yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Xperia Z1 General] Luinwethion:
As [MENTION=5512893]One Twelve[/MENTION] said, please upload the pics to flickr, imageshack, dropbox.... somewhere that we can see the original files (also to see what's is going on with the ISO and shutter speeds.)

Bionz is a big "mystery" on the Z1, the Z does not have Bionz but the post processing (in automatic usually) is almost the same... The only thing I think bionz do in the Z1 when in automatic mode is try to get some noise reduction (SA tends to use higher ISO).

But nobody knows exactly what it does, and when it's working or not, will it work on 3th party apps? Some people says no, I did a compassion (kind of) between using the stock app and some 3th party app and I saw no big difference between the pics.
[Xperia Z1 General] Jiyeon90:
TL TR?

Sent from my Xperia Z1
[Xperia Z1 General] finoqq84:
Finally!! Someone has noticed the Bionz thing... Till today after using the phone for 4months. I still see no effects of the Bionz, have been using FV5 app for night shots and irs way better then the stock camera. Perheps Bionz is just a gimmick thing?
[Xperia Z1 General] ascariss:
Wasn't there a rumour that bionz wasn't activated or implemented fully in the Z1 yet? Sure feels that way, regardless, if it is or isn't, the pressure to keep the Z1 camera quality below its actual performance is probably due to the imaging department at Sony.
[Xperia Z1 General] finoqq84:
The fv-5 app vs Stock... In a lowly.lit room. The stock is noisy and overly.exposed

Open the files using ur pc.

View attachment 2572855

View attachment 2572856
[Xperia Z1 General] One Twelve:
Mention the shutter speed & ISO for both and what resolution they were taken, whether any scn modes were used.

And i did not understand what you meant wrt to BIONZ here. Does bionz work with stock and only stock or not.

---------- Post added at 07:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:11 PM ----------

This is not a problem. You've done crops here of a particular subject. I'm not sure its all that revealing.

antmot-lb vs -ub_1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

bhdr-lb-1 vs -ub_1 : blurred

fire-lb_1 vs -ub_1 : too dark to discern anything

hht-lb_1 vs -ub_1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

land-lb_ 1 vs -ub_1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

nport-lb_1 vs -ub_1 : lb looks better than ub ?

party-ub_1 vs -ub_1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

sauto-ub_1 vs -ub_1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

soft sn-lb_1 vs -ub_1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

sskin-lb_1 vs -ub_1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

beach-lb_1 vs -ub_1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

doc-lb_1 vs -ub_1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

gourmet-lb_1 vs -ub_1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

hiso-lb_1 vs -ub_1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

night sc-lb_1 vs ub-1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

off-lb_1 vs -ub_1 : slight difference in colour shade, no difference in quality

and so on....for pet, snow, sport

Clearly i'm not "clearly seeing" what you "clearly saw" :laugh:
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
Ok.. The fact is.. That difference in colour actualy reveals more details from dark. By the way u noticed the colour diff, rit? So whats making that change despite i havent changed any camera settings or so. Just before and after lb. I will upload pics soon, i was at office..now i will upload.
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
Added the pics.. check it.
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
What u mean by result is not fine?? Difference b/w lb and ub pics??
[Xperia Z1 General] FranzDages:
Locked bootloader and unlocked bootloader
[Xperia Z1 General] chesterr:
Haha I love this thread and I am so glad people start to notice about the LB and UB difference :D

Well I don't own a XZ1 yet I did the fair test with my XZ and it's very clear UB shots make more noise and TA needs if you're using this phone take good photos, night shots etc.

Here's my collection. I did everything in a fair manner.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/115765983@N07/sets/72157640510497113/

Edit: I just checked your photos and it looks really okay to me, both LB and UB, but it's really clear when it comes to XZ that there's a big difference.
[Xperia Z1 General] heahmad:
i have unlocked my bootloader i think there is more noise in general in the photos of UB

i have question, i have not made a TA backup, now if i relock my bootloder i will still have no drm keys, right?
[Xperia Z1 General] chesterr:
I am so sorry my friend I don't think that you will be able to take good photos in night time, as in low light conditions yet you'd be able to take day light photos well though. ALWAYS REMEMBER TO BACK UP THAT.

haha I will post some more photos :D
[Xperia Z1 General] heahmad:
no problem :good:
[Xperia Z1 General] Hani88:
I think any photo enhancement app can do as well as BIONZ in low light !

anyway some photo enhancement apps like pixlr express can do the trick for the ppl who lost their drm key and BIONZ magic right ???.. it's not a big issue, it's just a software ability right ???
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
I got my valentine day in front of my computer to digout this bugger. And ended up with redeye! Now i want a red-eye reduction.. So going to get some sleep.

Sony havent let some easy traces.. It will take some time. Oh.. Lord.. I havent asked you for a valentine..all i need is a trace.. Pls bless me with one.
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
Well its not a big issue. But it is.. Since we paid for an android device with the highest cam resolution on market, why should we take some noisy pics... Also.. Since we like to use it in our way.. Why should we let sony to lock our boot loaders...

We made x-reality woking on ub devices.. We will make this too..
[Xperia Z1 General] Hani88:
Perfect, you are right 100 %.. and you have my vote I'm the Sony user who lost his TA and paid a lot for this phone...
[Xperia Z1 General] chesterr:
I just did a small test using XZ, not XZ1 cause I don't own XZ1. lemme know how you feel about UBL but I think XZ1 doesn't have that this issue that much,

Check my sample photos and how terrible it is :P

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hhp7cuvy2sr1nhy/8U7gIP9I-v
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
Well.. So thats it.. We all got this issue.. Not single phone..not single model.. All have same problem. But why the hell sony.. If u have no intention to give what rightfully ours.. They why sell those.. Or atleast you would have told us about that. We buy these devices becoz of its multimedia capabilities.. And nothing else. And we risk our warranties and money becoz we want to use in our way.

This should be noted. And probably should put on xda portal,so that all should notice. And may be one day sony should remove this crapy trick.

And i like to invite the attention of all fellow developers, to crack this out. Find and share any thing important and your observations. I found it, i made up the attention.. And since i am not a great developer, i cant do all this myself, just join the hands.. We can make it. And those who read this.. Pls alert other members too in different sony devices ( zx, zultra and other z series.. Also invite others to check with s series and other "** " series sony devices.
[Xperia Z1 General] eclyptos:
If this is on Z then will be the same on Z1 and actually I see a huge difference between LB and UB. On UB the pics are worse.
[Xperia Z1 General] Sw33t_Lov3r:
Thanks for your effort man.

I know the users of Sony devices will be glad to know this before unlocking the bl of their device.

For me, as my ZL's bl can't be unlocked; I think I'm safe n.n I think I wouldn't unlock it either. I like the stock rom with just little changes n.n

- L
[Xperia Z1 General] Vaith:
How do you wanna make BIONZ working if this needs DRM keys? This is a chip in a camera, not software. You must hack the BIONZ chip to make it work without DRM keys...
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
Dude.. Have u read the opening post?? Ok, if u are not clear, let me clear you. We ( I) know that bionz is a chip, and sony use it in many camz. And now in z1 and z1 varients too. And it stands as an intermediate between the ccd and original cpu. It enhances the pic taken by the cam, and further give it to the cpu. So its a sony's dedicated chip which is found only on z1's. And to drive that hardware, sony use some kind of software, like bionz engine ( like xreality engine to drive the high perfomance triluminous display pannels to its full potential). And the working of this dedicated software piece require drm certificates ( coz those are protected with these digitally signed certificates). Which is wiped when unlocking bootloader on TA partition.

And this is common to z1 or other z series, which loose the same image processing enging on TA altering. Whether there is a dedicated hardwaret or not, but the processing stops.

So my aim is to hack that piece of code in camera app ( or probably hidden in supporting jars or apks) where a check for the protection actually happens. If we can bypass that. May be we may recover the cams of those poor souls who lost it on bootloader unlock.

Hope u get that..
[Xperia Z1 General] petalex99:
First of all thank you showlyshah for your analytic and even scientific work. You had a lot of patience to do it for us. I downloaded the camera.rar and i compared images on my computer, in photoshop. Maybe I am stupid, but I saw that many images are better in my opinion for Unlocked bootloader than locked bootloader!!! For exemple, images beach, bhdr, soft sn or sskin have more details in UB than LB. More than it, images hht or night have a very unnatural strong blue tint in LB compared with the same images in UB. I am very confused.

Xperia Z1, unlocked, rooted, deodexed stock .290 ROM
[Xperia Z1 General] Sentinel196:
The attitude given in the OP towards Sony is un-called-for.

Sony are doing a great job supporting the developer community. It's completely reasonable that they would want to protect their IP by requiring DRM keys to use particular features of the stock firmware.

it's not a secret. Sony are quite clear about it in their bootloader unlock terms.

http://unlockbootloader.sonymobile.com/unlocking-boot-loader
[Xperia Z1 General] f_u_006:
Hey everyone!

It's wrong that Bionz is going to be dead if bootloader is unlocked,

If Bionz is dead then the whole camera will be dead.

Developing for Sony means voiding your warranty not any processor or engine.

The display is designed to run on X-Reality, if there is no X-Reality that means no display!

These are all just people is stupid opinion.

Take a TA (DRM Keys) backup before unlocking then enjoy using ROMS, Kernels....
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
yes,.. They have said that certain things wont work,(but they dont say what features) and we have known those, bravia/x-reality, music id etc.. But i haven't seen any thing related to the pic quality, nor its widespread, so i want to add this too to the non working list, so that people who are going to unlock bootloader get noticed. And thats my intention. And may be a research to bring back that missing feature like the working x-reality engine for unlocked bootloader device.

dude, have u read the opening post? Or just trying to put some thing just like that?

Do you think we discuss about some thing which we see on our way to cinema?

If so.. Let me be clear.. Yes bionz will stop working if bootloader is unlocked. Becoz of drm key wipe. And many have encountered that, when they unlocked it before 4.3 update. Guess what.. Sony may have done a clever thing on 4.3 update, they may have possibly avoided the drm key check for bionz related software( which will stop completely with out drm key, thus causing camera death ) and enabled only few parts , like the normal jpeg processing found on other android devices ( and avoided the functioning of sony's original image enhancement engine, and thats why its causing grains in images taken with unlocked bootloader).

So what we are trying to bring back is that original sony engine for ub too..

And about the x-reality, well dude, its discussed about a million times on xda and other forums.. If u dont care to read.. Let it be so.. I ain't explaining it again.
[Xperia Z1 General] f_u_006:
....

Android is an open source project (AOSP) and Sony or some other manufacturers have no right to do like this (Since we void our warranty) . As i said Bionz is not software or application it's a hardware processing images and Sony tried to kill Bionz in 4.2 Bootloader Unlocking, so they did and the Camera was dead.

All of the technology like (Exmor RS, Bionz, G Lens...etc) they are combined to function as a single camera and by damaging or stopping one of them will cause the dead of the whole camera.

Yet i didn't noticed any difference in my pictures taken using Xperia Z1.
[Xperia Z1 General] finoqq84:
I think you should be the one to do some homework, its understood that x-reality is software based and NOT hardware. Does your screen goes dead when switching off x-reality? No! Unlocking the BL just so call 'turns off' x-reality permanently.X-reality is just a software enhancing software NOT A SCREEN TECHNOLOGY! Its triluminos that is our screen tech.

Just like Xperia Z, they upgraded from bravia engine to x-reality during a SOFTWARE upgrade.
[Xperia Z1 General] funky0308:
Android is open source but Sony have their patents and software and they have every right to protect that.

What do you think why Samsung "lives" in courts?

They have their own inventions and patents no matter Android is open source..

I could only agree that we need better image processing and I'm sure we'll get it but to spit on some companies just because they are protecting their investment is insane...

Believe me, they aren't destroying DRM keys because of us - they have to do that because of other manufacturers who would be very happy to see something like that.

Simple reverse engineering could tell them all if there's no DRM protection.
[Xperia Z1 General] f_u_006:
...

X-Reality is an engine in Sony UHDTVs and for smartphones its smaller in terms of size and processor . Xperia Z1 is thicker because of X-Reality, Bionz...etc

See this picture of X-Reality Engine in TVs: /thecoolgadgets.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Sony-X-Reality-PRO-Engine-for-new-Bravia-3D-HDTVs-in-Japan-493x271.jpg[/url]

I like to tell the truth, not yelling things when i have no proof.

The display and pixels are made by Triluminos but X-Reality is an enhancing engine.
[Xperia Z1 General] Leo0407:
looking forward to the Sony 4.42

looking forward to 4.42
[Xperia Z1 General] mynameisjon:
As much as OP's attitude is a little harsh, I think some of the criticism is warranted.

The Bionz processor is marketed as hardware implementation(Yes it's a yahoo answer post, but it's by an official sony source), and on the bootloader unlock website, there is no mention of the bionz processor being disabled if you do.

It's a hardware part, not a software solution like Bravia/X-reality. That's like saying that to protect their IP, they'll disable the CPU/GPU if you unlock the bootloader to prevent people from copying the CPU/GPU architecture.

Of course, this is all contingent on the Bionz Processor actually being disabled in the first place.
[Xperia Z1 General] Gitaroo:
by hardware it could mean using the Andreno GPU doing the processing, doesn't necessary means it has dedicated hardware like the cybershot camera. The reason why many people think that the cybershot team has dropped the ball on the z1 coming from those awesome sony camera might be cause the team has no experience in doing image procession using ARM SoC. The hardware in cameras are very different from cel phone no? They probably shipped the phone with the desire sensors and lens then trying try to improve the software over time since software can be updated but hardware is set in stone.
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
Telling about camera.. Especially mobile versions.. Nothing compares with the potential of a cybershot cam. K790,800,810,850, and c 905. Those are my personal faves. Nothing beats the snap of a 3.2 mp k 790,800,810 in its range. Also 850 is a good 5mp snapper. C905 their last cybershot phone.. Its an awesome snapper, even todays 8mp cams cant comapre with it. I even have one now . Ain't selling or giving it away no matter what.

Like todays android developers, there used to be devloment for sonyericsson devices, better camera,sound,display drivers, patches, mods. Etc. I use some manual mode driver( which is custom built) in my c905, same as for my k 800 ( sold years b4) and i can definitly say.. Even z1 cant match its pic quality at 8mp. Well, on non flash mode low light pics.. Z1 seems like a a kid. I always doubted.. Why the hell sony droped such a cam module..

Oh.. Miss those old days.. When hardware is the king and driver is the queen. Nothing in between.. Not a single piece of crappy software. Just need a perfect location. Thats all. Manual focus,manual shutter speeds, maual iso, colour,contrast,.. Every bit can be adjusted like slr. And for quick snaps.auto modes too.

Ah.. May many of you wont belive.. But u have to. ( i used a lot of sony/sonyericsson phones, and i know what i say). If any one interested in an analysis.. I will upload some comparison shots taken with my c905 and z1@ 8mp.
[Xperia Z1 General] f_u_006:
......

YOUR TOTALLY NUTS!

Now listen carefully,

This is Bionz Image Processor: www.sonydigitalimaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/2.04_Bionz.jpg

Now it's smaller in terms of size and processor as X-Reality for Smartphones.

and Sony uses CPU, GPU and Bionz to capture and process images.

Its not something you could enable or disabled by tweaking kernel or firmware.
[Xperia Z1 General] Gitaroo:
is that even in the Z1, remember everyone mention that it was nowhere to be found in all the disassemble vid and guide.
[Xperia Z1 General] mynameisjon:
I'm just going by what Sony puts out there, they clearly market it as a dedicated processor. :rolleyes:
[Xperia Z1 General] neon$$$$:
Remember me!!:rolleyes::rolleyes:

SONY- ALFRED
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
Comapre a camera phone ( aka z1) with a phone in a camera (aka cybershot c905)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ync49xcev0o010q/z1 vs c905.rar

The light source in this pic is light from my laptop's screen. And nothing else. Both z1 and c905 are set to take low light pics. Check out the exif data of pics.
[Xperia Z1 General] neon$$$$:
i got one new secrete as i work for sony just give me some time
[Xperia Z1 General] fer2503:
So maybe can you make a mod to add manual shutter control to stock camera?
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
Not now.. In fact i have been searching for such an app.. Which realy works. No manual shutter speed.. Some app have those.. But it does not seem to work. But it takes shots with diff shutter speeds.. No observatiory results!
[Xperia Z1 General] ascariss:
As mentioned in other threads, there is no current API from google to control shutter speed manually, samsung added their own for their cameras which use android. I am sure sony could as well but perhaps they don't see the need in a mobile phone.
[Xperia Z1 General] KWOKSFUNG:
The reason we think that there are problem in bionz is because when the BL is unlocked on 4.2 , the function of the camera stop

and z1 is the first xperia with bionz. With example of previous devices, we are pretty sure that bionz is not compulsory part in taking photo. Which make a lot of sense that the Xperia Z1's camera can technically run like previous xperia devices if it dodge the bionz problem in unlock bootloader. What sony do is just force us to sacrfice the bionz when we dont have our drm key

bro u a troll or are u serious :o ??
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
kitkat test

The quality of pics taken on same modes with lb and ub are different, more grainy pics from ub. but unlike old jb versions, it now clearly shows iso difference. eg:- iso 5000 for ub on superior auto low light mod with out flash, and the same for lb is 6400. Also there is difference in image sizes too.. ub pics are few hundred Kb's bigger than lb pics (which clearly is/may an indication of some missing processing??).

but any way the good thing is the pics are much better than jb versions, much less noise, much less grains, better colour reproduction, and the best thing- low light photos have less blue(purple?) tints now, also focusing is improved, faster scene recognizing etc.
[Xperia Z1 General] Hani88:
thank you so much, hope that you can post indoor shoots to compare ub&lb on kitkat to see thouse differences in fact as we saw on JB before :)
[Xperia Z1 General] snigglets:
Hey im on 4.3 unlocked bootloader with out ta backup..i lost drm keys..is der any way to make it working like befoee???i have installed one patch x reality by powerking from android development..its working in album but not in the movies

One more que is if i gv my phone to customer care for software update shall i get back the drm keys???though they charge me??please do reply
[Xperia Z1 General] f_u_006:
Relock your Bootloader using flashtool and the customer care will charge you without doubt for DRM keys.
[Xperia Z1 General] snigglets:
Thanks for the reply...so u mean i can get the drm keys back if i give it for software update in the customer care???
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
I don't think so. The TA partition is unique to every device,as far as i know. U can unlock and lock it ofcourse, but then also, since u dont have a backup and so u cant restore, ur drm is lost for ever.

The main proof of uniqueness is the difference in unlock keys every one get, which is a unique key depends upon ur imei.
[Xperia Z1 General] HellRoot:
I don't see much difference in quality with locked and unlocked...
[Xperia Z1 General] f_u_006:
If you restore someone other's TA backup your device is bricked, It means it matches the backup and the DRMs keys stored very secure at bios, if yes then yay, if no then nay+brick.

Only Sony knows.
[Xperia Z1 General] showlyshah:
there is this possibility though.. diassemble the ta, remove the device specific part or just copy the drm keys and certificates,if any.. then copy back the keys and certficates to TA.. but unless we some expert find out what it is..we dont have that chance.:(
[Xperia Z1 General] Riyal:
Uhm is this true? If so then this might be 1 of the positive side effects of unlocking a bootloader. Bionz is a image post processing software hence when you disable it you are getting a close to real photo than having it disabled.

Alot of users complain about the Z1 having a very aggressive post processing so I guess this should be the solution for it. Anyways we can just manually post process the photos anytime we want.
[Xperia Z1 General] Steve_max:
DON'T DO THAT. You WILL brick the device.
[Xperia Z1 General] olokos:
He never said that he will do that. It was just an idea. Either way, why do you discourage him from doing it? If he knows how to do that stuff, then he surely knows the risks of failure...

Wysłane z mojego C6903 przy użyciu Tapatalka
[Xperia Z1 General] Steve_max:
Because someone who is more clueless could see the suggestion, think they've nothing to lose, and get a very expensive paper weight. Trying new ideas is fine. Trying things people have already done and that are known not to work isn't fine, it's just a waste.
[Xperia Z1 General] Hani88:
exactly like what happened to me, X-Reality is working in album but not in the movies after flashing it.. but everything is perfect now in 4.4 don't worry.. I lost my drm keys too

I relocked my 4.3 Z1 so it won't boot due to cwm is already installed then recovered and updated it via PC Companion to 4.4 then unlocked and rooted it with cwm.. and now X-Reailty is working perfect in both of album and movie and also Mx player ;)