Xiaomi Redmi 9T review

Four cameras on the back but only three usable

The Redmi 9T has almost identical camera setup as the Poco M3 but adds an ultrawide unit into the mix. The main shooter is still 48MP with f/1.8 aperture and 1/2.0" sensor size and the ultrawide is a standard for the mid-range segment - 8MP with f/2.2 aperture and 1/4.0" sensor size. The advertised field of view is 120˚, which is rather wide.

The other two cameras are both 2MP but only one of them is actually usable. It's dedicated to macro photography while the other one is used for depth sensing when taking portrait stills.

On the front, we have a small 8MP, 1/4.0" sensor paired with f/2.1 aperture.

Camera

The camera app hasn't hanged a lot so it's business as usual. Swiping left and right cycles through the different camera modes, additional settings for each camera mode can be found on top of the viewfinder and the hamburger menu opens up a couple of other settings and the general settings menu for the camera app.

Default camera app

Interestingly, the macro camera doesn't get a dedicated mode of its own and it can be found by switching to Photo mode and tapping on the hamburger menu in the upper-right corner of the viewfinder.

Daylight samples

Main camera

The Redmi 9T's daylight performance is almost identical to the Poco M3's since they both share the same software, camera and chipset. But since the Poco M3's samples were taken in different and more challenging winter conditions, there are some slight differences in the photos.

Main camera daylight samples

In any case, we found the overall daylight performance of the phone quite good. There's some noticeable noise here and there, mostly in the sky or homogeneous background. However, the amount of sharpness and detail makes up for a really nice photo. The colors are a bit warmer than they should be and the contrast-y look look is typical for most Xiaomi midrangers. And although not perfect, the dynamic range is more than good. Even on a bright sunny day, sharpness and detail deteriorate fast when you go indoors.

Main camera daylight samples

Switching over to the 48MP mode won't bare any benefits. They are actually noisy and detail isn't as good as on the standard 12MP photos. No point in using it.

48MP daylight samples

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera's rendering may seem similar to main camera at first but don't expect the same level of quality. There's noticeable edge softness, noise is more prominent in the photos while sharpness and detail are quite low. Colors, contrast and white balance look the same as on the main camera, though.

Ultrawide camera samples

Perhaps for casual social media posting, the ultrawide snapper is good enough and it may sound surprising, but it's pretty much on par with the competition. The ultrawide cameras more often than not are deeply flawed even in considerably more expensive phones.

Low-light samples

Main camera

It's unrealistic to expect good nighttime performance from a phone this cheap but it's hard to say that most of the photos taken after dusk are usable, even for social media. Colors are washed out, detail is nonexistent and noise is aplenty. To be fair, the pictures do look clearer than we anticipated and there's no fogginess. Our main issue with the low-light samples is the fact that they are dark and underexposed while highlights are often blown.

Main camera low-light samples

However, the dedicated Night mode can go a long way. It takes just a second or two to make the needed images and stack them but the results are far from what you can achieve with the standard photo mode. The noise-suppression algorithm is far from perfect as it sometimes washes away fine detail but it does keep the noise well under control. Colors look more lively, there's considerably more detail in the shadows and highlights and there's a touch of added sharpness that makes the images look a lot better. More importantly, the Night mode balances out the shadows and highlights making the stills sensibly brighter.

Night mode samples

Ultrawide camera

Sadly, the same cannot be said about the ultrawide's camera performance. Its performance is barely enough to make decent daylight photos, let alone nighttime ones. Images are underexposed, lack dynamic range, don't offer any detail and are extremely soft. They are generally blurry. It's hard to recommend the ultrawide snapper for low-light photography. And there's no Night mode to fix the issues.

Ultrawide low-light samples

If you are done with the pixel-peeping, get ready for some more in our photo compare tool.

Xiaomi Redmi 9T vs Redmi Note 9 and the Samsung Galaxy A21s in our Photo compare tool

Macro samples

The main drawback of the macro cameras in general is the lack of autofocus and the limited resolution of just 2MP. There are a lot of factors that need to be weighed in when taking macro stills. The lighting conditions must be ideal, the subject should be standing still and you need to guess the right focusing distance. Taking a couple of shots often helps but don't expect great results in terms of sharpness, detail, colors and overall good performance indoors.

Macro samples

Portraits

It seems that Xiaomi is utilizing the extra depth sensor quite well because portrait shots are looking great for this price bracket. The subject is always well-exposed even in more challenging conditions while detail is aplenty. Noise can be observed in places and as the light drops, the images start to get a bit soft. Colors are natural, though, and we were particularly impressed by the edge detection - it looks very convincing.

Portrait samples

Selfies

The selfies look a bit dull and turn the subject's skin too white. Detail is lacking and there's plenty of noise too. In more complex scenes, the subject's face can remain underexposed and soft. In ideal conditions, though, there's a good amount of detail. The portrait mode looks a bit fuzzy around the edges, which is to be expected.

Selfies: Normal • Portrait

Video recording

The smartphone is only capable of doing up to 1080p videos and up to 30fps so as expected, no 4K footage. Electronic image stabilization is also out of the question so your videos will appear shaky no matter what.

As far as the Full HD video quality goes, it's mostly what you'd expect from a low-end smartphone. Detail and sharpness are lacking, the dynamic range is narrow as you can see most of the buildings in the distance are clipped while trees cast a dark shadow with missing detail in it. Only colors are popping and contrast is good.

The ultrawide's video processing is almost identical but it offers even less details.

Once you are done with the real-life video samples, take a look at our dedicated video compare tool to see how it stacks against the competition.

1080p: Xiaomi Redmi 9T vs Realme 7 and the Samsung Galaxy A21s in our Video compare tool