Oppo Find X9 Pro review

One large-sensor telephoto instead of two smaller ones

Oppo has reimagined the Pro camera system for this Find generation and replaced the two separate 50MP telephotos with a single 200MP one that should be better at the short end and at least as good at the long end. The main camera has been improved too, and there's also a more capable selfie camera now. Ah, and let's not forget there's now an option to add a telephoto extender to the Find X9 Pro. It's quite the comprehensive upgrade then, it would seem.

Starting with the telephoto situation, Oppo has moved to a large(-ish) 1/1.56" 200MP sensor - it's not as large as that on the high-end vivos (1/1.4"), but still a significant upgrade over the 1/1.95" imager on the previous generation. It's paired with a periscope lens with a 70mm equivalent focal length, a bright f/2.1 aperture and pretty remarkable close-focusing capability at around 9cm. On top of that, it's been designed to work with a new Telephoto extender lens that Oppo and Hasselblad have developed that extends the optical reach to 230mm.

The main camera has been upgraded from the 1/1.4" sensor on the previous-gen model to a 1/1.28" one, and the aperture is also a little bit brighter now, too. The ultrawide camera remains unchanged in terms of hardware.

The Find X8 Ultra's True Color camera has made its way to the Find X9 Pro. It's a dedicated 2MP camera that divides the frame into a 6 by 8 grid and calculates the light temperature for each section separately. That way you can get selective white balance for different portions of the frame and better color rendition in difficult settings. The main goal is to achieve appealing skin tones in portrait shots in artificial and/or limited lighting.

You do finally get autofocus for your selfies, alongside an increase in the nominal resolution. The front facing camera has now been upgraded to a 50MP module (same sensor as the ultrawide on the back) that should be better than the ubiquitous 32MP fixed-focus selfie cameras of yesteryear.

• Wide (main): 50MP Sony LYT-828 (1.28", 1.22µm - 2.44µm), f/1.5, 23mm, multi-directional PDAF (11cm - ∞), Laser AF, OIS; 4K@120fps
• Telephoto, 3x: 200MP Samsung ISOCELL HP5 (S5KHP5, 1/1.56", 0.5µm - 2.0µm), periscope lens, f/2.1, 70mm, multi-directional PDAF (9cm - ∞), OIS; 4K@120fps
• Ultrawide: 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN5 (1/2.76", 0.64µm - 1.28µm), f/2.0, 15mm, multi-directional PDAF; 4K@60fps
• Front camera: 50MP Samsung ISOCELL JN5 (1/2.76", 0.64µm - 1.28µm), f/2.0, 21mm, multi-directional PDAF; 4K@60fps

The Quick Button we saw on the previous-gen models is here too. It's only a button by name because it doesn't actually click but it's pressure-sensitive instead and relies on the phone's (super nice) vibration motor for haptics to fuel the illusion.

The functionality is straightforward and intuitive. Double-press on the key can be used to launch the camera or launch and immediately snap a photo. You can also disable the double press action and only use the Quick Button once you're already in the camera app.

In Photo mode, a press on the button will take a photo, and long-pressing it will do a burst of photos. In Video mode, it can be used to start and end a recording. There's also a capacitive sensor underneath so you can slide your finger for zoom action (but only in landscape orientation).

Oppo is keen to point out a few 'industry-firsts' (by their own accounts). One of them is the Find X9 Pro's ability to capture photos in 50MP by default - it's a setting in the formats section that doesn't explicitly say '50MP' but is instead 'High resolution'. It works on all three rear cameras. The other development is that motion photos are now shot in 4K instead of the 1080p of yesteryear.

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

The Find X9 Pro captures great photos with its main camera. Dynamic range is excellent, getting you well-developed extremes, but also nice global contrast. Color rendition is easily likeable, with just the right amount of pop and dependable auto white balance. Detail is nice and crisp and noise is non-existent, but foliage can be just a little bit too artificial on occasion.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

Portraits at 1x are also excellent with pleasing skin tones and well-defined facial detail. There's a bit of natural blur too, but if you'd like some additional separation between subject and background, the Portrait mode will deliver that, with pretty much no errors along the borders.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), Photo mode

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), Portrait mode

The 50MP mode on the main camera is performing admirably and you could potentially squeeze out some extra detail compared to the out-of-camera 12MP shots, if you'd like to do the extra work in post processing.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 50MP

It would make sense then that the main camera should be capable of capturing nice 2x shots and indeed that's the case. The photos are sharp and detailed for the most part and unless you go looking for problems, you'll likely be perfectly happy with these. Still, the phone will have a tendency to smear certain types of areas - check out the pavement and the left granite wall in the first shot for example, and again in the 7th. Not half-bad overall though.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x)

People shots at 2x remain great, with detail still very good on the subject. The 47mm focal length does bring a better perspective and more flattering facial proportions.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x), Photo mode

Daylight samples, main camera (2x), Portrait mode

Telephoto camera

The 200MP 3x telephoto camera is arguably the star of this show and it's ready for the spotlight. Its 12MP shots are superb, capturing excellent detail with a reasonably natural rendition of high-frequency textures and no noise. Colors are great, dynamic range is excellent.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (3x)

You're very likely to enjoy the 3x portraits too. The 70mm focal length lends nicely to tight head-and-shoulders framing, skin tones are lifelike, detail is great. We like the Photo mode's shots background separation, but Portrait mode can enhance it without any real negative effects.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (3x), Photo mode

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (3x), Portrait mode

The 50MP mode can capture better detail in some scenes, but we're once again witnessing some softening in certain areas which Oppo's algorithms apparently decide aren't worth the time in processing.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (3x), 50MP

If you're weird like that, you could also shoot in 200MP. We got file sizes all the way up to 80MB and we wouldn't say they're worth it.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (3x), 200MP

You could shoot at 6x in 12MP, however, and that's looking like a way more sensible use of bits to us. Sharpness is excellent, detail is generally great - minus some of that local softening that seems to be ubiquitous with the phone's more... unusual modes (12MP 2x, 50MP 3x, and now 12MP 6x).

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (6x)

Oppo is advertising a 13.2x lossless zoom for the find X9 Pro's telephoto camera - it's a seemingly arbitrary zoom level, but maybe there's something about how the sensor demosaicking math works out. In any case, a tap on the 6x button in the viewfinder will take you there. Here are a few scenes to illustrate its capabilities.

Zoom range: 3x (70mm) • 6x (140mm) • 10x (235mm) • 13.2 (308mm)

Closeups

The telephoto's super short focusing distance of around 9cm allows for some top-quality closeups with excellent detail. The out-of-focus areas are looking unusually nice and creamy.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (3x), closeups

Sure enough, you can get even larger reproduction at the 6x zoom level, with almost as good pixel-level clarity.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (6x), closeups

Ultrawide camera

The utlrawide camera turns in a solid performance too. Colors and dynamic range are excellent and detail is very good.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

The full-res mode isn't particularly convincing though in very specific conditions (plenty of light, still subjects, straight lines) you might fool yourself into thinking you can get a bit of extra detail. We wouldn't bother.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x), 50MP

Selfies

The front-facing camera is one of the key generational improvements and the Find X9 Pro will get you some nice selfies indeed. Detail is good, skintones are generally likeable, indoor white balance can lean a little cold.

Selfie samples

Low-light photo quality

Main camera

In the dark, the Find X9 Pro's main camera takes top-class photos. Its exposures are excellent and there's plenty of dynamic range for both well-contained highlights and shadow development. The auto white balance is typically accurate, and colors are great more often than not - perhaps toning down the saturation here or there will help, particularly in scenes with the warm amber lightning. Detail is nice and sharp and quite naturally rendered too.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x)

At 2x zoom, things aren't nearly as rosy, however - we'd probably even go so far as to say we're disappointed. The photos are often soft or blotchy, and we only had the occasional good image (the fifth sample). This was also more or less our experience on the Find X8 Pro, and Oppo doesn't seem to have improved on it too much.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x)

3x Telephoto camera

The telephoto camera brings us back on track though. Its photos have excellent sharpness and wide dynamic range, so that's great. There was the occasional white balance misstep (the fourth scene is a lot warmer in reality), and saturation could be a little too much with the amber-lit scenes, but you can work yourself around those 'issues'.

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (3x)

The 6x shots are also not quite as awesome as we would have hoped, with softness and jaggies creeping in. They're usable and all, but just not quite as easy to like as their 3x counterparts.

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (6x)

Finally, here are a few samples taken at the 13.2x zoom level.

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (13.2x)

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera is doing fine too, more or less to the standard of averageness makers have seemingly agreed on for ultrawide cameras. Detail is alright, dynamic range is good, colors are generally on point.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.6x)

Video recording

The Find X9 Pro can record video up to 4K120 with the main and telephoto cameras on the back, while the ultrawide and the selfie camera max out at 4K60. The Pro video mode adds a 4K24 option for all cameras. There's still no 8K to be found (an almost praiseworthy omission).

The default codec is h.265 but you can switch to h.264. Dolby Vision capture is available for all quality settings, including 4K120, if you tap on the HDR toggle in the viewfinder. The Pro video mode adds a Log option.

There's an always-on regular electronic video stabilization for all resolutions and frame rates, plus there's the Ultra steady mode, which also works in all modes other than 4K120. Pro video mode lets you disable the electronic stabilization.

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

Video sample playlist

The Find X9 Pro's main camera videos at 1x are great, capturing wide dynamic range and vivid colors. We'd take a bit more fine detail, but it's very good as is. 2x footage remains notably soft (as was the case on the Find X8 Pro). The 3x zoom results are excellent though, and 6x clips are very good as well, almost as good as on the previous generation that had an actual 6x camera. The ultrawide's videos are solid too - great colors and dynamic range, good detail.

The main camera continues to deliver high-quality video at night - detail is good, noise is controlled well, dynamic range and colors are excellent. The telephoto clips are also very good, if a notch less sharp than last year's model. At 6x, the quality remains good as well. The ultrawide has gotten a little better this year though - it's sharper, better detailed, with wider dynamic range.

Video stabilization is excellent on the Find X9 Pro across all scenarios. When shooting from a stationary position, you get nearly tripod-like results, and walking shake is ironed out well too. Panning is also smooth, without abrupt transitions.