Fashion and beauty photographer Richard Chen, also a Leica Akademie Instructor, believes the Huawei P10 Plus offers the capabilities of a professional camera in a pocket-sized device.

During a Huawei P10 Plus Masterclass held in Singapore, Chen, a professional Leica photographer, shared his growing preference for the Huawei P10 Plus’s mobile camera over traditional cameras for personal photography. He appreciates the portability and convenience of the smartphone, noting, “If I’m exploring I actually don’t bring the (conventional digital) camera nowadays… I’m starting to use it as the main camera. With a smaller camera you can walk farther. You sweat less.”

After five months of using the phone, including trips to Australia and Hong Kong, Chen concluded that the Huawei P10 Plus delivers exceptional results comparable to larger cameras. He particularly highlighted features absent in his previous high-end phones, such as Nokia Windows and Samsung models:

User-Friendly Interface and Superior Control:

The Huawei P10 Plus’s camera interface is designed for ease of use, mirroring the functionality of a Leica DSLR camera, even down to the font. Simple swiping gestures provide access to various shooting modes, including a ‘pro’ mode for manual adjustments like white balance and aperture control. The dual-lens system, indicated by an icon on the screen, creates the coveted ‘soft bokeh’ effect previously exclusive to professional SLR lenses.

Effortless Panoramas:

The Huawei P10 Plus excels at creating seamless panoramas, even when handheld. Chen highlighted the consistent exposure in his 6,000 x 4,000 pixel resolution panoramic images, a notable feat considering the challenges of varying light sources like the sun. Achieving similar results with a traditional camera would necessitate extensive post-production efforts, including manual adjustments and stitching software.

Exceptional Monochrome Performance:

Equipped with a dedicated monochrome sensor, the Huawei P10 Plus captures subtle brightness variations exceptionally well, outperforming even its color sensor in terms of pixel-level detail. This feature allows for stunning monochrome images reminiscent of classic film cameras.

Vivid Neon Light Reproduction:

Unlike many cameras that overexpose neon lights, the Huawei P10 Plus accurately reproduces vibrant neon colors while preserving surrounding details and colors.

True-to-Life Color Representation:

Chen praised the phone’s ability to capture accurate colors, particularly reds, which often appear distorted in images taken by other cameras.

Detailed High-Contrast Photography:

The Huawei P10 Plus excels in high-contrast situations, capturing detail in both bright and dark areas without sacrificing highlights or shadows. This capability allows for stunning HDR landscape shots with well-preserved details, even against bright skies. Notably, the phone achieves this level of detail even in automatic mode, a testament to its intelligent software.

Innovative Light Painting Mode:

Chen lauded the Huawei P10 Plus’s light painting mode, calling it ‘amazing’. This feature, with its four sub-modes, allows for capturing light trails in real-time, unlike traditional cameras that require post-processing. The phone’s unique light handling capability ensures that stationary bright areas don’t overexpose, resulting in stunning images with vibrant light trails set against dark backgrounds.

Exceptional Image Malleability:

The Huawei P10 Plus produces images that offer a high degree of editing flexibility. Chen explained that images captured with neutral parameters allow for greater adjustments in post-processing, providing more creative control.

The Leica Dual Camera 2.0 Pro Edition, featuring two SUMMILUX-H lenses with a large aperture (f/1.8) and 20-megapixel and 12-megapixel sensors, is a key factor in the phone’s exceptional camera performance. This collaboration with Leica brings 4K-resolution images, superior image stabilization, and impressive low-light capabilities.

Huawei’s software enhancements, including 3D facial detection, dynamic illumination, and natural portrait enhancements, further elevate the phone’s photography prowess. Moreover, the phone addresses common smartphone limitations with ample storage (128 GB internal, expandable to 256 GB via microSD card) and a long battery life (up to six hours of continuous photography).

For optimal results, Chen recommends using a rubber/foam-lined tripod adapter with a Manfrotto mini table top tripod for added stability and versatility.

In summary, the Huawei P10 Plus bridges the gap between professional photography and social connectivity. Its ability to deliver exceptional image quality, advanced camera features, and seamless online sharing makes it an all-in-one solution for photographers of all levels. As Chen aptly puts it, “The biggest advantage your phone used to have over the camera was the social connectivity but now you’re able to combine both… What is attractive to me for the Huawei P10 Plus is the big-camera functionality, the ability to have the fine controls and then you have the social linkage, so it’s become one-stop. You don’t need separate devices.”

Source: Huawei. This infographic shows how the Huawei P10 Plus is like carrying a studio in your pocket.

Interested?

Check out Chen’s Instagram

*Bokeh refers to the out-of-focus backgrounds in pictures where a subject in clear focus in the foreground. The most desired type of bokeh is ‘soft bokeh’ where objects in the background have soft, blurred edges. ‘Hard bokeh’ on the other hand describes situations where objects in the background are blurred, but still retain crisp outlines which distract the eye.