Oppo Sets Up Camera Lab in Hyderabad; What It Means To Indian Consumers

| Updated: Monday, August 16, 2021, 18:12 [IST]

Oppo's future smartphones in India might bring some major camera enhancements. The tech giant has set up a specialized lab for 'Camera Innovation' at its Hyderabad R&D centre that will work towards developing new solutions for video and still photography. The camera experts will also research on Full Dimension Fusion (FDF) Portrait Video System technology and will develop localized features, camera solutions using AI and new imaging software for the future Oppo smartphones.

Oppo’s New Camera Lab Aims To Improve Photography Experience

The focus will not just be on still photography but also innovative solutions to improve the videography capabilities of Oppo handsets, and eventually OnePlus and Realme devices since both brands come under the Oppo umbrella.

For instance, the current generation Reno-series handsets feature AI Highlight video mode that when enabled applies tailored algorithms to improve brightness, color vibrancy and clarity in poorly lit scenes. During our testing, we found that the AI highlight mode on the current Oppo Reno-series handsets deliver average results and need more adjustments. The bokeh video mode and the still photography mode also needs some more software adjustments to capture better pictures.

The camera lab Oppo has set up might bring some significant improvements to the particular mode along with other specialized modes on the Oppo handsets.

Oppo also mentioned that the Indian team will also be leading innovations for other countries, including Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Japan, and Europe.

What The Oppo Camera Lab Means To Photographers In India

Since the camera lab will focus on developing localized features, we can expect the future Oppo handsets to bring India-centric camera features, which can be new modes and filters tuned for the Indian skin tones.

The team will work on AI facial reconstruction technology to enhance the application of beauty solutions. We just hope that Oppo doesn't go too loud with the skin smoothening algorithms as that can lead to unnatural selfies and portraits.

Importantly, the camera experts at Oppo might consider the lighting conditions in India to improve the camera sensor's focusing speed, shutter lag and other important parameters such as white balance, HDR performance, etc.

Artificial Test Environments

As per Oppo, the camera lab will have state-of-the-art equipment to tune and generate a much realistic dataset and provide advanced quality imaging and video shooting experience. Camera experts will test phone cameras in different artificially set scenes to analyze data produced from those samples.

We had a chance to visit one of Oppo's camera labs in China where we learnt about the process the tech giant applies to its camera devices. We got a chance to have a first-hand experience of Oppo's specialized machines that test camera sensors' performance under different light sources, with different photography/videography scenarios.

Better Camera Optimizations

The machines and the processes are aimed at bringing more optimizations to the camera technology, something Oppo devices need to deliver a better photography experience.

Reno6 And Reno6 Pro- Innovative AI Video Features

We are currently testing the Reno6 handset that comes equipped with triple-lens camera hardware comprising a 64MP primary camera, an 8MP ultra-wide lens, and a 2MP macro camera.

On the software side, the Reno6 offers AI-enabled features such as Bokeh Flare Portrait Video, AI Highlight Video, Dual-Video mode, Movie mode, etc. These features can come in handy to shoot some creative videos with high-end DSLR camera-grade effects.

We will soon bring our comprehensive review of the handset to throw more light on the camera performance.