OnePlus is bringing Hasselblad’s expertise into its camera development fold for the next three years to improve its mobile photography.
Starting with the OnePlus 9 series on March 23rd, OnePlus will reveal a revamped camera system that will hopefully put more eyes on its rather underrated camera system.
If you’re unfamiliar with Hasselblad, the company makes high-end cameras and is notable for creating the first camera used on the moon.
On top of the Hasselblad partnership, OnePlus says it will invest around $150 million USD (roughly $190 million CAD) to ensure it’s delivering the best camera experience possible to its customers. This includes two new imagine labs and other tech improvements that will be announced over the next few years.
OnePlus calls the OnePlus 9 Series camera system “vastly improved.” It goes on to mention that the partnership started with colour tuning and sensor calibration and that it will extend to other parts of the camera in the future.
One of the interesting improvements that OnePlus is teasing for the OnePlus 9 series is a new ‘T Lens’ that removes edge distortion in ultrawide photos.
Further, OnePlus has revamped the Pro camera mode on its new devices to make them look more Hasselblad-like and to include 12-bit RAW image files.
The OnePlus 9 series uses a Sony IMX789 sensor that’s touted as featuring great low-light performance, as well as 4K 120fps and 8K 30fps video recording.
I’ve been a fan of OnePlus’ camera colour science over the last few years. Still, I had issues with consistency between lenses, so hopefully, by partnering with a camera company like Hasselblad, OnePlus can really hone its camera tech to be better.