Oppo is a long-standing supporter of the ICC, the international governing body of cricket. It makes sense, therefore, that Oppo offers a phone that seems almost tailor-made for sport photography, the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom.
You can zoom in on the action with an amazing 160mm equivalent focal length, zoom out to capture the atmosphere of the crowd, and shoot at incredible speed to capture a fast bowler’s form at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
Who needs a DSLR with a heavy camera rucksack full of lenses? Here are the 10 ways the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom excels at capturing the fast-paced action of sport.
1. Three lenses in one saves space
The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom has the equivalent of three prime lenses. To carry around that much glass with a DSLR you’d need a dedicated camera bag. And strong shoulders, as you’re likely looking at almost 5kg of camera equipment.
Oppo’s Reno 10x Zoom only weighs 210g. We’re big believers in the old photographer’s adage that the best camera is the one you have with you, and this is one you can take anywhere, no problem.
2. Bigger sensor, better results
Megapixel count is the most obvious way to categorise a camera sensor. But sport photographers want a big sensor over a high-res one.
They can’t control the light conditions, and as a bigger sensor takes in more light, it lets you use faster exposures. You need those for any kind of fast action.
The Oppo Reno 10X Zoom has a “best of both worlds” approach. Its main sensor has an ultra-high resolution of 48 megapixels, but it’s large too at 1/2 an inch. Pixel binning merges four sensor pixels to quadruple the effective sensitivity, for better images during the day or night.
3. A 160mm zoom view
The phone’s 10x zoom is an eye-opener. It uses a clever periscope lens design to fit the equivalent of a 160mm lens into a 9.3mm shell. It lets you get much closer to the action without even moving off your deck chair.
While other phones may let you take 10x zoomed images, the Oppo Reno 10x dedicated zoom lens and sensor means each image is packed with more detail. You can frame a player 100m away with far less of the the 'smudging effect' of digital zoom.
Image credit: Oppo
4. Lightning-fast burst
Burst shooting is the unsung hero of smartphone sport photography. Even with lightning fast reflexes, there’s a good chance you’ll miss the moment ball meets leg or wicket when you shoot single images.
Hold down the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom’s shutter button and it takes 20 exposures in a little over a second. You can then pick the one with the best take on the scene, or the most dramatic-looking player pose.
5. Brilliant HDR
Overexposure is the enemy of the photographer. This is where parts of the sensor receive too much light, and those parts of the image end up as blocks of white. Many pros shoot deliberately dark photos to avoid this, and then edit them back up to the right level after the fact.
Outdoors sport shooting can be an overexposure nightmare, as clouds cause the effect more than anything else. You don’t have to worry about it with an Oppo Reno 10X Zoom, though.
The phone has clever dynamic range enhancement techniques that retain all the cloud contour information without having to play around with the image after shooting.
6. Advanced OIS helps you capture the moment
Sport shooting can often result in blurry photos if you’re not a camera-handling expert. Sometimes this is simply down to too-fast movement in your subject. But it can be caused by your hands too.
Move during the exposure window and, hey presto, your image is blurred. Optical image stabilisation fixes this. The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom uses a motor and ball bearing balancing mechanism to buffer any movement of the camera sensor. It can compensate for up to a degree of tilt.
That may not sound like a lot, but remember we’re only talking about compensation for perhaps 1/30 of a second. The result? Sharp images every time.
7. A great screen to set the scene
Image credit: Oppo
When shopping for a new camera it’s easy to getter bogged down in hardware and specs. But with a good eye you can take a great photo with almost any camera.
Phones don’t have viewfinders, though, so a strong screen is a must if you want to be able to compose with confidence. The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom display’s is big, at 6.6 inches, bright and has pro-level calibration so you can be sure snaps on-screen look closer to how they will appear in the final image.
8. Super slo-mo
So you want to take video as well as stills? The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom has a couple of notable features up its sleeve. It can shoot 4K video at 60fps, which looks smoother and more lifelike should you upload it to YouTube for the world to see.
It can also shoot super-high quality slo-mo using the main camera. The 240fps mode slows down action to an eight its normal speed. This is a useful tool if you want to analyse the form of a fast bowler, or capture the moment a ball flies right into the wicket.
9. Epic storage
There’s a lot of technique to sport photography. But there’s a lot of luck too. To keep shooting until you get that lucky one-in-a-million frame is a pretty good policy.
And for that you need a lot of storage. The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom has 256GB of space inside, enough for tens of thousands of photos even if mountains of apps are installed too. You also have the option to add a microSD card. Buy a 256GB microSD and you can double the space, enough for years’ worth of photos without deleting a single one.
10. An ultra-wide veiw captures the event, not just the action
When shooting sport with the Oppo Reno 10x Zoom, you’ll likely lean on its powerful zoom. It lets you get close to the action even when you can’t get near it physically.
It’s also important to remember, often, you’ll be recording an event, not just a footballer or fast bowler, and for that an ultra-wide view is killer. The Oppo Reno 10x Zoom has a 120-degree wide angle lens that lets you capture the crowd as well as the pitch, the stadium as well as the players.