The Black Shark 3 takes amazing photos but suffers from one massive oversight
The Black Shark 3 phones offer some sweet specs tailored for mobile gamers with the Black Shark 3 Pro's display size dwarfing even the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. Mobile gaming prowess aside, the Black Shark 3 phones feature a 64+13+5 MP triple-camera setup that should result in some excellent photos. However, it looks like the Black Shark 3 takes things a bit farther than the norm.
Famous leakster Ice Universe posted a few photos taken by the Black Shark 3 on Twitter. According to him, the Black Shark 3 actually combines four 64 MP photos for a massive 256 million pixels. Processing such large image data (13824 x 18432 pixels) naturally takes time and the phone takes no less than 10 seconds to combine four 64 MP images into one. Not just that, the resulting file size of each photo is upwards of 100 MB!
Now, the issue here is that the Black Shark 3 tops-out at 128 GB storage while the Pro version is a bit more generous at 256 GB. There is no microSD expansion available so, someone who indeed wishes to make the most of the 64 MP camera will find their onboard storage depleting fast. Xiaomi could have equipped the phone with some sort of storage expansion. An OTG storage device might still be a viable option, though.
The other issue seems to be with respect to the post-processing. Ice Universe says that the photos look good but have an oil paint-like feel. This is something that can be fixed with a later OTA update, but how quickly can Xiaomi address this in time for the global rollout remains to be seen. Previously, the oil painting artefacts were a common complaint with phones such as the OnePlus 5 forcing users to look for alternative camera apps.
The Black Shark 3 uses super-pixel technology, which combines 256 million pixels in 64MPx4, and the photos can reach 100MB. It takes 10s to synthesize photos, and the resolution is 13824x18432. The photos look clear but more like oil painting. pic.twitter.com/NYrf47m3Dk
— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) March 5, 2020