GoKawiilWe're in a golden age of phone cameras. Earlier this year I awarded Xiaomi and Leica's Leitzphone an Editors' Choice award for its stunning camera performance and then here we have Oppo's Find X9 Ultra, which is packed to the gills with high-end camera tech and aimed squarely at passionate photographers who want to take glorious images on their phones. I've even put the two against each other in a side-by-side camera comparison and while I mostly prefer images from the Leitzphone, Oppo's phone is unquestionably an absolute beast when it comes to photography.
Made in partnership with iconic camera-maker Hasselblad, the X9 Ultra comes with a suite of potent rear cameras boasting large image sensors and wide apertures. And with the addition of an optional telephoto zoom lens it's allowed me to take some superb images in my testing time. The X9 Ultra is essentially a full camera bag of gear, all squashed down into a phone body.
8.0 Oppo Find X9 Ultra Like Stellar battery life
Stellar battery life Excellent camera quality
Excellent camera quality Optional telephoto lens delivers wild results Don't like The best images require more manual control
The best images require more manual control Telephoto lens is an expensive extra
Telephoto lens is an expensive extra Too much preinstalled junk
But the aforementioned Leitzphone is a problem for the X9 Ultra. Yes, it costs a bit more, but Xiaomi's phone brings more genuine innovation in the form of cutting-edge image sensors, and a rare -- perhaps even unique -- physical camera control wheel and a continuous zoom lens with actual moving lens elements. As a result, the Leitzphone remains my top choice for the "ultimate" camera phone -- especially following my side-by-side testing -- but the X9 Ultra comes close and has some stand-out tricks of its own that make it a formidable choice for even the most demanding of photographers.
However, while it can deliver stunning images, I've found that getting the best results from it requires a more manual approach that asks more of the photographer, both at the moment of taking the image and some extra steps in the editing stage.
I'll come onto that in a moment, but let's talk pricing first. The phone costs £1,449, making it competitive with the Leica Xiaomi Leitzphone which comes in at a princely £1,700. The X9 Ultra is on sale in Europe and the UK now but, like the Leitzphone, it won't be officially sold in the US. (For reference, that price converts to around $1,955.)
... continue reading