Realme 9 Pro+ review

A total of four cameras, no depth sensors

The Realme 9 Pro+ has a triple camera setup on the back with a 50MP OIS primary, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro. There is also a 16MP front camera for selfies. One notable omission is the depth sensor we usually get on the back, but we'd gladly trade that for OIS.

The primary camera on the Realme 9 Pro+ uses a 50MP Sony IMX766 1/1.56" sensor with 1.0µm pixels and a Quad-Bayer filter. This sensor is paired with a 6-element 24mm lens that is stabilized and has an f/1.8 aperture. Night Mode is available for this camera.

This camera seems to be offering a 2x in-sensor lossless zoom, which should help preserve details and colors without over-sharpening. We will test this in a bit.

The new hardware and sensor allow for new and improved shooting modes. There is Ultra Nightscape video now, Smart Long Exposure for Night Mode, and Street Photography suite 2.0 that includes Light Trail Portrait (portrait in busy traffic), Neon Trail (for cars and roads), Light Painting, Rush Hour (blurring/removing moving people but the static subject), Peak and Zoom, and there is also a new 90s Pop filter. There is also a new photo engine that clears noise from low-light photos and sharpens detail.

The ultrawide camera relies on an 8MP Sony IMX 355 sensor behind a 16mm f/2.2 lens. There is no autofocus. Night Mode works on this camera, too.

Last is the macro camera with 2MP OmniVision OV02B sensor with a 21mm f/2.4 lens and a fixed focus at 4cm. This camera cannot capture videos, and there is no Night Mode.

The selfie camera employs a 16MP Sony IMX 471 1/3" sensor with 1.0µm pixels and f/2.4 lens. The focus is fixed, naturally. It appears that this camera uses a Quad-Bayer sensor, but we will talk more when we shoot some photos.

The camera app is the familiar Oppo/Realme one. There are fewer menus - most of the modes are now on the main rolodex, which is good.

The viewfinder in the default Photo mode offers AI Scene Enhancement (also known as Chroma Boost or Dazzle Color) - it's like an advanced HDR mode, which may stack several images to offer even further improvements in the dynamic range. Still, the most prominent "improvement" is the higher color saturation. Auto HDR is available, too.

There are also three zoom shortcuts with tree indications instead of numbers.

In the Expert mode, you get to tweak exposure (ISO in the 100-6400 range and shutter speed in the 1/8000s-32s range), white balance (by light temperature, but no presets), manual focus (in arbitrary 0 to 1 units with 0 being close focus and 1 being infinity) and exposure compensation (-2EV to +2EV in 1/6EV increments).

You do get to shoot on the main and ultrawide cams in this Expert mode, but switching them is handled in a truly bizarre way. You get a 1x-2x selector, which is for digital zoom, but there is no switch for the ultrawide camera. Well, if you look closely, you will see the tree selector on the opposite end of the viewfinder.

RAW is available only on the main camera.

Camera app

Photo quality

The main camera saves 12.5MP photos by default, and those are excellent for this class. The resolved detail is plenty, the contrast is high, the white balance is mostly accurate, and there is no visible noise.

The dynamic range, despite the Auto HDR, is about the average. The images look natural despite the clipped highlights, though we would have traded a bit of the contrast for a slight dynamic boost if we could.

The sharpening process is not our cup of tea as the photos look over-sharpened across areas of high intricacy like grass, car plates, decorations, branches, and buildings. Other than that, the primary camera does save great photos.

Main camera, 12.5MP

There is an AI toggle, which will tweak parameters according to the automatic scene recognition. Most of the photos we've taken fall in the Blue Skies, Greenery and Buildings, and they get popping colors and look a bit unnatural. But if that's what you are looking for - then by all means, do keep the AI on.

Main camera with AI, 12.5MP

There is 2x lossless zoom available on the Realme 9 Pro+. It seems to be done by shooting in 50MP, copping the 12.5MP center and then applying some post-processing mojo. No matter how this zoom is done, one thing is certain - it is of high quality and reveals more detail that couldn't be seen on the default photos.

Sure, the zoomed photos are not as incredibly detailed, but they do present enough detail and good sharpness to make them worthy of taking. They also show accurate colors, good dynamic range, and low noise levels. Oh, and the sharpening here is a bit gentler, which gets it bonus points.

Overall, we recommend using the 2x zoom whenever and wherever the occasion demands it - you will be happy with the zoomed photos for sure.

Main camera 2x zoom, 12.5MP

And here are a bunch of 50MP photos. These are not simple upscales either, but some high-quality 50MP images. They are a bit soft, the detail is average, and the noise is higher, but, on some occasions, shooting in 50MP and then resizing those down to 12.5MP may or may not give you slight sharper results. We are not sure if the minor difference is worth that hassle, though.

Main camera, 50MP

The Realme 9 pro+ omits a depth sensor, but it still can take portrait shots with its main camera. And those are brilliant - the subjects are always detailed and well exposed, the colors are great, and so is the contrast, and the noise is kept low. The simulated blur is pleasant, too.

The subject separation is proficient, too, even without a dedicated depth sensor. Sometimes messier haircut on a busy background may mess up with the algorithm, but that can happen even on phones with depth sensors, so we won't be holding that against the Realme.

Portraits, 12.5MP

We liked the 8MP photos from the ultrawide camera. These turned out quite detailed and sharp, in fact, better than the average as far as the mid-range ultrawide shooters go. The contrast is good, and so is the dynamic range, the colors are realistic and automatic distortion correction has reached a level of proficiency that has to be acceptable for everyone.

Noise is still visible on most of the ultrawide photos, but the not as harsh noise reduction process is probably why we see more detail on such types of photos than the usual. And this definitely works in Realme's favor.

Ultrawide camera, 8MP

The 2MP photos are alright. They offer good sharpness, and it's not terribly hard to learn to work with the 4cm fixed focus. The contrast is okay, and the noise is, well, tolerable.

The colors are a bit washed out, though, and your ladybug's flower petals may look a bit dull. Of course, when you put them through those Instagram filters, you should be fine.

Macro camera, 2MP

The default low-light photos are excellent - the OIS and the advanced processing together do a marvelous job. There is plenty of detail, and the exposure is great, the contrast is high, and the color presentation is commendable.

The noise reduction is a bit harsh across areas of high complexity and may smear some fine detail, but it's not to a quality-ruining extent.

Long story short, the standard low-light photos from the main camera are some, if not the best in this class.

Main camera, 12.5MP

There is Night Mode, of course, and it uses about 1s of simulated exposure and needs another 4 seconds to finish processing and saving the photo. The images are lovely - most of the clipped highlights are restored, some shadows and the skies are developed better, we can see more detail, and the color saturation gets a pleasant boost, too.

Here, the noise reduction is gentler, and so is the sharpening. That's why the photos look more natural and balanced, and in the meantime, offer better dynamic range, detail and colors.

Main cam Night Mode, 12.5MP

The 2x zoomed low-light photos are quite good, too. They are a bit softer than the regular images, but the high-quality zoom does a very good job at, well, zooming. They do exhibit the same good stuff as the standard photos - good exposure, high contrast, accurate colors, tolerable noise.

2x zoom, 12.5MP

You can use Night Mode for 2x zoom, and it restores the clipped highlights and reveals more detail in certain shadows. it also brightness the photos a bit and improves the color saturation.

There is a noticeable drop in the sharpness as the noise reduction destroys a lot of detail. And even then, we'd call these usable under the circumstances.

2x zoom Night Mode, 12.5MP

The regular ultrawide photos at night are usable, too, but that's the best we can say. They are dark and noisy, but they do retain enough detail and offer good color saturation.

Ultrawide camera, 8MP

If you must take an ultrawide photo at night, you should definitely switch to Night Mode. Just like on the primary camera, this one brightens the images, restores the clipped highlights and reveals more detail in the shadows. The color saturation is improved, as well.

The noise reduction cleans the noise well from the ultrawide image and doesn't destroy that much of the fine detail.

Ultrawide Night Mode, 8MP

And here are photos of our usual posters taken with the Realme 9 Pro+. You can see how it stacks up against the competition. Feel free to browse around and pit it against other phones from our extensive database.

Realme 9 Pro 5G against the Galaxy A52s 5G and the OnePlus Nord 2 5G in our Photo compare tool

Selfies

The Realme 9 Pro+ has the same 16MP selfie camera as the OnePlus 8, 8 Pro, 9 and 9 Pro. It's a Quad-Bayer sensor, and yet, the camera app saves 16MP photos instead of 4MP, so you should not expect stunning sharpness from the selfies.

The resultinng 16MP selfies are alright. The detail is enough for a mid-range front camera, while everything else is very good - colors, contrast, noise control and dynamic range. The subject is always exposed very well.

Selfie camera, 16MP

You can shoot selfie portraits. Those have a noticeable drop in sharpness. You probably won't notice this when browsing those on the phone's screen on posting them on Facebook/Instagram. The subject separation is satisfying, and the faux blur is good.

Portrait selfies, 16MP

Video recording

The Realme 9 Pro+ captures videos with all but the macro cameras. The main camera records video up to 4K at 30fps, and there's 1080p at both 30fps and 60fps. The ultrawide shooter is limited to 1080p@30fps video capturing.

You get the option to choose between the h.264 and h.265 codecs.

Electronic stabilization is always-on and available across all cameras and resolutions. OIS is naturally available on the primary camera, too.

The camcorder is incredibly generous with the bit rates - the 4K footage gets 50Mbps while 1080p/30fps is allocated a similarly above-average 20Mbps when using the h.264 codec. The audio bitrate is 156Kbps for 4K and 256kbps for 1080p resolutions, the sound is stereo.

The 4K clips we shot with the primary camera are outstanding! There is a lot of resolved detail, the noise is handled well, the colors are accurate, and the dynamic range is commendable. The sound is excellent, too.

You can use 2x zoom for videos, too, but it's not lossless, just a simple digital zoom. Still, the videos aren't terribly soft, so when you need zoom, you shouldn't be afraid of using it.

The low-light 4K videos are superb as well. There is a good level of detail and sharpness, while the noise is low enough. The color saturation deserves praise, the dynamic range is okay, and the exposure is true to life.

The ultrawide camera is useless for video recording as its field of view is slightly narrower than the primary camera. That's probably because the electronic stabilization and the distortion correction processing crop a great deal of the frame, while the primary camera has OIS and doesn't need such crops.

The FoV thing aside, the 1080p clips from the ultrawide camera are not good as the footage is soft with low detail. Even if the dynamic range and the colors are alright, these are not enough to salvage the usability of the ultrawide camera for video capture.

Finally, here is the Realme 9 Pro+ in our video tool so you can make your own comparisons.

2160p: Realme 9 Pro+ against the Galaxy A52s 5G and the OnePlus Nord 2 5G in our Video compare tool