Honor hopped aboard the professional photography kit train today. The manufacturer released the Magic8 Pro professional imaging kit made by partner Telesyn. It fits the Magic8 Pro and adds a magnetically attachable camera grip and a 2.35x telephoto extender lens that brings the Magic8 Pro’s 85mm zoom lens to an effective 200mm.
The kit contains about 10 different pieces. At its center is the Magic8 Pro case. Not only does it perform its photography duties, but it has built-in Qi2 magnets and what Honor calls a radiator grille design, which helps with heat dissipation.
You also get a wrist lanyard, a neck strap, grip, and a USB cable for it.
The case has a 67mm filter thread with three different filters – one regular, one to attach a standard 67mm filter (like neutral density or circular polarizer), and the third to attach a telephoto extender lens.
The lens itself looks similar to what we’ve seen on the Vivo X200 and X300 phones and the Oppo Find X9 Pro. It weighs about the same too – weighing in at 207 grams, while the X200 Ultra is slightly heavier at 209 grams.
The kit includes separate camera filter attachments, a MagSafe grip
The grip is the best we’ve seen on a product like this because it attaches magnetically. This basically means that it’s case-agnostic – you can use it with any phone. It connects via Bluetooth and adds a few key controls – a two-stage shutter button, a control dial, a zoom lever, and a record button.
The grip also brings a 1/4″ threaded hole to the phone, so you can use it with a tripod.
hold on
Because it attaches to the phone (or any other phone or case with Qi2-MagSafe magnets) via magnets, the grip also has the benefit of allowing different positions.
This means you can use it in both landscape and portrait modes. But even better, it means you can turn it on and off the phone very quickly – no fiddling with release levers!
Once you’ve attached the phone to the teleconverter lens, you’ll need to enable the teleconverter toggle in the camera UI. If you don’t enable it, you will get an inverted image in the viewfinder.
We took some samples with the teleconverter lens on the Magic8 Pro, but before we got to them, Honor announced some imaging improvements that the Magic8 Pro got via a firmware update today. Stabilization on the main and telephoto cameras has been improved to achieve a CIPA rating of 6.5 (up from 5.5). Honor says this is the highest stabilization rating it has ever seen on any smartphone.
To get technical for a second, Honor says the stabilization system uses thermal-awareness, motion-adaptive logic and situational intelligence to bring stable previews, high success rates at long telephoto ranges, low motion blur and clear night captures.
The firmware update also brings a newly-developed AiMAGE color engine for authentic colors.
Okay, onto some photo samples. We did the logical thing and snapped a few sequences of shots to show you what a 200mm optical zoom looks like. The first image is of the original 85mm camera, then take a look at the teleconverter lens at its original 200mm, then 2x digital zoom at 400mm. Beyond 400mm, things start to look overly digital.
Honor Magic8 Pro: 85mm (native) • 200mm (teleconverter) • 400mm (teleconverter)
Honor Magic8 Pro: 85mm (native) • 200mm (teleconverter) • 400mm (teleconverter)
Honor Magic8 Pro: 85mm (native) • 200mm (teleconverter) • 400mm (teleconverter)
But beyond pure reach, a telephoto extender lens gives you basic optical advantages when we level up subjects in the frame. Looking at a subject of similar size, as in the shots below, the background is more compressed (it appears closer to the subject), and less in focus (it is blurred).
Honor Magic8 Pro: 85mm (native) • 200mm (teleconverter)
Honor Magic8 Pro: 85mm (native) • 200mm (teleconverter)
Honor Magic8 Pro 5G
| 512GB 12GB RAM | €1,019.00 |
£899.00 |
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