OnePlus 7 review

A 48MP main camera with a 5MP depth sensor

The 5MP secondary unit on the OnePlus 7 may sound like a downgrade when you compare it to the 20MP unit on the previous two OnePlus models but in reality they are both limited to depth sensing functionality so it hardly makes much difference. Sadly, there are no ultra wide-angle or telephoto lenses here either as those are reserved for the 7 Pro.

You do get the same main sensor as the more premium phone though - 48MP, 1/2"-type with 0.8µm pixels and OIS. The only difference is in the aperture size - f/1.7 compared to the f/1.6 on the 7 Pro.

On the front, we've got the familiar 16MP unit with f/2.0 aperture and 1.0µm pixels - the same unit in the OnePlus 6T and the 7 Pro.

Camera UI

The camera menu is pretty straightforward. Swiping left and right cycles the camera modes and an upwards swipe brings out the additional modes like the Pro mode, Time-lapse, Panorama and Slow motion. There's also the settings menu where you can rearange the camera modes and select which is the default one.

The settings menu also gives you control over the video and photo resolutions and the rest of the usual features. Oh and to shoot in 48MP mode, you have to go in the Pro mode and select the 48MP JPG icon on the top of the viewfinder, near the notch. Not that you'd want to do that very often as shooting in their native resolution isn't what Quad-Bayer sensors are all about.

Daylight samples

The 7 is capable of taking great photos with wide dynamic range, a good amount of detail, no noise and we didn't notice any sharpening artifacts along the edges of the buildings, for example. Contrast is nice as it makes the colors pop out more.

Daylight samples with OnePlus 7

As we already said, we expect little difference compared with the 7 Pro since they both share the same 48MP primary sensor, but we did find a slight difference in color rendering. The 7 tends to take pictures with a bit colder white balance while the 7 Pro's photos are somewhat warmer. That aside, the too snappers perform identically in good light.

Daylight samples: OnePlus 7 • OnePlus 7 Pro

We did an impromptu shootout with Zenfone 6, which is one of the OnePlus 7's direct rivals and also shares its 48MP camera sensor. The two were very close with the OnePlus 7 having a slight edge in resolved detail and contrast.

OnePlus 7 • Asus Zenfone 6

Low-light samples

The OnePlus 7 has a slightly slower lens than the 7 Pro, which makes a slight difference when the light start to fade, but you'd have to be looking really closely to spot it. In fact the slight differences in color rendering are more notable than the minimal edge in resolved detail of the 7 Pro. Interestingly enough this time the OnePlus 7 is the one to produce the warmer tones.

Neither is particularly great when it comes to resolved detail, but the OnePlus 7 is actually coming off better here as it's the much more affordable phone and as such carries far lower expectations.

On the upside the noise is kept at reasonable levels and the dynamic range is excellent - in most cases, neon signs and other sources of light remain well-preserved.

Low-light samples Photo mode: OnePlus 7 • OnePlus 7 Pro

Turning on Night mode improves the photos significantly, helping the OnePlus 7 achieve much better exposure, significantly improving the detail levels, while also restoring the punchiness of the colors.

OnePlus 7 Night mode samples

With the launch of the 7 Pro this year, this takes off some of the pressure for the OP7 to punch above its class. Still, we're happy to say that it offers excellent image quality considering its price range in a wide range of scenarios.

Night mode: OnePlus 7 • Asus Zenfone 6

You can head off to our photo compare tool to do some more pixel peeping and compare the OnePlus 7 perormance to every other smartphone we've tested.

OnePlus 7 against the Asus Zenfone 6 and Huawei P30 in our Photo compare tool

Portraits

Portraits are plenty good with natural skin tones and plenty of detail. The OnePlus 7 also simulates the bokeh effect quite well and has one of the best edge detection algorithms we've seen. Even with a more complex background, the phone did pretty well.

In fact, to our surprise, the OnePlus 7 often makes better portraits because it uses the main camera while the 7 Pro allows you to shoot only with the telephoto lens. In most situations, the telephoto gives you a better perspective but if there's not enough light the tiny sensor of the telephoto camera means things go South really fast. Also, there's a bit more detail coming from the main 48MP sensor so there's that.

Portraits

We hope the 7 Pro receives an update allowing you to shoot with the main camera when needed, so it gets the best of both worlds, but that's beyond the point here.

Selfies

Disappointingly the front camera lacks autofocus, but at least its sweet spot is set so it works at a comfortable arm's length. You don't have to go to the extreme to get the sharpest possible selfie. Pictures offer good colors and dynamic range as long as the portrait mode isn't active. As with most selfie cams, image-stacking is disabled while taking portrait photos and results are mediocre at best.

Speaking of portraits, as can be expected from a single camera with no autofocus the edge detection is mediocre and will really struggle with more complicated scenes.

Selfies: Normal • Portrait • Normal • Portrait

Video recording

The OnePlus 7 supports 4K recording at 30fps and 60fps while 1080p videos can go up to 240fps for slow motion purposes or you can also switch to 720p@480fps for taking slo-mos further.

The quality of the videos is decent - colors are accurate if slightly dull, contrast is good and there's no noticeable noise. Dynamic range is also more than satisfactory with just a little loss of detail in the dark parts of the scene. Still, it appears to be a bit soft compared to most of its rivals. Overall it's competitive but needs a bit more detail to be considered as one of the best in its class.

And here are two videos shot in 1080p and 2160p at 30 fps to see how the EIS works. It is doing a great job really and on most occasions, it will totally be worth the slight reduction in viewing angle.

Again, you can head to our video compare tool to best see how the OnePlus 7 stack up against the competition.

2160p: OnePlus 7 against the Asus Zenfone 6 and Huawei P30 in our Video compare tool