Tried and Tested : The Parallel Dual Lens of Honor 6 Plus

Since the announcement of Honor 6 Plus, the company has been putting stress on the one-of-a-kind dual lens camera of the device. The Chinese smartphone brand called it a competitor of iPhone 6 and even claimed that it is better than the latest iPhone in various camera aspects.

The rear shooter on the Honor 6 Plus is an 8MP bionic parallel dual lens, which offers users an advanced camera experience. Honor claims this innovative camera lets you capture DSLR quality images. It also allows users to refocus images after the shot is taken. The focus time on the camera is claimed to be just 0.1 seconds, which means you won’t ever have a lost moment.

The Camera Interface :

The camera interface of the Honor 6 Plus is fairly simplistic. You can conjure up the camera just by hitting the volume key twice from the lock screen and it will bring up the interface within 1.3 seconds. You can switch between Photo, Video and Wide aperture mode here. The various picture modes are present next to the shutter button on the right side.

The camera interface doesn’t offer a lot of manual options to the user. You can set the ISO and the white balance, but that’s about it. The device though offers excellent object tracking feature that keeps the object you want to click in sharp focus but unfortunately this feature is not available for video where it could have been more useful.

Here are a few camera samples of the different modes to give you a better idea of its performance:

Photo Modes:

No doubt, the camera of Honor 6 Plus functions brilliantly in normal mode and takes shots in fine detail. It captures true colours of the subject with minimal noise. The other modes offered by Honor 6 Plus include Childhood, Illusion, Halo Effect, Nostalgia and few more. True to their names, each of the modes give the image a new look by adjusting the colour tone. You probably won’t need any Instagram filters with this camera.

Wide Aperture Shot:

The Wide aperture mode creates an artificial bokeh effect. The depth can be adjusted manually with the help of slider provided in the camera app. The aperture can be adjusted from f/0.96 to f/16. By moving the slider, you can see the change in the depth of field and adjust it as you please.

HDR:

The HDR mode is productive in high contrast light environments. The colors get more saturated and sharpness increases.

Super Night Mode:

Super Night Mode

The super night mode is basically a slow shutter shot and won’t be useful for people with shaky hands. When the shutter button is clicked in super night mode, a countdown starts. The duration of the countdown depends upon the amount of light you have in your vicinity.

So when we took the above shot with the wood block in an almost dark room, it took about 25 seconds to click the image. With a fair amount of lighting, the counter comes down to 3-7 seconds. To get the best out of this feature you need to invest in a tripod or find a stable surface to keep the phone.

Video:

Honor 6 Plus does allow you to tap for focus while shooting videos. This feature will come really handy for folks who want to focus on a particular part of the frame. But every time you tap to focus, there is a visible jerk in the video. So it is advisable to use this feature sparingly.

Conclusion:

Overall, the camera is undoubtedly good. The 8MP dual parallel lens camera shows promise, but it is a slight bit low on software support. Honor should work towards adding more manual features to this camera. The company should also add features like slow motion and time-lapse to let it take on the top-end devices. Honor can also allow users to take 3D images through its dual lens camera which will be appreciated by the consumers. Honor 6 Plus is a great all round device and its unique camera will attract customers towards itself, all it needs is a few software upgrades to become their primary shooter.