Testing the Xiaomi Mi 9 smartphone for capturing my Newfoundland landscapes...

camperbc

camperbc

MobiStarlet
MobiSupporter
Real Name
Glen
This is my first time posting on this fine forum! I like what I am seeing, and am looking forward to becoming an active contributing member of Mobitog!

I am a pretty hardcore landscape/nature photographer, and normally shoot with any of four Sony Alpha-series DSLR bodies, (A200, A500, A550, SLT-A57) and a wide assortment of Sony, Samyang, and vintage Minolta Maxxum prime glass, (I shoot on film also) and just recently began using a smartphone for capturing my Newfoundland landscapes! I recently replaced my aging phone with the new Xiaomi Mi 9 flagship handset, and I have to say that I am very impressed indeed with the image quality I am seeing from this phone's amazing 4-camera array, including a main shooter which utilizes the latest Sony Exmor-RS CMOS (48MP) sensor. The technological advancements in smartphone cameras in 2019, in regards to sensors, lenses, software, AI (Artificial Intelligence) etc, etc, is truly astounding!

I used to have to strap a (24 litre) "Cortech 2.0" tail bag full of bulky DSLR gear onto the rear of my motorcycle everytime I went out for a ride around my little island paradise, but lately I have just been throwing my phone into my pocket and away I go! I cannot speak highly enough about the new Xiaomi Mi 9... I never thought that I would ever see the day where I was using a mere cellphone for capturing my Fogo Island landscapes!

This sunset image was taken in the tiny fishing village of Deep Bay, near my oceanfront home on the western shore of scenic Fogo Island, located a 90-minute ferry ride off the north coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The small building is called a fishing stage, which traditionally have been used to process and store the catch-of-the-day. This photograph has not been edited, aside from resizing it to post on the Internet. It was taken handheld in extremely low light.

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Stunning! Wow, looking forward to seeing more pics of your location! I could never live where you live because of the cold but I marvel at your wonderful landscapes.
 
camperbc said:
This is my first time posting on this fine forum! I like what I am seeing, and am looking forward to becoming an active contributing member of Mobitog!

I am a pretty hardcore landscape/nature photographer, and normally shoot with any of four Sony Alpha-series DSLR bodies, (A200, A500, A550, SLT-A57) and a wide assortment of Sony, Samyang, and vintage Minolta Maxxum prime glass, (I shoot on film also) and just recently began using a smartphone for capturing my Newfoundland landscapes! I recently replaced my aging phone with the new Xiaomi Mi 9 flagship handset, and I have to say that I am very impressed indeed with the image quality I am seeing from this phone's amazing 4-camera array, including a main shooter which utilizes the latest Sony Exmor-RS CMOS (48MP) sensor. The technological advancements in smartphone cameras in 2019, in regards to sensors, lenses, software, AI (Artificial Intelligence) etc, etc, is truly astounding!

I used to have to strap a (24 litre) "Cortech 2.0" tail bag full of bulky DSLR gear onto the rear of my motorcycle everytime I went out for a ride around my little island paradise, but lately I have just been throwing my phone into my pocket and away I go! I cannot speak highly enough about the new Xiaomi Mi 9... I never thought that I would ever see the day where I was using a mere cellphone for capturing my Fogo Island landscapes!

This sunset image was taken in the tiny fishing village of Deep Bay, near my oceanfront home on the western shore of scenic Fogo Island, located a 90-minute ferry ride off the north coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The small building is called a fishing stage, which traditionally have been used to process and store the catch-of-the-day. This photograph has not been edited, aside from resizing it to post on the Internet. It was taken handheld in extremely low light.

View attachment 148952
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WOW! Welcome to Mobitog Glen and arriving with a bang! What a fantastic place and a super image. I can’t wait to see more of your surroundings.
 
camperbc said:
Another one, taken from the exact same location as the photo posted above... this time showing one of my motorcycles (2014 Yamaha "V-Star Custom" cruiser) in the foreground. View attachment 148955
Click to expand...
“One” of your motorcycles? :lol: Another super sharp image, but with a lovely smoothness too (if that makes sense:confused: ).
 
ImageArt said:
Stunning! Wow, looking forward to seeing more pics of your location! I could never live where you live because of the cold but I marvel at your wonderful landscapes.
Click to expand...

Thank-you ImageArt, for your warm welcome and kind comments; much appreciated! I must add that it's actually a bit of an old wives' tale about Newfoundland being cold. Sure, pretty much all of Canada is cold in the winter months but, quite surprisingly to most people, Newfoundland is in fact one of the milder regions in this country. Daily highs during winter generally hover within a degree or two of the freezing mark, and at night the mercury will rarely dip down to -12C or so. (about 10F) Our summers are absolutely gorgeous... plenty of sunshine and quite warm temperatures, without being dreadfully hot. Daytime temps during the summer months are usually in the range of 23-30C. (73-86F) Mind you, our home sits right at the very edge of the North Atlantic, (we can literally throw a stone into the ocean from our front deck) so the humidity can sometimes become a bit uncomfortable. But having lived here on Fogo Island since 2007, we have found our climate to be milder than other provinces we have lived in over the years.

Fogo Island is a very special place; it almost seems to be stuck back in time... not necessarily a bad thing, in this crazy day and age. My wife and I call it a modern-day "Mayberry". Everyone knows everyone else, there is absolutely no crime to speak of, (aside from the occasional speeder!) no traffic, no noise, no pollution, no gangs, no graffiti, no texting teens, not so much as a single traffic light, freeway or on-ramp on our 250 sq/km island. (if you want a Walmart you must take a ferry ride!) Having lived in four different provinces (Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland) in our 34 years of marriage, we can't imagine living anywhere else. It just doesn't get any better than sitting on our deck overlooking the ocean, sipping a steaming cup of coffee while watching pods of humpback whales breeching in our bay, with bald eagles soaring overhead, and huge woodland caribou foraging on our lawn, while the loons are yodeling. Life is good! Yes, ImageArt, I do think you would love living here... but if you're looking for a shopping mall you're out of luck, unless you take the ferry to the mainland, then drive an hour to the town of Gander.

To help with those particularly "steamy" summer days, we have some truly massive and magestic icebergs (some are the size of city blocks!) around us to help cool things down a little. These ancient chunks of ice, estimated to be between 10,000-15,000 years old, break off from glaciers in Greenland each year, and then slowly make their way south to our neck of the woods. I do not yet have any mobile iceberg captures, but I do have a great many of them taken with my DSLRs, posted to my Newfoundland photography website, if you wish to see them. (not sure if I would be breaking forum rules by posting a non-mobile photo on here)

Anyway, I am really enjoying this amazing new smartphone and its remarkable ability of making me almost forget about my four Sony DSLRs! I am planning to get back outdoors this afternoon/evening with my phone, to hopefully snag a few more interesting landscapes. I should add here that I am permanently disabled, due to suffering a bad fall in the workplace 15 years ago, which unfortunately crushed my upper vertebrae (C1 through C6) beyond repair, and thus keeping me bedridden most of the time... (about 20 hours/day) so how is it then, that this fellow is able to ride a motorcycle, you ask? Well, after more than a decade of laying flat on my back in bed, I decided one day that I was no longer going to just lay here feeling sorry for myself. I remembered what great fun I used to have when I was just a teen, riding a motorcycle all over Ontario, and I got this idea floating around in my head that I could perhaps ride again, if I could only find a bike with a natural, comfy, upright seating position. (my theory being that if I can sit in a chair, I should be able to sit on a motorcycle!) Long story short, I have two lovely bikes of completely different styles, (a classic cruiser and a sporty "naked roadster") and although I can't stay out on them for more than perhaps 45-60 minutes, I am now indeed having the time of my life. Sure, I must climb right back in bed the very moment I return home, but it's always with a huge, satisfied grin plastered on my face!

So again, thanks for the kind comments... and sorry about my long-winded reply!
 
JillyG said:
“One” of your motorcycles? :lol: Another super sharp image, but with a lovely smoothness too (if that makes sense:confused: ).
Click to expand...

Thanks, JillyG! Yes, I have two motorcycles, both of which were purchased new in 2015. The bike posted above is a 2014 Yamaha "V-Star Custom" cruiser, and this one is a sportier 2014 Honda CB500FA. (though still providing a natural, upright riding position... a rather rare feature in a "sportbike")

148973
 
camperbc said:
This is my first time posting on this fine forum! I like what I am seeing, and am looking forward to becoming an active contributing member of Mobitog!

I am a pretty hardcore landscape/nature photographer, and normally shoot with any of four Sony Alpha-series DSLR bodies, (A200, A500, A550, SLT-A57) and a wide assortment of Sony, Samyang, and vintage Minolta Maxxum prime glass, (I shoot on film also) and just recently began using a smartphone for capturing my Newfoundland landscapes! I recently replaced my aging phone with the new Xiaomi Mi 9 flagship handset, and I have to say that I am very impressed indeed with the image quality I am seeing from this phone's amazing 4-camera array, including a main shooter which utilizes the latest Sony Exmor-RS CMOS (48MP) sensor. The technological advancements in smartphone cameras in 2019, in regards to sensors, lenses, software, AI (Artificial Intelligence) etc, etc, is truly astounding!

I used to have to strap a (24 litre) "Cortech 2.0" tail bag full of bulky DSLR gear onto the rear of my motorcycle everytime I went out for a ride around my little island paradise, but lately I have just been throwing my phone into my pocket and away I go! I cannot speak highly enough about the new Xiaomi Mi 9... I never thought that I would ever see the day where I was using a mere cellphone for capturing my Fogo Island landscapes!

This sunset image was taken in the tiny fishing village of Deep Bay, near my oceanfront home on the western shore of scenic Fogo Island, located a 90-minute ferry ride off the north coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The small building is called a fishing stage, which traditionally have been used to process and store the catch-of-the-day. This photograph has not been edited, aside from resizing it to post on the Internet. It was taken handheld in extremely low light.

View attachment 148952
Click to expand...
This is gorgeous! Excited to see more images from your beautiful island... I came very close to Newfoundland last summer (Bay of Fundy, and visited your neighbor and MobiMember FundyBrian)... wish I’d had more time to make it to the island. :hearteyes:
 
camperbc said:
It just doesn't get any better than sitting on our deck overlooking the ocean, sipping a steaming cup of coffee while watching pods of humpback whales breeching in our bay, with bald eagles soaring overhead, and huge woodland caribou foraging on our lawn, while the loons are yodeling. Life is good!
Click to expand...
That sounds amazing....
 
camperbc said:
Anyway, I am really enjoying this amazing new smartphone and its remarkable ability of making me almost forget about my four Sony DSLRs!
Click to expand...
Most of us here can relate, as many members have chucked all their heavy and varied gear for the freedom of our mobile cameras. I still love hearing other people’s excitement at this discovery though. :)
 
camperbc said:
I should add here that I am permanently disabled, due to suffering a bad fall in the workplace 15 years ago, which unfortunately crushed my upper vertebrae (C1 through C6) beyond repair, and thus keeping me bedridden most of the time... (about 20 hours/day) so how is it then, that this fellow is able to ride a motorcycle, you ask? Well, after more than a decade of laying flat on my back in bed, I decided one day that I was no longer going to just lay here feeling sorry for myself. I remembered what great fun I used to have when I was just a teen, riding a motorcycle all over Ontario, and I got this idea floating around in my head that I could perhaps ride again, if I could only find a bike with a natural, comfy, upright seating position. (my theory being that if I can sit in a chair, I should be able to sit on a motorcycle!) Long story short, I have two lovely bikes of completely different styles, (a classic cruiser and a sporty "naked roadster") and although I can't stay out on them for more than perhaps 45-60 minutes, I am now indeed having the time of my life. Sure, I must climb right back in bed the very moment I return home, but it's always with a huge, satisfied grin plastered on my face!
Click to expand...
Thank you for sharing this, and what a positive and life affirming story it is! :notworthy: I’m really happy that you were able to add this joy to your life - and we’ll get to reap the benefits by seeing your beautiful images. :)
 
RoseCat said:
Thank you for sharing this, and what a positive and life affirming story it is! :notworthy: I’m really happy that you were able to add this joy to your life - and we’ll get to reap the benefits by seeing your beautiful images. :)
Click to expand...
camperbc said:
Thank-you ImageArt, for your warm welcome and kind comments; much appreciated! I must add that it's actually a bit of an old wives' tale about Newfoundland being cold. Sure, pretty much all of Canada is cold in the winter months but, quite surprisingly to most people, Newfoundland is in fact one of the milder regions in this country. Daily highs during winter generally hover within a degree or two of the freezing mark, and at night the mercury will rarely dip down to -12C or so. (about 10F) Our summers are absolutely gorgeous... plenty of sunshine and quite warm temperatures, without being dreadfully hot. Daytime temps during the summer months are usually in the range of 23-30C. (73-86F) Mind you, our home sits right at the very edge of the North Atlantic, (we can literally throw a stone into the ocean from our front deck) so the humidity can sometimes become a bit uncomfortable. But having lived here on Fogo Island since 2007, we have found our climate to be milder than other provinces we have lived in over the years.

Fogo Island is a very special place; it almost seems to be stuck back in time... not necessarily a bad thing, in this crazy day and age. My wife and I call it a modern-day "Mayberry". Everyone knows everyone else, there is absolutely no crime to speak of, (aside from the occasional speeder!) no traffic, no noise, no pollution, no gangs, no graffiti, no texting teens, not so much as a single traffic light, freeway or on-ramp on our 250 sq/km island. (if you want a Walmart you must take a ferry ride!) Having lived in four different provinces (Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland) in our 34 years of marriage, we can't imagine living anywhere else. It just doesn't get any better than sitting on our deck overlooking the ocean, sipping a steaming cup of coffee while watching pods of humpback whales breeching in our bay, with bald eagles soaring overhead, and huge woodland caribou foraging on our lawn, while the loons are yodeling. Life is good! Yes, ImageArt, I do think you would love living here... but if you're looking for a shopping mall you're out of luck, unless you take the ferry to the mainland, then drive an hour to the town of Gander.

To help with those particularly "steamy" summer days, we have some truly massive and magestic icebergs (some are the size of city blocks!) around us to help cool things down a little. These ancient chunks of ice, estimated to be between 10,000-15,000 years old, break off from glaciers in Greenland each year, and then slowly make their way south to our neck of the woods. I do not yet have any mobile iceberg captures, but I do have a great many of them taken with my DSLRs, posted to my Newfoundland photography website, if you wish to see them. (not sure if I would be breaking forum rules by posting a non-mobile photo on here)

Anyway, I am really enjoying this amazing new smartphone and its remarkable ability of making me almost forget about my four Sony DSLRs! I am planning to get back outdoors this afternoon/evening with my phone, to hopefully snag a few more interesting landscapes. I should add here that I am permanently disabled, due to suffering a bad fall in the workplace 15 years ago, which unfortunately crushed my upper vertebrae (C1 through C6) beyond repair, and thus keeping me bedridden most of the time... (about 20 hours/day) so how is it then, that this fellow is able to ride a motorcycle, you ask? Well, after more than a decade of laying flat on my back in bed, I decided one day that I was no longer going to just lay here feeling sorry for myself. I remembered what great fun I used to have when I was just a teen, riding a motorcycle all over Ontario, and I got this idea floating around in my head that I could perhaps ride again, if I could only find a bike with a natural, comfy, upright seating position. (my theory being that if I can sit in a chair, I should be able to sit on a motorcycle!) Long story short, I have two lovely bikes of completely different styles, (a classic cruiser and a sporty "naked roadster") and although I can't stay out on them for more than perhaps 45-60 minutes, I am now indeed having the time of my life. Sure, I must climb right back in bed the very moment I return home, but it's always with a huge, satisfied grin plastered on my face!

So again, thanks for the kind comments... and sorry about my long-winded reply!
Click to expand...
What Catherine said. An inspirational story.
 
camperbc said:
Thank-you ImageArt, for your warm welcome and kind comments; much appreciated! I must add that it's actually a bit of an old wives' tale about Newfoundland being cold. Sure, pretty much all of Canada is cold in the winter months but, quite surprisingly to most people, Newfoundland is in fact one of the milder regions in this country. Daily highs during winter generally hover within a degree or two of the freezing mark, and at night the mercury will rarely dip down to -12C or so. (about 10F) Our summers are absolutely gorgeous... plenty of sunshine and quite warm temperatures, without being dreadfully hot. Daytime temps during the summer months are usually in the range of 23-30C. (73-86F) Mind you, our home sits right at the very edge of the North Atlantic, (we can literally throw a stone into the ocean from our front deck) so the humidity can sometimes become a bit uncomfortable. But having lived here on Fogo Island since 2007, we have found our climate to be milder than other provinces we have lived in over the years.

Fogo Island is a very special place; it almost seems to be stuck back in time... not necessarily a bad thing, in this crazy day and age. My wife and I call it a modern-day "Mayberry". Everyone knows everyone else, there is absolutely no crime to speak of, (aside from the occasional speeder!) no traffic, no noise, no pollution, no gangs, no graffiti, no texting teens, not so much as a single traffic light, freeway or on-ramp on our 250 sq/km island. (if you want a Walmart you must take a ferry ride!) Having lived in four different provinces (Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland) in our 34 years of marriage, we can't imagine living anywhere else. It just doesn't get any better than sitting on our deck overlooking the ocean, sipping a steaming cup of coffee while watching pods of humpback whales breeching in our bay, with bald eagles soaring overhead, and huge woodland caribou foraging on our lawn, while the loons are yodeling. Life is good! Yes, ImageArt, I do think you would love living here... but if you're looking for a shopping mall you're out of luck, unless you take the ferry to the mainland, then drive an hour to the town of Gander.

To help with those particularly "steamy" summer days, we have some truly massive and magestic icebergs (some are the size of city blocks!) around us to help cool things down a little. These ancient chunks of ice, estimated to be between 10,000-15,000 years old, break off from glaciers in Greenland each year, and then slowly make their way south to our neck of the woods. I do not yet have any mobile iceberg captures, but I do have a great many of them taken with my DSLRs, posted to my Newfoundland photography website, if you wish to see them. (not sure if I would be breaking forum rules by posting a non-mobile photo on here)

Anyway, I am really enjoying this amazing new smartphone and its remarkable ability of making me almost forget about my four Sony DSLRs! I am planning to get back outdoors this afternoon/evening with my phone, to hopefully snag a few more interesting landscapes. I should add here that I am permanently disabled, due to suffering a bad fall in the workplace 15 years ago, which unfortunately crushed my upper vertebrae (C1 through C6) beyond repair, and thus keeping me bedridden most of the time... (about 20 hours/day) so how is it then, that this fellow is able to ride a motorcycle, you ask? Well, after more than a decade of laying flat on my back in bed, I decided one day that I was no longer going to just lay here feeling sorry for myself. I remembered what great fun I used to have when I was just a teen, riding a motorcycle all over Ontario, and I got this idea floating around in my head that I could perhaps ride again, if I could only find a bike with a natural, comfy, upright seating position. (my theory being that if I can sit in a chair, I should be able to sit on a motorcycle!) Long story short, I have two lovely bikes of completely different styles, (a classic cruiser and a sporty "naked roadster") and although I can't stay out on them for more than perhaps 45-60 minutes, I am now indeed having the time of my life. Sure, I must climb right back in bed the very moment I return home, but it's always with a huge, satisfied grin plastered on my face!

So again, thanks for the kind comments... and sorry about my long-winded reply!
Click to expand...
Well, I really take my hat off to you. It must be wonderful to be able to get out and about on a motorcycle after so many years of confinement. Joyful!

I absolutely love nature but maybe there’s too much towny in me to be able to live where you live. I’m very lucky because I do a lot of travelling so I get the best of both worlds. My house also backs up to a forest so we get foxes, badgers, hedgehogs and squirrels. I want to set up a CameraTrap in the backyard. I know the badgers come at night because they wreck the lawn but I’ve only seen a fleeting shadow once.
 
OK, here's yet another Fogo Island sunset picture from my trusty new Xiaomi Mi 9 phone that I feel turned out nicely. Just like the earlier sunset photos I posted, this one too was taken handheld in low light, so I was pleasantly surprised and quite pleased to see that it turned out well. (looks precisely as it did that evening!) This secluded little spot is one of my favourite places to walk to, and just... sit there... (there's an old wooden bench right there) and simply admire the rugged, unspoiled coastal scenery. That's Pig Island that you see out there, and waaaay out on the horizon you can see Change Islands stretching in a long line clear across the frame, about 10 kms distant. This lovely little spot is perhaps 300 yards from our front door, and I always get to have it all to myself! (that old stick fence in the foreground sort of reminds me of the bow of a ship!) Normally, I feel that sunset images with no clouds in them can look a wee bit boring, but I think the cloudless sky actually works well here; it's all about the lighting and that gorgeous orange hue!

And I will totally understand if any of my newfound fellow forum members may think that this image looks as if it may have been "altered" in some way, to give it such an "artsy" appearance, but I can assure you that the only editing was to resize it... otherwise my phone's super-duper 48MP sensor makes for positively enormous file sizes! (approx 29MB each!) Images like these are why I have completely fallen head-over-heels for the Mi 9... no matter what I throw at it, it always captures these scenes perfectly!

148985
 
camperbc said:
OK, here's yet another Fogo Island sunset picture from my trusty new Xiaomi Mi 9 phone that I feel turned out nicely. Just like the earlier sunset photos I posted, this one too was taken handheld in low light, so I was pleasantly surprised and quite pleased to see that it turned out well. (looks precisely as it did that evening!) This secluded little spot is one of my favourite places to walk to, and just... sit there... (there's an old wooden bench right there) and simply admire the rugged, unspoiled coastal scenery. That's Pig Island that you see out there, and waaaay out on the horizon you can see Change Islands stretching in a long line clear across the frame, about 10 kms distant. This lovely little spot is perhaps 300 yards from our front door, and I always get to have it all to myself! (that old stick fence in the foreground sort of reminds me of the bow of a ship!) Normally, I feel that sunset images with no clouds in them can look a wee bit boring, but I think the cloudless sky actually works well here; it's all about the lighting and that gorgeous orange hue!

And I will totally understand if any of my newfound fellow forum members may think that this image looks as if it may have been "altered" in some way, to give it such an "artsy" appearance, but I can assure you that the only editing was to resize it... otherwise my phone's super-duper 48MP sensor makes for positively enormous file sizes! (approx 29MB each!) Images like these are why I have completely fallen head-over-heels for the Mi 9... no matter what I throw at it, it always captures these scenes perfectly!

View attachment 148985
Click to expand...
Very nice. How does the Xiaomi do in situations with pastels and subtler colors?
 
Thanks, terse! I have only been shooting with the Mi 9's multiple-camera array for a short time, so I am still learning all of the ins and outs, but so far, I have found that the main cam (with its 27mm wide-angle, f/1.75, 48MP Sony Exmor-RS sensor) renders all colours extremely accurately, and is nicely sharp/contrasty. I have also experimented just a little with the 13mm ultra-wide-angle f/2.2, 16MP camera, and though it too renders colours very well, it appears to be just a bit softer around the edges... not necessarily a negative thing for me, though. Additionally, there is a 54mm, (2X optical zoom) f/2.2, 12MP "telephoto" cam, and also a front-facing one using Samsung's f/2.0, 20MP sensor, though I have not used this one yet, and may not, as I'm not really a selfie guy! But as I said, to date I have not been out with this phone much, as my misbehaving spine often has other plans for me. I will however be making a very conscious effort to get out and about with my phone more frequently over the next few weeks, before we have lost all of our lovely summer/fall foliage until next year.

This phone has so many different features and settings, that it will be quite a huge learning curve before I can comfortably find my way around all that this phone offers. I have been testing/comparing the main (27mm, 48MP, f/1.75) camera, shooting it at the full 48MP, as opposed to the default setting which utilizes the common "pixel binning" method (making a "improved" 12MP finished-size photo) which is said to produce a better low-light image... and it does indeed do exactly this... but in good, bright daylight I am definitely seeing much better IQ/detail when shooting a full 48MP photo, although I certainly can't knock the 12MP shots either!

I can hardly wait to get back outdoors tomorrow with my Mi 9!
 
camperbc said:
OK, here's yet another Fogo Island sunset picture from my trusty new Xiaomi Mi 9 phone that I feel turned out nicely. Just like the earlier sunset photos I posted, this one too was taken handheld in low light, so I was pleasantly surprised and quite pleased to see that it turned out well. (looks precisely as it did that evening!) This secluded little spot is one of my favourite places to walk to, and just... sit there... (there's an old wooden bench right there) and simply admire the rugged, unspoiled coastal scenery. That's Pig Island that you see out there, and waaaay out on the horizon you can see Change Islands stretching in a long line clear across the frame, about 10 kms distant. This lovely little spot is perhaps 300 yards from our front door, and I always get to have it all to myself! (that old stick fence in the foreground sort of reminds me of the bow of a ship!) Normally, I feel that sunset images with no clouds in them can look a wee bit boring, but I think the cloudless sky actually works well here; it's all about the lighting and that gorgeous orange hue!

And I will totally understand if any of my newfound fellow forum members may think that this image looks as if it may have been "altered" in some way, to give it such an "artsy" appearance, but I can assure you that the only editing was to resize it... otherwise my phone's super-duper 48MP sensor makes for positively enormous file sizes! (approx 29MB each!) Images like these are why I have completely fallen head-over-heels for the Mi 9... no matter what I throw at it, it always captures these scenes perfectly!

View attachment 148985
Click to expand...
What a beautiful spot... I can see why you love to sit here and contemplate. :hearteyes: The sky is amazing. Many of us here alter our images in a variety of ways so no one would care in the least if you did.... but this surely doesn’t need any altering!
 
Thanks RoseCat! No, I certainly don't have anything against photo editing, (I too normally edit my Newfoundland landscapes) but I wanted to show others what unedited pics from the Xiaomi Mi 9 look like. And I think you're right... straight-from-the-Mi 9 captures really don't need much, if any, post processing... the cameras/software do such a nice job of it on their own.
 
camperbc said:
Thanks, terse! I have only been shooting with the Mi 9's multiple-camera array for a short time, so I am still learning all of the ins and outs, but so far, I have found that the main cam (with its 27mm wide-angle, f/1.75, 48MP Sony Exmor-RS sensor) renders all colours extremely accurately, and is nicely sharp/contrasty. I have also experimented just a little with the 13mm ultra-wide-angle f/2.2, 16MP camera, and though it too renders colours very well, it appears to be just a bit softer around the edges... not necessarily a negative thing for me, though. Additionally, there is a 54mm, (2X optical zoom) f/2.2, 12MP "telephoto" cam, and also a front-facing one using Samsung's f/2.0, 20MP sensor, though I have not used this one yet, and may not, as I'm not really a selfie guy! But as I said, to date I have not been out with this phone much, as my misbehaving spine often has other plans for me. I will however be making a very conscious effort to get out and about with my phone more frequently over the next few weeks, before we have lost all of our lovely summer/fall foliage until next year.

This phone has so many different features and settings, that it will be quite a huge learning curve before I can comfortably find my way around all that this phone offers. I have been testing/comparing the main (27mm, 48MP, f/1.75) camera, shooting it at the full 48MP, as opposed to the default setting which utilizes the common "pixel binning" method (making a "improved" 12MP finished-size photo) which is said to produce a better low-light image... and it does indeed do exactly this... but in good, bright daylight I am definitely seeing much better IQ/detail when shooting a full 48MP photo, although I certainly can't knock the 12MP shots either!

I can hardly wait to get back outdoors tomorrow with my Mi 9!
Click to expand...
No, we can hardly wait either! :thumbs: Have you downloaded any photo editing apps?
 
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