Huawei Ascend P7 camera review: a saga of highs and lows

“Capturing through the lens on the Ascend P7 could lead to having mixed emotions about the device”

When it comes to the best camera phones, our choices are clear, especially in the high-end range… as there are only a limited number of offerings. However, with so many launches taking place every other day in the mid-range segment around Rs 25,000, our choices keep changing. Huawei’s latest offering, the Ascend P7 seems like the newest device that has all it takes to be amongst the best in its segment. Can it succeed? Let’s find out in its camera review.

Huawei Ascend P7 first impressions 10

In terms of technical specs, the Huawei Ascend P7 sports a 13-megapixel autofocus Sony sensor at the back, featuring an aperture of f/2.0. To shoot in low light, the device also features an LED flash. To make full use of the shooter’s capability, the following images have been captured in 4:3 aspect ratio.

Long shot

Huawei Ascend P7 camera review - long shot

With a 13-megapixel sensor on the Huawei Ascend P7, you don’t need to worry about the amount of details being captured. The image embedded above shows a good amount of detail, but it’s not as sharp as some 13MP shooters we have seen on other devices. The colour balance also seems to be slightly off the mark.

Close up

Huawei Ascend P7 camera test - close up

The shooter fared much better in the close-up shot since there are enough details visible…  even the accumulated dust on the leaves is also apparent. The colours seem natural too.

Close up (zoomed in)

Huawei Ascend P7 camera test - close up (zoomed in)

When we zoom in on the same image, there’s no loss of details as you can easily make outthe  different petals of the flowers with their edges clearly defined.

HDR off

Huawei Ascend P7 camera performance - HDR off

The image above is taken as part of our standard test to see the HDR prowess of any smartphone camera.

HDR on

Huawei Ascend P7 camera performance - HDR on

With the High Dynamic Range turned on, the image looks slightly better in terms of contrast and its brighter as well. However, it seems that the HDR mode is tuned to capture brightness as opposed to the details.

Front shot

Huawei Ascend P7 camera test - front camera shot

To cater to the growing segment of selfie-addicts, the Huawei Ascend P7 is well equipped with its 8-megapixel shooter on the front. The image shows ample amount of detail and good colour reproduction, making the front-facing camera on the device suitable for sharing selfies as well as making video calls.

Low-light shot

Huawei Ascend P7 camera quality - low-light shot

In dim lighting, the Huawei Ascend P7’s snapper managed to capture a reasonable image, even though it’s quite noisy. You can easily make out the basket and different colours of the balls inside it, but the image is too soft for our liking.

Low-light shot with flash

Huawei Ascend P7 camera quality - low-light hot with flash

The flash on the device throws well-balanced illumination, as the same image looks much better and of course, much clearer. All the balls can be seen along with their textures, and their colours also appear natural.

Night shot

Huawei Ascend P7 camera test - night shot

Shot at night with the only light source being street lights, the image seems to be just fine. All the subjects in view can be seen clearly, but there’s a lot of graininess, which becomes more apparent when zoomed in.

Summing up our experience with the shooters on the Huawei Ascend P7, we would say that they were a bit of mixed bag. We felt that images could have been sharper and the HDR mode wasn’t much useful, while in close up shots and low-light photography, the camera threw up impressive results.

The Huawei Ascend P7 definitely comes across as a capable smartphone as noted in our first impressions as well, and we would discuss more about the device in our upcoming review.