OnePlus 9 software update pays tribute to the Hasselblad XPan camera

OnePlus has finally put its camera alliance together with Hasselblad in good use by bringing the look and feel of Hasselblad’s film-inspired XPan camera onto the OnePlus 9 and 9 Pro, via a software update.

 

This is a great delight considering that it’s a relief that the 9 Series’ cameras did not meet the expectations about OnePlus its multi-year partnership with the iconic camera manufacturer. While Hasselblad’s involvement with the phones was restricted to aiding OnePlus to tweak its camera’s color and providing input for the interface earlier in the year according to Allison Johnson noted in her OnePlus 9 review, “the Hasselblad color tuning isn’t too bad, but it’s not extraordinary.”

This update introduces the XPan Mode for the OnePlus 9 Series camera, as well as several needed patches for practical use. This XPan Mode replicates the focal lengths, colors, and the processing of the first XPan camera on the phone which allows you to take wide aspect ratio images using your smartphone.

The Hasselblad XPan was the first dual-frame 35mm camera in the market to allow photographers to take wide-viewing photos when they capture. It features an actual switch that lets photographers effortlessly switch between single frames as well as (wide) images over two frames. This means they don’t risk losing all their images when switching between film sizes.

Similar to the camera, XPan Mode will capture photos that have a 65/24 (8:3) aspect ratio. “The images captured by XPan Mode are cropped from the [OnePlus 9 Series] main camera of 48MP and ultra-wide camera 50MP in lieu of default mode of 12MP,” in the release press announcement. This should result in 20-megapixel or more images after the cropping is done.

You can also take panoramic pictures at 30- or 45-millimeter focal distances. These are similar to the Hasselblad camera’s traditional lenses. It is possible to, of course, compose and preview your images by switching between the two perspectives in the OnePlus camera application. The images will be of high-resolution as well7552 x 2798 resolution on 30mm and 7872x 2916 resolution on 45mm.

Making use of using the OnePlus 9 Series’ 2-megapixel monochrome camera The XPan Mode will take black and white pictures as default, however, it is possible to switch to full-color for images. Hasselblad has also designed custom color and black-and-white profiles for XPan Mode. These samples XPan pictures from OnePlus definitely look appealing Cinematic black and white with lots of drama, and vast panoramas, with a natural color palette, for which OnePlus is famous.

If these camera-like features don’t suffice for your photographers, OnePlus even added animation to simulate the negative film that is being processed into an image when you hit the shutter.

If this is only one of the initial signs OnePlus its partnership with Hasselblad I’m looking forward to seeing what more these two companies develop in the near future.

Other fixes comprised in the OTA:

• Improve your wireless charging experience
• Updating Android security patch until September 2021
• Find and fix known issues, and improve stability
• Optimize HDR frame retrieval algorithms and reduced noise across several scenes
• Repair the issues with over-sharpening in auto mode scenarios.
• Enhance the stability of the white balance of auto mode in auto mode
• Make sure that the auto white balance is set correctly as you switch between the ultra-wide and main camera
• Reduce the brightness of images that are over-brightened on Nightscape Mode
• Increase the dynamic range in low-light conditions.
• Increase your chances of success in shooting moving objects
• Update the memory optimization tool and cut down the time to launch the camera app natively by 50 percent or more.
• Reducing lag in camera preview and improve the shutter lag for certain situations

The update will roll across for One plus 9 and 9 pros beginning today, September 17th, 2021.