OnePlus 15R review

Solid main camera, decent-ish ultrawide, telephoto is gone

The OnePlus 15R comes with a fairly mundane, midrange-grade camera system that is somewhat of a step down from the 13R's setup. This was also the case with the OnePlus 15 proper though, so it all makes sense, whether OnePlus fans like it or not.

The main camera is unchanged, so at least there's that. It wasn't too high-end to begin with, but a 50MP Sony 1/1.56" sensor can still pull its weight, so we won't be complaining about that one.

We're less excited about the ultrawide camera, even though it too appears to be carried over - 8MP just doesn't sound right anymore, not at this level. It's got a fixed-focus lens too, which is never a good thing.

But it's probably the omission of a telephoto camera that is the most significant downgrade - the 13R had one, but the 15R doesn't. Now, 2x zoom could probably be made to look decent from the main camera, admittedly, but we could have had a nicer telephoto a year later, instead of no telephoto.

For what it's worth, the selfie camera has been upgraded. It's now using a 32MP sensor in place of the 16MP one on the old model, so while neither would be great at its nominal resolution, this one should be better regardless. The addition of AF is most welcome too.

• Wide (main): 50MP Sony IMX 906 (1/1.56", 1.0µm-2.0µm); 24mm, f/1.8, OIS, multi-directional PDAF (9.5cm - ∞); 4K120 video recording.
• Ultrawide: 8MP OmniVision OV08D (alternatively Sony IMX355, 1/4.0", 1.12µm); 16mm, f/2.2, fixed focus; 1080p30.
• Front camera: 32MP OmniVision OV32C (alt. GalaxyCore GC32E2, but either way 1/3.14", 0.7µm-1.4µm); 21mm, f/2.0, PDAF; 4K30.

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

Main camera photos from the 15R are pretty awesome for its class. The high resolution 26MP mode kicked in both outdoors (consistently) and indoors (for at least some of our scenes) and it gave us nicely detailed images - admittedly, the outdoor ones were sharper, but interior shots also looked good, so long as you're not focusing on the dimmer areas too much. Noise performance is quite excellent too.

We also got reliable white balance and pleasing colors, and dynamic range was also great. For the relatively pedestrian hardware behind these images, they're essentially flawless.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

Their 50MP counterparts bring nothing to the table though.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 50MP

High-resolution portraits aren't half bad either - the 26MP Photo mode people shots capture plenty of facial detail. Skin tones look natural and lively too, but extreme contrast/sunlight returned questionable results. The Portrait mode images are easy to like - subject detection is good and the background blur isn't excessive.

Human subjects, main camera (1x): Photo mode • Portrait mode

2x zoom shots are alright too - you could say they're above average for a midranger, but the level of detail isn't near that of the proper flagships.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x)

As usual, the 2x zoom mode is better suited to portraiture than the 1x native zoom level thanks to the superior perspective and shooting distance. Somehow we seem to like pixel-level detail better in these than in the photos above, which isn't bad news if you like shooting people over... buildings.

Human subjects, main camera (2x): Photo mode • Portrait mode

Ultrawide camera

At this point, it's apparently not too difficult to have wide dynamic range and get the colors right even with an unassuming 8MP ultrawide, and that's indeed the case here. Detail is alright - we're not expecting miracles and we're not getting any, but it's good for what it is, and it's also better than the 13R's 8MP ultrawide. Still, a higher-res sensor would have produced higher-res shots, and if we're sacrificing the telephoto, we could have at least gotten a nicer ultrawide in return.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

Selfies

We're getting yet another edition of the 32MP selfie camera that's outputting images with too many pixels and not all that much pixel-level detail. That said, at sensible magnifications the photos look sharp, the autofocus allows for relatively good goofy closeups, and global properties like colors and dynamic range are pretty great.

Selfie samples

Low-light photo quality

Main camera

In the dark, the OnePlus 15R's main camera performs admirably. It exposes well, restores highlights nicely, and develops shadows without turning them into mush. Colors are good too - a touch muted, but still there. Detail is very good as well.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x)

At 2x zoom, it's more of an alright showing. The 15R maintains the colors and dynamic range of the main camera's native focal length output, but detail has a fair bit of that heavily sharpened digitally zoomed in quality.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x)

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera's nighttime photos are quite decent, in fact. They're surprisingly detailed and have a natural, if grainy, fine detail rendition - in the better lit scenes at least. Dynamic range and colors once again give little grounds for complaint.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

Video quality

The OnePlus 15R records video at up to 4K120 with its main camera, while the ultrawide is capped at 1080p30 (no 60fps mode). Selfie videos max out at 4K30 (no 60fps option either). There's no 24fps mode, and there's no Pro video mode, but there is a Movie mode, which locks you in 3840x1644px resolution (sort of 4K in a 21:9 aspect) at 30fps.

As usual, you can choose between the h.264 and h.265 codecs with the more efficient h.265 being the default. There's no HDR recording capability. Stabilization is always on in all quality settings, but it's got an additional UltraSteady tier of it that's optional and maxes out at 4K60.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

The 15R video quality in daylight is downright excellent from its main camera at 1x, offering a level of detail that few proper flagships can match. The 2x zoom level clips are meh (as on proper flagships, for that matter). The ultrawide's 1080p footage can be used in a pinch, but that's all.

OnePlus 15R, video screengrabs, daylight: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

In the dark, the main camera is still doing alright, particularly for the class, though you'd want to stick to 1x. The ultrawide's results are quite soft.

OnePlus 15R, video screengrabs, low light: 0.6x • 1x • 2x

What's well worthy of praise on the OnePlus 15R is its video stabilization. It does well to stabilize against walking-induced shake and it's tripod-grade-stable when shooting handheld from a standing position. Pans are nicely smooth too.