The Huawei Pura 80 Ultra is a fascinating smartphone. It features a clever lens-swapping system, a large 50-megapixel image sensor, and promises the best dynamic range of any smartphone.
While the phone itself was announced in China a few weeks ago, we did not cover it at the time. But the technology on offer is well worth discussing, even if it is slightly late. The Pura 80 Ultra is Huawei’s flagship phone, and as such, it boasts the company’s most innovative camera tech and design features.
The rear “X-Image” camera array sports a triangular design, which is unusual enough in and of itself. However, there is much more going on beneath the surface than it initially appears. The pair of smaller telephoto lenses on the Pura 80 Ultra are swappable, meaning that two different lenses share the same image sensor in use.
As The Verge reports, the two telephoto lenses share the same basic optical designs, but there is a moving prism inside the smarpthone that effectively changes the focal length, or field of view, of the two telephoto primes. One of them offers a 3.7x zoom, while the other is a whopping 9.4x optical zoom lens.
In more common photographic terms, the shorter lens is an 83mm f/2.4 equivalent portrait prime, while the other is a 212mm f/3.6 equivalent telephoto lens. While the two telephoto lenses share the same sensor, a 50-megapixel imager, the 212mm lens utilizes some form of additional cropping or pixel-binning, as it captures 12.5-megapixel photos rather than the full 50 megapixel ones of the 83mm lens, per Huawei’s Chinese specs sheet. It is a Type 1/1.28 sensor, which is relatively large for telephoto lenses, much larger than what is found in the vast majority of phones on the market.
Speaking of 50-megapixel sensors, the main camera works alongside a big Type 1.0 one. The primary camera has a 23mm equivalent f/1.6-4 lens. Huawei claims that this camera has 16 stops of dynamic range, a record level for a smartphone camera. While 16 stops of dynamic range is a very ambitious target, even for a relatively large smartphone image sensor, the phone should at least deliver strong performance in shadows and highlights.
There is also a 40-megapixel ultrawide camera with a 13mm equivalent lens, although Huawei does not specify the sensor’s size. It’s a safe bet it is not an especially large sensor, though.
On the video side of things, the Pura 80 Ultra records 4K HDR video. It can also shoot Full HD footage at a blazing-fast 960 frames per second, although it is interpolated footage, meaning it won’t look as good as typical 1080p video.
As Huawei Central reports, Tilta has introduced an accompanying “professional” photography edition kit for the Pura 80 Ultra.
The kit includes a large grip for the phone, a special case, an extra power supply, a light, and an additional handle. The case is quite interesting because it actually features embedded circuitry that not only provides extra power but also enables follow focus functionality. The case also helps keep the smartphone cool during extended recording. The case also allows the use of additional filters, such as neutral density ones, and works in conjunction with a miniature fill light. Plus, the kit comes with a portable carbon fiber tripod. It is over the top and, in a way, quite cool. Although, at some point, users might need to ask themselves why they shouldn’t just buy a dedicated camera?
The Huawei Pura 80 Ultra and its lesser siblings, the Pura 80, Pura 80 Pro, and Pura 80 Plus, do not appear destined for the United States, as is par for the course with Huawei smartphones. They should, however, have a global launch soon. The Pura 80 Ultra starts at CNY 9,999, which is approximately $1,400 at current exchange rates.
Image credits: Huawei
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