I did n’t infer theXPan modal value on a OnePlus phonewhen I first tried it out . In fact , I did n’t like it at all , and fall out it off as a punch-drunk gimmick to promote OnePlus ’s partnership with Hasselblad , which at the timewasn’t quite live up to anticipation .
of late I ’ve been using theOnePlus 13 , and think it has one of the best camera on any OnePlus phone yet , so I challenged myself to give XPan another endeavor . I soon discover I had been completely faulty about it .
Not a history lesson
Hasselblad and Fujifilm ’s XPan tv camera was first stick in in 1998 , when it was the first dual - format 35 mm photographic camera you could buy , enabling you to take full 65:24 aspect ratio panoramic photos , in addition to standard data format photos . Hasselblad promoted the XPan television camera using the tagline , “ For a world less square , ” and you could read more about its story and impacton its website .
OnePlus entered intoa partnership with Hasselbladin 2022 and theOnePlus 9was the first phone to showcase the brace ’s efforts . TheXPan modality arrivedon it in a computer software update soon after going , and it is hidden under the More menu in the television camera app to this day , if you want to find it for yourself . After that , you could drag it down to the independent television camera selection taproom if you ’re really acute . Iwasn’tkeen , but I gave it a shot .
XPan has change a little for the OnePlus 13 . you may shoot extremist - across-the-board 15 mm equivalent photos , 23 mm wide photos , or 73 mm zoomed in photo . It seems to reposition off from the “ staring ” XPan experience , but in doing so it has made the mode more approachable . The interface is unique too , with a custom sheathing to give it that unique XPan camera look , plus the screen wink into a negative when you tapdance the shutter button , just like if you were look at a “ real ” photo .
Am I sure it’s not a gimmick?
I do n’t take panoramic photos very often , and for a offset I could n’t get my head around using the XPan mode . I’mnot the only one , and the more I understand , watched , and learnedabout the actual XPan tv camera , the more I not only break how challenge it is to get to grips with the data formatting , but also how rewarding it can be when you experiment with it , and how dramatic photos guide with it can face .
I was getting go down on in . I screw this quotefrom photographer Matthias Jambon - Puillet in a piece about XPan cameras , “ Cursed to desire one , curse to better the bank buying one , unchurch to take in that you have no veridical - living use for it . ” It ’s very straight . XPan ’s potential is exciting , but there ’s no truly obvious use suit for XPan way on the OnePlus 13 , as most people will just use the wide-cut - angle television camera in the app or else of it . But XPan was shout out me , and as I did n’t have to furcate out for a genuine XPan camera to test it , I went out to take photos .
I took some , then some more , andmore againas I lead off to fall for the imagination of the world it can produce . Get it right , and photos can be gloriously cinematic , serene or moody , or spectacular and exciting . I began to learn how XPan exposure take different framing technique , andlooking at your environment in a novel wayto incur out if an XPan picture works . It does n’t cultivate in all situations , just like a 1:1 aspect ratio photo is n’t always good , but when you even partly get it right the solvent looks very cool indeed .
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Should I just use XPan, then?
I ’ve taken a wad of XPan photos with the OnePlus 13 and savour every moment . It ’s a sentence I never expected to save , especially after barely think about the mode since I first seek it on the OnePlus 9 . I know I ’ve changed as a photographer since then , and in maturing perhaps I see more chance in these less coarse methods , get more activated about await at the world through a camera differently , and am just more willing to “ get it haywire . ” Or perhaps the OnePlus 13 ’s camera is so much more adequate to it makes the pic reckon better . There ’s also a chance Hasselblad has deepen its kinship with OnePlus , and the mode itself is only good than when I first try it .
It all entail I ’m really glad I made the effort . However , there is a stumbling block here , and it has afflicted the XPan modal value since the beginning . The photos are 7872 x 2912 pixels in size , which makes them depend frightful on anything other than the OnePlus 13 ’s concealment , a TV , or a monitor . Forget sharing them on Instagram or another social web , they just look odd . XPan photograph are vainglorious and wide , and look at them in a petty box in a social provender does n’t do them any justice .
Should this hold on you trying XPan out ? dead not . Shoot photos for your own use as well as for posting on societal media . Not everyone will “ get ” XPan anyway . I ’m the first to admit I did n’t get it at all , but I ’m very pleased to also say I ’ve encounter the fault of my ways . It ’s another reason to get the OnePlus 13 , a phone that continues to impress me more than two months into using it every twenty-four hour period .
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
