yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
Interesting how opinions can differ so much on these things! At least on my monitor(s) I would say that the Z3 only managed better with the white balance on the very last shot. All the daytime ones are much too magenta, with the forest being the worst one. Prefer the lumia shots in pretty much every aspect (and I own a Z3).

But, as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder :)
[Xperia Z3 General] viking2.0:
Fall colors -

http://imgur.com/WTRQd9C
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
Yes that's the same location LOL. Great hybrid of old and new. Anyways... I did actually shoot in SA mode that same day and found no improvement. Let me attach it here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ou4d230rtfm65sb/AACDq2CiYbe9DI0D7FeNsXv0a?dl=0 and the top folder link here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3jcusfbj9c48oxr/AABKHItzCN6sLfLJIPqeDVqFa?dl=0.

---------- Post added at 07:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:42 PM ----------

Xtreme low light shots taken in manual 8mp high sensitivity mode vs the iP6+ auto. Room lights were off. Laptop display was the only source of light. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/coz5zu29ea8o5rc/AABWhIH9DCAsSzUbAPTar7-qa?dl=0

It's for demonstration purposes only guys. OBVIOUSLY, nobody is ever gonna shoot in those conditions, esp without a flash. This is the full folder for all pictures in different environments. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3jcusfbj9c48oxr/AABKHItzCN6sLfLJIPqeDVqFa?dl=0

I can also confirm that in SA mode, and in low light conditions like the above, the black 'halo' is visible and present. In manual, not so much.

---------- Post added at 08:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:56 PM ----------

I appreciate the 'handy' tips mate. Gonna try and implement them going forward. Thanks.
[Xperia Z3 General] tsachi:
Fall in hdr mode on the z3v

Edit: can't attach image for some reason. I'll upload later
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
[MENTION=6079771]radicans[/MENTION] could you go to the trouble of doing 100% crops of the shots of 1. the Canary Wharf and 2. the small rowing boat in the middle of the water in the centre of the same shot, please? https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gza8njsi9oc42pd/AADzLR69VjASG0TSIKsWqdMCa?dl=0

In fact, it would be better if you would then zoom/enlarge the crop of the iphone shot until the boat or the building matches the scale and proportions of the shots from the z3. This will help compare details in good daylight conditions.

I wish i knew how to do things like that but i'm a dinosaur learning things up till now. Otherwise i'd have done it by now.
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
He he, I remember the alley because I somewhat drunkely tried to climb the wall to the right in the photo.. and totally failed of course! Really not much grip on that one..

I had a look at your photos, and the SA one did not come out too well as you say, BUT the photo titled "Sony manual 8 high sensitivity scene" was pretty darn good! Here is a crop.

I would go so far as to say that it beats the iPhone6+ by a hair when it comes to detail! Also, the sharp noise fuzzines seen in the 20MP is gone! It's a little bit washed out compared to the 6+ which has nicer blacks. Think it's because of a flare from a bright light out of view, which the 6+ doesn't seem to pick up at all.

Anyway, good work, some well needed progress here! What were the settings?

---------- Post added at 07:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:24 PM ----------

I can have a go later on.

In the meantime, try downloading www.gimp.org. It's a rather similar to photoshop, free, and for every platform! It's what I use.
[Xperia Z3 General] CandyAndy:
I uploaded one image to my shared picture folder

https://drive.google.com/folder/d/0B0MUVjq_igOMZHpjODJTNkRDZmc/edit
[Xperia Z3 General] civmilad:
For example Can you take picture from your math book by your m8?
[Xperia Z3 General] :
1600x900 jpg is not a raw image. Does this phone even provide raw files ?

And again, average picture.
[Xperia Z3 General] Cocytan:
A couple of pictures I took from a Steampunk Exhibition in Beijing

Cropped and tweaked in Snapseed, from a Manual Shot

http://imgur.com/YINpFV7

http://imgur.com/CgghYRl

http://imgur.com/5VzVbl8

http://imgur.com/uZfgKP8

http://imgur.com/aDMCibN

http://imgur.com/2IiehnY

http://imgur.com/IGeCmGv
[Xperia Z3 General] jamezr:
Great pictures!
[Xperia Z3 General] jkr284:
Im real dissapointed in the z3 camera.

Its quicker at taking pics than the z2 but the detail just seems horrible unless the natural lighting is perfect which is rare in the UK!

Terrible detail in panoramic as well. I agree with others saying the HTC m8 takes pictures just as good.

Got my phone on three. Maybe I need to get the generic Europe firmware.

Some pics I took in superior auto mode in Edinburgh yesterday:
[Xperia Z3 General] Solidswede:
Don't forget to use all pixels

Check a macro sample here: https://flic.kr/p/pfit3p

Just a reminder that the only way you will use the sensor's all pixels is by setting it to 4:3. I see no problems with my camera. This image is taken with Sony's full auto mode and even then tries to go as low ISO as possible (200 here) with f 2.0 and only 1/50 sec and 8mp. Looks pretty good. Also the Z3 has a new lens that fixes the problems Z2 had (that never was fixed) http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2741223
[Xperia Z3 General] Evandure:
These puctures are truly beatiful!

Are they edited or straight out of the Z3?
[Xperia Z3 General] pham077:
These are great, how is it that your pics are so clear compared to the other users?!

Such inconsistency I don't know what to believe!
[Xperia Z3 General] Cocytan:
I did the same as Solidswede said, a couple of posts after mine. Changed the format to 4:3 - the camera is superb. The shots I took were in a poorly-lit, hollowed-out water tank, as part of a Steampunk exhibition. I didn't mess with ISOs or anything else - just pointed and took the shot, and then cropped a little and slightly tweaked brightness in Snapseed. I think the camera is far superior to the Z2 (my last phone), and way, way beyond the M8 (the phone I had before). It is just a bit picky with how you use it.
[Xperia Z3 General] shilent:
So changing it to 4:3 improves the quality?
[Xperia Z3 General] fain2daniel:
Straight from my Z3

https://plus.google.com/photos/104445511388483363462/albums/6066742750944185089

---------- Post added at 07:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:03 PM ----------

Im wondering if this is true...
[Xperia Z3 General] jamezr:
Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing!
[Xperia Z3 General] payaxy:
Anybody can say (and show) how Z3C handles moving objects? Like a 2 year old kid, that's an ultimate camera test :)
[Xperia Z3 General] jonmorris:
Poorly, in my experience with a 2 1/2 year old!

Anti motion blur in manual seems to be a lot better, mind.
[Xperia Z3 General] 3Shirts:
I took some pictures at the weekend (locked BL) and my girlfriend took similar ones with a Fujifilm XF1 compact camera (only been out a few months). The photos are very similar! The colours are slightly oversaturated on the Z3 but I was shooting in superior auto so could probably improve that if I was bothered.

Considering we're talking about a very competent dedicated camera, being even close is impressive.

[IMG="Fujifilm XF1"]http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5757769/XF1.JPG[/IMG]

[IMG="Xperia Z3"]http://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5757769/Z3.jpg[/IMG]
[Xperia Z3 General] payaxy:
That's too bad, camera might be the only thing keeping me from getting either Z3 or Z3C :( Let's see if Sony can get their act together with some firmware update
[Xperia Z3 General] GoyoNeuff:
Can any of you guys please post a comparison between the regular size and the 4:3 to see if there is any difference at all? I am getting bananas with all these comments about the Z3 not having a good camera, but your posts are very interesting.

Cheers,

G.
[Xperia Z3 General] tamilplaya98:
Camera hardware good - Camera software bad!

The camera Hardware is one of the best, but sony didnt fit the camera Software to the z3. So the photos are very bad, my old galaxy s3 makes better photos. Havent you noticed that?

I hope that Sony will update the Camera Software, otherwise i will sell my z3, because camera is very important for me.
[Xperia Z3 General] Blaalad12:
Well to be fair, Alot of people seem to be very happy with the camera so i can only assume for those that feel the camera is lacking they they just need a software update! I personally dont really have any complaints as such. I just expected a little more! I havent tested it properly to be fair but from some of the pics i have seen posted online. Iam left confused as some look great while others looks awful!
[Xperia Z3 General] XxSilent22xX:
Yay, another comparison between the z3 and a phone no one cares about.
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
Awesome work man. I'm gonna wait for you to do that lol. If you were to do a 100% crop from the alley scene of the end of the tunnel or the bike even, you would find the iphone lacks even more detail. This may be due to some focal point decision by design on the iphone though. Plus, when you do the 100% crops of the Canary Wharf building/HSBC building plus the rowing boat, you'll see more evidence of this.

So the settings? Well... the photo titled 'Sony manual 8...' was shot basically using the Sony stock camera, manual mode, 8mp of course and 'High Sensitivity' scene mode enabled. I used a tripod too and had the camera app set to shoot after self timer countdown, in order to eliminate all possibility of 'shake'.

When I initially embedded those shots two days ago, i selected the Google Camera shots for consistency purposes of the comparison, instead of using multiple apps for different scenes. Hope I'm making sense.
[Xperia Z3 General] Venacephalica:
In the early afternoon...somewhere in Germany :D

https://flic.kr/p/pZMVag
[Xperia Z3 General] itsjustJOH:
Oh wow, I haven't visited for a few days and the thread is full of arguments again. :D Anyway, here are some good shots taken by two Esato members with their Z3 Compact (I reckon it's the same performance a Z3 could get). Low light shots were taken with night scene mode while being held very steadily. Open image in new tab so you can easily zoom in and out:

Photo 1:

Photo 2:

Photo 3:

Photo 4:

Photo 5:

Photo 6:

See how good the low light shots are because of the low ISO? I guess the other members have discussed the importance of choosing proper settings especially with low light on the Z3 because of its inconsistent auto mode. Of course it's still noticeable (when you zoom in) the usual blurring caused by Sony's denoising algorithm, but this just shows that you can make a good photo with a beautiful scene and proper settings.

Edit: You can easily view the EXIF here, just copy the link of the image and paste it on the "Image URL" box.
[Xperia Z3 General] abhinav.tella:
True, I found it unnecessarily uses high ISO in auto mode at night, when in manual mode I usually use very low ISO settings at night as well and the Z3 actually does well with that compared to other phones.
[Xperia Z3 General] Venacephalica:
...

https://www.flickr.com/gp/venacephalica/n17sYM
[Xperia Z3 General] Jdelta9889:
Z3v - Sunset

Played with the settings... used night time scene. Loving the camera on this phone Z3V
[Xperia Z3 General] iBuzman:
unlocked bootloader...
[Xperia Z3 General] jayr04:
auto no edit
[Xperia Z3 General] BeroEmil:
btw Nice photos :D:D
[Xperia Z3 General] iBuzman:
unlocked bootloader
[Xperia Z3 General] danw_oz:
First few pics over the weekend. All superior auto, they came out alright. Definitely better than my other Xperia phones to date.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-wilson/15750020141/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-wilson/15566477008/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-wilson/15566041399/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dan-wilson/15727931396/

One thing I am not sure about is this phones strange numbering, it is all over the place.
[Xperia Z3 General] jonmorris:
It doesn't matter. He misquoted me anyway as I said 'NOT as good' anyway!

---------- Post added at 12:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:11 AM ----------

Yes, my Lumia 1020 has always struggled with white balance (even with successive updates) and so perhaps people reviewing the camera prefer to not mention white balance too much!

There are so many good things about the 1020, like the ability to zoom without loss, and of course reframe a photo afterwards because a 'RAW' image is stored on the phone, but it's an old phone and Windows Phone STILL isn't taking off, even with Windows Phone 8.1 being really rather good.

Thus, it's increasingly irrelevant to keep comparing every new camera with a Nokia. Until Nokia decides to license its camera tech to another company (and can it do that, or is that side of the business what Microsoft bought?) and we see it in an Android phone, I can't see why people would care.

You'd tell someone, "you can buy Samsung A, Sony B, HTC C, LG D or this Nokia/Lumia E. Device E has the best camera by far. Best photos, best video, best editing...."

"Does it run Android?"

"No"

"Oh, forget that then"

There are of course the rather niche Samsung camera phones and also that Panasonic one recently announced, which would probably be better options than the Lumia 1020, and the most recent devices have actually reduced a lot of the benefits, with just 20.7MP and no Xenon flash - and I can't see anyone buying a 1020 now even if it was dirt cheap. If you only wanted it for the camera, why not buy a cheap point and shoot which will still be better?
[Xperia Z3 General] One Twelve:
Found this interesting video, tip of pressing against your head for stability.

[YOUTUBE]dosLpn6AC6M[/YOUTUBE]

He says with a 50mm lens he can get a 1/2s shot with VR, without VR he can get 1/4s with two out of four tries.

Normally its advised not to go below 1/focal lenght so in this case 1/64, to get 1/4 means

1/64 - 1/32 - 1/16 - 1/8 - 1/4 or four f-stops lower which is amazing as that gear is a kilo in weight.

One thing to note here is the subject chosen, that there isn't any background which would make objects further away more prone to shake. Trying to get a street is harder or any of the scenes you posted. Easier for subjects close up. You can try at home with objects near by and a wall. Does not need to be dark, just get them sharp with scene modes.

for xperia that means 1/4 is possible and the slowest is 0.8s

1/4 - 1/2 - 0.8s just one and a half f-stop

I've seen fireworks mode on Z2 where a guy pulled this off with one out of five, handheld. Could not believe it at the time but i think its possible now.

Night scene, handheld, sharp, who will be first to post that here :)
[Xperia Z3 General] marc539:
Here are some shots from couple days ago
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
Well, if you look at it from the perspective of "which phone should I buy?", then yes it is likely to be irrelevant for many people, if you look at market share. But I think it's interesting nevertheless, from a camera point of view. We know that the lumia 1020 has one of the absolute top phone cameras, so it's a good reference for what is possible within this realm. If a phone camera is comparable to the 1020, then that's a pretty good stamp of approval!
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
You have gotta be kinda naive to think no one cares about the iP6+ LOL. I would take an Android flagship over an iDevice all day, every day. But this doesn't blind me to seeing that Apple's camera tech/software produces excellent results, often superior to other flagship equivalents in the Android world. Namely, the Moto X, the HTC One, the Nexii, some LGs and some Sonys too. People in general DO care and that's why the Apple flagship outsells any single Android flagship. Although i only speak for myself, i think people on THIS thread DO care as well, when comparing the camera of our Z3 to highly capable equivalents like the iP6+ or the Note 4. It allows us to feel satisfied with our purchase and also see where it needs improving, like adjustments in the manual settings and other skills on the user's side.

Don't let the fanboy in you takeover, is the TLDR.

---------- Post added at 04:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:53 PM ----------

Great tips and brill video. I simply don't understand the numbers but i got the point that we are going for a lower iso if we can. Night Scene lowers the iso but increases the likelihood of blur without steady hands. So i need to practise the stance and grip better. I'll upload something maybe tonight. From outdoor at night.
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
These were taken indoors yesterday night at a mate's place. His cat. He has an artificial overhead light for doing recordings. So two of the shots are under that lamp. Using SA auto AFAICR.

Sent from Z3 using Tapatalk.
[Xperia Z3 General] Silverdace:
What I find ironic is that the i6+ is using Sony sensor and processor, though custom made for Apple of course.

Sony really should have the BEST camera phones on the market given their expertise with camera tech.

Am loving the z3 more and more.
[Xperia Z3 General] One Twelve:
a f-stop going up or going down means you either double the light or halve it.

ISO 100 is half as sensitive to light as ISO 200. ISO 200 being half as much as ISO 400 and so on.

1/32 means half as much light gets through as 1/16. 1/16 means longer exposure than 1/32

Was playing around with different modes and i found that if ambient light is available the scene modes actually use faster shutter speeds. So those scene modes work as a function of light available rather than being fixed presets. You will have to practice with low light to get slower exposures.

Going to the other extreme of having faster shutters in order to freeze action and 1/64 or 1/128 or around there is ideal. burst mode in high speed does it with 8MP output. But it needs enough light. Alternatively action scene mode does the same as well but takes several shots. To maintain those speeds with lower light means ISO gets boosted and there is no way around it. Only when you are dealing with moving subjects in low light. If the subject is static then longer shutter with lower iso is the way to go.

The one thing sensors can do is improve the noise with higher iso's like bigger sensors do currently. it will be a slow process though as they cannot easily increase sensor size and maintain portability.
[Xperia Z3 General] iBuzman:
unlocked bootloader (indoors, auto everything)
[Xperia Z3 General] trancelated:
Finally! I peeled off my back cover to add a new cover and cleaned up the lens.

I've took these pics to see how it looks at night. This one was lit well.

This one however, I couldn't see a thing in the dark.

pretty good I suppose?
[Xperia Z3 General] hanime:
Good with the lighting, but it's not sharp.
[Xperia Z3 General] iBuzman:
low light, auto everything.

unlocked bootloader.

(raspberry pi laptop I am making with my son)
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
Making a lot more sense for me now, THANKS. I did some reading after this post of yours and things are clearer than before. I hadn't realised so many variables need considering, from aperture/fstop, shutter speed, iso, moving/static subject, low light/well lit scenes, noise/grain, depth of field etc.

I THINK I understand the basic theory. It all goes foggy again when trying to put it into practise when taking a shot. Regular practise will ensure the theory translates into real pictures I'm sure.

Sent from Z3 using Tapatalk.
[Xperia Z3 General] One Twelve:
Then simplify things. When trying to understand ISO & shutter eliminate the need for metering.Pick scenes that do not have extreme variations in light. Avoid including a bright light in the photo indoors as that will mess with metering. Or outdoors try and keep the sky out. You want more or less similar lighting. At night small lights in the distance won't cause an issue but one streetlight will. Simple test is focus on the brightest area of the shot and click then focus on the darkest one. Compare the two photos if they look similar in appearance then you're good.

If you're going to practice metering then forget about ISO & shutter and experiment with focusing on bright or dark areas and see the effect it causes. Once you understand these two separately then you will be able to combine.

Forget about aperture, its fixed at 2.0 so you can't change it. You can change iso and influence shutter. I say influence because you cannot manually set shutter on the z3.

if you select ISO z3 picks the appropriate shutter. If you select a lower iso you get better quality but if light isn't enough then shutter slows. How much does it slow.

If shutter is 1/32 or faster say 1/100 then your chances of getting a sharp image are good. Outdoors in daylight shutter will be fast and iso chosen will generally be low even with SA. Indoors with good light iso will be between 200-400 with shutter around or above 1/30.

open an image in the app quickpic, select details and scroll down until you see the line F2.0 5mm . Next to it you will see shutter and iso. Get into the habit of examining these parameters after every shot. I would prefer an app that displayed these parameters as an overlay during swiping but i've not found one yet.

Could you get the shot if you manually chose a lower iso ? If light is enough you might be able to do it. Then if it appears underexposed or too dark. try to use the exp comp, increase it by small amounts 0.3, 0.6 etc. Check the iso after you will find its incremented a little more than what you initially set it but will still be less than the next ISO increment.
[Xperia Z3 General] tin.grizelj:
This is my first contribution with picture.
[Xperia Z3 General] ansontee:
OMG, the pictures u took here are decent!! mind to share what setting u used for photo 3, 4, 5, 6? :victory:
[Xperia Z3 General] tin.grizelj:
One night shot manual mode 15 mp
[Xperia Z3 General] itsjustJOH:
Those aren't mine, like I said in the same post you quoted above the photos. I believe the mode used in low-light shots was night scene, held very, very steadily. The outdoor shots I think were in auto.
[Xperia Z3 General] admad:
Husaria motorcycle

Original: http://www.mediafire.com/view/udk0epm4v8954eq/2014-11-11+12.40.07.jpg#
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
I think on this point we are always going to have different opinions, as judging a photograph is partly a subjective matter. I personally think the lumia photos are much more pleasing to look at, on all accounts. There is a "digital" or highly artificial quality with most Z3 photos that I simply cannot stand.

Never! I'm going to code my own app with my own image processing if I bloody well have to :D

Appreciate all the photographic tips and tricks, but what you are effectively saying is that the Z3 has the worlds worst auto mode :)

I think it is very fair to compare auto vs auto. All that fine tuning with the manual controls to get a better image is something that applies to the other cameras too. And I agree that you need a slave flash for the Z3 to get a similar photo like the lumia, but you can't really use that as an argument in an apples to apples comparison! If you judge the cameras on equal terms, the Z3 is way behind IMO.
[Xperia Z3 General] subhani:
Rad, did i do these '100% crops' right? I was overwhelmed in Gimp LOL. I tried anyway. I zoomed 100%, then applied a crop of 500x500 per image. The position of the crop may vary but size is fixed. Zoom is fixed too. BTW, the iphone shot in auto and the Z3 using Gcam auto and HDR off.

So this is the iP6+ vs Z3.

What do you guys think?

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/716kfzzm5o4p46i/AAAoBGVtMqse4opERUVWwMCea?dl=0
[Xperia Z3 General] radicans:
Seems about right, well done sir! Yeah if it's your first time in a proper photo editing software, it's gonna be a bit rough. Kudos for taking it on!

Well, I think this thread is over my Z3 opinions by now :) but since you ask.. Can easily tell that the top ones are the Z3 by that they are magenta cast, over-sharpened and washed out. The bottom ones, iP6+, has better looking detail (no over sharpening), better overall color balance, and all together has a much nicer photographic quality to it.
[Xperia Z3 General] iBuzman:
locked bootlader

unlocked bootloader