Google Pixel 9 Pro Review For Photographers: ALL-IN on AI!

Note: 10X and 20X video quality is dramatically improved using the 'Video Boost' tool. The examples in this video were captured without using that tool.

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The Google Pixel series has long been a favorite for Android users who take photography seriously. With the new Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, the emphasis this year is much more on AI and computational photography than on new hardware. How do these features perform in the real world? Chris Niccolls and Jordan Drake have done extensive testing and have some opinions.

0:00 - Intro
2:21 - Cameras
4:31 - On-Device Features
7:53 - Cloud-Based Features
10:28 - Video Performance
14:08 - Image quality
15:50 - Portrait Mode
16:23 - AI Editing
19:10 - The wrap

#pixel9pro #googlepixel #googlepixel9pro

[feederbrian]

16:20 Bro, Chris’s son looks like he came straight out of a Disney film. Dashing gentleman right there.

[LOOKINGFOREXPOSURE]

The majority of the amazing new "Panorama Mode" is just the OLD (but fun) Google Photosphere interface.

[RajarshiGhosh]

I'm still trying to understand what the point is of creating fake photos using generative AI, and even if I want to be creative, what is the logic of being on my phone and asking to create an object or anything for that matter. Just click a photo and upload it or edit it if you want. These AI features are complete gimmicks in my opinion.

[regulation_d]

HDR looks good on Samsung mini-led and iphone 14 pro. excellent work, Jordan!

[POVwithRC]

Ah HDR. My S23 Ultra will not play along even though it is capable. All muted and dull. Thanks YouTube backend

[Chayoeverett]

There's still no ai features that are reason enough to buy a phone or justify price hikes. Period.
Good video

[techtt]

For those serious about video, definitely use Motioncam for DirectLOG and even RAW video capture. Takes it a step over the iPhone even

[mdc-vv]

Honestly, I really don't care for the AI stuff slathered over everything. I would rather have a bigger sensor, better low-light performance and smoother lens transitioning when in video. I think generative AI and stuff like add-me is far too obvious, inauthentic and gimmicky, similar to how it is in Lightroom. It just isn't ready yet. I would have loved to see more focus given to the quality of images when pixel peeping, low-light quality, long-exposure controls etc. I hope you're going to follow this video up with a more in-depth look at camera handling and video performance.

[tjp]

Good review, however at the 1:47 mark you made an error stating the two display sizes being 6.8" and 8". I think you meant to say 6.3" and 6.8".

[olivial]

So I don't have a hdr screen so this is probably why, but the video looks very odd in places. Was I supposed to do something to make it look right in sdr? I'd describe it as looking like log video with more saturation, biggest thing though is it feels underexposed

[glennaa]

the new panorama interface is quite similar to the old, sadly deleted photosphere

[mdhazeldine]

All these AI gimmicks don't really entice me. All I want is nice, sharp, natural looking photos and videos, good stabilisation, smooth transitions between lenses (when zooming in video mode) and without crazy colours or over sharpening and with a natural looking portrait mode. I wish they would focus their AI technology on those things and not gimmicky generative stuff like adding a bi-plane or silly looking sky.

[carlp]

My question with all these cameras is, which takes the most accurate picture? Forget the AI, and "the camera sees more red than your eyes." Which takes a picture that looks like what I'm seeing? I'm sick of looking at a sunset, looking at the camera, and thinking "that's not right." I don't mind doing any adjustments after the fact but normally, when I take a picture, I want the colors to look like what I'm seeing.

[Klarden]

I do like the approach the panorama shots, that's one thing that I'd consider a genuine improvement.
Also, good job at HDR this time. Some shots and sample photos do look more muted in SDR than they'd be otherwise, but otherwise the video looks fine in both HDR and SDR modes.

[Undeadwolfy_]

Commenting to say this HDR video looks incredible on my Samsung S95B. The dynamic range and colour volume is among the best I've seen outside of HDR sample footage.

Loving the fact a photography focussed channel is uploading in HDR. Please keep doing this.

[JimVajda]

HDR looks great and kudos to Jordan for using it tastefully rather than nuking my eyeballs with nits.

[MaximoJoshua]

Excellent use of HDR, looks awesome! Would love more details and workflow examples. :)

[fjzingo]

Just another camera to take photos of receipts for the company travel bill, wonder if generative AI can help ther😂

[matthiasbenaets]

my video is underexposed and flat cause of this hdr experiment...

[Quoutub]

Some facts:
-in contrast to Pixel 7 Pro/8 Pro, the 9 Pro XL always uses analog pixel binning at 10x-30x, unless you use the 50 megapixel mode
-In the default mode, you always only get 2.4 megapixel dng files at 10x due to analog pixel binning and they have far less detail than the 11.4 megapixel 10x dng files of the Pixel 7 Pro
-10x-30x live photo video frames (very useful for birds) have significantly less detail, too in comparison with Pixel 7 Pro due to analog pixel binning, furthermore the live photo video frame resolution has been decreased from 1.55 megapixel to 1.35 megapixel
-selfie camera always uses analog pixel binning, there is no high resolution mode, maximum resolution of dng file is 10.0 megapixel, there is no lossless selfie zoom either

So overall, the periscope camera is a significant downgrade.