Realme 2 Pro review

16MP+2MP dual camera

The Realme 2 Pro comes with a 16MP+2MP camera combo on its back. Just like on the Realme 2, the 16MP cam can be used on its own, while the 2MP module is used for depth detection (read: portrait shots with defocused backgrounds).

The primary sensor has been upgraded - it's a 16MP Sony IMX398 one with 1.12µm pixels and sits behind a very bright f/1.7 lens - a great improvement over the f/2.2 lens on the Realme 2 and we expect some better low-light shots. Phase-detection autofocus, and a LED flash complete the camera specs.

The camera app UI is lifted from the Oppo software branches, without any changes or special re-branding. It recently got the so-called AI-boost, which is a fancy name for scene recognition. You'll see a small icon when a scene is successfully recognized, and the software will tweak all settings accordingly. Food, snow, pets (dogs and cats), sunsets, grass, among other scenes, are caught mostly correctly.

The interface of the camera app has borrowed a lot from the iOS app, of course. Most settings are on the left (or top, depending on the orientation), while different modes are selected on the right next to the shutter key.

Camera app

The app offers two trendy modes - 2x telephoto zoom and blurred background. Those have dedicated shortcuts on the viewfinder, but as you can imagine, the 2x zoom is purely digital.

Luckily, the Expert mode is back! Its shutter speed control offers fine adjustment and it's good mostly for very low-light shooting - it starts at 1s and increments at full stops to a maximum of 16s. Manual focus and ISO adjustments are present as well.

Image Quality

In daylight the Realme 2 Pro captures turned out nicely sharp with plenty resolved detail, excellent contrast, and accurate colors. The dynamic range is about average - there are clipped highlights here and there, but nothing that the HDR can't fix. The noise control is improved a bit - now you can see noise only in areas of uniform color, while it was all over the place on the 13MP photos by the Realme 2. The foliage presentation also got better since the Realme 2, but the grass could still benefit from some further improvements.

Overall, the Realme 2 Pro photos are sharper, more detailed and less noisy when compared to the Realme 2, and we are quite happy with the new sensor.

Realme 2 Pro 16MP camera samples

The 2x zoom is purely digital, there is no telephoto lens on the Realme 2 Pro. But Oppo still opted for a toggle on the viewfinder, so here is what you'll get if you use it.

Realme 2 Pro zoomed 16MP camera samples

The HDR mode works nicely on the Realme 2 Pro. You also get auto mode, which does a good job of jumping in, when the conditions call for it. HDR processing is not too extreme and generally helps rescue some details in shadows and highlights.

HDR off • HDR on

The 16MP camera on the Realme 2 Pro has a bright f/1.7 lens, and it does help the pictures at night. The Oppo F9 had a similar 16MP camera with a f/1.8 lens, but half of the night shots we took with it were blurry. Well, we had no such issues with the Realme 2 Pro. In fact, the photos we downloaded from the Realme are among the best low-light images you can get from a phone in this class, if not the best.

There is plenty of detail and little noise. Since there is no multi-stacking happening, most of the detail in the shadows and the background is lost, but what's visible is very well processed and the noise has been scrubbed without destroying much of the fine detail.

Overall, the low-light images of the Realme 2 Pro camera are a massive improvement over the previous models and excellent for this class.

Realme 2 Pro 16MP lowlight samples

If you have a tripod or you can stabilize the Realme 2 Pro, then you can snap pictures like these using the Expert mode.

Realme 2 Pro 16MP photos shot with the Expert mode

You should also check how the Realme 2 Pro does against the Realme 1 and the Oppo F9 in our Photo Compare Tool. We've pre-selected these two, but you are free to pick any other phone to compare it against.

Realme 2 Pro vs. Realme 1 vs. Oppo F9 in our Photo compare tool

Portrait mode

The Portrait Mode spits high-res 16MP images. The photos are very good - subject separation works well, there aren't many abrupt transitions from sharp to blurred, the bokeh is nice, and overall - those are among the better portraits we've seen, flagships included.

Realme 2 Pro 16MP portrait shots

The Realme 2 Pro offers a few Portrait Lighting modes if you are into those kinds of effects.

Realme 2 Pro 16MP portraits with lightning effects

Selfies

The Realme 2 Pro has a new 16MP selfie camera sitting behind a f/2.0 lens. It's a fixed-focus lens; there is no dedicated flash or anything else fancy of the sorts.

The 16MP selfie cam does a very decent enough job. Despite the unimpressive dynamic range (there is HDR for that though), there is really not much to complain about. There is more than enough detail, the colors are nice, and the images are sharp enough.

Realme 2 Pro 16MP selfies

The selfie cam also offers the simulated bokeh, just like many other Oppo selfie snappers.

Realme 2 Pro 16MP portrait selfies

There is a beauty mode, complete with an automatic "AI" setting, to play around with as well. And a pretty extensive animated sticker collection.

Beautification and stickers

Video recording

The Realme 2 Pro records videos in 2160p, 1080p and 720p at 30fps. There is an always-available digital stabilization for the 1080p videos which does an excellent job in stabilizing the footage. Unfortunately, there is no EIS for the 4K video capture.

The 4K clips are captured at 42Mbps with stereo audio. The video quality is average - the resolved detail is enough but nothing impressive, while the dynamic range is below average. But the color presentation and the contrast are very good.

The standard 1080p/30fps mode is encoded at about 17Mbps. Audio is recorded in stereo at 128Kbps. The videos look soft probably because of the always-on video stabilization - they are mediocre in detail and dynamic range, but the colors are fine.

As usual, we've provided unedited samples straight out of the camera for you to download - 2160p@30fps (10s, 53MB), and 1080@30fps (11s, 28MB).

Finally, you can use our Video Compare Tool to see how the Realme 2 Pro stacks against the Mi A2 and the Honor Play when it comes to video capture.

2160p: Realme 2 Pro against the Xiaomi Mi A2 and the Honor Play in our Video compare tool