The realme 8 Pro has something of Toyota Supra. It looks like a bit of plastic. But somehow the outgoing design is cool too, and there’s plenty of power under the hood, in this case with the camera. You can read here how to get the most out of the 108 megapixels of the realme 8 Pro.
Content of this instructional article:
- Are 108 megapixels good for smartphones?
- realme 8 Pro: Photography tips and tricks
- realme 8 Pro: tips and tricks for videographers
Before we start, a note: together with realme, we have started a reading test. Five members of the NextPit community have the opportunity to test the realme 8 Pro and report on their experiences on the forum. The two links below will take you to the reading tests on the realme subforum on NextPit and to our test report.
Daftar Isi
Are 108 megapixels good for smartphones?
108 megapixels! After tech bloggers and journalists of this world wrote and blogged quite successfully against megapixel inflation for about a decade, the dam was broken in 2019. Samsung has passed the 100 mark with its HM series of Isocell sensors designed to smartphones, and it’s here to stay.
Justly.
However, what is special about the sensors is not the incredible number of pixels. Rather, it is the format that makes CMOS chips exciting. Ranging in size between 1/1.53-inch and 1/1.33-inch, the image sensors are huge by smartphone standards.
Image Sensor Size Examples
| Format | resolution | pixel size | sensor surface | Camera / smartphone (example) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1/1.9 inch |
12 megapixels | 1.4 microns | 34.9mmtwo | iPhone 12 ProMax |
| 1/1.53 inch | 108 megapixels | 0.7 micron | 53.2mmtwo | realme 8 pro |
| 1.0 in | 20 megapixels | 2.4 microns | 116mmtwo |
Canon PowerShot G7X Mark III |
Due to the high resolution, the realme 8 Pro has the smallest pixels of the previous examples. However, the realme 8 Pro combines the comparatively small 0.7-micron pixels into a larger 12 million pixels in standard operation thanks to cell-less binning. The pixel size is thus increased to 2.1 µm.
Of course: sensor size and pixels are not everything: other important factors for image quality are the lens and, above all, the image processing algorithms. If you want to know more about smartphone sensors and cameras, continue reading the following articles. Here are the practical tips for the realme 8 Pro!
photo mode
Shoot with 108 megapixels
The realme 8 Pro has the aforementioned 108 megapixels, but no optical zoom. The combination of a large image sensor and high resolution still leaves plenty of room for digital magnification. If you want to photograph distant objects, here you have two options:
- Their photographed in 12 megapixel mode the camera app and digitally enlarges the image. After the 108-megapixel sensor has a good resolution reserve, image quality is still quite good at moderate digital zoom. Unlike the second option, you also immediately have a photo that you can share.
- Their photographed in 108 megapixel mode and then crop the image. The downside is that you don’t have a finished image immediately after taking it. But you can also write later about the angle of view, from “far” to “near”. Photographed with digital zoom, this is no longer possible. However, flexibility also costs storage space: a single 108-megapixel image consumes between 20 and 40 MB.
Photos with 108 megapixels leave plenty of room for cropping later. The price for this, however, is a higher memory requirement. / © NextPit
Portrait photos with the realme 8 Pro
Like most smartphones, the realme 8 Pro has a dedicated portrait mode that softens the background beautifully. In my opinion, the most important thing for portraits is good light. Make sure your subject is bright enough, but more importantly in soft or indirect light.
There are only a few seconds between the two photos. The only difference is a cloud that had moved in front of the sun on the right. This makes the light “indirect” and significantly softer. Harsh shadows disappear, along with wrinkles, and skin tones appear softer. Also, the model looks less pinched in the light. / © NextPit
So how do you find soft light for a successful portrait?
- When the sky is cloudy, the light is always soft, see above. The same applies to sunrise and sunset, with the color of light being particularly suitable for portraits.
- When the sun is shining, find a shady spot for your model and something that will reflect the sunlight onto your subject, like a white house wall. Professionals use portable collapsible reflectors here, a (thin) white umbrella is also suitable as a diffuser or reflector.
- For building portraits, look for a spot by the window, of course without direct sunlight on your model. Experiments with different directions of light, ie looking directly at the window, window to the side.
- Even in the dark, there is often a beautiful, soft light. Anything with a lot of surface area works well, like larger neon signs. The smaller the light source, the more intense the light. Unfortunately, this also applies to the photo LED on your smartphone.
Image composition for portraits is also important. Don’t place your model directly in the middle of the image like you would a passport photo, but instead move it a bit to the left or right.
Such a bird: Place your motif on an imaginary third grid to make the image more interesting. With the realme 8 Pro you can show guides for this. Important: Let the motif “look in the picture”. It looks strange when a person stands on the right side of the image and looks to the right. / © NextPit
One last note: It is always better to take portrait photos with the realme 8 Pro a little “too far” than too close. You can easily crop the images afterwards. With the increased distance and subsequent crop, it reduces the slightly fisheye effect of the wide-angle lens, making your subject look more advantageous. Unfortunately, the realme 8 Pro does not have a telephoto lens for portrait photos.
Special effects for portrait photos
In addition to the bokeh effect described above, the realme 8 Pro also offers a range of filters for portrait photos. There are the usual suspects with sepia, black and white, and company, but also three more unusual modes.
The realme 8 Pro invites you to experiment with its effects. / © NextPit
When using the “dynamic portrait” mode, the realme 8 Pro gives the background a classic panorama-style motion blur. In the case of the above reason, this makes little sense; however, I found it best to take the same photo four times for comparison. For example, an image idea would be to photograph someone sitting on a bicycle: the blurred background would simulate movement.
With AI Color Portrait, the realme 8 Pro keeps you appearing in full color while desaturating the background. In scenes with low color contrast, this ensures a clear contrast with the background, as is the case with the motif chosen here.
Finally, Neon Portrait transforms the points of light in the image into large bokeh circles. This ensures a familiar aesthetic of extremely fast lenses with high contrast motifs, hence the name neon portrait. Whether it’s neon signs, fairy lights, or a skyline, this mode offers exciting results for portrait shots with high-contrast points of light in the background.
Star Mode: For clear nights
The first balmy nights are just around the corner and offer the opportunity to experiment with star mode. If the hidden program in the camera app under the “More” tab is activated, the realme 8 Pro exposes the sky for almost five minutes. Ideally, you should put the smartphone on a tripod, or at least prop it up against something stable.
While passing clouds smoothly blur, realme 8 Pro calculates the rotation of the earth from the movement of stars in star mode and renders celestial bodies without blurring them around the axis of rotation of the earth. / © NextPit
Unfortunately, I had a problem with the timing of the article for the photo above: The photo was taken when the moon was almost 90 percent visible, clearly dwarfing the stars. If you want to try astrophotography with the realme 8 Pro, you should first take a look at the lunar calendar and ideally shoot at the new moon, which is when the stars are most visible.
video mode
Basically, of course, you can also use some of the above photography tips for video mode, especially regarding light and image composition. However, the realme 8 Pro also has some cool additional features that encourage creative videos.
Slow motion – get creative!
The realme 8 Pro manages slow-motion videos up to 960fps at 1280 x 720 pixels. However, at full frame rate, recording time is limited to a fraction of a second, making synchronization difficult. In any case, there is plenty of room for creativity:
Option 1: Be patient
I shot this scene about ten times. And in the end, the first attempt was actually the best – see above. The biggest challenge was finding the right moment between pressing the shutter button and dropping the phone. Also, it looks silly when the smartphone rotates while falling.
Option 2: release help
For other reasons, for example if you jump across the image with a skateboard, the release assist is a good idea. If you activate this, the realme 8 Pro shows a small square on the image. As soon as a movement is detected there, slow-motion recording is activated and the kickflip attempt is reliably recorded.
Application example: As soon as a movement or a bird is detected in the frame, realme 8 Pro starts recording in slow motion. / © NextPit
Option 3: Low resolution/fps
Of course, you can also simply reduce the resolution or frame rate to increase the recording time. However, the “faster” the videos become, the less extraordinary the effect is. If you can get the timing right, options 1 and 2 are definitely more appealing.
Tilt and Shift – make the world small
It was a Telekom ad a good ten years ago that made the so-called “tilt-shift effect” popular. Outrageously expensive special lenses, in which the optical system can be tilted and shifted relative to the level of the sensor, give the effect its name, for example to prevent dropped lines in architectural photography.
At the same time, with such lenses it is also possible to tilt the plane of focus. This means that even large subjects can be selectively focused, ie blurred foreground and background. Combined with a time-lapse effect, particularly busy scenes look like a model-building world.
The realme 8 Pro now offers such a mode, which is achieved not by moving lens groups, but by software tricks. You can find the “Timeline” recording schedule under “More” in the camera app.
After the realme 8 Pro recorded here with a ten times longer time lapse, the ideal is to use a tripod. Also, the effect works best when shooting a scene from above; preferably pointing down at an angle of about 45 degrees.
This item is part of a cooperation with realme. The manufacturer has no influence on the editorial content and opinions of NextPit.de.