Photographic camera

The Mi Max comes with a 16-megapixel (4608 x 3456) Samsung S5K3P3 1/3.1" CMOS sensor on the rear, paired with an f/ii.0 26mm (equivalent) lens and a ii-tone LED flash. The pixel size of this sensor is 1.0 µm, which is in line with about loftier-resolution smartphone cameras on the market. On the front is a 5.0-megapixel (2592 x 1944) i/5" CMOS sensor with ane.12 µm pixels, paired with a 25mm f/2.0 lens.

The cameras included on this phone are about what I expected for the price: not as good equally electric current-generation flagship phones, but perfectly fine for everyday usage. I believe the Moto G4 Plus has a better 16-megapixel shooter at a similar price, though the Mi Max is just behind.

The xvi-megapixel Samsung sensor exhibits boilerplate levels of detail. Photos taken with this camera are soft and lack fine detail when viewed at full resolution, nonetheless zooming out to 1080p or 1440p results in practiced sharpness and clarity. A lack of zoomability from xvi-megapixel photos may disappoint some users, even if the photos await good in general.

Unsurprisingly, I was impressed with what the Mi Max can produce in strong lighting. Photos here are reasonably accurate, saturated to a decent extent, and exhibit to a higher place average dynamic range. The HDR mode that'southward included (but isn't applied automatically) improves dynamic range and overall image quality significantly, to the point where you should consider leaving this way enabled for all outdoor photography. HDR shots practise have longer to capture, just the results can be phenomenal.

Photos that I captured indoors exhibited skillful exposure and color quality, largely resisting the urge to undersaturate like many telephone cameras in these conditions. Nonetheless, the Mi Max simply doesn't use a fast plenty shutter speed in lesser light, which resulted in many of my photos being slightly blurry. Infrequently the camera had issues focusing in low light too, and I have a handful of photos where the subject area is blatantly and disappointingly out of focus.

The good news is that the occasional problems I had with indoor photos – and I should stress that I was still able to take some peachy shots in these atmospheric condition – are related to the camera software rather than hardware. Chucking the photo app into manual style and increasing the shutter speed can resolve this trouble, and resulted in some smashing shots. It'south a shame that the auto mode hasn't been tweaked to reduce blur as switching modes is awkward and takes time.

Photos taken at night aren't great, lacking in exposure and visibility. Considering what I've seen from other budget smartphones, this didn't surprise me at all: 1.0 µm pixels just aren't conducive to high quality low light photos, peculiarly without OIS systems.

I too wouldn't write home near the front-facing five.0-megapixel photographic camera, which packs mediocre quality fifty-fifty in reasonable lighting conditions. The camera app does pack an amusing age-guessing feature for selfies, along with the usual beauty mode, but it would accept been dainty if these features were included alongside better hardware.

The camera app included with the Mi Max comes with a basic and easy to use interface. Minimal options are seen on the main photographic camera screen, with slide out panels to the top and bottom revealing photographic camera filters and additional shooting modes respectively. Most of the extra modes are typical, similar the panorama style, but other such every bit the fish eye and tilt shift modes become across what I've seen on other handsets.

Left to right: Selfie photographic camera; HDR manner disabled; HDR mode enabled

Aside from some issues focusing in bottom low-cal, the performance of the Mi Max rear camera is generally pretty proficient. Capture speeds are fast, focusing is average, and the video mode supports 4K capture which is an excellent inclusion on a mid-range device.