Poco F4 review

A familiar triple camera with an OIS upgrade

The Poco F4 has a similar trio of cameras as to the Poco F3 but with a few twists - the primary camera now features OIS, but the macro camera has been downgraded from a 5MP telemacro to the most basic 2MP shooter with a fixed focus.

So, the Poco F4 offers a 64MP primary, an 8MP ultrawide, a 2MP macro, and a 20MP selfie cameras.

The Poco F4 relies on a 64MP 1/2" OmniVision OV64B sensor with a Quad-Bayer filter. The sensor has 0.7µm pixels, and after the 4-in-1 binning, you'd be getting a 16MP photo with 1.4µm equivalent performance. This sensor sits behind a stabilized 25mm f/1.8 lens; it supports PDAF; a high-res 64MP mode, Pro Mode, as well as Night mode, are available for this camera.

According to the maker, this is the first ever Poco to support OIS.

Second is an 8MP OmniVision OV8856 1/4" sensor with 1.12µm pixels. It sits behind a 16mm f/2.2 lens for ultrawide-angle photos. Night Mode is available for this camera, too.

The macro camera has a 2MP GalaxyCore GC02M1 sensor with f/2.4 aperture lens, and the focus is fixed at about 4cm distance.

The selfie camera uses a 20MP Sony IMX596 1/2.8" sensor of Quad Bayer design. It is coupled with a 24mm f/2.45 lens, and the focus is fixed.

The camera app is the familiar MIUI implementation. Basic operation for changing modes works with side swipes (on the black bezel, not the viewfinder itself), and you can also tap on the modes you can see to switch to those directly. Up and down swipes don't work for switching between the front and rear cameras; only the toggle next to the shutter release does that.

You can add, remove, and rearrange modes in the main rolodex by going to the More tab and navigating to the edit button, and you can access that from the settings menu as well. The unused modes will still be in that More tab, but you can switch to a (less intuitive) pull-out pane that's summoned from a line next to the shutter release.

The hamburger menu at the far end of the screen is where you'll find additional options, plus the icon to access the settings. Here is where you should look for the 'Macro' mode instead of that More tab we mentioned above - a long-standing Xiaomi idiosyncrasy. Next to that hamburger menu, you have a flash mode switch, an HDR switch, an AI toggle, shortcut to Google Lens, and a magic wand with beauty effects and filters.

On the near end, you have the camera zoom switch that operates in several different fashions. The first one is simply tapping on one of the three dots that represent the ultra-wide, primary, and 2x digital options. Or you can tap on the active magnification and choose one of several preset levels or use the slider for intermediate magnifications. That preset/slider combo also appears if you press and hold on one of the dots for the inactive zoom level.

There's a nicely capable Pro mode, where you can tweak the shooting parameters yourself, and you can use it with the main, the ultrawide and even the macro cameras. You get to pick one of 4 white balance presets or dial in the light temperature with a slider, there's a manual focusing slider (with peaking as an option), and shutter speed (1/4000s to 30s for the main camera, 8s for the ultrawide, 0.4s for macro) and ISO control (50 to 6400 for the main camera, 800 for the ultrawide, 500 for macro). A tiny live histogram is available, and a toggle for zebras can be found in the hamburger menu (where focus peaking also is).

Daylight photo quality

The primary camera on the Poco F4 saves 16MP by default, and those photos come out great. There is a good amount of resolved detail, and the gentler noise reduction makes for a somewhat more balanced look.

The dynamic range is outstanding, contrast is likable, and the color accuracy and presentation are praise-worthy.

If we were to enter nitpicking mode - we do acknowledge the sharpness could have been a notch better, though this could as well be the best the sensor can offer. And we can see some corner softness here and there, which can be attributed either to a unit-specific lens issue or to the rather wide-angle 25mm lens.

Overall, we are happy with the photo quality of the Poco F4's primary camera, and we think the majority of the users will be, too.

Main camera, 16MP

Most camera apps nowadays offer zoom shortcuts on the viewfinder even if there is no dedicated telephoto cam. Unfortunately, there is no 'lossless' zoom on the Poco F4 either. The 2x toggle does the most basic thing a digital camera can do right now - crops from the center and upscales.

The zoomed photos do look good on the Poco F4's display, and they match the quality of the standard ones up to the level of detail. But if you zoom in at 100%, you won't be happy with the sharpness and clarity, that's for sure.

Main cam 2x zoom, 16MP

There is a dedicated 64MP shooting mode, and it is not a simple upscale from the default output. There is some multi-tasking and demosaicking. The 64MP photos are average in detail, while the other aspects of the quality are a match to the default output - contrast, colors, and dynamic range.

We can see this 64MP output being used for higher quality magnification by cropping from the center. There is also a chance of getting a slightly more detailed 16MP image if you resized the 64MP one. These, of course, require time and effort and a computer, and we cannot imagine many people doing it for either.

Main camera, 64MP

There is no depth sensor on the Poco F4, but you can still shoot portraits - the separation relies on AI algorithms only. And this seems enough as the subject separation is proficient enough, while the simulated blur is incredibly nice.

The subjects are outstanding - the sharpness is excellent, the colors are spot-on, and they look natural and well-exposed.

Note that if the portraits have an ISO higher than 400-500, meaning the light conditions weren't that good, the sharpness will drop dramatically.

Portraits, 16MP

The 8MP photos we shot with the ultrawide-angle camera are superb, and among the best, we've seen in the midrange class. The images are rich in detail, with a natural look and spot-on sharpening. The colors and the white balance are true to life, the noise is low enough, and the dynamic range is absolutely great.

These ultrawide-angle photos benefit from automatic distortion correction, and it's done with high proficiency, too.

Ultrawide camera, 8MP

The macro camera is the only aspect of the Poco F4 that's been downgraded since the Poco F3. Now, it's a 2MP basic shooter with a fixed focus at 4cm away, down from the 5MP cam with AF and a telemacro lens on the F3.

So, the 2MP macro photos we took with the Poco F4 are okay - they are detailed enough, with good contrast and adequate noise reduction. Sometimes their color might be a bit desaturated or washed out, while other times - likably popping. They, of course, are a no match to the 5MP telemacro on the Poco F3, but good enough for social networks.

Macro camera, 2MP

The 20MP selfie camera saves very good photos - the contrast is great, the colors - are accurate, the dynamic range is good, the noise is low, and the sharpness is good enough. The sensor uses a Quad-Bayer filter, which means it should have been saving 5MP photos instead of 20MP. The good news is the upscaling is good, and the selfies don't seem lacking in detail, even if they don't excel in this aspect either.

Selfies, 20MP

Portrait mode for selfies is available, and while the blur is nice, the subject separation is mediocre at best. Other than that, the subject's detail and colors are a match to the regular selfie's.

Portrait selfies, 20MP

Low-light photo quality

The Poco F4 supports Auto Night Mode, and it is enabled by default within the advanced Settings. Theoretically, it should work on both the main and ultra-wide cameras. And the camera app decides when and where to use Night Mode and its exposure time.

Well, it turned out that the main camera used Night Mode for all scenes we shot, though it decided on a slightly lower exposure time than what the manual Night Mode used. Unfortunately, it did nothing for the ultrawide camera.

So, the default (Auto Night Mode) photos are pretty good - they are well exposed with commendable dynamic, good contrast, saturated colors and low noise. The detail is enough, too.

Sometimes the optical image stabilization got in the way of the multi-stacking, and that messed up the photos and we got blurred ones. That's why we'd advise standing stiller than usual and maybe take more than one photo, just in case.

Main cam Auto NM, 16MP

The manual Night Mode uses slightly longer exposure times, and that's why sometimes it returns a tiny bit brighter photo. Other than that - it offers the same great photo quality as the Auto Night Mode.

Main cam NM On, 16MP

If you disable the Auto Night Mode, you'd get these rater mediocre photos. While their exposure is realistic, the photos are noisier than usual, and the colors are a bit washed out. Our advice will be to keep the Auto Night Mode turned on.

Main cam NM Off, 16MP

The Auto Night Mode doesn't actually used Night Mode on the ultrawide camera, and the default photos are noticeably dark, desaturated, noisy, and lacking in detail.

Ultrawide cam, 8MP

If you force Night Mode on the ultrawide camera, you will get much brighter photos with slightly less noise, though these are still noticeably desaturated.

Ultrawide cam Night Mode, 8MP

And here are photos of our usual posters taken with the Poco F4. You can see how it stacks up against the competition. Feel free to browse around and pit it against other phones from our extensive database.

Poco F4 against the Realme GT Neo 3T and the Galaxy A52s in our Photo compare tool

Video recording

The Poco F4 supports up to 4K@60fps video capturing with its primary camera. The ultrawide and selfie cameras max out at 1080p@30fps, while the 2MP macro supports 720p@30fps.

There is an always-on electronic stabilization working across all shooting modes on all cameras but the macro.

The EIS works with the optical stabilization on the main camera, but the implementation is quite awful - there is a non-stop focus hunting, and the video appears wobbly because of the EIS fighting with the OIS.

The audio in all of the videos is captured at 320Kbps, stereo, and sounds quite good.

The 4K videos shot on the primary camera are very good. The resolved detail is plenty, the sharpening is balanced, the noise is handled very well, and the colors are realistic. The dynamic range is simply outstanding. The videos could use a slight contrast boost, though.

The 4K low-light video we took at night is good - it offers true-to-life exposure, and good sharpness, and we liked the colors.

The 1080p clip from the ultrawide camera is okay - the resolved detail is adequate for such a camera and wide-angle lens, the dynamic range is incredibly wide, and the colors are realistic. Once again, this video will certainly benefit from a contrast boost.

Finally, here is the Poco F4 in our video tool so you can make your own comparisons.

2160p: Poco F4 against the Realme GT Neo 3T and the Galaxy A52s in our Video compare tool