Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Which FLAGSHIP PHONE has the BEST CAMERA? (feat. Sony Xperia 1 V)”.
In case you missed it, Sony recently announced its Flagship smartphone for 2023. The Xperia one Mark V and the Highlight feature like with all Xperia devices is its rear. Camera system, which features the company’s latest camera sensor technology, but is the Xperia one Mark V’s cameras really that impressive, or is it all just marketing fluff? Well, there’s only one way to find out and that’s by having a good old-fashioned camera shootout. Now, before we get into the camera comparisons or the camera shootout, let’s quickly go over what makes the Xperia one Mark 5 so special for starters, the phone houses, three rear cameras with the star of the show being the main sensor with the Xperia one Mark V: Sony has finally ditched the old 12 megapixel sensor in favor of a higher resolution.
Next Generation 52 megapixel X, more T sensor, which is coupled with a 24 millimeter equivalent lens. But one important thing to note is that, even though the main sensor measures 52 megapixels, the phone actually only uses 48 megapixels for photos and videos which has then been down to 12 megapixels. Why wouldn’t Sony use the full image sensor? Well, this actually has to do with the aspect ratio, because the full 52 megapixel sensor actually has an aspect ratio of 4.3 to 3, which is untraditional so in order to produce photos with a traditional four to three aspect ratio.
The phone uses the full height of the sensor, but not the full width, but when it comes to shooting video, The Standard aspect ratio is 16×9. So in order to meet the standard, the phone actually uses the full width of the sensor, but not the full height. Now, besides the main camera sensor, the Xperia one Mark V also features a 12 megapixel xmor RS sensor for both the 60 millimeter Ultra wide camera and the variable telephoto camera with a zoom range between 82 to 125 millimeters. Alright, now that you’re familiar with the star of our show, let’s get into the test in order to really put the Sony Xperia 1 Mark 5. Through its Paces, we decided to take a suite of photo samples with the device and then pin it against photos taken with other flagships, and our roster of opponents, for the shootout includes the Samsung Galaxy s23 Ultra Google pixel 7 Pro and the iPhone 14 pro we’re Going to be taking a look at each set of photo samples in rounds, so I’m going to be showing you a set of images with a letter ID and your job is to guess which phone took. What photo you might want to write down your answers for this one and after we cycle through the photos, I’ll reveal the answers and give you my thoughts on each phone and how well they took each photo.
Now that you know the rules of the game. Let’S begin, shall we and we’re going to start with the main camera samples so grab a pencil and paper or get your fingers ready to type here? Comes the photos, foreign [ Applause ]. Now that you’ve seen the photos, let’s go through them one at a time. A was taken with the pixel 7 Pro and looking at the photo, you can see that it has good dynamic range. Despite our subject, standing in bright sunlight, the details in the highlights, such as the bright sky, are preserved. Yet you can still make out details in the shadow or darker areas like Adam’s pants or the railings on the side. However, there seems to be some over sharpening in the image, especially on out of the space, which can look a bit odd. The longer you look at it also, while the dynamic range is good, there is a noticeable lack of contrast, which seems less natural and makes the photo look.
A bit more processed photo B was taken with the s23 ultra. The photo produced by this phone looks really good. It’S got excellent, dynamic range and there seems to be better detail retention in the highlights compared to the pixel 7 Pro. This is especially true if you take a close look at the sky and the concrete floor.
Also, the photo has more contrast than the pixel 7 Pro, which helps give shape to Adam’s face. Yet you can still make out details in the shadows. The image overall has a good amount of detail in the edges, without looking too over sharp. Also, the high color saturation is likely to appeal to more users, especially when, compared to the pixel 7 Pro’s, more neutral, leaning, color science moving on photoc was taken with the iPhone 14 pro now. I was actually quite disappointed with this result. To be fair, the image produced from the iPhone has a good amount of contrast and a decent amount of dynamic range.
However, the resulting photos show similar flaws to the pixel 7 Pro. The image shows signs of over sharpening, especially on our subject’s face, and the colors seem a bit too under saturated for my taste. I’M sure a little photo editing will get the iPhone’s images closer to something insta-worthy, but, as is the iPhone, seems to have produced the least impressive, looking image out of the four devices and, of course that leads us to our last device. The Xperia one Mark V.
Personally, this was my favorite looking image out of the four. This photo looks like it took the best qualities out of the pixel 7 Pro and s23 Ultra and combined it into one image: there’s a great amount of edge detail overall and areas like the face. Look clear without any obvious over sharpening the dynamic make range is good with enough detailed highlights and shadows and there’s enough contrast to give shape to the subject’s face. Honestly, you could pass this photo as if it was taken with an entry-level, mirrorless camera good job Sony. So when it comes to which phone produced the best image from its main camera, I’m actually going to give this round a tie, because I feel that most people are going to prefer how the main camera image is from the s23 ultra look out of the box.
However, if you’re someone like me who enjoys editing photos, then the main camera image from the Xperia may be more appealing thanks to its more neutral, leaning, color science and lighter image processing. Okay, let’s move on to the ultra wide cameras. Just so you know, I did change the lettering in order of the photos, so no cheating on this or any round all right grab your pencils or keyboard, because here are the ultra wide camera samples enjoy. Thank you, foreign. Now that you’ve seen the photos.
Let’S see if you were right photo a was taken by the iPhone 14 pro. Now again, I really wasn’t impressed with the photo that the phone produced highlight areas like the sky and concrete floor were blown out. The face looks over sharpened again and the colors look. Quite dull, but I do like the edge detail from the grains on the wood floor, so good job to Apple, for that one next photo B was taken by the pixel 7 Pro this photo looks far better than the iPhone 14 pro.
In my opinion, with good detail in the highlights and shadows, colors still look a little bit under saturated and washed, and there is a bit of over sharpening throughout the image, though not so much on the face, which is a good thing. Photo C was taken with the Xperia one Mark V. The resulting image has great dynamic range and looks similar to the pixel 7 Pro, albeit with arguably more natural, looking skin tones, and this photo doesn’t appear to be too sharp. Lastly, photo D was taken with the s23 ultra.
The ultrawide in from this phone looks pretty good with a nice amount of dynamic range and a good amount of contrast, which helps give the subject a bit of separation. From the background, I personally like the bump in saturation on added skin and on the wood floor. However, the blue sky and green trees seem a tad bit oversaturated and, after looking at all the ultra wide photos, I’m gon na give a similar verdict to the last round. I think most people are gon na, like the more Vivid and saturated images from the s23 ultra.
However, I personally prefer the Xperia one Mark V for its more neutral out of the box image and editing potential Ultra wide done it’s time to get up close and personal with these phones with some telephoto camera samples. But before I show you the photos, it’s worth noting that some of these phones have multiple Optical telephoto options. For example, the s23 ultra has both a three times and 10 times optical zoom. However, for the sake of this camera shootout, we only use the wider telephoto focal length.
That being said here are the telephoto camera samples again in a new random order. Thank you. Foreign good about this run here are the results. First, up on the chopping block is photo a taken by the Xperia 1 Mark 5..
To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed with how the image turned out, especially when you consider that Sony is really showing off the fact that its phone has an optical variable. Telephoto lens, don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t look bad. The color reproduction is quite accurate and true to life. Also, you get a lot of detail on fine textures like the lines and patterns on Adam’s shirt. However, the edge detail on background objects, like the leaves in this tree, don’t look well defined and almost looks pixelated. The Highlight roll off on Adam’s face is also quite harsh and highlight areas like the railings and the floor in the back are completely blown out again. I don’t think this photo is that bad? In fact, you can probably get a better image if you dialed in settings yourself with the manual shooting options, but based on this image alone, it’s not exactly the best of the four photos in this round. Next up, we’ve got photo B taken by the iPhone 14 pro similar notes to the Xperia phone.
It’S not bad, but it’s far from great the fine lines and patterns on Adam’s shirt and the wood floor are well defined, which is nice to see. Also highlight details are better preserved than with the Xperia one Mark V. However, the image taken with the iPhone suffers from a very harsh highlight, roll-off, which unfortunately accentuates the raccoon look around Adam’s eyes, also similar to the telephoto shot from the Xperia.
The iPhone 14 Pro’s telephoto image shows the same pixelated edges in the trees at the back and moving on Photo C was shot on the s23 ultra. The color reproduction in this photo is quite accurate and objects like the trees in the back, don’t appear overly saturated. The Highlight roll off on Adam’s face is smooth and there’s a good amount of contrast to help add shape to objects and separate the subject from the background. Unfortunately, one big issue I have with this photo can be seen on Adam’s shirt. It’S an ugly shirt.
No okay, the issue here is that there’s a lot of Moray on the shirt, which is why the fine patterns and lines on his shirt look distorted. Also, the grain or noise pattern, which is naturally on the shirt, looks really smudged. Finally, we have photo D shot on the pixel 7 Pro now I don’t know about you, but I was really surprised with how well this photo turned out, unlike the photos taken with other phones, the telephoto shot on the pixel has a decent amount of shallow depth Of field, which makes the photo seem as if it was shot on a proper camera color reproduction is really accurate, especially on the skin tones. There’S a good amount of contrast, good amount of edge detail overall and the dynamic range is pretty good too, albeit with a bit of blown out, highlights on the floor, but that’s just me being nitpicky.
I don’t really have anything bad to say about this photo. That being said, I think my verdict for this round is pretty obvious. The phone that produced the best image for the telephoto round is the pixel 7 Pro good job. Google.
Now, after three rounds of outdoor photography, it’s like a little break and step indoors for some low light photos. The first round of low light photos are taken in a room lined with dark gray, acoustic treatment and for this scenario, the only light source we had was a 300 watt film light pointing down at the gray floor and away from our subject. Here are the photos? Okay, let’s see if you got this one right, the first photo was taken with the s23 ultra. As you can see, the phone did a pretty good job, given the lighting conditions, there’s little to no noise in the shadows, the color, on Adam’s skin and on the rug on the floor, looked true to life and there’s a good amount of detail on our subject’s Face quite frankly, when you look at the s23 ultra’s photo, it kind of looks like the light source was pointed at him. Instead of away from him, which is quite impressive, but the only issue you can really find with the s23 ultra is, unfortunately, the green moire. On his shirt, which is quite distracting, however, given that the lighting in the room was less than ideal, I’d still consider it a valiant effort on Samsung’s part. Moving on the next photo was taken with the Xperia one Mark V. Now, out of all the photos, the Xperia may not have produced the brightest.
Looking image, however, to my eye it seems the most natural looking the Highlight: roll off on Adam’s face is smooth and much closer to what I saw with my eye while taking the photo. There are slight signs of Moree on Adam’s shirt, though it’s not nearly as bad as what the s23 ultra produced. The color temperature of the image seems a little too cool, though the camera did a good job in preserving Adam’s skin tone. Also, despite the minimal lighting, there’s still a great amount of edge detail on the pegboards and Adam’s face, neither of which look too overly sharp or overly processed seems like Sony’s. New sensor is really flexing its powers in this photo. Next, we’ve got photo C taken by the pixel 7 Pro. This photo looks quite similar to the one taken by the s23 ultra. However, unlike its Sony counterpart, the pixel 7 Pro managed to produce a photo with far less more Ray on our subject. Shirt also, the lower contrast compared to the s23 ultra helps the Highlight roll off on Adam’s face appear a little more natural and just a lot smoother, while allowing the viewer to see more detail in the shadows, and lastly, we have the iPhone 14 pro now I Do not know what’s going on with the iPhone, but it produced the worst low-light photo out of the four there’s, an ugly green tint, the entire image and there’s a multi-color assortment of moire patterns on Adam’s shirt, also their signs of over sharpening all over the frame And the photo looks so processed to the point where this photo makes it look like Adam has wrinkles, which doesn’t do him any justice.
To finish our tests, we decided to have our subject, stand in a dark room lit by a window outside the door in order to really push these phones. Low light capabilities have a look foreign, I’m gon na just Breeze through the answers and Analysis photo. A was taken by the iPhone 14 pro B was taken by the s23 ultra see what Sigma the Xperia one Mark, V and D was taken with the pixel 7 Pro looking at the photos from the iPhone s23 Ultra and pixel 7 Pro. The resulting images aren’t that bad each phone takes advantage of its hardware and low light, shooting algorithms to produce an image that is serviceable and, in my opinion, if I had to choose my favorite I’d, go with photo B taken by the s23 ultra. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the Xperia one Mark V, the color reproduction leaves a lot to be desired and there’s a lot of digital noise, especially on the wall on the right side of the frame, the edge of the objects look quite blurry and the Subject looks really washed and ghost-like, which is not what you want from a smartphone camera.
This is actually quite a shame, because one of the Highlight features of the Xperia one Mark V is its improved low light Imaging performance via its next-gen sensor, but it just goes to show that good Hardware can only go so far to be fair, there was barely Any light coming into the room as we took the photo and even normal mirrorless cameras would struggle in the same lighting conditions, but if Sony really wants to compete with the likes of Samsung, Google and even Apple, especially in the smartphone camera market, then Sony’s gon na Have to invest some extra time and resources to perfect its slow light, shooting algorithms, but I’m curious, which phones do you think, produce the best photos. You have a favorite. Do you have a least favorite? Let us know in the comments down below while you’re down there be sure to like subscribe and hit the Bell icon to be notified when we upload next, I’m Harley Marano with Android authority, and I will see you in the next one. .