I'm considering the XZ, however there are very conflicting reviews of the camera. Some show really nasty photos, some show good photos. I'm assuming some of this has to do with SW versions and I know the XZ recently updated to 7.0.
I can't tell anything from a tethered store display unit.
Anyone have any comments regarding photo quality?
Manual mode is fine for me to shoot in. I almost always use manual mode on my cell phones and also my digital cameras.
Thanks in advance.
I find it pretty good, the manual shutter speed goes right down to 1/4000, manual focus ISO etc.
In MM I did realise the camera quality was worse than in 7.0 - so they did improve it.
Photos I have taken have great colours, and can usually be edited quite well in lightroom.
Big downside is the no RAW support (Yet, hopefully they release it)
nzzane said:
I find it pretty good, the manual shutter speed goes right down to 1/4000, manual focus ISO etc.
In MM I did realise the camera quality was worse than in 7.0 - so they did improve it.
Photos I have taken have great colours, and can usually be edited quite well in lightroom.
Big downside is the no RAW support (Yet, hopefully they release it)
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Thanks.
Colors have pretty much always been good in reports. The main thing that some of the "bad" reviews have mentioned is the artifacts especially in lower light. The better reviews and pictures that I've seen online don't really show a huge artifact problem and some of the youtube videos show what appears to be very good lowlight performance using manual mode.
I knew about the lack of raw support and I've used LR for a long time.
Fred98TJ said:
Thanks.
Colors have pretty much always been good in reports. The main thing that some of the "bad" reviews have mentioned is the artifacts especially in lower light. The better reviews and pictures that I've seen online don't really show a huge artifact problem and some of the youtube videos show what appears to be very good lowlight performance using manual mode.
I knew about the lack of raw support and I've used LR for a long time.
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Sony has always been a bit dodgy with low light, but I have found the XZ really improves on that (Compared to ther Z3, and Z5) Manual mode really helps with some of that though (same as a DSLR though)
Another thing to note, the device unlocks super quickly, and same with the camera, good for those un prepared shots
nzzane said:
Sony has always been a bit dodgy with low light, but I have found the XZ really improves on that (Compared to ther Z3, and Z5) Manual mode really helps with some of that though (same as a DSLR though)
Another thing to note, the device unlocks super quickly, and same with the camera, good for those un prepared shots
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Thanks again for the response.
I suppose that there isn't really any infor on their nrw 19mp camera used in thr XZs, nor have I found any pricing on it. At any rate it seems only a small upgrade from the XZ, with mostly the new camera and another 1 of ram
Pictures are generally very noisy and blurry when its not in extremely good light (inside with the sun shining through the windows with the lights on as well) Video however is very very good. I dont use manual mode since I don't know what to do, but as a point and shoot I can think of several phones that do better and probably cost less. If you want to buy it for the camera, just dont.
omarfarrah said:
Pictures are generally very noisy and blurry when its not in extremely good light (inside with the sun shining through the windows with the lights on as well) Video however is very very good. I dont use manual mode since I don't know what to do, but as a point and shoot I can think of several phones that do better and probably cost less. If you want to buy it for the camera, just dont.
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Noisy and blurry? Do you have a xz? In my xz i don't have those problems...
djgigi94 said:
Noisy and blurry? Do you have a xz? In my xz i don't have those problems...
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Thats strange, I hope I dont have a faulty hardware , however did you try to take indoor pictures and zoom in, you'll really notice the noise atleast, and if I'm not still as a building then it will also blur.
Sometimes the SW can overboard with the sharpening, I wish there was an option to disable it. Most phones probably have this issue too though.
I dont know if this can be counted as an issue but the lens on XZ has kind of a fish eye effect, So If you are taking a picture of an object and put it i the corners, it stretches and looks a bit... uh, unnatural? Because of this I try to make sure to center people as much as I can.
Some also say that taking pics in 8 mp mode introduces some artifacts because of the conversion algorithm (23mp to 8mp downsizing). So I use 23MP to avoid any unwanted processing.
I find the colors of the photos, taken with the XZ, to be very dull and way too cold to my liking, and XZ's Camera UI and Camera API have very limited manual controls set, unlike the rest of the flagships out there. I made a few photos with my old Xperia Pro and my new Xperia XZ for comparison, you can check them here - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0u28226fxm9z27d/AADrU08TmvfIUtSbprgharT-a?dl=0 . I was very unhappy with the XZ's camera so I sold it one week after I bought it.
EDIT: you check this thread for more information about the limitations, related to the manual controls of XZ's camera - https://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-xz/help/enable-manual-controls-camera-t3580654
My experience, XZ pictures have a lot of noise (you can see that when you zoom in) when the light is not enough (and the phone is the one that decides what it means by enough )
I am coming from Galaxy s6 edge + to XZ Dual, and the S6 is the winner in my comparison.
If you want it for the camera, I wouldnt recommend you to go for the XZ.
---------- Post added at 04:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:09 PM ----------
check this for your reference
https://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-xz/help/xperia-xz-dual-sim-camera-noise-t3582899
Fred98TJ said:
Thanks again for the response.
I suppose that there isn't really any infor on their nrw 19mp camera used in thr XZs, nor have I found any pricing on it. At any rate it seems only a small upgrade from the XZ, with mostly the new camera and another 1 of ram
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This review has sample photos in full res from XZS if you wanna know about picture quality. I own the XZ and i do see a difference in quality to the better in XZs compared to XZ..
https://www.lowyat.net/2017/128842/sony-xperia-xzs-review-one-trick-pony/
After I started using 4:3 full resolution instead od cropped 16:9 and disabled object tracking I very rarely see edge bluring and the photos in general are a lot better.
The "noise" people talk about in most cases is not really noise, it's a result of the image processing algorithm being too aggressive trying to eliminate noise even when there isn't any. First it sharpens the hell out of the photo to bring out as much detail as possible and then it tries to remove the resulting noise by applying heavy noise reduction. It's basically shooting itself in the foot. But, it really isn't as dramatic as some would say, you can't really see that effect until you zoom in really close. If Sony could find a middle ground, balance it out a bit, it would be perfect.
Sony's image processing has always been an issue for some unexplainable reason, they mastered sensors and image processing in photography a long time ago, but when it comes to phones it fails in software department, the sensor are the best on the market still.
It really is mind boggling, and they are aware of that, it's basically a software issue, it just needs some adjusting, why apply a noise reduction filter when there isn't any noise? HDR usually sucks as well. Then again, their DIS is top notch, the autofocus since the XZ is superb, the colors to me look great all around, low light photos are very good, specially in manual mode with adjustable shutter speed...there are great things about Sony's cameras, but usually things average user doesn't really see or cares about.
To be fair, the only time I see those artefacts is when I zoom in, not even when watching fullscreen on a PC, so I'm really pleased with the camera on Xperia since the Z3, but all things considered, Sony should have the best smartphone cameras in the world or at least be the top 3.
All that being said, shooting in manual mode is a different story, once you get a hang of it and learn how to use it, it can stand besides the best of them, easy. But that's not really a fair measurement, only auto modes, because that's what most people will use, and that's where Sony usually doesn't do that great.
The phone takes great photos, and I have yet to see a review that says it's a bad camera. It really isn't, it just isn't at the top few as it could be.
As for the XZs, currently it often produces lower quality photos than the XZ, depending on the scenario, it isn't a better camera, it's just different and has different strenghts in different scenarios. Plus, the slowmo gadget, if you care about that stuff. Other than that, there is no reason why it should be a better camera in average scenarios, maybe in low light because the pixels are bigger, but that's pretty much it.
If the quality of photos is your only concern about buying an XZ (or XZs, for that matter), you shouldn't be worried.
Related
Since most D2 users feel the picture quality is only so so , has anyone found a way / .cab to allow the camera to store the picture in RAW format which enables postprocessing with sw like photoshop? Otherwise any tweaks / .cabs to patch the default JPEG & better noise reduction?
I'd go for that too ... although maybe there's only so much you can do with a 5 meg camera ?
Hi
I'd go for that too ... although maybe there's only so much you can do with a 5 meg camera ?
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That got me thinking, my full-sized camera is only 5 megs (a Nikon and had it a while) but takes absolutely stunning pictures.
It isn't the number of pixels reducing the quality, it is the quality of the optics. You can't expect much out of a lens the size of the one included in Topaz.
I don't think having a RAW output would help matters any.
Regards
Phil
Actually, sensor quality is the biggest issue here. Phone camera sensors are tiny and thus don't have the same image fidelity of sensors in dedicated cams. Sure, they're pulling 5MPs out like a point and shoot, but there's a lot less light sensitivity in them. Take the same shot with a cell phone and with a DSLR into an app like Adobe Lightroom and increse the brightness (not exposure). On the DSLR shot, you'd instantly see the extra detail come out of the shadows. On the cell phone shot, you'd see mostly noise and detail masked with noise.
On sensors this size, i doubt the lens would make much difference. The difference between plastic and glass (i believe) is mostly academic. About the best you could hope for is reduced chromatic abherration and flaring, but no manufacturer is going to waste the kind of money necessary to put pro-level or even prosumer glass on a phone, particularly one with a standard-sized sensor.
Also, try the demo version of Neat Image:
http://www.neatimage.com/download.html
It'll batch process up to two images. It's not a deep as the pro version, but it gets the job done.
I seem to be alone in liking the photo quality on the TD2! You need good lighting, and if you stick to ISO100 (200 at a pinch) and reduce "brightness" by "1", the results are better than a lot of compact cameras I've used. The colours in particular are excellent, and bar the occasional strange HTC processing artifact, the detail level is very good, both in the centre and into the corners. For it's minute size, the lens actually impresses me. Where the lens falls down is shooting into the sun, a stiff test for most compacts, but you could still shade it with your hand.
I think HTC's software image processing (noise reduction etc) is actually good, they don't mess with the image as much as some mainstream camera manufacturers. You get more noise, but you get more detail left too, which I prefer. I've printed some of the pics from the TD2 onto A4, and they look superb, you couldn't tell them apart from a normal compact camera.
The only issue I have is at higher ISOs (400+). I don't find the noise a problem but I get horizontal interference lines as well which are intrusive.
I suppose there might be a lot of sample variance in such a "cheap" camera though, so just because I was lucky with mine doesn't mean everyone will have got a good one.
Pete_S said:
The only issue I have is at higher ISOs (400+). I don't find the noise a problem but I get horizontal interference lines as well which are intrusive.
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Indeed these horizontal interference lines is what ticks me.
I'll try your settings and see if the image quality improves.
... and unfortunately I don't think you can get rid of the interference, RAW or not. It's probably getting in via the power supply to the camera, or maybe being picked up directly, from the main processor or one of the radios. Turning the phone radio off whilst taking high ISO pics might help, I haven't tried it yet. It's the price for so much digital in such a small space. At least low ISO pics aren't affected.
I'm also really interested in raw capturing. Think on some pics we will be able to have higher quality...
Guys still can't leave this idea! I really impressed by diamond2 camera. And i think that even if we would be able to capture uncompressed data from camera, png formant for example, it would be super and would give us some space for enhancements...
for WM there are so much software, and now alternative camera soft?
Or maybe video for 30fps?
Since most D2 users feel the picture quality is only so so
Well i know that some phones have its camera function as "main argument" but other functions usually suffer there. Here we have complex device, and its camera from my point of view make decent picture.
https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/5020311/1/soso?h=7b9477
Just made +1 on contrast to have wider dynamic range, and +1 on sharpness cause internal sharp algorithm is crap, if i need i'll boost contrast and sharp in lightroom. And i have very good pictures, this phone easily replace my compact camera.
I
Want to purchase this device and i qould like to is the camera as bad as said in all the reviews your opinions are greatly appreciated
Main camera - Meh.. Great
Front camera - Epic... BAD
Main camera, good in daylight, not so good in low light conditions. Photos have a yellow-ish tint. Front camera is bad, but you should not expect much in the beginning.
thank u all very much
starterz said:
Main camera, good in daylight, not so good in low light conditions. Photos have a yellow-ish tint. Front camera is bad, but you should not expect much in the beginning.
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Can u please post a low light shot please I need a decent cam and I really want a Sony
If you want a decent cam get a more expensive Sony As I said, good enough in daylight, not decent enough in low light conditions. This means that if the photo quality is important to you, this cam will not provide it in low light (with ot without flash). I think the phone is great for the price, but I don't care much about the quality of the camera as I use it very rarely.
thank u
starterz said:
If you want a decent cam get a more expensive Sony As I said, good enough in daylight, not decent enough in low light conditions. This means that if the photo quality is important to you, this cam will not provide it in low light (with ot without flash). I think the phone is great for the price, but I don't care much about the quality of the camera as I use it very rarely.
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I think I made up my mind then
The camera got better with kitkat, but it's still nothing impressive. If you want a good camera, get a camera. Or pay way too much for minor upgrade in quality by buying a high-end phone.
Like a said in my review, Sony always made great cameras, remember very well of my X10 and Arc ,great cameras. Im very disappointed with M2, both cameras are terrible, dunno why they did that. I would never buy M2 if i were a photographer.
The camera itself (=sensor) is fine, what isn't are the post-processing settings. Just look at these photos:
Example 1: 4.3 stock app | non-stock app
Example 2: 4.3 stock app | non-stock app
All of them taken with an M2, but the non-stock app is clearly superior; not oversharpened and no weird noise (like ex2, upper left corner)
In my opinion, the camera has a problem, if there are light and dark olayes in the picture. An darker daylight room with an window. In this situation, the pictures are getting realy creapie.
Crim Soukyuu said:
The camera itself (=sensor) is fine, what isn't are the post-processing settings. Just look at these photos:
All of them taken with an M2, but the non-stock app is clearly superior; not oversharpened and no weird noise (like ex2, upper left corner)
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What is this non stock app that you are using, please share how you set it up
@boro111: i'm using this one. I like the fact it offers saving to "raw" (.png) format, it's also the only one i saw so far that gives you control over the sharpness parameter, which i set to 0.
Hi Folks,
I visited the fair today with my boy which arrives in the city once a year.
My boy was on the rides and I tried getting a few photos of him with my 20mp Sony Xperia Z3....
By the time the photo was taken, my boy had already gone by....
The camera is soooooooooo disappointing, but has so much potential to be good.
Has anybody discovered a decent camera app yet, that has no shutter lag and one that makes full use of the camera?
If I don't find something by November, I'm going for the Nexus 6 :silly:
@rseHoyle said:
Hi Folks,
I visited the fair today with my boy which arrives in the city once a year.
My boy was on the rides and I tried getting a few photos of him with my 20mp Sony Xperia Z3....
By the time the photo was taken, my boy had already gone by....
The camera is soooooooooo disappointing, but has so much potential to be good.
Has anybody discovered a decent camera app yet, that has no shutter lag and one that makes full use of the camera?
If I don't find something by November, I'm going for the Nexus 6 :silly:
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Haven't tried a different app yet, but I may have something else for you. It's the autofocus that delays the photo.
1. Use the camera button
-push it down slightly, it should focus
-once it has found the focus, just keep holding it slightly
push the button completely if you want to take the photo, it should be without a delay now.
You can also use a different type of autofocus... Have to try the different modes for myself.
Also use manual mode, depending on the light conditions and the movement, you want a high shutter speed and if needed a higher iso, which gives you a sharper image while moving.
Damn, someone should write a guide for the camera
Thanks for this info. I'll give it a go
I'm not sure the camera is quick enough to capture moving stuff. I have tried a lot of modes and can't seem to sort it.
With an awful flash too, in sub par lighting, like parties, this is a recipe for absolute disaster. Can't believe Sony didn't sort out the camera flash.
Jonathan-H said:
I'm not sure the camera is quick enough to capture moving stuff. I have tried a lot of modes and can't seem to sort it.
With an awful flash too, in sub par lighting, like parties, this is a recipe for absolute disaster. Can't believe Sony didn't sort out the camera flash.
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Sony has the ability to film and during film to make pictures. I do that for fast moving pictures, like filming friends that pass by during marathon's. You can then decide to keep the film and the pictures. If you only want pictures, delete the film afterwards. This way you can start filming in advance and you are sure you are not too late and you have the risk your camera is not ready yet.
Jonathan-H said:
I'm not sure the camera is quick enough to capture moving stuff. I have tried a lot of modes and can't seem to sort it.
With an awful flash too, in sub par lighting, like parties, this is a recipe for absolute disaster. Can't believe Sony didn't sort out the camera flash.
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I haven't tried it yet, but have you tried the Timeshift burst? I think this is what we should use when trying to capture moving objects.
Yep, that is even better than my idea!
As a general rule, I only use auto on any camera when there is no more than one thing away from perfect conditions:
If it's motion but in great lighting, auto is ok.
If it's dark but the subject is still, auto is ok.
If it's a bit dark AND there is motion, you are gonna need to set up some manual settings or a mode like burst to get a good result. That said, as above, focussing first is essential for moving objects. Find something that is at the same distance as the subject you want, half hold the button to get the focus point, then hold it until the subject comes into frame, then depress fully. This, combined with burst, is the best way for fast movement.
Ok, I was at a scary halloween function last night, and by the time I took photos of scary subjects, they'd gone...
There's no excuse for this camera, it's a mess...
I have a Fuji XT1 camera and I know how photography works, apparently the Xperia Z3 has 20 mega pixels - Maybe it does, but only if you want a grainy shot....It's shocking!
KurtHoyle said:
Ok, I was at a scary halloween function last night, and by the time I took photos of scary subjects, they'd gone...
There's no excuse for this camera, it's a mess...
I have a Fuji XT1 camera and I know how photography works, apparently the Xperia Z3 has 20 mega pixels - Maybe it does, but only if you want a grainy shot....It's shocking!
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How can you say you understand photography when all you point to is the megapixel count? There is so much more to a good photo than resolution.
The reason I point to the 20 mega pixel is because the photos taken with this camera should be of a good enough standard to print out at a size of 18" x 12" however, the photos look grainy on screen so I'd hate to see how crap they look any bigger.
The camera is shocking, the 4k videos are too so please dont try to defend it. Its very poor!
A Better Camera is a good alternative.
Can anyone confirms this? Almost 4 units i tested from sony stalls has this issue.
The photos taken by camera turns out to be overly sharpened, with lots of artifacts.
Turning on or off image enhancements does not help.
I am seeing this as well. And most of the reviews I saw also reported this.
Currently I am trying a few third party camera apps to see if they do the same
Haiz.. Why can't they make the camera right for once?
I concurred this. Mine focused good. I learned a trick that you actually have to tap the screen then press and hold the camera button on screen or side until it is clear. When i first got it, all my photos was focusing on the wrong spot. However, now with that trick i could get sharp images but zooming in they look very blurry and a lot of noise.
Do you experience this is good or low light? You do have to work a little bit harder with the camera settings as the light drops off to get the right image. And use the designated camera button too rather than the on screen one.
Good lightings... Not to mention if its poor lighting conditions. Guess have to wait for a new firmware.
Yep so much sharpening in all lighting conditions. Hoping for a software update soon.
Here is samples pictures from my XZ. It has undoubtedly the best selfies camera under daylight. Lowlight shooting takes a bit to get used to it. It was bad as first but if you toggle on "tap - focus and brightness" in setting it will improve tremendously as it uses it light sensor to automatically brighten the photos. Overall, I'm happy with the camera. It beats Iphone 7 Plus and on par with the S7Edge. My beef with the XZ is the small size and 3GB. I would prefer 5.5 and 4GB for a $600 phone. But if you can get it for $450 or $500, this phone is definitely worth every penny.
http://imgur.com/a/1S4Si
I am not talking about selfies. I am talking about the main camera. Very bad quality here. So fall 8 sets i have tried, same issues
Noticed this myself, not impressed with the image quality. Seems to be worse than my Z2. Hoping when they eventually drop Nougat it'll iron out some of the issues.
About blure and noise, increse ev to +0.7 or 1
A very good example of xz camera samples. You can guess which photos are by xz. The oversharpening of images when zoomed in.. Soo much artifacts.
http://m.gsmarena.com/blind_shootout_iphone7_galaxy_s7_xperia_xz_lg_g5
Hi everyone,
I am not talking about the distortion issue here.
I just got my device and have taken a few quick photos, mostly on AUTO. For some reason some of the photos look extremely grainy and of low quality, others seem better. To be honest I don't know what to make of it. I will have to do some more tests in better light conditions but to be honest I was quite shocked how bad some photos look in comparison to my GFs Huawei P10 for example. My HTC M9 photos felt more sharp.
It feels like Xperia is going crazy with the post processing and blurring/graining everything up. Just look at the computer desk photo, it looks like someone overused photoshop filters.
I have attached a few photos for reference.
Is it just me or is this the way the camera behaves?
No, it's not just you. I have no idea how reviewers ended up calling the camera "one of the best shooters around". Considering this is a flagship device, the camera sucks. Plain and simple. I'm getting more n more pi**** I didn't chose the S8 and put my trust in Sony.
I get the same results on the Sony camera app. Try to use Open Camera, at least for me the difference is very big, especially on detail.
The Post processing is totaly random and hilarious. Currently using Open camera and snap camera. There ist still some unwanted Post processing but Not as much as before.
Tuerkay said:
The Post processing is totaly random and hilarious. Currently using Open camera and snap camera. There ist still some unwanted Post processing but Not as much as before.
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Haven you happened to find out why in manual mode one can only go up to 1/10s exposure time?