Here's how OnePlus plans to improve videography on its phones in 2020

OnePlus regularly organizes “Open Ear Forums” where the company takes in feedback and feature requests for its phones. In December, OnePlus hosted the event in New York and invited comments from professional mobile photographers as well as novice users on how to improve videography on its devices. The company has now published its own comments based on questions it received during the New York meetup.

Exposure, color, and white balance levels

Users complained that the current triple cameras of the OnePlus 7 Pro, OnePlus 7T, and OnePlus 7T Pro do not have consistent exposure, color, and white balance levels. OnePlus says that it’s tuning all its cameras to deliver identical exposure and white balance. As per the company, it is their “first priority and main goal.” In our OnePlus 7T Pro review, we noted that the telephoto lens casts a strange tone across images. Hopefully, OnePlus’ future smartphones won’t have the same issue.

Auto focus consistency

Multiple users on OnePlus’ forums have had issues with auto focus on the latest OnePlus 7 series. For some, auto focus simply does not work and the camera struggles to focus on subjects. However, OnePlus was not able to recreate the issue in its labs. The smartphone maker says an upgrade to both hardware and software for auto focus will come in 2020. Maybe OnePlus can take a cue from the likes of Google, Apple and Samsung to implement Dual Pixel PDAF which its phones currently lack.

Skin tone consistency

OnePlus has acknowledged that its phones have a problem with capturing skin tones accurately. Users have previously expressed that the cameras on the OnePlus 7 and 7 Pro overly saturate skin tones. Some have even complained of reddish and yellowish skin tones. We also noticed over softening of the skin in our OnePlus 7 Pro camera review.

OnePlus says fixing the issue is its top priority and that it’ll improve via future system updates.

Sharpness

While noise is not so much of a problem, softening is very apparent in low light shooting on devices like the OnePlus 7 Pro. Even on the OnePlus 7T Pro, softness is noticeable in shots taken with the 3x telephoto camera. OnePlus says it is trying to find a new balance between sharpness and noise. This probably means that the company is trying to find a way of not losing image sharpness while implementing noise reduction.

4K video recording

Currently, OnePlus does not support Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) for 4K videos at 60fps. Also, the Super Steady mode on the OnePlus 7T and 7T Pro does not support 4K resolution and is limited to 1080p. OnePlus says its future phones will overcome hardware limitations to bring super stabilization to 4K videos.

Further, OnePlus says that the the five minute time limit on 4K 60fps videos will remain unchanged. “Having considered overall performance and temperature, we will not change current limit,” OnePlus wrote in its forum post.

Lens feature-parity

OnePlus users demand that all three lenses on its triple camera setup should support 1080P and 4K. This will give users the flexibility of switching cameras while recording videos. OnePlus says that its current phones have hardware limitations and will not be able to support this feature. The company, however, is hoping to make it possible on future phones.

Dynamic Range

Users say dynamic range is a problem with OnePlus phones. In our testing, devices like the OnePlus 7 Pro and 7T Pro exhibited poor dynamic range in low light conditions. OnePlus says it’s working on video HDR to resolve the issue. While we’ve seen HDR implementation for photos for some time now, video HDR should hopefully help improve dynamic range problems on OnePlus’ phones to some extent.

Faster camera

OnePlus says that another primary goal it has for the year is to have a faster camera. According to the brand, “Faster shutter requires updates from system, application, as well as the animation.” OnePlus promises it will improve this via regular updates throughout the year.

Video editing

OnePlus is planning on updating its Gallery app’s video tools. The company is expected to add multiple new video editing features in the future. For color grading options, OnePlus says it will announce something soon.

Some users also requested a Pro mode for video recording. However, OnePlus is putting it on the back burner for now in order to first improve default video quality and user experience.

Night mode for night video

Another interesting demand from OnePlus users was that of a night mode for shooting videos. OnePlus does offer Nightscape for photos but there’s no such option for video recording just yet. The company says it’s researching and already working on creating a night mode for videos as well.

Other improvements

Besides the above mentioned photography and videography improvements, OnePlus also talked about some smaller fixes coming in 2020. For instance, it is working on de-flickering solutions to reduce light flicker. It is also discussing solutions with its design team for improving single handed use of the camera app.

What are your thoughts on all the camera solutions OnePlus is planning to implement in 2020? Do you have a wishlist for OnePlus phones coming this year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.