And now: The Camera.
The main reason for me being interested in the Oneplus 9 is the collaboration that they announced with Hasselblad. This was particularly interesting for a number of reasons - first of all Hasselblad is a legend in the camera world, but if we look closer to home, collaborations between camera companies and mobile phone companies have produced some interesting results before
From a spec point of view, I think Oneplus nailed the choice of lenses & sensors on the Oneplus 9 pro. Starting off with the main camera we find a very modern sensor combined with a very fast lens (f/1.8) and a very useful 23mm focal length. This camera also has optical stabilisation which can be useful when taking handheld long exposures
Next up we find the ultra wide camera, and here we also find a fairly large 50MP sensor with a very wide 14mm focal length. The freeform lens here is quite interesting, and the aperture of f/2.2 is quite respectable. I wished this camera also has OIS so that you can take handheld long exposures even with the ultra-wide camera
Last up is the telephoto camera. It has a smaller sensor than the other 2 .. but… BUT! It’s actually really nice to see that Oneplus has not gone down the route of attaching crazy zoom numbers or periscope cameras, and has instead opted for a very useful f/2.4, 3.3x (77mm) zoom. This focal length is pretty useful for portraits, and even though the camera only produces 8MP images, colours are pretty decent and it will work in fairly dark conditions thanks to the large aperture - definitely a step up from my previous phone.
So all in all I think the choice of hardware is pretty spot on: Large sensors, sane zoom, good colours.
Of course it would be all useless if the specifications don’t translate into a good photo - and the first part of that process is the usability of the phone. In this respect the Oneplus 9 pro is extremely responsive - focus is fast and accurate, and when you click the shutter button, it responds very quickly and keeps responding. I used the phone during a portrait photoshoot in studio where I shot many photos in quick succession and the OnePlus 9 pro did not slow down or miss a beat. I can’t stress enough how important this responsiveness is, and the OP9 pro has it
When it comes to the user experience of the camera software - it’s really simple and easy to use - the modes are clearly defined and it’s very easy to switch around and change things. Pro mode in particular is really easy to use and you can either rely on exposure compensation on top of the phone’s metering - or you can set each setting manually. Pro mode & RAW produce some really detailed images and if you intend editing the images (I edit all photos I take for instance - in Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop) it gives you a cleaner image to work with, and more detail in the colours and shadows/highlights.
On the subject of editing, typically in reviews you find clinical images that are completely neutral to help comparisons. There are already so many of those that show you what you get out of the box - In my review I'm going to go the opposite way. I’m going to showcase what I was able to achieve using all the tools at my disposal - all the modes and cameras on the Oneplus 9 pro, but also the editing software that I use as part of my day to day.
To summarize before I include a lot of sample images:
- Ultra wide camera provides really detailed photos with good colour. There is some distortion typical of any ultra wide angle but this is very well controlled - more so than on any other phone camera I've used. Since there is a very wide FOV you can use this to crop & correct the image further if you want
- Telephoto camera (Photo mode) and Portrait mode give excellent framing for shots of people and portraits. They do have good colour (definitely better than other camera phones I've used) but they will show quite a bit of processing if you look at the files at 100%. When seen on a mobile screen they are very nice
- Main camera has really detailed RAWs, great colour and very fast focusing. It’s by far the best camera on a phone that I’ve used. I’m particularly happy with this since the images do not look overprocessed.
- Photo mode (Automatic) typically provides a detailed, processed image that doesn’t go too far like some of the competition that produces really unrealistic images.
- Super macro mode (if that’s your cup of tea) can be a lot of fun and produce really detailed photos
- No RAW support for Ultra wide & Telephoto cameras (yet?)
- I haven’t seen the point or output from the monochrome camera.
You can find the full gallery of sample images here:
https://www.kurtparis.com/blog/2021/3/28/oneplus-9-pro-my-review
But here are some highlights, all these were shot on the OnePlus 9 Pro (Review will continue after the samples). Unless I write otherwise, all these photos have been edited with Adobe Lightroom, and portraits went through the same editing process i use when shooting for clients with my Canon R5 Mirrorless camera.
People & Portraits
Portraits:
Crops from RAW shots:
Photo mode with Telephoto lens:
Ultrawide:
Super Macro, Ultra wide & Nightscape
Handheld 1/5 sec exposure with main camera:
Nightscape:
Ultrawide - Architecture & Dynamic range tests
Same mode, Same spot - 3 different lenses - Unedited:
I'm also including a small movie I made of my morning coffee routine. I am not a videographer by any means and this was recorded (mostly with one hand) in the default settings of the Oneplus 9 Pro. Lighting was not ideal and I had just woken up. Still.. it was really easy to use and the result was a bit of fun
On the subject of editing
First of all i want to really give a shout out to Dave, Yash and Tiago (Reviewers from the last lab for the Oneplus 8) for a really good discussion on this subject. I have glossed over this a bit in the review above but I want to highlight some points which I think are really important here.
Editing your photos (and i'm not talking about just slapping a filter on here) is key, whatever equipment you're using - but more importantly so on a phone. When we use our phones as cameras we are really fighting physics - the effort to miniaturise all those components and make them work in such a small package comes at a price. If you had to compare any of the photos above at 100% with a similar photo taken with a top end SLR there would be no comparison, not even close. When you try use your camera to make calls, or try put it in your pocket... that is not really possible now is it.
Another thing to keep in mind is - "where is this photo going to be seen?". If you are intending to use and see your photos on a phone, then you can afford to really push the editing/processing of a photo much farther than what the phone will do by default, and this is the key here. Phone camera software has to fit within a one-size-fits-all profile that covers all the phone's users and all the different ways they will use it. When you are editing a photo, you can tweak it based on your planned usecase and your particular taste.
Lastly, if you don't edit your photos today, then check out Snapseed or Adobe Lightroom. Even setting some basic parameters such as white balance or exposure can really improve your existing treasured photos. The way I work is that i will shoot using the camera, select my favourites within the gallery app, and then only edit those. Like that i reduce my work, it gives me something to do in my spare time and i have a smaller set of photos to store/backup/display
I will be posting some unedited photos for completeness, but when you base your choice on these kind of photos I suggest you rely on a controlled test & environment such as the ones done on DxOMark. Also remember that not all phone photos can take the same level of editing, and this you will only know once you edit them
Overall Impressions, Summary & TLDR
I think the most honest thing I can say here is that if I had paid for this phone, I would be very satisfied with what I received. As a daily driver, the phone is solid - it does what I need it to do with a minimum of fuss and has a “it just works” attitude. The camera is very good, probably the best I’ve ever used so far on a phone - it opens and snaps very quickly, picture quality is good and you have a very useful set of lenses. Battery life is decent and charging using the supplied Warp 65 charger is stupidly fast - you can literally plug it in for a few minutes whilst you change your clothes and have enough charge for a night out
I like that both a case and screen protector are supplied in the box - I personally would have gone for a different case but it’s nice that from Day 1, your phone is protected should you want to - without having to remember to buy a cover (which I always forget to do).
Most of all though, with OnePlus I feel that the company really listens to their community - way back in the OnePlus Camera Open ears forums in Hamburg we had asked for - Larger sensors with the option to get images with less processing, Useful megapixel count and focal length (not 100x super/space zoom that is completely useless) and most of all accurate colours. It may have taken a while but here we are - the OnePlus 9 pro ticks all of these boxes, and whether it’s true or not - I'd like to think that I have had some small part in that. So as I finish off this review, here is the last part of my unboxing: A message from Pete Lau
If you have any questions or comments please ask them below and i'll be happy to answer. Hope you enjoyed this review!
Kurt
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