Camera led flash is weak - Xperia Z General

Camera led flash is weak - Xperia Z General

I compared photos with my girl note 2 this night and i see that her phone make way better pictures night with the flash....so i try a lot of settings and nothing....then i made 2 front pictures and xperia z led it's a joke compared to note 2...help2
Sent from my Xperia Z with tapatalk

Well, short of manually upgrading the LED to a bigger one or buying a Note 2 there's nothing you can do. It's a hardware issue.

My night shots didn't look that bad with the Z when i was testing, in fact I was shocked. But that is just me as I wasnt comparing to anything as I usually dont. Apart from playing with exposure to get the lighting looking decent there isnt much to do about the flash.

Related

Guide: Know the Htc One Camera and Master it

UPDATE Comparison Pics with Galaxy S4 and 808pv added
I Really got frustrated by how they review cameras in web sites.
Although am not a photographer but atleast i know the basics and photography is my hobby.
First if all; What made me write (type!) This post because i noticed that many maanyyy dont know how to deal with this beast inside ?
So i have owned every well made camera phone till i settled with the one. I used the 808 pureview the N8 S3 and S4 also the Note2 so the pris and cons for each i passed through till am satisfied now with the One.
So first what is UltraPixel. Its a big sized pixel 2 micron which allow it to be able capturing more light than usual. Just for comparison the iphone5s pixel size is 1.5 micron (was adv. As super light sensitive)
Pixels and sensor size are directly proportional the bigger size of both the better light performance. So basically more megapixels (13) with the same sensor size mostly used (1/3") means smaller pixel size so lower light sensitivety and more noisy capture.
Most phone makers to get bright low light pics they raise the iso. Raising iso really gives more bright image but with more noise. So the right formula is to long expose the sensor to more light with bigger pixel size to get the perfect shot.
The draw back is the long exposure the slower shutter so the more blurred pics you have.
Htc added optical image stabilizer to compensate for hand shakes during longer exposure time to get blur free pics.
So Htc One is getting very near to the perfect formula a bigger pixel size (but same small sensor) with ois and some how longer exposures to get a better low light performance.
So why didnt they put a larger sensor with more pixel and join the megapixel race? The point is a big camera bump at the back as the 808pv or lumia1020 which ruins the beauty of the phone.
Htc one went for fewer pixel to allow a bigger size on the same thin and small sensor adequate for cellphone.
This very long introduction was mandatory just for everyone to know what to read when comparing cell phone camera spec.
F 2.0 means wider basically wider aperature to receive light so faster capture. So now we have a device with
Ultra big pixel f2.0 and ois
With my trials with the one to get the best pic i found that it works best with touch to focus
So just touch the area you want the phone to focus then tab the shutter button.
I found that the phone uses a matrix or centre focus metering mode by default. So you may find your self getting a very bright over exposed pic. Just touch to where you want and the metering mode will turn to Spot meter mode. Example is the lamp pic. First the phone used a centre weighted metering mode but to spot the lamp i touch to focus the lamp and its clear now.
The htc one flash is amazing. Its the only flash i used in phones that preserve the human skin tine perfectly not blue washed as samsungs or yellow washed as iphones. Try it and u will be amazed.
The flash is very strong really strong u may say double the S4 power! It never failed me. (But no near to xenon)
The Night mode in the htc one apply longer exposure time and lowers the iso to get a perfect clear bright night shot. The only draw back is u have to be steady even with the ois and be sure to touch focus on what you want and notice the focus. .. once it locked correctly press the shutter.
There is also l0ck af/exposure feature. Long press on area and the phone will lock the focus and exposure so you can talk dramatic nice shots!
The htc one captures videos @60 fps i dont know why all reviewers dont mention it while they mention it say for the note3 as a premium feature! The htc one captures 720p @60fps thats a very fluid hd video recording try it.
I like how they decided to go 720p instead of the 1080p for the @60fps cause the file size for the 1080p will be amazingly huge that u may find your self filling your 32gb version in alittle period if time.
The hd recording is just fine plenty of details and balanced video file size.
So the point is touch to focus then the shutter.
In video mode the focus is locked so to not let the phone hunts for focus every now and then. But if u want to let hunt for focus turn this feature off (not recommended in low light)
ironically the reviewers when comparing with other phones the point the device to focus during video comparison and sure its locked by default then they say mmm... Failed to focus bad camera ??
Other reviewers take a shot in dim conditions and say mmm.... The one didnt light up the scene as phone x.. . Thats because pointing the phone into bright direct point turns to spot metering it and dims the scene down ... ?? why you dont just touch focus and see the magic! I dont know!
Here is some pics i clicked hope u like it. Feel free to correct/add any part ?
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

All Default / Just touch to focus Once locked perfectly i tab the capture.
The Boat/Moon photos are Night Mode with touch to focus (5 trials were made to get the perfect focus)
Another perfect shots are found in the other thread of sharing the one photos.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

You forgot to mention all the people with defective (or so we would hope) cameras. Some issues include: Purple tint in the picture, noise, inability of the camera to focus in dim settings, inability of the camera to focus at long distances, inability to focus on one side of the picture, inability to stabilize etc.
Moral of the story: if you are extremely lucky, you can get your hands on a perfect One and you'll have a great camera. For the rest of us, nothing has changed.
And does it record at 60 fps by default? I thought you had to select Fast HD from the settings for that.

sauprankul said:
You forgot to mention all the people with defective (or so we would hope) cameras. Some issues include: Purple tint in the picture, noise, inability of the camera to focus in dim settings, inability of the camera to focus at long distances, inability to focus on one side of the picture, inability to stabilize etc.
Moral of the story: if you are extremely lucky, you can get your hands on a perfect One and you'll have a great camera. For the rest of us, nothing has changed.
And does it record at 60 fps by default? I thought you had to select Fast HD from the settings for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the camera sure will not focus in pitch black cause due to the lack of auto-focus assist light
and yes in very dim conditions it takes many trials about 5 times to get the perfect focus point.
up in the boat pics my previous S4 failed to focus. it focused only after many trials on the moon.
Sometimes it focus automatic but you will have to re-focus again by touch focus. thats too in all cameras. All this issues in dim conditions not in bright light.
the purple tint i saw some sadly affected with it and heard that in the rolling out update 4.3 will be fixed. And yes my screen turns Red when i cover the lens with my hand.
No the 60fps isn't default but its very nice to have it specially in sporty occasions that needs fast buttery smooth HandyCam video recording

Fast HD (60 FPS 720p) is not enabled by default.
My thoughts?
IMO HTC One has a great macro shot capability. It also has an amazing HDR capturing ability. Using it during low light conditions also sometimes gives amazing shots. Everything else for me is decent.

is your camera settings set to default or customized some ?

Nokiacrazi said:
Fast HD (60 FPS 720p) is not enabled by default.
My thoughts?
IMO HTC One has a great macro shot capability. It also has an amazing HDR capturing ability. Using it during low light conditions also sometimes gives amazing shots. Everything else for me is decent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes .. you are totally right. one guy made a light paint with the hdr mode at night
Nightf0x_007 said:
is your camera settings set to default or customized some ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All Default / Just touch to focus Once locked perfectly i tab the capture.
The Boat/Moon photos are Night Mode with touch to focus (5 trials were made to get the perfect focus)

ashouhdy said:
the camera sure will not focus in pitch black cause due to the lack of auto-focus assist light
and yes in very dim conditions it takes many trials about 5 times to get the perfect focus point.
up in the boat pics my previous S4 failed to focus. it focused only after many trials on the moon.
Sometimes it focus automatic but you will have to re-focus again by touch focus. thats too in all cameras. All this issues in dim conditions not in bright light.
the purple tint i saw some sadly affected with it and heard that in the rolling out update 4.3 will be fixed. And yes my screen turns Red when i cover the lens with my hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Browski, I'm not exactly sure if you're trying to insult me, but it's not going to work. I realize that no camera will focus when there is no light. I'm saying that my camera, once in a while, simply refuses to focus, even though the lighting is somewhat decent. I'm not saying that you are lying or wrong. I'm just saying that it's apparent that not all One's created equal and therefore not everyone will be able to get the same experience as you did.
People in the Taiwan forums and those with dev editions have confirmed that the 4.3 update doesn't fix the camera tint problem. Go figure.

sauprankul said:
Browski, I'm not exactly sure if you're trying to insult me, but it's not going to work. I realize that no camera will focus when there is no light. I'm saying that my camera, once in a while, simply refuses to focus, even though the lighting is somewhat decent. I'm not saying that you are lying or wrong. I'm just saying that it's apparent that not all One's created equal and therefore not everyone will be able to get the same experience as you did.
People in the Taiwan forums and those with dev editions have confirmed that the 4.3 update doesn't fix the camera tint problem. Go figure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey! Why should i insult you or even be rude! We r just discussing a simple point dont get the point wrong here.
Am sad you got a defective unit i think u should return it if the tint bother you alot.
Other people here in xda confirmed the purple issue gone after the 4.3 update ... I will get u the link.
Wish you best of luck. And i didnt made the thread to say that the purple tint is user fault am just trying to help other users with a simple info or trick for better photography.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4
Here u are
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=

The issue with the purple tint is the camera software telling the camera to crank up the ISO and exposure automatically.
It's possible to keep the photo ISO down and there's no purple tint. But when recording video there are no manual settings options other than changing the resolution. Cinedroid sort of allows you to manually override the exposure level but the ISO is still maxed out so the image is underexposed but the purple tint remains and the image doesn't look anywhere near the way it should look as if it was a photo.
So a software update should be able to fix it.

Is it hard for htc to turn on this assist light while AFing? Its ridiculous
Wysłane z mojego HTC One przy użyciu Tapatalk 4

drakexpl said:
Is it hard for htc to turn on this assist light while AFing? Its ridiculous
Wysłane z mojego HTC One przy użyciu Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, that would save lots of problems.
There is a workaround but it takes too much time.

What's that mate?
Wysłane z mojego HTC One przy użyciu Tapatalk 4

To get rid of the purple try adding contrast to the photo. +2 will end it completely
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

drakexpl said:
What's that mate?
Wysłane z mojego HTC One przy użyciu Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Start video recording , hold on the spot you want to picture so you lock the focus then turn off recording and snap the photo ( remember don't touch anything after stopping the recording ) keep in mind this can mess things up sometimes and make super bright photos.
Here's one tip for far flash photos :
Increase exposure , if you use max exposure you better be 10/15 meters from the target , flash is very powerful with increased exposure , especially if using max , it performs like it has xenon.
If using max exposure + max contrast you better be 20+ meters away it's even more powerful.
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Shan89 said:
Start video recording , hold on the spot you want to picture so you lock the focus then turn off recording and snap the photo ( remember don't touch anything after stopping the recording ) keep in mind this can mess things up sometimes and make super bright photos.
Here's one tip for far flash photos :
Increase exposure , if you use max exposure you better be 10/15 meters from the target , flash is very powerful with increased exposure , especially if using max , it performs like it has xenon.
If using max exposure + max contrast you better be 20+ meters away it's even more powerful.
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try it but i guess will be noisy and over exposed.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

Here is a simple comparison from my x-phone the Nokia 808 pv vs htc one at the same places. old pic found on my flickr account when i had the 808 ... photobucket links for larger resolution. i dont believe in the cropping thing and comparing minute pixels. i believe in the overall picture apperance as i view them on my monitor !
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ashouhdy/1003833_Fotor_Collagevs2_Fotor_zpsf5225095.jpg
http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s445/ashouhdy/10k_Fotor_Collagevs1_Fotor_zps77461877.jpg

Is it so difficult for a developer to make a tweak to give us flash when touch to focus? This is the biggest problem of the camera in my opinion as I never had purple tint

drakexpl said:
Is it hard for htc to turn on this assist light while AFing? Its ridiculous
Wysłane z mojego HTC One przy użyciu Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Corduroy-21 said:
Yeah, that would save lots of problems.
There is a workaround but it takes too much time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
morfini said:
Is it so difficult for a developer to make a tweak to give us flash when touch to focus? This is the biggest problem of the camera in my opinion as I never had purple tint
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
me too is wondering what prevented them from adding the led focus assisst in low light. it already fire before focusing !

To switch to Night mode video capture. Just choose Night Mode then tab the video capture
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

[HTC One vs Z1] Camera comparison test the shoutout

Z1 vs HTC one camera test / comparison - Vote please.
@ Mods please move this thread in general if it doesn't belong here , ty !
ok so my cousins came at my place with 2 Z1's , we've taken them to test them out , it was cloudy day , as for flash light photos / indoor no flash photos z1 trully sux big time and they didn't want to let me have those photos , so all i have is daylight photos and 1 flash light and 1 indoor , don't ask how i got those 2 lol it was PAIN.
While taking pics z1 really has major issues with superior auto / white balance , while with manual it's slightly better but still not good enough imo due timing , they've took both pics with me average 3/4 pics each and average 2-3 mins took them for each pic with various settings at the end choosing the best outta 7/8 they took while i was snapping either 1 normal or some HDR pics that's about it. They've also deleted so many daylight photos where they were worse then me ... so not really an *FAIR* comparison due them being big time Sony fanboys and they're very stubborn and not accepting their camera isn't the best in the world lol.
Keep in mind i have no skills with camera tho my cousins know how camera works so they're more experienced then i am.
Anyway i'll let you judge the photos and i'll open a vote poll so vote for which you think it won overall.
Xperia Z1
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1 - Flash macro
HTC One - Flash macro
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1 - indoor no flash.
HTC One - indoor no flash.
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One

great
except for the cloud one Which z1 has more natural
i cant believe htc beats z1 camera lol
thats epic hahaha
btw some of the colors are saturated for z1
for me htc one picture are pretty awesome
bith cameras are like same 4mp vs 21 lol

@Khixar27
I'm still uploading Photos i got 50 more to go please wait before i finish
Here some more photos that couldn't fit in the 1st post.
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One
Xperia Z1
HTC One

Koje selo i država brate? ?
Htc One the One ?

Slovakia?
But sticking to topic, Z1 doesn't looks to good with 21mpx sensor. I would say that One has slight edge here

adam_pl said:
Slovakia?
But sticking to topic, Z1 doesn't looks to good with 21mpx sensor. I would say that One has slight edge here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its Serbia actually
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I like the saturation in the Z1, but the HTC definitely capture more detail in low light with less noise. My conclusion is to use the HTC with a +.5 step in saturation.

In my opinin, and yes, I am a Z1 owner... seeing as you were using the Z1 in manual mode, you either had the ISO too low (50??) or you didn't adjust the EV accordingly as the Z1 pictures just look too dark really?
When in manual mode, you really need to take advantage of the settings

raysurrx7 said:
I like the saturation in the Z1, but the HTC definitely capture more detail in low light with less noise. My conclusion is to use the HTC with a +.5 step in saturation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We've took photos @ around 10/11am lol , the saturation you like on z1 is cuz they had to use cloudy / daylight white balance due impossibility to come close to my pics , here few examples for you just so you see what I mean , anyway it wouldn't look realistic since there were no sun at all pretty much whole time. Only 2 pics had sun and that's it.
1st pic normal 2nd with daylight effect same as they used the whole time
I assume this is what you wanted ?
Keep in mind it was cloudy no sun at all , that why pics are less saturated on my phone but as you can see in the examples I could've done that but wouldn't represent realistic colors
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

I guess there is something to that mega pixel after all. Both cameras took good pictures and mostly comes down to settings. At least the Xperia don't suffer from the purple haze that many of us one owners has.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk

Dark Jedi said:
I guess there is something to that mega pixel after all. Both cameras took good pictures and mostly comes down to settings. At least the Xperia don't suffer from the purple haze that many of us one owners has.
Sent from my HTC6500LVW using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It actually has indoor some yellow / blue tint , you can see on the indoor pic , btw I don't have that sensor issue that many HTC one owners do.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

great comparsion
for me htc one looks better , btw the photos is great
does your htc one camera sometimes show in screen regular noise while capturing photos? i want to know if this is a regular thing or only my unit does this .. another question , does your phone suffer from blue/red noise in dark or no ? i hope no:good:

wezzel98765 said:
In my opinin, and yes, I am a Z1 owner... seeing as you were using the Z1 in manual mode, you either had the ISO too low (50??) or you didn't adjust the EV accordingly as the Z1 pictures just look too dark really?
When in manual mode, you really need to take advantage of the settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello there , I didn't even use z1 , I've wrote in OP that I was using my one and my 2 cousins were using 2 z1's taking each 3/4 pics each in total of 7/8 and later picking the best pic outta 7/8.
They look dark because HTC really has outstanding HDR while z1 really is no match with hdr.
From my observation with those difficult scenes z1 was useless , you could make pic but you would have to chose either sky/ clouds or ground , there's no option to take both like with HTC's hdr.
oh and believe my cousins were only using manual since superior auto was completely useless.
One Twelve confirmed this by checking Exifs.
One Twelve said:
Exifs are there for all the pics
The Z1 user set white balance appropriately and actually used -EV compensation for a number of shots, might have over done it in some places. it's a difficult call. Auto isn't mature yet on the Z1, whereas the HTC one has been out for ages and from what i could tell the HTC camera took all the shots in auto. No tweaks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah you're right. Like I said all I was using was auto or hdr , nothing else.
One Twelve said:
The close up on the tree bark actually has the Z1 produce a blurred shot, dunno how that happened. Shutter was fast enough so no chance of camera shake.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess the cousin moved lol.
One Twelve said:
What i'd like to understand better is this brightness value i see in the HTC exifs, it seems to change for each shot and wondered if any of the htc guys can tell me more about it. First thing you see is the HTC shots are all brighter, and in some cases more than necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The shots are brighter cuz of hdr , with z1 if you point at the sky for example bottom gets dark and it's clearly impossible for z1 to balance that due to poor hdr capabilities where's the htc one handles this easily.
My guess about brightness change is probably meetering and our auto / hdr can use higher values then what we can in manual.
One Twelve said:
Questions to the OP
- how long have the Z1 owners had their phone and how long have you had yours.
- indicate which photo pairs are HDR (if any) ?
- Can you clarify whether the Z1 took the shots in 20MP or 8MP.
- Which program did you use to resize down to 1.4MP ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- I've had HTC one since June , my cousins have their Z1's since it came out ( as addition they've been with Sony since SE K300I , so trust me they know what they're doing lol )
- All photos that have sky / clouds +ground = hdr , the rest were normal.
One Twelve said:
- i don't understand what happened with the indoor shots. Saying they were really bad does not make sense to me. Without seeing the shots there is no way to comment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- trust me it was embarrassing shots which is why they didn't let me have them , I managed to get only 1 flash photo and only 1 indoor no flash photo , I was looking forward to upload those but unluckily they didn't let me have them.
- Dunno which mp they used all I know is they used manual settings.
- I didn't use any program to resize photos , all I did is upload the photos from pc to tinypic site and post them here.
One Twelve said:
- How about a low light shoot-out. I want to see shutter speeds of 0.3s on your htc and we'll see how that compares with the 0.8s on the Z1. Take care to stabilise the cameras so as not to have blur. If your cousins know what they're doing this should not be a problem for them
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like I said there's no low light shots Thx to them , tho in almost pitch black no flash z1 was better , everywhere else worse. Even video recording low light due fact I can record video at same brightness as the shots you saw lol. ( hdr recording ) also in pitch black z1 can't come close since my flash is about 2x more powerful.
One Twelve said:
Actually this is fair, you should have done the same as this way it really is best that the cameras can do. These are pre-planned shots, you can take as much time as you want. There is no time deadline or any other constraints. When people put up their pics many times they put up the best of many. So this is normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have the nerves for that I just want point and shoot not wasting time to set all the settings , the moment will pass by the time settings are set.
One Twelve said:
Auto isn't mature on the Z1, it will take time. This means the skill of the Z1 owner needs to be better. The difference with ISO for instance can be signficant and not slight as you put it, auto can bump ISO up very high resulting in a noisy shot whereas you can get pretty good results if you set it manually. Your cousins did this already. Most reviewers do not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I've noticed that superior auto is utter **** lol.
One Twelve said:
This should not come as a surprise to an HTC owner, you have plenty of tweaks you can use as well. However, things like contrast, sharpness, saturation etc would not be fair as they're not present on the Z1 and can be done in post with better software. i note you did not use any of these 3 in any photos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I'm just one of those point and shot , sometime switch to hdr and that's about it. Tho I gotta say I play with settings when I'm bored but when taking pics pretty much point and shoot.
Nightf0x_007 said:
great comparsion
for me htc one looks better , btw the photos is great
does your htc one camera sometimes show in screen regular noise while capturing photos? i want to know if this is a regular thing or only my unit does this .. another question , does your phone suffer from blue/red noise in dark or no ? i hope no:good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I get sometimes with flash noise untill it focuses after that all normal , no tints here pretty much perfect unit.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

Great post. It is nice to see almost a year in and our camera is still up there with its so called Ultra-pixels which is just a fancy word for mega-pixel. I never doubted this phones camera always served me well and even made a 2 hour long home movie to send back home.. Great phone but i think if sony put time and effort into their software they can get the camera up and running in brilliant quality too..

Shan89 said:
They look dark because HTC really has outstanding HDR while z1 really is no match with hdr.
From my observation with those difficult scenes z1 was useless , you could make pic but you would have to chose either sky/ clouds or ground , there's no option to take both like with HTC's hdr.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HDR takes multiple exposures and combines them. You have no control over this process. Given that auto isn't mature with Z1, it follows that neither will HDR be mature on Z1.
If you want good quality photos, then try not to use HDR. why ? jpg is lossy. jpg + jpg + jpg = even more lossy. Also takes longer as you have to wait for 'processing images' before taking next shot.
About sky/ground, what you do is use spot metering. If you spot on the clouds, the ground becomes dark, on the ground you blow out the sky, you have to spot somewhere in the middle. Now if the subjects are in the same focal plane then you can get away with this otherwise HDR is the only option as focus will not be at infinity. HDR is a compromise in this particular case to get you better exposed shot.
Its not required for every shot, only where there is big difference in lighting between foreground and background and subjects are in many planes that you want to keep more or less in focus. Personally, unless its landscape type photo this can be distracting, better to keep the subject in sharp focus and forget if the rest is blurred, it will make for a better shot.
In camera HDR is a recent 'innovation'. If you want the best HDR, then take 5 exposures from -2 to +2 with camera on a tripod, use a HDR speicialised program to combine them on a PC and then see the results compared to the 'poor man's HDR' the camera provides.
Shan89 said:
Yeah you're right. Like I said all I was using was auto or hdr , nothing else.
The shots are brighter cuz of hdr , with z1 if you point at the sky for example bottom gets dark and it's clearly impossible for z1 to balance that due to poor hdr capabilities where's the htc one handles this easily.
My guess about brightness change is probably meetering and our auto / hdr can use higher values then what we can in manual.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then i would look only at the pics where HDR was not used in this comparison. HTC one has had many months to improve HDR, it did not come perfect out of the box. Same with Z1.
Shan89 said:
- I've had HTC one since June , my cousins have their Z1's since it came out ( as addition they've been with Sony since SE K300I , so trust me they know what they're doing lol )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Z1 has been out now just under two months, takes time to get to know its quirks. Each phone camera is different. Since they set WB & EV i can tell they are not complete n00bs. But more hands on time is always better than less. Photographer is more important than camera.
Shan89 said:
- Dunno which mp they used all I know is they used manual settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have the originals, then look at the resolution. the 20MP will be (5248 x 3936) and the 8MP will be (3840 x 2160) or (3,264 x 2,448) . File sizes will also be bigger. I think they have used 20MP for all, can you confirm ?
This matters because currently you will get better shots with Z1 in 8MP 4:3 than with 20MP. Noise control is much better due to oversampling. Also 8MP means you can use different SCN modes which is not possible with 20MP. For low light shots or indoors this will make a difference.
For now we can say 20MP means 2x zoom is better than lower resolution sensors. Photos at 20MP are not necessarily better than 8MP. I wish these cameras put out RAW because then we will really see what the camera can do instead of what the compression program is doing to create those jpgs
When people make comments about camera they are primarily commenting about
1) auto and how well it works
2) image compression algorithm. good compression + good quality means more time + more CPU, a phone is not the best place to do this. So you can take the next shot quick, compromises are made here which affect image quality.
3) stock camera app. 3rd party apps in playstore may do a better job in certain situations.
So we still do not get to see what the camera can do without these other factors interfering in the process with ANY phone camera.
Shan89 said:
- I didn't use any program to resize photos , all I did is upload the photos from pc to tinypic site and post them here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a good choice for image host because inspite of resizing it still preserved the exif data. Many others strip it out. I was surprised to see them. So you passed the minimum test here
Better still would be to resize them yourself with a good quality program and then upload. How well these image sites do resize is not transparent. They have to handle lots of load.
Shan89 said:
- trust me it was embarrassing shots which is why they didn't let me have them , I managed to get only 1 flash photo and only 1 indoor no flash photo , I was looking forward to upload those but unluckily they didn't let me have them.
Like I said there's no low light shots Thx to them , tho in almost pitch black no flash z1 was better , everywhere else worse. Even video recording low light due fact I can record video at same brightness as the shots you saw lol. ( hdr recording ) also in pitch black z1 can't come close since my flash is about 2x more powerful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm trying to figure what you mean here. The only clue is flash is 2x more powerful. So in cases where a more powerful flash helps the Z1 could not compete but there are cases where your flash will be over powering and the Z1 will be just right. This isn't a problem because you can always diffuse the light by putting some paper on the flash. Where the more powerful flash has an edge is in freezing motion if subject is moving with low light, so long as it happens less than 6 feet away. But then flash makes for lousy photos since its direct at the subject and not reflected. Big problem with phone cameras currently. They always locate the flash below the lens instead of above it. I don't why this is. There is no off camera flash option available as yet. eg. you cannot bounce the flash of the ceiling and get better photos.
But why to use the flash in the first place, when both cameras can do good low light photos. None of the subjects in the photos were moving so there should not be a problem here.
We don't know what your cousins were thinking. Embarrassing does not say much, why was it embarrassing and what could be done to make it better. There are many indoors shots with Z1 in the photo thread, nothing embarrassing there.
Shan89 said:
I don't have the nerves for that I just want point and shoot not wasting time to set all the settings , the moment will pass by the time settings are set.
Yeah I'm just one of those point and shot , sometime switch to hdr and that's about it. Tho I gotta say I play with settings when I'm bored but when taking pics pretty much point and shoot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This applies for impromptu shots. How often does this happen for you ? Not a single one of your sample shots comes in this category. My feeling is these impromptu shots are maybe 5% of the time. These are the hardest to get, subject may be moving and you will not get a good shot, you will get an ok to bad shot.
The rest of the time you can plan, take many shots, play with angles for better composition etc. But the thing about camera in your pocket is at least you have a camera in the first place and if the time is there you will get the shot whereas before you had nothing.
People say you are not supposed to get good photos because this is only a phone camera. But with more capable cameras they take lots of effort to get a good photo because its a good camera. Makes no sense. To get a good shot with phone camera you have to work harder because there are more limitations. This means more possibilities as well.
Shan89 said:
Yeah I've noticed that superior auto is utter **** lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And what about 3 months from now ? will your statement still be valid.
if you follow the evolution of the Z, it took anywhere from 3-5 months after launch to get it right. So there is no reason it will change with Z1, maybe it might come sooner. This unfortunately is a sony thing. others will put out cameras that are mature but have bugs elsewhere. Nobody puts out a perfect phone at launch. Look hard enough and you will see the bugs, what matters is whether the vendor is prepared to fix them or not. How good is their past record in doing this.
But the reviewers always get the latest & greatest and then move on, they do not bother to review after 3 months. People also want latest & greatest and then find its not mature and think its bad. But after 3 months they change their mind. Just see the photo threads for any flagship here and you see the same comments. My <old phone> takes better photos than this <new phone>. very predictable :laugh:
if you look at HTC photo thread, around march-may, reviewers were complaining that htc is oversharpening images because they can see halos around the edges. What is the solution ? set sharpness to -2 or -1 gives a softer image and no halos. So htc got bashed quite a bit too. In fact i think htc is most bashed camera out there because everybody thinks 4MP is not enough. But what can they use to display 4MP ? there are no 4k displays out there or they are very expensive. Full HD is only 2MP. you can still print 10x14 inch prints with 4MP. But no... 4MP on HTC is not enough or bad. pfft.
Shan89 said:
I guess I get sometimes with flash noise untill it focuses after that all normal , no tints here pretty much perfect unit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is one thing that still i'm not able to understand. 300 pg thread on this omg!. There are theories around but nothing conclusive as yet. Some people are saying the heat does it over time. With Z1 if it gets too hot you will not be able to use the camera. So too much heating over a long time is supposed to cause this problem with tinting. Its such a pity to replace the phone after only 6 months :crying:
This tinting is the problem as i see it with htc one. Not 4MP.

Too many peoples and companies think megapixels means quality, while using very poor sensors. They keep trying to push this rumor/agenda
A better sensor>>>>>megapixel count

crixley said:
Too many peoples and companies think megapixels means quality, while using very poor sensors. They keep trying to push this rumor/agenda
A better sensor>>>>>megapixel count
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly +1
@One Twelve
I'm sorry I can't bother answering to all questions etc , simply just take a look at photos and you got answer.
As for hdr stuff you wrote HTC one takes less then 0.5 Sec to make hdr photo and ready for next , I'm sure it takes over 20 sec to set z1 to make similar photo which is still no match.
As for fllash HTC one has smart flash = we.have 5 modes = it can fire up very low light or super strong light , this is why z1 will never match htc one in flash light photos , especially if photos are 1/2+ meters away , z1 is useless in this distance.
As for ceiling HTC one gets better flash photos when there are walls then when there aren't.
I can take photo outdoor pitch black about 5/7 meters away , indoor I can go up to 10 , if I increase exposure and lower contrast I can go even further.
HTC one also in long distance low light photos can take hdr + flash light = it gathers light from flash as well and makes overall picture more light.
With 4:3 HTC one also makes better photos then in 16:9 also sharper.
By the time z1 gets / if it gets fixed we will have updates as well + one 2 will be out by that time and more fair comparison would be one 2 due being newer 4/5 month's instead comparison vs HTC one which is 7 months older
As for Xperia Z I've took test with my cousins as well since they had XZ before z1 , I've literally raped Xz , I'll ask them to send me that test and upload it as well.
As for movement + picturing z1 will never match HTC ZOE.
here few samples for you so you see why :sly:
Btw all this pics were quiet tricky movement and impossible with burst shot or regular , but ZOE handles movement quiet easy.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

If I am to judge, I'd say for the most part, the z1 does seem more pleasing. You seem to be abusing the hdr alot on the Htc one. The colors are washed out as hell. I can tell because I use the htc one as well.
I'll say this, neither the z1 nor the HTC One's hdr are good. Only the HTC One has a minor advantage.
If you are going to use HDR, set your ISO to 100, AF/AE lock on a bright light source AND THEN switch to HDR. This way your HDR will look much better than just using HDR right off the bat.
The first pic, I used HDR right off the bat. Looks washed out, basically it looks terrible
The second pic, I set ISO100, AE/AF lock on my ceiling light, switched to HDR. Much better colors.

Shan89 said:
I'm sorry I can't bother answering to all questions etc , simply just take a look at photos and you got answer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too bad, i guess it will fall upon somebody else to challenge otherwise my points stand.
Z1 isn't ready for a HDR shootout. It is ready for non-hdr manual shootout. When i have time i will select the non-hdr shots in your group and we will see the differences.
Shan89 said:
As for fllash HTC one has smart flash = we.have 5 modes = it can fire up very low light or super strong light , this is why z1 will never match htc one in flash light photos , especially if photos are 1/2+ meters away , z1 is useless in this distance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This bit is interesting. i don't think any other android camera can vary the intensity of flash light based upon what the camera sees. This is an advantage with indoor shots. Does not mean you cannot get acceptable ones in Z1 or any other that does not have this ability, its just harder. And once you know what to do its no longer harder.
So I'm not going with ease of use, i'm interested in whether its possible to take the shot or not. This is a better indication of limitations.
Shan89 said:
HTC one also in long distance low light photos can take hdr + flash light = it gathers light from flash as well and makes overall picture more light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok
Shan89 said:
I can take photo outdoor pitch black about 5/7 meters away , indoor I can go up to 10 , if I increase exposure and lower contrast I can go even further.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Useful but difficult to get right. People look more cold than warm. This is why the push to improve low light handling so there is little need to use flash in the first place. Flash photography on a mobile phone is difficult.
Shan89 said:
With 4:3 HTC one also makes better photos then in 16:9 also sharper.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Surprising as i thought htc one has a native 16:9 sensor. Everybody else uses 4:3. So smaller pics come out better with 4:3 than 16:9.
So i'd have thought 16:9 is best aspect ratio for htc one.
Shan89 said:
By the time z1 gets / if it gets fixed we will have updates as well + one 2 will be out by that time and more fair comparison would be one 2 due being newer 4/5 month's instead comparison vs HTC one which is 7 months older
As for Xperia Z I've took test with my cousins as well since they had XZ before z1 , I've literally raped Xz , I'll ask them to send me that test and upload it as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, do that lets see the difference. Ensure the exifs are visible. After looking at the photo thread for Z, i changed my mind about what most people think about the Z. I would like to understand in which way the htc one 'rapes' the Z
I note that htc one does not indicate which firmware number is being used. So can you mention which one was used to take your photos.
Shan89 said:
As for movement + picturing z1 will never match HTC ZOE.
here few samples for you so you see why :sly:
Btw all this pics were quiet tricky movement and impossible with burst shot or regular , but ZOE handles movement quiet easy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't follow, with enough light you have a fast shutter speed so why is it hard to get those shots ?
What does ZOE do here that you cannot do without it.

[Q] I need opinions on the Sony Xperia Z1

I just switched to TMobile yesterday and I got the LG G2. I am highly disappointed with the camera, specially the low light. I love taking photos on my cell (before this I had a Lumia 1020 which replaced my HTC One which replaced my S3) and the low light just didn't cut it.
The Z1s comes to tmobile in a week so I'm thinking of swapping it out for that. The thing is, I've heard so many mixed reviews about the Z1 and it's camera. I would love to have opinions from you all that own it. If you can compare the photos to any other phone that would be great. I was actually debating between the LG G2 and Note III and Z1, but I really think the Z1 (specs wise) might be the closest to the Lumia 1020 (which is the best smartphone camera I have EVER used....too bad it was on WP8)
Thank you in advance!
Rob

The Z1 camera is infuriating to use because it's obvious that the hardware is a beast. It's the best camera hardware you can get on an Android device. However, the software is a hit or miss. Superior auto is okay for daylight pictures but is almost unusable for lowlight pictures. However, if you take a bit of time to learn how to use the camera in manual, you will have no problem getting excellent images from the Z1. Lowlight performance is decent, better than the LG G2 but worse than the HTC One, it's just you cannot rely on Superior Auto mode to get you the best pics, usually they end up very noisy.
In daylight there is no contest, the Z1 is one of the best out there. 90% of the time Superior auto does the job well. The other 10% of time there is overexposure or noise but then you can use manual or try again and it should come out okay. Low light is tricky.
If you want a camera that 'just works' I would suggest looking at the HTC One or LG G2. However, if you are willing to spend a bit of time to explore the camera's features and functions you will love the Z1. It's definitely the most fun camera phone to use. Don't get me wrong, it's not 'bad', it's just not as good as it could be. Also, the viewfinder is one of the smoothest I've used. 60fps of awesome.
The thing about the Z1 is that is one of the best 'allround' phones. You get a premium feeling, waterproof body with the fastest processor available and an extremely good camera. There's almost nothing like it. The iPhone 5S and HTC One are probably the only other ones that can compete with the all-roundedness. The LG G2 is really good as well but IMO has a horrible, cheap looking and feeling body. For me looks matter as much as the internals because I have the phone on me at all times and is a part of me, so I want it to reflect who I am. The Z1's sharp looks do just that .
Hopefully KitKat will stabilize superior auto and make it better because it's infuriating having poor software when you have unbeatable hardware.

I will have to say that while the Camera software disappoints it really isn't that bad at all..
As far as low light pics are concerned, for me superior auto does the job well enough..and of course low light photos have the element of noise as on any camera phone but don't let it bother you too much. You will just have to compare for yourself lowlight photos between the G2 and the Z1 to see if its up to your expectations.
Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk

robamacaf said:
I just switched to TMobile yesterday and I got the LG G2. I am highly disappointed with the camera, specially the low light. I love taking photos on my cell (before this I had a Lumia 1020 which replaced my HTC One which replaced my S3) and the low light just didn't cut it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The night sky shot you took with the 1020 has a shutter delay of 4s.
Z1 has a max shutter delay in night mode of 0.8s. This is the best you have currently with android. Also the Z1 has a 2.0 aperture to the 1020's 2.2. So about 25% larger.
bear in mind the nokia's can go as slow as 4s shutter delay because WP8 allows it. So even mid range WP8 phones with nokia camera app can get the 4s shutter delay. Android at this time does not even if the hardware can support it. I see no reason why this cannot be done in the future with android if mid range WP8 phones presently allow such low shutter delay. It's an OS limitation. Another limitation with android is its not possible to manually set shutter speed or do any manual focus unlike with WP8. This limits to a certain extent or makes it harder than it would have been been with say Nokia camera.
Whereas the slowest shutter delay with the G2, note3, N5 or S4 is around 1/8s (6x faster than 0.8). What they then do is take a HDR. They cheat. This means a relatively stable hand held low light shot but if an even slower shutter speed is required then you cannot do it. Has the low light video improved on the G2 since ? as the video from examples i'd seen earlier was mostly not usable.

i have a g2, ordered z1s, z1s is beatiful phone, liked the screen and mostly everything, little snapier then g2, for some reason z1s felt a little big, battery life i was not impressed, on the first charge, 15 min screen time and down 6%, comparing to g2 where you will loose 2% tops, great phone but going back to g2, will wait for somerhing else with better cam then g2
Sent from my LG-D801 using Tapatalk

One Twelve said:
Another limitation with android is its not possible to manually set shutter speed or do any manual focus unlike with WP8. This limits to a certain extent or makes it harder than it would have been been with say Nokia camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just as a side note, the LG G2 DOES have manual focus where you can move a slider (sorta like the 1020) to focus on things.
Thank you all for the opinions. I'll have to get hands on with it I think to really get a feel for it but I'm really leaning towards it. I'd get the HTC One again in a heartbeat if it had higher MP to actually have details in the photos

Check out this video mate:
The pictures were taken on the initial software release, the software has slightly improved since then but it should gives you a good idea on how well the camera perfomes.

shem2409 said:
Check out this video mate:
The pictures were taken on the initial software release, the software has slightly improved since then but it should gives you a good idea on how well the camera perfomes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this. You put a lot of info into that video. I also watched the 3 min one you made with mostly low light pictures. Looks like the Z1 is def worth getting

robamacaf said:
Thanks for this. You put a lot of info into that video. I also watched the 3 min one you made with mostly low light pictures. Looks like the Z1 is def worth getting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I absolutely love it
I only wish the screen was better. It's not bad by any means but due to poor viewing angles the experience is not on par with other devices (oppo find 5 etc)

universal
robamacaf said:
I just switched to TMobile yesterday and I got the LG G2. I am highly disappointed with the camera, specially the low light. I love taking photos on my cell (before this I had a Lumia 1020 which replaced my HTC One which replaced my S3) and the low light just didn't cut it.
The Z1s comes to tmobile in a week so I'm thinking of swapping it out for that. The thing is, I've heard so many mixed reviews about the Z1 and it's camera. I would love to have opinions from you all that own it. If you can compare the photos to any other phone that would be great. I was actually debating between the LG G2 and Note III and Z1, but I really think the Z1 (specs wise) might be the closest to the Lumia 1020 (which is the best smartphone camera I have EVER used....too bad it was on WP8)
Thank you in advance!
Rob
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a G2 and while I liked it I decided to not keep it. Just got my Z1s on Monday and was very impressed with the handful of shots I took, and find I like the Z1s all-around more than I did the G2: better design, better android skin, better battery life & performance (and the G2 was no slouch in either of those two areas), and at least based on first impressions better camera.
I am exchanging my Z1s because of some difficulty getting it to acknowledge long press while holding the phone (started a thread on that), but other than that was very happy with it and am looking forward to getting my replacement.

Any opinions on the battery life? I know the G2 and Z1 and the same sized battery and so far I've had the G2 off of charger for 6 hours and it's only at 91%. I've made some phone calls, checked emails, sent hangout messages through out the day. Connected to WIFI and 4G. It's fantastic

Battery life is not G2 good but it's still excellent. I usually get 6-8 hours screentime on, which is much better than most phones out there.

Tough decision for me, sell my G2 and payoff my EIP or keep it and sell the Z1S and profit a bit and wait for something else.
Sent from my LG-D801 using xda app-developers app

robamacaf said:
I just switched to TMobile yesterday and I got the LG G2. I am highly disappointed with the camera, specially the low light. I love taking photos on my cell (before this I had a Lumia 1020 which replaced my HTC One which replaced my S3) and the low light just didn't cut it.
The Z1s comes to tmobile in a week so I'm thinking of swapping it out for that. The thing is, I've heard so many mixed reviews about the Z1 and it's camera. I would love to have opinions from you all that own it. If you can compare the photos to any other phone that would be great. I was actually debating between the LG G2 and Note III and Z1, but I really think the Z1 (specs wise) might be the closest to the Lumia 1020 (which is the best smartphone camera I have EVER used....too bad it was on WP8)
Thank you in advance!
Rob
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check My Low light photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157637726566185/
you will also find Htc One set and Comparison Set between note3 vs z1
Me also swapped the htc one with the z1
reason: Purple tint camera and very long time focusing during night and mostly out of focus
how do i compare : Z1 blew away Htc faster lock never out of focus and Better lowlight
you can see in the sets both taken with htc and z1 ... Just to mention i never used Superior Auto i always use manual @all auto .. except if i want to capture a night landscape or scene with longer exposure i choose Night Mode from scenes and rest my arm on somethings
by the way
note3 camera at night it [email protected] !

ashouhdy said:
Check My Low light photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157637726566185/
you will also find Htc One set and Comparison Set between note3 vs z1
Me also swapped the htc one with the z1
reason: Purple tint camera and very long time focusing during night and mostly out of focus
how do i compare : Z1 blew away Htc faster lock never out of focus and Better lowlight
you can see in the sets both taken with htc and z1 ... Just to mention i never used Superior Auto i always use manual @all auto .. except if i want to capture a night landscape or scene with longer exposure i choose Night Mode from scenes and rest my arm on somethings
by the way
note3 camera at night it [email protected] !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! Those are fantastic! Thank you

I've had a play with a G2 and it's a cracking handset, but not a patch on the Z1 in terms of the on screen user experience, the LG skin looks too much like Touchwiz, which is hideous. The camera rocks, all round anyway, no phone camera I've ever come across actually performs perfectly, but the Z1 comes close.

robamacaf said:
I just switched to TMobile yesterday and I got the LG G2. I am highly disappointed with the camera, specially the low light. I love taking photos on my cell (before this I had a Lumia 1020 which replaced my HTC One which replaced my S3) and the low light just didn't cut it.
The Z1s comes to tmobile in a week so I'm thinking of swapping it out for that. The thing is, I've heard so many mixed reviews about the Z1 and it's camera. I would love to have opinions from you all that own it. If you can compare the photos to any other phone that would be great. I was actually debating between the LG G2 and Note III and Z1, but I really think the Z1 (specs wise) might be the closest to the Lumia 1020 (which is the best smartphone camera I have EVER used....too bad it was on WP8)
Thank you in advance!
Rob
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Z1 is really the best camera in an Android phone. The flash sucks, specially compared to the 1020's (and the 808's, still the best camera phone by a huge margin) xenon, of course; but it's bad for a LED. However, its low light, non-flash performance is way above the rest of the pack. More comparable to the 1020's non-flash pics than to the G2's. You will also have the benefit of some lossless zoom. As a camera, it's definitely an upgrade over the S3/One/G2, and a clear downgrade all around from the 1020.
This is an interesting comparison of the Z1 with Nokia's last few cameraphones:
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/18845_Smartphone_camera_shootout_the.php
Note that no non-Nokia phone had ever beaten the N8 on that site. But I'd suggest you to rate the pictures by yourself. Assign points to each, then assign a factor of importance to each category, and sum up the scores (multiplied by the importance of each category). You may come to a different conclusion than Steve.
Another interesting data point is this:
http://connect.dpreview.com/post/44...1-vs-nokia1020-vs-lgg2-vs-samsunggalaxys4zoom
Which includes a direct comparison between the Z1 and your previous two phones. I suggest the same approach, assigning your own scores and importances to come to your own conclusion.

Sorry to hijack the topic here but how does z1's camera compare to iPhone 5s' then? I was under the impression z1's was better even before the FW updates but after reading this thread I am not so sure..

fmmsf said:
Sorry to hijack the topic here but how does z1's camera compare to iPhone 5s' then? I was under the impression z1's was better even before the FW updates but after reading this thread I am not so sure..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it's WAY better. I don't have the shots with me, but when we went on vacations, my Z1's pictures were always better than my wife's 5S's. The Z1 focuses better (and faster), isn't as noisy, and exposes much better on low light. Also, the 5S has an annoying tendency of keeping the flash on for 1-2 seconds while it focuses, while the Z1 does it way faster; that much time with the LED on makes the subjects uncomfortable, and spoils the images. Whenever we took pictures of the same scene on both phones, mine were better (so much better that most of hers were instantly deleted). I usually don't shoot videos, so I can't comment on video quality.

Steve_max said:
Yes, it's WAY better. I don't have the shots with me, but when we went on vacations, my Z1's pictures were always better than my wife's 5S's. The Z1 focuses better (and faster), isn't as noisy, and exposes much better on low light. Also, the 5S has an annoying tendency of keeping the flash on for 1-2 seconds while it focuses, while the Z1 does it way faster; that much time with the LED on makes the subjects uncomfortable, and spoils the images. Whenever we took pictures of the same scene on both phones, mine were better (so much better that most of hers were instantly deleted). I usually don't shoot videos, so I can't comment on video quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, that's awesome! And how long does it take for the phone to bring up the camera app after you press the shutter button on the Z1? (That's a feature, right?)
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

How's Your Xperia Z doing?

After my Z ultra screen cracked,the people at service centre are giving me a new Xperia Z as replacement with 1 yr warranty(FREE? ofcourse NOT,i paid 7500 INR for it)..so my question is how is the 2013 flagship phone performing now?
Is it good for daily use(browsing,facebook,whatsapp,small-medium gaming)??
And mainly how's the camera??
As I'm a former z Ultra user, i've become used to with the lag free usage,Will it be the same for Xperia Z?
The camera in z ultra was really very very bad,so i think Z will have a better camera...

Speed, performance on games/apps: 8/10
Tried most of new games and heavy apps... Sometimes its lag, but mostly because I have other apps working on the background
It have problem with heating, and battery is like waterfall when you use it heavy, but for daily use and gaming... I have no idea why people want more powerful hardware if this one in XZ is actually still top of the line...
Of course benchmark people gonna start complaining but real life is not benchmark :] So if someone want to fight for 200 more points in Antu... antutu... that crappy app for people that like numbers... feel free to fight for dead in the name of holy "top10" xD
Camera quality: 3/10
It was always crap, still no matter in what condition m taking pic, my old Xperia Arc S is still taking better pics, other phones also take better but its nice comparison to old=new.
To be honest XZ with android 5.0 taking the same pics as old Xperia Neo V(sometimes even worst)
I can make comparison with arc s and neo V, but I dont see the point, if someone think that XZ have good camera... its probably never used other phones.
Its also not that fast, average it take 3-5sec to open it from lockscreen, and alos 3-4 from homescreen.
Autofocus is not that great in low light conditions, and Automatic mode is good only if you want to snap pic of your coffee or Lunch and post it on Instagram
And to be more funny, like most of new phones, when you try to play with functions(colors mods etc) its stop after few minutes with really nice window: "phone need to cool down", hilarious that instead of fixing it, they spend time to make this window...
Also HDR and stabilization option is worst I'v seen, object that move faster than snail have annoying ghosting effect and colors and shadows are like after nuclear attack when you use HDR.
Screen: 9/10
Still its one of better I used, even compared to new models. And viewing angles? Dont care...
Battery: 3/10
Almost one and half year I have my XZ, still the same battery. Battery on LP is crappy as F. Some fanboys say that its ok... but to be honest I think this people spend most of their time in home or use their phones once per few hours. When you use your phone to work and media, AS MOST OF PHONES ARE ADVERTISING... its dead after 5-6h of usage.
Build quality: 4/10
Mostly because of crappy cover flaps, they are dead after 2-3 months. Also that mat painting on housing can peal off after few months on corners
Is also good to mention that XZ have back panel problems... I actually changed back cover three times, I found out that its mostly because of heat and crappy glue method...
So even if I love my Xperia Z, its really average device with really annoying "small" problems and today with the same price you can buy better phones, few days ago I found in one of market in Spain Xperia Z1 compact that cost less than XZ... :]

I'd have to disagree with you on almost all of the things you just said
Speed - 6.5/10 The device actually does stutter because of the old and "slow"(by today's standards) CPU. But most of all, bad coding and bad software is pissing me off, for example recent apps with smallapps usually takes about 2-5 seconds just to show after pressing the button. I'd say speed is OK, the Z won't piss you off, most of the time but compared to lets say nexus 5 its slow as a ****ing snail.
Camera - 8/10 I really have no idea how can you rate this camera so low. What were your criteria really for grading the camera?
Yes, it's not on par with current flagships, but if you go back to 2013, it was right there with back-then flagships, except for low-light photos.
BTW, you probably got a bad phone, since i never got the overheating message, nor did my friends that have/had the Z.
Screen - 5/10 Out of all the things that are actually good, for the only thing that is really bad on the Z, you say its good.... Seems to me you never held more than a few serious phones in your life but OK...
Screen is OK, but lack of contrast, oversaturated screen which needs to be adjusted so it isnt all yellow on white background, and those ****ing viewing angles.... the screen is just OK, nothing less, nothing more.
i dont even agree with build quality, because it seems to be different for different batches of phones. My phone for example is perfect for almost 2 years now, and material usage is cool for me, because it would be fatter with metal edges(like the Z1).

You can agree or disagree, I really dont care.
Why I say that camera in XZ suck? because I compared it to bunch of other phones, and most important to my older phones, and its not that great.
Someone say that its my model have problem... nope. Getting other xz to compare was first what I do.
And for gods sake of course Im not comparing it to new phones... (Jesus Christ... really you thought that Im compare it to new phones?)
Maybe you dont care about things like HUGE chromatic aberration, about good color balance, about algorithm that F up anything that is green or blurry shoots made in day light condition, or ghosting when HDR is enabled.
Maybe you use your camera to shoot selfies or random stuff when you are in park and after that you add massive amount of instagram effect.... Then you can put any camera n your device and you would say that its amazing... Its good for you, really. But other people actually care about image quality, because when your phone have good camera you can actually use for work.
Also no I dont expect that my phone need to shoot DLSR quality images... but there is a line when you get phone that its after all flagship(back then) its need to make a bit better photos than your older phones(after all that why we pay for evolution of phones?)
Other people can like or dont like my opinion, but they need to know that I speed lots of time with this camera and overall with mobile photography and such things is annoying. Im doing loots of pictures in car show and races(I work in car shop and we travel a loot with our cars) and few years ago I actually stopped using normal camera because no one saw difference between image quality(after small processing them in PC of course) and with xz... its just annoying to use it.
And about CPU... most of problem that you pointed out its more about android update(LP or KK im guessing) and its not because old hardware, I really cant stop laughing because of this saying "old hardware" in most of cases its 99% problem of lazy system and app devs that instead of optimizing their work, they use raw power to hind all crappy coding and after that not only battery is dying but CPU is just pissing it self because it just cant handle of laugh looking at what it need processed...
Its really remind me a bit Unity Engine that I need to use for one of project... Effect-Resource Usage ratio of it is just hilarious.... no matter what you doing...
People like to saying crap about hardware instead of bashing crappy software...
You used iPhone? with half of power that Android have you still get the same or better experience, yes its different platform but dont you thing its funny? especially in games? And IM not talking about new iPhone... I mean old models compared to new Android phones....
PS...
Seems to me you never held more than a few serious phones in your life but OK...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I need to say that I didnt expect such childish sentence in xda forum :] You actually understand that we live in world when we can just go to shop or friend... and use for few mnutes other phones? Or just buy them?
Just because I use old xperia Z it doesnt mean that I didnt use other phones... Some people like me dont see the point of bying phone every year... XZ have few annoying bugs but its still good phone... You get that right?

OK since i took the time reading you rubbish kilometer post i gotta answer.
i never saw noticable chromatic abberation.
you do know how proper HDR mode works? it pieces together 2 photos? ofcourse you are gonna see ghosting if you move the ****ing phone while shooting.
BTW blurry day shots are because of superior mode yet again, because it automatically activates HDR if there is high contrast on the picture.
check some tests that professionals did. the camera is GOOD, except low light. colors are oversaturated on superior mode. But 90% of users and reviewers are probably crazy, yeah, the camera on Z is ****
the OP asked if it was better than his previous Z ultra. it is miles better.

I'm selling my Z soon. If I had known I'd have so many problems, I'd never have bough it. I changed USB cover flap 2 times already, changed back cover because it cracked (that was my fault, though, didn't have a case and dropped it on the floor, but still), had to peel off the ASF because it scratched pretty quickly and bought a screen protector to replace it. To top it off, my camera has started to get more and more dead pixels, and it's very noticeable. The quality of photos has gone from good to horrible. It's like I'm not even using what used to be a flagship. Front facing camera is pretty bad as well. Battery life is poor, but it's an old chipset, so not much can be done in that department. Screen is okay, I don't really care about viewing angles. Multitasking is fine, too. A bit slow compared to the new phones, but still fast enough (I don't play any heavy games on phone). Typing is for some reason a nightmare at times. I type more accurately on my old Xperia Arc and my boyfriend's Meizu M1 Note than on XZ.
Xperia Z feels like a heavy test subject for latter Z series. Personally, if I had to choose a phone from this series, it would definitely be Z2. I liked its design the best. But for now, I'm staying away from Sony products. Not only because they have disappointed me again (Xperia Arc had build quality issues to begin with), but are also out of my price range now.
Even though I liked Z in the beginning, I somewhat regret spending so much money on it.
Sent from my eXposed C6603

TorN-d- said:
OK since i took the time reading you rubbish kilometer post i gotta answer.
i never saw noticable chromatic abberation.
you do know how proper HDR mode works? it pieces together 2 photos? ofcourse you are gonna see ghosting if you move the ****ing phone while shooting.
BTW blurry day shots are because of superior mode yet again, because it automatically activates HDR if there is high contrast on the picture.
check some tests that professionals did. the camera is GOOD, except low light. colors are oversaturated on superior mode. But 90% of users and reviewers are probably crazy, yeah, the camera on Z is ****
the OP asked if it was better than his previous Z ultra. it is miles better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
totaly agree with u about the camera taking good pics outside when its brite and bad pics in low lite condition. i had xperia Z for about a year, now my mother has it still a good phone but those flaps are bad made and yea i also forgot to say that it has very very i mean very bad quality speaker LOL did they make joke with us back then in 2013...my first thing when i got it was, i rooted the phone and flashed sound mod lol eveything else was fine i think.now im using Z2 for more then a year and im so satisfied with the phone that my next will be from Sony again maybe Z5 or whatever it comes. :highfive:

camera pics vs pixel 2 xl

So I got a crazy deal on a pixel 2 xl off Craigslist and have been comparing the two phones all weekend. I gotta say I was expecting the pixel too be much better. While it is smoother, but not by much, I'm shocked at how close the cameras are!! I've taken multiple pics and asked my wife to tell me which ones look better. I'd say 6 out of 10 times she picks the essential!! She's even notes that the screen looks better on the ph1.
The first pic is with the essential, portrait mode vs pixel 2 portrait mode.

The pixel and pixel 2 line shines when it comes to low lighting condition. Also video recording using EIS is amazing compared to zero in the essential. Hopefully they enable it soon!

xterminater07 said:
The pixel and pixel 2 line shines when it comes to low lighting condition. Also video recording using EIS is amazing compared to zero in the essential. Hopefully they enable it soon!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't recorded too many videos, mainly use my phone for pics. The sample I posted was in low light and I think the essential pic def looks better.
I know overall when you get crazy into the specs etc the pixel cameras are better. But my point is that they're really close in most cases, sometimes ph1 is better and sometimes the pixel is.
Just wanted to post something since the camera updates cause that's where this phone really gets beat up and I think that's not the case anymore!!!

mpetruzz said:
I don't recorded too many videos, mainly use my phone for pics. The sample I posted was in low light and I think the essential pic def looks better.
I know overall when you get crazy into the specs etc the pixel cameras are better. But my point is that they're really close in most cases, sometimes ph1 is better and sometimes the pixel is.
Just wanted to post something since the camera updates cause that's where this phone really gets beat up and I think that's not the case anymore!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I totally agreed, the camera is much better now. However, in real low light such as 2700k floor lamp, or night stand light, it struggles horribly and the pics are washed out, and some times have red tint to it. I would upload pics but I am kinda lazy heheh. Will try to post pics later, but I did a huge comparison between gcam hdr+ modes on reddit if u wanna go to see it.

Database Users

welcome