yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Xperia Z5 General] mbeni007:
As a hobby photographer I purchased my z5 from all the glowing reviews on the camera. Interestingly when I got to taking pics with the phone I found it was no better than my Oneplus One. In fact, the Oneplus allows for control over the shutter and does not limit the camera to only 8 megapixels. I still cannot understand why Sony hasn't opened that up since the Oneplus also uses a Sony sensor. I'm still tweaking and trying to take some night pics but it's a learning process.

Now, for an inexperienced photographer, this is a great entry into the world of photography. The superior auto mode generally takes fantastic photos and manual mode with scenes does a good job albeit at 8Mp. The camera can do some amazing things but Sony has some work to do on allowing photographers to control their camera a bit more. Also, the post processing really needs some work but Sony has always been aggressive in this area. Even their old point and shoot cameras suffered from this.

I'm hoping Marshmallow brings us some camera goodies, but I'm pleased with the phone. I love the dedicated camera button and the great front facing camera.
[Xperia Z5 General] chesterr:
Firework Mode by Manchanayake Chaturanga

:o
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
Courtyard by doministry, on Flickr

With Tripod. Night Landscape. Plus Snapseed.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IHiPMhbPzg

One of the 5 made by Z5. In 4k.
[Xperia Z5 General] DeathStroke:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx-hqcqceKBbMnJPNVJ5LUJxcTg/view?usp=docslist_api

A picture taken when My Z5 camera was moving at a speed 150km/hr+ ( Train).

M really impressed with the details.

Sent from Z5 E6683
[Xperia Z5 General] cosminvladu:
my photo with Z5 :)

https://goo.gl/photos/UtzEBsoWyUHNTRdJA
[Xperia Z5 General] DeathStroke:
Please post links as https://goo.gl/photos/b3o6TkMPkXfkP17aA

Easy for everybody.

Sent from Z5 E6683
[Xperia Z5 General] cosminvladu:
They are new and put it difficult to link the restricted site policy. thx for help.
[Xperia Z5 General] WinterSkies:
Dear all, thank you for sharing your photos!

Dear doministry, looking at your courtyard pic I was wondering if is 0.8s the longest shutter speed available on Xperia Z5.

I am asking so because I see the phone used ISO250, so if one is shooting with a tripod, he might want to use lower ISO and a longer shutter time in order to capture an even more detailed image. :)

I am led to believe that with ISO50 or something like that we might even read the license plates of the furthest cars.

(I would like to try for myself and report back instead of just asking, but unfortunately my Xperia Z5 shipment keeps being delayed :crying:).
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
Well, that's the Night Landscape Scene, which sets automatically ISO (quite low) and shutter speed (usually around 1 second).

Unfortunately Z5 doesn't support manual shutter speed control so far, which I really miss.
[Xperia Z5 General] N0whereMan:
Longest shutter speed available on Z5 is 1 second. That shutter speed is only available in a few scene modes (Night Scene and Fireworks). In Night scene max ISO seems to be ISO 250. Fireworks mode keeps the sensitivity at ISO 40. So that doministy's shot is basically as far as Z5 goes. The image quality at ISO 250 and 1s is quite bad (noise and softness caused by aggressive noise reduction), as expected.

Fireworks mode naturally delivers better quality at ISO 40, but F2.0, 1s and ISO 40 really isn't enough exposure for any kind of night photography.

At the moment, only way to do high quality night photography on a phone is to use LG, Samsung or Microsoft phones. Hardware on Z5 is without a doubt at least as capable as the competition, but that's not enough when the software fails to deliver.
[Xperia Z5 General] WinterSkies:
Thank you both! :) Unfortunately I suspected it was like that, but hoped I was wrong. I really hope some update can bring manual controls – but I'd even be content with longer max exposure time in semi-automatic modes. Oh Sony, please, do us a favour!

BTW, I wonder if these limits are hardcoded in some binary file somewhere to be found and/or might be tweaked by some hacker with knowledge of Android internals.
[Xperia Z5 General] mbeni007:
I'll admit the camera struggles in pure darkness more than my oneplus or even my Lumia 1020. It definitely does well when conditions are favorable. I did like that it handled the sun in the background with ease. Many phones would underexpose the image in order to compensate for the sun. It also does well in "low light" which as sony claims is more like sundown. I tried this out and it definitely does well. Night photos though... That needs some work.
[Xperia Z5 General] mbeni007:
Here is an example of a picture at sundown. It was getting dark and the Z5 exposed it pretty well. I wish the camera was more consistent but here's hoping come March 7th and marshmallow begins rolling out that we will see some camera improvements.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
That's true. Looking how well the phone captured this scene with somewhat limited capabilities, I imagine it could fly higher with more control.

---------- Post added at 01:54 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:51 AM ----------

Still trolling....
[Xperia Z5 General] EQ2000:
Fireworks scene mode can go for 1s and ISO 50 though it does change the white balance so it might work at night in some types of lights but needs otherwise correction. I also assume they will allow for 23MP in 3rd party with Marshmallows as IIRC it is a bug in Lollipop that forces it to max 8MP. Then one can use apps like ProCapture and use "Night Scene" and "Night Portrait" for slow shutter and low ISO low light photos at full resolution which looks great.

See here, taken with Xperia Z1 pre-latest update for camera and non modded with ProCaptures "Night Scene" mode at 21MP which is same as night mode in stock app. With mods and latest camera update it would look much better. The Z5 would do better without doubt once they loosen the restrictions.

0,8, ISO 100, 21MP.

0,8, ISO 250, 21MP.
[Xperia Z5 General] crazeazn:
People's expectation from a $600 phone camera cracks me up. Y'all expect way too much.
[Xperia Z5 General] DeathStroke:
Because it's a flagship, and Hardware is good enough too. ?

Sent from Z5 E6683
[Xperia Z5 General] crazeazn:
I guess so. Based on the sensor size though, I think we're being a little too demanding. For my heavy lifting I have a Sony A7R + Leica 35 Summilux ASPH/Leica 90 Summicron APO. I still think that the fact that these phone cameras are better than the point & shoots that I used 15 years ago....
[Xperia Z5 General] N0whereMan:
Actually Z5's sensor is the same size (1/2.3") as most P&S and ultrazoom cameras nowadays. Last decade P&S cameras had smaller sensors so your statement is ignorant. Z5 has a much brighter lens than any P&S camera. As a high quality fixed focal length lens, Z5 delivers better detail than P&S cameras.

Z5's sensor performance is quite comparable to Canon 300D (which i used for many years) DSLR from 2003. Dynamic range is about the same at 11 stops. Color reproduction is about as good. Of course in bright light Z5 resolves a lot more detail than 300D.
[Xperia Z5 General] crazeazn:
Sorry if I wasn't clear. I meant to say its very impressive that a phone camera can beat a point and shoot from 15 years ago that was physically many times larger. I realize that most of the sensors back then were (1/1.8") (splitting hairs) but still the physical package has shrunk down substantially albeit with fixed lenses.

It is crazy that you can compare the DR of a 10+ year old DSLR but you've got an APS-C/6.3MP vs. 1/2.3"/~23MP so its not a complete apples to apples comparison. Too bad phone cameras are just in general slow and only have deep depth of field compared to their camera counterparts. That being said, good glass cant be discounted either.

I would not mind if Sony or any other manufacturer dumped in a 2/3" + sized sensor and a decently fast fixed focal length lens and charged me $1200 or so for an android phone. I know battery tech makes that an impossibility but one can dream.
[Xperia Z5 General] WinterSkies:
I know some here are very tired of hearing so, but the Nokia 808 had an even larger sensor, f/2.4 lens (not so fast but not too bad given the sensor size), 26mm equivalent focal length in 16:9. Very sharp lens even on the edges. Dropped it a hundred times, camera functionality and quality never suffered.

It had a large (for yesterday's and today's standards) camera hump, but that was almost four years ago...

I wonder what quality a new cameraphone developed today according to that philosophy but using latest sensor and processing tech would achieve. I think it would be sooo impressive. ;)
[Xperia Z5 General] N0whereMan:
Ok. P&S cameras have never had 1/1.8" sensors. Only premium compacts have had that big sensors. Last decade P&S sensor size was in the range from 1/3.2" to 1/2.5".

Yes, i agree. Just to make it clear, i was not trying to imply that phone cameras would be reaching DSLR level image quality. Sensor technology has progressed in a similar fashion on bigger sensors. For example, Canon 300D had a dynamic range of about 11 stops, nowadays similar sensor sizes deliver about 15 stops of dynamic range. That's about 16 times increase in dynamic range.

---------- Post added at 04:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:15 PM ----------

Yes, Nokia 808 sure was, and still is, a monster in terms of image quality, and unfortunately in thickness. The camera hump (18mm) was just way too big for me. Lumia 1020 was more reasonable in size (15mm hump), but still too big for me.

I guess i could live with maybe 12mm camera hump on my phone, but certainly not more. Maybe with today's technology it would be possible to get Lumia 1020 size (2/3") sensor with reasonable camera hump. At least without OIS. I would be very interested.
[Xperia Z5 General] korom42:
So in conclusion , I'm getting this phone soon . I need a camera which take sharp pictures

do you think I am making a bad decision ? espicially we are on feb 2016 and new phones generations are coming soon .

after this thread I think i'll get a note 5 or galaxy s6 edge+ instead ( i found all the 3 with nearly same price )

what do you suggest to me ?
[Xperia Z5 General] crazeazn:
---------- Post added at 04:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:15 PM ----------

[/COLOR]Yes, Nokia 808 sure was, and still is, a monster in terms of image quality, and unfortunately in thickness. The camera hump (18mm) was just way too big for me. Lumia 1020 was more reasonable in size (15mm hump), but still too big for me.

I guess i could live with maybe 12mm camera hump on my phone, but certainly not more. Maybe with today's technology it would be possible to get Lumia 1020 size (2/3") sensor with reasonable camera hump. At least without OIS. I would be very interested.[/QUOTE]

^ absolutely this.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
It's also worth noting it was a terrible smartphone besides the camera, with a terrible OS & UI.
[Xperia Z5 General] WinterSkies:
No please, don't we start with this. Misconceptions about Nokia Belle are most of the times based on bad experience with previous, slow and failed generations of Nokia hardware. It's even more worth noting that the Nokia Belle FP1/FP2 OS the 808 used was far better and faster than its predecessors and was very snappy on objectively dated hardware (single-core 1.3GHz processor, 512MB RAM).

1. Symbian was and is not a terrible OS. Actually very efficient.

2. "terrible UI" is something that might be said about S60V5 but *not* about Belle FP2, which the 808 out there enjoyed for most of their lives. Maybe not so many good new third party apps, but there were e.g. a fantastic Evernote client, good Opera browser, a very good file manager (FilesPlus) with integrated access to and sync with many clouds services, and so on. Some more bugfixes would have made the experience even better, but the base was very good. The fact that people like to speak ill of it without really knowing does mean nothing.

EDIT: And it had an ultra-fast camera app despite its slow hardware and very high sensor resolution.
[Xperia Z5 General] cocagenda2:
if i were u i would wait for xperia z6 or galaxy s7 series they will be definetly upgraded and more polished ,with one word ¨better¨ :victory: its not far away u know ,just a few months :p
[Xperia Z5 General] sstanton86:
If you need a phone with a camera, there isn't really any question about it. It has to be the LG G4. Shooting in Raw in manual mode gives you photos better than any other phone in 2015/2016
[Xperia Z5 General] mbeni007:
Raw is great for photographers that look to edit their pictures with less loss in details and contrast. It really depends what the needs are. Sometimes having a camera that just works well automatically is all you need. At other times if you know the shot you are trying to make, full manual mode works well for that.

I can say the Galaxy phones have come a very long way for image quality. Typically the camera works really well automatically but they lack full manual mode. LG is in it for the photographers. I'd purchase an LG if it wasn't for a really bad experience with a previous phone. I think it's time to give them another chance for me.

For now, the Z5 does okay and as a phone I'm really happy with it.
[Xperia Z5 General] korom42:
Well I bought the Xperia Z5 today and I'm very happy .. this phone is just amazing .. I am coming from the LG G4 , I find the built quality and the screen sharpness awesome much much better then the G4 , I hope the camera is good as well I didn't test it yet . Touchscreen is very responsive , the phone is getting a bit warm when using the camera for more than 10 minutes but it's not agressive I find it normal :good:

I will provide you more results of my experiments later
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
You will love it. It's a great seamless experience.

And yes the camera is very good too.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
No problem. It's my opinion.

But you're right! Symbian was a FANSTASTIC OS in it's prime.

I was sooooooooo happy with Symbian UIQ.
[Xperia Z5 General] sstanton86:
I did it the other way round and went from the Sony to lg. Obviously, only you know if you made the right choice. But in my mind you've definitely downgraded.

I did a side by side of both Phones on automatic and Sony doesn't even come close, especially at night where photo details are smudged out by some of the worst noise reduction algorithms.

But alas, you enjoy amigo ☺️
[Xperia Z5 General] mbeni007:
If we are solely looking at camera then perhaps it was a downgrade. As a phone and functionality and battery life, this phone is awesome. LG has definitely improved their build quality recently but sony has always been second to only apple in terms of a quality build (unless you're looking at the late 90s and early 00s Sony).

I came from a Blackberry Priv and the camera was actually better than this camera in my areas but it all fell apart when using it as a daily driver phone. Also the build quality was terrible. I went through 3 devices in 3 months. I'm not saying this is the case for lg. In fact I've heard good things about them improving. Point is there is more to a phone than just camera.
[Xperia Z5 General] sstanton86:
You are correct amigo. Re. Your last sentence!

Battery life I'd say is comparable to my Sony z5. Perhaps even slightly better. On my Sony I'd get about 4-4.5hr sot. With my lg I get about 5 - this is all stock and unadulterated mind you.

In regards to build quality I can't debate you on that. Sonys build quality is only second to Apple, it is a tired yet beautiful design I must say. I think what annoyed me about it, and hence why I mention the camera a lot, is the fact reviews, dxomark and Sonys marketing were all touting the camera - as if it was accompanying the second coming. But how wrong they all are. I'd liken it to buying a Ferrari for the speed, and being beaten by a Skoda in a race. ?
[Xperia Z5 General] EQ2000:
You made a good choice as the camera in Z5 is better than G4 in several areas. It gets the white balance correct more often than the G4, has better low light capabilities as in high ISO + fast shutter speed for live sceneries and gives good IQ together with their multi-frame SW/HW solution to lit up the scene and reduce noise. There you have ready-to-use photos unlike G4 which in photos with lots of shadowed areas and low light sceneries is plagued with color noise just like the Nexus 6s even though it is quite fine grain. So you need to apply post-processing to fix this else it just doesn't look pristine.

And then you loose the advantage of the sharper more detailed photos the G4 gives (more detail just of the reason it goes very light on color noise reduction). You cant have the best of both worlds as there are sacrifices, especially on mobiles which dont have the processing power to apply complex noise reduction algorithms in real-time. Sony got this quite good with their algorithms where color noise removal is top notch and luminance noise reduction is good thanks to BIONZ and sensor. Sony just need to loosen on the ISO to shutter speed ramping (they should allow to disable digital image stabilisation in both "manual" and "Superior Auto").
[Xperia Z5 General] ali_bobo:
Hey Guys

Im looking to buy Sony Xperia Z3+ for my wife as a birthday present in copper (sorry for posting here but gathered i would get more replies in here). She currently has a Nexus 5 2013. She loves taking pictures and uses it mainly for camera.

I have read very mixed reviews about camera of this phone. In a nutshell is it a huge improvment from the Nexus 5?

Thanks
[Xperia Z5 General] thesebastian:
I'm coming from a N5. Opinions are very subjective. You'll lose short distance quality/details (since Z5 minimum focus distance is 12mm and because of the type of the lense). A bit of indoor (mid light) quality will be affected. And HDR+ (here you have HDR but it's not a very polished compared to others HDR)

But you'll get better color reproduction. And 1080p@60FPS.

Sent from my E5823
[Xperia Z5 General] gm007:
Yes go ahead she will love the phone and it's camera.

---------- Post added at 04:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:49 PM ----------

He said that she take lot of pictures not that she is a photographer :D
[Xperia Z5 General] EQ2000:
Yes it's a massive uppgrade for the camera especially if she is into point-and-shoot photographing. Z5 even easily beats the latest Nexus phones (5x and 6s) and you get the Intelligent SteadyShot system for video recording greatly reducing movement shaking when recording. Rest of the hardware is better on all fronts.

Check comparision photos. Z5 Compact, Z5 and Z5 Premium uses the same camera.

http://www.manilashaker.com/sony-xperia-z5-premium-vs-nexus-6p-comparison-camera-speed-4k-display/
[Xperia Z5 General] cocagenda2:
i would not recomend u buying z3+ cuz its known that overheats mutch more then z5 series witch is using same chipset...if u could go for z5 series i would do it ...its better in every corner :)...just saying
[Xperia Z5 General] mbeni007:
That is perfectly said. I agree. I heard so many great things and great reviews (I don't agree with these reviews at all). The camera is okay but that's about it. I was disappointed but I feel like I haven't found the perfect phone yet. I know it's out there somewhere. Lol. Maybe I need to go to the darkside and get an iPhone. ?
[Xperia Z5 General] thesebastian:
I agree.

While I bought the Z5C for its size rather than the camera quality, I have to admit that I was fooled by DxOMark reviews. If you are coming from another flagship, camera is OK, no more than that. (Unless you are coming from a Z3~). And details need to be polished. Good details for a thumbnail, bad for a crop or to show the photo in "actual/real size".

For a review I prefer something like Android Police, at least i agree with many things, so it could work for me next time:

http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/1...-sony-z3-owners-take-on-sonys-latest-handset/

http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/1...act-review-the-only-small-phone-that-matters/
[Xperia Z5 General] N0whereMan:
Oh my, i recommend for everyone who understands the basics of photography to read that review's camera section. The level of ignorance is hilarious :laugh:

One might think that on a site like that, the reviewers would have at least a basic grasp of what they are doing. But no.
[Xperia Z5 General] mbeni007:
And yet every last thing the review says is spot on. Pretty much exactly how I feel about the camera. In well lit conditions, it is a great camera. In low light or moderately low conditions, it all falls apart. I don't need them to give me specs until my eyes bleed. Sure, it's a short read, but it's absolutely 100% spot on.

Dxomark review was heavily biased and just flat out way too high. I'm glad they gave tons of info on color reproduction and details and have a whole setup to compare pictures, but sorry, all those super knowledgeable people determined a wrong score.

I took the same exact pics I went out and took with my now two year old Oneplus and the Oneplus wiped the floor with the Sony in low light. In fact, I got amazing pics. Great example of what they Sony CANT do:
[Xperia Z5 General] mbeni007:
I know I could've added the originals as a link but I was leaving work. Although the Sony did ok, it had to be taken at 8mp and ruined the details. Also the lack of ability to leave the shutter open killed any effect I wanted. Here's the version Sony pumped out of the same building:
[Xperia Z5 General] thesebastian:
In my case, worst photos are indoor photos. I used to take a lot of photos at home or at the PUB, with poor artificial lighting. With the Z5C I can't, I have to use flash and I hate it (I haven used flash in two years with HDR+).

Specially for close-ups. It's so blind at near objects at mid/low artificial light.

Outdoor, daylight, photos are fine, I can't complain there.

Outdoor at night, it's not bad, but depends. I had no luck with it. But some people could get good night-outdoor pics.
[Xperia Z5 General] N0whereMan:
Oh my, you make me laugh hard :) But hey, ignorance is not a crime. One time i was planning to buy a car for myself, but i didn't. Every car that i tested sank when i drove them to the ocean. No matter how hard i tried, i just couldn't find a car that was a ship.

You make me laugh even harder :) The most respected photography gear authority determined a wrong score. Sure :)

Another completely ignorant statement regarding this discussion about DxOMark and androidpolice. It seems like you have never even read any of the reviews. You clearly have no idea what they are saying.

I agree that OnePlus (and most likely every manufacturer) wipes the floor with Sony in night photography. That's simply because Sony's phones have 1 second max shutter speed. It basically renders Z5 unusable in night photography. Like i have said many times already, Sony's camera software is hopelessly outdated and limited. But this has nothing to do with DxOMarks scores or why androidpolice's review is pure ignorance.
[Xperia Z5 General] mbeni007:
Ok, cool.

Anyways, what I don't understand is why Sony continues to limit the shutter speed to one second. Or for that matter the inability for them to allow us to do a scene selection at anything but 8Mp. It's almost like the programmers were told "hey, it'd be great if you could give us features which sound great but are totally useless. Oh and add in HDR that kind of works."
[Xperia Z5 General] N0whereMan:
I agree, what Sony is doing software-wise, doesn't make much sense. No ISO control at full resolution, no manual focus, no histogram, horrible UI, etc.
[Xperia Z5 General] mbeni007:
I remember you mentioned the 1020 in a previous post. Are you familiar with the UI from those phones? Having owned a 1020 I found it amazing to use for photography. Admittedly it was slow to load, but once ready, that phone took breathtaking pics and had everything you needed at least one click away.