yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
Here's what one reviewer (Ray Ma) had to say (roughly translated):

Q: Is the Note 5 or Z5 better in low light?

A: The cameras are similar. The Note 5 has better detail; the Z5 has better colours. Take your pick.

Q: Is the G4 better?

A: Yes, if you know how to use the manual controls. But the Note 5 still has better detail.

That was based on pics without FOV adjustment. Basically, splitting hairs. He also commented that the Z5 tended to use a faster ISO to prevent blurring, but at a loss of detail (though not with Night portrait and Night scene). I think people are forgetting, while yes, OIS helps hand shaking, it does not prevent moving objects from blurring. In low light, that is a big problem, except if all you're taking are scenic shots... at night, without a tripod, using a non-DSLR camera (like why??).

I don't think we need to rush to judgement on the Z5. We're not here to get paid for writing a review. It's a new sensor, new camera system. There are so few proper comparisons to gauge how the camera really performs. Most reviewers played with it for a day or two and moved on. The reviewer on Android Central seems to be taking his time with the Z5, so maybe it'll be a more comprehensive review.

http://www.androidcentral.com/first-five-things-do-your-new-sony-xperia-z5
[Xperia Z5 General] Ben36:
Has anyone actually sent Sony a message with a link to some pictures taken on the Z5 and actually asked 'hi are we doing something wrong because the picture your new awesome camera are producing are poo?'

Sent from my Xperia z5 by Tapatalk
[Xperia Z5 General] King p1n:
No point...

As far as Sony are concerned they have the "Best" camera on a leading smartphone and also rated #1 unfortunately by DXOMark:confused: So they probably won't listen to consumers but instead keep spouting that as their marketing terms.:rolleyes:
[Xperia Z5 General] Ben36:
Would be nice to see if they give any kind of decent reply tho

Sent from my Xperia z5 by Tapatalk
[Xperia Z5 General] zapper.abhi:
Saw this video by youtuber - there seems to be problem on z5 in terms of low light performance even for close up photos. This guy in the video compared the z5 with s6 edge plus - watch out for the part where he takes the photo of some flowers and compares.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiapmmPNOGI
[Xperia Z5 General] Adrift98:
:confused: It looks like (and the reviewer even says) that the difference in lighting is based on the fact that the Galaxy s6 has a Super AMOLED display, while the Z5 has an IPS LCD display. So, I'm not sure you can really judge which one does better in low light situations based purely on the fact that the image is displayed on two entirely different display types. The only way to really judge it would be if both pictures were uploaded someplace and then a side-by-side comparison was done.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
Judging the camera by the screen quality?

With Z5 set to be darker, where it's ACTUALLY brighter than S6?

OMG people, what's wrong with you? You believe any junk on the internet?
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
Looking at the super low light pic you took, I think the Z5 is probably the one of the few phones capable of taking that shot (ISO 5000?!). Not sure what you'd use it for other than chasing ghosts. xD

https://www.flickr.com/photos/136945683@N06/22312988985/

As for the S6 pic in Japan, I've seen people set up tripod shots like that when I was there. It's not some random shot. They cherry picked the best spot for those shots, and shoot for several minutes. If you visit Japan, you can try it for yourself and see how the Z5 does. xD
[Xperia Z5 General] zapper.abhi:
Let me ask this youtuber to share the actual camera samples.
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
I certainly hope they improve SA mode. But there will be camera updates, right? They did for the other Z series phones.
[Xperia Z5 General] Adrift98:
I'm assuming he's not going to have the actual photo samples as it appears (based on the ambient noise) that he's testing promo models at a store or convention location of some sort.
[Xperia Z5 General] Gezla:
gsmarena did a bad blind comparison between S6, 6S, and Z5. :crying:
[Xperia Z5 General] TheEndHK:
http://www.gsmarena.com/iphone_6s_galaxy_s6_xperia_z5-review-1329.php#next

yup, A = S6 ... B = 6s ... C = Z5
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
Yeah, it's a bad comparison, but the Z5 is winning. xD It's 1st and 2nd in 7 out of 8 photos. FYI, based on FOV, A is iphone, B is S6, C is Z5. I think if they had used 8 MP mode, it would have been the clear winner, despite the FOV. But just wait till the Apple drones come vote and wreck the poll like last week.

:eek:
[Xperia Z5 General] decomposed:
I have exactly the same feeling, Z5 pictures are just far away from the original object when comparing to other manufacturer cameras and this is why when zoomed in same amount = seems worse quality :)
[Xperia Z5 General] Timaustin2000:
Agree: C is clearly our phone. Not only the FOV but the processing gives it away. And it's winning.

I have voted and I have been fair and unbiased, believe it or not. The Z5 looses that flash shot and the evening video. It's not far behind on the evening ones, behind the N5. On the clear daylight shots, it's the runaway winner.
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
The only thing which made the flash photo worse was idiotic ISO1000.
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
That's not the fault of the camera... that's the fault of the photographer. In the Z5 photo, the flowers are so small, it detects it as an outdoor night scene, which I think is correct. On the iphone, it pretty much takes up the entire photo! LOL! Like totally fair... totally! <cough>

:eek:

I generally followed the popular voting, although I disagreed with the night shots. There is clearly motion blur on vehicles in the dusk photo for camera A. In the flash photo, camera A had no background details (it was essentially black). None of cameras were particularly good. I am kinda baffled why the S6 performed so poorly overall. I don't think I've seen one review where the S6's camera was beaten by the 6S. Oh well, it's just one comparison test.

It looks like the Z5's 23/20 MP modes need a lot of light to feed that sensor! Performance drops significantly as brightness drops. I'd stick with 8 MP modes in most situations (including Night portrait).
[Xperia Z5 General] itsjustJOH:
BINGO! GSMArena pointed out what I have observed with how the Z5 handles dark areas, especially the (darker) greens. See scene #3, the close up to the trees within the shadowed area, it's all blurry and dark and a lot of details are lost. The trees became silhouettes and the grass is just one dark green patch. Everything else that is brightly lit is really sharp.

You can see this in ALL photos taken with both brightly lit areas and shadowed areas, I suggest the landscape photos. The areas with bright light have stunning details, but zoom on the shadowed areas and it's the complete opposite.

Can't browse some photos on Flickr, somehow everything on Flickr's loading very slow for me. Just browse this thread and see.
[Xperia Z5 General] BobbyHenceMcGee:
Can't argue with the practicality of it though am I right?

Even MILC's are heavy bloody things, especially for people with perpetual back pain.
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
GSMArena's final results:

http://www.gsmarena.com/iphone_6s_galaxy_s6_xperia_z5-review-1329p2.php

S6 is A, iphone is B, Z5 is C. Check out the FOV difference. Yowsers! I dunno how they can have a "blind" test when anyone could tell which camera was the Z5. Also, I doubt any review is going to use the night modes, so the Z5 will probably lose every night time comparison.

Edit: I had mistaken which phone was the S6. So, it didn't do so badly after all. Tim (and Z5 owners), how quickly does the SA switch to night mode in low light? I don't think I've seen any reviews mention this, or any photos show that it happens (excluding Tim's).
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
So far, the settings that have looked good from the pics I've seen (from reviews and thanks to the people on this forum):

Bright light/daylight: 23/20 MP modes (but not sure how much better manual is vs. SA)

Moderate light: 8 MP SA or manual

Low light: Night Portrait (8 MP)

Night: Night Scene (8 MP)

Probably 8 MP SA is simplest for decent pics under most conditions. That's my opinion anyway.

:cowboy:
[Xperia Z5 General] LitoNi:
weird so little people here discussed about the blurry sides on the Z5, i thought i was the only one having the issues but apparently many people complained on Sony Mobile forums. o.o
[Xperia Z5 General] Ben36:
I took the dog to the beach today and took a few pics. Moving shots of the power of an English Bull Terrier sprinting and I'm happy with the pictures. Obviously Tapatalk upload reduces the quality but you can get the idea easily enough

I zoomed in and screenshot'd a couple of the pictures -

Original -

Zoomed in -

Original -

Zoomed in -

Sent from my Xperia z5 by Tapatalk
[Xperia Z5 General] sladluk:
http://xdaforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3518665&stc=1&d=1445807381
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
[MENTION=4681015]Ben36[/MENTION]

Wow nice! What settings allow capturing moving object like this?

Impressive.
[Xperia Z5 General] kinghund:
Hey,

I own a Galaxy S6 Edge and last week i bought an new Xperia Z5 Gold. I thought it would have the best camera in the Market, but the camera is crap! I made a few test photos in the same light conditions and from the same angle. The S6 produces much better Pictues! Z5 has lower detail, much noise...

BTW: The Xperia Z5 Selfiecam has the badest quality ive ever seen. Compared to the S6 Edge Selfies the Cam is really crap! Ultra low details, very much noise. I will return the Phone this week. I need my Smartphone Photos/ Selfies for my work but with the Z5 i would ruin myself...

Take a look at some indoor Shoots with the main camera...

S6 Edge: postimg. org/gallery/2pgluhayw/

Z5: postimg. org/gallery/1ncnvovbq/
[Xperia Z5 General] Ben36:
Ummm... I think i literally just turned it on manual mode. Changed no settings and pressed the camera on screen button. Lol
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
Hi kinghund, please read through this thread to get a better idea of the different modes, and strengths and weaknesses of the new camera system. But if you already have the S6 Edge, the only major advantage of the Z5 is the stabilized HD video, IMHO.
[Xperia Z5 General] kinghund:
I can't find any advantages of the Xperia Z5 Camera. I played 2 Days with the 2 cameras but the S6 Edge makes everytime better photos in any light condition. I think the Software of the Z5 is totally crap. Espespially the Selfiecam of the Z5 in homelight/lowlight conditions is so outgunned to the Samsung Galaxy Selfiecam... OMG. I couldn't trust my eyes, as i compared my face in the different shots. S6 makes so brilliant selfies in any light condition. Z5 has NO Details and so much noise in home light conditions. It's a desaster.

I can't understand the people, wo like the Z5 shots. Please zoom in, look at the Details and please compare to S6 shots.

And please check your Selfie Cams!!!
[Xperia Z5 General] Ben36:
I have never even looked at the selfie cam. Possibly because I'm not a 14 year old girl tho

Sent from my Xperia z5 by Tapatalk
[Xperia Z5 General] King p1n:
Xperia Z5 vs IPhone 6s vs Nexus 5X vs AQUOS ZETA SH-01H vs Arrows NX F-02H

And yes the Z5 images were taken in 8MP.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/96277805@N05/albums/72157660280708825

Original article in Japanese

http://buzzap.jp/news/20151025-xperiaz5-nexus5x-iphone6s-aquoszeta-arrowsnx-camera2/
[Xperia Z5 General] faizalotai:
Is z5 wide lense suppose to do that in every shots..its ruin the images..maybe for landscape but not with people or crowded placed

xperiaz501 by Buzzap JP, on Flickr
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
The first 2 pics look out of focus, the rest looked good. It's almost like the auto-focus didn't know what to focus on. SA not switching to landscape mode properly? SA seems a bit wonky at times.

The problem I have with these kinds of reviews is that I dunno whether it is a problem with that particular pic. Would the focus be better with a second pic? I assume they were hand-held, and not tripod mounted.
[Xperia Z5 General] BR4DOKYBrazil:
That problems with the camera can be corrected by software, can not?
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
That's interesting... I don't think anyone has paid attention to the selfie cam, including pretty much any review. I personally never use the selfie cam, but it is a good point.

You're going to have to read through the thread. The 23 MP mode is best in daylight conditions. You'll also have to correct for the Z5's much wider 24mm lens (vs. the 28mm on the S6). Pictures taken with the S6 are zoomed in much closer than the Z5. If you stand in the same spot, you won't end up with the same pics. In low light, you can try the 8 MP mode, Night portrait and Night scene for better results. Good luck!
[Xperia Z5 General] Fishboy_real:
Many, many thanks.

I've copied that into Evernote (don't laugh - my memory is sh!te) and will try and follow the suggestions.

All the best

F_r
[Xperia Z5 General] chrillo:
Made a quick comparison (2 scenes) with my Z5 vs my Canon 60D with the EF-S 15-85 lens, check images here (all images taken as is from camera):

https://www.flickr.com/gp/92481433@N03/867526

Z5

[IMG="fff"]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/769/22309753220_b2317563f8_z.jpg[/IMG]

60d

[IMG="111"]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/711/22484279372_2be5cf194c_z.jpg[/IMG]

I'd say the Z5 is a very solid performer, at least in daylight landscape scenarios. Thumbs up from me, especially considering it's being matched to a DSLR with an expensive lens!
[Xperia Z5 General] King p1n:
5X

Z5

Look at the lights on the building in the background.
[Xperia Z5 General] kinghund:
Today i reurned my Z5 and got back my money. I can't understand, that anyone here can live with such a bad camera. We are living in the year 2015 and millions ob people use their Selfiecams for Facebook, Twitter etc... and i think Smartphone cameras should not be built only for perfect Sunshine Shots in the nature! The Z5 Cameras a really s**t, compared to my S6 Edge. Please compare the perfect S6 Camera, including selfie Shots if you don't believe me. Sony made so big promises in their advertisings and failed. I am really disappointed, because i waited 2 month for this phone!!!
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
Yes, but look at the noise on the 5X pic. The Z5 is much cleaner. In any case, the Z5 didn't use Night scene, so it's kinda moot point. None of those night pics are usable, IMHO.
[Xperia Z5 General] faizalotai:
Look at both pict from z5 both landscape and portrait.seem like the sensor stretch out the images...

(landscape: left and right), (potrait: bottom)
[Xperia Z5 General] LitoNi:
is this normal? i think many z5s out there are like that, including mine .....

Edit: image attached, just look at the cars (white on the right) and the (grey on the left)
[Xperia Z5 General] shynepoe:
I guess the phone uses it's original OS? Because the Sony phone features mess up when you use a custom rom and unlock the bootloader and stuff... I have experienced that myself with the z3 mini...
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
chrillo, question for you... was there a reason you used 8 MP instead of 23 MP? Also, were the colours on the Z5 accurate to real life? The detail level of the Z5 looks pretty good (to me).

It's funny to see that the 60D has a sensor ~5x larger and is only 18 MP (please correct me if I'm wrong). Makes me wonder if we really need anything more than 8 MP on a small phone camera....

:confused:
[Xperia Z5 General] chrillo:
I just shot it at superior auto to test it out. But there are some people that suggest that the quality improves when the software "downscales" 23 MP to 8 MP (at least in low light). I have done some other landscape shots in well lit conditions and can't really notice any differences in quality between 8 and 23 MP photos.

The colors are for sure accurate to real life, maybe a tiny bit more saturated (the canon 60D shots are taken with a neutral profile) so the saturation of the sky is actually somewhere between the 60d and Z5 shot.

I agree with you, you rarely need more than 8 MP unless you're going to make a big print of the photo.
[Xperia Z5 General] EQ2000:
Anyone tried using FV-5 camera app for Z5? I have it for the Xperia Z1 and it allows me to take slow shutter speed photos in low light situations at 21MP. The "Long" mode gives 1/4 to 768ms shutter speed while keeping ISO as low as possible. Certainly gives better detail than stock camera app in such low light conditions. It also has a "Short" mode which is great in good to average lighting conditions to shot fast moving objects. Easy to switch between modes.

Here is a comparision of from left FV-5 "Long" mode, stock manual 21MP (multiautofucos, multi metering) and SA 8MP. Didn't line it up perfectly but I was holding it with my hands at work. Very dark as only real light source was a "hidden" soft light lamp and then the monitor. They are cropped at 100%.
[Xperia Z5 General] :
It's the usual. Less megapixels = more light per pixel = better low light performance. The difference is that phones need high megapixels to capture the detail which is lost to inferior optics. Optics can be measured in resolving value/megapixels as well. That's why it's usually better to get a cheaper camera with an amazing lens, cause you will get out more detail when compared to getting a expensive camera and cheap lens. Same story with phones, amazing sensors, but the optics are mediocre most of the time.
[Xperia Z5 General] Ben36:
So what about in good lighting, still use 8mp or up ot to the 23mp?
[Xperia Z5 General] doministry:
I was trying to use FV5 on my Z2 but it was disaster. Long exposure was always 2mpx, the results were always quite bad...
[Xperia Z5 General] EQ2000:
But you cannot set it to manual shutter time else it limits itself to 2MP output. Choose either "Long", "Long+" or "Fast" preset and it will take the photo in any resolution and output will be same. Works everytime for me at 21MP and "Long" preset. I also use latest version of FV-5.
[Xperia Z5 General] pressytcn:
https://curved.de/news/sony-xperia-z5-nur-eine-23-megapixel-kamera-mit-8-megapixel-sensor-310308
[Xperia Z5 General] EQ2000:
Btw anyone tested 4:3 vs 16:9? Somehow I find that there is more detail at 100% at 16:9 than 4:3. Taking a photo of my monitor I can se the monitors pixels at 16:9 clearly while at 4:3 they are less clear despite higher resolution and also slightly blurrier (photos taken with stand). This goes for both SA and manual although difference is bigger in manual mode. on Z1 16:9 (15,5MP) gives better quality than 4:3 (21MP) at 1:1 comparision and in SA mode (8,3MP) 16:9 gives better quality than 4:3 (8MP). More detail, less bluriness and less jittered edges/less noise at same ISO and shutter speed.

---------- Post added at 05:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:24 PM ----------

Must be something strange with the Z5 going by that test but that test also says nothing and is just words. There is a big difference on my Z1 between SA 8MP and manual 21MP when zooming in 100 vs 200 percent. The more detail the photo has the bigger the difference.
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
EQ2000, could you test the Z5 in 16:9 vs. 4:3 at 8 MP, and see which is better? I hope to have the Z5 in a few days, so I'll keep this in mind.

I read the German article as best I could (translated), and my initial impression is that the super-sampling is effectively able to pack almost all the data into 8 MPs. They should have tested 23 MP vs. 8 MP under much brighter conditions to see how much of a difference there was. The small sensor needs a lot of light to use the 23/20 MP modes effectively. DXOMark commented that the 8 MP pics had a very high level of detail. For a German article, I was disappointed by the lack of hard facts and research.
[Xperia Z5 General] :
Translate this article or just scroll down to comparison. Interestingly enough they're both identical almost, which suports my suspicions that 8mpx is downsampled 23mpx
[Xperia Z5 General] EQ2000:
Sry only got the Xperia Z1 but I would think they all work similarly.

Yeah and also macro shots aint the best to use for showcasing detail. Landscape photos would be ideal as that's where the difference is really noticable when zooming in.

---------- Post added at 07:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:45 PM ----------

Well that has been true for all Z1+ mobiles. It will do pixel bining, 'supersampling' if you choose any resolution below the max. It's done by the BIONZ chip that is present in all Z1+ mobiles.

Would be interesting if someone with a Z1+ mobile and unlocked bootloader would post SA 8MP vs 21/23MP photos as unlocking the bootloader on any Xperia Z1+ permanently removes the DRM keys which in turn amongst other things disables the BIONZ chip and the pixel bining, 'supersampling' aswell as proper night mode and more.
[Xperia Z5 General] xXFlippyXx:
The German article:

The author think it's fishy that antutu only recognizes an 8MP camera. Further open- and Google camera only provide a 8MP res. He's doubting that there really is a 23MP sensor built in the Z5. He thinks that it's just a 8MP sensor that extrapolates to 23MP
[Xperia Z5 General] King p1n:
Lets say If that was the case then the 8MP shots should be a ALOT better especially in low light.

But I do agree that Anutu only recognising the sensor as 8MP is fishy, especially when it recognises the Z3 as 20MP.
[Xperia Z5 General] joe_dude:
LOL... the author clearly doesn't understand extrapolation. To go from 8 MP to 23 MP would introduce different types of artifacts that would easily recognizable. Lots of these kinds of discussions happen on A/V forums about upscaling algorithms. To preserve that level of quality, it would have to be downscaling. Nothing in those pics leads me to believe the Z5 isn't over/super-sampling.

If you look at CPUs, for example, CPU-Z regularly misidentifies new CPUs until an update adds the info. To say antutu is somehow definitive of what the camera specs are is a bit pointless. Probably their next update will add the info on the Z5's sensor. None of the regular apps have access to the 4k screen on the Z5 Premium as well. That doesn't mean it isn't a 4k screen!

---------- Post added at 02:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:20 PM ----------

Did you check out FlashingDroid's review of the Z5 low light capabilities? The reviewer says it's on par with the Note 5 and G4. Check out the pics in the review.

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=63468691&postcount=7
[Xperia Z5 General] King p1n:
The way I see it is Sony should've focused on a large sensor with a lower megapixel count e.g. 12 or 16. As clearly their processing isn't their strong point and simply relying on supersampling as they've been doing for years just isn't cutting it anymore. It was most definitely help photos especially in low light.

But unfortunately Sony have made a reputation for themselves for including 20mp sensors.

Whats done is done now we can't change it on the Z5, we can only hope software improves the camera experience. One thing right now is neccessary and thats a improvement over Auto Mode, it still is hugely hit and miss from what I can see.

I don't agree with people in here pushing manual mode as a way to excuse Sonys shortcomings, when they should know and do better.
[Xperia Z5 General] xXFlippyXx:
Well Sony is capable of doing awesome cameras and further: most probably the best night shots you can get with semi to pro equipment.

If you take a look at those alpha series...

...you don't even need a flash for really awesome pictures.

Hell, even most other smartphone manufacturs are using their sensors.

They just can't seem to deliver with their smartphones. That's a shame, really..

Bigger sensors with fewer pixels would definitely do the trick. I mean, look at the night shots you get out of this small sensor (while having the high pixelcount). It think that's pretty cool in itself but just on the technical side.