nubia Red Magic 7 Pro review

A familiar triple-camera combo

There's absolutely no change in the camera hardware for a couple of generations now, and the Pro isn't getting a better-equipped setup either. The same 64MP, f/1.8, 1,1/97" main camera is joined by the popular budget 8MP f/2.2, 1.12µ pixel camera for ultrawide shots. There's also a 2MP dedicated shooter for macro photography.

And while we understand that the Red Magic 7 Pro is not an all-around flagship, we would have greatly appreciated a higher resolution ultrawide unit and a bigger main sensor. There are plenty of upper mid-range examples carrying a better hardware.

The selfie camera gets an upgrade, in theory, as it's now 16MP, instead of 8MP, and the sensor is much bigger too - 1/2.8". The aperture of f/2.0 remains the same. And we say "in theory" because UD cameras are notorious for their blurry rendition due to technological limitations. More on that later.

Camera menus

The camera menu is business as usual. Camera modes switch with a simple swipe left and right in a carousel formation. The additional settings menu is placed in the upper-right corner of the viewfinder, and the dedicated Pro mode offers quite a bit of settings to tinker with.

Two things we found interesting. When shooting macro, you get a small magnifier, which you can move around the viewfinder, but more importantly - it has focus peaking. It allows you to hit the right focusing distance instead of guessing. We found this feature to be particularly useful since there's no autofocus support. We wished more OEMs doing non-AF macro cameras to do this.

Default camera app

We only wish that the macro camera gets a toggle of its own. Interestingly, the Pro mode works not only with the main camera but also with the ultrawide and macro.

Daylight samples

Main camera

It's no surprise that the Red Magic 7 Pro produces identical photos to the vanilla 7. The two devices share the same camera hardware, software and ISPs. This, in turn, means that photo quality is rather underwhelming. The significantly cheaper Red Magic 7 barely got away with it, but the €799 Pro option has less of an excuse. Sharpness isn't great, although detail is rather okay. The tendency for a darker exposure is an issue in sub-optimal conditions. Then again, crushed blacks are a thing even in well-lit environments.

16MP daylight samples

The higher contrast boosts the colors a little, but it's nothing too crazy, the noise is well-controlled, and the dynamic range is wide enough. You could spot a few clipped highlights in some of the samples, though it's not a major issue. Either way, quality deteriorates fast as you go indoors, where lighting conditions are more challenging.

2x zoom

Naturally, the 2x zoom samples are a simple crop from the main camera and are nothing too special. The obvious increase in noise and drop in sharpness are par for the course, while the overall rendition is identical to the standard 1x photo mode.

2x zoom daylight samples

Ultrawide camera

As before, the ultrawide shooter provides unsatisfactory images with low saturation, little to no detail, poor sharpness and narrow dynamic range. The darker exposure is crushing the blacks even further.

Daylight ultrawide samples

Macro camera

The macro camera has no autofocus or OIS, so taking a proper shot could be a problem. Luckily, the provided focus peaking feature helps out with nailing the right focusing distance. Despite all this, images are still a bit lacking in many ways. Contrast is poor, colors look washed out, and although sharp, the level of detail isn't enough due to the low 2MP resolution of the sensor.

Macro samples

Low-light samples

Main camera

Unfortunately, the exposure metering issues can also be observed at night. There are also visibly clipped highlights, and images are generally soft. There's no fine detail either. Colors are juicier at least, and noise isn't as prominent.

Low-light main camera samples

The provided Night mode makes a significant improvement in all of the areas we see lacking. The dynamic range is improved, and light sources are nicer as a result. Samples are sharper and more detailed too. There's a visible tendency for a warmer white balance too.

Night mode main camera samples

2x zoom

Daylight 2x zoom samples weren't impressive, so nighttime performance was expectedly unsatisfactory as well. Without the Night mode, pictures look pale and with limited dynamic range, but even if you flick the switch, softness and noise are still visible.

Low-light 2x zoom samples: Normal • Night mode

Ultrawide camera

We don't recommend using the ultrawide camera after dusk as it struggles to deliver usable images. Contrast is low, colors are washed out, sharpness is bad, and there's virtually no detail. Shadows are crushed, and highlights are clipped.

Low-light ultrawide samples

Once you are done with the real-life examples, take a look at our Photo compare tool for some pixel-peeping and see how the nubia Red Magic 7 Pro fares against the competition.

ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro vs. Red Magic 6 and the Asus ROG Phone 5 in our Photo compare tool

Selfies

We are just not there yet. The UD selfie camera delivers unsatisfactory image quality as unacceptable. Samples look fuzzy, soft and have a narrow dynamic range. Some of them may look okay, despite the lack of detail, only if the right lighting conditions are met. Going into a darker environment results in sharp image quality deterioration.

Selfie samples

Video recording

The handset supports video recording of up to 4320p at 24fps. 4K HDR recording is also available, and those are electronically stabilized by sacrificing a bit of field of view. Keep in mind that the HDR videos can only be appreciated on an HDR-compliant screen. Strangely, you can't record on the 8MP ultrawide camera, but that's not a big omission as the video quality on those is not satisfactory. And due to the limited 8MP resolution, it can only do 1080p anyway.

Let's start with the 8K footage. It looks a tad different from the one we recorded on the Red Magic 7, but that's mostly due to the weather conditions. The overcast has resulted in darker exposure and crushing some of the shadows. The whole video looks contrasty with plenty of color, and it's decently sharp, although we expected a tad more from a 4320p sample.

The 2160p video isn't much softer than the 4320p one and offers an identical rendition. Our biggest complaint is the lower exposure crushing the detail in the shadows and dark objects. Notice the trees and the black cars passing by.

Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at our video compare tool to see how the nubia Red Magic 7 Pro stacks against the other phones we've reviewed.

2160p: ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro vs. Red Magic 6 and the Asus ROG Phone 5 in our Video compare tool