HONOR Magic6 Pro smartphone and its premium version Magic6 RSR as a sports camera

Flagship smartphones, which have been competing with each other mainly in the field of photography and video for some time, have reached such a level that simply “taking good pictures” is not enough at all. Gradually, elements of professional cameras are being added to the picture: increasingly larger sensors, telephoto lenses of a new level, tenacious autofocus, correct work with dynamics. HONOR Magic6 Pro has placed a serious emphasis on sports photography – although it would be more accurate to say about “dynamic” photography; We will talk about this smartphone in a sports context, but a very big correction is still needed here.

We have already released the first look at the HONOR Magic6 Pro, and a full, detailed review, and even a video review – for a more comprehensive conversation about the smartphone and its camera, I refer you to these materials. Here we will talk about one narrow point, using the example of the camera of a special version of a smartphone – HONOR Magic6 Pro RSR Porsche Design. It is notable primarily for its design and price (for exclusivity they ask from 1,280 euros), but the smartphone also has an improved main camera with a HONOR Falcon Camera H9800 sensor and a LiDAR system used for even more accurate autofocus; We will tell you a little more about this smartphone later, but the main thing here is to understand that the RSR version does not differ too much from the regular Magic6 Pro; in terms of photography, you can put an approximate equal sign between them, even despite the slightly different sensor.

So, let’s repeat the technical information: the main camera has a Super Dynamic Falcon Camera H9000 HDR sensor – a modified Omnivision OV50H (1/1.3″, 1.2 μm, 50 MP) with a variable aperture lens (f/1.4-f/2.0), optical stabilizer and hybrid autofocus (here with LiDAR); on the zoom camera – Samsung Isocell S5KHP3 (1/1.4″, 0.56 µm, 180 MP) with a fast lens f/2.6, providing 2.5x zoom, phase detection autofocus and optical stabilization; on the wide-angle – Omnivision OV50D (1/2.88″, 0.612 microns, 50 megapixels) with a resolution of 50 megapixels with aperture optics f/2.0, with autofocus, but without stabilization.

The most important thing you need for sports photography, in particular, and photography of moving objects, in general, is the fastest and most tenacious autofocus. And the HONOR Magic6 Pro really has this in order: the main camera uses a dual autofocus system, which combines phase and contrast methods with a laser assistant (and in the RSR version, the laser assistant is further improved and even more accurately determines the distance to the object), the other two cameras offer phase detection focusing. But the emphasis is still on the main and zoom cameras, which combine autofocus and optical stabilization (the developers called the system Shape Memory Alloy (SMA)).

I can confirm that the smartphone clearly captures a person in the frame – with the “Motion Capture” mode activated, it also “leads” the object well in the frame. This is not the level of a serious specialized camera, but a person running or a child playing can be photographed with minimal defects in focus.

Of course, a modern smartphone is nowhere without artificial intelligence. Neural networks simply help with recognizing an object in a frame, and allow you to do things that are no longer possible for cameras. For example, a special Sport Portrait Algorithm not only captures a person in motion (here, while running), but also blurs the background. The system is available when shooting with standard focal length, 2x hybrid zoom and 2.5x optical zoom – and works quite well. Yes, the blur is rough, unlike a regular portrait, but at the same time the object is sharp and confidently separated from the background. The defect rate is also quite high, but we must still keep in mind that this is a very rare function and difficult to implement.

I tried to shoot not only people, but also animals with this algorithm – and for the most part, the HONOR Magic6 Pro RSR coped, producing very interesting images with a shallow depth of field.

But it is still noticeable that the algorithms are tailored specifically for people (and possibly cats/dogs); the blur did not always work correctly with birds.

The HONOR AI Motion Sensing system can recognize ten sports activities with human movement in the frame and, moreover, can take automatic photos of the best moments. True, this works in strictly defined scenes – for example, when someone is jumping in the frame. The smartphone records the jump at the top point in about 50% of the cases, which, in my opinion, is very good. For the future, I would like to receive a series of pictures with the ability to choose the most appropriate moment from it.

HONOR Magic6 Pro, naturally, cannot be called a competitor to professional photographic equipment – especially when it comes to sports photography; artificial bokeh cannot yet replace the natural blur of full-size optics, and the clarity produced by full-frame sensors is not yet available for smartphones. But the quality of autofocus in combination with the “brains” of the smartphone is already very impressive – the development potential of these gadgets in the field of camera, despite the physical limitations of a small body, seems far from being exhausted, primarily thanks to computational photography.

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