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Hello Community...
I am Bouncer71 from Mannheim/Germany. Average guy and hobby photographer.
Until one and a half years ago I didn't even take smartphone photography seriously. Just used it for some occasional clicks on Facebook or for reminders. Then I joined the OnePlus community.
One day I found the "
Guess the Pic" Thread , only photos shot with a OnePlus device were allowed. I found out that my OP3 actually shoots pretty detailed photos. From there on I experimented a lot, joined the Shot on OnePlus Monthlys and saw amazing photos of other contributors. That pushed me even more to explore the possibilities. I wrote a couple of tutorials about my findings. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera..
A lot more happened and somehow everthing I did the time spent in this community leaded me to this unbelievable experience...
Disclaimer: All views expressed in this diary are my own and do not represent the opinion of any other entity whatsoever...
All photos are compressed to <2 MB, at 100% JPG quality, with Adobe Lightroom CC ™, without any further edits (except RAW Files). The quality will also to vary due different software versions of the camera app.
I want to thank OnePlus,
@Crystal Z. and
@David Y. so much for giving me the honor participating in this project and all the amazing OnePlus community friends which supported me so much since I joined...!
Gonna tag you when I'm done with this diary.. ;D
Plus I want to thank my lovely wife for encouraging me throughout this project, giving great hints for spots to visit and pointing out some worthy scenes..
Love you lots...!
So here goes my story...
Stay with me, this isn't gonna be short... ;D
February 18th - March 10th
Who? Me?
Surprisingly Crystal contacted me mid February, asking if I would be interested in being part of an photography experiment and that some moderators recommended me.
I don't know who they are but also thank you guys and gals a lot and a big shout out.. 8D
Well, obviously I stated my interest, send in some sample photos and after about three weeks of emails things got serious. Three Day after I signed the NDA I had a prototype in my hands...
March, 11th - March, 23th
The adventure begins
I have to say that again...
A Prototype.
Made me a little nervous, I admit... ;D
It came in a simple package, without a charge or cable and had the bulkiest case on I've ever seen.
Black hard plastic hiding almost ever design aspects.
So I can't say much about the looks. Only that this thing has a huge screen with curved sides and rounded edges, a big speaker at the top and a popup front camera that was only visible through a small hole in the case. The body is blueish...
"About Phone" only revealed that it was the 12 GB/264GB version. CPU, Camera and Screen were labeled "none"...
By now you know all the specs and the design.
I was totally exited to get out there to try that cameras with Zoom and Wide-Angle.
Guess what?
Weather was aweful...
Cold, stormy, rainy and dark clouds... 8P
I wanted to anyways, not only because I never used Nightscape, Portrait-Mode or to see how the Zoom performs..
So I planed to go for sunset and Nightscape the next day hoping that it wouldn't rain at least..
But first I setup my fingerprints to save me from typing in that long preset Password everytime. The onscreen FPS worked good, accurate and fast. Almost as fast as the OP3T scanner, so a good compromize to have it on back on the front.
Then configured Face-Unlock...
Uhoh...
That was fast and I didn´t hear a sound. Turned the music down and then I heard it...
Bzz... Bzz...
Hehe... How cool is that... ? 8D
It's like a secret hidden feature that sure will draw the attention of people around.
In the meantime Crystal invited me to a group chat with David for further communication. That's where I also met optical. A nice and really polite guy, sympathetic right from the start and as exited as I was.
Crystal and David gave us some more insides and infos about Guacamole. One of my favorite dips, so a perfectly chosen Codename ... 8D
We were asked to submit 100+ photos, from a photographers perspective ( as if I would know

) by end of May, and offerd the possibility to write an diary about our experience as you see. Not every picture in this diary was submitted and not all of the provided will be included..
Next day, after working my regular job I arrived at the location 30 minutes before sunset.
A pedestrian bridge over the river Rhine with a view to a powerplant of which I thought would be a good scene for a first test.
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As you see it wasn't much of a sunset. Just a blueish gray cloudy mess.
Maybe in the dark it would be better. So I went for our weekly Pool Billard Meetup and returned later on for the night shoot...
Nightscape:
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HDR:
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Wasn't as bad but not really satisfying. Would be returning another time and also go for other night locations.. optical and me agreed that it would probably be solved with an update...
The following day I had a day off and went downtown Mannheim for some test shooting. Trying to get comfy with Zoom, Wide-angle and Portrait-Mode. The weather wasn't a lot better, but boy was I in for a surprise. 8D
Since I don't have a Rolodex full of Models I'd be shooting portraits of Statues.
I don't even have a Rolodex... 8P
Portrait-Mode:
Got me right away.
Great edge detection, stunning clarity of the subject and a subtle Bokeh to still make out what's in the background.
Normal:
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Portrait Mode:
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Blumepeter, Local Mascot
It's so easy to use that I have to look out not to overuse it...;D
Point the camera at the subject, the "depth effect" sign will go green when ready. If it doesn't work change the position/distance just a bit and there you go.
Wide-Angle:
Great to get more of the scene into the picture but also to have another perspective than just stepping back a few meters. The cool thing is that the software automatically corrects the wide-angle lens distortion. But it can be turned off in the camera settings if you want to keep it.
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Christuskirche
3x optical Zoom:
Great clarity and details.
It lets you keep the perspectiv and what just getting closer won't offer..
About 2 meters away.
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Same distance at 3x zoom:
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Close up without zoom:
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Wasserturm, Friedensplatz
So it all depends on what your´re going for because distance to the subject changes everything...
That´s why I love my 30x Travel Zoom Camera. It gives so many posibilities and now we have some of those on this Phone...!
Main Camera:
Almost forgot it cause I was really fascinated by the new posibilities... It is a real performer. Crisp, clear and I totaly like the natural color reproduction.
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Shooting Raw ISO 100, 30 sec. exposure.
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Vogelstangsee
So I already liked the cameras in a lot of aspects and was eager to see how it. will develop over time.
Click to expand...