Oppo Find X2 review

Daylight image quality

The images out of the Oppo Find X2's main camera are sharp and capture good detail for their 12MP resolution. The noise performance isn't great, however, with more grain than we're used to seeing, certainly a bit too much for a top-tier device.

Daylight samples, main camera

The Find X2 opts for a contrasty look with some deep shadows left without much HDR treatment, and we do think it could expose maybe half a stop brighter. Even so, dynamic range is good. We do appreciate the Find X2's color rendition with nicely lush greens and deep reds - not over the top, but not dull either.

Daylight samples, main camera

You don't stand to reap a lot of benefits if If you switch to the 48MP mode. You'd get narrower dynamic range and a hike in noise, but also some fairly pronounced aliasing. We would straight-up avoid it.

Daylight samples, main camera, 48MP

The ultra wide angle cam of the Find X2 ups the saturation a bit and comes with slightly more limited dynamic range than the main cam, which actually means it's got a pretty wide dynamic range as ultra wides go. It also delivers good sharpness and detail, again for an ultra wide cam.

Daylight samples, ultra wide angle camera

One of its best features is the autofocus capability - an increasing number of ultra wide cams now offer it, but it's still not a given. This lets you get close to subjects and do exaggerated perspective shots as well as close-ups.

Daylight samples, ultra wide angle camera

The Find X2's ultra wide cam has its peculiarities though. One of them is its conservative approach to HDR which won't necessarily engage at of the times you need it. Here's one scene which benefits immensely from it, but we had to force it on.

Ultra wide angle camera, HDR: Auto • On

The one specific trait of the Find X2's ultra wide you may have picked up already - it's not all that ultra wide. Ah, but it is, only the sensor's native aspect ratio is 16:9 and in the default 4:3 modes you're getting a crop from it with the sides being lost. We already ranted how the different aspect ratio situation could have been handled better, but here's a comparison of the coverage you'd be getting in 16:9 if you go to the trouble of switching back and forth between aspects.

Ultra wide angle camera, aspect: 4:3 • 16:9 • 4:3 • 16:9

The standard issue 2x cam of the Find X2 takes sharp and detailed shots at its nominal zoom level. Noise is fairly high once again, so it's more of a trend with the Find X2 processing than it is a trait of this particular camera. Colors are more muted here than on the other two, and dynamic range is narrower as well.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (2x)

There's a 5x toggle in the viewfinder so tapped on that to see what it'll get us. That's digital zoom of the 2x cam and comes with most of its properties, only amplified - like the blown up noise speckles. In all fairness, the images look pretty good at fit to screen levels, so they'll do just fine for social media sharing.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (5x)

Low-light image quality

In low light, the Find X2's AI algorithms apply some low-key Night mode action in Photo mode as well. You get a pop-up in the viewfinder that serves to alert you of what's going on, but it's also a button giving you the option to disengage it. Let's keep it on for now, see where that gets us.

Well, it gets us Night mode shots, basically. It takes a few seconds for a shot to complete and the results have the well developed shadows, contained highlights and overall wide dynamic range of a Night mode photo. Detail is pretty good too, it's just that we're not sure about the white balance with warm city lights - there's a strong orange vibe going on in such scenes.

Low-light samples, main camera, Photo mode (AI Night on)

Toggle the Night-in-disguise mode off, and you'd be getting noticeably darker images with barely developed shadows, yet fully blown out point light sources. On the flipside, these shots are considerably more detailed in the well lit portions.

Low-light samples, main camera, Photo mode (AI Night off)

Moving on to actual Night mode, and surprise - the photos are nearly identical to the Photo mode ones with the AI Night on. The EXIF data on these reports longer shutter speeds and that was also our experience when shooting them, but the difference was small and certainly negligible compared to the one between the capture times of Night mode and plain Photo mode above - those last ones are practically instant.

Low-light samples, main camera, Night mode

The ultra wide angle cam of the Find X2 puts out a fairly decent performance in low light. It too adopts the hybrid night mode approach and will get you brighter shadows than usual and it'll reign in the highlights as well - both nice thing. It will have a fairly obvious pixelation effect, particularly around light sources, but it's something we can live with for the sake of the improved overall exposure you get in plain Photo mode. Color saturation is very well preserved.

Low-light samples, ultra wide angle camera, Photo mode (AI Night on)

Plain photo mode leaves the shadows in complete mush and blows out the lights - standard behavior, all the more typical of an ultra wide cam.

Low-light samples, ultra wide angle camera, Photo mode (AI Night off)

The actual Night mode can make the pixelation slightly more prominent and maybe noise can be a bit lower on occasion, but yes - these are mostly the same pics as in Photo-night mode.

Low-light samples, ultra wide angle camera, Night mode

As for the telephoto shots, well, it's a familiar story - in most low-light conditions, 2x images come out of the main cam with the necessary crop and upsampling to match the narrower field of view. That applies to both Photo mode shots (Night on or off) and Night mode ones alike.

Colors and dynamic range are good, this much the main cam can be counted on to deliver. As for detail, well, these shots are not meant for pixel peeping.

The one scene where the Find X2 did actually use its tele cam was the 5th one, a fairly well lit indoors scene. The image in both Photo and Night mode looks quite good, with the Night mode trading in detail for improved tonal development.

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (2x), Photo mode (AI Night on)

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (2x), Photo mode (AI Night off)

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (2x), Night mode

Once you're done with the real world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Oppo Find X2 stacks up against the competition.

Oppo Find X2 against the Galaxy S20+ and the Mi 10 Pro 5G in our Photo compare tool

Find X2 vs. Find X2 Pro

We simply had to do a quick non-Pro vs. Pro comparison. The Find X2 Pro's main cam, itself not a noise performance champ, manages to output noticeably cleaner images than the X2's. It also exposes a little brighter, a minor beef we had with the non-Pro. Having aid that, we do prefer the Find X2's livelier color rendition - not that the Pro's is objectionable, but more color is better, up to a certain point.

Daylight samples, main camera: Find X2 • Find X2 Pro

The ultra wides are vastly different on these two and the one on the Find X2 Pro covers a wider field of view, particularly if you like shooting in 4:3 aspect. If, on the other hand, you're broken like that and prefer your stills in 16:9 aspect, well, then the Find X2 wins. It also takes visibly sharper images and edges out in dynamic range, somehow.

Daylight samples, ultra wide angle camera: Find X2 • Find X2 Pro

It's a bit of an apples vs. oranges comparison in the telephoto department with the Find X2 having a 2x zoom lens, and the X2 Pro boasting much longer 5x reach. The Pro will take 2x pictures by digitally zooming in with its main cam, and while it's trailing the Find X2 in absolute detail, it's not as much of one horse race as you'd think.

Daylight samples, 2x zoom: Find X2 • Find X2 Pro

At 5x, however, the winner leaves no room for contest - the Pro's images are significantly more detailed than ones out of the vanilla Find X2, and they also have superior dynamic range.

Daylight samples, 5x zoom: Find X2 • Find X2 Pro

In low light there's first a difference in approach - while the Pro, too, will apply some Night mode processing in the default Photo mode, it does so with much more restraint, while the vanilla Find X2 goes nearly all out as we already demonstrated. Hence, the Pro's images keep an extra level of sharpness but are underdeveloped in the dark areas, while the non-Pro goes softer but better exposed. Then again we can't say we're loving the exaggerated orange look of the scenes that the Find X2 delivers.

Low-light samples, main camera: Find X2 • Find X2 Pro

Night mode vs. Night mode, the Pro retains a sharpness advantage, and even though it may look like its images are darker from afar, looking at the shadows we can still see as much or more detail than in the X2's shots. The Pro does have the bigger sensor here, so - once again logic prevails.

Low-light samples, main camera, Night mode: Find X2 • Find X2 Pro

The ultra wides are of different caliber in terms of hardware, with the Find X2 Pro having a much bigger sensor. Only logic has gone out the door here and the Find X2 delivers the superior images, Photo mode and Night mode alike.

Low-light samples, ultra wide angle camera: Find X2 • Find X2 Pro

Low-light samples, ultra wide angle camera, Night mode: Find X2 • Find X2 Pro

Moving on to telephoto, since both phones actually use their main cams when zoomed in to 2x (the Find X2 Pro doesn't have a 2x module, while the Find X2's is put to the side in low light), the Pro's main cam advantage extends to zoomed in shots. The Photo mode samples are way sharper, if darker, out of the Find X2 Pro, and that extends into Night mode as well.

Low-light samples, 2x zoom: Find X2 • Find X2 Pro

Low-light samples, 2x zoom, Night mode: Find X2 • Find X2 Pro

Zooming in further to 5x, the vanilla Find X2 falls apart in terms of detail and you can see the softness at fit to screen magnification already - there's only so much digital zoom you can squeeze out of the main cam. The Find X2 Pro, meanwhile, delivers sharp shots straight from its periscope module, though it too has its issues - dynamic range is pretty narrow, and underexposure is prevalent.

Low-light samples, 5x zoom: Find X2 • Find X2 Pro

Low-light samples, 5x zoom, Night mode: Find X2 • Find X2 Pro