Troubles with Phonearena's Camera Analysis

[Timaustin2000]

I'm brand new here but felt that I had to comment as some here seem to be close to hari kiri (sic) over some reviews.

I do feel that the screen will be a little low on colour saturation but it's by no means terrible - and the adjustment options included in the final software should fix this. But what I really want to talk about is the camera.

Phonearena have been especially vocal about how the camera doesn't match up to the competition but I'm absolutely amazed that they've missed a glaring error in their analysis! Because of the boost in mp's and the different focal lengths of each phone, when they're doing a 100% crop comparison, they're clearly zooming in much, much further on the XZ. I don't think it's intentional but if you look at the crops they give, the difference is clear. The XZ i

Now I'm not saying that Sony haven't been a little heavy handed in their compression - they have. BUT if you zoom in comparison shots to the SAME CROP the difference is far less pronounced than some would have you believe. Indeed, if you zoomed in the other shots to the same depth as the XZ zoom they would become a mess of pixels - better defined pixels, sure, but no more usable for it.

Is the camera on the XZ blowing me away? I dunno, I'll put it to the test when I get it. But don't write it off based on comparissons with other phones unless you do the tests yourselves because phonearena have done a half-assed job, frankly.

Your thoughts below, please.

 

[theindievisual]

Great observation. I do see the compression as a necessary, temporary downside to putting a 13mp camera on a smartphone. They're probably working on keeping the responsiveness up first; hopefully the compression will get better through software updates.

 

[redandwhitearmy]

That Phonearena review was biased.... i tell u why....:
1. They ranked devices on every domain and listed lumia 920 and XZ with least ranking however ... where these two stood out to be better than others ... they skipped raking quite cleverly.
2. They even ranked Lumia 920 and XZ in night mode as bad shooters LOL at them... everybody knows the truth.
3. They even placed 1-2 cheeky discouraging lines in low light mode review about XZ.
4. In Detail they ranked XZ last. that was a big fail even their own pics that were taken... small boards really far away were much readable on XZ than others.
5. They always used superior auto mode in XZ but used manual settings in others..... obviously XZ will be confused in special conditions like a well lit building at night and surrounding trees which are not much in light... use manual settings there and i m sure XZ will tear others apart.

 

[Humandroidz]

That Phonearena review was biased.... i tell u why....:
1. They ranked devices on every domain and listed lumia 920 and XZ with least ranking however ... where these two stood out to be better than others ... they skipped raking quite cleverly.
2. They even ranked Lumia 920 and XZ in night mode as bad shooters LOL at them... everybody knows the truth.
3. They even placed 1-2 cheeky discouraging lines in low light mode review about XZ.
4. In Detail they ranked XZ last. that was a big fail even their own pics that were taken... small boards really far away were much readable on XZ than others.
5. They always used superior auto mode in XZ but used manual settings in others..... obviously XZ will be confused in special conditions like a well lit building at night and surrounding trees which are not much in light... use manual settings there and i m sure XZ will tear others apart.

I'm not sure but I think they would get better results with superior auto. I think PA did not use superior auto.

 

[kyogiro]

I think we shoul wait for more precise reviews like the GSMarena one which is by far, one of the best out there.

But I won't be surprise if the XZ's camera won't match nowadays' best 8 MP standards, Sony has been trailing behind for quite some time now in the Photo department.

 

[stefanve]

yeah that comparison doesn't make any sense both Samsungs where over exposed for most of the photos, big difference in iso use etc etc. clearly done by someone who doesn't know anything about photography

 

[schecter7]

I don't take PA reviews very seriously - specially when it comes to cameras. Somehow they find samsung cameras pretty good which is very questionable - I think. I've owned all three samsung galaxy phones. GS1 camera was horrible, GS2 was average and GS3 is also average. HOX has a better camera, Xperia T is better than both.Xperia Z should be even better. And I don't take pictures with lousy auto mode.

PA reviews are usually good except for the camera part - they simply don't understand photography. If you read their comparison, you can just tell that it was written by a noob.

 

[Humandroidz]

What i don't understand is the photos posted by someone here on Google+ definitely looks good.

check these out:

plus.google.com/
photos/110267829736715997848/
albums/5843542135386591041/5843542150197706866?banner=pwa

At first, I thought the photos above are not from XZ. They are really clear, sharp, and vibrant. I don't see noise in them.

They are miles better than what PA and other sites are posting. How could this happen? Different software or versions?

 

[redandwhitearmy]

What i don't understand is the photos posted by someone here on Google+ definitely looks good.

check these out:

plus.google.com/
photos/110267829736715997848/
albums/5843542135386591041/5843542150197706866?banner=pwa

At first, I thought the photos above are not from XZ. They are really clear, sharp, and vibrant. I don't see noise in them.

They are miles better than what PA and other sites are posting. How could this happen? Different software or versions?

I have analysed these images... On a bigger screen ..with zoomed in depth... They look good surely... That is why PA have lost it....

---------- Post added at 10:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:46 PM ----------

I'm not sure but I think they would get better results with superior auto. I think PA did not use superior auto.

They used superior auto... In some domains they even wrote it... Never used HDR .... I think superior auto was in most situations... So.many times this superior auto mode gets things wrong... It should be used when u r super noob in photography.... Not in a picture comparison

 

[rufaz]

seen that review and i can say it is a total bias.

 

[Akiainavas]

seen that review and i can say it is a total bias.

That's a common opinion about Phonearena's reviews. Many reviews were considered biased, with results that nobody is able to replicate etc. I wouldn't pay much attention to it - no matter if it's positive or negative.

 

[RCJ89]

I don't take PA reviews very seriously - specially when it comes to cameras. Somehow they find samsung cameras pretty good which is very questionable - I think. I've owned all three samsung galaxy phones. GS1 camera was horrible, GS2 was average and GS3 is also average. HOX has a better camera, Xperia T is better than both.Xperia Z should be even better. And I don't take pictures with lousy auto mode.

PA reviews are usually good except for the camera part - they simply don't understand photography. If you read their comparison, you can just tell that it was written by a noob.

I thought I was the only one who shared this view seeing as last year I had the Xperia S & T, S3 & N2 and HOX and for starters I believe Iphone arena claimed the camera on the HOX and Xperia T were mediocre compared with S3 (N2 has same camera as S3 anyway). That was total B.S The camera on the T and HOX and even Xperia S were far better than the samsung cameras both outdoors and indoors and at night, especially indoors with lighting where the S3/N2 cameras became washed out and I tested the camera's vs eachother same angles etc and the samsung cameras were the worst.
I have also compared the camera on the lumia 920 vs s3/N2 in shops and the lumia 920 looks better.
Even looking at the images IPA have done with the Z the images look great.

 

[s-X-s]

Its hard to believe all those reviews... Who even knows whether they are giving us true/genuine pictures- its upto the eidtor/reviewer to give us genuine review. Not even their webmaster will know it whether they are genuine.. There were plenty of crtitcism from reader about engagdet's news articles of apple products once... Some times its very clear in the writing the bias towards non-apple news. Who knows they have been receiving goodies and bucks... I was in straight fire @ one ZNet writer after reading his apple article- he wrote like not even a hardcore apple fan wont writer against android phones- blindly.... They all in US... we donno the truth...

I donno much about phonearena... Also i'm not going to expect much from a tiny smartphone sensor whether its 13mp or 44mp... You have to understand the camera sensors first... As the sensor becomes small in size the light goes thru it also less , hence the picture qaulity... Still the best quality sensor gives best results... In smartphone case the photographer has to be very careful and still as much as the object to get nice photos... Image stabilization is there , but its nowhere near of DSLR or other proper cameras.... So each time you take a picture its different although same object , same angle or whatever you can imagine there.... Competition in smartphone arena is to make thinnest phone... as the phone goes thinner camera sensor goes smaller(thinner) too.. otherwise you will see a bump where camera sits (like in pureview).....

 

[Y.R.L]

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