OnePlus 9 camera quality proved with dramatic 'Moonbow' image capture

As T3 made clear in its OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro reviews, the Chinese smartphone maker's partnership this year with camera experts Hasselblad has really paid dividends, with both phones rocking excellent camera systems.

The OnePlus 9 Pro in particular features what T3 has dubbed the "best camera system on a OnePlus phone", and said that with this flagship "OnePlus finally gets camera systems right".

Well, now we've got even more proof of the OnePlus 9 series' image taking chops courtesy of these dramatic new images of the phenomenon known as a 'Moonbow', which were taken with OnePlus 9 series phones.

Moonbows usually only occur very rarely in nature, and are caused when light from the moon is refracted through water droplets in the air. Unlike a rainbow, normally these refractions are too faint to excite the cone receptors in the human eye, thereby making it extremely difficult to discern a Moonbow's natural colors.

However, by artificially creating the optimal conditions for a Moonbow by London's Tower Bridge, something achieved by the use of 60 tonnes of environmentally friendly recirculated water pumped into the atmosphere, which was then shone through by a 20,000-lumen light projector, OnePlus was able to create the world's first-ever man-made Moonbow.

The Moonbow was then shot on camera by the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro, with the series' Hasselblad Camera for Mobile camera systems capable of clearly discerning the faint colours produced by the phenomena and capturing them for all to see.

Here at T3, after spending some serious time testing out the camera systems on the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro, we find it no surprise that the OnePlus 9 phones were capable of this feat, as one of the biggest strengths called out by our reviews was their accurate capturing and recreation of colors in images. It is clear this is an area where Hasselblad's heritage has really helped (it is known for its iconic natural color calibration), and the results are far more natural and subtlety defined colors in images compared with past OnePlus phones.

Here's hoping, then, that the OnePlus and Hasselblad continue their partnership, as when phenomena such as Moonbows are able to be captured on a mobile phone's camera system, and have their faint colors discerned, it appears to show that the brand is onto something very good indeed.

To see today's best deals on both the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro, be sure to check out the pricing charts below.

• The OnePlus 9 series now sits secure in T3's best phones guide