3.0", 1.0µm, f/2.4, 24mm, fixed focus; 1080p@30fps

While the best of zooms aren't to be found for OnePlus 12R money, some competing models do offer dedicated zoom cameras. Others will give you better ultrawides in one or more ways - higher resolution, larger sensors, autofocus, or even all of that. Still, let's not judge the phone based on the specsheet, but have a closer look at the results.

Daylight photo quality

The 12R's main camera captures great looking daylight photos. Detail is excellent and has a nicely natural look to it, while noise is kept at bay. Contrast is high and dynamic range is very good and we can't complain about the color rendition either.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

We shot a few of the scenes side by side with the OnePlus 12, and the 12R's output is in most cases so similar that we'd be hard-pressed to tell them apart.

Daylight 1x comparison: OnePlus 12R • OnePlus 12

The 12R doesn't have a telephoto camera, but it does have both 2x and 5x buttons in its zoom selector. The 2x results are acceptable, but hardly impressive - sharpening is dialed way too high and there's a general water-color look to detail. Still, at fit-to-screen on your PC or on the phone's display, these photos are good enough.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x)

For what it's worth, the 12 isn't any better, with the 12R actually even looking a little sharper in our indoor shots.

Daylight 2x comparison: OnePlus 12R • OnePlus 12

5x zoom is too much for the main camera and photos are soft and lacking in detail. That said, if your subject is made up of straight lines more than random textures, and if you're not examining on a pixel level, and if you don't have too high expectations, you could be reasonably satisfied. Too many ifs, ultimately - OnePlus could have omitted the 5x button.

Daylight samples, main camera (5x)

The ultrawide camera's modest hardware sets the bar for your expectations pretty low and that works in its favor. Detail is about the best that you could get out of an 8MP sensor (which is still no more than 8MP of it) and there's no nose to speak of. Colors are well-matched to the main camera's output and dynamic range is good. The one issue is that with the fixed focus getting sharp results from nearby subjects is a no-go.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

The OnePlus 12 does win this comparison thanks to both its autofocusing capability and better detail in general.

Daylight 0.6x comparison: OnePlus 12R • OnePlus 12

Low-light photo quality

The OnePlus 12R is one of those phones that will automatically apply the same processing for low-light photos in Photo mode that it will in Night mode and will do it happily for scenes with varying levels of lighting - not just the darkest of scenes. We found that to be the case on both the main camera and the ultrawide.

Main camera

The main camera's low-light output is once again excellent. Exposures and dynamic range are top-class, ensuring you get great development in both shadows and highlights. The auto white balance and the overall color rendition don't leave us wanting either. Things are also looking mighty fine on a pixel level - detail is great, noise is a non-issue.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x)

Comparisons against the 12 left us a bit confused, because not only is the 12R not looking worse than the 12, but we're seeing some better definition in the lesser phone's images in some scenes. The 12's main camera is obviously superb, but what right does the 12R have to be any better?

Low-light 1x comparison: OnePlus 12R • OnePlus 12

We'll refrain from superlatives when it comes to the 2x zoom shots, though they're not too bad either and still capture a decent level of detail.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x)

Once again, the 12R's 2x shots just might have a tiny edge over the 12's efforts.

Low-light 2x comparison: OnePlus 12R • OnePlus 12

The 5x zoom shots are best described as 'poor', we reckon, though you're welcome to have a look and draw your own opinions.

Low-light samples, main camera (5x)

Ultrawide camera

Weirdly enough, we're somewhat happy with the ultrawide's results at night. Of course, 8MP remains just 8MP, but the phone does admirably with those and captures quite solid detail. And looking from afar, we have nothing but praise for the dynamic range and color reproduction.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

Comparing against the 12's ultrawide shots, we wouldn't say the 12R has anything to be ashamed of. In fact, every now and then we think that the 12R's results are that tiny bit sharper.

Low-light 0.6x comparison: OnePlus 12R • OnePlus 12

Selfies

Selfies on the 12R are mostly underwhelming - the 16MP shots can't quite live up to the expectations for detail that the nominal resolution sets. Dynamic range and colors are alright though, even if the 12R makes skin tones a little less lifelike than the 12.

Selfie samples

Video recording

The OnePlus 12R records video up to 4K60 with its primary camera (no 8K on this one - not that it matters), while the ultrawide maxes out at 1080p 30fps - it obviously doesn't have the pixels for 4K, but apparently it doesn't have the readout speed for 60fps either. The selfie camera is also limited to 1080p30.

The default codec is h.265 (HEVC) but you can unflip the toggle in settings and use h.264. 4K30 gets a bit rate of around 60Mbps whether you're using h.265 or h.264 anyway, so we'd recommend using the newer codec. Audio is recorded in stereo, at 256kbps.

4K video out of the main camera is okay, but not really great, strictly speaking. Just like the 12, the 12R tends to overexpose a little and dynamic range isn't the widest. The 12R is seemingly a little less prone to color shifts than its more expensive stablemate, which is probably nice. Detail is pretty good and there's no noise, so there's that too. The ultrawide's 1080p videos are meh.

Stabilization isn't as robust on the 12R as it is on the 12. Our 12R main camera footage was quite wobbly when walking, and there was also the occasional focus hunting caused by the shakiness. The ultrawide had some jelloing in the middle of the frame too. Pans were okay and footage was reasonably stable when you'd just point the camera in one direction on both, but neither gave us the best overall results.

Low-light video quality is actually quite solid on the 12R's main camera - the exposure is well judged, dynamic range is reasonably wide, and colors maintain a respectable level of saturation and accuracy. Detail can be a little sketchy in the shadows, but it's not too bad overall. The ultrawide's footage is soft and noisy.

Check out the playlist below with daylight, low-light and handheld samples.