[Honor 8X Real Life Review] leahcoo:
I wouldn’t say I’m a photography buff, but I do really like taking photos. When I had my iPhone, I used it for casual snaps, but grabbed my DSLR if I was going on a trip. I love to play around with different filters and effects, so when I got this phone I started playing around with the camera and unearthed a LITERAL wonderland of surprises.

I counted, like, 15 different modes. But actually, there’s more than 15, because there’s a Live photo-esque function called Moving picture, and something called AI photography, which as far as I can tell just figures out what you’re snapping and tweaks the parameters to make the photo look nicer. Sometimes it can be annoying, but it’s easy to turn off so I don’t mind it.

Anyways, the features are a mixed bag, there are some super useful ones like Portrait (with a bunch of different lighting effects that are fun to play around with). But there are also some weird ones like “Document scan” (Not a scanner? What is it for?), and Good Food – which, as far as I can tell, is just an oversaturated filter that makes all your food look kind of bloody.

Basically it’s pretty obvious to me from some casual use that this is a phone with a ton of spare parts that lacks cohesive branding or categorization. Which…IMHO could be a wonderful thing, actually – coz it means you can apply your own creativity to do what you want with it. It’s a sandbox with ready made parts.

To illustrate my point, let’s talk about the Night feature.

Obviously, this mode was designed to help you take photos at night. When it goes off, it takes a few seconds to work, but you can literally watch the photo you’re taking become brighter and better looking. Somehow the tech makes it so the first shot is the base shot, and then some kind of magic happens in the background that adds light and detail captured over time into the same photo—kind of like HDR. In the end, what you get is basically an incredibly detailed photo.

What impressed me about this Night feature is that I’m used to bringing out my tripod for my DSLR if I’m shooting at night. I’d always assumed that you’d have to keep the camera super still in order to grab photos at night because that’s just how exposure works.

Well color me amazed, because I took these photos at night just holding my phone in my hand.

The color management looks pretty spot on, and I like how clearly defined the statues look, compared to the Normal versions.

---------- Post added at 05:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:40 PM ----------

These shots were interesting to me, because the photos are somehow more blurry in photo mode. Due in part to a slower shutter speed, I believe. While in night mode, the image resolved itself much more clearly and you can see all the details of the temple.

---------- Post added at 05:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:51 PM ----------

This feature is also great in dim lighting conditions or even dark animals. My puppy Zozo is all black (except a tiny white tuft on her left forepaw uWu), and it’s a pain to try to get good photos of her. I tried this mode in the morning (my BF sleeping in the background LOL), and you can see SO MUCH MORE DETAIL on her fur and eyes.

---------- Post added at 06:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:53 PM ----------

I used the “Individuality” filter in post editing, added a circular blur ring around Zozo, and then added a sticker. The stickers, by the way, are kind of weird, but there are a few fun ones in there.

I sent this photo to a friend who’s never met Zozo, and she was like “wow, shiny dog”. Lol. Shiny indeed.