Tecno Camon 17 Pro review

2+2 cameras on the back, top-class selfies

The Camon 17 Pro has some decent camera chops. With the 64MP main unit and autofocusing ultrawide on the back, we're willing to forgive the essentially pointless 2MP depth and black and white modules. And that's before we get to the 48MP selfie camera, which is a properly rare sight - at any price point.

The primary camera uses a 64MP Samsung S5KGW1 sensor - a 1/1.72" Tetrapixel imager with 0.8µm pixels. The lens in front has an f/1.8 aperture as per Tecno specs (or f/1.9 as per EXIF data) and a focal length around the 26mm mark.

The ultrawide is based on the GalaxyCore GC8034 sensor (the what now?), which has 1.12µm pixels, 8 million of them. The lens has a 2.2 aperture and is only modestly ultrawide. More importantly, it has autofocus - autofocus on a midrange ultrawide!

Over on the front is the other standout feature, the 48MP selfie camera. It uses an OmniVision OV48B2Q sensor (1/2.0", 0.8µm) with an f/2.2 aperture lens. No autofocus on this one.

The camera app is straightforward - aside from the full-auto photo mode being called AI Cam, things are mostly as expected. It's a bit ironic that swiping down on the viewfinder brings the top row of icons closer, something Techno calls one-handed mode, yet the zoom selector requires both hands unless you're shooting right-handed in portrait orientation.

Camera UI

Daylight image quality

Daylight image quality of the Camon 17 Pro is okay; it's about on par with others in the class overall. Photos are sharp across the frame, noise is minimal, and there's plenty of detail, though it has a very overprocessed look. Dynamic range is average, and coupled with the phone's tendency to overexpose, you may be looking at some harsh highlights here or there. We'd appreciate a bump in color saturation as the photos are pretty muted.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

The Ultra HD mode delivers 64MP images, which do contain finer detail than their 16MP counterparts but are also notably noisier. The dynamic range takes a hit too - look at that snail.

Daylight samples, main camera, 64MP

In Ultra HD mode, there's a toggle that switches between 64MP and 108MP. The 108MP images are upsampled from the 64MP sensor's output and don't bring any benefits over the 64MP ones - if anything, the noise speckles get enlarged and more noticeable when viewed from up close.

Daylight samples, main camera, 108MP

There's no telephoto camera, but the 2x position in the zoom selector will get you usable zoom shots from the main camera. Per-pixel detail isn't great and dynamic range is rather narrow, but at fit to screen magnification, the images look okay.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x zoom)

The ultrawide cam's dynamic range isn't spectacular either, but these are examined against a lower standard anyway, so it's acceptable in the context of midrange ultrawides. Similarly, detail is good for the class, if ultimately not that impressive. We're preferring this camera's livelier colors.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera

Low-light image quality

In low light, the main camera suffers from limited dynamic range but does manage to maintain very good detail levels in decently lit scenes or areas of the scene.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x)

Night mode makes for a lot better tonal development, and these shots look excellent at fit to screen magnification. Some fine detail is lost in the process, but we're finding the trade-off to be well worth it.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x), Night mode

At 2x zoom, things are looking kind of blotchy on a pixel level, and dynamic range is, again, pretty narrow - as it is in the 1x images, which are the source for these. Still, we'd call the 2x shots usable. There's no night mode for 2x zoom.

Low-light samples, 2x zoom

The ultrawide camera doesn't particularly enjoy the night either. It struggles to expose bright enough, and photos look very dark, with a prevalent softness when viewed from up close.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera

Once you're done with the real-world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Tecno Camon 17 Pro stacks up against the competition in capturing our test posters under controlled lighting.

Tecno Camon 17 Pro against the Galaxy A32 and the Xiaomi Redmi 10 Pro in our Photo compare tool

Close-ups

The Super macro mode utilizes the ultrawide camera's autofocusing capability for nearby subjects, coupled with some crop and upscale action to get you closer to the action - or to make you feel like that's happening. In any case, these 8MP shots do look good and are comparable to what you'd get out of dedicated 5MP macro cams on competitors.

Close-up samples (macro)

Portrait mode

Portrait mode crops in a little from the main camera's coverage but still outputs 16MP images, so there's some upscaling at play, and absolute detail is less than ideal, if still acceptable. Dynamic range is narrow and backlit sit are all but guaranteed to end up with blown highlights - though the phone does expose well for your subject, which is obviously what you want to prioritize. Subject isolation, meanwhile, is excellent - perhaps that 2MP depth camera isn't entirely useless.

Portrait samples

Selfies

Selfies on the Camon 17 Pro are properly good. Sharpness and detail are excellent - maybe too good even if your skin isn't... picture-perfect. Dynamic range is good, particularly for a selfie camera, while colors are accurate and likable overall. There's this whitening of skin tones that we're not entirely fond of, however.

Selfie samples

Selfie portrait mode strikes a massive blow to dynamic range, same as on the rear camera. Subject detection is okay, but not quite up to the same standard as on the back. Those skin tones are back to normal in portrait mode.

Selfie portrait samples

Video recording

The Camon 17 Pro records video up to 4K30 with its main camera, and that's both at the 1x and 2x zoom levels. The ultrawide is capped at 1080p at 30fps. The selfie camera, meanwhile, can record 4K30 as well. There are no codec settings, and the h.264 is the one you're getting.

Stabilization is available only in 1080p 30fps, sadly, on both rear cameras and the selfie one.

4K30 footage (bit rate of 42Mbps) out of the main camera at 1x zoom is relatively good. The footage is sharp, and detail is plenty, while colors are pleasingly lively. Dynamic range is pretty limited, though.

At the 2x zoom setting, you do still get 4K30 capture, but the advantage in resolved detail is marginal over 2x 1080p, if there even is one. Detail is very good in 1080p, so that remains a usable option. Dynamic range is, again, narrow, regardless of resolution.

The ultrawide camera's 1080p footage is softer than we'd like - it's a little better than on the Galaxy A32 but nowhere as good as on the Redmi Note 10 Pro. Dynamic range is respectable, however, and color nicely saturated, if noticeably different than the main cam's.

Enabling video stabilization locks you into 1080p on the main camera, which is a bit of a bummer, though the Redmi doesn't have it in 4K either, and the Galaxy A32 can't record in 4K in the first place.

Main camera stabilization isn't quite as 'ultra steady' as the toggle would like you to believe, and it leaves some camera shake from walking - not a lot, but some. Just pointing the phone in one direction gets you stable footage, though, and panning is smooth, too.

The above holds true for the ultrawide camera as well, but with an added issue - when you're walking, as the shake makes it to the phone on every step, it will try and refocus, and that's pretty annoying.

The Camon's 48MP selfie camera records video p to 4K30 as well, only without stabilization at this resolution. With you holding the phone and shooting yourself, however, the lack of stabilization isn't as problematic - the relative position of phone and subject remains fairly constant. It's not the sharpest of 4Ks, and dynamic range is limited, but some 4K is better than no 4K, right?

1080p is somewhat more stable, which also means the field of view is narrower to accommodate the stabilization, and it gets a little tough to fit your entire mug in landscape orientation. It's also nowhere as sharp and detailed. We'd prefer the 4K then.

Here's a glimpse of how the Tecno Camon 17 Pro compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

Tecno Camon 17 Pro against the Galaxy A32 and the Xiaomi Redmi 10 Pro in our Video compare tool