Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite: First Camera Samples

The primary highlight of Xiaomi's new Mi 8 Lite are its cameras. It has a pair of lenses at the back and a large single sensor in front.

Dual-cam setup at the back of Mi 8 Lite

Capable shooter?

Familiar camera UI

At the back, the 12MP f/1.9 + 5MP f/2.0 S5K5E8 could be similar to what we saw with the POCOPHONE F1 and the Redmi Note 5. It also has Dual Pixel PDAF and dual-tone LED flash. The primary 12MP camera has large 1.4µm pixel size.

24MP for selfies!

For selfies, Xiaomi used a LARGE 24MP f/2.2 Sony IMX576 sensor. It has 1.8µm pixel size and 4-in-1 Super Pixel technology for low light selfies. It also has AI for the portrait mode.

It has one of the most impressive selfie camera specs found on a Xiaomi device.

By the looks of it, the Mi 8 Lite is a capable shooter.

Let's have a look at our first camera samples!

Camera Samples

Daylight 1

Daylight 2

Close-up

Food shot 1

Food shot 2

Low light 1

Low light 2

Low light 3

Low light 4

Indoor selfie

Low light selfie with bokeh

Quick thoughts

The camera performance of the Mi 8 Lite at the back reminds us of the POCOPHONE F1.

It is an excellent daylight shooter that can capture images with plenty of details and vivid colors with hard to see noise. It can also has autofocus and shooting speed. Close-up shots are even possible with this camera phone.

It doesn't have a handheld long expo night mode unlike some of its mid-range competitors, but the low light shots we got from it are more than respectable for the price. Contrast and dynamic range are considered as decent. Grain and noise are noticeable, but they are far from too much.

The selfie camera of this thing is a beast. I took two selfies from challenging scenarios and it still delivered images with crisp details and close to accurate colors. The edge detection on the bokeh low light selfie I took is also impressive.

So far, this is a legit mid-range shooter!

Stay tuned for our full review!