Oppo F7 vs Huawei P20 Lite vs Vivo V9 – Midrange Camera Battle

The top three Chinese manufacturers have been proving that they’re the best in terms of creating smartphones that fit our needs, especially in the camera department.

• Huawei P20 Lite vs Vivo V9 Comparison Review – A Midrange phone battle
• OPPO F7 vs VIVO V9: Specs Comparison

Now, we’ll see which of these, Oppo F7, Huawei P20 Lite and Vivo V9 will make it on our pockets to give us an Instagram-worthy photo.

Oppo F7 and P20 Lite shots seem identical on these first set of photos while Vivo V9 is on a different path. The colors on F7 and P20 Lite are bright, you can clearly judge it as soon as you’ve noticed the greens. Vivo V9’s photo landed on a darker side, the skies of the three are almost the same, but the concrete jungle and trees of Vivo v9 stood out because of the color difference. It’s not bad, but I would prefer the first two in terms of how pleasing it is. It’s no surprise that Oppo F7 is doing well even without having a dual lens like the other two contenders.

So I’ll start off with the leaves, the green shade of Oppo F7 is sharper than the P20 Lite though it appears to be natural. Vivo V9 darkest but don’t get me wrong. Among the three brands, Vivo appears most contrasted to all our outdoor shots same with the trees’ trunks.

Huawei P20 Lite has the lightest sky among the three showing the lightest shade of blue, while F7 has the darkest despite the intense sunlight during this shot. When you look on the chairs and tables on this photo, Vivo V9 appears to be darkest despite its sky being second to the lightest. The photo might take the top spot on which shot looks natural.

HDR with a Vivid mode of Oppo got me on this one. What I liked is how lively the result is. Makes you want to dive into the pool. The rest of HDR photos shot using P20 lite and Vivo v9 unfortunately looked lifeless.

Outdoor shots of F7 is impressive on this one, delivering vibrant colors with good detail. But the flaw here is that it doesn’t look like what it should be. What do I mean by this? When you look at it, it seems like this was shot on an afternoon between 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm. But the truth is it’s almost dusk and P20 Lite and Vivo V9 were on the same page here. They may be different color wise.

I’ll focus on detail on this set of photos. All phones are capable of capturing even the slightest detail on this shot. So it’s safe to say that they’re all equal on this category. Color-wise, Oppo F7 stood out because of the creamy white color of the sculpture while the rest were almost close to the natural color.

I noticed that P20 Lite delivers us a subtle pink hue on the photo. Compared to the two, this appears to be the brightest. Vivo is okay but the colors looked sort of faded. While Oppo F7’s shot, colors on the painting are more appealing and is sharper among the rest. But the photo that caught my eye is P20 Lite.

If you focused on the lightbulbs and lights, each phone has a distinct take on color processing. Oppo F7 has a bluish tone, P20 Lite is also blue but is close to white. Lastly, Vivo V9’s shot on the light bulb is white and is the closest to natural color. I’ll go for V9 on this one.

HDR shots of each brand really gave what they got. The Oppo F7 has shown great detail in the dark areas also, this appears to be the brightest among the rest. Next, the P20 Lite’s photo still has dark areas but the dramatic effect that made the lights stand out still makes up for its flaws. Lastly, Vivo V9 is like the combination of the first two. It’s not too bright and not too dark, in between. Seems like Vivo V9’s rear cam is alright especially on lowlight shots.

For the lowlight shots, Oppo F7 has fine details with the subject until you see the lights around it, it’s a bit scattered and cloudy. Huawei P20 Lite’s subject looked pale for the shade of yellow while the background is better compared to the rest. Now the Vivo V9 appeared to be the darkest though details are still present. Also, the background looked like it doesn’t belong on the photo making it look artificial.

It took me several minutes staring at all these Darth Vaders to decide which phone did it better. Looks like Vivo V9 won this part by making Lord Vader stood out. Out of all portrait shots, V9 has the blurriest background. While the other two is not pushing its full potential for a good bokeh effect.

It seems that these three has the same amount of blurriness in the background, the only difference is that the color vibrancy of each subject. But of course, we’ll focus on the portrait mode. Both Oppo F7 and P20 Lite did well on focusing the subject however, the edges of the plant at the back part are not clear. For the Vivo V9, only the front leaves have a good focus, the rest is blurred and dark though it has a good color accuracy still it was a little disappointing for Vivo’s latest smartphone.

For the selfie, I’ll start off with a shot that looked most pleasing, P20 Lite’s. Compared to the two, P20 Lite managed to look natural and fresh without looking like you used tons of soft filters to hide your flaws. Oppo F7 is good but it seems that it didn’t fulfill its claim for “capture the real you.” Yes, its the Selfie expert, you will look great on your selfies however some people won’t like their photos to look edited. Definitely an off for them. Same with the Vivo V9, it’s the second closest to looking natural but it has a subtle softness to skin that makes you look edited.

Out of all portrait photos, it’s the Oppo F7 did its job on focusing the subject. While Huawei P20 Lite and Vivo V9 did a subtle blur in the background. I also noticed that F7’s contrast level and softness effect to the subject is quite high compared to the other two.

As what I’ve said to the first set of selfies, P20 Lite’s realness on the photo is a plus. Oppo F7 still gives you a bit high contrast and softness level. While Vivo V9 has this beauty effect but made subject’s skin pale and soft. Too bad Vivo V9 didn’t live up to their ad that shows the other side of the face with the V9 phone showing how accurate their camera will be.

For lowlight selfies, these three surprisingly did well. Oppo F7 made the subject look fresh though it’s still obvious that colors in the photo were adjusted. Aside from looking all natural to Huawei P20 lite, it’s also good with details showing the hair strands of the subject. Lastly, Vivo V9 has a soft effect on the skin even without using the beauty effect itself.

We’ll never forget the AR stickers! All of them are fun to use but the one we enjoyed the most is Oppo F7’s nerdy glass effect. Huawei P20 Lite also has a cool set of AR stickers, it also comes with background effects too! And lastly, Vivo V9 also offers several stickers and we cannot contain how adorbs the bunnies on the top of our heads.

Which midrange smartphone is your pick? Let us know your thoughts by leaving your comment down below!