Intrigued by the other thread's mentioning of the Vivo x200, I decided to test my Pixel 9 Pro's main camera (24mm equiv) against the G9ii with the 12-45/4 Pro at 24mm equiv.
I've always believed that phone cameras don't hold up to pixel peeping when it comes actually resolving real details. I thought they only appeared sharp when viewing small, but under heavy pixel peeping, the real details are either not there, or completely made up. I was very surprised to see that the phone is actually resolving more real details than the G9ii's single shot at the same equivalent focal length. Even compared to the HHHR shot, it's a bit of a toss up, depending where you're looking.
And...this isn't even the best phone on the market today when it comes to camera performance. This is no Vivo x200 Ultra. I certainly feel less bad now when I'm out and about without my camera. There are still distinct advantages to the G9ii, but this is an amazing result for a phone that doesn't even have the best camera. It adds literally no weight to my existing EDC (literally 0 grams, as I would carry a phone regardless), and it took me much less time to take the photo, not waiting forever for HHHR to process...and having to turn the dial to HHHR mode because the G9ii can't access it with a function button...
M43 is still a better overall performer, primarily because of the colors. The Pixel phone can get colors completely off sometimes because it's trying to make the image pop more, but it just looks fake. If it never messes up the colors like that, I would be happy to only travel with longer focal length lenses on my M43 cameras, and just use phone for 24mm and wider.
The original JPG from the Pixel photo stalls during the upload on DPreview. Not sure if exif from geodata is causing issues - if someone knows a better workaround I can upload the better quality version. I had to export a JPG off a JPG with PS (hence watermark) on my phone to remove the exif to get it to upload. The original file has even better IQ, but the difference is very very small.
when one of the kids change their phone . I have my daughters old S23 ultra, unfortunately she has moved on to apple and I have a strong aversion to apple software. So the S23 will be round for a while. I only use the phone as a phone for calls and occasional texts . So I could get bye with a potato phone
