OnePlus 6T vs Note 9: In-Depth Camera Test Comparison By KJ Hardrict

Hi guys, it's KJ the MiTechGuy here and as promised, I have another camera comparison involving the OnePlus 6T. Today, I’ll be comparing it to the great camera system found on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. In this video, I’ll be comparing the cameras in various lighting conditions, both indoors and outdoors, and I’ll also look at the video and audio qualities of both phones. Make sure to stick around to the end of the video to see how the OnePlus 6T’s night mode compares to the dual aperture found on the Note 9. Huge shoutout to Xcentz for sponsoring this video. Let’s get right into it.

The Galaxy Note 9 has a dual-12 megapixel camera setup. Using Samsung's new Scene Optimization and Flaw Detection, the Note 9 will be able to optimize different image properties for a given scene, and it also can see if an image was blurry, or someone was blinking. The main, wide-angle camera can automatically vary between f/1.5 and f/2.4 apertures, whereas the telephoto camera is a fixed f/2.4. The second telephoto camera allows for 2x optical zoom, and helps with those portrait style pictures. The OnePlus 6T houses a main 16 Megapixel sensor that has an aperture of f/1.7. Its second camera is 20 Megapixels, but has the same aperture and focal length as its main sensor.

OnePlus says the 2nd camera helps out with portrait mode shots. Both phones are capable of shooting 4K video at 30 and 60 frames per second. In terms of the front cameras of both phones, the OnePlus 6T's 16 megapixel camera actually has double the megapixel count of the 8 megapixel selfie camera on the Note 9. These selfie cameras can both record 1080p video, while the Note 9 is capable of shooting 1440p video. As I get into the side-by-sides, know that I am going to start off with images in great lighting, and then I will look at images shot in progressively worse lighting conditions until I get to night time.

And Finally, I will look at the video and audio qualities of both phones. This first image shows how high quality both cameras are. Both are very detailed, but both cameras processed the images a bit differently. The 6T’s photo looks to show a little bit more contrast, while the Note 9’s image is brighter, but actually is slightly over-exposed. When I changed to the Note 9’s telephoto lens, we can see that it simply captures more details than the 6T’s 2x software zoom, as expected.

That being said, the 6T’s 16 Megapixel sensor was still able to capture a good amount of detail. Here, the Note 9 exposed the shot much better, and I actually think it took the more true to life picture of the two. The 6T’s image is brighter, and has more punchy colors, but in my opinion, the colors are a bit too punchy. Again, both pictures were great though. This next image shot in great lighting show almost identical levels of detail in each image.

Again, the 6T has the more saturated photo. You have to decide for yourself whether you prefer the punchy colors on the 6T, or the subdued, but more natural colors of the Note 9. Both phones are able to take portrait mode pictures. Because of the help of the telephoto lens, the Note 9 is able to do a better job with defining edges. The 6T on the other hand, is able to take the wider-angled photo and is also able to maintain much more of the colors in the background.

In terms of details, I do think the Note 9 is able to pick up more throughout the subject’s face and clothes. Both phones also have very high quality selfie cameras. The 6T’s 16 Megapixels clearly pick up more details on my face than the Note 9’s selfie camera does and is able to pick up a lot more of the colors throughout the image. But the saturation levels are really making my skin look orange. When I switched to the portrait modes, again I noticed that the 6T’s image is more detailed, but makes my skin look orange.

Both lost the colors of the background and had trouble with my hair, but both took pretty great pictures in my opinion. To nobody’s surprise, these two high quality 2018 camera systems performed excellent when the lighting was great. But let’s see how the two camera systems perform when the lighting gets more challenging. Both cameras have terrific HDR capabilities, and this typical very challenging shot was captured very nicely by both camera systems. Both did a really good job of not overexposing the skylight itself, while maintaining all of the details in the foreground.

Again, the 6T’s image is overall brighter, but is also a bit oversaturated, making the white ceiling look yellowish and other colors in the frame look slightly unnatural. This is a challenging shot because of the sun shining through the trees in the background, but both phones handled this situation beautifully. The HDR on both phones is really impressing me, and I can’t really say anything bad about either image. Just keep in mind the types of colors you prefer as I continue the side-by-sides. This shot was taken at the Samsung booth at CES where there is a lot going on with a lot of different light sources.

Both cameras did pretty well. I would say that the Note 9 did the better job of not only maintaining all of the details in the foreground, but also exposing all of the different light sources. The colors and details in the lighting fixtures are better preserved in the Note 9’s image. In this image, I wanted to see how the cameras handled direct sunlight. In this case, although both were able to keep the foreground properly exposed, the 6T was able to handle the light from the sun significantly better, which is noticeable by how much smaller the sun appears in the 6T’s image as opposed to that in the Note 9’s image.

Now I will really test the cameras’ capabilities in very low lighting. The Note 9 has its large F/1.5 aperture that it automatically switches to in these conditions whereas the OnePlus 6T has its night mode that I was able to switch to. This image was taken in the automatic modes of both phones. As you can see, the larger aperture that the Note 9 uses here is able to obtain more information and helps the Note 9 pull out more of the colors throughout the image while doing a good job of exposing the neon sign. When I shifted to the night mode of the 6T, it clearly made a huge difference.

During the 3 seconds it takes the 6T to capture the image, it is able to really pull out a lot of the details and colors that even the F/1.5 aperture of the Note 9 was unable to pick up. This shot was taken with the night mode on in the 6T, and it shows that you and the subject have to be perfectly still for it to execute correctly. It was able to pick up a ton of information, but the subject’s head and feet look blurred due to some very slight movements by me or the subject. The Note 9 was just able to capture this image basically instantly. The Note 9 is able to take very natural-looking night shots, while also doing a good job of keeping image noise to a minimum.

But the 6T’s night mode, when the situation is right and everything is stationary, is really able to pull in much more of the colors and details than the Note 9 is able to. The question then becomes if you’re going to take the extra couple of seconds to switch the 6T to night mode and then wait again as it has to keep its shutter open for 3 seconds. As I now shift into the video qualities of both phones, know that both phones are able to capture 4K video at 60 frames per second, but I set both to 4K at 60 frames per second because that is what this video is uploaded at. If you have watched my other OnePlus 6T camera comparisons, you probably already know what I’m going to say. I have no idea why OnePlus elected to make the 4K video of the 6T so saturated.

Samsung used to have this problem, but now the Note 9 shows that it is very possible to have visually appealing colors without making everything look fake. I should mention that both phones do have some really impressive image stabilization, but it is so difficult to look past how saturated the 6T’s video is. I really hope OnePlus fixes it with a software update because it is just way too much color. In terms of the front video qualities of both phones, I’d say that the colors actually look pretty good on both. I’m impressed by the level of detail and clarity both front cameras have in their videos.

The OnePlus 6T is also able to really stabilize the video, making it look like I’m walking with the phone on a gimbal. Both phones even do a good job of changing the exposure as I walked through shadows and harsher lighting. The big issue with the 6T in this case is the audio. The audio on the 6T sounds way too over-processed to the point where my voice sounds very tinny. The Note 9, on the other hand, actually captured some impressive, naturally sounding audio.

Before I give my final thoughts and feelings about these two camera systems, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about another cool product by Xcentz, who made this video possible. No matter what devices you own, you probably have that one place where you have to plug in a lot of different electronics at once. Whether you’re plugging in a monitor, your phone, or tablet, I can confidently recommend the Xcentz Surge Protector Power Strip. It has 8 AC Outlets and 2 USB ports. You can plug your devices into it knowing that it has overload protection, meaning that it can automatically stop the flow of power to the connected devices in the event that there is a surge of power coming through that specific wall outlet.

The power strip itself is made with very high quality materials, and in my opinion, even looks good enough to have it exposed on a desk or mounted on a wall. You can use the discount code down below to receive 20% off of your order. The link will be in the description. I’m actually pretty surprised with how well the OnePlus 6T seemed to hold its ground against the Note 9, which has one of the best camera systems on any phone right now. The 6T has very impressive HDR capabilities, and although its night mode isn’t the best out right now, it still has the potential to take great looking pictures without a flash.

I didn’t make this video to bash on one phone's camera system or the other, I simply wanted to show you how the two phones compared head-to-head, so you can see for yourself whether or not the Note 9's price is justified. Because you have to keep in mind that the Note 9 costs almost twice as much as the 6T does. Well, that is all I had to talk about in this video. If you haven't already, make sure you're subscribed and have the notification bell clicked because I have a lot of cool videos in the works. And also, make sure to follow me on Instagram and Twitter and DM me on those platforms as I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.

As always, thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.

Source : KJ Hardrict