Huawei Mate 9 Pro Review From A Photographer's Perspective

UPDATE: I have recorded myself using the Huawei Mate 9 Pro for street shooting in a video! You may check out the video here (click). 

Huawei has launched their new flagship smartphone series, Huawei Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro just last month. I was approached by Huawei Malaysia with a loaned unit of Huawei Mate 9 Pro for review purposes. The reason I am excited to try this phone out is the Leica involvement with the development of the camera module of the Huawei Mate 9, which is the second collaboration effort since the Huawei P9 (I have reviewed here and here).

I am not a tech junkie, and I am sure at this time of writing, there are dozens of tech-oriented reviews focusing on the smartphone aspects of Mate 9 Pro published on the net, everywhere in the world, offering in depth look and informative opinions. Therefore, there is no reason for me to add another review of a smartphone, which I believe that most of these sites have done a wonderful job reporting. On the other hand, as I have done a quick online research specifically for the camera review of Huawei Mate 9, not much information came up. The most extensive review I have come across was a video review done by Pocketnow focusing on just the camera on the phone, which I thought was exceptionally well done. As a photo-enthusiast who is obsessed with image quality, camera performance and creating beautiful looking images as a hobby, I shall take a good look particularly at the Huawei Mate 9 Pro's camera imaging capabilities in this blog review. 

The Huawei Mate 9 Pro loaned to me from Huawei Malaysia was a Champagne Gold edition. The shiny exterior was a breath of fresh air, since most of my gadgets and photography gear are in monotonous black color theme. 

Here at the back of the phone, is the dual camera module, which Huawei claimed to have been developed in collaboration with Leica. 

A closer look at the dual camera module. 

ABOUT LEICA DUAL CAMERA

The stand-out feature on this phone surely is the Leica dual camera. First implemented in Huawei P9, Huawei claimed that the dual camera used in the new Huawei Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro is an improvement over the P9, and this is now the second generation Leica camera. Based on the product descriptions and specifications (you may find the full list here), the following are the highlights:

1) Two Camera Modules Utilizing Two Image Sensors and Two Lenses

Two separate imaging modules were used with each module having its own image sensor and lens. One of the modules features a 12MP full RGB color image sensor, while another one has a monochrome 20MP image sensor. I honestly do not know which one of the cameras (either top or bottom) is the color or monohrome unit. This was the first difference with P9 which had two similar pixel count image sensors of 12MP. The lenses were both using a 27mm equivalent perspective, with aperture opening of F2.2 each. Since Huawei did not claim to make any improvements in the lenses, I would believe these were the exact same lenses used in the P9, which is a good thing, because the lenses were excellent based on my previous review. 

2) Pixel Binning Improved Resolution And Low Light Performance

Having dual cameras, the Mate 9 Pro benefits from Pixel Binning, allowing more image details to be captured from the secondary monochrome sensor to generate a higher resolution image. For JPEG option, 20MP resolution can be selected. For the purpose of this review, This option however is not available when shooting in RAW. I shall stay with only the 12MP native option since it is the true resolution, and 20MP is an up-scale processed image from the 12MP native image. Remember, for photographers, it is NOT how many Megapixels you have that matters, but the quality of each pixels that truly count. 

3) Optical Image Stabilization

One of my main complains back in my review of P9 was not having image stabilization, which could have made a world of difference in real life shooting conditions, both for still photography and video recording. This time, for the Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro, optical image stabilization system is included. I am also not sure how the image stabilization works with the dual camera module, either it is only stabilizing one of the lenses, or both lenses have its own stabilizer built in. Synchronizing two stabilizers is no easy feat, so as curious as I was, no information is available at this point. I shall explore the effectiveness of the image stabilization in this blog review. 

4) Wide Aperture Mode

Another advantage of having dual camera mode is the ability to generate "bokeh" effect. I simply loved the rendering of the simulated bokeh effect from the Huawei P9, and I am expecting the Mate 9 Pro to be able to produce similar quality output. 

5) PRO Mode With Manual Controls

I find that the Pro mode on the Huawei Mate 9 Pro is still in the same arrangements and layout as the P9, which is a great thing for me, since I am already accustomed to the settings and controls. The full control is available for manual exposure shooting, this includes shutter speed, exposure compensation, ISO, focusing modes (can manual focus too) and white balance controls. 

Having a 5.5 inch 2K Amoled screen, the phone is not exactly small, and reminds me of my time using the OnePlus One. The Huawei Mate 9 Pro fits nicely into my not so large Asian hand. If you have a larger hand than me, than you should have no issues. I cannot say if you have smaller hands though!

For dedicated photographers, we already have our own specific gear of choice, perhaps even having multiple cameras and lenses to perform specific tasks and to meet certain photographic needs. Whether a full DSLR system or a compact mirrorless interchangeable lens camera system, photographers both professional and hobbysts mostly know their way around the cameras and have their own expectations when it comes to pure imaging performance. However, having a high performing smartphone camera is also crucial and fits perfectly into today's modern photography. A smartphone is an item that we carry with us everywhere we go to regardless of what we do, and as the great Chase Jarvis once said "the best camera is the one you have with you". From my experience as a photographer, best photography opportunity often happens at unexpected times, and there are times we just do not have a camera with us. In such situations, a great camera in a smartphone can be a life saver. 

Besides, if you are just going to hang out with friends in a cafe, taking quick snapshots, selfies, and food shots (that coffee art and that layered colorful cake are just so Instagram worthy), you would't use your 10,000 dollars worth of gigantic DSLR and lenses, would you? A high quality smartphone camera should be able to satisfy such needs, unless you intend to do a billboard size print of that coffee and cake image you just took. Even for small prints, and high resolution web applications, most high end camera smartphones can deliver. 

I think smartphone cameras are getting better and better, with implementation of daring, fresh technologies that could make it into mainstream imaging products. Having dual camera module have positive outcomes, and that simulated bokeh rendering may have future applications in more serious photography products. Will the day come that the smartphone shall replace traditional cameras? Maybe, but if it happens, there is still a long way to go. However, it is also extremely important to view the smartphone as being a smartphone, and treat it as such. This is the main emphasis of this blog review, looking at the camera on this Huawei Mate 9 Pro, and how does it perform when I took it out for my usual shutter therapy sessions?

For those of you new to this site, shutter therapy is a phrase I personally coined: it simply means, go out with your camera (in this case, your smartphone) and have fun shooting anything you find along the streets. The key words are "having fun". Photography should be enjoyed, and is a form of personal therapy to many. 

Pro Mode, JPEG

1/475sec, F2.2, ISO50

Dynamic range of the camera on Huawei Mate 9 Pro is quite impressive. I can pull details from the shadows and recover blown out highlights. 

Pro Mode, RAW

1/60sec, F2.2, ISO50

The image rendering from the JPEG engine is pleasing, and natural looking with plenty of punchy contrast and color saturation. 

Pro Mode, RAW

1/33sec, F2.2, ISO160

The most important thing I look for in images is the "natural" look, and Huawei Mate 9 Pro delivers in this area. 

Pro Mode, JPEG

1/871sec, F2.2, ISO50

Another example of challenging lighting condition, and Mate 9 Pro excels in balancing the light and shadow areas. 

  

HDR Mode

1/100sec, F2.2, ISO200

HDR mode was used for this particular shot to balance the dark inner cave parts against bright light from an afternoon sun. 

IMAGE QUALITY

I am thoroughly pleased with the image quality from the Huawei Mate 9 Pro, both in JPEG and RAW quality. 

I shot everything in both JPEG and RAW. I used mostly JPEG images, and in cases when I processed from RAW, I shall mention separately at the image descriptions. 

JPEG quality is excellent, both in maintaining high level of fine details, overall sharp look and true to life color reproduction. The help from the secondary image sensor boosted the structure of the images, having more texture and much finer look when it comes to areas that have plenty of details (fabric, hair, etc). The white balance engine does a great job in producing good looking colors and to me that is important. Skin tone comes out pleasing and smooth. Shooting in good lighting condition (outdoor in the sun), with ISO numbers used being low (ISO50-200), the dynamic range recorded is impressively wide for a smartphone camera.

RAW option is available directly from the default camera app, which was an added bonus. Shooting RAW opens much more flexibility, especially when it comes to pulling out details from the shadow regions or recovering details in blown out highlights of an image. I have a few examples later in post illustrating how much highlights could be recovered with RAW processing. I generally would not recommend shooting RAW when it comes to mobile photography, but it does come in handy in some difficult shooting conditions, or if you simply want to maximize the potential of your images. Do bear in mind, if you are not photography-savvy, and you just started delving into the world of photography, do not shoot RAW. You must know what you are doing and how to effectively do post-processing, or else you are going to end up with shitty results shooting RAW. Stay with JPEG if you are uncertain with what you do. 

LENS QUALITY AND SHARPNESS

The sharpness from the Huawei Mate 9 Pro continues to impress me, I see similar signature lens rendering from the earlier Huawei P9. I believe similar optical construction was used for these smartphones.

I think these lenses (whether truly designed and made by Leica or not, is another discussion, which I shall not get into) are some of the best lenses out there for smartphone cameras.The distortion level is low (not sure how much software correction is involved) and sharpness is more than good enough for smartphones application. The images captured show impressive amount of fine detail and good contrast levels. 

At F2.2 wide open aperture, it is bright enough for a broad range of shooting needs. I have heard some online reviewers complained that at F2.2 the lens is not as bright as other available smartphone cameras that opens up to F1.7 or F1.8, claiming that the F2.2 on Mate 9 is inferior. Dude, seriously? That is only about HALF a stop difference in terms of exposure value, and you say it makes a world of difference? Do you even know what half a stop of aperture means? This is my problem with some online tech reviewers who review cameras on the smartphones, these claims are often made without much research or context when it comes to real life photography applications, and comparisons are made and immediately concluded based on paper specifications. F2.2 is perfectly fine as long as the optical quality is optimized and in all honesty, is still more than bright enough for smartphone photography applications. If you want a stark difference, maybe creating a high quality lens at F1.4 aperture or larger will accomplish significant difference worthy of comparison!

I have also heard several reviewers concluded the camera in the "cons" of their conclusions. They summarized the camera as being mediocre, not impressive enough, or not even as good as other smartphone cameras. Cameras of reference are Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Google Pixel. While I have not used any of these two "reference" cameras, I do not find the camera on the Huawei Mate 9 Pro to be mediocre at all. The proof is not in the specification war, or analyzing technical data. For a camera, the proof is in the images that the camera captures. 

Pro Mode, RAW

1/10sec, F2.2, ISO50

This may seem like a studio quality shot, but if you know how it was taken you would be surprised by how easy it is. I used my old LED light (bought at RM50 at clearance sales) diffused by an A4 paper from the left of the frame, and a weak flash light from OnePlus X smartphone beaming from the right. Black background in a dark room (lights turned off) of course. 

Crop from previous image. 

Pro Mode, JPEG

1/500sec, F2.2, ISO50

One of the best ways to torture the camera to test the resolution prowess is to shoot animals, revealing the fine details of fur or feathers. 

Crop from previous image

Pro Mode, RAW

1/500sec, F2.2, ISO50

Crop from previous image

Pro Mode, JPEG

1/15sec, F2.2, ISO50

Crop from previous image

 WIDE APERTURE MODE

One of the crucial highlights, which I think separates Huawei from competition is the wide aperture mode, ability to create simulation of out of focus area, blurring background off into beautiful, smooth and creamy bokeh. Basically bokeh itself is a Japanese word meaning blur, and in photography term, it refers to the QUALITY of blur in the out of focus areas in an image. A good bokeh should be smooth, not harsh, and pleasing in look without being distracting from the main subject in sharp focus. I personally was satisfied with the simulation of bokeh in Huawei P9, and in Mate 9 Pro, the wide aperture mode continues to work beautifully.

I also must put a disclaimer here that a simulated bokeh is still a simulated bokeh, and doing any comparison to real bokeh generated by wide aperture real lenses is truly pointless. Surely, the real bokeh is still better and more realistic looking, because, well, it is real. Having the ability to generate wide aperture mode, though software processed can come in handy when subject isolation is needed, and you have got to admit that the rendering from Huawei is the best out there when it comes to smartphones cameras. There are other similar offerings from other smartphones but none came close to what Huawei can do with their wide aperture effect. As I mentioned, it is not the amount of blur, but the quality of blur.

To fully maximize this mode, it is best to have just one subject and one background, and the subject should be as simple as possible. There is a chance of false blurring (areas in focus to be incorrectly blurred) and wide aperture mode still needs improving to be used flawlessly. However, if you take extra care in your shooting process, and understand how it works, you can actually make some convincing images with beautiful, bokehlicious background.

Trust me, I have had a handful of friends who spend crazy amount of money getting into DSLR system, just so that they can have "bokeh" in their photography. Bokeh is a huge thing, and the thought of the simulation getting better and where this is going is quite exciting!

A useful tip to share here, when using wide aperture mode, be a little conservative with the amount of blurring applied. Do not ever go overboard at F0.95, and I recommend using F2 or narrower. At F5.6 the image rendering looks very natural, and often I set the aperture number to the range from F4 to F5.6. 

Wide Aperture Mode

 1/33sec, F2, ISO160

Wide Aperture Mode

1/50sec, F4, ISO80

Wide Aperture Mode

1/60sec, F4, ISO50

Wide Aperture Mode

1/100sec, F6.3, ISO64

Wide Aperture Mode

1/33sec, F2, ISO250

Comparison to Wide Aperture background rendering at different values. While F5.6 may have less background blur, but it produces the most natural looking result. 

Pro Mode, RAW

1/100sec, F2.2, ISO100

When used in close up shooting, the camera can generate great amount of background blurring, and the natural bokeh looks good too. 

AUTOFOCUS SPEED AND CAMERA OPERATIONS

Huawei mentioned that they used sophisticated "Advanced 4 Hybrid Autofocus" system. It is a combination of PDAF (Phase Detect Autofocus), CAF (Contrast Detect Autofocus), Laser and Depth auto focus. I have no idea what Depth autofocus means. Also, I have no idea how the hell Huawei can combine ALL four AF systems together. 

The Mate 9 Pro is perhaps a little faster than the P9, but it will not make a big difference in real life shooting situations. For my shooting needs on the streets, I find that the AF responds fast enough for most of my shots. The response is not blazing fast and as instantaneous as high level DSLR or Pro mirrorless cameras, but hey, you are also not going to shoot sports or action photography with a smartphone are you? My point is, for general, not fast moving subject, you do need an appropriate expectation from what the camera can do, and for me, the Huawei Mate 9 Pro does more than a satisfactory job in nailing the focus just in time and I have very high hit rate for my shots. Sure there are misses there and here, but nothing to blame the Mate 9 Pro for. 

In low light, the Autofocus does struggle a little bit, it takes a while longer to lock focus, but here is the thing, when it does lock focus, it locks perfectly. The focus was spot on, and the images are always, always in accurate focus, and I have never encountered a situation that the Huawei Mate 9 Pro has failed to focus. Of course I was not shooting a black cat in a dark alley, but if you do need that kind of performance from a camera, seriously, you using a smartphone? The most important thing to me when it comes to autofocus is ability to nail the focus as accurately as possible, so that I know no matter how slow the camera focuses, as I wait, it will get the shot, and it is worth the wait. What I cannot forgive, is some camera trying too hard to lock focus quickly and while the camera tells you it managed to lock focus you get away with blurry images. That is a big sin in my books. 

Another point worth noting, is the absence of camera lag in response when waking up. It was a big problem as I used P9 for street photography, and I have not encountered this so far on the Mate 9 Pro I am using. Also, shutter lag seems to have been reduced too. 

In case you are confused between shutter lag and autofocus speed, you have some of the online tech reviewers to blame, as they often mix these two phrases up. Autofocus refers to the camera calculating the distance between the camera and subject, focuses the lenses so that the image will appear sharp and crisp, hence autofocus happens BEFORE a photo is being taken. Shutter lag refers to the delay between the press of shutter button to the actual capturing of image, as the phone receives a signal from your tap to shoot, the phone then needs to process the signal and directs the camera to take a photo. This happens DURING the image capture. A fast autofocus does not gurantee there is no shutter lag, and vice versa. In ideal situations, we shall have fast autofocus, with short shutter lag. And in realistic situation, ALL cameras, and I mean ALL, will have autofocus speed (how fast or how slow) and shutter lag (how long, or how short). 

Auto Mode, JPEG

1/900sec, F2.2, ISO160

This jumping cats shot is the perfect sample to illustrate how fast the camera on Mate 9 Pro responds to action situation. 

Auto Mode, JPEG, Converted to Black and White in post-processing

1/4000sec, F2.2, ISO50

Pro Mode, JPEG

1/255sec,F2.2, ISO50

As I saw the man in yellow shirt was about to step out from the bus, I thought the yellow shirt complements the yellow bus perfectly, something that we street photographers look for. The Mate 9 Pro reacted just in time for this shot. 

Pro Mode, JPEG

1/100sec, F2.2, ISO80

The stripe of the man's shirt matches the stairs. For shots like this, you have to be super quick in your shooting execution so that you can remain in "ninja" mode, without your subjects being aware of your shooting presence which could pollute the scene. The natural, beautiful expressions on the faces were perfectly captured, which the Huawei Mate 9 Pro was fast enough to do so before they noticed me shooting them. 

MONOCHROME MODE

Just like the P9, the Mate 9 Pro has one camera which has a dedicated monochrome image sensor, which means it only records in black and white. Yes, only in black and white and I know many people may not be able to comprehend the logic of this. Allow me to explain. 

You see in the traditional RGB image sensor, each pixel can only record either red, green or blue information, meaning the overall image sensor's resolution is greatly reduced at the expense of capturing full color information. When it comes to pure black and white recording, the pixels do not need to be filtered into separate colors, hence it can record to its full pixel capacity and potentially result in superior sharpness and fine detail rendering. 

If you want to find out more about how the monochrome image sensor works, I have written lengthily about it and even explored the difference and benefits of a monochrome mode in my previous blog entry on the Huawei P9 here. 

Similar concept and technology is being used, the only difference is that instead of using a 12MP image sensor, the monochrome mode in Huawei Mate 9 Pro uses a 20MP image sensor. 

I absolutely love the monochrome mode in Mate 9 Pro, and I believe there is a special look to the black and white images, with smoother gradations, finer details and more organic, life-like look in the rendering. I shall do one more blog entry, an extension to this review, dedicated to shooting only purely in black and white mode. After all, black and white photography is a huge thing and having a dedicated monochrome mode is a huge thing for photography lovers. 

Monochrome Mode

1/50sec, F2.2, ISO64

Monochrome Mode

1/218sec, F2.2, ISO50

Monochrome Mode

1/50sec, F2.2, ISO80

Monochrome Mode

1/310sec, F2.2, ISO50

Monochrome Mode

1/1/100sec, F2.2, ISO100

Monochrome Mode

1/898sec, F2.2, ISO160

LOW LIGHT SHOOTING PERFORMANCE

One of the biggest worries when it comes to camera performance, is shooting in low light conditions. 

Before we go in too far, if you are new to photography, let me introduce to you the concept of lighting, and why lighting is superbly important for any photography. There is the amount of light, and there is the quality of light. Amount of light refers to the light intensity and exposure level, for example, being outside in a cloudless day in afternoon you get a large amount of sun. When you go into a cave, you have much lesser amount of light in comparison to being outside in a sunny day. However, quality of light differs. Being under a bright, harsh, direct sun does not mean you get high quality light, when it is directly afternoon, you get harsh sun creating deep shadows and bright spots on human skin, causing problem with uneven exposures which most professional portrait photographers would prevent by using light reflectors and even flash. Similarly, shooting in a dark cave does not mean that the quality of light is bad, if you have a diffused, directional light, while it is dark, you can get interesting results. 

It is more important to emphasize on the quality of light, than obsessing over how the camera performs in low light situation. 

Here is the truth, if your lighting sucks, no matter what you do, no matter what camera you use (whether it is a smartphone or a high end DSLR) your images will still suck. 

A great camera cannot perform a magic to transform badly lit scene into a studio like quality images, regardless it is bright or in dark situation. There is a reason why flash light (or any sort of lighting) is so popular, to counter such problems. 

So how does the Huawei Mate 9 Pro perform in less than favorable shooting conditions? 

From ISO20-400, the image quality is well controlled, with plenty of fine detail and good sharpness. From ISO800 onward, the noise reduction kicks in, smearing useful image details, but I can still accept the image quality up to ISO800, and maybe using ISO1250 and ISO1600 in case of emergency with lower expectations on what the images can deliver, and of course, ISO3200 should be avoided at all costs. That ISO3200 is just simply unusable, I am not sure why it is there. 

While at ISO800 and ISO1600 is nothing revolutionary when it comes to today's modern imaging standards when the highest level camera can have clean ISO25,600 images, well please be reminded that the Mate 9 Pro is still a smartphone. There is only so much that a small image sensor can achieve. Managing expectations is crucial, as I mentioned, it is more important to take care of your lighting, understanding characteristics of light and how it works in photography, that will surely guarantee you much better results than complaining that the camera in the smartphone is not doing well in bad light. 

I do however, wish that Huawei has included noise reduction settings that we can tweak. I guess there is a reason RAW is available, so we can process the images ourselves if we do not intend to rely on JPEG. 

Pro Mode JPEG

1/30sec, F2.2, ISO1250

Crop from previous image

Pro Mode, JPEG

1/100sec, F2.2, ISO1600

Crop from previous image

Pro Mode, JPEG

1/229sec, F2.2, ISO3200

This ISO3200 image is so bad that it may induce photography nightmare if I show you a 100% view crop. 

HIGHLIGHT RECOVERY

The RAW mode comes in really useful, when dealing in difficult shooting conditions, such as shooting in an uneven lighting environment. I find the RAW files to provide an impressive amount of recovery headroom for highlight blown-out areas in a photo.

This is however no excuse for you to purposely over-exposing our images. As a reminder, you must know what you are doing if you want to shoot RAW, else shooting with JPEG should be your recommended option all the time.

Pro Mode, RAW

1/15sec, F2.2, ISO50

This image was purposely overexposed, using slow shutter speed manually to capture the motion blur which adds drama to the shot. Unfortunately, the drawback of using a smartphone camera module is a fixed aperture at wide open F2.2, which is too bright for sunny day situations. I shot this in RAW, and the exposure was corrected, with highlights recovered successfully in the following image. 

Post-processed to correct exposure and recover highlight to produce a balanced image. 

Pro Mode, RAW

1/60sec, F2.2, ISO50

Due to the multiple, varying brightness spotlights being used, the top left part of the image was overexposed. This was the JPEG image which could no longer be salvaged. 

Thankfully the RAW mode helped. 

IMAGE STABILIZATION

The newly added image stabilization benefits shooting with slower shutter. I find that the image stabilization effectively compensates between two to three stops of advantage when it comes to shutter speed steps. The slowest shutter speed I can shoot with is 1/3sec. I can confidently shoot at 1/5 sec or faster. That simply provides much better reassurance when dealing with slower shutter speeds, as I constantly get blur results with the previous P9 with anything below 1/20sec.

Why is this important? I can use slower shutter speed, so that I do not need to increase the ISO setting. Technically, for hald-held shooting for 27mm lens, a minimum shutter speed should be about 1/30sec. That would mean that I need an ISO of 640 to 800 to create a well exposed image, if I want to use 1/30sec. But shooting at ISO50 only, I can get the optimum image quality, by shooting at 1/3sec slower shutter speed.

Pro Mode, JPEG

1/3sec, F2.2, ISO50

Crop from previous image

PRO Mode

I think Huawei Mate 9 and the P9 series have the best implemented camera interface. The quick shortcuts to get into the most important exposure controls are efficiently placed and can be accessed easily. One swipe up reveals all the crucial settings in Pro mode: shutter speed, ISO, Exposure compensation, focusing modes and white balance settings. Operating these settings and controls are easy, quick and smooth in operation without any hiccup during my three days course of shooting with the Mate 9 Pro.

So far I have covered what I have liked about the Huawei Mate 9 Pro's camera capabilities. 

To summarize what I love:

1) Excellent JPEG rendering with very usable straight out of camera images. 

2) Good flexibility of RAW files, provided directly from the default camera App

3) Image quality is richly detailed, sharp with pleasing, natural looking color balance. 

4) Wide Aperture Mode creates realistic looking bokeh effect, good for subject isolation. Care of use is needed. 

5) Camera is responsive, autofocus is fast enough for general application and shutter lag is well managed. 

6) Inclusion of Image Stabilization helps shooting in low light conditions

7) Monochrome mode produces beautiful, great looking black and white images. 

8) Pro mode unlocks all necessary manual exposure settings for creative photography, and is easy to use. 

Now, what do I wish could be improved in the Huawei Mate 9 Pro's camera?

1) 2x Hybrid Zoom

Huawei claimed that 2x zoom can be achieved without losing resolution and details in a 12MP shot. However, that is not the case, and I have even tested the images shooting with a tripod to mitigate any image shake, yet images still come out softer than the default non-zoomed images. 

2) Wide Aperture Mode cannot work with Pro Mode

When Wide Aperture Mode is used, you are basically using the camera's auto mode. I would like to be able to control my ISO settings and shutter speed controls, for some shots that require tinkering in both parameters! I am sure this limitation can be overcome in future products. 

3) 20MP mode vs 12MP images

There is an option to select 20MP for JPEG images, as the Mate 9 Pro uses the secondary monochrome image sensor to increase the perceived resolution by software upscale processing. I have tried the 20MP images, and was not impressed. I highly recommend staying with the native 12MP images. 12MP is still a lot of Megapixels when it comes to smartphone photography. 

4) Touch to capture mode not fast enough. 

Firstly the touch to capture is not available for Pro mode, which is a shame, because I think it is crucial to quickly touch the area on the screen you want to be in focus and quickly have the camera immediately capture the shot too. Secondly, at full auto mode, the touch to capture still is not instantaneous enough, and using the touching "shutter" is faster. 

In all honesty, I am being nitpicking here. These complains that I have listed above should not affect the experience of most smartphone users, but may be a concern worth noting for photography-enthusiasts like myself. 

Hybrid Zoom 2x used. The mandatory coffee shot. 

My first selfie using the Mate 9 Pro. Red because it is Chinese New Year. 

So what do I think of the Huawei Mate 9 Pro, as a photographer?

I think this is possibly the BEST smartphone camera you can find in the market now, despite what some the other tech-reviewers are saying. 

In terms of image quality, the JPEG straight out of camera is actually on par with the modern more sophisticated cameras out there, and I did not have to do much processing to them.  RAW files are extremely versatile when you want to get down to serious business. The Mate 9 Pro creates the best looking bokeh effect in wide aperture mode, and the monochrome mode is just breathtaking. Pro Mode is designed with the photographer in mind, and is so easy to use, with smooth, lag-free operation. These few reasons are enough to justify the Mate 9 Pro being the best available camera for smartphone out there, because I do not see the same level of implementation from other smartphones. If there are, please do point me to the right direction. 

At the end of the day, the most important question I must ask myself is, do I enjoy using the Huawei Mate 9 Pro as a photographers' tool? Did I enjoy it using my shutter therapy sessions? Strangely, I have enjoyed using it a little more than I should! Having a camera that I truly love using is just as important as all the other considerations, because a camera that inspires and encourages you to go out and shoot is a better camera than one that you do not feel like using most of the time. 

If you have any questions on how I took any of the shots shown in this blog entry, please do not hesitate to ask, I am all about sharing and I hold nothing back when it comes to photography knowledge sharing. 

If you disagree with me in any part, I will gladly listen to you, but please do write in a polite and constructive manner. 

Do you own a Huawei Mate 9 or Mate 9 Pro? Do let me know what you think of the camera's capabilities. I want to hear from you!

I hope this review of the Huawei Mate 9 Pro's camera is beneficial to those who want to find out specifically how the camera performs. 

Please do support this site by liking my Facebook Page here (click).