Poco F7 Pro review

Nice main camera, little else

The Poco F7 Pro comes with a camera setup that's essentially unchanged compared to the previous generation. The main camera is the same, the ultrawide is different but also same, the 2MP is gone (but it was as good as non-existent anyway), and then there's a new selfie camera, that's only marginally better than the old one.

The main camera is the same as on the F6 Pro, and also the same that you'd get on the F7 Ultra, so in this particular way, the Pro is as good as the Ultra. It's still essentially a mid-range sensor of reasonable size, so it's not that big of a deal, but it's still a solid setup.

The ultrawide uses an 8MP conventional sensor - unlike the 32MP Quad Bayer-type that the F7 Ultra has. No AF, of course.

No telephoto either, of course - that's what makes the F7 Ultra ultra.

On the front, there's a 20MP selfie camera - it's not the Ultra's 32MP unit, but let's say it's an improvement over the F6 Pro's 16MP sensor.

• Wide (main): 50MP OmniVision OVX8000 (likely same as OV50E, 1/1.55", 1.0µm - 2.0µm), f/1.6, 24mm, multi-directional PDAF; 8K@24fps, 4K@60fps
• Ultrawide: 8MP OmniVision OV08D (1/4.0", 1.12µm), f/2.2, 15mm, fixed focus; FullHD@60fps
• Front camera: 20MP OmniVision OV20B (1/4.0", 0.7µm-1.4µm), f/2.2, 21mm, fixed focus; FullHD@60fps

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

The F7 Pro's main camera does a very good job in daytime scenarios. Its photos have only the faintest hints of grain in darker areas of uniform color, and detail is plenty and is rendered well - a bit more naturally than on the F7 Ultra. The auto white balance is reliable and color rendition is quite pleasing, with saturation oddly slightly lower than on the other model on occasion. Dynamic range is excellent.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

People shots are also looking great on the Poco F7 Pro, at least at the native zoom level. The 25mm Portrait mode results are noticeably softer, the Ultra does better there.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), Photo mode

Daylight samples, main camera, Portrait mode, 24mm

Daylight samples, main camera, Portrait mode, 35mm

The 50MP shots aren't particularly good, but here are a few of them for you to examine.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 50MP

The photos taken at 2x zoom are looking a lot better on a pixel level than the 50MP 1x ones, and pretty solid on their own. You can expect nicely fine detail particularly with straight lines with some more questionable but still decent rendition of random textures.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x)

Photos of people at 2x zoom (only in Photo mode, as Portrait mode only goes to 35mm) are decent - facial detail remains alright, and you get the benefit of the more flattering perspective..

Daylight samples, main camera (2x), Photo mode

Ultrawide camera

The F7 Pro's fairly basic ultrawide camera, but we were pleasantly surprised by the image quality (for this type of camera). Poco has done a great job, and we get a contrasty and sharp output (albeit at only 8MP resolution). We also appreciate the colors and dynamic range.

The lack of autofocus does limit your ability to take wacky perspective shots of nearby objects, though.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

Selfies

Selfies on the Poco F7 Pro aren't really a huge selling point of the handset, but they're not throwaway quality either. Among the pros of these photos are the lively colors and the wide dynamic range, but also the unusually wide field of view. Detail isn't great though, and the lack of AF doesn't help.

Selfie samples

Low-light photo quality

Main camera

At night, you can expect some excellent photos from the Poco F7 Pro's main camera - for the class, but also in absolute terms. Detail is great, dynamic range is nicely wide with both extremes developed well, white balance and color saturation are top-notch too.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x)

We're not nearly as excited about the 2x zoom shots, which are noticeably less detailed when you look at them from up close. Stick to fit-to-screen magnification and you'll probably be fine.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x)

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera exceeded our expectations in low light, though we didn't have particularly high expectations to begin with. Shadows and lower midtones can be mushy and devoid of textures, but dynamic range is pretty good and the auto white balance was mostly accurate (bleached third scene aside). Just like during the day, the ultrawide punches above its class even after dark.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

Video recording

The Poco F7 Pro's main camera can record video up to 8K resolution (at 24fps only) while its 4K capability includes all three important framerates - 24fps, 30fps, and 60fps. The ultrawide and the selfie camera max out at 1080p30fps.

The usual selection of h.264 and h.265 codecs is available. You can record in HDR10+ on the main camera in 4K30 or in 1080p at 30 or 60fps, but you can't record in Dolby Vision.

There's a motion tracking AF toggle in settings. There's always-on regular video stabilization for all modes, but there is also an additional ShootSteady mode, with a tighter crop, limited to 1030p30fps on the main camera.

Pro video mode is also part of the feature set, with manual exposure controls, LOG recording, live histogram (no waveform though), zebras, and focus peaking. There's also a Director mode with more or less the same capabilities, but a slightly different UI (and waveform).

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

Video sample playlist

We are quite liking the F7 Pro's main camera videos, the 4K clips capturing a lot of fine detail, and treating it to a nicely mature processing. Dynamic range and colors are easy to like as well. The ultrawide's 1080p capture isn't too sharp, but its global parameters are alright.

The main camera does pretty decently in the dark, with good detail for the class, wide dynamic range and accurate colors. The ultrawide won't be bringing you any joy at night though.

The F7 Pro's stabilization proved quite great too - walking shake is ironed out well, with just a little bit of wobble left, and pans are trouble-free as well.