Leaf poking out with OnePlus 8T camera: 2 things I loved and 2 things that disappointed

the OnePlus 8T It comes packed with a host of great features including 5G, super fast charging, and a lovely display. But it’s the cameras on the back that interests me the most, so I was excited to have the phone in my hand and take it for a walk through Edinburgh’s orange leaves in the fall.

The 8T has four cameras: a 48-megapixel main camera, a 16-megapixel super wide-angle camera, a 5-megapixel macro camera for close-ups, and an additional monochrome sensor for black and white photos. TL; DR: You can take great pictures with the main and wide camera modes, but the black-and-white sensor is pointless and macro images don’t look good. Read on to learn more and see my test images.

Using the standard camera lens in its default mode, I’m impressed by the phone’s ability to balance bright highlights and shadows (Auto HDR mode is useful, apparently). Colors are rich and vibrant and images are full of detail.

When switching to the wide-angle lens, I am again pleased to see good exposure management. While I think the colors look duller than with the normal lens, the white balance has changed. It’s a wide view that makes it easy to capture a large amount of the scene in front of you.

OnePlus 8T monochrome mode

One of the new additions to the 8T’s camera setup is a monochrome sensor. Interestingly, the image is still taken with the main camera sensor, but the mono sensor apparently captures more highlight and shadow details, allowing for better looking black and white images.

The mono images the phone produces are decent. The highlights and shadows are balanced and there is a great deal of detail overall. The problem I have is that the mode feels redundant – the shots are no better than you could achieve by editing your photos in a free app like Snapseed or using the software-based black and white modes the phone already offers. We’ve seen dedicated monochrome sensors before on phones like Huawei’s P9 2016. They don’t tend to stick around long – Huawei ditched it after the P20 Pro. Personally, I don’t think I add any additional photographic value here.

Disappointing macro mode

The phone’s 5 megapixel macro lens allows you to focus on objects much closer than you normally could. In theory, it’s a great way to capture small details in things like flowers and insects, but in practice, the 8T’s macro shots don’t impress.

The details are so soft that you wouldn’t even want to upload these images to a Facebook album, much less print them for display. If you are interested in macro photography, this lens is not enough. Instead, you should consider using external macro lenses like the ones offered by Moment (8T compatible lens case expected) and OlloClip. You can read our guide at how to take macro photos with your phone to see how these images power Look.

The OnePlus 8T can take great pictures with its main lens or its ultra wide angle. For most of your photos, it will be great. But I find the monochrome sensor to be a weird and redundant addition, and I’m not impressed with the macro mode. Given that those are two key features of the camera setup, I can’t help but be disappointed with the camera package as a whole.