Honor 9 Lite Camera Review with Samples

Strong selfie camera and plenty of shooting modesMediocre low-light performanceBoth the front and rear cameras on the Honor 9 Lite are dual-lens setups consisting of one 13MP and one 2MP sensor. While the front camera has a wider aperture, to help with those low-light selfies, the rear camera has more shooting modes.The selfie camera is a lot of fun.

Thanks to the fact that you have two cameras you can blur out backgrounds and keep yourself and anyone else in the foreground sharp and as the camera packs Huaweis time-honoured Aperture mode, the background defocus can be adjusted after you take a shot, giving you maximum control over the degree of blur. This works well, especially in well-lit medium-contrast environments. For low-light scenes, meanwhile, the Honor 9 Lites screen flash saves the day, provided youre no more than an arms length away from the phone; any further and youll be a murky blob of nondescript grain.

The same is true if you opt to keep the flash off in low-light and high-contrast situations shots have noticeable grain and middling-to-low dynamic range. Shooting modes on the front camera include panorama, time-lapse and filter, the latter overlaying Instagram-esque effects on your shots. It can also shoot Full HD video, again putting it on a par with the rear camera.

We would normally expect more from a rear camera than from a front one, and this is where the Honor 9 Lite may disappoint more discerning photographers. Photos and videos from both cameras pack similar amounts of grain across lighting conditions.The dynamic range in high-contrast images shot on the rear camera is poor, in dark areas in particular, with no auto HDR kicking in.

And even when HDR is enabled theres visible grain even in decent light, although HDR mode is more sympathetic to the tonal nuances of a scene than auto, so wed recommend keeping it in mind. For any enthusiasts, the low-light performance isnt a deal-breaker, as Honor offers a range of modes that extend the shutter speed to up to eight seconds. Even with its mediocre sensor, by dropping the ISO and putting the phone on a surface or mobile tripod you can still get some stunning shots, and even a light painting or two.

Full HD video is recorded at 30 frames per second, but theres no slow-motion option available. There are also full manual modes across photo and video, plus HDR, panorama, light painting, time-lapse and more.So while the Honor 9 Lite isnt the best camera for the price the Moto G5 Plusedges ahead in plain automatic mode for enthusiasts its a great choice, with more shooting modes than the competition