Database Users

Z1 Camera Comparison: Google Nexus 5 vs iPhone 5s, Sony Xperia Z1, Samsung Galaxy Not

There have been a few amateur comparisons posted here in this thread, which frankly aren't very accurate or well done, nor are the small 1-page or even 1 paragraph reviews of the camera buried inside the overall phone review on many tech media websites. So I found a much more professional and also the most in depth camera shootout on the web at this time. Unlike what some would have you believe, the Xperia Z1 possesses one of the highest scoring smartphone cameras. There were so many photos taken in this extensive review that I'm not even going to try reproducing them all here. What I will do is post Phonearena's rankings for each category and leave it to you to hit up this link for the full article
{
"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"
}
Outdoors at night time were a disappointment, so in this case I would suggest NOT using Superior Auto mode for those shots, as many others have suggested. Try Manual, 8MP, auto ISO, -1 to -2 ev

For a more professional touch I went to one of the most credible photography sites and got their take on the Z1 Camera comparisons. You can read the full shootout here. They were very critical of all tested phones, however the Z1 again did very well on this site:
In our tests the Nokia Lumia 1020 arguably offers the best all-around image quality. It captures great detail in good light and its Xenon flash provides excellent performance in very dim light situations. There is a lot of luminance noise in its high-ISO output but chroma noise is well under control and the very large 38MP image files mean that at normal viewing and printing sizes noise becomes much less visible.
If you only want to share your pictures online you can also set the device to only save 5MP images and conserve space in the phone's internal memory. Thanks to Nokia's clever downsampling algorithms the lower resolution images are comparatively clean even at higher ISOs and still show good detail. They might look a little oversharpened for some people's taste though.
The 1020 only struggled in our night shot. We took 30 shots with the Nokia but the shutter speed in such a dark environment was just too slow to get even a single 100% sharp image. In those situations we recommend upping the ISO manually in order to achieve a faster shutter speed. As we've already pointed out in our full review, the Nokia's performance can occasionally feel a little sluggish.
The Sony Xperia Z1 also offers very high resolution results, but suffers from noise and artifacts at all ISO settings. This is only really visible at large magnifications though and the Sony's good exposure and usually pleasant color response make it a good alternative for those who only share their pictures online at smaller resolutions. Another advantage of the Sony is that thanks to its responsiveness and dedicated shutter button, in terms of operations it comes as close to a compact camera as a smartphone can get.
The LG G2's image quality is not quite on the same level as the Nokia's and Sony's. Its efficient optical image stabilization helps keep things very steady in low light but very strong noise reduction is applied at all ISO levels and its auto white balance tends to capture slightly cool colors. Like the Sony, its LED flash cannot compete with the much more powerful units on the Nokia and Samsung. There's nothing wrong with the LG's camera but its image quality is simply not up there with the best of the 2013 smartphone generation.
Despite its 1/2.3 sensor the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom doesn't capture any more detail than the current generation of smartphones. In fact, the lens of our test unit appeared to be slightly soft at its wide angle setting. However, the Samsung is worth a look for those mobile photographer who want a powerful flash and an optical zoom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlike the Phonearena comparisons, in this case the Z1 took much nicer outdoor night time photos.

omnius1 said:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Surprising that G2 would do better than Z1 in low light.
omnius1 said:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This one needs serious work from Sony. Samsung is the king when it comes to panorama.
omnius1 said:
Outdoors at night time were a disappointment, so in this case I would suggest NOT using Superior Auto mode for those shots, as many others have suggested. Try Manual, 8MP, auto ISO, -1 to -2 ev
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean that all these photos were taken with SA ?
This isn't a camera shootout. Its a shootout over how well the auto program works in each phone. If that's in various stages of maturity then this review is not representative. There are no reference shots so how do we know which camer got it right or over exposed/underexposed.
Apple won't allow access to ISO in the api, you cannot set ISO in an iphone.
From the article..
Focal length of Htc one - 28mm
focal length of Z1 - 27mm
hmm, Z1 must be doing some serious cropping here.
Does not distinguish between 2-axis OIS vs 3-axs OIS.

One Twelve said:
This one needs serious work from Sony. Samsung is the king when it comes to panorama.
You mean that all these photos were taken with SA ?
This isn't a camera shootout. Its a shootout over how well the auto program works in each phone. If that's in various stages of maturity then this review is not representative. There are no reference shots so how do we know which camer got it right or over exposed/underexposed.
Apple won't allow access to ISO in the api, you cannot set ISO in an iphone.
From the article..
Focal length of Htc one - 28mm
focal length of Z1 - 27mm
hmm, Z1 must be doing some serious cropping here.
Does not distinguish between 2-axis OIS vs 3-axs OIS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? I think this is the most extensive comparison we can find so far on the web. I didn't pick apart the engineering specs behind it, but I think the photos they took with the Z1 looked fantastic against the competition. Which is what it's all about really. With the exception of the outdoor night and pano, I agree.
No they didn't have reference shots but they did take DSLR photos I think as well. However you have to read the article as well, where they do specifically mention which shots were closer in color and detail to the actual live scene.
However if you look at the night shots the digital camera review site took with it, his are actually pretty good in comparison.
Surprising that G2 would do better than Z1 in low light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it did, that was an outdoor night ranking, they posted a separate ranking for indoor low light

Thanks for sharing the phonearena link, I hadn't seen it
Sent from my Xperia Z1 using Tapatalk

omnius1 said:
Really? I think this is the most extensive comparison we can find so far on the web. I didn't pick apart the engineering specs behind it, but I think the photos they took with the Z1 looked fantastic against the competition. Which is what it's all about really.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Original photos here
omnius1 said:
No they didn't have reference shots but they did take DSLR photos I think as well. However you have to read the article as well, where they do specifically mention which shots were closer in color and detail to the actual live scene.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read it now and i realise they DID provide reference shots with the panasonic lumix so this at least is better than other reviews i've seen.
omnius1 said:
I don't think it did, that was an outdoor night ranking, they posted a separate ranking for indoor low light
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem with auto is its quite variable. I think of it as a random sampling. Lumia has problems with white balance which can be set manually. The night time shots with lumia which has the slowest exposure of 4s should beat the competition. But if auto did not do it correct then the 1020 gets a low score.
The problem i have generally with these sorts of comparisons is it requires expert users of the cameras concerned to see the best the camera can provide. Auto is not going to do this. Auto will tell you that chances are your experience is going to be similar but then the sample size is small, so its 50-50. You might get better shots or worse than what is shown here.
In other words take this review along with others with a grain of salt

I don't view this review as gospel of course, but in lieu of any others, it's the more extensive than any others I've seen on the Web. I took it for what it's worth, which is to say that the Z1 camera performed quite a bit better than what some individual posters or bloggers would have you believe. Could it be better? Sure, there's always room for improvement. Is it still really good? It looks so.
Sent from my Sony Xperia Z1

which firmware ? LG G2 better in low light ! its very very OverProcessed and Smoothed ...

Let's go to town on this one
omnius1 said:
Outdoors at night time were a disappointment, so in this case I would suggest NOT using Superior Auto mode for those shots, as many others have suggested. Try Manual, 8MP, auto ISO, -1 to -2 ev
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Church
LG (1/12s, ISO 800, 13MP, Auto)
Z1 (1/13s, ISO 400. 20MP, Auto)
The LG took a cleaner shot at twice the ISO as the Z1. Z1 in this review is using the latest .257 firmware.
The Z1 looks little over exposed. It's a pity they didn't take an 8MP as the noise would be less. Cannot see any camera shake here. ISO 200 might have been more clean.
Side street
LG (Shutter speed & ISO unknown, 13MP, Auto) Since this one is more clear, i assume it was taken at a faster shutter speed.
Z1 (1/8s, ISO 400, 20MP, Auto).
Reference (2 sec, ISO 160, 15.9MP, Auto)
Obvious camera shake if you see the moneygram sign on the left. camera shake affects picture quality.
1020 (1/8, ISO 800, 38.2MP, Auto) This one is clear.
Intersection
LG (1/14, ISO 400, 13MP, Auto)
Z1 (1/20, ISO 500, 20MP, Auto)
No noticeable camera shake here. Z1 still looks over exposed. ISO 200 with little EV would have been better.
Building
LG (1/15, ISO 300, 20MP, Auto)
Z1 (1/32, ISO 320, 20MP, Auto)
These look pretty similar, Z1 could have done with ISO 200. Also a spot meter rather than centre-weighted in an area between light & dark could have helped.
Bench
LG (shutter speed & ISO unknown, 13MP, Auto)
Z1 (1/8, ISO 400, 13, Auto)
Clear example where manual EV compensation would have brought out more details in both cameras and they could have used a lower ISO. So you can see how Auto can get it wrong some times. And scores averaged off auto will be equally flawed.
1020 (0.3s, ISO 4000,38.2MP, 17.2MB)
Reference (0.3s, ISO 1250, 15.9MP, 5.5MB, Low contrast, Manual WB)
It's curious why the LG dropped shutter & ISO info twice out of 4 pictures.

One Twelve said:
Let's go to town on this one
Church
LG (1/12s, ISO 800, 13MP, Auto)
Z1 (1/13s, ISO 400. 20MP, Auto)
The LG took a cleaner shot at twice the ISO as the Z1. Z1 in this review is using the latest .257 firmware.
The Z1 looks little over exposed. It's a pity they didn't take an 8MP as the noise would be less. Cannot see any camera shake here. ISO 200 might have been more clean.
Side street
LG (Shutter speed & ISO unknown, 13MP, Auto) Since this one is more clear, i assume it was taken at a faster shutter speed.
Z1 (1/8s, ISO 400, 20MP, Auto).
Reference (2 sec, ISO 160, 15.9MP, Auto)
Obvious camera shake if you see the moneygram sign on the left. camera shake affects picture quality.
1020 (1/8, ISO 800, 38.2MP, Auto) This one is clear.
Intersection
LG (1/14, ISO 400, 13MP, Auto)
Z1 (1/20, ISO 500, 20MP, Auto)
No noticeable camera shake here. Z1 still looks over exposed. ISO 200 with little EV would have been better.
Building
LG (1/15, ISO 300, 20MP, Auto)
Z1 (1/32, ISO 320, 20MP, Auto)
These look pretty similar, Z1 could have done with ISO 200. Also a spot meter rather than centre-weighted in an area between light & dark could have helped.
Bench
LG (shutter speed & ISO unknown, 13MP, Auto)
Z1 (1/8, ISO 400, 13, Auto)
Clear example where manual EV compensation would have brought out more details in both cameras and they could have used a lower ISO. So you can see how Auto can get it wrong some times. And scores averaged off auto will be equally flawed.
1020 (0.3s, ISO 4000,38.2MP, 17.2MB)
Reference (0.3s, ISO 1250, 15.9MP, 5.5MB, Low contrast, Manual WB)
It's curious why the LG dropped shutter & ISO info twice out of 4 pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
never seen such bad low light fotos from the z1 before ... sure you know what i mean cuz you know the pics i take from the flickr Set !
thats one photo just with manual and night scene ! i will not follow any photo comparisons from reviewers anyMORE !!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/10985713943/in/set-72157637726566185

ashouhdy said:
never seen such bad low light fotos from the z1 before ... sure you know what i mean cuz you know the pics i take from the flickr Set !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. Your photos are adequate proof of what a few tweaks here & there can do to overall picture quality, with any phone.
But nearly all your photos are 8MP. I found a couple at 20MP. People want to know why 20MP cannot do good shots if 1020 at 38.3MP can do it. But you can if people look at these two
20MP
8MP
The 8MP is correctly exposed, but if you used ISO 200 with the 20MP it also would have been the same.
Plus you use the slowest shutter speeds possible ie 0.8s going no faster than 0.3s. Other than the 1020 which can go as slow as 4s, none of the cameras reviewed can go slower than 0.3s. In this review the slowest shutter on the Z1 is 1/8 and they still got blur in one. So people will look at this review and think G2 can do better outdoors night shots than Z1

One Twelve said:
Exactly. Your photos are adequate proof of what a few tweaks here & there can do to overall picture quality, with any phone.
But nearly all your photos are 8MP. I found a couple at 20MP. People want to know why 20MP cannot do good shots if 1020 at 38.3MP can do it. But you can if people look at these two
20MP
8MP
The 8MP is correctly exposed, but if you used ISO 200 with the 20MP it also would have been the same.
Plus you use the slowest shutter speeds possible ie 0.8s going no faster than 0.3s. Other than the 1020 which can go as slow as 4s, none of the cameras reviewed can go slower than 0.3s. In this review the slowest shutter on the Z1 is 1/8 and they still got blur in one. So people will look at this review and think G2 can do better outdoors night shots than Z1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its the night scene that puts the shutter to 1/8 ... Also i doubt the LG can get close to the low light performance of the Z1 Due to Sensor Size 1/2.3" vs 1/3"
And Yes the 20MP i guess its as if a RAW image ... but thats my sensation am not sure. Also i noticed that with 20MP the Bionz Procss. imaging Ship is Deactivated.
i Guess Sony Tweaked the Phone for the Optimium 8MP with Pixels Binning and the BionZ image ship.
the last pic i posted the FOG is amazingly clean ... believe me some Hand As Shot DigiCams will not capture the Fog that clean.
i will try to take some 20MP vs 8MP in other time

They did not use night mode in any shots. It was all auto for every camera. if auto was so good then why are these modes present in the camera in the first place. They are specialised presets for special situations. Auto cannot do it all (unless its iphone) that is why they are there.
Remember wezzel's laser shots, they were ISO 200 with +2EV.
(in theory) ISO 200 +2EV is like ISO 800 with 0EV. Not sure if its completely linear.
Difference is ISO 200 is fine grain whereas ISO 800 is more grainy.
One thing i notice in the first LG night shot, G2 is using ISO 800 but the shot is quite clear, I do not see much noise. Also in the last one the 1020 is using ISO 4000. Again very clear shot. If you try ISO 4000 with Z1 you will get an oil painting.
Clean low light shots with Z1 = low ISO + slow shutter speed (+ EV if necessary).
Z1 sensor cannot produce clean shots with high ISO. Which is a pity beause shutter speed will be much faster so chances of blur are much lower. The result is you got to work harder to get good shots with Z1 but when you do the others cannot match it, barring the 1020 ofc.
20MP jpg is not RAW its jpg.
RAW is TIFF ie no compression.

One Twelve said:
They did not use night mode in any shots. It was all auto for every camera. if auto was so good then why are these modes present in the camera in the first place. They are specialised presets for special situations. Auto cannot do it all (unless its iphone) that is why they are there.
Remember wezzel's laser shots, they were ISO 200 with +2EV.
(in theory) ISO 200 +2EV is like ISO 800 with 0EV. Not sure if its completely linear.
Difference is ISO 200 is fine grain whereas ISO 800 is more grainy.
One thing i notice in the first LG night shot, G2 is using ISO 800 but the shot is quite clear, I do not see much noise. Also in the last one the 1020 is using ISO 4000. Again very clear shot. If you try ISO 4000 with Z1 you will get an oil painting.
Clean low light shots with Z1 = low ISO + slow shutter speed (+ EV if necessary).
Z1 sensor cannot produce clean shots with high ISO. Which is a pity beause shutter speed will be much faster so chances of blur are much lower. The result is you got to work harder to get good shots with Z1 but when you do the others cannot match it, barring the 1020 ofc.
20MP jpg is not RAW its jpg.
RAW is TIFF ie no compression.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also the SA somtimes kicks the ISO up to 1600 with the night mode i've seen it many times. SA puts a night scene down beside a guy running (i guess it means hand held) the average is ISO 1600 with 1/8 exposure (the rail way photo in my set) and yes leads to blur free images as advertised.
Also did you noticed that the LG pics the over all scene is not bright just the Centre where it is meant to focus .. in contraversry the Z1 all around scene is much brighter the church photo is a good example.
if i tab to focus on the church i guess u could get similar results with lg

That's good review!

One Twelve said:
They did not use night mode in any shots. It was all auto for every camera. if auto was so good then why are these modes present in the camera in the first place. They are specialised presets for special situations. Auto cannot do it all (unless its iphone) that is why they are there.
Remember wezzel's laser shots, they were ISO 200 with +2EV.
(in theory) ISO 200 +2EV is like ISO 800 with 0EV. Not sure if its completely linear.
Difference is ISO 200 is fine grain whereas ISO 800 is more grainy.
One thing i notice in the first LG night shot, G2 is using ISO 800 but the shot is quite clear, I do not see much noise. Also in the last one the 1020 is using ISO 4000. Again very clear shot. If you try ISO 4000 with Z1 you will get an oil painting.
Clean low light shots with Z1 = low ISO + slow shutter speed (+ EV if necessary).
Z1 sensor cannot produce clean shots with high ISO. Which is a pity beause shutter speed will be much faster so chances of blur are much lower. The result is you got to work harder to get good shots with Z1 but when you do the others cannot match it, barring the 1020 ofc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically what I take from this is that as long as you take the time to learn how to optimize the settings for certain scenes that auto superior doesn't handle well, we've got one of the best smartphone cameras available
Sent from my Sony Xperia Z1

omnius1 said:
So basically what I take from this is that as long as you take the time to learn how to optimize the settings for certain scenes that auto superior doesn't handle well, we've got one of the best smartphone cameras available
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but many will not be prepared to put in that effort.
Once you've driven 10,000 miles handling a car is second nature, almost reflexive.
Once you've taken over a 1000 photos the same applies with any phone camera. Ideally, with experience, you see a shot, know what exposure to use regardless of the lighting, click and get it right more times than not. This is a skill. People want to get it right with no skill. In good light you can get away with it, once the light dips it gets harder.
Phone cameras still do not help to get a good shot unlike dslrs. You have no clue what the sensor sees and decides to use for ISO/shutter speed, i wish it would display that info before taking the photo. What it thinks TTL (through the lens) is the best setting to use to get a properly exposed shot. So you take the shot, preview, tweak, try again until right. It could be easier.
There is no over-exposure warning. This is something i think should be possible with current tech. Its still too easy to overexpose in good light as well as low light with a well lit subject. Phone cameras by default, operate in aperture priority mode, cannot change aperture so they pick the right shutter speed/ISO to get the best shot. They choose wrong on occasion.
SCN modes is an attempt to fill that gap. Again these are presets that pick values from a given set given what the camera sees. These modes are supposed to be user-friendly but if you know what settings to use its much simpler to just use those and be done with it. Now you're thinking like a photographer with a dslr ergo know how to get the best shot with the device you have for a given subject's lighting.
The one thing that is still not possible is freezing motion in low light. That requires a sensor with low noise at higher ISO. But you can freeze motion to some extent if the subject is not more than 5 feet away with flash but that's about it.

One Twelve said:
Side street
LG (Shutter speed & ISO unknown, 13MP, Auto) Since this one is more clear, i assume it was taken at a faster shutter speed.
Z1 (1/8s, ISO 400, 20MP, Auto).
Reference (2 sec, ISO 160, 15.9MP, Auto)
Obvious camera shake if you see the moneygram sign on the left. camera shake affects picture quality.
1020 (1/8, ISO 800, 38.2MP, Auto) This one is clear.
Bench
LG (shutter speed & ISO unknown, 13MP, Auto)
Z1 (1/8, ISO 400, 13, Auto)
Clear example where manual EV compensation would have brought out more details in both cameras and they could have used a lower ISO. So you can see how Auto can get it wrong some times. And scores averaged off auto will be equally flawed.
1020 (0.3s, ISO 4000,38.2MP, 17.2MB)
Reference (0.3s, ISO 1250, 15.9MP, 5.5MB, Low contrast, Manual WB)
It's curious why the LG dropped shutter & ISO info twice out of 4 pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think i found the reason why the G2 dropped the shutter & ISO info from the exif of those two pics, it switched automatically into night mode. S4 has a setting for this, switch to night mode if light detected is too low. Maybe the one in the reviewers G2 did so as well.
G2 does not mention scene type in the exif which is sloppy. But the S4 does, night mode basically means a kind of HDR, it takes a number of images and then combines them. Result is ISO & shutter speed are missing in the exif. At least samsung indicates that the S4 went into night mode. You have to wait while these images are combined before taking the next shot, so there is some delay here. Brian Klug goes into this in his anandtech review on the S4's camera.
Check out the exifs of these two pics from the G2..
Low light
Night mode
1/8 seems to be the slowest speed the G2 can go to. After that its exposure compensation image combo magic. Same applies for S3, S4, Note 3 & Note 2 as well.
!/8 + 1/8 + 1/8... is still 1/8 with less blur given the faster shutter time but you still have to hold the camera still for the duration and end up with a 1/8 exposure compensated shot.
---------- Post added at 10:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:17 PM ----------
ashouhdy said:
its the night scene that puts the shutter to 1/8 ... Also i doubt the LG can get close to the low light performance of the Z1 Due to Sensor Size 1/2.3" vs 1/3"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No chance for G2 to beat Z1 in low light.
Z1 sensor is 33% bigger.
Z1 aperture is 50% bigger
Z1 shutter speed is 6x slower (if its confirmed 1/8 is slowest speed for G2)
Plus you can exposure compensate 2+ on Z1

Some photos I took while on a trip. Loving the phone. Replaced my nikon d700

The best camera is the one you have with you. That's why I bought the xperia z1:
http://filipedasilva.pt/blog/?p=512

Great pics
Wow amazing pics, I haven't found the perfect configuration for my XZ1..could you share in what mode you took them (Resolution, Superior Auto, Manual?? HDR on??)

Cool ! For a month now, i dont think my z1 could actually take photos like that. When i try to take a photo of mysekf, i always get half of my face blur. Maybe its bec of some autofocus malfunction, and when i use flash, i get pale complexion, feels like in a horror movie. But I find ur photos amazing , and would absolutely try taking pictures on like that.

Is it hard to post this few photos to xda forum? You must post link to your OWN gallery? It's not advertising site, it's developer site.
Wysłane z mojego C6903 przy użyciu Tapatalka

Here mine: http://daddye.vsco.co

Please teach us how to take pictures like you do with the z1

I can't upload photos to the forum and I don't know the absolut url since my blog doesn't allow right click!
It's not like i'm earning money with clicks jeez.
I took the photos in manual mode 8 MP, iso 50, touch to focus and adjusted the colors with exposure compensation. I've also used scene mode landscape with sucess.
I don't mess with automatic superior. Indoors I don't get so good results... and usually go manual with iso max 800 so that the noise correction don't mess with the photos.
But when the light is right, it can take great pics!

Whoa, looking stunning there. At some points I know that Z1 camera is truly decent in terms of pixel, but its ability to capture these awesome photos is something. Also it's because you're a photographer, ain't you ? That's why they turn out this amazing.

Why 8 mp mode instead of 20?
Sent from my C6906

Yes i'm a professional photographer.. but I did nothing fancy with the photos.. just a little bit of contrast. It's just a matter of taste.
I choose 8 MPs because with 20 the format is 4:3 and I kind of like framing landscapes with 16:9..

Beautiful photos, will try manual mode for now :laugh:

c312eal said:
Why 8 mp mode instead of 20?
Sent from my C6906
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd assume because 20MP has hardly acceptable quality due to ridiculous amount of noise. mind that 20 MP is the pixel count of professional full frame cameras like Canon 5d mk2. on FF the count adds some quality, on microscopic phone sensors it just adds noise (not to mention that to have a lens that can benefit from 20MP you would have to spend several times more than the cost of xperia z1). limiting photo size to 8mp allows some better noise handling, as data from several pixels can be averaged.

Sony Xperia Z1 Camera after 14.2.A.0.290 Update

Hello XDA Community
Just installed the 14.2.A.0.290 Update (Android 4.3) and played with the camera for a little bit. I had little time to take photos but it seems like there really isn't that much improvement on Superior Auto (I did not have time to try manual since I have to run out and leave for work!).
Also, I had to make a few attempts to tap to focus to actually focus correctly which was an issue that I didn't have before. Anyway, it's really too early for me to criticize the camera since these were taken around 7:15-7:30AM and the lighting in my home office isn't that great.
I will take more pictures throughout the day both indoor and outdoors.
These photos are unaltered and are posted on flickr so you can view the original resolution. Again, taken in Superior Auto: http://flic.kr/s/aHsjP5Eneu
If anyone can post their notes and photo samples taken on manual, please post originals on Flickr and share!

Update - just added more photos when walking to my car outside!
Hey you know what... maybe SA mode has improved. Looks like the photos taken in the new update aren't as over-exposed as the previous version. I could be wrong.

Better if you make comparison, Android 4.2.2 vs 4.3... Photos like this are showing nothing...
Wysłane z mojego C6903 przy użyciu Tapatalka

Still way too much processing and compression, still garbage and have to rely on manual mode.

Seems like it focuses a lot faster with 4.3

I can vouch that focusing seems to be faster. Actual picture quality doesn't seem much different, I'll run a few tests once I'm done with final exams

Is the superior auto still taking 8 MP photos? Or is it able to take 20 MP shots?
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

bogdan wst said:
Is the superior auto still taking 8 MP photos? Or is it able to take 20 MP shots?
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It still takes 8MP shots, but people have to realize that's a GOOD thing. If it takes 20MP shots a couple of things happen: 1. The file size will be very big, 2. There will be more noise in the picture and 3. It will have a 4:3 aspect ratio which sucks for wallpapers, etc. Superior auto uses downsampling so that the 8MP image has the quality of a 20MP image without the weird aspect ratio, smaller file size and less noise. It's good!

they need to allow higher resolution auto mode, maybe not 20 MP, but like 12 MP should still be good for wide aspect ratio I think. And it also puts it ahead of all other android phones. And seriously, they need less compressed jpeg saving. Even if it means bigger file size, the S800 can easily handle it. My old S3 with superfine picture mode generally get around 3.5 MB for 8MP and Z1 is like 2.5 MB, thats shows how that there something going on with the horrible compression ratio. Sony needs to pull their head out of their ass and accept that their imagine processing is garbage, the Z1 camera specs is suppose to destroy every other android phone, not matching them.

So no 16:9 photos in MANUAL 20 MP?
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

dont think the lens is true wide angle lense, so its max out at 20MP 4:3, if they want to add 16:9 high MP shots, it probably have to drop to 18MP or lower.

Gitaroo said:
dont think the lens is true wide angle lense, so its max out at 20MP 4:3, if they want to add 16:9 high MP shots, it probably have to drop to 18MP or lower.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which would be something that I could live with if I had 18mp wide and 13mp instead of going from 20mp to 8mp.

Here's a comparison between the Xperia Z1 with the new 14.2.A.0.290 update vs the Nexus 5 with 4.4.2 (both taken in Auto)
Breakfast taken with Xperia Z1 (New 4.3 Update)
Breakfast taken with Nexus 5 4.4.2
Please make sure to click the links to view them in full sized!

is wurstel ??

The nexus 5's terrible. Extremely oversaturated and the oranges are completely washed out. The z1's much better.

gioiellino said:
is wurstel ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No a finger

Dat oversaturation

Wow, the Z1 picture makes me hungry. Z1 by a mile obviously, the N5 looks washed out and is not nearly as sharp with detail. Then again, the camera on the n5 isn't bad considering it's price point. But it's no match for the Z1 or most other android phones for that matter.

I'm tempted to call that picture a tie. The detail on the food and plate is much better on the Z1, however I can barely see the wood grain on the table, whereas it's pretty clear on the N5

omnius1 said:
I'm tempted to call that picture a tie. The detail on the food and plate is much better on the Z1, however I can barely see the wood grain on the table, whereas it's pretty clear on the N5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the oversaturated color destroy quite a bit of detail from the nexus, and Z1 picture is kind of darker, which is why the wood grain is more visible from the nexus.

[PHOTOS] Post your Z2 shots here - My review is up!

This is the Sony Xperia Z2 user and reviewer camera thread
Xperia Z2 camera specifications
1/2,3"m 20.7MP Sony Exmor RS BSI sensor
5248x3936 pixel resolution at full size, 3840x2160 in Superior Auto Mode
F2.0 G-lens, 27mm wide angle
BiONZ image signal processor
HDR photo and video
4k video recording, [email protected]
My quick camera review
All my shots are available on my flickr page, full size with EXIF info here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/
Sony mobile sensors are a hit nowadays, from iPhones to LG, Oppo, OnePlus or last year's Samsung flagships, Sony's backside-illuminated (BSI) camera tech is wildly popular for it's excellent per pixel sharpness, good dynamic range and small physical size. Sony struggled however in the past to make it's Exmors work for their own Xperia smartphones, the Z had quite soft images and the Z1, while upped sensor size to 1/2.3" and megapixel count to 20, suffered from over-processing and minor lens inconsistencies. Have Sony got rid of these issues to give it's excellent sensor justice? The answer is a definitive yes, the Xperia Z2 offers fine amount of details with toned back software sharpening and snappier performance, I also didn't experience lens soft spots or distortions.
There's one interesting thing Sony introduced last year: while the large 1/2.3" sensor offers 20MPs, it's new automatic mode, Superior Auto only shoots in 8MP at 16:9 aspect ratio, and even in manual mode HDR or scenes can only be activated at 8MP (either at 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio). Why have a 20MP sensor then if 8 is where you get the most options, good question, but at least the 20 comes handy when zooming, otherwise 8 is good enough for print quality images and processing is faster at that resolution. Speaking of speed, Sony also uses two image signal processors (ISP), so camera speed definitely improved over it's predecessors.
{
"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"
}
This is the viewfinder you see when opening an app, and by default the 3840x2160 resolution Superior Auto runs which will choose the preferred camera mode (incl. HDR or night mode), adding some saturation and sharpening after downsampling. Tap to focus, flash settings, timer, burst, and smile shutter are available here. The camera records 1080p videos in this mode.
Moving on to Manual mode, you may choose the maximum 20MPs here (5248x3936) and set up flash, ISO, WB, focus metering, timer and stabilizer, or shoot at 8MP and able to choose HDR, Soft skin, Soft snap, Landscape, Night portrait, High sensitivity, Anti-motion blur, Blacklight HDR, Hand-held twilight, Gourmet, Pet, Beach, Snow, Party, Sports, Document or Fireworks scene modes. You may choose 1080p at 60FPS or 720p at 120FPS in Manual Mode.
The other modes are 4k video recording at 3840x2160, play around slow motion in Timeshift video, blur defocused areas in Background defocus, add 3D objects to the picture like dinosaurs in AR effect, add artistic filters in Creative effect, shoot a 6-second stylish video for Vine, choose best photo out of a burst in Timeshift mode or shoot a 2D Panorama by sweeping the camera. A couple of mode examples:
Image quality in good lights is stellar, details are fine even at 20MPs but especially at 8 which I recommend to use in Manual mode to be able to use HDR and scenes. Focus, white balance and exposure are quite consistent, although under certain conditions like facing directly into lights these can be a little troubled. Overall, images are natural on the slightly cooler side, and Manual mode is less saturated than Superior Auto. Dynamic range is good, and HDR helps in high contrast situations. There are no HDR inconsistencies, though the effect could be stronger. Tap to focus is fast as well as tap-to-snap speeds, and if you need to capture really fast movement you can go for high ISO or choose Sports mode. Overall, you'll shoot many quality images in daylight.
Normal vs. HDR:
Macro and closeups are very good too, there's no need for special modes just move close to the target and either let the camera shoot or tap to focus - the latter does not always hold for the shot, sometimes the camera refocuses before shooting even though you set it up perfectly. Depth of field is good in these situations, and if you prefer softer backgrounds, you can always choose Background defocus.
Low light and night shooting, as always, is where things get tough for small mobile sensors, the Z2 is no exception. The strengths of the new Xperia is dealing with higher ISO with tolerable loss of details and having a strong LED flash to light up small dark areas, so you'll be able to shoot at least usable, but with some tweaks some pretty decent low light shots. What's lacking is of course optical image stabilization, which makes avoiding handshake blur harder, especially at 1/7s exposure, which is the slowest shutter speed I saw. White balance suffers more inconsistencies during the night, there's a slight yellowish tinting, but nothing too bad. High ISO (manually available to choose up to ISO3200, the phone can go up to ISO6400 automatically) can brighten up some really dark places, Night scene and Night portrait scene modes - which requires a longer hold to operate - can also bring out dark details at a heavy loss of details, but you really need to be really steady here. HDR works in low light too. Overall, the Z2 does a decent job in low light.
ISO100 vs. ISO 3200
ISO100 vs. ISO800 + HDR
Video quality is top notch with clean, artifact-free and highly detailed, especially at 4k, and audio is nice and crisp. Steady shot can compensate some of the handshake with surprisingly good results, though OIS would be even better. Tap-to-focus and shooting a photo while recording are both available, as well as using the LED flash as torch light. While moving or with movement in the background sometimes causes refocusing, more visibly during the night - night videos are cool BTW just not as fully detailed as day ones, with some yellowish tinting. 4k is so good that you can choose to print single frames, I uploaded some at full 8MP res., while 60FPS at 1080p gives smoother motion, also uploaded 2 samples. Just note that a single minute of 4k video will take up about 400MB at 56MBit/s + 158kb/s audio, and camera shuts down after a few minutes due to overheating. No such issues at any 1080p mode, and you can shoot in HDR at that resolution.
(any artifact you see on these videos are due to YouTube recompressing)
60FPS video sample #1 (download)
60FPS video sample #2 (download)
4k frame captures via VLC Media Player:
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2915/14095570711_b063d9da46_o.png
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2931/14095565711_dd1e27d982_o.png
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7396/13912143277_ac4e88ddbf_o.png
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7405/14095685952_b126b09fb5_o.png
About that overheating issue... one of the negative surprises I had with the Z2 was the phone overheating and shutting down when I really stressed the camera under the sunlight. Many face the 4k overheating problem which is understandable, it needs exceptional resources and other rivals limit this capture to 5 minutes, but under the warm Spring sun I had camera crashes when taking photos too. We're not yet know how wide-spread this issue is, but I suspect that with ISP and SoC working hard and the sun's heat and 100% screen brightness giving extra heat, things get a bit too hot and the phone chooses safety shutdown. Since the Z2 never got too hot while shutdown, I suspect that Sony set the camera app heat policy a little too conservative, so SW update could get rid of this, or maybe you'll never face this at all.
Overall the Z2's camera is an important step forward for Sony. Faster operation with more details and less post-processing results in higher rate of quality images, and short 4k clips give stellar videos as well let is be 4k, 60FPS or HDR. Low light performance could be improved with white balance and OIS, and some autofocus inconsistencies is video need to be addressed too, but I didn't find any of this too distracting. I would prefer to use all 20MPs for all manual settings and scenes, and video zooming should use the megapixels too and not just zoom into the 1080p or 4k image. But let's be clear: the Z2 produces some of the finest images and videos on mobile and the modes and settings give a lot of options to play with. And if Sony isolates and gets rid of the heat problems, which only come out in special situations, the Z2 and it's camera definitely comes recommended for some serious mobile snapping.
I'd like to thank XXLGSM for the test device, hope you enjoyed my short bit, please look up all my photos here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/

Thankyou, excellent find :good:
The translated version of the page makes interesting reading , this bodes well for the Xperia Z2 especially as this is a test version and there is still room for improvement from Sony engineers to make even more improvements
Here's the translated version of the page:-
http://translate.google.com/transla...8&u=http://www.ringhk.com/report2.php?id=8273

Those night pictures look pretty bad :crying: my nexus with HDR+ on takes better night photos

Chad_Petree said:
Those night pictures look pretty bad :crying: my nexus with HDR+ on takes better night photos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They look pretty good to me - if your shots are this good, you can post them for comparison so we can look at the 100% crops.

Some indoors from the same Hong Kong article
http://www.ringhk.com/report2.php?id=8273

Xperia Z1 vs. Z2 at night from Eprice.com.hk
Source, full size: http://www.eprice.com.hk/mobile/talk/4551/170008/1/rv/sony-xperia-z2-review/
First shot Z1 manual mode, 2nd shot Z2 manual mode, 3rd shot Z2 Superior Auto Mode. The Z1 shot is slightly darker but more detailed with heavy sharpening artifacts (white dots). The Z2 while a bit softer on detail has no over-processing artifacts, though white balance is a bit on the red side. WB is fair on the 3rd shot, Z2 superior auto. Click on images for full resolution.

The 3rd shot is just amazing!

Some MWC shots from two Asian sites
Sources, full size: http://www.sogi.com.tw/mobile/articles/6225507-攝錄、功能再進化！索尼Xperia+Z2實測【MWC+2014】
http://www.ringhk.com/news2.php?id=8238

z1 vs z2 pics
other pics here :
z1 vs z2
http://www.ringhk.com/news2.php?id=8285

testnumero said:
other pics here :
z1 vs z2
http://www.ringhk.com/news2.php?id=8285
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
z1 pics are a lot sharper

more z2, and z1 vs z2 pics :
http://www.eprice.com.hk/mobile/talk/4551/170031/1/rv/sony-xperia-z2-review/

progosu said:
z1 pics are a lot sharper
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe the z2 has a stronger algorithm to smooth out/blur the noise, although noise shouldn't be a problem at low iso as seen in the first image.
still the photos are on the newer f200 fimware which has great noise performance at higher isos so that shouldn't be the issue.
just looked at the night shots and the z2 has a 1/13s exp at iso1250 vs 1/16s exp at iso1000, wonder if this slight difference would make such a big difference in 2 photos. Regardless it seems the white balance is better on the z2 at night vs the z1.
For the 3rd night photo, it seems superior auto has opted for the night scene, since it is 0.77s and iso200, the noise level is quite low vs what I am used to on my z1 using night scene.

progosu said:
z1 pics are a lot sharper
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes the Z1 does have sharper pictures, but mostly due to the severe overprocessing leaving a lot of artifacts. In the end, neither system can have true 20 million pixels of detail, so it's a bit pointless to pack so many MPs in.

95% same pic z2 in macro semms more details

Hmm..
So What Sony did with the Bionz is, pull the image from sensor, send to Bionz for image processing with sharpening and noise reduction.
Seems quite evident that Sony over sharpen with the algorithm and hence the black crisscross artifact -|-|-| with the Z1 camera which mistaken as noise. The Z2 has less sharpening effect hence the blur at pixel peeping level. I might be wrong though.

We'll see good results in first few firmwares then after that it will be a disaster and a disappointment just like the Z1.
Both phones have the same camera module and I hope they fix this issue.

I just don't think 20MP is justified at such a sensor size, either the lens or the sensor pixel size is causing noise and softness that needs to be processed and it's just more work for the ISP. A 12MP sensor would be more adequate. Anyways, here's a Z1 vs. Z2 comparison, both a bit yellowish in WB, any my edit of what a Lumia would produce. I notice that some of the previous indoors shots are a bit tight on color depth too.

chesterr said:
We'll see good results in first few firmwares then after that it will be a disaster and a disappointment just like the Z1.
Both phones have the same camera module and I hope they fix this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bone I would like u to conclude what do u think of z2 camera when compared to other ANDROID cameras
Sent from my ST18i using xda app-developers app

faraaz3 said:
Bone I would like u to conclude what do u think of z2 camera when compared to other ANDROID cameras
Sent from my ST18i using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No conclusion until extensive reviews, or if and when I can test it myself.
Whoever gets the Z2 early, should kindly test speed and reliability of autofocus, white balance and exposure (like how many shots come out good out of 10 snaps). Posting superior auto, full 20MP manual and HDR samples should also give us a clue about overall picture quality, level of post-processing, lens issues if there's any, SW preference of shutter speed and ISO, picture-to-picture performance and so on. Right now we must wait patiently, and share whatever we find online.

A few more from Eprice
Source, full resolution: http://www.eprice.com.hk/mobile/talk/4551/170031/

GSMArena does a blind survey of cameras

http://www.gsmarena.com/iphone_6s_galaxy_s6_xperia_z5-review-1329p2.php
Xperia Z5 took top honors, and the ranking look more like the Dxomark ranking

I honestly dunno how the Z5 managed to win. The whole contest was stacked against it. I didn't have to look at the pics to know that it wasn't gonna do well using the 23 MP mode in low light (gah!).
But the worst part was the flower pic on the balcony. The Z5's FOV was so large, it detected it as a low light outdoor scene, rather than a photo of flowers. How can they run a "blind" test when the pics are so different that one camera will detect it as a different scene?!?
Based on the GSMArena and Android Authority (not-so-)blind tests, I still don't have a clear understanding when SA will act flaky. I don't believe it's a lack of OIS because if it were, the 6S would have suffer from the same problem. Bad focusing algorithm under certain conditions? Not correctly detecting landscape scenes with close objects?

@joe_dude, SA has received some interesting changes - it's too shy to use high ISO now lol
Check out these two, not my best efforts as I had to shoot with both hands
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/22325128049/in/album-72157659529471088/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/21889222884/in/album-72157659529471088/
Now that it's too shy to go for high ISO, let's take a took at these three. One of my goals was to capture that logo (please excuse the mess) that no other phone could do it for me so far
Z3+ detected this as low-light, shot at ISO 4000 & got its job done without breaking any sweat.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/21889541194/in/album-72157659529471088/
So I pulled out Z5, SA detected some motion & selected 'night scene' & gave me this!!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/22324812888/in/datetaken/
By then SA figured out things have stabilized, a tripod sign showed up right below the 'night scene' icon & I got this
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/22499088172/in/datetaken/
Finally, I realized that the sucker was set to 20mp (I'd never use that for indoor/evening/night or even day shots). Anyways, Z5's key strength is color & you can't rush in SA mode. Stabilize your hands & wait for that tripod to show up & then shoot if you want to use that night scene selected by SA.

schecter7 said:
@joe_dude, SA has received some interesting changes - it's too shy to use high ISO now lol
Check out these two, not my best efforts as I had to shoot with both hands
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/22325128049/in/album-72157659529471088/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/21889222884/in/album-72157659529471088/
Now that it's too shy to go for high ISO, let's take a took at these three. One of my goals was to capture that logo (please excuse the mess) that no other phone could do it for me so far
Z3+ detected this as low-light, shot at ISO 4000 & got its job done without breaking any sweat.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/21889541194/in/album-72157659529471088/
So I pulled out Z5, SA detected some motion & selected 'night scene' & gave me this!!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/22324812888/in/datetaken/
By then SA figured out things have stabilized, a tripod sign showed up right below the 'night scene' icon & I got this
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/22499088172/in/datetaken/
Finally, I realized that the sucker was set to 20mp (I'd never use that for indoor/evening/night or even day shots). Anyways, Z5's key strength is color & you can't rush in SA mode. Stabilize your hands & wait for that tripod to show up & then shoot if you want to use that night scene selected by SA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot! After looking at your pics, I also went back to Tim's 20 MP vs. 8 MP comparison pics.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/22126137922/in/photostream/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/21515893794/in/photostream/
If you look at the EXIF info, they both used the same shutter speed, but the 8 MP used a higher ISO. Better exposure and less noise, so 8 MP mode is better for low light, as Tim has shown. Tim also waited for the tripod symbol for his 20 MP night shots.
So my question is this: Does the tripod symbol show up for non-night scenes? Like in moderate to bright light? It seems to me the Z5 has two AF modes - fast vs. slow AF. Fast AF is super fast, but only good for capturing a specific subject (and tends to blur the background). Slow AF does full scene analysis and takes longer. It would explain why people are getting such wildly varying results with the Z5.
Anyone wanna test and see? Please?

I don't remember seeing tripod symbol in any non-night mode. Tim's 20mp was done in tripod night mode? The ISO seems a bit high though (ET also seems smaller). It looks more like a regular night mode. But I could be wrong. Tripod mode basically drops ISO, increases ET even more (the max I have seen so far is 1/1 s) compared to 'regular' night scene as you could see from my last two EXIFs . I'd have to do a 20mp vs 8mp comparison soon. Z5's SA is quite different than the SA we had on previous Xperias!
Edit: I forgot about the brightness slider in new SA mode. It lets you control the ISO - well, indirectly.

schecter7 said:
I don't remember seeing tripod symbol in any non-night mode. Tim's 20mp was done in tripod night mode? The ISO seems a bit high though (ET also seems smaller). It looks more like a regular night mode. But I could be wrong. Tripod mode basically drops ISO, increases ET even more (the max I have seen so far is 1/1 s) compared to 'regular' night scene as you could see from my last two EXIFs . I'd have to do a 20mp vs 8mp comparison soon. Z5's SA is quite different than the SA we had on previous Xperias!
Edit: I forgot about the brightness slider in new SA mode. It lets you control the ISO - well, indirectly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, you're right. There's is only one pic in Tim's collection that activated tripod mode (in 8 MP SA) I believe, and it had an exposure time of 0.8 sec. From the various pics I've seen, it seems the limit for SA is 1/8 sec without the tripod icon. I hope Tim's reading this. Something new to play with! :victory:
Still not sure why some pics from various reviews have AF problems in moderate to good lighting. Are there any extra icons that pop up after a short time when it gets a solid "lock" on a scene?
Edit: Wait a minute... is there a landscape icon that pops up in SA during scenery shots?

joe_dude said:
Sorry, you're right. There's is only one pic in Tim's collection that activated tripod mode (in 8 MP SA) I believe, and it had an exposure time of 0.8 sec. From the various pics I've seen, it seems the limit for SA is 1/8 sec without the tripod icon. I hope Tim's reading this. Something new to play with! :victory:
Still not sure why some pics from various reviews have AF problems in moderate to good lighting. Are there any extra icons that pop up after a short time when it gets a solid "lock" on a scene?
Edit: Wait a minute... is there a landscape icon that pops up in SA during scenery shots?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only extra icon beside the tripod (mutually exclusive) is a runner icon. It basically means SA is 'busy' trying to find out a suitable scene mode. So if it's not there, I think we got the 'lock' lol
SA Landscape mode has some icon (same as the one you'd get from manual -> scene -> landscape) , but it rarely shows up lol Actually I haven't seen any icon at all
while taking most of the daylight shots. I think SA doesn't want to tell you much proly because it feels confident in those cases lol

schecter7 said:
Only extra icon beside the tripod (mutually exclusive) is a runner icon. It basically means SA is 'busy' trying to find out a suitable scene mode. So if it's not there, I think we got the 'lock' lol
SA Landscape mode has some icon (same as the one you'd get from manual -> scene -> landscape) , but it rarely shows up lol Actually I haven't seen any icon at all
while taking most of the daylight shots. I think SA doesn't want to tell you much proly because it feels confident in those cases lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... those are the same icons as on my Z Ultra. The runner means it detects movement, I believe. It takes a few seconds to go into night mode, and tripod icon needs something to brace against to appear. So how quickly/easily does the night mode and tripod icon appear?
:silly:

joe_dude said:
Hmmm... those are the same icons as on my Z Ultra. The runner means it detects movement, I believe. It takes a few seconds to go into night mode, and tripod icon needs something to brace against to appear. So how quickly/easily does the night mode and tripod icon appear?
:silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Man, ZU & Camera. It's my favorite Xperia though. It was also the phone that forced me explore manual mode
I think there is another runner icon (without two white bars) that appears during the mode selection. I think it means 'busy' ? On Z2, I mostly get 'only tripod' SA mode. The one I was talking about is NS + tripod (or low-light + tripod). I don't think you'll get it right after opening the camera (proly because of the mandatory initial movement). It's not that hard to get it right before the next shot though - around 1 second or less. I do apply mild downward force from both index fingers & upward one from left thumb. My hands are not super steady, so I think anyone can do it after few trials. But remember the longer ET, so I think tripod may backfire at times hehe

schecter7 said:
Man, ZU & Camera. It's my favorite Xperia though. It was also the phone that forced me explore manual mode
I think there is another runner icon (without two white bars) that appears during the mode selection. I think it means 'busy' ? On Z2, I mostly get 'only tripod' SA mode. The one I was talking about is NS + tripod (or low-light + tripod). I don't think you'll get it right after opening the camera (proly because of the mandatory initial movement). It's not that hard to get it right before the next shot though - around 1 second or less. I do apply mild downward force from both index fingers & upward one from left thumb. My hands are not super steady, so I think anyone can do it after few trials. But remember the longer ET, so I think tripod may backfire at times hehe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I think the ZU was the best phone of all time (when it came out). On light use, I've gotten 4 to 5 days out of it on a single charge. And Kitkat 4.4 and Lollipop 5.1.1 have been rock solid. If there were a Z5 Ultra (or Z6 Ultra), I'd get it in a heartbeat.
Anyway, I should be able to do some testing with the Z5 and a G4 shortly (yea!), but I don't have a lot of free time, so I'm gonna try to grab a bunch of shots and analyze them later. Oh well, RL comes first.

Hope to see the update which will bring proper software to the table, Specially low light performances. Cause sensor is really good yet the software, specially SA doesn't do a great job.
P.S: I really hope one of these great Dev come up with an idea to use the camera beyond Sony could expect it so they can hire him or just use that software.
Like this one. Never tested but thought of giving it a shot.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/crossdevice-dev/sony-themes-apps/mod-xperia-camera-unlocked-t3071161

chesterr said:
Hope to see the update which will bring proper software to the table, Specially low light performances. Cause sensor is really good yet the software, specially SA doesn't do a great job.
P.S: I really hope one of these great Dev come up with an idea to use the camera beyond Sony could expect it so they can hire him or just use that software.
Like this one. Never tested but thought of giving it a shot.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/crossdevice-dev/sony-themes-apps/mod-xperia-camera-unlocked-t3071161
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, a fully unlocked camera would be really cool. Well, for us geeks anyway. I think Sony's simplified manual modes are still not simple enough for the average consumer. But that's a problem with the average consumer, not the phone. xD
As for low light performance, let's see how it does in comparisons using the default 8 MP SA. Even if the tests don't adjust for its 24mm lens, I think it'll do a lot better than in 23 MP mode.

If things go well I might have my Z5 next week.
And do some proper testing with Z5 and Z2 which I know really well since I have it for over 1,5 years.
I should do a proper comparison. All the questions will be answered.

joe_dude said:
I honestly dunno how the Z5 managed to win. The whole contest was stacked against it. I didn't have to look at the pics to know that it wasn't gonna do well using the 23 MP mode in low light (gah!).
But the worst part was the flower pic on the balcony. The Z5's FOV was so large, it detected it as a low light outdoor scene, rather than a photo of flowers. How can they run a "blind" test when the pics are so different that one camera will detect it as a different scene?!?
Based on the GSMArena and Android Authority (not-so-)blind tests, I still don't have a clear understanding when SA will act flaky. I don't believe it's a lack of OIS because if it were, the 6S would have suffer from the same problem. Bad focusing algorithm under certain conditions? Not correctly detecting landscape scenes with close objects?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please read the whole review clearly. The flower test was going to test the flash system not other things, S6 LED flash is very well designed confirmed by all other reviews. In reality, 99% of smartphone users are using Auto so they just let all shot with Auto which is a reasonable testing method though I understand it is unbelievable to some xda members here.
There's no review against Sony I've seen on net regarding the question of fov because we are testing the whole camera module now, not solely the sensor raw performance, or else we'll also need to take out the OIS on S6 bcoz it's unfair to Z5. The fov on Z5 is wider but it also got many more pixel counts while S6 got a smaller fov with 16MP and the same happened on 6S as well, it is a fair race.

TheEndHK said:
Please read the whole review clearly. The flower test was going to test the flash system not other things, S6 LED flash is very well designed confirmed by all other reviews. In reality, 99% of smartphone users are using Auto so they just let all shot with Auto which is a reasonable testing method though I understand it is unbelievable to some xda members here.
There's no review against Sony I've seen on net regarding the question of fov because we are testing the whole camera module now, not solely the sensor raw performance, or else we'll also need to take out the OIS on S6 bcoz it's unfair to Z5. The fov on Z5 is wider but it also got many more pixel counts while S6 got a smaller fov with 16MP and the same happened on 6S as well, it is a fair race.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is lots of incompentence in reviews regarding the camera. He is right regarding FOV as that affects how the camera measures what is in focus. Due to the wider FOV of the Z5 it put focus on the background which took up more sensor space than the flowers. This resulted in upping ISO to combat dark environment. Also becouse the Z5 has wider FOV the photos has to be taken a bit closer else they need to zoom in the Z5 photo (disadvantage for Z5) and something several tests do and it is not professional.
Look at this, this is photos from a comparision at Phonearena which provided unmodified full resolution photos of all cameras. I have downscaled the 23MP Z5 image to 16MP to be same as G4 and S6 and also changed the aspect ratio. You can clearly se the concept of how wider FOV provides unfair advantage to competition but with same aspect and same MP size you can see the Z5 races well against the G4 and S6 unlike what the OP of this thread showed which was the zoomed in Z5 vs the competitions non zoomed in view. That's why most reviews and comparisions with the Z1+ range phones gives the competition an unfair advantage which doesn't translate to real world detail as you downscale the image for given media you use or just as is.
First photo is Z5 (1/64 ISO 80), second S6 (1/33 ISO 80) and third G4 (1/30 ISO 100). I wonder though why the Z5 didn't choose shutter speed of around 1/30 to get a more lit up capture.. Guess they need to iron that out with updates or some kind of anti shaking mechanism kicked in making shutter faster.

EQ2000 said:
There is lots of incompentence in reviews regarding the camera. He is right regarding FOV as that affects how the camera measures what is in focus. Due to the wider FOV of the Z5 it put focus on the background which took up more sensor space than the flowers. This resulted in upping ISO to combat dark environment. Also becouse the Z5 has wider FOV the photos has to be taken a bit closer else they need to zoom in the Z5 photo (disadvantage for Z5) and something several tests do and it is not professional.
Look at this, this is photos from a comparision at Phonearena which provided unmodified full resolution photos of all cameras. I have downscaled the 23MP Z5 image to 16MP to be same as G4 and S6 and also changed the aspect ratio. You can clearly se the concept of how wider FOV provides unfair advantage to competition but with same aspect and same MP size you can see the Z5 races well against the G4 and S6 unlike what the OP of this thread showed which was the zoomed in Z5 vs the competitions non zoomed in view. That's why most reviews and comparisions with the Z1+ range phones gives the competition an unfair advantage which doesn't translate to real world detail as you downscale the image for given media you use or just as is.
First photo is Z5 (1/64 ISO 80), second S6 (1/33 ISO 80) and third G4 (1/30 ISO 100). I wonder though why the Z5 didn't choose shutter speed of around 1/30 to get a more lit up capture.. Guess they need to iron that out with updates or some kind of anti shaking mechanism kicked in making shutter faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I gonna repeat it again. The S6 flash system is excellent so it is actually the S6 flashed the object beautifully(6S also performed correctly just not as nice as S6). On the other hand, though I don't deny the wider fov might be a bit affected to the detecting of environment but from the flash lighting it spreading out, it is clearly the flash system on Z5 doesn't come close to S6.
Though the Z5 got wider fov but it also got more pixels plus bigger sensor size to fullfill the wider scene so you can't just said that they are all not fair to Sony. If you put it in this way, it would be unfair to Samsung or Apple turned out this time.
Reviewers(and customers) are only interested to test the whole camera module because it is a final product. They are not engineers to test individual parts and theirs raw performance.
http://www.sammobile.com/2015/11/02/samsung-in-talks-with-sony-for-new-galaxy-s7-camera-sensor/
It is funny how Samsung is now trying to deal with Sony to put the Z5 sensor(IMX300) on the upcoming S7.

TheEndHK said:
I gonna repeat it again. The S6 flash system is excellent so it is actually the S6 flashed the object beautifully(6S also performed correctly just not as nice as S6). On the other hand, though I don't deny the wider fov might be a bit affected to the detecting of environment but from the flash lighting it spreading out, it is clearly the flash system on Z5 doesn't come close to S6.
Though the Z5 got wider fov but it also got more pixels plus bigger sensor size to fullfill the wider scene so you can't just said that they are all not fair to Sony. If you put it in this way, it would be unfair to Samsung or Apple turned out this time.
Reviewers(and customers) are only interested to test the whole camera module because it is a final product. They are not engineers to test individual parts and theirs raw performance.
http://www.sammobile.com/2015/11/02/samsung-in-talks-with-sony-for-new-galaxy-s7-camera-sensor/
It is funny how Samsung is now trying to deal with Sony to put the Z5 sensor(IMX300) on the upcoming S7.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I just read that too. It'll be interesting to see if Sony gives Samsung the new sensor, and what Samsung can do with it.
In any case, the Z5's flash is rated better by DXOMark than the S6. So it was obvious that the GSMArena's flowers flash test had some kind of problem. I mean just look at the pic - the Z5's pic was mostly of the night sky, while the S6 and 6S were mainly on the flowers. Because they didn't consider the FOV and framed the shot incorrectly, the Z5 detected it as a night scenery pic with flash fill, not a flash pic of flowers. There are examples from other reviews that show the Z5's flash working well and as expected.
Reviewers are expected to understand and be knowledgeable about the product they are reviewing. Would you ever buy a car magazine where the reviewers don't know what kind of engine is in the car, or how much gas it uses? Reviews that give false, misleading and/or incomplete information are bad for everyone.
---------- Post added at 12:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:27 AM ----------
EQ2000 said:
First photo is Z5 (1/64 ISO 80), second S6 (1/33 ISO 80) and third G4 (1/30 ISO 100). I wonder though why the Z5 didn't choose shutter speed of around 1/30 to get a more lit up capture.. Guess they need to iron that out with updates or some kind of anti shaking mechanism kicked in making shutter faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The ISO part, I can answer, since I've tested it. SA uses face detection (or moving objects) to prevent motion blur. Whenever the "people" icon appears on screen, the ISO and/or shutter speed goes up. I dunno if Sony really needs to do that, but I guess sometimes a usable shot is better than a blurred shot...? SA constantly fiddles with the exposure time, depending on the objects/movements it detects. So far, I haven't gotten pics with bad lighting though. Maybe it was fixed in the latest firmware?
:silly:

joe_dude said:
The ISO part, I can answer, since I've tested it. SA uses face detection (or moving objects) to prevent motion blur. Whenever the "people" icon appears on screen, the ISO and/or shutter speed goes up. I dunno if Sony really needs to do that, but I guess sometimes a usable shot is better than a blurred shot...? SA constantly fiddles with the exposure time, depending on the objects/movements it detects. So far, I haven't gotten pics with bad lighting though. Maybe it was fixed in the latest firmware?
:silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah that explains it and no I dont believe they need to as it seems way to aggressive. Also this would mean the photo was taken in SA 23MP mode. In such conditions manual would be far better.
Have you gotten around testing the FV-5 app? I get 'Night Mode' equivalent with it at 21MP which makes for great low light 'high detail' photos. Works great and it handles the shutter speed and ISO in a good balanced way. This sample is 21MP, 0,77, ISO 250 at night on the Z1 with FV-5 "Long" mode holding it fairly stable with my hands and elbows on the table.

joe_dude said:
Yeah, I just read that too. It'll be interesting to see if Sony gives Samsung the new sensor, and what Samsung can do with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to buy Z5c today(not sure, but most probably, if I could find a cheaper one for sales) and let me see how well the camera. Actually, I think it is worthless to discuss the camera before any big updates.

EQ2000 said:
Ah that explains it and no I dont believe they need to as it seems way to aggressive. Also this would mean the photo was taken in SA 23MP mode. In such conditions manual would be far better.
Have you gotten around testing the FV-5 app? I get 'Night Mode' equivalent with it at 21MP which makes for great low light 'high detail' photos. Works great and it handles the shutter speed and ISO in a good balanced way. This sample is 21MP, 0,77, ISO 250 at night on the Z1 with FV-5 "Long" mode holding it fairly stable with my hands and elbows on the table.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I'm still playing with SA. As much as I want to fiddle with the camera, I'm gonna have to cut the experimenting short to get back to other RL things. Sigh. But thanks for the suggestion... I'll keep in mind!
FYI, I did more analysis on the IFA photo you had posted. Believe it or not, I think the Z5 was correct with the exposure. Look closely at the pics - in the other two pics, the model was over-exposed. In the Z5 pic, she had a nicely balanced colour and brightness. The other phones did not do face detection, so measured the exposure based on the entire frame, and not on the model. Since the pic was primarily of the model, the Z5 took the picture as it had been intended.
This is part of the problem - we assume if the Z5's pic looks different, it is "incorrect". I'm starting to understand SA tries to do a lot, although sometimes it will guess incorrectly. But I think Sony needs to tweak SA to work better/more consistently.