The Huawei P10 Plus might not be the first thing to pop into your mind when you’re looking for a new phone, but it should be.
In what is probably the most underrated phone of 2017, the Huawei P10 Plus is stealthily capturing the hearts of mobile photography enthusiasts.
The smartphone features a camera that was co-engineered with famed German camera manufacturer Leica, and as we learned in our review, is one of the best mobile cameras in the market today.
As great as it is, the average user might not be fully aware of what the optics inside the P10 Plus is actually capable of.
Meeting Richard Chen, Professional Fashion And Commercial Photographer And Huawei P10 User
What better way to showcase the Huawei P10 Plus’s extensive capabilities than to put it in the hands of a professional photographer?
In a closed-door masterclass at the Leica Store in The Fullerton Hotel, we got to meet up with Singaporean photographer Richard Chen.
Together with members of tech and lifestyle media, Huawei invited us over to not just revisit the P10 Plus, but to also unlock its full potential with the help of a true professional.
With over a decade of professional experience in fashion, commercial and wedding photography, Richard definitely knows his equipment well, and that extends to his mobile phones as well.
Richard himself is a user of Leica cameras (for his professional work), and of Huawei phones since the P8.
Today, his smartphone of choice is the P10 Plus.
During the session, Richard shared with us his experience of using the Huawei P10 Plus during his travels in Australia and Hong Kong, as well as for shoots inside his studio.
He started off with side-by-side comparisons of photos taken by both his Huawei P10 Plus and his professional camera equipment.
Indeed, for most of the attendees, they weren’t able to tell the difference between the photos.
Even Richard himself got confused for a moment!
As Richard put it, as long as his mobile camera is able to capture 80-90% of the quality his professional equipment delivers, he would deem it good enough.
For him, his phone used to be solely for documenting – be it for studio setups, or just everyday scenes.
Ever since he switched to the P10 Plus however, he had been using it extensively in and out of the studio, even when away from work.
He attributes this to the ability of the phone to accurately reproduce the scenes he captures.
The Huawei P10 Plus was able to capture the minutest details, from the almost true-to-life colours, to the film-inspired effect that lends photos character through small details like film noise.
Finally, we had another bit of spot-the-difference. This time, the P10 Plus was pitted against a fellow high-end Android device, the Samsung S8+.
Personal preferences aside, photos from the P10 Plus appeared more pleasing to the eye even before Richard revealed which ones were taken by it.
In fact, the P10 Plus garnered more votes in blind poll, compared to the photos taken by the other smartphone.
Unknowingly, attendees were in fact attracted to the qualities exhibited by the P10 Plus.
Among qualities mentioned about the images were the pleasant nature of out of focus backgrounds (or bokeh), a more realistic rendering of colour, and all-around the ability to capture the scene faithful to what the human eye sees.
Afterwards, we had some practical lessons with Richard, as he demonstrated features he used whilst taking the images presented.
Firstly, using the Leica cameras on display as subjects, he showed us the P10 Plus’ aperture control feature, as well as the different modes and filters available.
With a tripod, Richard then showed off the P10 Plus’ often-forgotten light painting mode which allows the taking of stunning shots of light trails without needing to manually adjust aperture or shutter speed.
As the assistant waved the light stick he had on hand, the camera on the phone captured it via long exposure, turning it into a single ribbon of colourful lights.
The masterclass rounded off with Richard showing attendees how users of the Huawei P10 Plus could take an almost professional looking portrait using solely the phone’s camera.
After taking the shot, he explained the different post-processing methods you could explore within the camera app.
What’s interesting to note is that although a photo was taken at a certain aperture, you can still adjust it afterwards until you get the desired blurred out effect.
Huawei Brings A Leica Into Your Pocket
But don’t just take our word for it.
The Huawei P10 Plus has received positive reviews across the board from reviewers across the world – just look it up on YouTube.
For us, we were impressed with the camera quality when we first got our hands on the phone, and we are still enjoying it.
The session with Richard only served to open us up to the more creative possibilities the P10 Plus is capable of.
Here’s a handy infographic that Huawei has provided us with to recap the jaw-dropping tech that goes into each P10 Plus.
No corners were cut, and no stones were left unturned. The moment you hold one in your hands, it screams quality inside and out.
If you value image quality in the convenient form factor of a smartphone, there’s no reason why the Huawei P10 Plus shouldn’t be considered.
In this social media age, a powerful camera in your smartphone becomes ever more a must-have.
The Huawei P10 Plus is as good as (or even better) than the competition out there, and is perhaps the only one in the market that is truly photography-centric.
This article is written in collaboration with Huawei Singapore. Check out the P10 and P10 Plus over at their website.
