If smartphone photography is important to you, then the new Oppo Find X9 Ultra is a formidable option. Is it the absolute best camera phone available today? Possibly. The most versatile? Definitely.
Its camera module comprises four front cameras spanning 14-230mm focal lengths; there’s also an optional 300mm teleconverter in a Hasselblad Explorer kit, plus an impressive selfie cam to boot.
I’ve already pitted the Find X9 Ultra against a popular travel zoom compact camera and a professional mirrorless camera, the Lumix TZ300 and Nikon Z8, respectively. Yes, those are proper cameras, not other leading phones, and Oppo flagship’s 3x and 10x telephoto cameras held their own against the 15x optical zoom compact.
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Our reviewer of the Oppo Find X9 Ultra called it ‘the best I’ve ever tested’, referring to the phone’s camera. Its design is easy on the eye, too — for me, as a Hasselblad X2D fan (aka the best quality stills camera I’ve ever used), it’s the closest to a baby Hasselblad yet.
But rather than waxing lyrical once more, here I’m going to let my pictures do the talking. I’ve been using the Find X9 Ultra for over a month and have stacked up over 2,000 images using a variety of shooting modes, cameras, and color profiles.
The following shots are some of my favorites, created using a variety of the shooting modes. I’ve included a watermark, which can be added in the phone’s editor, so you can see what camera settings were used.
Portraits
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I’ve used the portrait mode for this photo(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
When using this mode, the editor features an aperture slider – so you can increase background blur(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
Another example, unedited(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
And here’s an f/1.4 aperture is faked. The effect is convincing(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
I’ve used the 6x zoom setting here, which is a crop of the 3x telephoto camera(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
And for this portrait, the 10x zoom(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
Panoramas – the Hasselblad Xpan mode
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Like in the X8 Ultra, the X9 Ultra has an ‘Xpan’ mode, inspired by the iconic Hasselblad Xpan analog cameras which shoot panaromic photos. (Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
All that the camera is doing in this mode, is a straight up crop of whichever camera you’ve selected to shoot with. (Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
You could in theory apply this panaromic crop to a full size pictures in the phone’s editor, rather than have it baked in at capture using the Xpan mode(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
However, seeing the panoramic composition at the point of capture is a really handy and addictive tool(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
Close up photography with the 10x lens
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I think one of the best uses of the 10x zoom camera is for close up photography(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
You can maintain a reasonable distance from your subject with such a powerful zoom, ideal for subjects that scare easily such as butterflies(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
Bokeh can be a little off with the 10x lens – see the dappled light in the background here(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
Long exposures
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There’s a long exposure mode, which blurs movement while keep still objects sharp – you just need a steady hand(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
Here the moving water is blurred. There are a fair few restrictions in this mode in terms of what settings you can use, but it’s another string to the X9 Ultra’s camera bow(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
Ultra-wide
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I don’t often use a super wide lens, but the 14mm ultra-wide camera is handy for some scenarios to get a dynamic compositon(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
Street photography
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Being a phone, the X9 Ultra is a subtle but powerful camera to use in public(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
300mm teleconverter
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I only received the 300mm teleconverter kit recently and haven’t used it a lot yet, but it’s a great accessory especially for wildlife and sport photography. It utilizes the high-quality 3x camera, adding a 13x zoom. This was shot on a misty morning, hence the hazy look(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
For this photo with the teleconverter, I’ve selected the 30x zoom option which is a digital zoom for the optical 13x zoom(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
Action mode
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In the action mode, apress and hold of the photo button, the X9 Ultra starts a fast burst shooting sequence. The photos are all compiled into one in the gallery which you can open up to select your favorite. It’s a fast enough rate to capture decisive moments(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
3x camera
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The Find X9 Ultra features the best 3x camera I’ve ever used in a phone – it was able to keep plenty of detail in this early morning scene(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
The AI editor
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This is possibly my favorite photo of all the 2,000 I have taken so far with the Find X9 Ultra. However, I’ve done a little editing to it using the phone’s ‘AI’ editor tool to remove some distracting objects for a cleaner end result, there was animal dung in a few place on the left the frame(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
This scene had even more animal dung littered across the ground, which I’ve mostly removed. The editor isn’t. perfect, but it is super easy to use(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)
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