yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Xperia Z5 General] :
How come Samsung takes Sony's 16Mpx sensor and put it in all its flagships and has the best camera on smartphone... And Sony has even newer higher resolution sensor in its Xperia models and has lower quality images than Samsung? They need to optimize it way better
[Xperia Z5 General] EQ2000:
Becouse they do not have worse sensors in their Xperia models, in contrary better. But if you take a fullblown 21-23MP images and compare to a full blown 16MP image well.. Obviously the 16MP one might look cleaner as the higher MP images in that kind of comparision gets zoomed in. Compare 1:1 at same resolution by scaling (scaling with image editor as most webbrowser scalers introduce noise, jaggies and artifacts when scaling vi script) and same aspect ratio and it gets quite clear.

It also depends in what mode you take your photos. You got below S6 night photo at 1/7, ISO 1000 at default 16MP.

And here you got a photo taken with Z1 at night with less lighting and ontop worse kind of lighting taken at 0,6, ISO 250 at default 21MP with FV-5 in "night mode".
[Xperia Z5 General] Timaustin2000:
I would argue strongly that in good light the S6 does not produce better results than the Z5. Quite the opposite.

In low light, the S6 has OIS, which helps in getting cleaner detail but the difference is not as wide as some reviews have made out. It is countered by the Xperia being easier to focus, better with flash and vastly more colour accurate when light drops off.

If you know how to use the Z5, you can get very respectable night shots. In daylight, it beats the S6 in colour, detail and dynamic range.
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
I've posted some pics of the Z5 and G4 in low light. It's not exactly scientific, but eeh, close enough. :)

http://xdaforums.com/xperia-z5/general/comparative-study-xperia-z5s-low-light-t3244419
[Xperia Z5 General] TheEndHK:
I fully don't agree with it this time. I've done lots of photo/video testing during indoor and night shot yesterday from my Z5c and S6 including FHD/4K. You can clearly see that S6 OIS also very smooth and helpful in video while Z5c cut off FOV by a large scale and got a big impact hit on quality. Furthermore, S6 OIS is proved to be working much better than G4 OIS in video recording and G4 OIS works better in photo mode.

---------- Post added at 11:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:46 AM ----------

I'll also post all my photo/video of the Z5c vs S6 soon(now busying) in original size including FHD/4K. But I don't shot Z5c night scene bcoz no tripod.
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
4K is only software stabilized on the Z5. In 4K, the S6 should be better. How long can you record 4K on the S6, btw? In FHD, Z5's gotta be better. Could you take them outside and shoot some side-by-side videos while walking/running, and not just do side-to-side panning?
[Xperia Z5 General] TheEndHK:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSeqYT-HvBw

In this video(and many others found on youtube), you could know that S6 OIS much better than G4 during video recording.

ok, I will take them out and give some more walking and running today or tomorrow when I've free time but I think S6 OIS module in this size would be hardly to handle running, probably I'll only do walking slowly and walking fast.

It's very easy to solve the time length on S6 4K, the stock cam restricted to 5mins(we've got mod cam to disable it too if rooted) but 3rd party app like SnapCamera HDR working good, I've been tried to shoot 4K 15mins+ without problem. The S6 got 4GB video file limit but SnapCamera manged to split it when it reached to 4GB size and continuous recording seamlessly.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.frozenvolcano.android.cinema4k&hl=zh_HK

We can also shoot video in S-Log2 mode(Like Sony Alpha A7s) on S6 and G4 in FHD/4K.
[Xperia Z5 General] King p1n:
Because Sony would rather join a megapixel race by themselves and Samsung have better processing Software.

And guess what S7 might have a 12MP 1/2" sensor next year, so once again they're likely to have a better camera as it'll mean larger pixel size which is better for low light and combined with Samsungs processing = sounding like a win.

Sonys a lost company, 0 direction.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KndFn_U9cKM

Z5c is ubeatable there.

Anyway I'm getting mine in an hour, probably unbranded!
[Xperia Z5 General] EQ2000:
Nice comparision find! Z5 Compact wins hands down with flying colors in pretty much every category except blurrier when zooming but then it also zoomed in several times more than the S6.
[Xperia Z5 General] bloodfire1004:
Yup, saw that before.. that's why I wasn't for one bit believing TheEndHK's words .. honestly the only parts where S6 seems to beat the Z5 is the FOV and zoom (some can argue the sound quality, but I much like the cleaner sound of the Z5 without all the background noise)
[Xperia Z5 General] TheEndHK:
It's funny. Everyone have got their own opinions and there is no perfect phone in the world, ended up either will have pros & cons in some ways. The fact is I actually owned both phones and I can offer photo/video samples to prove.

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/3b23t74v6392k/Z5_Compact_Samsung_Galaxy_S6

If you download the original untouched samples of the above youtube and check the Z5c video clearly on a PC monitor. You will see that how bad of the Z5c software stabilization is, the focus is keeping tracking and mostly appeared blur > clear > blur > clear the cycle while the S6 is absolutely clear in the whole video with or without zoom.

On the audio part, they both got pros and cons. Z5c clear the background noise so that you can hear the sound easier but the sound from S6 should more close to the real environment though.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
Okay so I have my phone.

Z5, just reflashed to generic via Flashtool.

I will do tomorrow extensive Z2 - Z5 comparison.

The initial feeling is - 23mpx mode is as incomplete as 20mpx was on Z2. Which was improved.

The 8mpx Manual mode seems really really good and sharp.

Tests soon.
[Xperia Z5 General] EQ2000:
Interesting thing is no Xperia Z1+ model allows for all scene modes at full resolution yet I did come across an app that does allow it and it pretty much works the same as stock camera in SA mode. Same ISO, same shutter speed going between stock camera and the ProCapture app. I get all scene modes at 21MP on my Z1. The app also has easy to access scene menu aswell as mode menu and EV menu.

After trying lots of apps I have to say this one is by far the best and gives you the ability to do as much as possible with the limited SONY camera API. It pretty much replaces the FV-5 app and FV-5s "Long" mode for me. Might be something to try on all Xperia Z1+ models to get the most out with least work so to say as in fiddling with menus and so on. All the things in one place.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
I will look into it tomorrow at the PC..

I shoot alot ATM.

Now between Auto 23mpx and 8mpx, and Manual 8 and 23mpx. Will look into Night modes too.

So far I think 8mpx Manual gives the best results. Some of them really nice. More soon.
[Xperia Z5 General] karrouma:
What about 23mp full manual like iso and scen

Sony do midrange phone m5 better than flagship z5
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
For day-to-day use, I'm sticking with SA mode. The scene detection seems to work pretty well, so I'll only switch to manual when it goes wonky. I also prefer 16:9 slightly more than 4:3 atm, but that's personal, not technical.

For daytime pics outdoors, I'm using 20 MP. The extra detail is worth a bit more noise, IMHO. For indoor pics, I'm going with 8 MP, as noise tends to be more visible on monotone objects (like walls) and super-sampling cleans it up.

In moderate-to-low light, I'll also use 8 MP. Now that I know how scene detection works, and I can get the tripod icon to appear consistently, I'm not going to switch to Night portrait or Night scene (to keep it simple). I'll leave it to you photography guys to figure out the best manual settings before I try 'em. xD
[Xperia Z5 General] bloodfire1004:
I just bought a Z5 today! It seems I'm lucky and my Z5 doesn't have the blur effect! I've attached 2 images, one taken right-side up and the other upside-down. It doesn't have the blur effect no?

Link to images (right-side first, then upside-down): http://imgur.com/a/hEk0m
[Xperia Z5 General] Timaustin2000:
See, I'm actually going to go against much of my own advice earlier in the thread and agree with you. Having spent more time with Superior Auto, I'm inclined to leave it in that mode myself, for most situations. In inside situations I change to manual but much of the time SA handles things well - certainly much better than on my Z1!

Agree entirely: outside in good light: 20mp 16:9. Indoors and low light: 8mp 16:9.
[Xperia Z5 General] von.nic:
If my Z5 photos have soft edges, is it defective?
[Xperia Z5 General] Ben36:
Why 16:9 over 4:3?
[Xperia Z5 General] OCedHrt:
That's true. When you tap screen to focus it does go infinite first then moves through the focal range. The problem is, you can clearly see it pass the "in-focus" position and out the other end. Very frustrating.

I have tried in-store several times with same problem. The issue isn't the S6 camera per-se - regular focus works in the Samsung Camera app by tap to focus (shutter button doesn't focus). However, you macro focus has a very hard time in low contrast scenes. For example, try focusing on the edge of a glass cup. Or a white mug with milk in it.

Unfortunately, not every app tells the camera to focus.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
My test shots will be posted soon.

But one thing is evident:

In the most hardcore lowlight on full Auto where the ISO is boosted to the limit,

23mpx mode actually doesn't work well, as 8mpx is able to make a shot in these conditons.

23mpx gives almost black screen.

But in the better lighting both are close.

The more difficult light is, the 8mpx gets more detailed pics.

Again, it looks like the beginning of Z2...
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
Mostly because in outdoor shots, it's usually landscapes, so I prefer seeing a wider view. 4:3 provides more of a view of the sky and nearby ground, which doesn't add much to the overall pic, IMHO. Again, that's a generalization.

In indoor shots, 16:9 is slightly easier to frame shots of people (in portrait orientation). Not a huge difference, but saving a fraction of a second sometimes helps with quick snaps. Just a personal preference, as I said.
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
Back to the beginning...

So now that I'm a lot more familiar with the Z5, let's go back to the original post from dehnhaide. The crops of the pics he had posted seemed to point to the Z5 pics being worse than the Note 5. So let me go through them one at a time, as now I know a lot better what to look for.

Here are the original links if you want to play along:

http://www.eprice.com.tw/mobile/talk/4523/4953454/1/rv/sony-xperia-z5-compact-review/

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Firs...vs-Z3-vs-G4-camera-samples-comparison_id73408

Pic #1: the salad. If you look at the pics closely, the Z5 pic has more noise and the lettuce is not as detailed. The noise is because it's in 23 MP rather than 8 MP, obviously. The detail is the funny part - the Z5's focus is on the plate, rather than the lettuce. Why? That's because of the 4:3 framing and much larger FOV. If the pic was taken in default 8 MP in 16:9 and proper FOV, the Z5 would have taken a different picture. As I've maintained from the beginning, comparing dissimilar pics leads to errors, as is in this case.

Pic #2: the building. Notice the discolouration in the middle of the Z5 pic? That's glare. You can clearly see the glare coming in at the top of the Z5 pic. Once again, the larger FOV caused a problem. With the added glare, the Z5 lost detail. That should have been caught by the reviewer and re-taken.

Pic #3: the red car. Blur and lack of night mode because the camera was using 23 MP. If the camera was left in default 8 MP, scene detection would have kicked in.

Pic #4, 5, 6, 7, 8: Excelsior Caffe, hotel, night pics. Similar to #3 - noise from 23 MP mode and lack of night/low light scene detection. Use 8 MP mode.

Pic #9: trees. Glare from sunlight. Look at the Z5 pic - it covers twice as much sky as the Note 5, so suffers from much greater glare. Also, the Note 5 has a purple tinge to the sky.

Pics #10, 11: night pics. Same story as #3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Pic #12: tree and sign. Yup, you guessed it - the Z5 is focused on the middle part of the tree, while the S6 is focused more on the lower part and the sign. So, obviously, the sign in the Z5 pic is slightly less focused. Another bad comparison.

Conclusion: What more needs to be said? Comparing 4:3 pics to 16:9 with different FOVs was and is a bad idea. Some of the pics weren't even focused on the same thing! If they had stuck with the default 8 MP at least, the Z5 could have saved some of the pics. Those initial reviews just didn't have a clue what to do with the Z5 camera.

:eek:
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
Here we go....

Spent some time to make shots.

First of all I was lucky to briefly check the old FW on TMobile and than switch to the newest Generic one.

The new one improves the 23mpx performance.

The only thing which holds the 23mpx Manual mode from even better performance is lack of Manual ISO control.

That's idotic.

Anyway I think 8mpx and 23mpx mostly match.

Besides the very lowlight where 8mpx on Auto can still boost the image and and 23mpx doesn't really cope with that.

And in difficult light 8mpx Manual can get much more detail than 23mpx one.

So here are some initial comparisons, some of them compared to Z2 Manual mode.

Sorry if it's not in order, maybe it's my mistake?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/60305679@N04/albums/72157660339573739

https://flic.kr/s/aHsknZUGYc

Anyway. I think Z5's camera is very good and probably will get better.

The colour reproduction is fantastic and detail is decent.

As I said 23mpx is mostly on par with 8mpx and in better light conditions gives more detail.

In difficult light 8mpx is the way to go and is very sharp.

Auto is quite good I'd say and it's not far from what I get on Manual mode.

The Manual mode I use for mpx is usually:

touch to focus, ISO 100 or 200, cental light metering (sometimes multi point...)

White balance Auto, sometimes cloudy.

Let me know what you think guys.

Especially interesting are the night shots from the window.

They are compared to Z2 too. The sharpest shot was made on Z5 with 8mpx Manual mode.
[Xperia Z5 General] effective:
First of all,Congratz about the new phone,bro.

The first 2 pictures got blur at the top right side :( .Some of your shots arent renamed btw.Comparing to some z2 night shots,yes the z5 is better.Overall..don't see much of a difference.

Will be glad to see more outdoors comparison photos against the Z2.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
The ones which aren't renamed - I just forgot my settings, I mean I don't remember which is Auto and which Manual...

The differene isn't huge since IMO mobile photography reached a reasonable level some time ago and now it's alot of dancing around the limiting

mobile sensor with intelligent software :)

I will do more shots in the coming days for sure.

The blur.... All of the phones have some blur on edges.
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
I think the blur could have been from the focus being set to the nearby objects (cars, fence). doministry, did the landscape icon appear?

Edit: Oops, I see it was taken in manual. What focus mode was used?

Other than the slightly better detail in the outdoor pic at 23 MP, I couldn't tell much difference between 8 MP vs. 20/23 MP. The 8 MP pics were generally cleaner I think.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
8mpx is just a tad cleaner and sharper but on some occasions it's the manual ISO which wins.

But 23mpx is great too.

Today I made some night shots, I will upload them tomorrow.

And I must say, the new fast focus is just fantastic.

Edit'

The focus of those grey cars/trees shot was Touch-to-focus mode in the center.
[Xperia Z5 General] Andrewtst:
I had personally try it. It is really bad until I skip do any comparison with my Note5. I shot in 16:9 and 4:3 and both similar bad.

Note5 in any mode also sharp and clear not like Sony need to tune this and that to get better image but still not perfect.

Z5 camera is as bad as the whole Z series Sony phone.

Some comments here just make me laugh. You buying a 23MP phone but only can use 8MP to get decent shot? I check the sample and it is not that decent. Just OK only.

My previous phone is S6 Edge, G4 and now Note5. Any of them get decent shot in auto mode full resolution and even better if play under manual mode.

Some mention because Samsung use only 16MP where Z5 use 23MP, so when zoom in they zoom more became the quality bad. This make my another laughing day. Come on I no need zoom already can see the weaknesses of Z5 camera photo process. GSMArena just post a review of Meizu Pro 5 which using Sony 21MP and output also decent not like previous Sony Z phone that using it. http://www.gsmarena.com/meizu_pro_5-review-1336p7.php

In short, Sony still not improve the photo process algorithm, it still as bad as it before. Great sensor with bad photo processing.
[Xperia Z5 General] bloodfire1004:
Actually, it just really sounds like you are a Sony hater :P
[Xperia Z5 General] Andrewtst:
I like Sony phone and I want buy back but Sony keep doing same error and no improvement. Me and one of my friend want back Sony but can't.

If you check my oldest post then you will notice I use some Sony phone. I though this time Sony is finally back since talk so much on camera during announcing of Z5 but end up same as bad as previous.

I previously use Sony Xperia Z, ZL, Z Ultra. I want back Sony but with such bad camera output impossible for me to buy back Sony.

Frank speak even the 4MP UltraPixel HTC One M8 when in manual mode can get decent photo but just can't zoom due to the 4MP only. Sony in manual mode can get good photo but not decent as the bad process algorithm still there easier spot.

I use a lot phones, change a lot phones, test a lot phones. Sony till now so far is the worst photo process in high end range phone.

I notice some users here are purely Sony fans as all phones use is Sony. If you are die hard fans and don't want try others, you never ever know how others did. I use any brand that is great for that period and suite me. I am no fans user.
[Xperia Z5 General] jbjardinico:
Phone Arena and other are doin it wrong, sort of.

Guys, I agree that Note5 has clearly more detail preservation, but Xperia Z5 is just way better overall esp in color reproduction, white balance and toning control.

I used 23MP in daylight to pump up the detail and here, Note 5 can be beaten by Z5 in detail preservation or texture.

LG G4 is doing better over the competition with its very crisp, full of detail images but most of its shots like Note5 or iPhone 6s have wrong white balance and color reproduction.

I got the full comparison at manilashaker.com

You can also check the full video comparison showcasing the video stabilization feature of Z5
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
Seriously - you can't be serious. It sounds like a troll cr..p.

I don't know your story but please wake up.

Z series produces amazing shots if you know anything about photography.

Look around, go to flickr, even see my Flickr profile. There is tons of evidence

proving Z series to be absolutely top notch. And any sensible comparison here just proves it.

And stop posting this childish sh..t.
[Xperia Z5 General] Andrewtst:
Z series can produce good photo but once compare with others that can produce even decent photo. Z series is nothing and still far behind than competitor.

This is fact, nearly all reviewer site mention Z5 camera or previous Z series camera is not good until where and can't match with competitor. Are you saying nearly all reviewer is trashing all the while? Just one site DxOMark said great means nothing.

Sony because got your such fans, that why it never get improve and sales keep dropping from years to year.

You anger because people said your beloved brand and product not the best. This proof who is childish here.

---------- Post added at 06:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:29 PM ----------

White balance can be easier to correct where some more both mention phone got complete manual mode to adjust the white balance.

But blur edge and noise is something hard to correct especially blur edge is something impossible to correct.

So the reviewer given low scores is absolute correct.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
Again, bull****.

DXoMark scores it the highest and it's reliable, as opposed to Phonearena and others.

There are reviews which also pray the camera so don't make me laugh. Like AndroidCentral

Different opinions happen to almost every camera on the market.

Blur? It's on every phone to some extent.
[Xperia Z5 General] jbjardinico:
I suggest you better try the Z5 first before trashing it...I trust dxomark more than any mobile blog for technical camera reviews.
[Xperia Z5 General] Andrewtst:
I already try Z5 at my local Malaysia Sony shop else I won't comment. I am shock when I seen so many noise on shop dimmer area and edge of the photo is simply blur. You can check my others older post than you will know I always take photo using different phone and post comparison. This time I didn't do for Z5 vs my Samsung Galaxy Note5 because the output is simply unbelievable to me where I no longer interested to continue try it.

Not me only, my friend test the Z5 Premium at Singapore Sony shop also can't believe the output is that bad also. He using iPhone 6s Plus.

I always write whatever I seen in my eye and I don't trash. I not that free trashing.

---------- Post added at 08:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 PM ----------

DoXMark test it technically, no surprise the score is high. Sony always out decent sensor and everybody using it include Samsung but the problem is Sony dunno how to optimise it, it got bad photo process algorithm since Z.

It is actually a shame Sony can't give the best output on it own product but others manufacturer did it far better. Sony also did a same mistake previously in DSLR where Nikon get better result in same sensor produce by Sony than Sony itself.

I not zoom to see the blur, I only look fit on screen already spot it. My old M8 also blur on side and side blur easier happen in wider angle lens include in DSLR but they need to be some limits, the Z5 I test and also some photos I seen from Internet already over my acceptable level.
[Xperia Z5 General] monx®:
[MENTION=1940466]Andrewtst[/MENTION]

u shud get Z5 1st mate. u wont get optimal results by testing a demo unit. trust me, im an engineer :laugh:
[Xperia Z5 General] Timaustin2000:
New Firmware initial thoughts

Finally, the 152 firmware landed on my Z5 this morning and I've taken a few initial shots to test the cam. I'll be adding some to Flickr later.

Initial thoughts are that it has improved the full resolution processing, in good light. The edge sharpening is noticeably better, without the nasty circular blobbiness of before. Still not perfect: if you go to a pixel-by-pixel depth, you're still gonna see some trouble but it's not anywhere near as bad as before, thankfully. Looking at how the pixel-by-pixel detail is handled, this looks much closer to how it was drawn on the last two Z1 updates: instead of blobby edge details, there is more of a criss-cross line patterning going on. This is smaller and more accurate than before.

Also, it might be imagination but I think the edge blurriness has been addressed somewhat. Difficult to be sure but I'm noticing it less. If they know the barrelling ratio of the lens then there's no reason it can't be corrected for. It may be that they've done this or it may be that the improved sharpening algorithm is doing this as a matter of course. Need to do more testing to be sure.

What does this mean, generally? I think detail looks cleaner when looking at images 1:1. A little sharper. I've not done a full test yet, and I'm curious to see what the result will be when the light goes. Will pop back when I have further thoughts.