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Hi guys, I would like to share some photos I took with my HTC One from the summit of Mount Elbrus.
Just a note tho, i was wearing ski goggles and the sun was extreme bright. So i couldn't really see the screen. It was mostly 'point and shoot' without the focusing part.
It was roughly -20 degrees at the summit, I was genuinely surprised when my beloved One was still functioning (my brother's iPhone died at the summit).
I did experience some difficulties taking some pictures while near the peak, I don't know if its from the cold (the battery was around 3 degrees Celsius) or everything was too white for the autofocus to work properly. sometimes it took roughly 10 seconds (from pressing the shutter to picture being saved) for the picture to be taken.
I would love to hear your guys opinion regarding the photos!
Another thing, The battery on the One is EXTREMELY resilient, I was able to run the GPS chip to do Geo-logging for over 12 hours and the battery was only down the 30% even in the extreme temperature!
General information about Mount Elbrus:
Highest mountain in the continental Europe, standing at 5642m above sea level.
nice!!
Wow. Nice pictures from a nice adventure. Thank you.
Skickat från min HTC One via Tapatalk 2
That's incredible! Thanks for sharing, and congrats on your climb!
Those look like some great pics to me..
Thanks for sharing them and the story behind it..
Very nice indeed the camera on this phone despite what some so call experts say is one of the best on a smartphone
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
These are really great pictures.
They remind me that the One has very coarse granulation of image adjustments. ie, trying to increase the exposure of a scene by the minimum increment will *drastically* increase the exposure.
In scenes like the ones in these pictures where there is a lot of snow, you generally want the snow to be a little whiter, less gray, so that the distant sky and forest will have a normal exposure. If the One allowed you to increase exposure *a little bit* , you could probably get the perfect balance of detail and realism. But I imagine if you set the camera to the smallest possible increase, ie " + 1 " , it would completely blow out all the lighter areas of the picture.
..at least with the initial versions of the camera software (ie system software 1.2x). They may improve this later I realize.
Of course at 5000+ meters you probably don't want to be playing around with the "image adjustments" menu anyway. So the default settings produced perfectly acceptable shots considering the conditions.
Gorgeous pictures. Congrats as well, amazing milestone.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Someone should spread this story. A feel good story for the One.
-Sent from Marino's One-
Great story and great pics mate :thumbup:
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Amazing pictures man.....great adventure...
The only thing is... its a pitty that there is so much noise in the bluesky in the pictures..
I hope htc will fix this...other wise great
Here's some more photo near the summit.
I don't understand why there is so much noise...
john291 said:
Amazing pictures man.....great adventure...
The only thing is... its a pitty that there is so much noise in the bluesky in the pictures..
I hope htc will fix this...other wise great
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I was about to say, am I the only one that doesn't agree that theses are great pictures? It seems many judge pictures by the scenery but not the quality of the image.
Sure the subject matter and location are stunning, but the quality of the image is not really that good. My old sgs2 would have taken a better picture with more clarity and less noise. That phone is over two years old!
If I took a grainy, noisy picture of Kim karsashian in bed with Cheryl Cole people,would still be saying wow! Great image! What a great camera! The One sure has a good sensor!
No offence, I have the One, like the one, keeping the one, but I sure hope some image improvements are on the way.
I think it's certainly possible to find fault with the images.
But we have lots of other threads for stuff like that.
I'm willing to just accept this thread at face value: a guy took this phone to the top of a very high mountain and the phone's camera performed ably in this unusual environment. Nothing more nothing less.
I commend him for the report (as well as the journey itself!).
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
NxNW said:
I think it's certainly possible to find fault with the images.
But we have lots of other threads for stuff like that.
I'm willing to just accept this thread at face value: a guy took this phone to the top of a very high mountain and the phone's camera performed ably in this unusual environment. Nothing more nothing less.
I commend him for the report (as well as the journey itself!).
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly.... I've taken a number on top of mountains myself and whilst the One shoots ably, the fact is the photos once you actually zoom in lack detail. The grave stone in first pictures for example lacks detail, the text can not be read. Everything beyond normal focal range is overly soft and lacking details and suffer noise and artefacts. Or the fact in one of the photos of your climbing partners, if you zoom in you can't even make out details on their clothing or faces sadly.
As much as I love my One, the reality is for landscapes where much of clarity is in distant objects the 4mp on the one just isn't enough to capture the fine details.
Yes they look great on Facebook, twitter and posted on forums when viewed quickly, but when you load up the full image and actually examine it the faults are all to easy find.
In the scenario the OP took the picture, blue clear day - ultrapixel actually provided NO benefit as there was always enough light for the image to capture, but the lack of megapixels does hurt because with greater MP we would have been able to see so much more clarity in the photo, a clarity that would have done so much more justice to the breathtaking view on the summit than sadly the camera does capture.
Congrats OP on your climb / achievement - its great. But I think some folks are mixing up your 'great' achievement with 'great' photo. Sadly the photos are just fine.
g2525 said:
Hi guys, I would like to share some photos I took with my HTC One from the summit of Mount Elbrus.
Just a note tho, i was wearing ski goggles and the sun was extreme bright. So i couldn't really see the screen. It was mostly 'point and shoot' without the focusing part.
It was roughly -20 degrees at the summit, I was genuinely surprised when my beloved One was still functioning (my brother's iPhone died at the summit).
I did experience some difficulties taking some pictures while near the peak, I don't know if its from the cold (the battery was around 3 degrees Celsius) or everything was too white for the autofocus to work properly. sometimes it took roughly 10 seconds (from pressing the shutter to picture being saved) for the picture to be taken.
I would love to hear your guys opinion regarding the photos!
Another thing, The battery on the One is EXTREMELY resilient, I was able to run the GPS chip to do Geo-logging for over 12 hours and the battery was only down the 30% even in the extreme temperature!
General information about Mount Elbrus:
Highest mountain in the continental Europe, standing at 5642m above sea level.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome pics buddy! Beautiful view! Congrats on the climb
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
nookcoloruser said:
Exactly.... I've taken a number on top of mountains myself and whilst the One shoots ably, the fact is the photos once you actually zoom in lack detail. The grave stone in first pictures for example lacks detail, the text can not be read. Everything beyond normal focal range is overly soft and lacking details and suffer noise and artefacts. Or the fact in one of the photos of your climbing partners, if you zoom in you can't even make out details on their clothing or faces sadly.
As much as I love my One, the reality is for landscapes where much of clarity is in distant objects the 4mp on the one just isn't enough to capture the fine details.
Yes they look great on Facebook, twitter and posted on forums when viewed quickly, but when you load up the full image and actually examine it the faults are all to easy find.
In the scenario the OP took the picture, blue clear day - ultrapixel actually provided NO benefit as there was always enough light for the image to capture, but the lack of megapixels does hurt because with greater MP we would have been able to see so much more clarity in the photo, a clarity that would have done so much more justice to the breathtaking view on the summit than sadly the camera does capture.
Congrats OP on your climb / achievement - its great. But I think some folks are mixing up your 'great' achievement with 'great' photo. Sadly the photos are just fine.
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Click to collapse
yes it's a basic fact the ultrapixel camera will never be useful if zoomed, for that get another device
otherwise its one of the best all rounder phone cameras, especially in low light
the only thing weird in these photos, considering how much sun is that the images are little under exposed, guess the phone was trying to counter the extreme light in auto mode
as for the battery looks like heat is a good contributor to drain in ordinary use
hamdir said:
the only thing weird in these photos, considering how much sun is that the images are little under exposed, guess the phone was trying to counter the extreme light in auto mode
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Click to collapse
Was actually thinking the same thing. Setting must have been changed in camera for contrast / exposure because I've shot in similar circumstances and the HTC One will tend to over expose. It could also explain 'additional' noise in the image if settings like that have been changed in image adjustments.
I think HDR would have likely done a better job at balancing it out (which is what I tend to do myself) rather than leaving it on standard setting albeit with image settings adjusted....
Absolutely amazing! First of all congratulations on your milestone...a fantastic achievement!
Secondly...I would like to propose your post + pics for HTC One's top-achievement...ever (so far). Ridiculous really for a mobile phone to function at all at nearly 6 km height...plus taking some real quailty pics to boot :highfive:
mwatson said:
I was about to say, am I the only one that doesn't agree that theses are great pictures? It seems many judge pictures by the scenery but not the quality of the image.
Sure the subject matter and location are stunning, but the quality of the image is not really that good. My old sgs2 would have taken a better picture with more clarity and less noise. That phone is over two years old!
If I took a grainy, noisy picture of Kim karsashian in bed with Cheryl Cole people,would still be saying wow! Great image! What a great camera! The One sure has a good sensor!
No offence, I have the One, like the one, keeping the one, but I sure hope some image improvements are on the way.
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Click to collapse
Would the SGS2 have taken better pictures in that extreme environment though?
Yes they are a bit noisy, yes the scenery is great, there is a tradeoff there but the real issue is the environment.
Hi all,
TL;DR - Pretty pictures taken with the HTC One here: Click
I've been very interested in the HTC One's camera ever since it was announced, as I believe that the philosophy behind the trade-offs made in its design are a step forward for the mobile phone camera industry.
I've recently returned from a trip to Japan and as an experiment, used the HTC One as my only camera (clearly not because my P&S was stolen two years ago!). I have taken nearly 8,000 shots over the 14 days I was in Japan and after nearly a hundred (if not more) hours spent in post-processing, I think I have a decent set of pictures.
I have annotated some of the pictures in a travel-journalistic manner. If you are a experienced traveller, I am probably not saying anything you do not already know. If you have never been to Japan, I hope they provide you with some insights.
A few observations I've made in the process of shooting said pictures:
The wide angle lens on the HTC One is wonderfully versatile, especially for landscape and architecture shots. Framing the shot is effortless and as it turns out, of utmost importance.
The most controversial aspect of the One's camera, the 4MP resolution does come with a very real drawback. You have little room in post-production to recover a badly framed shot. Cropping in post-production is often an unhappy compromise as you are left with less room to compensate for noise and blur. I would hazard to say that shooting with only the One for an extended period of time may be a great way to improve your composition skills.
The HTC One's camera software and auto-focus is fast and responsive, you can compose, re-focus/expose and shoot in a blink of an eye, which is something I took advantage of to take the multiple exposures required for the HDR pictures.
While no aspect of the HTC One's camera is exceptional, the package of a very fast f2.0 lens, optical image stabilization and above average sensor sensitivity means that vis-a-vis other mobile phone cameras, you will nail shot after shot in daylight and have a decent chance of grabbing something usable in low-light.
Will I do something like this again? Unlikely. The next time I can afford to travel, I will almost certainly be packing a decent camera. Do I regret the experience? Definitely not. Shooting with a camera like the One forces you to learn to frame your shots well. I like to think that technically, I am a decent photographer, but as far as composing a picture well, I have a long way to go.
Links to the various albums below. Sorry if you dislike Google+, but its easy to upload and annotate and it has a really clean interface. The albums are all public, so there is technically no need to sign in, but Google+ prompts you to login if you happen to be signed into another Google service. If you really want to avoid signing in, simply open the links in a incognito window.
If you are impatient, Kyoto and the Highlight albums are probably the best.
Comments, feedback and questions welcome. Wasn't sure if I should have created a new thread, if not, please merge into the photograph thread, thanks moderators.
Highlights
Tokyo (東京)
Odaiba (お台場)
Sensoji Shrine (浅草寺)
Meiji Shrine (明治神宮)
Tsukiji Fish Market (築地市場)
Hama-Rikyu Gardens (浜離宮恩賜庭園)
Osaka (大阪)
Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (海遊館)
Nara (奈良市)
Himeji (姫路市)
Kyoto (京都)
Kanazawa (金沢)
Shibuya Scramble Crossing (Youtube Video)
---
Photomatix Presets
edit: converted text to links
edit2: added link to timelapse of Shibuya scramble crossing
edit3: link to the photomatix presets I've used
Wow! Those are some very nice photos! Just goes to show how much power is behind our phone. It makes me want to go out and use my camera now.
Excellent shots! You clearly have a lot of talent! And that is some good post-processing too.
It would be great to know if you touched up the HDRs in post-production in anyway or are they mostly untouched?
ankanb said:
Excellent shots! You clearly have a lot of talent! And that is some good post-processing too.
It would be great to know if you touched up the HDRs in post-production in anyway or are they mostly untouched?
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Click to collapse
Most of the HDR shots are not in-camera HDR shots, they are multiple pictures of the same shot combined in post.
Every picture has been touched up in post. The natural looking ones are probably just simple lighting/contrast adjustments, the surreal looking ones took more effort.
Love Japan. Absolutely love Kyoto. You took some really good shots
One thing I am a bit disappointed with is the amount of noise the camera has. (still love it hough)
Some of your shots (especially the HDR) are way too noisy for my liking, but that's a matter of taste or sometimes plain nitpicking.
Which settings did you mainly use?
Did you leave the phone in charge of most of the settings or did you do it manually?
I agree, you took some beautiful shots!
Makes me want to travel. Lol.
MartinS13X said:
Love Japan. Absolutely love Kyoto. You took some really good shots
One thing I am a bit disappointed with is the amount of noise the camera has. (still love it hough)
Some of your shots (especially the HDR) are way too noisy for my liking, but that's a matter of taste or sometimes plain nitpicking.
Which settings did you mainly use?
Did you leave the phone in charge of most of the settings or did you do it manually?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With respect to the noise, agreed. In most cases, with some work, as its only really bad for the uniform areas of the picture, the noise is entirely cleanable in post. But in most cases, I've chosen not to for effect. And the HDR process does tend to accentuate the noise and would typically not be visible if I had processed it for a natural look.
Still, it doesn't surprise me that much. I picked up a Fujifilm f100fd, a P&S as my last camera. It was supposed to be really good with low-light photography due to its excellent noise control. While clearly better then the HTC One, I found myself running into the same problems when post-processing the f100fd's shots vis the HTC One's shots. I think if you really want clean, low light shot, a DSLR/interchangeable lens camera with a fast prime lens is the only way to go, that or a tripod, depending on the picture you want.
Sharpness at -2 for virtually all the shots. Occasionally exposure at -1 is very useful, when you are sure that you can capture enough detail in a darker picture. You're essentially telling the camera, hey, I'm OK with a dark picture, take the next shot as fast as a shutter speed as you can. For that reason, almost all the aquarium shots are with exposure -1, as you don't really care about the walls of aquarium being properly exposed, you just want the fish exposed.
For the multiple shots needed for the HDR pictures, tapping at a bright spot, taking a picture, then quickly tapping at a dark spot, then taking another picture... The problem is that sometimes having the camera focus at a bright/dark spot means you screw up focus entirely.
The HTC One's backlight mode is incredibly useful when you want to take portrait shots with something bright in the background. I've used the landscape and HDR modes a few times, but I'm still not entirely sure what landscape mode gets me.
So... Long story short, normal mode, with sharpness at -2, with lots of tapping on the screen.
edit: oh, also, I manually flashed to 4.2.2, which meant that I had access to AF/AE lock. That came useful for the epic panorama of Himeji castle's surroundings.
Exposure -1 is indeed good in some cases. I've used that too.
I also want to try setting the ISO manually in dark photos as I believe there is room for lower ISO in some cases and the camera just increases it a lot.
I'm also not a fan of noisy, instagram-y photos like some of yours but you have some very nice shots.
I saw a link with a timelapse video. What's the deal with that? Is it yours?
Ooops, error.
Corduroy-21 said:
Exposure -1 is indeed good in some cases. I've used that too.
I also want to try setting the ISO manually in dark photos as I believe there is room for lower ISO in some cases and the camera just increases it a lot.
I'm also not a fan of noisy, instagram-y photos like some of yours but you have some very nice shots.
I saw a link with a timelapse video. What's the deal with that? Is it yours?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The timelapse video is mine yes. If it helps, the noise is inherent in the picture, and not added for "authenticity"
edit: I think the One generally makes good decisions when it comes to ISO, it priorities shutter speed over anything else, which I think, given the fact that in any low-light shot, you are going to get unhappy amounts of noise, is a good choice. A blurred shot is usually totally unusable.
shasderias said:
The timelapse video is mine yes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you do it?
Did you use the One?
Corduroy-21 said:
How did you do it?
Did you use the One?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. Sideloaded the stock android camera, used the timelapse function. Waited...
The pictures you have posted are just amazing.
Although I have a HTC One but I don't take much pictures. You have motivated me to take more pictures from this phone now.
The filters you have used in this are given ones or some other application for that?
Wow. I just went through every album. Those all turned out amazing.
Great pics! :good:
rahulwadhwani said:
The pictures you have posted are just amazing.
Although I have a HTC One but I don't take much pictures. You have motivated me to take more pictures from this phone now.
The filters you have used in this are given ones or some other application for that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No filters used, photos are all taken normally and edited in post. Photoshop for all editing, Photomatix for most of the HDR pictures.
shasderias said:
Yup. Sideloaded the stock android camera, used the timelapse function. Waited...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which timelapse function did you use? How come my phone doesnt have it?
aceonetwothree said:
which timelapse function did you use? How come my phone doesnt have it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't use the HTC One's camera app, I sideloaded the camera app from stock android (the one with photosphere) to do the timelapse.
Incidentally, the photospheres for some reason, turned out super low-res.
How do you manage to take photos with the phone using 3 exposure values, going into the menu and changing the value after each photo while keeping the phone perfectly still?
Love these! The Shibuya Scramble pictures gave me to flashbacks to The World Ends With You.
What do you guys think? Pixel 2 suffers in low light but other than that, its very good.
Mods can you move this to real life reviews? I cant make a thread there for some reason
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What do you guys think?
The review, as mostly 99% of all camera reviews on YouTube - and specifically the Indian ones, is a mess (to be diplomatic about it!).
There is absolutely no details about the settings that guy used. I presume he only used out-of-the-box / automatic settings on both iPhone X and Pixel 2 XL which is ... lame.
iPhone is very restrictive in terms of what a user is allowed to do with camera settings and the night shots, while improved over the previous generations iPhones, they are still messy. Somehow following the trend, Google has emasculated the camera of some real balls but still has kept to aces in his sleeve: HDR+ and HDR+ Enhanced.
Provided the reviewing guy would have really wanted to squeeze the most of the two smartphone camera he might have gone with the Pixel 2 XL HDR+ for the night and the results would have been really different.
Don't get me wrong. Pixel 2 can be awful for night shots if one's using the defaults in the camera but can also produce wonders with the HDR+ Enhanced mode. Not to mention that there ar community custom versions of Google Camera APK which for the night shots can yield stunning results with way longer exposure times, yet a tripod would be needed to stabilize the beast.
I have attached a sample of nearly dark scene from my Pixel 2 shot, handheld, with Camera_v3.8c_test.apk.
Without looking at it, in the prior comparisons I've seen, I generally prefer the opposite, of iphone X photos for daylight and Pixel 2 for low light. I also tend to prefer the colors of the Pixel photos. And then it is mixed for special situations like close ups and landscape shots.
So it probably is a matter of comparing really good cameras at this point versus the old ones where there would often be a clear winner in most categories. But I'll watch and see how this is done.
Edit: Ok, so I haven't changed my mind after watching the review, except the way he took low light photos did look much worse. But I've seen dim light comparisons where the Pixel 2XL pictures look better.
Definitely a bit of eye of the beholder in the review. It is very hard to compare photos within a video, versus having the actual photos to pull up. His first comparison where he says they look basically the same, I would say the iphone was much clearer. i.e. the sign is clearer and plants in the background have more detail.
I would prefer if he used one of those setups with the phones mounted to something side by side (other than close up shots). Instead he seems to do one, then the other as some have very different angles. Even in the video where he has them somehow mounted, the video does not seem to be locked together. Like it isn't a very solid mounting arrangement. I know there is image stabilization going on, but it just doesn't look like the phones are moving in lock step.
The videos have to be stop framed as he moves around way too much. From that, I think most of the time the Pixel is much better, but at times the iphone video looks better, and usually when it is darker. But he's also combining them in software to make the youtube video, so it would be again nice to have the actual videos rather than and edited together one.
Oddly, the iphone photos look less blue, but video looks more blue and more muted colors in general.
I found this other comparison. Doesn't do low light outside though.
https://www.cnet.com/pictures/iphone-x-vs-pixel-2-photos-are-two-cameras-better-than-one/
Voicebox said:
Without looking at it, in the prior comparisons I've seen, I generally prefer the opposite, of iphone X photos for daylight and Pixel 2 for low light. I also tend to prefer the colors of the Pixel photos. And then it is mixed for special situations like close ups and landscape shots.
So it probably is a matter of comparing really good cameras at this point versus the old ones where there would often be a clear winner in most categories. But I'll watch and see how this is done.
Edit: Ok, so I haven't changed my mind after watching the review, except the way he took low light photos did look much worse. But I've seen dim light comparisons where the Pixel 2XL pictures look better.
Definitely a bit of eye of the beholder in the review. It is very hard to compare photos within a video, versus having the actual photos to pull up. His first comparison where he says they look basically the same, I would say the iphone was much clearer. i.e. the sign is clearer and plants in the background have more detail.
I would prefer if he used one of those setups with the phones mounted to something side by side (other than close up shots). Instead he seems to do one, then the other as some have very different angles. Even in the video where he has them somehow mounted, the video does not seem to be locked together. Like it isn't a very solid mounting arrangement. I know there is image stabilization going on, but it just doesn't look like the phones are moving in lock step.
The videos have to be stop framed as he moves around way too much. From that, I think most of the time the Pixel is much better, but at times the iphone video looks better, and usually when it is darker. But he's also combining them in software to make the youtube video, so it would be again nice to have the actual videos rather than and edited together one.
Oddly, the iphone photos look less blue, but video looks more blue and more muted colors in general.
I found this other comparison. Doesn't do low light outside though.
https://www.cnet.com/pictures/iphone-x-vs-pixel-2-photos-are-two-cameras-better-than-one/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your observations are sharp on. Indeed the review is off by margins from a relevant one.
Here is another night shot, out of the camera, but I can't remember if I used the Google Camera or the modified one... Anyway the images speaks truth about camera's capabilities with Google's magic algorithms.
dehnhaide said:
The review, as mostly 99% of all camera reviews on YouTube - and specifically the Indian ones, is a mess (to be diplomatic about it!).
There is absolutely no details about the settings that guy used. I presume he only used out-of-the-box / automatic settings on both iPhone X and Pixel 2 XL which is ... lame.
iPhone is very restrictive in terms of what a user is allowed to do with camera settings and the night shots, while improved over the previous generations iPhones, they are still messy. Somehow following the trend, Google has emasculated the camera of some real balls but still has kept to aces in his sleeve: HDR+ and HDR+ Enhanced.
Provided the reviewing guy would have really wanted to squeeze the most of the two smartphone camera he might have gone with the Pixel 2 XL HDR+ for the night and the results would have been really different.
Don't get me wrong. Pixel 2 can be awful for night shots if one's using the defaults in the camera but can also produce wonders with the HDR+ Enhanced mode. Not to mention that there ar community custom versions of Google Camera APK which for the night shots can yield stunning results with way longer exposure times, yet a tripod would be needed to stabilize the beast.
I have attached a sample of nearly dark scene from my Pixel 2 shot, handheld, with Camera_v3.8c_test.apk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't know what you're talking about. HDR+ Enhanced does NOT work better at night. The ONLY thing that mode is to be used for is, very rarely, better dynamic range. The difference was more noticeable in the 2016 Pixels. In the 2017 phones, HDR+ On and HDR+ Enhanced make the same result the vast majority of the time. HDR+ On (default mode) is BETTER at night because it captures more frames and reduces noise. The Pixel is noisier than the iPhone in lowlight photography... but has much better dynamic range, and typically better detail. If you don't like the noise, smooth out the noise (and detail as a result) in post processing.
this is a good comparison video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m70Fuoz2cxw
Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Sony Xperia 5 come out. A higher rating indicates that photos offer rich color (without over-saturating), sharp detail (with all subjects in-focus), and appropriate exposure (with even lighting).
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Having this phone along with Pixel 4, I can say that X5 photo quality is mixed bag. The most frustrating thing is "ghost imaging" of moving objects, not even a fast ones. Color accuracy is pretty good. Camera app itself still needs some work. It's not convenient to use and it's considerably slower that Pixel 4 one. Focusing system could be better too.
WarVic said:
Having this phone along with Pixel 4, I can say that X5 photo quality is mixed bag. The most frustrating thing is "ghost imaging" of moving objects, not even a fast ones. Color accuracy is pretty good. Camera app itself still needs some work. It's not convenient to use and it's considerably slower that Pixel 4 one. Focusing system could be better too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On Manual Mode the phone is unbeatable.
doministry said:
On Manual Mode the phone is unbeatable.
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Unfortunately it's not true. I wish it was true but it's definitely not. I played a lot with manual mode on Xperia 5. I does produce very good, with plenty of details, true to life colours, "Pixel grade" photos in good light condition. Any other conditions different from ideal and Xperia photos start to fall apart. Making pictures of the moving objects in light conditions just a bit different from ideal is a failure as well. I'm getting "ghost", "double" images of my kids nearly all the time. That's not acceptable for flagship camera-phone. The same thing happen when you make photos in the late evening or night. It's pretty much impossible to use Xperia 5 in this conditions without tripod. Sony just unable to compensate even a very minimal hand shake where as it's not a problem for Pixel or flagship Huawei devices. So I took a lot of photos from Pixel 4 and Xperia 5 in the same conditions for comparison to choose the best one to keep. I took a month for me to make the final decision. So I decided to keep Pixel 4 just for much better camera system. I'll give a chance to Xperia 5 Plus this year though.
WarVic said:
Unfortunately it's not true. I wish it was true but it's definitely not. I played a lot with manual mode on Xperia 5. I does produce very good, with plenty of details, true to life colours, "Pixel grade" photos in good light condition. Any other conditions different from ideal and Xperia photos start to fall apart. Making pictures of the moving objects in light conditions just a bit different from ideal is a failure as well. I'm getting "ghost", "double" images of my kids nearly all the time. That's not acceptable for flagship camera-phone. The same thing happen when you make photos in the late evening or night. It's pretty much impossible to use Xperia 5 in this conditions without tripod. Sony just unable to compensate even a very minimal hand shake where as it's not a problem for Pixel or flagship Huawei devices. So I took a lot of photos from Pixel 4 and Xperia 5 in the same conditions for comparison to choose the best one to keep. I took a month for me to make the final decision. So I decided to keep Pixel 4 just for much better camera system. I'll give a chance to Xperia 5 Plus this year though.
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That means you have no clue about manual mode. I get all I want. You just have to use ISO and shutter speed and all that stuff correctly. That's it. It's obvious for any person knowing anything about photogtaphy....
I don't have any ghosting. Any. Sorry. And the Android 10 update makes things even better. Just yesterday had a chance to make some pics in difficult conditions and it worked great.
https://flic.kr/p/2io5e3E
https://flic.kr/p/2io2KfM
I don't need to have a clue about manual mode. Xperia 5 is not DSLR camera, you know. The main purpose of any flagship smartphone, camera-phone in particular, is ability to make perfect shots at any time as fast as possible without playing with manual mode. Manual mode is just a good addition (for geeks), nothing more. Mediocre auto mode isn't forgivable thing for such expensive device. Kids don't allow to tinker with manual mode - they simply won't wait. And I don't like to miss a moment. I can give you samples with "ghost" images if you like. Certainly Xperia 5 isn't up for competition right now and I have doubts that Sony Alpha team took any part in Xperia 1 / 5 development. They have a beer together, I guess . That's a main contribution.
---------- Post added at 12:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 PM ----------
In addition, Xperia 5 app launch speed is ridiculously slow compared to all phones I had for the last 2 years. Focusing system is disappointing as well. Quite often it just misses and too many times I came across the problem of inability to focus on places / objects which was not a problem Pixel 4. That's not good either.
WarVic said:
I don't need to have a clue about manual mode. Xperia 5 is not DSLR camera, you know. The main purpose of any flagship smartphone, camera-phone in particular, is ability to make perfect shots at any time as fast as possible without playing with manual mode. Manual mode is just a good addition (for geeks), nothing more. Mediocre auto mode isn't forgivable thing for such expensive device. Kids don't allow to tinker with manual mode - they simply won't wait. And I don't like to miss a moment. I can give you samples with "ghost" images if you like. Certainly Xperia 5 isn't up for competition right now and I have doubts that Sony Alpha team took any part in Xperia 1 / 5 development. They have a beer together, I guess . That's a main contribution.
---------- Post added at 12:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 PM ----------
In addition, Xperia 5 app launch speed is ridiculously slow compared to all phones I had for the last 2 years. Focusing system is disappointing as well. Quite often it just misses and too many times I came across the problem of inability to focus on places / objects which was not a problem Pixel 4. That's not good either.
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Wrong. Manual mode is exactly to be used consciously. If you want effect you think before you do it. That's why it's MANUAL. And than why do you want to make photos if you don't care about basics? I think it's just plain ingnorace. Than why do you even bother writing on forums. Learn something, and than discuss - don't expect your ignorance will be seen as a good thing.
Another silly thing - yes, phone cameras are semi pro, for some years. And if they're not, again - why do you expect any good results from it?
Let's face it, you need an idiot camera, than buy Pixel. Leave the best for those who can actually use it.
doministry said:
Wrong. Manual mode is exactly to be used consciously. If you want effect you think before you do it. That's why it's MANUAL. And than why do you want to make photos if you don't care about basics? I think it's just plain ingnorace. Than why do you even bother writing on forums. Learn something, and than discuss - don't expect your ignorance will be seen as a good thing.
Another silly thing - yes, phone cameras are semi pro, for some years. And if they're not, again - why do you expect any good results from it?
Let's face it, you need an idiot camera, than buy Pixel. Leave the best for those who can actually use it.
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I think you completely forgot what are you talking about - what really is a tiny camera on a dinky phone (whatever good and powerful it is) and what's the primary purpose of it. And you're calling the best smartphone camera on the market for quite a while by now (not just my personal opinion by the way) - Google Pixel camera - an idiotic one?! That is complete ignorance and nonsense! You certainly never had a Pixel phone. That's explains everything.
Please find attached one of my Xperia 5 photo. It's an epic failure indeed, man. An it's not just a one-off shot. Can't remember that I saw anything like that coming from flagship smartphone camera.
Good luck with your "advanced, for professionals only" Xperia ). Cheers!
WarVic said:
I think you completely forgot what are you talking about - what really is a tiny camera on a dinky phone (whatever good and powerful it is) and what's the primary purpose of it. And you're calling the best smartphone camera on the market for quite a while by now (not just my personal opinion by the way) - Google Pixel camera - an idiotic one?! That is complete ignorance and nonsense! You certainly never had a Pixel phone. That's explains everything.
Please find attached one of my Xperia 5 photo. It's an epic failure indeed, man. An it's not just a one-off shot. Can't remember that I saw anything like that coming from flagship smartphone camera.
Good luck with your "advanced, for professionals only" Xperia ). Cheers!
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Oh, I forgot to mention Xperia 5 complete inability to handle lens flares which was the issue for me not just once, very limited HDR mode and ... inability to shoot in RAW ("Idiotic" Pixel does have RAW!). Last one Sony's omission is laughable for "professional grade, Sony Alpha team tuned" flagship smartphone camera to say at least! And once again, Xperia focusing system is just horrible (maybe perfect for you though if you're not familiar with others). This is my final 2 cents. Cheers
WarVic said:
I think you completely forgot what are you talking about - what really is a tiny camera on a dinky phone (whatever good and powerful it is) and what's the primary purpose of it. And you're calling the best smartphone camera on the market for quite a while by now (not just my personal opinion by the way) - Google Pixel camera - an idiotic one?! That is complete ignorance and nonsense! You certainly never had a Pixel phone. That's explains everything.
Please find attached one of my Xperia 5 photo. It's an epic failure indeed, man. An it's not just a one-off shot. Can't remember that I saw anything like that coming from flagship smartphone camera.
Good luck with your "advanced, for professionals only" Xperia ). Cheers!
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Well, it's good to be able to understand things you comment. I didn't say Google is an idiotic camera, I just said you need an idiots camera - camera which does anything for you, you just press the shutter.
Google is known for its Auto Mode. But as compared with any phone with manual controls, it fails. There are tons of real life comparisons on YouTube to prove that. But to know that you have to understand anything about photography, which you don't. Which you prove again with your arguments - first about the tiny camera and than about RAW. It's obvious none of these opinions are yours actually.
Now, about the photo you enclosed - maybe your phone is broken, I don't know. Never seen anything like that, and I was never able to fail like this although I've made thousands of photos.
doministry said:
Well, it's good to be able to understand things you comment. I didn't say Google is an idiotic camera, I just said you need an idiots camera - camera which does anything for you, you just press the shutter.
Google is known for its Auto Mode. But as compared with any phone with manual controls, it fails. There are tons of real life comparisons on YouTube to prove that. But to know that you have to understand anything about photography, which you don't. Which you prove again with your arguments - first about the tiny camera and than about RAW. It's obvious none of these opinions are yours actually.
Now, about the photo you enclosed - maybe your phone is broken, I don't know. Never seen anything like that, and I was never able to fail like this although I've made thousands of photos.
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It's clear that you're just a blind Sony fan pretending to be a really cool professional photographer using highly sophisticated, for clever people only, MANUAL mode and .... "professionally" taking photos by smartphone camera . That pretty muck explains everything. You made me laugh, man. I like you for that . I just say it again, Xperia 5 has subbar camera system suitable for Sony fanboys only. An not only Pixel 1 or 2 but also most modern Chinese phones like Huawei, Xiaomi and Realme do much better job with their camera than glorious Sony Xperia. Unfortunately that's the brutal truth. And you have to suck it up and go on with Xperia 5 - the choice of professional photographers .
WarVic said:
It's clear that you're just a blind Sony fan pretending to be a really cool professional photographer using highly sophisticated, for clever people only, MANUAL mode and .... "professionally" taking photos by smartphone camera . That pretty muck explains everything. You made me laugh, man. I like you for that . I just say it again, Xperia 5 has subbar camera system suitable for Sony fanboys only. An not only Pixel 1 or 2 but also most modern Chinese phones like Huawei, Xiaomi and Realme do much better job with their camera than glorious Sony Xperia. Unfortunately that's the brutal truth. And you have to suck it up and go on with Xperia 5 - the choice of professional photographers .
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A classic - personal insults instead of any real argument. Typical forum dumb..ss. But the fact you can't even make a proper photo because you're drunk, doesn't mean the discussion with you is in any way better
No insults or rants against the brand. I gave you real arguments of subbar Xperia 5 cameras compared to Google Pixel 2 / 3 / 4, Huawei Mate 10 Pro / 20 Pro / P30. I used all these camera-phones for more than enough time to compare with Xperia 5.
So personally for you I repeat my arguments against "master of mobile photography" Sony Xperia 5:
- inferior focusing system - slower than others, unable to focus properly to damn often on places where rivals smartphones can do easily,
- painfully slow Camera app start up, Camera app itself is not really good & polished as others,
- no dedicated night mode. Automatic one isn't good enough compare to rivals,
- inability to make night shots in Manual mode without tripod (blurry mess is guaranteed),
- struggle to make any decent photos in extreme or not perfect light conditions,
- camera lenses / glass cover flares,
- not good enough dynamic range,
- inferior HDR mode (little to none difference when it's on), inability to use it in Auto mode,
- "ghost" imaging of moving objects.
I saw all above mentioned issues by my own eyes and this is not something I was expected to come across on Alpha team tweaked Sony Xperia flagship smartphone camera!
WarVic said:
...
Please find attached one of my Xperia 5 photo. It's an epic failure indeed, man. An it's not just a one-off shot. Can't remember that I saw anything like that coming from flagship smartphone camera
....
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Hi there,
Not to argue for or against Xperia 5 camera(s), but I just want to point out that your phone was perhaps defective.
In all the pictures I've done with Xperia 5, I've never seen any ghost image such as in your example, not even at night.
I can however get blurred moving subjects (but no double image) if taken at too slow shutter speed, as is the case with any small sensor camera.
This happens for example at night in auto-mode on Xperia 5 (ex: 1/16): too slow to shoot people, in which case we must set the speed in manual mode to avoid blur (ex: 1/64).
Cheers too!
chgr said:
Hi there,
Not to argue for or against Xperia 5 camera(s), but I just want to point out that your phone was perhaps defective.
In all the pictures I've done with Xperia 5, I've never seen any ghost image such as in your example, not even at night.
I can however get blurred moving subjects (but no double image) if taken at too slow shutter speed, as is the case with any small sensor camera.
This happens for example at night in auto-mode on Xperia 5 (ex: 1/16): too slow to shoot people, in which case we must set the speed in manual mode to avoid blur (ex: 1/64).
Cheers too!
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Click to collapse
You could be right but I'm not sure. Can't remember that any of my smartphones had faulty camera in the past. I took photos both in Auto and Manual mode (HDR was enabled, nothing more changed) and that "double images" of moving objects persisted in light conditions a bit different from ideal. Just slight movement of my kids was enough to get unusable photo. Very disappointing. Luckily I sold that phone already and ordered another one. I'll check your suggestion once I get it.
Thanks
WarVic said:
You could be right but I'm not sure. Can't remember that any of my smartphones had faulty camera in the past. I took photos both in Auto and Manual mode (HDR was enabled, nothing more changed) and that "double images" of moving objects persisted in light conditions a bit different from ideal. Just slight movement of my kids was enough to get unusable photo. Very disappointing. Luckily I sold that phone already and ordered another one. I'll check your suggestion once I get it.
Thanks
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Click to collapse
Ok. I tried lots of pictures exactly as you explain: HDR ON (both with auto and manual), lots of light in background and a moving subject not well lit. Basically I did a moving person against a bright window.
I did get about 1 in 20 of these back-lit photos displaying a ghost image at the limit between dark and light areas. So I agree the phone still exhibits a little bit of the same issues as was the case in older models.
The algorithm to blend the multiple images in HDR is not yet perfect.
Not sure about the Pixel 4. It's probably better at this. I personally had the pixel 2 and sold it exactly because I was getting consistently blurred pictures of people and animals in HDR mode, much worse than with Xperia XZ2 which I had at the same time. Problem is Pixel 2 could only take nice pictures with HDR enabled, otherwise was terrible quality.
So in my day to day usage, I normally don't get this issue with the X5 which I use mostly in auto mode. Tip: if you absolutely need to avoid HDR in auto mode (besides the obvious advice not to shoot people in backlit conditions), uncheck "Object tracking" in settings, and use your finger to set focus + exposure on your subject before taking the pic. This in effect prevents HDR (Backlit) mode.
So now the only time I use manual mode is for night time shots to avoid blurred faces with 1/32 or 1/64 speed. I just wish Sony would add an option in settings so the user could set a lower speed limit that would apply to Eye/ face detected subjects only.
Thanks for good advises. I'll certainly use them once I get the phone. Regarding Pixel 2, I can't remember getting any blurred / out of focus photos from it. Quite surprised to hear it. Anyway, Pixel 3 seems ironed all the issues of previous models. I still consider it one of the best camera-phones right now. Also it's very cheap now too. Overall it is one of the best phones I've ever had and that's why I decided to keep it as a backup phone. Pixel 4 appeared to be roughly the same thing with worse battery. That was the reason for getting rid of it.
I did enjoy Xperia 5 too though. Hence I gave it one more chance and re-order it. I wish that Sony fix current issues with it or will do it in future. One of them, a very noticeable one, the camera app launch speed and its overall performance. I want it to be on pair with older Pixel 3 one, not any slower. Cheers
WarVic said:
Thanks for good advises. I'll certainly use them once I get the phone. Regarding Pixel 2, I can't remember getting any blurred / out of focus photos from it. Quite surprised to hear it. Anyway, Pixel 3 seems ironed all the issues of previous models. I still consider it one of the best camera-phones right now. Also it's very cheap now too. Overall it is one of the best phones I've ever had and that's why I decided to keep it as a backup phone. Pixel 4 appeared to be roughly the same thing with worse battery. That was the reason for getting rid of it.
I did enjoy Xperia 5 too though. Hence I gave it one more chance and re-order it. I wish that Sony fix current issues with it or will do it in future. One of them, a very noticeable one, the camera app launch speed and its overall performance. I want it to be on pair with older Pixel 3 one, not any slower. Cheers
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I guess now that X5 is getting much cheaper it's still interesting, but I wouldn't expect big software improvements to come except for maybe Photo Pro app if Sony is nice to us.
Personally I think the next version X5 II should bring major improvements in photo and we will soon know if that's true with the X1 II:
Photo Pro app vs current camera app (should bring better speed, stability and features if it lives up to current Cinema Pro app)
Bigger sensors = better low light shots
Faster and better focus (with TOF and dual pixel)
Eye tracking on pets (I have a cat and a dog)
... That's of course if it does indeed come out.
It's good enough.
Overall it's an acceptable camera system. I agree it has some flaws, but I knew that going in. I purchased used on eBay (MUCH more affordable), and of course read and viewed many reviews that outline these flaws. It's good enough for snapshots or Instagram or times when you need a pic of something when your out and about. I take a digital camera with me when I know I am going somewhere that I am going to photograph stuff. One reviewer summed up nicely what the big issue is here; Sony makes camera sensors for a lot of other phone companies and makes some of the absolute best digital cameras in the world, so how did they let this slide?
WarVic said:
I think you completely forgot what are you talking about - what really is a tiny camera on a dinky phone (whatever good and powerful it is) and what's the primary purpose of it. And you're calling the best smartphone camera on the market for quite a while by now (not just my personal opinion by the way) - Google Pixel camera - an idiotic one?! That is complete ignorance and nonsense! You certainly never had a Pixel phone. That's explains everything.
Please find attached one of my Xperia 5 photo. It's an epic failure indeed, man. An it's not just a one-off shot. Can't remember that I saw anything like that coming from flagship smartphone camera.
Good luck with your "advanced, for professionals only" Xperia ). Cheers!
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Click to collapse
Looking at your pictures, i assume you received a faulty phone
Yes, yes, it's possible to love a phone. Heck, you sleep next to it, don't you? Rate this thread to indicate your love for the Sony Xperia 1 II, all things considered. A higher rating indicates that the Sony Xperia 1 II is an incredible phone that you enjoy tremendously. You love it.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
One of my all time favorite phones / camera's
So I have been able to play with and use the xperia 1 ii for over 4 days.
this will be a short review and perhaps I will add to it at a later moment.
Main Things I Didn't Test
* Gaming
* Video
Look and Feel
I personally really like the look and feel of this phone. It has some iPhone 4 qualities to it. By which I mean it feels like a device/tool with nice buttons, very high quality materials. It feels like a tool, like a device that is build for usability rather than build for the wow factor (if that makes sense).
It doesn't have a crazy high screen to body ratio. So something like S20 (or the S10 i used previously) is a bit more awe inspiring. But as soon as you slap a case on a S10 this will disappear any way. But what it has is a uninterrupted screen with no notches or punch hols, it has two front facing high quality speakers. It is function over form rather than form over function. That is not to say that it is not a good looking device it is very nice build it look really great. Although I'm not a fan of mirror polishing but you will not notice that as soon as you slap a cover on it (and it looks way better than the ugly blue s10). I have the official Sony case with stand which will still allow you to see the very nice sides of the phone; they are beautifully machined and have a nice color (especially with the purple one).
The buttons of the volume and the power feel really nice, they have a reassuring click to them. The only thing I'm missing is a click for the shutter button. Perhaps it is not implemented to make sure you don't move the phone while clicking. This has a bit of a downside when you don't have a shutter sound enabled. As the camera is crazy fast and it is therefor hard to see / notice if you took the photo or not. A click would have been nice. But when using the phone more often I got used to it.
Screen
The screen is absolutely amazing especially in creator mode. Colors are very accurate and it is a real joy to watch media on this phone be it movies, clips or photos. Because of the very high PPI reading news or books is possible with small letters it basically looks like it is printed. Compared to my old s10 which has a amazing screen as well I prefer the Sony as it has such natural colors and this printed feel to it. Also the colors are good with low luminescence something the s10 could not manage. That being said the max brightness is a bit less than the s10 and I feel that the display is a bit more reflective. But this could be caused by the fact I keep the brightness down with the Sony as thing look really good with low brightness. That being said I did not encounter any problems reading the screen outside on a bright day.
The screen ratio is really handy. I never used split screen a lot on previous devices. But since it is slightly taller than a s10 (while having the same width) it makes more sense to use it and I use it for more often now (watching YouTube while messaging). I don't feel it is a big phone. It is a bit heavier than the s10 but also it feels better build than the s10. Compared to a Note 10+ the height is similar but the width is significantly less.
Sound
Front facing speaker are great far better than the S10 or any other phone I used. Switching on Dolby Atmos is mandatory as without it is not that good. You really have stereo sound and both speakers are equal in terms of loudness positioning and quality.
The sound quality from the audio jack is good and you have quite a lot of options to set the sound to your tasted. As I mostly use wireless atm I have not tested this comprehensively.
Speed
It is fast, sometimes notably faster than the s10. I think is mostly because of faster memory as I don't to that much cpu intensive stuff. That being said I think the most phones for the last couple of years are fast enough for most of the tasks any way.
5G / reception
5G works no idea if it is faster than 4g. didn't run any test as 4g didn't give me any problems. Reception seems to be very good at least better than the S10. Some places where I did not have a great reception or didn't have any reception with the s10 I do have with the 1ii. Maybe this could be because of 5G (as it uses multiple connections), or maybe not, I have no Idea . WiFi is stable and fast. Bluetooth as well.
Call quality.
It is great, voice is really good, again better than the s10
Battery
it is good, I'm a heavy phone user as I use it for lot's of reading, emailing, work stuff, music and YouTube. No complains and even slightly amazed considering is has "only" a 4000Mha battery
Camera (and a little bit about pricing)
Properly the most important part of this phone it the camera. As Sony did not release a "cheaper" version of the phone with 64GB like the iPhone 11 pro it is a very expensive device and the camera is it's main selling point. Although you could argue it should be compared with a 11 pro max which makes the Sony cheaper than a iPhone 11 pro max (256GB) or similar priced to the 64GB version. I don't understand reviewers that give a lower rating because of the price. It should be compared to an 11 pro (max) or S20+ / Ultra. Personally I think it comes out ahead in many comparisons to these phones. The 1ii is a "pro" phone with a pro price. But than again a "pro" phone is a silly concept to begin with (the only pro phone I ever used was the blackberry passport, best professional / work phone ever, but bad at anything else).
First a small disclaimer. I didn't use the android camera at all (only for scanning a QR code) as you get a photo pro app which should be used if you buy this phone. Secondly I like photography I have used many camera's over the years and also may phones. Up till now my two favorite camera phones where the Lumia 950XL for color and the Mate 9 for b&w photography. The Lumia still amazes me to this day and Nokia/Microsoft did not get enough credit for there work. It was the only phone I knew that could really capture light. Also I don't care for AI powered camera apps. I understand that this is really handy if you just make snapshot and don't care about doing photography your self. I don't care for "HDR" images as all it accomplish is that it removes shadows and makes for a equal brightened image regardless of how the scene looks. If you like these things I'm not sure that this is the phone for you as Google, Samsung and Apple are better at these things
The camera app phone combination is amazing. It really gives you the feel that you are using a camera and more importantly that you are in control. It is a unbelievably fast combinations. For instance; I tried to take a photo of a dog and I was sure I mist it. As he started moving as soon as I pressed the shutter button but to my amazement the camera took the picture, it must have been less than a second between me clicking and the dog moving. I think it might be faster than my RX100m6. If you like to tinker and you know what shot you want and how you want it to look there is not better phone atm. (the Samsung pro camera is highly unusable and Huawei sadly doesn't have Google apps).
The 20fps works really good as well, it is amazing to use on a phone and to be so sure of the results (yes I know I'm using the word amazing a lot). Another surprise is the performance of the digital zoom it is far better than expected is highly usable. Also it is quit nice to have a 70mm option, although I feel that it doesn't perform on the same level as the other two sensor / lens combinations it seems a bit softer and not as sharply focused. The hero of this phone is the main 24mm sensor / lens combo it performs the best and has all the possible options. For the xperia 1iii I would like to see a 50mm included as well. The colors are natural and this gives you the opportunity to post processes the picture your self more easily than say a iPhone or Samsung.
There are some things I would like to see in a software update. Mainly the ability to zoom in normal focal lengths instead of continues (so from 24 to 28 to 35 to 50 etc). To change the shutter sound to a soft click sound. The ability to set sharpness , contrast and saturation. Last but not least RAW support. Also I had a couple of times the app freeze on me but as this is the first version I presume they will fix this.
a bunch of pictures with various focal length and lighting conditions:
https://we.tl/t-8rRytOUylm
Video
didn't really use it and on cnet there is a great review about its video capabilities including a nice short movie. It's great; one of the best reviews ever for any phone or product https://www.cnet.com/news/sony-xperia-1-ii-review-yep-thats-a-real-telephoto-lens/
If you have any questions I will try to answer them (I will not install apps to check stuff )
stefanve said:
So I have been able to play with and use the xperia 1 ii for over 4 days.
this will be a short review and perhaps I will add to it at a later moment.
)
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see link in original post for full rez pictures
Really great feedback, thanks. As a prospective buyer who mainly takes photos of friends/family/selfies, how does the 'shoot and point' on the camera pro app hold up? I'm
a big fan of the portrait mode on my Mate Pro 20, does this phone have a similar mode?
Tmel14 said:
Really great feedback, thanks. As a prospective buyer who mainly takes photos of friends/family/selfies, how does the 'shoot and point' on the camera pro app hold up? I'm
a big fan of the portrait mode on my Mate Pro 20, does this phone have a similar mode?
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Click to collapse
I've had the phone for two days. I'd say this is not a phone you'd buy to be "point and shoot" camera. The main camera app takes good photos but not the best. To get best photos, you should use the camera pro app. It is a solid app/camera and I feel like I have a close to DSLR camera in my pocket. Colors are very natural and accurate compared to manipulated photos you get from Samsung or even Pixel camera app. It does have a portrait mode that works fine however in Camera Pro if you learn to adjust focus manually can have similar effect even better.
Thanks for the heads up. Any tweaks you'd recommend to the default settings on the camera pro app?
The pro mode has a auto mode which is quit good. And I used it for a couple of shots I shared. So it can work really well. I guess it is depending on the look of the auto mode settings and if the other pros of this phone are of interest to you
stefanve said:
see link in original post for full rez pictures
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OMG! Sorry man, I'm quite shocked by the quality photos form your X1 II. Seriously horrified! There are a couple of good pics from your sample bunch. All others are out of focus, under / overexposed, low detailed etc. I clearly recognize my personal experience with my current phone - Xperia 5 - hit or miss, around 50% of good outcome. Now I'm fully convinced to not even look at possibility of getting Xperia 1 II . Thanks
Love and Hate from me. Eagerly waited for it since announcement and first adverts. High expectations, not only because of SONY´s promises but mostly because of my experience with and long - term SONY user / devices. Most of my SONY phones delivered good images: my XZ Premium, XZ2 Premium, even my last addition, the X, gives me proper images. Not counting the older device along my lifetime (SE68, W-Series, K-Series and so on). But this MK2 is more Hate than Love. Gorgeous design, screen, speakers. Fast and, finally, more storage (novum at SONY!). But the camera - system is a no-go. Mediocre image quality from all but the main camera, even with the 24 lens it delivers inconsistent material. Videos are simply said...to forget. Focus is a hit and miss game when light conditions are different from sunny - outdoor. From 10 images half is usable, depending what lens was used. Not to talk about the front camera. I just informed Sony about my complain and offered them my image and video material to check it. Dunno if they will give me reply....
WarVic said:
OMG! Sorry man, I'm quite shocked by the quality photos form your X1 II. Seriously horrified! There are a couple of good pics from your sample bunch. All others are out of focus, under / overexposed, low detailed etc. I clearly recognize my personal experience with my current phone - Xperia 5 - hit or miss, around 50% of good outcome. Now I'm fully convinced to not even look at possibility of getting Xperia 1 II . Thanks
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I have to say I really like most out of camera photo's, but they don't sharp the photos or use HDR ( you can switch it on) but I guess in the end is about personal taste. to my eyes they look miles better than anything samsung.
just to show what you can do with the out of camera photos (I hope raw support will be added soon) look at the different versions of two photos.
But indeed this phone is not for some one that wants a camera that " just works"
That's fine then. For me they looks like made by Galaxy S5 really. Old dinky Pixel 1 makes a way better shots straight out of the camera to my opinion. Thanks for sharing photos anyway. You've stopped me from making a very costly mistake.
WarVic said:
That's fine then. For me they looks like made by Galaxy S5 really. Old dinky Pixel 1 makes a way better shots straight out of the camera to my opinion. Thanks for sharing photos anyway. You've stopped me from making a very costly mistake.
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Not sure if you looked at the images attached to the post. but keep in mind that XDA is heavily compressing the images. so pixel peaking is not advisable and I can understand you would say it seems to be at S5 level
stefanve said:
Not sure if you looked at the images attached to the post. but keep in mind that XDA is heavily compressing the images. so pixel peaking is not advisable and I can understand you would say it seems to be at S5 level
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I'm not an idiot or simply blind, mate . I downloaded your archive with full sized images and had a good look at them. Sorry man but it's just complete disaster, "unbelievable" photo quality. And it's not just subjective opinion or a matter of taste. If I spent $1200 on a camera-phone which makes photos like THAT.... I'd return IT without a second thought. It's hard to believe that future patches and fixes will help. Anyway, Sony has a tremendous job ahead. Otherwise I predict mass returns, very poor sales or significant price drop.
WarVic said:
I'm not an idiot or simply blind, mate . I downloaded your archive with full sized images and had a good look at them. Sorry man but it's just complete disaster, "unbelievable" photo quality. And it's not just subjective opinion or a matter of taste. If I spent $1200 on a camera-phone which makes photos like THAT.... I'd return IT without a second thought. It's hard to believe that future patches and fixes will help. Anyway, Sony has a tremendous job ahead. Otherwise I predict mass returns, very poor sales or significant price drop.
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Not saying or thinking you are an idiot, just checking
Funny how different people see different things looking at the same image. That being said if the main reason of this phone is to have a great camera than indeed it's disappointing and it's better to get a RX100V or what ever and a mid range phone for the same money. I guess no phone is worth 1200 it is way to much for any phone and perhaps especially for a android as the long term support is non existing.
I just have fun snapping with it and i am pleased with the output (considering that it is a phone
Noticed gaming performance is dropping, guess I've installed something....
Playing COD, every 10 odd seconds it shows, then goes back to normal.
Notice this in other games to, even silly idle games that should be pulling no demand. One of them even said, drop to low performance mode, your phone is struggling. WTF!
My previous phone, one lower chip model and g card model never had any problems.
Must be done software conflicts, but dunno how to find them
Am I the only one who doesn't see what's wrong with the pictures that have been posted?
They are perfectly fine. But if you are used to processed photos from Samsung, Google or Apple you might not like the look as these are basically not altered by some algorithm.
Burst shot of me Pooch : https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=18Os3AQ2j0TuqaFjJ6c9h-TvFGr2zyIk1
WarVic said:
I'm not an idiot or simply blind, mate . I downloaded your archive with full sized images and had a good look at them. Sorry man but it's just complete disaster, "unbelievable" photo quality. And it's not just subjective opinion or a matter of taste. If I spent $1200 on a camera-phone which makes photos like THAT.... I'd return IT without a second thought. It's hard to believe that future patches and fixes will help. Anyway, Sony has a tremendous job ahead. Otherwise I predict mass returns, very poor sales or significant price drop.
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This guy is not an idiot either
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zevK7xMsYdA&feature=youtu.be
---------- Post added at 03:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:24 AM ----------
I think the standard photo App is still a work in progress - a rushed unfinished bolt on that is likely to be improved over the next few updates - they wanted to get this phone to market before they lost the window - understandable
I expect improvements and will wait a few months to see if they materialise before I make a purchase
we need to remember what they are pushing in this phone - the Pro Camera availability and I am loving the idea, a new concept in the market
Think of it this way, what if they never included the standard photo app at all and just improved the auto functions of the pro app, that may have been their intention during development but decided to throw in the standard app last minute - you can't please everyone all at once
Geoffxx said:
This guy is not an idiot either
&feature=youtu.be
---------- Post added at 03:35 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:24 AM ----------
I think the standard photo App is still a work in progress - a rushed unfinished bolt on that is likely to be improved over the next few updates - they wanted to get this phone to market before they lost the window - understandable
I expect improvements and will wait a few months to see if they materialise before I make a purchase
we need to remember what they are pushing in this phone - the Pro Camera availability and I am loving the idea, a new concept in the market
Think of it this way, what if they never included the standard photo app at all and just improved the auto functions of the pro app, that may have been their intention during development but decided to throw in the standard app last minute - you can't please everyone all at once
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You can't use someone on the Xperia YouTube channel to counter the comment from someone criticising the quality as it'll just be massively biased towards Sony lol
If it's like the Xperia 1 you'll be waiting forever for the improvements to come so I wouldn't hang around.