The Pro cameraphone comparison: Honor vs Oppo vs Vivo

Video recording, daylight

The three phones have very similar video recording capabilities, all of them being able to record up to 4K120 with the main and telephoto cameras and 4K60 with the ultrawide and the selfie cameras. The vivo stands out with an 8K30 capability on the main camera, but that's more for bragging rights than a truly useful feature. All three can also record in 4K24, though it's more straightforward on the Oppo and the vivo (you get it on all cameras, just go into Pro mode), while the Honor requires you to shoot in Log format and only at 1x and 2x zoom.

The Oppo and the vivo also support Dolby Vision capture in all quality settings (except 8K on the vivo), while the Honor only does HDR Vivid (and 'only' up to 4K60).

Video quality, daylight

Looking at some freeze frames from the ultrawide cameras, we can see what's practically identical results from the Oppo and the vivo, with decent detail, wide dynamic range and vibrant color output. The Honor's take on the scene is notably punchier, and not as sharp - but then again, it's significantly wider, which can be an advantage in itself.

Daylight video, ultrawide cameras: Honor Magic8 Pro • Oppo Find X9 Pro • vivo X300 Pro

Main camera results follow the same pattern. The Find X9 Pro and the vivo X300 Pro look very similar and have great global properties, with detail being more like good at 1x zoom and pretty sketchy at 2x. Next to them, the Honor stands out with its slightly excessive saturation and is a little softer than the other two at 1x, but more or less on par at 2x.

Daylight video, main cameras, 1x: Honor Magic8 Pro • Oppo Find X9 Pro • vivo X300 Pro

Daylight video, main cameras, 2x: Honor Magic8 Pro • Oppo Find X9 Pro • vivo X300 Pro

Comparing the telephotos at their native focal lengths, we can see that the Magic8 Pro actually has an advantage in sharpness and fine detail. It also maintains its over-the-top color rendition, which is probably a good thing if you have to match footage from the three cameras, though it wouldn't hurt for it all to be a bit less punchy. The Oppo's sharpness is quite good too, while the vivo is more in the alright category. If you were to zoom in further, the Honor remains ahead of the other two.

Daylight video, telephoto cameras: Honor Magic8 Pro (3.7x) • Oppo Find X9 Pro (3x) • vivo X300 Pro (3.5x)

Daylight video, telephoto cameras: Honor Magic8 Pro (7.4x) • Oppo Find X9 Pro (6x) • vivo X300 Pro (7x)

Video quality, low light

We'd have expected better low-light video quality at this level, but we're hardly impressed by these three. The ultrawide cameras' footage is hard to like, with both the Honor in particular, but also the vivo being soft and noisy, and only the Oppo putting out reasonably decent results.

Low-light video, ultrawide cameras: Honor Magic8 Pro • Oppo Find X9 Pro • vivo X300 Pro

Main camera clips are less bad, but hardly exciting either. The Find is probably the sharpest with the vivo coming in second and the Honor being the hardest to like. They all have good dynamic range, for what it's worth.

Low-light video, main cameras, 1x: Honor Magic8 Pro • Oppo Find X9 Pro • vivo X300 Pro

Similarly, low-light videos from the telephotos are usable without being truly great. The Oppo clips are the softest, while the Honor errs on the other side and remains sharper but quite noisy. The vivo is somewhere in the middle.

Low-light video, telephoto cameras: Honor Magic8 Pro (3.7x) • Oppo Find X9 Pro (3x) • vivo X300 Pro (3.5x)

You can check out the playlist below, which includes all the video samples which we used to grab the above frames.