OnePlus 9 Pro Gets Major Camera Update, New XPan Feature

OnePlus is pushing out a fresh update to its OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro devices this week that introduces a new camera feature and and includes “major optimizations and improvements” to image quality.

In the update, which should rollout as OxygenOS 11.2.9.9, users will find a new XPan mode that is a part of the Hasselblad experience on OnePlus’ newest high-end phones. XPan is a wide-format shooting mode with an aspect ratio of 65:24, sort of like an ultra-wide movie would look, that defaults to black and white, but can be switched to color manually.

This is a modern take on an old Hasselblad shooting technology that, so OnePlus is doing some silly UI action to make it look old school, where snapping the shutter button presents a negative film look at the shot before processing it. Photos will be taken at 30mm or 45mm focal lengths with a resolution at around 20MP.

Below, you can see the shooting mode and a couple of OnePlus’ examples.

In more important news, OnePlus is issuing a big update to improve the image quality you’ll see through the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro. They claim to have gathered more than 4,000 pieces of feedback and suggestions regarding the camera and have used that data to do the following:

• Optimize HDR frame retrieving algorithms and reduce noise in multiple scenes
• Fix the over-sharpening issues in some scenarios in auto-mode
• Improve the stability of auto white balance.
• Optimize auto white balance shift between the main and ultra-wide cameras
• Reduced the over-brightening of photos taken in Nightscape mode in some scenarios, for more natural night photos.
• Improve the dynamic range in low-light conditions.
• Improve the success rate when shooting moving objects.
• Improve the fluency of the camera preview and optimize the shutter lag in some scenarios.
• Update the memory optimization solution and reduce the launch time of the native camera app by up to 50%.

So yeah, XPan is cool and all, but the general use of the camera on these phones should be greatly improved from where they launched.

The new update is slowly rolling out starting today.