[Q] I need opinions on the Sony Xperia Z1

The Z1 camera is infuriating to use because it's obvious that the hardware is a beast. It's the best camera hardware you can get on an Android device. However, the software is a hit or miss. Superior auto is okay for daylight pictures but is almost unusable for lowlight pictures. However, if you take a bit of time to learn how to use the camera in manual, you will have no problem getting excellent images from the Z1. Lowlight performance is decent, better than the LG G2 but worse than the HTC One, it's just you cannot rely on Superior Auto mode to get you the best pics, usually they end up very noisy.

In daylight there is no contest, the Z1 is one of the best out there. 90% of the time Superior auto does the job well. The other 10% of time there is overexposure or noise but then you can use manual or try again and it should come out okay. Low light is tricky.

If you want a camera that 'just works' I would suggest looking at the HTC One or LG G2. However, if you are willing to spend a bit of time to explore the camera's features and functions you will love the Z1. It's definitely the most fun camera phone to use. Don't get me wrong, it's not 'bad', it's just not as good as it could be. Also, the viewfinder is one of the smoothest I've used. 60fps of awesome.

The thing about the Z1 is that is one of the best 'allround' phones. You get a premium feeling, waterproof body with the fastest processor available and an extremely good camera. There's almost nothing like it. The iPhone 5S and HTC One are probably the only other ones that can compete with the all-roundedness. The LG G2 is really good as well but IMO has a horrible, cheap looking and feeling body. For me looks matter as much as the internals because I have the phone on me at all times and is a part of me, so I want it to reflect who I am. The Z1's sharp looks do just that .

Hopefully KitKat will stabilize superior auto and make it better because it's infuriating having poor software when you have unbeatable hardware.

I will have to say that while the Camera software disappoints it really isn't that bad at all..

As far as low light pics are concerned, for me superior auto does the job well enough..and of course low light photos have the element of noise as on any camera phone but don't let it bother you too much. You will just have to compare for yourself lowlight photos between the G2 and the Z1 to see if its up to your expectations.

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robamacaf said:

I just switched to TMobile yesterday and I got the LG G2. I am highly disappointed with the camera, specially the low light. I love taking photos on my cell (before this I had a Lumia 1020 which replaced my HTC One which replaced my S3) and the low light just didn't cut it.

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The night sky shot you took with the 1020 has a shutter delay of 4s.

Z1 has a max shutter delay in night mode of 0.8s. This is the best you have currently with android. Also the Z1 has a 2.0 aperture to the 1020's 2.2. So about 25% larger.

bear in mind the nokia's can go as slow as 4s shutter delay because WP8 allows it. So even mid range WP8 phones with nokia camera app can get the 4s shutter delay. Android at this time does not even if the hardware can support it. I see no reason why this cannot be done in the future with android if mid range WP8 phones presently allow such low shutter delay. It's an OS limitation. Another limitation with android is its not possible to manually set shutter speed or do any manual focus unlike with WP8. This limits to a certain extent or makes it harder than it would have been been with say Nokia camera.

Whereas the slowest shutter delay with the G2, note3, N5 or S4 is around 1/8s (6x faster than 0.8). What they then do is take a HDR. They cheat. This means a relatively stable hand held low light shot but if an even slower shutter speed is required then you cannot do it. Has the low light video improved on the G2 since ? as the video from examples i'd seen earlier was mostly not usable.

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

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Check out this video mate:


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

robamacaf said:

Thanks for this. You put a lot of info into that video. I also watched the 3 min one you made with mostly low light pictures. Looks like the Z1 is def worth getting

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I absolutely love it

I only wish the screen was better. It's not bad by any means but due to poor viewing angles the experience is not on par with other devices (oppo find 5 etc)

universal

robamacaf said:

I just switched to TMobile yesterday and I got the LG G2. I am highly disappointed with the camera, specially the low light. I love taking photos on my cell (before this I had a Lumia 1020 which replaced my HTC One which replaced my S3) and the low light just didn't cut it.

The Z1s comes to tmobile in a week so I'm thinking of swapping it out for that. The thing is, I've heard so many mixed reviews about the Z1 and it's camera. I would love to have opinions from you all that own it. If you can compare the photos to any other phone that would be great. I was actually debating between the LG G2 and Note III and Z1, but I really think the Z1 (specs wise) might be the closest to the Lumia 1020 (which is the best smartphone camera I have EVER used....too bad it was on WP8)

Thank you in advance!

Rob

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I had a G2 and while I liked it I decided to not keep it. Just got my Z1s on Monday and was very impressed with the handful of shots I took, and find I like the Z1s all-around more than I did the G2: better design, better android skin, better battery life & performance (and the G2 was no slouch in either of those two areas), and at least based on first impressions better camera.

I am exchanging my Z1s because of some difficulty getting it to acknowledge long press while holding the phone (started a thread on that), but other than that was very happy with it and am looking forward to getting my replacement.

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

Tough decision for me, sell my G2 and payoff my EIP or keep it and sell the Z1S and profit a bit and wait for something else.

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robamacaf said:

I just switched to TMobile yesterday and I got the LG G2. I am highly disappointed with the camera, specially the low light. I love taking photos on my cell (before this I had a Lumia 1020 which replaced my HTC One which replaced my S3) and the low light just didn't cut it.

The Z1s comes to tmobile in a week so I'm thinking of swapping it out for that. The thing is, I've heard so many mixed reviews about the Z1 and it's camera. I would love to have opinions from you all that own it. If you can compare the photos to any other phone that would be great. I was actually debating between the LG G2 and Note III and Z1, but I really think the Z1 (specs wise) might be the closest to the Lumia 1020 (which is the best smartphone camera I have EVER used....too bad it was on WP8)

Thank you in advance!

Rob

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Check My Low light photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/77173783@N00/sets/72157637726566185/

you will also find Htc One set and Comparison Set between note3 vs z1


Me also swapped the htc one with the z1

reason: Purple tint camera and very long time focusing during night and mostly out of focus


how do i compare : Z1 blew away Htc faster lock never out of focus and Better lowlight

you can see in the sets both taken with htc and z1 ... Just to mention i never used Superior Auto i always use manual @all auto .. except if i want to capture a night landscape or scene with longer exposure i choose Night Mode from scenes and rest my arm on somethings


by the way

note3 camera at night it Cr@p !

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

robamacaf said:

I just switched to TMobile yesterday and I got the LG G2. I am highly disappointed with the camera, specially the low light. I love taking photos on my cell (before this I had a Lumia 1020 which replaced my HTC One which replaced my S3) and the low light just didn't cut it.

The Z1s comes to tmobile in a week so I'm thinking of swapping it out for that. The thing is, I've heard so many mixed reviews about the Z1 and it's camera. I would love to have opinions from you all that own it. If you can compare the photos to any other phone that would be great. I was actually debating between the LG G2 and Note III and Z1, but I really think the Z1 (specs wise) might be the closest to the Lumia 1020 (which is the best smartphone camera I have EVER used....too bad it was on WP8)

Thank you in advance!

Rob

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The Z1 is really the best camera in an Android phone. The flash sucks, specially compared to the 1020's (and the 808's, still the best camera phone by a huge margin) xenon, of course; but it's bad for a LED. However, its low light, non-flash performance is way above the rest of the pack. More comparable to the 1020's non-flash pics than to the G2's. You will also have the benefit of some lossless zoom. As a camera, it's definitely an upgrade over the S3/One/G2, and a clear downgrade all around from the 1020.

This is an interesting comparison of the Z1 with Nokia's last few cameraphones:
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/18845_Smartphone_camera_shootout_the.php
Note that no non-Nokia phone had ever beaten the N8 on that site. But I'd suggest you to rate the pictures by yourself. Assign points to each, then assign a factor of importance to each category, and sum up the scores (multiplied by the importance of each category). You may come to a different conclusion than Steve.

Another interesting data point is this:
http://connect.dpreview.com/post/44...1-vs-nokia1020-vs-lgg2-vs-samsunggalaxys4zoom
Which includes a direct comparison between the Z1 and your previous two phones. I suggest the same approach, assigning your own scores and importances to come to your own conclusion.

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

fmmsf said:

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

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Yes, it's WAY better. I don't have the shots with me, but when we went on vacations, my Z1's pictures were always better than my wife's 5S's. The Z1 focuses better (and faster), isn't as noisy, and exposes much better on low light. Also, the 5S has an annoying tendency of keeping the flash on for 1-2 seconds while it focuses, while the Z1 does it way faster; that much time with the LED on makes the subjects uncomfortable, and spoils the images. Whenever we took pictures of the same scene on both phones, mine were better (so much better that most of hers were instantly deleted). I usually don't shoot videos, so I can't comment on video quality.

Steve_max said:

Yes, it's WAY better. I don't have the shots with me, but when we went on vacations, my Z1's pictures were always better than my wife's 5S's. The Z1 focuses better (and faster), isn't as noisy, and exposes much better on low light. Also, the 5S has an annoying tendency of keeping the flash on for 1-2 seconds while it focuses, while the Z1 does it way faster; that much time with the LED on makes the subjects uncomfortable, and spoils the images. Whenever we took pictures of the same scene on both phones, mine were better (so much better that most of hers were instantly deleted). I usually don't shoot videos, so I can't comment on video quality.

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Ah, that's awesome! And how long does it take for the phone to bring up the camera app after you press the shutter button on the Z1? (That's a feature, right?)

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