OnePlus 9 Camera and OIS: This is NOT a deal breaker... By JuanBagnell

Who wants to talk about the crippled camera on the OnePlus 9. I put up this video. This is the OnePlus 9. Is it a crippled, camera and uh? I went through and showcased the differences uh between these two. What is the claim optical image? Stabilization should be mandatory on this phone. It's the only way to have a good camera.

What is optical image stabilization is is a way for you to smooth out the little movements and shake and butter from you holding the device. It's not the technology that helps you freeze movement from your subject. It's the technology that smooths out your movements, most of what people think is is today is really accomplished through software, so one of the ways to demonstrate that we're going to start with a manual self-portrait this was shot in the manual mode, has the least amount of computational uh processing applied. So this is phone. A got a good look at this.

You can kind of see this is a near blackout, night shot where I'm standing on a empty stretch of road off a hiking trail and there's only one streetlamp, which is almost a half a block away. That's the only light that's hitting my face, and this is phone b. Obviously these were shot on different knights. But again I feel like I got the composition and me centered in the frame decently enough. All right.

I wanted to see in the comments phone a phone b which phone took, which image well, I hate to break it to Samsung folks, but if you don't use a ton of post-processing and image stacking and HDR tricks, then phone an is the galaxy s21 phone, an is the phone with the amaze balls optical image stabilization, which helps so much in low light photos. What are we doing? Folks? I mean that's ridiculous: I'm shooting this off of the rear cameras, I'm shooting this blind. I am not able to compose for this, except for kind of lining up where I think I'm reflecting properly in the camera modules on the back of this phone. Furthermore, I also want to point this out here too real quick. You see where the wall behind me is one of the things that I goofed on this setup.

The wall is much lower on the galaxy s21 shot, and the wall is higher on the OnePlus 9 shot. I hate to break it to galaxy folks, but I was 10 feet closer to the lamp on the galaxy s21. So, let's, let's look at this one more time with optical image, stabilization and closer to the light source versus no optical image. Stabilization and farther away from the light source come on now, some walking video in really low light at 60 frames per second, so at 60 frames per second. That means our frame rate and our shutter speed are cut in half over the amount of light that we can get at 30 frames per second now remember: is is about smoothing out your hand, movements, but is is really the driving factor in video stabilization.

So let's take a look. This is phone, a ha ha muted, it here's phone a just gonna! Let this play for a bit. I'm walking down the street actually, if you've been following my camera reviews, you should have a pretty good idea what phone that was, because there is a certain type of optical defect in the lens that you can see on one manufacturer. That should be very clear, not the digital butter effect, but the optical effect, and now here's phone b. All right.

We got a pretty good look at that. Let's, let's do this just one more time: phone, a and now phone b, but wait a minute phone b's. Video is markedly smoother, but we can't have markedly smoother video on a phone without is right, no, obviously again, if you're, if you're following my commentary, phone b is the one plus now, if you were really paying attention to my camera commentary, what you'll also see is look at how the streetlamps wiggle in the reflections internally, the Samsung lens- is awful about internal reflections bouncing around inside your shot. So I have to say I mean like the galaxy s.21 is really doing a pretty good job of smoothing out my foot faults night, video like that, is very difficult, and you can see as the streetlamps and the headlights and the cars are reflecting around in the frame. How much they're wiggling around I'm giving people seizures.

By doing this with my hands right now, that's pretty good! You can see how much smoother the frame is compared to the wiggles of the street. Lamps OnePlus lens is better. The OnePlus 9 uses a better lens, as I'm walking through where, where are the streetlamp reflections? They aren't there. You cannot see the internal reflection of the streetlamp bouncing around inside the frame it just doesn't exist. The video is brighter is more detailed, is smoother and that's all because of the advantages of using a larger sensor over a smaller sensor with is.

So let's get back to some images again moving on to set up number three. Now this is a night mode shot, so both phones have the ability to over scan and brighten up an ultra dark image if, if you've ever, if you've ever seen any of my camera deep dives, the setup that I'm showing you here are again it's lit by one tiny streetlamp. It's a very dark scene. I mean you can't, you can barely see these trees in the viewfinder if you're shooting a regular photo. So the night mode performance here is impressive from both.

Let me get back into the slideshow, so this is phone a and this is phone b. Let me go back and forth phone a phone b, and then I'll leave it on the side by side. As you tell me which phone you thought was from each which photo you thought was from each phone, I think an is the better shot and in this situation an is coming from the Samsung. When you really drill down into the pixel level detail both are pretty close, the giveaway for me on this and again, if you, if you watch this from the 4k version of the video, you can see it a little more clearly uh, but it's up in the stump um at the top of the frame. This is one of the situations where the higher ISO on the one plus makes that look a little more watercolor.

So I actually feel OnePlus loses in this showdown because they're trying too hard to make the image brighter than it needs to be. What I think is kind of interesting is that capture took almost seven seconds on the galaxy s21, so to get that night mode photo. You got a hold still for, like a six count, one two three four five: six try and hold a phone camera, as still as you can for six seconds, that exact same capture took three seconds on an OnePlus. Nine. A larger image sensor can soak up more light per second, even if it doesn't have ois isn't magically making the sensor and aperture larger.

On your phone back into some photo samples, this next one is an auto HDR. This is not a night mode. This is letting the camera decide in your main, auto what it should do and if you were paying attention during the video segment, you should be able to immediately see which phone shot which image uh back into the slideshow. So here is phone a, and here is phone b once again, phone a phone b, and now I'll go to side by side. While I take a drink of water and check, my posture like Pakistan and Aditya and nil, are asking me to all right.

Simon, says: hypo. The lens flare is making me rethink. This OnePlus has a better lens. Every lens has some compromises. We have these larger camera, smartphone camera sensors.

We've got these super wide apertures that we can't control. Furthermore, we can't stop down a smartphone camera, so all of them have some issues with fringing and flaring the rainbow streaks that you'll see in some nighttime photos. Every single lens has an issue, but the one critical advantage of a one plus over a galaxy is internal reflections. Samsung's look super distracting as every light. That's in a nighttime scene gets hits the lens bounces around inside the lens and then ends up as another pinpoint light source in your frame.

So when we look at this, you can see the soft kind of glow on the left, but you see this hard edged super defined, immediate ghost reflection on the right, so, if you're paying attention to all the qualities of photography, not just what gives me the best colors, then photographically speaking OnePlus is starting with a more distinct photography advantage in lower light conditions. I understand why someone might like the shot from the galaxy s21 better. That's not my bag. I really do feel aesthetically OnePlus has delivered the better overall shot, auto mode to auto mode. Like it's close, it's really close and, like I said I can understand why someone might like the Samsung, better aesthetically, uh, computationally and uh photographically.

The OnePlus image to me is superior Dave burns. The galaxy captured a spooky ghost orb 1010 for ghost hunting um last one uh we're getting to the end here folks. So this is the one that I goofed. The most on um, this image of a lock, is shot nowhere near any lamps. Again, it's kind of like that tree shot where, if I could show you the viewfinder, the lock is barely visible through the viewfinder of the camera, and so this is a night mode shot.

This is another long exposure plus image stacking over scan to try and make something in near blackout conditions as bright as you can make it uh. This is phone a and I had it angled too low, and this is foam b and I feel like this is the better composition, but again what we're looking at, I'm focusing on the m in the master in the master, lock phone, a phone b phone, a phone b and then side by side. So obviously the composition is better on phone b. But what we're looking is the exposure for focusing on the m in the master lock, which phone took? What which image Paul sorry's saying I feel like I'm testing my new glasses, which one's better uh a or b a or b um the setup as we're seeing it right now, the higher composition. Looking at more of the street behind, it is the OnePlus, so the OnePlus is on the left and the galaxy is on the right, we're so close here, and I'm talking about like the most obnoxious kind of pixel peeping.

But the lines in the lock are just ever so slightly clearer on the OnePlus. If you look at the little bright, splotch um around the chain link shadows on the galaxy, it looks smearier and does not maintain the horizontal lines of the lock. If there was any opportunity to show where optical image stabilization could make an advantage, it could display a clear advantage over a phone without is. It's in test shots like these. I feel like I've done my due diligence.

So in this showdown right here, there 's's not there's, there's not an easy winner. I prefer the OnePlus 9 for the larger image sensor. It gives me a little more room and range to work with light, but it will arrive with a grainier output. The the immediate need to extend a higher ISO means better image, detail and clarity, but it also means a grainier or more textured final image. So I can't definitively say that's better.

Someone really might want even a darker version of a smoother better noise reduction scene and in situations like that, the galaxy s 21 is the better fit. But if we're talking about exposure, if we're talking about brighter images, more easily freezing action, even in lower light conditions and obviously superior video, like obviously superior video in auto shooting to auto shooting it's the one plus nine. If you tell me, you really need manual video controls, then you need to buy a Samsung hands down like that's easy, but this whole time we've also been training techies to complain about well, who has the time to dial in like manual settings? I don't want it to delay manual. I just need it to just work. It should just work.

The OnePlus 9 just works. The galaxy s21 needs a lot more handholding to achieve the same effects that you get out of auto on an OnePlus 9. You know so if you show me bright, daylight photos they're both going to be generally comparable, which makes sense, considering the pricing is pretty close. I've got performance here, that's totally in line with galaxy s21 and iphone 12. , I'm not conflicted in the slightest and in fact there are some significant hardware advantages on an OnePlus 9 that help it punch above its price tag and go toe to toe with phones like an iPhone 12 Pro, because, let's not forget the ultra-wide sensor on the OnePlus 9 is larger than the main sensor on the 12 pro max, and the main sensor on the OnePlus 9 is larger than its ultra-wide.

That is a physical and tangible benefit where optical image stabilization can not in all shooting situations, make up the difference.

Source : JuanBagnell