P9

There's no shortage of choice when it comes to different camera technologies at the moment. You've got DSLRs, bridge cameras, mirrorless cameras and pocket-sized compact cameras, but even with this myriad of different options, the best camera you have, as the old saying goes, is the one you have on you.
While I own and use a DSLR and have a full camera bag of lenses and accessories, lugging it around every day isn’t really an option. Needless to say, this means the best, and often only, camera I regularly have with me is my smartphone - as is the case for many other people, too.
The Huawei P9, then, seems like the ideal smartphone for me, particularly when it's partnered with the century-old, and much revered, German camera and optics manufacturer Leica for its rear dual camera. This immediately sets the P9 apart from other smartphone cameras, as while Sony has long used optics from Carl Zeiss, Leica isn’t known for collaborating, which makes this quite a coup for Huawei.
Huawei P9 side

Cost and where to buy

What's more, after its initial launch last month, the P9 is now finally available to buy in shops. Available for £449 SIM-free direct from Huawei, the P9 is considerably cheaper than the Galaxy S7HTC 10 and LG G5, all of which will set you back at least £500 SIM-free.
It's also cheaper on contract than its flagship competitors, too. Vodafone currently have contracts starting at £28-per-month with an upfront cost of £10 for unlimited minutes and texts and 1GB of data, but it's also available on Vodafone's Red Value 5GB bundle as well for £38-per-month, again with an upfront cost of £10. This included 5GB of data and unlimited texts and minutes as well as six months of free Sky Sports Mobile TV, Spotify Premium or a NOW TV Entertainment pass. 
However, for those looking for the cheapest way to get the P9 should check out giffgaff. Here, you can buy the P9 outright for £369, or pay it off monthly with an upfront cost of £25 and then £17.06-per-month thereafter. You'll still need to buy one of Giffgaff's goodybags afterwards in order to use the phone, but when you can get a goodybag with 1GB of data, unlimited texts and 500 minutes for £10-per-month, this takes total cost of ownership to £609 if you buy the phone outright (or £674.44 if you pay the phone off monthly). Compare this to Vodafone's price of £682 for the 1GB bundle, and you're saving yourself quite a bit of money over the course of two years. For more deals, check out what's on offer at uSwitch.

Camera

So what exactly does this Leica collaboration mean? Turn the P9 over and you’re greeted by two intriguing camera lenses on the rear with Leica branding. The camera enthusiast in me wishes Leica’s actual famous red logo was used, rather than simply typed out in a non-descript typeface, but it’s a minor bugbear.
This isn’t the first flagship to include dual-lenses - the HTC One M8 had a Duo Camera and, more recently, the LG G5 has two rear lenses as well - but the P9 utilises its dual-lenses in a completely different way. It captures images at up to 12-megapixel, but one is a standard RGB sensor, while the second is monochrome-only. Leica’s had a long history of creating monochrome-only cameras, its most famous being its $8,000 M Monochrom camera, and it brings a number of benefits when it comes to capturing more light and improving the camera's contrast levels. 
This is because the sensor isn’t encumbered with having to capture RGB light levels, and Huawei claims its monochrome sensor can capture up to 200% more light. It also creates a truer result when compared to black and white film photography, and a superior end result compared to converting an originally colour image into black and white.
Huawei P9 lenses
That's not all, either, as it can also be used in conjunction with the colour-capable sensor to combine the light information from both cameras, supplementing the colour sensor with the added contrast and image detail from the monochrome sensor.
It does have a few downsides, however. For instance, each pixel only measures 1.25um in each sensor, which isn't quite as large as the 1.4um pixels found on the S7. Larger pixels are important for capturing more light, resulting in better pictures under low lighting conditions. The P9 also doesn't have any optical image stabilisation, which you might have expected given the emphasis Huawei's placed on the camera. 
The f/2.2 aperture lenses also aren't the largest we've seen recently, as the Samsung Galaxy S7, for example, has an f/1.7 aperture lens. A lens’ maximum aperture not only lets you get more creative with background blur, also known as ‘bokeh’, but it also limits how much light is able to reach the sensor. In the case of the Galaxy S7, the lens diaphragm is able to open wider allowing more light to reach the sensor, improving low-light performance.

Camera Performance

As for the quality of images captured by the P9, the Leica collaboration has really paid off. Our outdoor test shots were incredibly vibrant with plenty of colour saturation, and that extra contrast captured by the monochrome sensor is particularly telling, too, with photos appearing punchy. The brickwork in our test shots that is so often lacking in detail is clearly discernible.
Huawei P9 camera outdoor test
^ A breakdown of the same shot in HDR (left), Auto mode (centre) and monochrome (right)
However, our indoor test shots showed some of the P9's limitations, particularly when it comes to low-light photography. It did well keeping noise levels down, but shooting without flash resulted in some rather soft photos due to a bit of camera shake. The flash helped with the shutter speeds but resulted in less natural colours. With our studio lights turned on, image quality fared much better, with excellent colour reproduction and plenty of detail.

^ The P9's indoor photography was good, but be wary of camera shake due to the lack of optical image stabilisation
When you consciously choose to shoot in black and white, it causes you to seek out different photography opportunities or to frame the world differently. In this regard, using the Monochrome mode was particularly enjoyable.

Huawei P9 monochrome shot
^Shooting in monochrome made for punchy, dramatic images
There’s no shortage of additonal modes, either. Some are more useful than others, but the Aperture mode is by far the most useful, as this lets you take photos with different depths of field. Once you tap an area to focus, you can then use a slide adjustment to change the aperture all the way from f/0.95 to f/16. This is a purely software-based adjustment, however. As mentioned earlier, the lenses only have a true aperture of f/2.2 that is non-adjustable due to a lack of an actual lens diaphragm.
Huawei P9 camera aperture
Overall, the mode works well for the most part, although the extremely shallow f/0.95 aperture makes for a razor thin focus point, meaning it’s much more prone to misfocusing. Of course, a software-based aperture adjustment does nothing to change the shutter speeds attainable under low-light conditions.
Tellingly, the Aperture mode isn’t available when shooting using the Pro settings in the camera app. This is available by sliding up from above the on-screen shutter button and gives you manual exposure adjustments you would expect from a fully-fledged camera. These include ISO adjustment, exposure compensation, shutter speed, metering mode, autofocus mode and white balance. 
Huawei P9 camera app
^The Camera app has settings sliding in from every direction
As for the Pro shooting mode, the array of adjustments will leave those well-versed in manual photography feeling at home, but using the onscreen adjustment dials themselves can be slow and fiddly. There’s a reason why professional SLRs have multiple adjustment wheels. There’s no onscreen exposure metre to try and judge exposure, either, although the live view does adapt to reflect your changes. You will, however, find the RAW capture mode in the Pro's right slide-in menu, which gives you better options for post-processing without nearly as much image degradation as shooting in JPG. Continues on Page 2
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