The Honor 200 Pro is now available in Europe for the first time, into the highly competitive smartphone market. Online writer Isabella Ruffatti tests it in the streets of Paris.
As a journalist and photographer, I was itching to do some street photography in Paris, then sit in a café eating a croissant, and write. Not only is there the Eiffel Tower to see and photograph – plus tourists, in a Martin Parr-esque way – there’s also the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics.
I finally visited Paris for the first time this week – and used an Honor phone, the recently released Honor 200 Pro, for the first time.
Honor 200 Pro at a glance:
- 50MP main camera, f/1.9, PDAF, OIS
- 50MP f/2.5 telephoto camera, 2.5x, AF, OIS
- 12MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle, AF
- 50MP f/2.1 selfie camera +2MP depth
- Up to 4K video recording
- 6.78inch, OLED, 4000nits
- 5200mAh battery
- Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor
Shooting with the Honor 200 Pro
During my walk around Paris, I mostly shot photos and videos using the Photo, Video and Portrait modes. I had the AI Photography option turned off.
The 50MP main camera in particular delivered gorgeous, well-lit results with vibrant but still natural-looking colours throughout the day, which was intensely sunny with few clouds. This proved somewhat of a problem, with flares showing up in some photos while others came out with little contrast. Skies were rendered almost white a few times.
I am the type of photographer who finds fixed lens cameras a bit of a nightmare so was pleasantly surprised to find that the telephoto camera captured a significant amount of detail, even when zooming quite a lot to capture the ‘I love Paris’ signs outside a tourist shop on the other side of the street and then photographing the Eiffel tower while standing on the other side of the Seine river.
That said, the only time it somewhat struggled was when capturing subjects in motion. I took several photos of two ducks swimming in a pond and most came out with some blur around one of the ducks, which was swimming away.
The phone’s Portrait mode was probably what I was most excited to try out, especially as there are three different options developed with Studio Harcourt you can choose from: Harcourt Classic (for black and white images with very dramatic lighting), Harcourt Colour (similar to Harcourt Classic but in colour), and Harcourt Vibrant. These are intended to replicate the professional studio photography look.
My first few photos taken with the Honor 200 Pro’s Portrait Mode have been mostly hits, even when taking a photo of a dog through glass. Though I was disappointed to find that you can’t use these for selfies, I am looking forwards to trying it out more by snapping portraits in different lighting conditions outdoors as well as in a studio.
The Honor 200 Pro has an automatic Macro mode, which turns on when you get close to a subject. I took photos of bees, flowers, and a crème brûlée to test it and the camera delivers a nice amount of detail as well as bokeh.
I also shot 1080p video at 30fps with the 200 Pro (It can shoot up to 4K video at 60fps, in both 16:9 and 21:9 aspect ratios). I had the AI Photography setting turned on while shooting video. After filming several short video clips around Paris, I was very pleased with my results. However, while on the whole, my video was very bright, this did result in a low contrast look in some of my footage. I personally prefer more contrast in my video so I had to manually lower the exposure when shooting.
The low contrast seems to be more of a problem when zooming in, as in the case of a short clip of the base of the Eiffel tower, where the Olympic rings could be seen. The shadows in the footage has been rendered more grey/brown than black.
All in all, the Honor 200 Pro is a very exciting phone to use as it offers quite a lot for photographers for its price point (just under £700) – particularly as someone who takes a lot of portraits. Not only does it have a triple camera system on the back, it also has a telephoto camera and a high-resolution 50MP selfie camera on the front. Watch out for the full review soon!
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