Best Phone in India's redmi note 9 Pro Max in detail and camera review

Hey guys its Sagar from tecworkz, and hereis my detailed camera review of the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. Recently we took a detailed look at the camerason the Redmi Note 9 Pro, and while it did well in day time, its indoor and low lightperformance was just bad. This Note 9 Pro Max gets a different set ofcameras, so lets see if it performs any better. The camera module on this Redmi Note 9 ProMax looks exactly like the one on the Note 9 Pro. The only change is it says 64 megapixel, insteadon 48 megapixel. Primary camera gets a 64 megapixel sensorwith F/1.9 aperture and a 26mm lens. Next camera gets a 8 megapixel sensor withF/2.2 aperture and 13mm ultra wide angle lens.

Then there is a 5 megapixel camera with F/2.4aperture and a macro lens. And finally there is this 2 megapixel sensoragain with F/2.4 aperture and this is used for sensing depth information for portraitshots. With the primary camera, you can shoot 4kun-stabilised videos at 30fps, 1080p videos at 30/60 and 120fps. And 720p videos at 30/120/240 and 960fps. At the front, we get a 32 megapixel frontfacing camera with F/2.25 aperture.

It can take 1080p videos at 30 fps, and 720pvideos at 30/120fps. Interface of the camera app is similar tothe Redmi Note 9 Pro, so we are not going to spend a lot of time on it. Pro mode on this phone lets you dial in allsettings according to your liking for videos, just as you could do with images. Now before we get to the image and video samples,if you are new to this channel, please make sure to hit the subscribe button and the bellicon next to it. That way, youtube will make sure, you arenotified when a new video goes up on this channel.

As always, let us start with the daytime images. Now the monsoon is about to reach my city,but I was able to get a few shots when the sun was shining bright. As you can see, the main camera on this Note9 Pro Max captures good looking images with plenty of details. These 16 megapixel images are sharp enough,and I can already tell that these look better than the ones from the main camera of theRedmi Note 9 Pro. In this image, you can see that even toughthere is very bright light around, the white flower is not over exposed, and as I zoomin, you can see the amount of details being captured by this sensor. 

If you remember, in my camera review of theNote 9 Pro, I said that it tend to over expose most shots, and I had to pull the brightnessslider down manually. Well I am happy to let you guys know, thatissue has been fixed on this Note 9 Pro Max. It manages to capture pleasing looking colours,which are very close to how the actual scene looked. They are not overly saturated like we sawfrom the Mi 10’s camera in my last video. There is a natural warm look to these images,which I really like. If you like extra punch in your colours, youcan use the pro colour mode, which adds in a lot more saturation and vibrance to thecolours. Dynamic range is really good in these shots. 

I had left the HDR mode on auto for almostall of my shots, and the Note 9 Pro Max did very well to fire it up every time the situationasked for it. You can see it did a pretty good job. Shadows are not too dark, and the highlightsare not clipping, making the overall images look really good, even in such challenginglighting situations.

All in all, I am happy with the HDR capabilityof this phone while taking normal images. before we take a look at close up and macroshots, here is a quick focusing speed test. As you can see, it is pretty quick at switchingthe focus from a far to near object, and then back again. This quick and accurate focusing helps themain camera take such close up shots. 

Look at how amazing this close up shot turnedout. The subject which are the water droplets inthis image, and the fence in this one, are in sharp focus and the background is nicelyblurred out. These are normal close up shots and not portraitshots, so the blur to the background is all optical. We get such blurry background, thanks to thelarge physical size of the 64 megapixel sensor and the wide F/1.9 aperture.

I love walking up to things and taking theseclose up shots, and being able to do this without the phone continuously hunting forfocus saves me a lot of time. Now this is how close you can get to a subjectand set the focus. If you move any closer, the main camera won’tbe able to set the focus on that object. S if you want to get even close to your subject,you will have to switch to the macro lens, and it will let you take shots like this. Note 9 Pro Max gets a 5 megapixel macro.

Camera,which can take much better images than the 2 megapixel macro camera on the POCO X2, OnePlus8 and even the Mi 10. It still struggles a bit when we try takingthese shot indoors, but given ample light, we can take good macro shots with this camera. The wide lens lets you get so much more ofthe scene in the shot. It gives you a whole different perspectiveof the scene. This camera doesn’t capture as many detailsas the primary camera, and you can see a fair bit of distortion towards the edges. This is actually true for wide lens on mostof the cameras. While that may be the case, I am still gladthat we have this lens on this Note 9 Pro Max.

All of the images we saw from the main camerawere 16 megapixel pixel binned ones. If you want to take even higher resolutionimages, you can switch to the 64 megapixel mode. These 64 megapixel images having more details,but you will have to zoom in 4-5 times to notice this difference. These higher resolution images also don’thave very good dynamic range, and they are huge in terms of file size. They also start showing a lot of noise asthe light gets lower, so for most of your shots, I think it is best to stick to thedefault 16 megapixel mode.

If you happen to scroll through the imagegallery on any of my phones, you will find it largely populated with close up and portraitmode shots. So the portrait mode performance of any smartphoneplays a very important role, in wether I will like that particular phone or not. Redmi phones have always been really goodat taking these portrait shots, and this Note 9 Pro Max is no different. Thanks to the depth sensor, it does an excellentjob of detecting the edges of your subject, and separating them from rest of the background.

My last video was the detailed camera reviewof the Xiaomi Mi 10, and I think this Note 9 pro Max is just as good, if not better thanthe Mi 10 at taking these portrait shots. In some shots like this, the bright backgroundis blown out, so Redmi needs to work a bit on getting the dynamic range right in allconditions. Other than that, these shots look great.

The movie mode is an option within the portraitmode, and it lets you take 21:9 portrait shots, with black bars at the top and bottom. Just as the normal portrait shots, these onesare very detailed, and the wider aspect ratio makes them look very unique and cinematic. Portraits of objects turn out equally good. the edges are detected and separated verywell from the background, and the blur roll off also looks very natural. 

While taking all these portrait shots, thisphone does well to keep the white balance in check and colours looking natural. If you have never tried this before, do thisthe next time you are clicking images. Unless you are taking images of a landscapeor some architecture, switch to the portrait mode, and look how much better your imagesturn out. Now let us move to the image shot in artificialand lower lighting situations. If you remember, this is where the cameraon the regular Note 9 Pro started falling behind, but fortunately the Note 9 Pro Maxis doing a much better job in these situations.

From the first look, these images look totallyusable. They might not have as many details in themas in the images from some higher end smartphones, but I think these images get the job done. If you think they don’t have enough details,or if they are too dark, then you can switch to the night mode, and it will help you takemuch better images. This mode helps it capture much more lightand details, and as you can see, the images turn out really good. There is still a lot of noise in the darkerparts, but I think for the price it is doing a very good job. Since this phone is priced very close to thePOCO X2, I think that is going to be what most people compare these cameras with. 

So in a few days I will be making a cameracomparison between these 2 phones. Right now, on its own, I think images fromthis phone are look really good. Coming to the front facing camera. We have a much higher resolution sensor thanthe regular Redmi Note 9 Pro. The beauty mode is on by default, so if youwant sharp looking selfies, make sure to disable it before taking these images. I would say the selfies are sharp, and theskin tones look good and natural.

You can see a lot of details in these selfies,even as you zoom in. Portrait selfies again look really good fromthis phone. Even without a secondary depth sensor at thefront, edge detection is on point. I just think Redmi needs to work a bit ongetting the dynamic range better while taking these shots.

Other than that, I am satisfied with thisselfie camera, and I think most people getting this phone will be too. Here is a video from the front facing cameraof the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. You can see how it is handling overall coloursof the scene, exposure, and stabilisation as I am walking around with it. Coming to the video performance, the maincamera can shoot 4K videos at 30fps. These videos are not stabilised, so you needto be very stable while shooting them, because if you are not, this is how the videos willturn out.

I am not deliberately shaking the camera,I was just walking normally, and this is how bad the video turned out. If you want electronically stabilised videos,you will have to drop the revolution down to 1080p at 30fps. These videos while not as sharp, still lookgood because of how smooth they are. For slow motion, you can shoot 1080p videosat 120fps. 720p videos at 240fps and 960fps. I don’t like how the 960fps videos look,so for slow motion, I just stick to shooting 1080p videos at 120fps. So after looking at close to 75 image andvideo samples, I think the cameras on the Redmi Note 9 Pro Max, are a big improvementover the Note 9 Pro. 

I really think that Redmi should have notlaunched the regular Note 9 Pro in its current form at all, and this Pro Max should havebeen the only phone that sold. It has got a great set of cameras for itsprice, and as you saw, it can take really good images in almost all lighting conditions. I will have to compare it with the POCO X2and the Samsung Galaxy M31, to see where it stands against them. But on its own this Note 9 Pro Max has a goodset of cameras. If you guys want to see me compare its cameraswith other phones, make sure you have turned on the notifications for the channel. What do you guys think about the cameras onthis phone? Let me know in the comments. And take care.