Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro/Pro+ 5G review

A familiar tri-camera setup on the back

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G uses a familiar triple-camera setup - there is a 108MP primary camera, an 8MP ultrawide shooter, and a 2MP macro eye.

The first two cameras are identical to the Redmi Note 10 Pro's, while the macro has been downgraded since last year. There is no depth sensor on the Note 11 Pro 5G either.

The primary camera utilizes a 108MP Samsung ISOCELL HM2 1/1.52" sensor with 0.7µm pixels and 24mm f/1.9 lens. The color filter is Nona-Bayer, meaning 9 sensor pixels are combined into one 2.1µm, and the output resolution is 12MP. PDAF is available. This is the only camera that supports Night Mode.

The ultrawide camera uses an 8MP Sony IMX355 sensor behind a 16mm f/2.2 lens. The focus is fixed at infinity. There is no Night Mode here.

The macro camera utilizes a 2MP GalaxyCore GC02M1 sensor behind an f/2.4 lens. The focus is fixed at about 4cm away.

The selfie camera uses a 16MP OmniVision OV16A1Q 1/3.06" sensor with 1.0µm pixels and a Quad-Bayer filter. It sits behind an f/2.4 lens, and the focus is fixed. While this camera is supposed to capture 4MP images, it saves 16MP selfies instead.

Camera app

The camera app is a rather straightforward implementation, though it does have its quirks. First, basic operation for changing modes works with side swipes (on the black bezel!), and you can also tap on the modes you can see to switch to those directly. Up and down swipes don't work for switching between the front and rear cameras; only the toggle next to the shutter release does that.

You can add, remove, and rearrange modes in the main rolodex by going to the More tab and navigating to the edit button, and you can access that from the settings menu as well. The unused modes will still be in that More tab, but you can switch to a (less intuitive) pull-out pane that's summoned from a line next to the shutter release.

The hamburger menu at the far end is where you'll find additional options, including the Super Macro mode (why here and not a mode in the rolodex?), plus the icon to access the settings. Next to that hamburger menu, you have a flash mode switch, an HDR switch, an AI toggle, shortcut to Google Lens, and a magic wand with beauty effects and filters.

On the near end, you have the camera zoom switch that operates in one of two fashions. The first one is simply tapping on one of the three dots that represent the ultra-wide, primary, and 2x digital options. Or you can tap on the active magnification and slide sideways to reveal even more zoom levels - 2x and 10x, plus a slider for intermediate magnifications.

Camera app

There's a nicely capable Pro mode, where you can tweak the shooting parameters yourself. You can use the primary and the ultrawide cameras here. You get to pick one of 4 white balance presets or dial in the light temperature with a slider, there's a manual focusing slider, and shutter speed (1/4000s to 15s/30s for main/ultrawide) and ISO control with range depending on which camera you're using. A tiny live histogram is available, and a toggle for zebras can be found in the hamburger menu.

As expected, there's a host of extra modes, including Long Exposure with its own set of different presets - moving crowd, neon trails, oil painting, light painting, starry sky, and star trails.

Night mode is available on the main only. There is no Auto Night mode as on previous Xiaomi models.

Photo quality

The main camera saves 12MP images by default, and those are alright. There is enough detail for this class, the white balance is spot on, and the colors are true to life. The contrast is high, while the dynamic range is good and not over the top.

The photos are not ideal - they are overrun by additive noise, which was not cleaned properly. Worse, sometimes the sharpening makes it even more obvious. And finally, all photos have soft corners, but they are not as obvious unless you are pixel peeping around there.

We looked through the lovely Redmi Note 10 Pro photos - they were incredibly balanced and natural, while for some reason, the processing on the Note 11 Pro took a turn for the worse. Not that the photos are bad, they are alright, but a notable step back from the Note 10 Pro.

Main camera, 12MP

If you expected lossless 2x zoom, we are sorry to disappoint you. It seems like the processing tries to achieve something more than simple digital zoom - like cropping the center from the 108MP image - but then it fails miserably. The zoomed photos have overwhelming noise, various image artifacts, and are excessively over-sharpened.

Main cam 2x zoom, 12MP

A 108MP mode is available, and the high-res photos are not simple upscales. Just like the regular images - the 108MP snaps offer excellent color presentation, high contrast and good dynamic. They are not that sharp, though, their detail is average, and the noise is everywhere. There is one big but.

Main cam, 108MP

But, on many occasions, shooting in 108MP and then resizing those down to 12MP will yield more detailed photos, with natural-looking sharpness and not as obvious noise. So, if you are not a fan of the default processing, this is one way to bypass it. It is a hassle, obviously, and one 108MP photo is often north of 20MB.

108MP-to-12MP

The 8MP ultrawide photos are okay for a budget ultrawide camera, that is. They offer a high dynamic range - thanks to the occasional involvement of the Auto HDR, the contrast is enough, and the distortion correction does a good job at straightening the corners.

The ultrawide images show mediocre detail and are quite soft, the colors are either a bit washed out or warmer than they should be, and despite the noise reduction processing, some noise is still visible across various spots.

These are far from the best in the class, but are not among the worst either, we'd say they are just average. But we feel these 8MP ultrawide photos are a bit worse than the ones we took with the same camera on the Redmi Note 10 Pro and that's what's disappointing.

Ultrawide camera, 8MP

And speaking of disappointment, while the Note 10 Pro had a 5MP telemacro camera with autofocus, the Note 11 Pro 5G features a much cheaper 2MP shooter with fixed focus. The 2MP macro photos, provided you shoot from exactly 4cm away, are barely okay, but that's the best we can say. They have a good dynamic range, and sometimes we are happy with the colors and contrast. But most of the time, the 2MP macro shots are soft, the colors are washed out, and we are not sure if Instagram's filters can save them.

Macro camera, 2MP

We don't want to pile up on the disappointments, but here is another one - the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G has no depth sensors - something the regular Redmi Note 11 Pro offers, as well as the previous Note 10 Pro. Thankfully, it doesn't need one as the main camera, and the processing is proficient enough to save excellent portrait photos!

Indeed, the 12MP portraits from the main camera are superb - the subjects are incredibly detailed, sharp, and colorful, the contrast is excellent, and the simulated blur is quite likable. The subject separation varies from satisfying to great, depending on clothes, haircut and background complexity.

Portraits, 12MP

The Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G saves good low-light photos. There is enough detail, the exposure provides a realistic look, and the color saturation is well preserved. The noise is handled well, where it matters at least, and overall we are happy with the images.

Main camera, 12MP

If you find the default photos dark, then you should switch to Night Mode. As on other Xiaomi phones, it is rather conservative and will improve the photos without turning them into daylight-like. The Night Mode images offer slightly improved exposure, higher dynamic range with restored clipped highlights and developed shadows, but probably the most important benefit is the more resolved detail and better sharpness.

Main cam Night Mode, 12MP

The 2x zoomed photos, standard or Night Mode, are cropped and upscaled from the main camera's output. They have the same quality, obviously, but their detail is halved.

2x • 2x Night • 2x • 2x Night

The 8MP ultrawide photos taken at nighttime are not usable. They are incredibly dark, and there is so much noise, which pretty much ruins everything.

Ultrawide camera, 8MP

You can get (barely) usable photos if you force the HDR as Auto HDR won't trigger it. The HDR mode cleans the noise fine, but the photo will remain dark and desaturated.

no HDR • HDR

The Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G doesn't offer Night Mode on the ultrawide camera. We would have been okay with that, yet the non-5G model can do it. This weird fragmentation is beyond us.

And here are photos of our usual posters taken with the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G. 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.

Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G against the Realme 9 Pro+ and the the Galaxy A52s 5G in our Photo compare tool

Selfies

The Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G has a Quad-Bayer 16MP selfie camera, but as it often happens, it still saves 16MP photos. Those are not that sharp, they can't be, but they are still pretty good. The resolved detail is enough for the mid-range selfie purposes, the contrast is high, the subjects are always well exposed, noise is kept low, and the colors are true to life.

Selfies, 16MP

You can shoot selfie portraits if you like, and these are likable even if the subject separation is not as proficient, and you can notice some background distortion around the head and ears in particular.

Portrait selfies, 16MP

Video capturing

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G captured up to 1080p@30fps with its primary, ultrawide and selfie cameras. There is also an option to shoot 720p@30fps macro videos.

The Redmi Note 10 Pro had 4K video capturing, and the missing 4K option feels like a big downgrade, sorry Xiaomi.

Electronic stabilization is available across all cameras, except for the macro, it is always on and does a good job at stabilizing the image when necessary.

The video bitrate is about 20Mbps, while audio is recorded in stereo at 192kbps bitrate.

The 1080p clips from the main camera are good - there is enough detail and balanced sharpening. The colors are lively and true to life, the contrast is high, and the dynamic range is adequate for the purposes. The audio is good, too.

The videos could have been a bit sharper, or at least we expected them to be, but the always-on EIS is probably to blame.

The 1080p low-light videos from the main camera are pretty good, too. They are detailed, with low noise and excellent color saturation. The exposure is alright, and the dynamic range is enough. This camera will shoot good night videos when the occasion arises.

The 1080p videos from the ultrawide camera are good, too. They also present enough detail, the noise levels are tolerable, the colors are accurate, and the dynamic range is good.

Finally, here is the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G in our video tool so you can make your own comparisons.

Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G against the Realme 9 Pro+ and the Galaxy A52s 5G in our Video compare tool