Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro/9 Pro Max review

Quad-camera on the back

The Redmi Note 9 Pro has this black square at the back that houses all four cameras. The arrangement is familiar, in fact, it is the same as on the Redmi Note 8T and Note 9S - first is the ultrawide snapper, then the primary one, the macro camera is next, and last is the depth sensor.

The main camera uses a 64 MP sensor with a Quad-Bayer filter, probably the ISOCELL Bright GW1 sensor by Samsung. It's a large sensor with 0.8µm pixels, and the lens has f/1.9 aperture. The image output after the pixel binning is 16MP.

The 119-degree ultrawide-angle camera has an 8MP sensor with an f/2.2 aperture. There is automatic distortion correction applied when necessary, but you can opt-out of it.

Then there's the 5MP macro camera with 1.12µm pixels and lens with f/2.4 aperture. Autofocus is available, which is a rarity among those type of snappers and much appreciated.

The last camera on the back is the 2MP depth sensor.

Switching between modes is like in every other camera app - swiping left and right will take you through all modes while tapping in the upper right corner of the screen where the "hamburger menu" resides will expand the options. The Macro mode was hidden within this menu, which is a bit odd.

The real settings menu is in there as well, and it doesn't offer anything out of the ordinary.

Camera app

The Redmi Note 9 Pro offers 64MP mode, as well as manual (Pro) one. Speaking of Pro, this one offers pretty much all the settings you'd need - white balance, focus, ISO, and shutter speed. The Pro mode works with the normal camera, the ultra-wide, and the macro. Manual 64MP pictures are also an option.

Image quality

The 64MP camera saves by default 16MP images, and the ones we shot with the Redmi Note 9 Pro are excellent for the class. The resolved detail is plenty, the colors are accurate, and the dynamic range is great even if the Auto HDR did not fire once.

The images are a bit sharper than we would have preferred them, but not it is not extreme. The noise is kept low and is visible only in areas of uniform color.

The foliage presentation is not the best we've seen and yet the Redmi Note 9 Pro is still overqualified for its budget class.

Main camera, 16MP photos

There is a standalone 64MP mode, but what you get does not look like a real 64MP image. It has the detail of a 64MP photo, sure, and the image does look quite detailed. But the extra detail is achieved through various hoops such as image stacking and interpolation, and it is not exactly real. Here is what you get.

64MP Mode straight out of the camera (left) vs. Manually upscaled 16MP to 64MP (right)

Everyone should decide for themselves. If you ask us, there are no huge benefits when shooting in 64MP as the gain in detail is questionable, it takes a couple of seconds, and the saved photo weighs about 40MB.

Main camera, 64MP photos

The viewfinder offers 2x option and the photos are exactly what you would expect - digitally zoomed and lacking in detail.

Main camera, 16MP 2x zoom

One of the benefits of having a big sensor and high resolution - you get more resolution for cropping or digital zooming. But the process of making a 64MP and then cropping its center is slow, and it obviously the Redmi Note 9 Pro just crops and zooms over the regular 16MP photo.

You can yield better results if you crop the center from a 64MP image without any further enhancements involved. It's a hassle, of course, we are not denying that. But if 2x zoom is a must in any situation, switch to 64MP mode and snap a photo.

16MP cropped from 64MP

The 8MP camera shoots some very good ultrawide photos enough detail, great contrast and above average dynamic range. The distortion correction does a nice job around the corners and overall - we are happy with this camera.

Ultrawide camera, 8MP photos

The 5MP macro camera shoots brilliant closeups. They are detailed, sharp, and with little noise. The autofocus helps a lot in such occasions as opposed to the fixed focus at 4cm most of the competitors are offering. The colors are a bit dull, but other than that - a great job.

Macro camera, 5MP photos

The quality of the portraits taken with the main camera with the help of the 2MP depth sensor depends on the available light as the resolved detail would drastically drop when the light is not perfect. So, when the right conditions are met - you will be rewarded with some very nice portrait shots - detailed, with very good subject separation and convincing faux blur.

Main + portrait camera, 16MP photos

The Redmi Note 9 Pro shoots acceptable low-light photos and that's probably the best we can say. There is enough detail for this class and the color saturation is very good, but the noise quickly becomes overwhelming when the sky turns black.

Main camera, 16MP low-light photos

The Night Mode is something you should use more often. It resolves even less detail and you can observe some artefacts here and there, but the gains are huge - balanced exposure, popped detail in shadows, and restored highlights. We recommend this Night Mode - it takes less than 2 seconds, but the results are significant for this class.

Main camera, 16MP Night Mode photos

The night photos from the ultrawide-angle camera are barely usable, if at all. They are lacking in detail big time, pretty dark, and the smeared noise ruins the whole image.

There is no Night Mode for the ultrawide camera, unfortunately.

Ultrawide camera, 8MP low-light photos

Once you're done with the real world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Redmi Note 9 Pro stacks up against other phones.

Redmi Note 9 Pro against the Realme 6 and the Redmi Note 8 Pro in our Photo compare tool

Selfies

The 16MP selfies are not that sharp, probably because the front camera uses a 16MP sensor with a Quad-Bayer filter. Still, the photos are good, HDR works great when needed, and we observed good colors and contrast. We'd be happy with the native 4MP shots though, in case someone's asking.

Selfie camera, 16MP photos

The selfie portraits offer competent subject isolation and the background blur is convincing.

Selfie camera, 16MP portraits

Video recording

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Pro captures videos up to 4K @ 30fps, though 1080@60fps and 1080@30fps are available as well.

It seems at first that you can capture in these resolutions with all cameras, but you cannot. The ultrawide-angle and macro snappers record only 1080p clips at 30fps.

Let's talk about the main camera. The video bitrate is 40-42Mbps in 4K and about 20Mbps in 1080p at both 30fps and 60fps. Audio is recorded in stereo with a 96Kbps bitrate.

Despite the high bitrate, the 4K videos have somewhat average detail, but the overall quality is pretty good as the everything else makes up for the uninspiring detail - colors, contrast, and occasionally - the dynamic range. The noise is almost non-existent, and maybe an overly aggressive noise reduction is to blame for the loss in detail.

The 1080p clips at 30fps are nicely detailed and among the better ones you can get today. The 60fps ones, on the other hand, have the same bitrate as the 30fps, and thus their detail is lesser, but they still look good.

You can also shoot 2x zoomed videos and the 1080p one looks great.

We liked the 1080p videos from the ultrawide camera - they are sharp, with good colors and contrast.

Electronic stabilization is available (in settings) only when shooting in 1080p at 30fps and works on the main and ultrawide cameras. The stabilization does a great job smoothing the camera shake at the expense of minor loss of FoV.

Here's a glimpse of how the Redmi Note 9 Pro compares to rivals in our Video compare tool.

2160p: Redmi Note 9 Pro against the Realme 6 and the Redmi Note 8 Pro in our Video compare tool