According to a recent report published by Statista the average human will click 160 digital photographs this year. That amounts to about 1.2 trillion images. Not surprisingly, 85 per cent of these images will be clicked on smartphones. This absolute domination (vis-à-vis digital cameras) confirms something we already know. My mobile camera has been by primary shooter since 2006; the iPhone and Android hadn’t arrived yet. The smartphone camera has truly evolved in 2016 and this year. Lowlight photography has improved, dual cameras are in the mix and of course those selfie cams have more tricks up their sleeve. Here’s our list of 2017’s sharp shooters.
iPhone X: the all-screen form factor and FaceID might have been the 10th Anniversary iPhone’s headline features but this device also boasts of the best cam on an iPhone ever. We’ve always loved the iPhone’s ability to capture true-to-life colours and the X doesn’t disappoint on this front. The rear camera set-up boasts of two 12MP lenses – both with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS). The second camera allows you to take advantage of the optical zoom (2x) option. It also lets you shoot great portraits, a feature we first saw on last year’s iPhone 7 Plus. The X extends the Portrait mode for selfies on the 7MP front cam too. (Rs 89,000 onwards)
Samsung Galaxy Note 8: it was the Samsung Galaxy S7 that raised the bar for mobile photography in 2016. The Note 8 builds on this incredible camera and borrows the dual camera approach from the iPhone Plus size phones. The results are terrific. Both the rear lenses have OIS while the primary lens boasts of a f/1.7 aperture ensuring great images even in dimly lit scenarios. The camera has a whole bag of tricks including a food picture mode that should satisfy Instagram addicts who use the ‘foodporn’ hashtag frequently. We also dig the ‘Live Focus’ mode that don’t just allow you to blur backgrounds in DSLR style but also let you do this once you click an image. (Rs 67,900)
Google Pixel 2: Google’s 2017 flagship might have sparked déjà vu moments with a form factor that looked remarkably similar to its 2016 predecessor but the camera is a whole new beast. It’s seriously fast – the laser autofocus does help and we also approve of the minimalist camera menu. But that’s not all; this is probably the camera to beat in low light. The 12.2 MP primary shooter with f/1.8 aperture shoots surprisingly good images even in adverse lighting conditions. The 8MP front camera is no slouch and you can fire it up without a fuss. Just say ‘OK Google, take my selfie’. (Rs 59,900 onwards)
OnePlus 5T: the dual cam is clearly the definitive smartphone camera trend of 2017. The OnePlus 5 which debuted earlier this year opted for a 16MP primary lens and a 20MP secondary lens with an optical zoom feature. The 5T the company’s newest flagship uses the same dual cam strategy but has opted to ditch the telephoto lens. It focuses on improving the lowlight photography experience instead. Both lenses (16MP + 20MP) now feature a f/1.7 aperture. We think it’s more useful than optical zoom; the OnePlus 5T is easily one of the best mobile cameras in the sub Rs 35,000 segment (Rs 32,999 onwards)
LG G6: each brand has taken a different approach with the dual cam. The iPhone took the optical zoom route while Huawei added a black and white lens to its P9 last year. We like LG’s approach the best - a wide-angle camera that we first saw on the LG G5. It’s particularly handy when you are trying to fit a sweeping panorama or a cityscape into your frame. The second lens on the rear cam offers a 125-degree field-of-view (the human eye has a 114-degree field of view) while the primary lens captures the finer details with a f/1.8 aperture. (Rs 33,990)
OPPO F3 Plus: OPPO’s devices ride heavily on their selfie cams; the F3 Plus is no exception. The device’s talking point is its dual-selfie front cam. It combines a 16MP lens with a second selfie cam with a 120-degree field of view for those Wefies (wide-angle selfies). It’s almost as a good as a selfie cam gets. We were equally impressed with the 16MP primary shooter in a variety of lighting scenarios. One of the camera’s many tricks is the ‘Double exposure’ mode that allows you to stitch two shots into a single image. (Rs 24,990)
