While we know that most China phone dual-camera setups are useless, there are some budget-priced phones that carry effective dual-camera setups; you don’t need to spend $800 on an iPhone 8 to get quality dual-camera results.
Recently I received the Mi A1 for review and this is one of the first things I tested after unboxing. I must admit I am pleasantly surprised by the results the Mi A1 puts out, and they make a strong case for spending a few extra bucks on the A1 in comparison to the excellent Redmi 4 Prime or Redmi Note 4.
While not perfect, the Mi A1 does an excellent job in proper circumstances. To achieve great results, follow these steps:
- The object you want to stand out should generally be at a significant distance from the background you want blurred. This is so the software can easily and accurately determine what is foreground and what is background.
- If the background being close is unavoidable, try and place the subject in an area that is significantly in contrast to the background.
- Generally you want the subject to be in straight plane in front of you, not running diagonally or the shot taken from an angle. This is again so that the software can clearly define foreground and background. If the object is running diagonally further away from you it’s more difficult for software to determine what should be blurred.
Here are a few shots to illustrate what I mean in regards to getting a good shot with the dual-cameras on Mi A1.
These guidelines laid out, I was massively impressed by the first shot I took of this butterfly. Note the complicated scene here with the thin stems which are appropriately sharp and the moderately blurred, but not as heavily blurred as the background leaves slightly behind the butterfly. Hugely impressed here.
In addition to the system dual-cameras, Mi A1 is also compatible with the 7.0 Google Photos (Android 7.1 Google Photos force closes.) While HDR+ is not available with Google Camera, the blur mode and photosphere modes are 100% working great.
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In addition to the dual-camera bokeh, the 2nd camera is a 50mm crop, which means it is a true optical 2x “zoom” in comparison to the 25mm primary camera. This means you can get crisper large crops and add some natural bokeh in comparison to if you took the shot with the primary camera.
Take a look at the example here. Notice how they are software cropped to the same framing and that the 50mm lens crop is of significantly higher quality. Note these were both taken in HDR mode. The crop is also very far away, probably further than most real world situation crops.
Some resizing of the 25mm wide shot crop was required to make an example which illustrates my point.
I encourage you to download the original shots (25mm 50mm) and zoom in to get a good look at the quality difference. Note not only the resolution and sharpness, but the difference in metering. This is because the software is metering for different framing.
Also, note in the originals the difference in bokeh with the foreground pine needles due to the optical crop. Of course the 25mm has its advantages as well; it allows you to get a much wider view of the scene.
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You can see the full review of the Xiaomi Mi A1 here.
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