Samsung Galaxy S9 Pre-Production Unit Sample Camera Shots

On Sunday - February 25, 2017 - at the new Grand Hyatt Hotel in BGC, Samsung Philippines gave several Pinoy tech bloggers - including yours truly - a chance to play with pre-production units of Samsung Galaxy S9 before the flagship model's official unveiling at Mobile World Congress.

Based on the company's product presentation at Barcelona, it was clear that this flagship smartphone's imaging capabilities represent its primary selling point. So as soon as I was given the device, I immediately tinkered with the camera and snapped a few photos.

Samsung Galaxy S9's rear shooter is a 12 MegaPixel camera with f/1.5 Aperture, 26mm focal length, 1/2.5" sensor size, 1.4 µm pixel size, Dual Pixel Phase Detection Autofocus, Optical Image Stabilization, and Dual Tone LED Flash.

Here are some of the shots that I took. (I wish I could have taken more images but I guess I'll just have to wait for the final retail unit to do that.)

I like that it doesn't over-saturate colors. This image shows good color replication.

I took this photo to test for light leaks. Looks more than decent, I think.

Check out how well it handles warmer tones.

This one was taken through a glass window from my hotel room.

This is an indoor, low light shot.

Another indoor low light shot. Look at the colors and the details.

Samsung Galaxy S9 sports an 8 MegaPixel front-facing camera with f/1.6 Aperture, AutoFocus, and Auto-HDR. Here are a couple of selfies that I took using it with minimal beautification or skin smoothing effect.

This shot shows all details in focus, even the objects behind me.

I applied virtual bokeh effect to this selfie and I think it looks nice considering that S9 doesn't really have a Dual Front Camera module that's usually needed to render this. Look at the edges. Not bad.

Off hand, although these photos were taken using just a Galaxy S9 pre-production unit, I'm already impressed with the enhancements that the company implemented on the phone's camera. Compared to the Galaxy S8, which I also reviewed last year, I think the refresh delivers more crisp details across a wider range of lighting conditions especially in low light. Color replication across the board is also more accurate on the Galaxy S9 and the skin tones look more pleasant. While I have yet to use a retail unit, I can confidently say that Samsung's 2018 flagship smartphone is well on-track to be one of the best cameraphones released to date.