Recently, Xiaomi launched its dual camera phone Xiaomi Mi A1 in India. This phone is notable not just because of its dual camera but also for being Android One Phone. In this article, I will be talking about it camera in detail.
Also see: Best back Xiaomi Mi A1 covers and cases
Xiaomi Mi A1 Camera Review
Before I go into the performance, take a look at its camera specs. The phone has dual camera setup with two 12 megapixel camera sensors. One is with f/2.2 aperture wide-angle lens and the second one is a telephoto lens with a f/2.6 aperture. It also claims to offer up to 2X optical zoom and 10x digital zoom. The camera also has dual LED flash for low-light shots. At the front, it has 5 megapixels camera.
The camera app of the phone is easy to use and responsive. You can several camera effects to use in photos. There are also few modes to try. If you love manual photography, you have a manual mode. Most of the options are at the front to make it easier to understand how to use this camera.
Day Light Performance
Day Light performance of this phone is excellent. Photos are sharp and well balanced. Colors are also close to natural and images have good details. I captured several shots and it never disappointed me. You can check these samples and decide by yourself.
You also have the option to use lossless 2X zoom and it works really well. These are few shots to try.
HDR Mode of this phone works very well and you can clearly see the difference. I also expect to have auto HDR mode. See these two shots where One is without HDR and second is with HDR turned ON.
Portrait Mode
Portrait mode works same as it claims. If the light is proper, you get excellent portrait shots with the background blurred out. You can see these amazing portrait shots.
Indoor and Low-light performance
Indoor performance is fine if there is good light around. When it comes to low-light photography, it is average and depends on light. shots captured in the evening after sunset lacks details and color balance is also not very good. The 2X zoom in low-light provides no fruitful result.
When it is very low-light, you can try the flash. The color o the flashlight is not very natural, so objects lose colors. But I am still happy with results due to its low pricing. It is still better than its rivals at this price.
Front camera performance
Front camera performance is also good and it depends on the light. Even if you think it has just 5 MP camera, you will be satisfied with its performance. Not excellent, but good. You also have beauty mode option to try if you do not like natural you. The company could add the screen flash option to help in low-light.
Note: WordPress has used wrong orientation in gallery.
The company could add the screen flash option to help in low-light. So, you have no help when there is very low-light around.
Video recording
The rear camera can record up to 4K videos. The recording quality is good and it records nice colors. At this price, you cannot expect OIS but it also lacks EIS. So you will end up recording shaky videos. The autofocus on videos is also slow. Not so slow, but it could be better. So, this phone is not good for video recording. I hope to get the camera update for EIS. You can also record Time-lapse and slow-motion.
Final Words
Xiaomi Mi A1 is a good camera phone for the price of Rs. 15000. While the low-light experience is average, it has an excellent experience when the light is good. It captures better Portraits than other dual camera phones at this price. Selfie experience is also good. Lack of EIS is another disappointment, so video recording experience is not as good.
Xiaomi is projecting it as a camera phone, but I am not agree to that due to lack of stabilization in videos and average low-light photos.
What do you guys think about Xiaomi Mi A1? Let us know your views about this phone in the comments.
