Oppo Find X8 Pro camera review: Capturing Bandra’s best-kept secrets

A look at Oppo’s latest Find X8 Pro is enough to tell you that it’s not designed to be another smartphone that sits pretty in your pocket.  

Its substantial camera island dominates the back panel like a statement piece of jewellery. The circular design, reminiscent of an actual camera lens, houses an imposing quad-camera setup. The smartphone also wears the Hasselblad partnership branding like a badge of honour, and it certainly makes bold promises about its photographic capabilities.

But can it really deliver? We decided to put it to the test in the most challenging (read: delicious) way possible.

Oppo Find X8 Pro camera review: What’s good?

Behind the chaos, crowd and glamour of Mumbai lies a labyrinth of stories waiting to be discovered in the trendy suburbs of Bandra. From quaint villages to secret alleyways with tucked-away delis, there is more to the coastal locality than its obvious surface.

To capture this, we are using a smartphone that boasts a 50MP wide sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide sensor, as well as two 50MP periscope telephoto units – supporting 3x and 6x optical zoom. You also get a front-facing 32MP for selfies, and the ability to shoot 4k videos at up to 60fps.

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The Hasselblad partnership brings plenty of versatile modes on the phone to play with, including the Lightning Snap mode, which clicks multiple photos at once and is ideal for street and action photography.

The Portrait mode, on the other hand, comes with an option to capture a subject across different focal lengths. We also loved how the phone has the option of adding a whimsical touch to a portrait shot with its ‘Misty’, ‘Glowing’ and ‘Dreamy’ filters.

My history with cafes led me to an afternoon of exploration across Bandra’s hidden gems. We carried no additional cameras, no lighting equipment – just the Find X8 Pro and an appetite for both pastries as well as photography. Six hours, five cafes, and countless photos later, we had our answers. Here is our detailed Oppo Find X8 Pro camera review.

Colours

The Oppo Find X8 Pro delivered a refreshingly accurate colour representation. On our first stop at India’s smallest cafe – Subko Mini – we noticed that the phone captured the salmon-pink exteriors with ease. The camera rendered the textured walls and subtle colour transitions exactly as they appeared to the naked eye, even in the challenging low-light conditions of the narrow alleyway.

As we wandered through the neighbourhood, the Find X8 Pro continued to impress with its colour accuracy. The vibrant bougainvillaea flowers retained their natural coral hue without appearing artificially saturated, and the complex street art looked true to its rustic nature.

When shooting against bright skies, the colours remained authentic and vibrant rather than appearing washed out or dull. Overall, we found the camera maintained colour integrity even in conditions that typically challenge smartphone photography.

Contrast

On our way to our next cafe, Vanilla Miel, we stumbled across one of Pali village’s ‘frozen-in-time’ alleyways, and the narrow lane truly demonstrated the phone’s remarkable dynamic range. Even in wide-angle shots, we saw the contrast remains clean without introducing noise or grain.

The exterior of the cafe with its yellow accent walls stands out clearly against the backdrop of greenery and urban structures. Inside Vanila Miel, the contrast capabilities become even more apparent.

The cafe’s interiors were a challenging subject to capture with its dark wooden furniture and spotlight illumination. The Find X8 Pro maintained a perfect balance and the output was neither too harsh nor artificially washed out.

Details

Close-up food photography can challenge even dedicated cameras, but the smartphone handled our platter with remarkable precision. The texture of the falafel, the glistening olive oil pooling in the hummus, and the char marks on the grilled bread all appear with stunning clarity. You can practically taste the dish through the image (or maybe it’s just us!).

Our feline encounter along the way also provided another perfect test subject. The camera captured individual strands of the tabby cat’s fur with great definition, from the darker stripes to its lighter undercoat. The output also revealed the curious expression and depth in the cat’s gaze, giving the image a sense of personality that many cameras might miss.

Next up, the double-walled glass with its coffee contents remains in perfect focus while the background effortlessly blurs away. There’s no awkward edge detection or artificial-looking bokeh here – just a natural depth effect that draws attention to the subject without looking processed, or worse, fake.

Low-light performance

Photographing at a restaurant or cafe inevitably highlights a camera’s low-light capabilities at best. The Oppo Find X8 Pro demonstrates both strengths and limitations in challenging lighting conditions.

Our visit to Steps Cafe after sunset revealed impressive night photography potential – the camera captured the warm ambience of the illuminated pink facade while maintaining detail in both the greenery and architectural elements minus the excessive noise.

ALSO READ: Oppo Find X8 vs Find X7: What’s different

Inside Greenr, the camera faced tougher challenges. The cafe’s cosy, dimly lit interior with its textured concrete walls and wooden furniture certainly pushed the Find X8 Pro’s sensor to its limits.

While the camera preserved the rough texture of the walls and the overall atmospheric feel, some nuance in the wooden furniture was lost. The darker wood tones began to blend together, losing some of the material’s natural character and grain definition that would be visible in better lighting.

We found a ‘pink bakery’ stop at Crumblet which highlighted another aspect of low-light performance. The camera visibly altered the building’s colour rendering under artificial lighting, shifting the pink tones noticeably from what we saw in person. That said, despite this shift, the phone successfully captured my friend’s features without blur, maintaining a good exposure balance between the bright interior background and the foreground subject.

Unboxed take: Should you buy the Oppo Find X8 Pro for its cameras?

After spending a day capturing Bandra’s hidden gems, one thing is crystal clear: the Oppo Find X8 Pro takes smartphone photography seriously – and the rather inconspicuous camera shutter button on the right is what proves this claim!

The Hasselblad partnership, too, delivers tangible benefits rather than just badge value. From natural colours and modes to the impressive dynamic range, this camera setup does produce enviable results. In fact, whether it is capturing vibrant street scenes, moody cafe interiors, or intricate food details, the quad-camera setup consistently impressed us.

That said, a price tag of Rs 99,990 undeniably makes the Find X8 Pro a premium purchase. Photography enthusiasts will find plenty to love, but there’s plenty more to consider when you’re looking at the complete package.

Check out our complete review for a deep dive into everything the Find X8 Pro offers beyond its photographic talents. Also, stay tuned to Unboxed by Croma for more such in-depth reviews and comparisons.