Oppo Phone's 13x Lens Zooms in on Eclipse

A near-total lunar eclipse occurred recently, offering a test for the Oppo Find X9 Ultra's camera. The photographer, camping on the Wales coastline, used the phone's 300mm teleconverter lens to capture the event. Europe observed a 96.2% eclipse an hour before sunrise, while the Americas saw it mid-night. Despite initial cloud cover, a break allowed for capturing the maximum eclipse.

The Oppo Find X9 Ultra features a 10x optical lens, extendable to 300mm with its teleconverter. This add-on lens works with the 3x optical camera, achieving a 13x equivalent focal length. While useful for moon photography, the dedicated mode for the teleconverter lacks advanced manual controls like RAW shooting or ISO adjustment.

Manual exposure control proved challenging in the phone's photo mode, which underexposed the moon. However, switching to video mode provided adequate exposure. A workaround involved quickly switching from video recording back to photo mode to capture shots before exposure darkened. Despite limitations, the phone-camera setup delivered the best eclipse photos obtained by phone, highlighting smartphone camera progress.