Database Users

Sony XZ camera quality

Having used XZ's camera for some hundred pictures in various conditions, I have to comment on the very smart automatic mode. It does produce excellent results in identifying conditions and exposure and colour rendition are trully very good. However, photograhic quality is just not there. Detail suffers a lot from either noise or too much post processing. In some cases when viewing at 1:1 zoom, it reminds me the results of applying some of photoshop's artistic filters in a subtle yet identifiable way.
Sony must have had a reason to incorporate such heavy post processing. The Exmor RS module was originally designed to handle RGBW coding (white plus the traditional RGB). Apparently somewhere along the way, Sony changed their minds as they could not make it work to their "image quality standards" and reverted back to traditional RGB (1), (2). One can only make assumptions, but perhaps the rather heavy noise processing of the image and compression may have its roots to decisions taken to correct other issues, ie. degraded light performance and consequent noise through higher ISOs.
It would be interesting to see how the sensor performs in other phones. One example is the Oppo Find 5. Unfortunately the results are pretty much the same, ie. plenty of noise which brings down detail. (3), (4) Which can only mean that the root of the problem is either any firmware handling the signal of the actual image sensor or that the design itself is flawed.
It is rumoured that the same sensor will also be used in the new SGS4 (we will know soon enough) and the revised iPhone 5S. So let's wait and see what they can make of it. It would be disappointing to see two highly anticipated phones featuring worse cameras than the models they are replacing.
In photographic terms, the way to get better pictures is larger aperture and image stabilization. Letting more light in is the secret and there are two ways of doing it: larger aperture or longer exposure times. The latter results in shaky pictures which is counteracted to some extent though image stabilization. The former usually requires a longer camera+lens module. (in DSLRs larger aperture also means small DOF but this is not an issue for phone cameras where the sensor is so small). That's why incorporating a F/2.0 or F/2.2 aperture usually means thicker phone or a lump at the back. Sony also makes a F/2.2 module which is 5.5mm thick vs 4.2mm for the F/2.4 which was selected for the XZ, probably to keep its thickness to an impressive 7.9mm. (5) The larger aperture could also an excuse for the thickness of the Nokia Lumia 920 which its F/2.0 aperture lens. (6) However, Lumia 920 does pull it off and the result of a good sensor, the F/2.0 aperture and optical image stabilization is great photographic quality. Another approach is having less pixels, something HTC implemented in the One, which again features a F/2.0 aperture @ 9.3mm thickness. However this also has obvious disadvantages in losing detail and the ability to crop a photograph.
Higher pixel count, 13MP vs 8MP, also means that to get the same exposure with the same speed, aperture and ISO rating you need MORE light. (7) Thus, when 8MP is pretty good resolution for every day photography, increasing the pixel count just for the sake of it is the wrong way to go. I do not need to use my Canon 550D at more than 8MP, even when on holidays, even though it supports 18MP resolution.
What has the future in store for us? Well, Sony has made a large investment in the new assembly line and tools to produce the Exmor RS series and they want to see it through. So, I would expect to see revised editions of the module with significant improvements.
Many thanks for reading.
Sources
(1) engadget.com/2012/09/21/sony-exmor-rs-stacked-phone-camera-sensors-detuned-over-quality/
(2) droiddog.com/android-blog/2012/09/sonys-exmor-rs-sensors-downgraded-due-to-quality-concerns/
(3) gizmochina.com/2012/12/15/oppo-find-5-using-sony-cmos-exmor-rs-sensor-camera-component/
(4) gsmarena.com/oppo_find_5-review-880p8.php
(5) imaging-resource.com/news/2012/08/20/sony-exmor-rs-sensors-to-allow-slimmer-better-camera-phones
(6) nokia.com/global/products/phone/lumia920/specifications/[/url]
(7) wpcentral.com/thoughts-and-impressions-nokia-lumia-920s-pureview-camera

so XZ camera issue is due to a software?
For the Mp count, u mean that a DSLR like nikon D800 is not only useless but pointless DSLR.
Photographer use extra MP to take pics at RAW format then convert them the way the Photographer want.

Only the engineers at Sony know if the issue can be corrected with revised algorithms or indeed the sensor can't give anything more. My view is that if this was possible they would not have resorted to so much post processing in the first place. If anything Sony knows photography photography much more than Apple or Samsung.
Of course I am not suggesting that dSLRs have the same function as a camera phone. My personal view is that as a casual photographer I don't need more than 8MPs. Of course there have been instances were I choose to shoot in RAW but I doubt that in such a situation a 13MP camera sensor will bail me out anyway. A dSLR is another beast. My message was about finding the best balance for a camera phone.
Thank you

8MP on dslr is not the same 8MP on a phone.
The sensor in dslr is way bigger than the one i a phone.
Sent from my C6602 using xda premium

Hopefully this is not the result of the Sony camera division trying to hold back on their phones. It happened before with Sony Music trying to stop them from releasing a MP3 player, thats why they were stuck with the mini disk atrac bs for a long time and enter very later into the mp3 market. Too often things like this happened in the company where we see the left hand is trying to fight the right hand making the company so far behind the competitors. Makes no sense that their phone camera is still very mediocre where they make some of the best camera out there.

comparing to my Xperia X10i i get the feeling the color is to much yellow in iAutomatic!
https://picasaweb.google.com/114460...&authkey=Gv1sRgCOO5m9yRrqu1Vw&feat=directlink
btw: Your Opinion on this Topic ?
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6777/understanding-camera-optics-smartphone-camera-trends

Is there anyway to make taken images stay at the size they are suposed to be? I mean i want to stop the compression of the image like I had on Xperia S and quality was much better (not better than on xperia Z tho )

[PHOTOS] Post your Z2 shots here - My review is up!

This is the Sony Xperia Z2 user and reviewer camera thread
Xperia Z2 camera specifications
1/2,3"m 20.7MP Sony Exmor RS BSI sensor
5248x3936 pixel resolution at full size, 3840x2160 in Superior Auto Mode
F2.0 G-lens, 27mm wide angle
BiONZ image signal processor
HDR photo and video
4k video recording, [email protected]
My quick camera review
All my shots are available on my flickr page, full size with EXIF info here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/
Sony mobile sensors are a hit nowadays, from iPhones to LG, Oppo, OnePlus or last year's Samsung flagships, Sony's backside-illuminated (BSI) camera tech is wildly popular for it's excellent per pixel sharpness, good dynamic range and small physical size. Sony struggled however in the past to make it's Exmors work for their own Xperia smartphones, the Z had quite soft images and the Z1, while upped sensor size to 1/2.3" and megapixel count to 20, suffered from over-processing and minor lens inconsistencies. Have Sony got rid of these issues to give it's excellent sensor justice? The answer is a definitive yes, the Xperia Z2 offers fine amount of details with toned back software sharpening and snappier performance, I also didn't experience lens soft spots or distortions.
There's one interesting thing Sony introduced last year: while the large 1/2.3" sensor offers 20MPs, it's new automatic mode, Superior Auto only shoots in 8MP at 16:9 aspect ratio, and even in manual mode HDR or scenes can only be activated at 8MP (either at 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio). Why have a 20MP sensor then if 8 is where you get the most options, good question, but at least the 20 comes handy when zooming, otherwise 8 is good enough for print quality images and processing is faster at that resolution. Speaking of speed, Sony also uses two image signal processors (ISP), so camera speed definitely improved over it's predecessors.
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This is the viewfinder you see when opening an app, and by default the 3840x2160 resolution Superior Auto runs which will choose the preferred camera mode (incl. HDR or night mode), adding some saturation and sharpening after downsampling. Tap to focus, flash settings, timer, burst, and smile shutter are available here. The camera records 1080p videos in this mode.
Moving on to Manual mode, you may choose the maximum 20MPs here (5248x3936) and set up flash, ISO, WB, focus metering, timer and stabilizer, or shoot at 8MP and able to choose HDR, Soft skin, Soft snap, Landscape, Night portrait, High sensitivity, Anti-motion blur, Blacklight HDR, Hand-held twilight, Gourmet, Pet, Beach, Snow, Party, Sports, Document or Fireworks scene modes. You may choose 1080p at 60FPS or 720p at 120FPS in Manual Mode.
The other modes are 4k video recording at 3840x2160, play around slow motion in Timeshift video, blur defocused areas in Background defocus, add 3D objects to the picture like dinosaurs in AR effect, add artistic filters in Creative effect, shoot a 6-second stylish video for Vine, choose best photo out of a burst in Timeshift mode or shoot a 2D Panorama by sweeping the camera. A couple of mode examples:
Image quality in good lights is stellar, details are fine even at 20MPs but especially at 8 which I recommend to use in Manual mode to be able to use HDR and scenes. Focus, white balance and exposure are quite consistent, although under certain conditions like facing directly into lights these can be a little troubled. Overall, images are natural on the slightly cooler side, and Manual mode is less saturated than Superior Auto. Dynamic range is good, and HDR helps in high contrast situations. There are no HDR inconsistencies, though the effect could be stronger. Tap to focus is fast as well as tap-to-snap speeds, and if you need to capture really fast movement you can go for high ISO or choose Sports mode. Overall, you'll shoot many quality images in daylight.
Normal vs. HDR:
Macro and closeups are very good too, there's no need for special modes just move close to the target and either let the camera shoot or tap to focus - the latter does not always hold for the shot, sometimes the camera refocuses before shooting even though you set it up perfectly. Depth of field is good in these situations, and if you prefer softer backgrounds, you can always choose Background defocus.
Low light and night shooting, as always, is where things get tough for small mobile sensors, the Z2 is no exception. The strengths of the new Xperia is dealing with higher ISO with tolerable loss of details and having a strong LED flash to light up small dark areas, so you'll be able to shoot at least usable, but with some tweaks some pretty decent low light shots. What's lacking is of course optical image stabilization, which makes avoiding handshake blur harder, especially at 1/7s exposure, which is the slowest shutter speed I saw. White balance suffers more inconsistencies during the night, there's a slight yellowish tinting, but nothing too bad. High ISO (manually available to choose up to ISO3200, the phone can go up to ISO6400 automatically) can brighten up some really dark places, Night scene and Night portrait scene modes - which requires a longer hold to operate - can also bring out dark details at a heavy loss of details, but you really need to be really steady here. HDR works in low light too. Overall, the Z2 does a decent job in low light.
ISO100 vs. ISO 3200
ISO100 vs. ISO800 + HDR
Video quality is top notch with clean, artifact-free and highly detailed, especially at 4k, and audio is nice and crisp. Steady shot can compensate some of the handshake with surprisingly good results, though OIS would be even better. Tap-to-focus and shooting a photo while recording are both available, as well as using the LED flash as torch light. While moving or with movement in the background sometimes causes refocusing, more visibly during the night - night videos are cool BTW just not as fully detailed as day ones, with some yellowish tinting. 4k is so good that you can choose to print single frames, I uploaded some at full 8MP res., while 60FPS at 1080p gives smoother motion, also uploaded 2 samples. Just note that a single minute of 4k video will take up about 400MB at 56MBit/s + 158kb/s audio, and camera shuts down after a few minutes due to overheating. No such issues at any 1080p mode, and you can shoot in HDR at that resolution.
(any artifact you see on these videos are due to YouTube recompressing)
60FPS video sample #1 (download)
60FPS video sample #2 (download)
4k frame captures via VLC Media Player:
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2915/14095570711_b063d9da46_o.png
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2931/14095565711_dd1e27d982_o.png
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7396/13912143277_ac4e88ddbf_o.png
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7405/14095685952_b126b09fb5_o.png
About that overheating issue... one of the negative surprises I had with the Z2 was the phone overheating and shutting down when I really stressed the camera under the sunlight. Many face the 4k overheating problem which is understandable, it needs exceptional resources and other rivals limit this capture to 5 minutes, but under the warm Spring sun I had camera crashes when taking photos too. We're not yet know how wide-spread this issue is, but I suspect that with ISP and SoC working hard and the sun's heat and 100% screen brightness giving extra heat, things get a bit too hot and the phone chooses safety shutdown. Since the Z2 never got too hot while shutdown, I suspect that Sony set the camera app heat policy a little too conservative, so SW update could get rid of this, or maybe you'll never face this at all.
Overall the Z2's camera is an important step forward for Sony. Faster operation with more details and less post-processing results in higher rate of quality images, and short 4k clips give stellar videos as well let is be 4k, 60FPS or HDR. Low light performance could be improved with white balance and OIS, and some autofocus inconsistencies is video need to be addressed too, but I didn't find any of this too distracting. I would prefer to use all 20MPs for all manual settings and scenes, and video zooming should use the megapixels too and not just zoom into the 1080p or 4k image. But let's be clear: the Z2 produces some of the finest images and videos on mobile and the modes and settings give a lot of options to play with. And if Sony isolates and gets rid of the heat problems, which only come out in special situations, the Z2 and it's camera definitely comes recommended for some serious mobile snapping.
I'd like to thank XXLGSM for the test device, hope you enjoyed my short bit, please look up all my photos here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/

Thankyou, excellent find :good:
The translated version of the page makes interesting reading , this bodes well for the Xperia Z2 especially as this is a test version and there is still room for improvement from Sony engineers to make even more improvements
Here's the translated version of the page:-
http://translate.google.com/transla...8&u=http://www.ringhk.com/report2.php?id=8273

Those night pictures look pretty bad :crying: my nexus with HDR+ on takes better night photos

Chad_Petree said:
Those night pictures look pretty bad :crying: my nexus with HDR+ on takes better night photos
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They look pretty good to me - if your shots are this good, you can post them for comparison so we can look at the 100% crops.

Some indoors from the same Hong Kong article
http://www.ringhk.com/report2.php?id=8273

Xperia Z1 vs. Z2 at night from Eprice.com.hk
Source, full size: http://www.eprice.com.hk/mobile/talk/4551/170008/1/rv/sony-xperia-z2-review/
First shot Z1 manual mode, 2nd shot Z2 manual mode, 3rd shot Z2 Superior Auto Mode. The Z1 shot is slightly darker but more detailed with heavy sharpening artifacts (white dots). The Z2 while a bit softer on detail has no over-processing artifacts, though white balance is a bit on the red side. WB is fair on the 3rd shot, Z2 superior auto. Click on images for full resolution.

The 3rd shot is just amazing!

Some MWC shots from two Asian sites
Sources, full size: http://www.sogi.com.tw/mobile/articles/6225507-攝錄、功能再進化！索尼Xperia+Z2實測【MWC+2014】
http://www.ringhk.com/news2.php?id=8238

z1 vs z2 pics
other pics here :
z1 vs z2
http://www.ringhk.com/news2.php?id=8285

testnumero said:
other pics here :
z1 vs z2
http://www.ringhk.com/news2.php?id=8285
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
z1 pics are a lot sharper

more z2, and z1 vs z2 pics :
http://www.eprice.com.hk/mobile/talk/4551/170031/1/rv/sony-xperia-z2-review/

progosu said:
z1 pics are a lot sharper
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maybe the z2 has a stronger algorithm to smooth out/blur the noise, although noise shouldn't be a problem at low iso as seen in the first image.
still the photos are on the newer f200 fimware which has great noise performance at higher isos so that shouldn't be the issue.
just looked at the night shots and the z2 has a 1/13s exp at iso1250 vs 1/16s exp at iso1000, wonder if this slight difference would make such a big difference in 2 photos. Regardless it seems the white balance is better on the z2 at night vs the z1.
For the 3rd night photo, it seems superior auto has opted for the night scene, since it is 0.77s and iso200, the noise level is quite low vs what I am used to on my z1 using night scene.

progosu said:
z1 pics are a lot sharper
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Yes the Z1 does have sharper pictures, but mostly due to the severe overprocessing leaving a lot of artifacts. In the end, neither system can have true 20 million pixels of detail, so it's a bit pointless to pack so many MPs in.

95% same pic z2 in macro semms more details

Hmm..
So What Sony did with the Bionz is, pull the image from sensor, send to Bionz for image processing with sharpening and noise reduction.
Seems quite evident that Sony over sharpen with the algorithm and hence the black crisscross artifact -|-|-| with the Z1 camera which mistaken as noise. The Z2 has less sharpening effect hence the blur at pixel peeping level. I might be wrong though.

We'll see good results in first few firmwares then after that it will be a disaster and a disappointment just like the Z1.
Both phones have the same camera module and I hope they fix this issue.

I just don't think 20MP is justified at such a sensor size, either the lens or the sensor pixel size is causing noise and softness that needs to be processed and it's just more work for the ISP. A 12MP sensor would be more adequate. Anyways, here's a Z1 vs. Z2 comparison, both a bit yellowish in WB, any my edit of what a Lumia would produce. I notice that some of the previous indoors shots are a bit tight on color depth too.

chesterr said:
We'll see good results in first few firmwares then after that it will be a disaster and a disappointment just like the Z1.
Both phones have the same camera module and I hope they fix this issue.
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Bone I would like u to conclude what do u think of z2 camera when compared to other ANDROID cameras
Sent from my ST18i using xda app-developers app

faraaz3 said:
Bone I would like u to conclude what do u think of z2 camera when compared to other ANDROID cameras
Sent from my ST18i using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No conclusion until extensive reviews, or if and when I can test it myself.
Whoever gets the Z2 early, should kindly test speed and reliability of autofocus, white balance and exposure (like how many shots come out good out of 10 snaps). Posting superior auto, full 20MP manual and HDR samples should also give us a clue about overall picture quality, level of post-processing, lens issues if there's any, SW preference of shutter speed and ISO, picture-to-picture performance and so on. Right now we must wait patiently, and share whatever we find online.

A few more from Eprice
Source, full resolution: http://www.eprice.com.hk/mobile/talk/4551/170031/

So the S7 camera performs better than the Z5/Z5P ? I can't stop laughing...

Ok I'm Kinda mad here... There are things I don't understand and I will probably never....
How on earth, would every review on the internet including youtube videos give the upper hand to the S7 camera which has SONY IMX260 R EXMOR that has 7.18 mm sensor size and a 1.4 μm x 1.4 μm unit cell size while the Z5/Premium has the "exclusive cutting edge" RS EXMOR IMX300 with 7.87 mm sensor size and 1.1 μm x 1.1 μm pixel size ?
And please don't tell me about image processing ? Why on earth a giant Japanese corporation such as SONY specialized and leader in photography, videography, pictures and music Entertainment without forgetting their BIONZ image processor that compete or even wins over Nikon EXPEED and
Canon DIGIC can't do image processing right on a freaking CMOS sensor ?
Now yeah the Z5/P pictures are decent and although very good on a very sunny day.... I'll remain quiet for the low light part....
So to sum it up... a Samsung with an IMX260 12MP sensor is on par or outperforms a Sony IMX300 23MP ( 25MP ) sensor...
Funny isn't it ?

It's not funny at all.
Still,I find that Z5 camera is best on market atm.
Xperia Z5 via Tapatalk

Very easy good hardware and bad software.
Sony can't compete software wise with who had nexus phones.
Samsung LG know better about android and how to create a better software cause they took lot of info from Google while they have Nexus phones.

Well money talks. S7 just cant match Z1+ line. Take a look at original S7 full resolution photos. Photo IQ is awfull on the S7. Over-sharpening that creates awfull halos and contrast, to much texture detail, texture extraction that gives a gritty look and to much noise reduction that makes for a blurry image with lost detail and plastic look. S7 has borderline the bad CRT chromatic aberration look and reminds me of old cheap digital cameras.
I'll quote one of my other posts wher one can see that even in an unfair comparision that favors the S7 my Z1 just performs much better. Much better and if making things more even by choosing 2048x1536 for my Z1 photos and same or similar for S7 my Z1 just walks all over the S7. Z5 does no worse unless in SA or the NR goes wonky.
When I look at S7 photos in good and low light it just reminds me of the bad CRT "chromatic aberration" look. Great artistic value but the persons S7 destroys IQ beyond reparation. https://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinfabl100/
I mean even the Z1 blows it out and Z5 even more. Look at this comparision which favors the S7 as the images are shown at 100% size which means my Z1 is showing a far bigger image aswell as in worse lighting conditions with far less photons in the ambient to capture (see shutter speed difference) yet it performs better. Would I scale it down to same size as the S7 it would be a brutal comparision leaving the S7 in the dust. One can choose 2048 pixel width to see this in the links.
Stock original photos, default camera apps.
S7 buildings.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinfabl100/25743187832/sizes/o/
Z1 buildings.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/csls/25516883060/sizes/o/
S7 forest.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinfabl100/25837956126/sizes/o/
Z1 forest.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/csls/25019022984/sizes/o/
Might take some time some day with the Z5c and capture photos in same locations once the sun is about same (wild weather over here).
Click to expand...
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And here are more S7 samples.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinfabl100/25837956126/sizes/o/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinfabl100/25208922064/sizes/o/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinfabl100/25404249180/sizes/o/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gavinfabl100/25021532094/sizes/o/
And here is low light.
Will check files once released here and compare CRC to see if they changed algorithms. As for the S7 I agree, it does moderately good but far worse than Sonys Xperia Z1+ line. The biggest issue on the S7 besides tending to go overboard with sharpening and noise reduction which smoothes out to much and gives a bad fake plastic look (often easily visible around fine-grain detail like branches and leaves) is that it also when post-processing brightens up the image by tweaking curves. Most software does this but should be catiously used to extract detail from low contrast areas. Samsung goes overboard often giving it the 'fake ISO' look where black turns grey. Xperia Z1+ phones give quite a bit better low light photos same ISO for ISO and shutter speed while not even having to resort to major curve tweaking just minor or barely any and it does it selectively in a often excellent way. I assume the BIONZ is really a power beast for such dedicated tasks but sensors in Sonys phones are just better even though older and they are coupled with great optics.
It's just now that Samsung is starting use similar tech that Sony already employed in their mobiles years ago. I think Iphone 6s also got a bit of it but it relies mostly on multi-frame photo composition to create higher ISO like the Nexus 6p HDR+ does. Xperia Z1+ also does this but only when doing ISO 6400 (atleast the Z1) else not. Problem is you need to keep scene static else you get ghosting and bluriness. Haven't checked it fully out for the Z5c though but it should do better.
I guess you could say the S6 gives more detail and less blur but it also has way to much curve tweaking as the S7 but just much worse for same low light situations. S6 just turns to a mess at ISO 1000+ and low light while S7 does better. Both S6 and S7 also automatically (atleast in auto mode) if stable does multi-frame capture in low light to create improved noise reduction. Why some S6/S7 photos at say ISO 1000 looks bad and others much cleaner. Scene has to be static though and mobile firm. Same concept you can find in ProCapture camera app and their noise reduction mode.
Photo example of the S7 post-processing and curves.
Without HDR enabled.
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With HDR enabled.
Sony avoids this in most cases and dont go overboard like that keeping blacks deep and rich aswell as colors punchy and representation of captured scene is far better.
And a Z1 sample from manual mode 8MP, 1/8 ISO 3200. Little and smart use of brightening via the changing curves despite high ISO of 3200 keeping the blacks quite well, global contrast and colors punchy despite heavy tungsten lighting!
Manual mode, 1/8 ISO 1600 of same scene two days apart around same time.
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The sensor is just one part of the camera, there are so many other elements that can make it better or worse.
That's like saying one restaurant has better steak and complaining as somewhere else uses better cows - it's all about the cooking of the meat and the accompaniments that go with it.
In photography's case it's about the lens system, the image stabilisation and the post-processing. As posters above have said, the software controlling the Sony sensor in the S7 is great, no doubt.
Answer me this: if you give an amazing camera to a bad photographer will you get a better photo than giving a bad camera to a good photographer?

Answer me this: if you give an amazing camera to a bad photographer will you get a better photo than giving a bad camera to a good photographer?[/QUOTE]
Let me answer :
Are you able to drive faster in a Bentley than in a Renault even if you are a bad driver ?
Yes !!!
Same with photos quality (not photo skills)
I agree that the human factor is there but can not excuse all Sony conservative attitude plus Sony do not want to let 3rd party improve their lack of dev.
But still happy with my Z5 result... It is a phone and we do not have to expect the same quality as a Reflex

NJ72 said:
The sensor is just one part of the camera, there are so many other elements that can make it better or worse.
That's like saying one restaurant has better steak and complaining as somewhere else uses better cows - it's all about the cooking of the meat and the accompaniments that go with it.
In photography's case it's about the lens system, the image stabilisation and the post-processing. As posters above have said, the software controlling the Sony sensor in the S7 is great, no doubt.
Answer me this: if you give an amazing camera to a bad photographer will you get a better photo than giving a bad camera to a good photographer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand what you're trying to say but is it justified ? Is it possible that SONY can't make a software that control their own sensors ? Is it acceptable that other companies using SONY sensors whether modified or not, can make better use of it ?
SONY that has been in the photography industry since decades can't deal with their own driver and post processors on a mobile phone ?
Again the pictures on the Z5P are good but try going zoom to 100%... most of the details are missing compared to rivals.... not sure if it's lack of sharpness whatsoever but certainly the post processing needs work.
Look at their Z5 camera promotion bragging about the auto-focus speed... I literally had to find one single time I could get a a clear photo of somebody moving.
Don't get me wrong I'm a huge fan of the device but it just puts me on my nerve that we have the best hardware and the " best " brand name yet we always have excuses for the camera behavior.

Xeon said:
I understand what you're trying to say but is it justified ? Is it possible that SONY can't make a software that control their own sensors ? Is it acceptable that other companies using SONY sensors whether modified or not, can make better use of it ?
SONY that has been in the photography industry since decades can't deal with their own driver and post processors on a mobile phone ?
Again the pictures on the Z5P are good but try going zoom to 100%... most of the details are missing compared to rivals.... not sure if it's lack of sharpness whatsoever but certainly the post processing needs work.
Look at their Z5 camera promotion bragging about the auto-focus speed... I literally had to find one single time I could get a a clear photo of somebody moving.
Don't get me wrong I'm a huge fan of the device but it just puts me on my nerve that we have the best hardware and the " best " brand name yet we always have excuses for the camera behavior.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion it's quite obvious with the Z5 premium that Sony spent more time focussing on the display than the camera's image processing. Sony could do a lot more with the camera than they do, but there are numerous other factors Sony consider when designing a smartphone. Evidently they either A) do not have the skills, B) don't rate it high enough or C) think they nailed it when it comes to the camera.
I agree that Sony should have done more with it, but I bought the phone knowing that they hadn't and I'd buy it again over Samsung's TouchWiz interface. I prefer my DSLR for photography, for me the rest of the phone is more important.
And, in answer to your first question, yes - what I said is justified. Whether it's what you'd have done if you were part of Sony's dev team, who knows, but what they did is make a very good phone with a camera that could be better.

NJ72 said:
In my opinion it's quite obvious with the Z5 premium that Sony spent more time focussing on the display than the camera's image processing. Sony could do a lot more with the camera than they do, but there are numerous other factors Sony consider when designing a smartphone. Evidently they either A) do not have the skills, B) don't rate it high enough or C) think they nailed it when it comes to the camera.
I agree that Sony should have done more with it, but I bought the phone knowing that they hadn't and I'd buy it again over Samsung's TouchWiz interface. I prefer my DSLR for photography, for me the rest of the phone is more important.
And, in answer to your first question, yes - what I said is justified. Whether it's what you'd have done if you were part of Sony's dev team, who knows, but what they did is make a very good phone with a camera that could be better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well to be honest, SONY only brags about their camera performance in their devices.... This time in September they mentioned nothing but the 4K screen and the IMX300. No major change to the device design, software is close to stock android and the IP68 has been there for ages.
http://www.sonymobile.com/global-en/products/phones/xperia-z5/
See ? They are so proud of their camera that this is the only marketing card in their hands for now. As for lack of expertise, I really doubt but I can nothing but believe that they thought they nailed it when in fact it's still horrible in low light conditions.

The big problem I have with the Z5 is its shutter lag and no burst shooting. So you're left with rapidly tapping the shutter button which only gives you about 3fps. On the S7 you get a burst mode at over 20fps.
It's ridiculous how their ads show an instantaneous shutter but it could be no further from the truth. Even with Marshmallow the shutter lag is still pretty bad. This seagull was standing on the bridge when I pressed the shutter and the camera captured when it already started to fly away.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j5hcj2jeazzjs77/DSC_0988.JPG?dl=0
Even HTC M9+ Supreme Camera has faster shutter and better manual options than Z5. It uses IMX230 and is a pretty bi

FYLin21 said:
The big problem I have with the Z5 is its shutter lag and no burst shooting. So you're left with rapidly tapping the shutter button which only gives you about 3fps. On the S7 you get a burst mode at over 20fps.
It's ridiculous how their ads show an instantaneous shutter but it could be no further from the truth. Even with Marshmallow the shutter lag is still pretty bad. This seagull was standing on the bridge when I pressed the shutter and the camera captured when it already started to fly away.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/j5hcj2jeazzjs77/DSC_0988.JPG?dl=0
Even HTC M9+ Supreme Camera has faster shutter and better manual options than Z5. It uses IMX230 and is a pretty bi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I'm talking about... you see... in your pic nothing looks OK, what was the focus doing ? i can't find any part of the pic clear....
One thing I noticed is that even Whatsapp camera looks awful. I understand that the pic is compressed and the post processing is non existent but on my Xperia Z the difference wasn't noticeable that much.

gm007 said:
Very easy good hardware and bad software.
Sony can't compete software wise with who had nexus phones.
Samsung LG know better about android and how to create a better software cause they took lot of info from Google while they have Nexus phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry but I tend to disagree. I dont think OEM release need google assistance. In fact SONY is very conservative when it comes to camera software. I bet they know how to unlock raw mode and compatibility yet they don't want to.
It's obvious that the post processing has been inconsistent across the Xperia line. A bit of trial and error if you want my opinion....
What you say about bad software is correct however unjustified. I can't accept it from an industry leader such as SONY.
OK the camera is almost perfect in manual mode if you want to go hardcore and adjust every possible value and mode for a snapshot but I don't want to spend 2 minutes for that :
Look at the difference between iPhone 6S and Z5 camera.... this lack of details is what makes me go nuts.

Xeon said:
This is what I'm talking about... you see... in your pic nothing looks OK, what was the focus doing ? i can't find any part of the pic clear....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has been zoomed a bit using "clear image zoom" which just oversharpens things. It could be fine if they just use something that rounds off the edges for up sampling, but you see a lot of jagged circular blobs throughout the edges. I had taken a few pictures of this bird standing there but the camera kept overexposing the scene. Then I brought the exposure down and tried taking a photo - the bird a still standing there the moment I pressed the shutter.
The only thing to get around no burst mode is using 4K video. You can capture 8MP stills while you film but sometimes it causes the video to stutter and it takes a long time to save them. The stills also look worse than the video itself - the contrast is lower with washed out colours. It's better to grab frames after filming but you'l need another app to do this and I'm not sure which one as I do it on my computer using Media Player Classic. You can also crop to 1080p which is better than using the digital zoom in the app - unfortunately the bitrate of 4K video is a bit low so you can see some artifacts when cropped to 1080p ...
Is the shutter lag due to software or hardware? it's hard to say. Low resolution photos from Facebook messenger can be taken instantaneously, but all the third party apps I've tried exhibit shutter lag - I think even worse than the stock camera app... and don't forget only 8MP works with third party apps.
If the images were downscaled to 8MP or something, they would be good compared to some other cameras but that defeats the purpose of having 20/23MP.
Imagine seeing the loch ness monster and you took a photo but the shutter lag means your photo doesn't show it because it dove into the water

I will give you a small example why sony is bad software wise,
In lollipop we had fingerprint scanner test in the diagnostic menu and the test was not working.
So instead to fix it in marshmallow they removed the test completely lol.

Xeon said:
Ok I'm Kinda mad here... There are things I don't understand and I will probably never....
How on earth, would every review on the internet including youtube videos give the upper hand to the S7 camera which has SONY IMX260 R EXMOR that has 7.18 mm sensor size and a 1.4 μm x 1.4 μm unit cell size while the Z5/Premium has the "exclusive cutting edge" RS EXMOR IMX300 with 7.87 mm sensor size and 1.1 μm x 1.1 μm pixel size ?
And please don't tell me about image processing ? Why on earth a giant Japanese corporation such as SONY specialized and leader in photography, videography, pictures and music Entertainment without forgetting their BIONZ image processor that compete or even wins over Nikon EXPEED and
Canon DIGIC can't do image processing right on a freaking CMOS sensor ?
Now yeah the Z5/P pictures are decent and although very good on a very sunny day.... I'll remain quiet for the low light part....
So to sum it up... a Samsung with an IMX260 12MP sensor is on par or outperforms a Sony IMX300 23MP ( 25MP ) sensor...
Funny isn't it ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, and it's no surprise, it has been the case forever.
There was never any need for Sony to stupidly try to play the MP race again, seems they didn't learn from the point and shoot and DSLR MP race/nonsense. It's all marketing BS to say hey we've got something that no one else has.
Push the boundaries of the ideal MP for a certain sensor size, then you will always have problems with different types of noise entering your photo, due to sensor heat and the sensors small size and not being able to dissipate that amount of heat effectively, as a result to clean all this up they end up having to have pretty aggressive noise reduction algorithms, this also keeps the jpg photo size down a fair bit, handy for a phone unless you want to run your storage out in no time flat. Approx 25-35MB per photo @ 23MP low light high ISO these could have been even bigger.
Realistically would have just been better off running at 12MP and requiring much less noise reduction because due to less heat build up in the photo sites of the sensor.

danw_oz said:
No, and it's no surprise, it has been the case forever.
There was never any need for Sony to stupidly try to play the MP race again, seems they didn't learn from the point and shoot and DSLR MP race/nonsense. It's all marketing BS to say hey we've got something that no one else has.
Push the boundaries of the ideal MP for a certain sensor size, then you will always have problems with different types of noise entering your photo, due to sensor heat and the sensors small size and not being able to dissipate that amount of heat effectively, as a result to clean all this up they end up having to have pretty aggressive noise reduction algorithms, this also keeps the jpg photo size down a fair bit, handy for a phone unless you want to run your storage out in no time flat. Approx 25-35MB per photo @ 23MP low light high ISO these could have been even bigger.
Realistically would have just been better off running at 12MP and requiring much less noise reduction because due to less heat build up in the photo sites of the sensor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ironically their sales and marketing strategy is flawed to death and it's chaotic but they wanna do marketing they do it the wrong way.
Seriously they should start recruiting...

hawker_gb said:
It's not funny at all.
Still,I find that Z5 camera is best on market atm.
Xperia Z5 via Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
post like this really make me wonder about my specific device.... because i am totally with op here: the camera may be very good (the best?) in sunny/ bright conditions, but is just useless in darker situations (not just pitch black.. darker..). a camera like that can NEVER be called the best on market.. i would say

Barthlon said:
post like this really make me wonder about my specific device.... because i am totally with op here: the camera may be very good (the best?) in sunny/ bright conditions, but is just useless in darker situations (not just pitch black.. darker..). a camera like that can NEVER be called the best on market.. i would say
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They should have less NR in low contrast areas for photos as right now it is quite aggressive. Seems the area noise reduction aint so 'clever'. Previous Z phones perform much better in low contrast areas with no smudged out detail. My Z1 for example outdoes my Z5c easily in detail clarity across all contrast variables while keeping noise as low or even lower and resorts to less post-processing. I assume some can be attributed to not as wide sensor (26mm vs 23mm) and 1,2um vs 1,1um pixel size and perhaps the focus system (less electronical noise). They might heat up differently to. Will be interesting to see how the Xperia X performs since AFAIK it uses same or similar sensor as the Z5. Also seems Z5c uses more NR in superior auto vs manual mode despite same ISO.
But despite that it stands really good against competition and overall it just beats them.
Here is an example of the area noise rduction system it uses akin to BIONZ X algorithms just that it is to aggressive. Look at tree trunk and streetlight pole. High contrast area is sharp but low contrast area is smudged by the NR. The problem is it failed to detect that there are bushes infront smudging them out. This is the area NR not working as intended.

EQ2000 said:
They should have less NR in low contrast areas for photos as right now it is quite aggressive. Seems the area noise reduction aint so 'clever'. Previous Z phones perform much better in low contrast areas with no smudged out detail. My Z1 for example outdoes my Z5c easily in detail clarity across all contrast variables while keeping noise as low or even lower and resorts to less post-processing. I assume some can be attributed to not as wide sensor (26mm vs 23mm) and 1,2um vs 1,1um pixel size and perhaps the focus system (less electronical noise). They might heat up differently to. Will be interesting to see how the Xperia X performs since AFAIK it uses same or similar sensor as the Z5. Also seems Z5c uses more NR in superior auto vs manual mode despite same ISO.
But despite that it stands really good against competition and overall it just beats them.
Here is an example of the area noise rduction system it uses akin to BIONZ X algorithms just that it is to aggressive. Look at tree trunk and streetlight pole. High contrast area is sharp but low contrast area is smudged by the NR. The problem is it failed to detect that there are bushes infront smudging them out. This is the area NR not working as intended.
Well please accept my very subjective opinion... from first look the pic is catchy, nice, really nice colors but then the disaster...... it's certainly not a focus issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Xeon said:
Well please accept my very subjective opinion... from first look the pic is catchy, nice, really nice colors but then the disaster...... it's certainly not a focus issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kinda hard to make out what you are reffering to but "disaster"? Z5 series applies to aggressive area based NR in low contrast areas, as for the rest the photo is quite good and natural looking. Certainly better than most S7 photos you can find of similar ISO, shutter speed and scenery type. Atleast the NR can be countered partially with texture detail and clarity filters to bring out contrast in smudged areas. S7 you cant do nothing to repair photos as they are beyond reparation.
Click on images to view them in Flickr default display size. Atrocious and beyond reparation. The Z5 IQ despite smudgy NR in low contrast areas is head and shoulders above the S7 IQ. Z5 looks to the DSLR side while S7 looks to the cheap old digital camera side.
S7. Atrocious, the borderline bad CRT chromatic aberration look. Like relief filter applied shifting pixels due to horrible post-processing and subpar sensor.
Z5. The area based NR problem is clearly visible yet it looks much more natural and better despite being taken in much worse lighting conditions as evident by shutter speed and postition of sun and shadows.
As for the highlights you made that is pretty much what I already noted though the left side is from lens problem, that unit has decentered lenses thus blurred sides, right and/or left. You can see that in S7 to depeding on unit. Such a unit should be replaced. And all cameras have to do some detail extraction in low contrast areas (shadowed/non directly lit areas) and thus wont be as detailed as lit areas.
Take a look at S7 photo with shadowed areas, see? Noisy, smudgy with blotches and horrible even though ISO is low. Atleast the Z5 smoothes it out mostly OK. (left and right side)
One more time! You see? (right side trees and bushes)
You still cant see it!? Well some more then!
To the right!
To the left!
To the left!
And all around! :laugh:

OPPO Find X5 Review: Part 2 - Camera, Battery

Intro​Welcome to Part 2 of my OPPO Find X5 review! In this part I will be covering the camera performance and battery of the device.
Table of contents​
Part 1: Build Quality & Design, Performance & Gaming, Display
Part 2: Camera, Battery (Currently reading)
Part 3: ColorOS Features
At the end of each part I will also include the conclusion of the part and the index for navigation.
Camera review​
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Using the Find X5’s camera has been a great time, especially with a wide array of features, Hasselblad co-development and the MariSilicon Neural Processing Unit.
Wide and ultrawide both have a 50MP sensor, while the Tele lens has 13MP. The front facing camera has a 32MP sensor.
View all of my sample photos: ​
https://photos.app.goo.gl/UmkNFFEq3G5QYY6S7
Over 100 photos!
​Selfie camera​Starting with the selfie front facing camera: built into the bionic display as a small holepunch in the top left corner.
The camera has been quite impressive with high resolution selfies that capture a lot of light and natural colours, thanks to the hasselblad tuning.
I did enjoy using portrait mode with the selfie cam a lot more than usual this time around. It has also been fun, and is pretty convincing with its bokeh effect. The corner detection did work well in my testing, even in low light, without using the night mode. What’s nice is that you can adjust the aperture, the amount of blur, directly while shooting.
If the light is too low, you can switch over to night mode, which is also available for selfies.
Main and ultrawide camera​Shooting with both wide and ultrawide has been a solid camera experience. Both lenses are sharp and allow for huge 50MP photos, when enabled. These are around 10-20Mb saved to the device and retain a lot of detail. While I wish the photos were a tad bit punchier without the AI scene detect, I do appreciate the more realistic colours, which can always be adjusted in editing later on.
Example of portrait mode:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/QvsuLMrSxGjtudVw7
The main shooter also has a great amount of natural bokeh, thanks to its large sensor. This can be great for more dramatic close ups, food photography or pets. If you need more bokeh, you can switch the camera over to portrait mode and use the aperture slider to increase the blur. Getting things into focus was also always very solid, the camera generally always identified what I would have wanted in focus. There were only a very few times I had to tap a couple times to get the subject in focus.
Switching things over to the ultrawide camera, it has a 0.6x view, and what I really enjoy about the lens is that it keeps lines straight, where some cameras tend to warp the image. This allows for a quite unique ultrawide look and makes the lens much more versatile.
I did notice the colours were a bit different than the main shooter, being a bit more on the cool side but also sometimes warmer colour temperature. You can see this quite noticeable when comparing the photos I took of the same scene with the different lenses. Needless to say the photos did turn out still very good when looking at them individually.
The only downside of the camera I could find while testing some more difficult scenes such as backlit or fast moving was that the processing sometimes did encounter a sort of edge ghosting effect.
Although it only happens very rarely in some exceptional cases (I checked with the other ambassadors and they did not experience it yet) I found it still important to highlight, and hope it can be fixed in a future software update. Examples: Ghosting, Edge 1, Edge 2
Comparison against OnePlus 9 Pro:​My main phone of the last year was between the OnePlus 9 Pro and an iPhone. So I made sure to capture some comparisons between both the 9 Pro and the X5 as they both feature the hasselblad codevelopment.
What I could notice was that the OnePlus did brighten up the image more and did produce a more “punchy” looking photo. But also it generally turned out to be a bit more blurry on the OnePlus, especially when zooming in on text for example.
The X5 did a better job at retaining details, such as fabrics and text was very sharp. Especially when shooting in darker environments you could see much sharper details on text and a less grainy image but at the cost of less highlights.
The colours were a bit more natural, capturing the scene a bit better like I saw it in real life. I had a feeling the processing was toned down a bit.
Another thing that I noticed was that the X5 handled edge fringing much better than the 9 Pro, where things could easily get out of focus on the 9 Pro around the edge of subjects.
Samples (9 Pro vs. X5):
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mymu2gMureRDYt3C6
Night mode​The dedicated night mode utilises the NPU to process the image, retain highlights and reduce noise. The duration of how long a night mode photo takes to capture can vary from a second, all the way to 7s in my testing depending on the lighting situation. The results are really worth it and do speak for themselves.
What I really liked is how colours are kept, with a low noise and clear blacks. Also lights do have a good amount of brightness without being overpowering. Another favourite feature of mine is the long exposure, which takes some great shots without the need of a tripod.
Example long exposure
Video mode​Coming to the video aspect of the camera, which has always been a difficult part for most Android devices. In my opinion the main camera produces the best video footage, which is clear, has good stabilisation and only a small amount of crop factor. It allows for 4K capture up to 60fps.
If you need a large amount of stabilisation the camera app also has a mode called “Ultra-steady-mode”. This makes the video feel buttery smooth, and in some situations where you want that gimbal style footage this can be great, but does come with the downside of having quite a lot of crop factor.
Another feature is the video portrait mode, which allows for bokeh style video in 1080p. In my testing this effect has worked pretty well and has been able to track subjects well even in low light situations.
Example of portrait mode in video during low light:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/e6QoXVtJdrB3C5FBA
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HzGt5dntHz8B2ARo7
Battery review​
Battery life in a day​The battery life has been very solid! After about a week of usage the battery has adapted to my usage and on average has always given me a full day of battery life lasting into the noon of the next day. The X5 also features reverse wireless charging, which can be great to top up wireless earbuds if they have a case that supports it.
After a day of photography, playing some games casually and watching youtube with general usage my screen on time resulted in 4:25h and 4% battery remaining. This is for me quite good, considering I had always enabled the full 120hz of the display and did keep it at a relatively high brightness setting.
Also thanks to the included SuperVOOC 80W charger, I never had to worry about needing to wait a long time during charges. Usually it was enough to top up my Find X5 within 15 min for an entire day if I was worried it might not last.
Charging speed​With the 80W charging speeds being insane (I never experienced a phone charge this fast other than the OnePlus 9 Pro) I went from 4% to 100% in just 30 min!
Conclusion Part 2​And with this I would like to conclude my second part of the review. Overall my camera tests have been really solid, I especially loved the colours the camera captured, and the large sensor allows for some really nice natural bokeh. Having a wide and ultra wide lens as primary sensors is a good combination, as they are super versatile. The zoom was lacking a bit, producing images that were still viewable but for my taste too blurry or processed. Battery life has been also quite solid. Especially considering I used the device always in 120Hz mode it easily did manage around 4.5h screen on time.
Continue reading​
Part 1: Build Quality & Design, Performance & Gaming, Display
Part 2: Currently reading
Part 3: ColorOS Features

Update: I have posted further photo samples for two photo-series, you can find them linked here:
Save the night: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/savethenight-night-photos-with-the-find-x5.4434553/
Stories from varied perspectives: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/stories-from-varied-perspectives-photos-with-the-find-x5.4438663/
Both series go a bit more in depth of specific camera modes, such as night mode photography or using different lenses. Hope you enjoy!

Oppo "brand ambassador"....jeez, you and 3 million others. Such neutral and unbiased reviews.

murrayalex said:
Oppo "brand ambassador"....jeez, you and 3 million others. Such neutral and unbiased reviews.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure if this is a criticism of my review or the programme, if there is anything I am more than happy to hear constructive feedback to also improve my reviews for the future. So please do let me know!
Also, I would like to mention again that this review is entirely my own opinion and with everything I have tested I am comparing it as if I purchased it as my own device. As an iPhone and OP9 Pro user, I had a very good baseline of flagships to compare to and also point out differences. Check my first part of the review for instance, especially in the speaker department.
When there are issues I am more than happy to bring them further to OPPO, as I have already done with bugs and camera issues I have encountered, to name a few.
After all the review should help you guys decide and get a better idea what the device is capable of Hope this clears things up.

A Detailed Review | OPPO Find X5 | OPPO Ambassador

INTRODUCTION
Hello all. As you might know, I received the OPPO Find X5 last week and did an unboxing and first impressions post which you can find here.
Ever since I've received the Find X5 my sim card has been in it and I've been using it as my daily phone.
It's been a couple of days and I think I've fairly used this device to give my thoughts and share with you all my detailed review on the device.
The subjects that I will be reviewing in detail are,
• Design
• Camera
• Software & Performance
• Battery & Charging
I will try my best to share an unbiased and detailed review of the device and in the end, will share a verdict. If you have any questions or doubts about the device, feel free to ask.
Now let's take a closer look and find whether the Find X5 lives up to its expectations.
DESIGN
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Starting my review with the design, this is probably the most interesting-looking phone design I've seen in a while.
I just love what OPPO has done with the colour and finish on the Find X5, especially the one in white with the black camera bump which gives it a very distinctive look.
The back of the device is glass, feels very smooth to the touch, and is very elegant & premium while holding. Since it's a matte finish, fingerprints and smudges are non-existent.
At the back, you find "OPPO | Hasselblad" branding, and since the device is an EU model you also get all the regulatory information.
I also really like the seamless slope design they've done around the camera bump.
The frame is aluminum however, if I had to nitpick, I would've loved it if the frame was black instead of shiny silver which attracts some fingerprints. Again that's only visible when you look for it at a certain angle.
It weighs 196 grams and does have a heft to it but the weight is well balanced. It isn't top-heavy, never felt that the device might accidentally fall from my hand.
At 6.55 inches in screen size, it is still decently large, but because it is quite narrow, the phone felt a little easier to use.
The button placements are done well and are placed at a reachable position.
Volume buttons to the left, power button to the right which has OPPO's signature green colour embedded inside. Buttons are very clicky and have good feedback.
Up top there's a microphone and below lies the Type-C port for charging and data transfer, a loudspeaker, another microphone, and a sim slot.
There's an IP54 rating for protection against dust. However, the sim tray does have a rubber ring. So the seals are present and should save it from occasional water splashes.
The sim slot does take in two sim cards. No SD card expansion, however, OPPO does offer the phone in a 256GB storage configuration, which should be more than enough storage for most.
The X-axis linear motor for the haptics is also quite good. The feedback is strong and during my test, I've never missed any calls or notifications.
The bezels surrounding the display are thin except for the bottom chin which is ever so slightly thicker compared to the top bezel.
The phone does come with a pre-applied screen protector which should last for a couple of months. Also, there's Gorilla Glass Victus used for display protection.
Moving to the display, it's a very good quality curved AMOLED display with a resolution of 2400×1080. The refresh rate is 120Hz with a touch sampling rate of 240Hz due to which scrolling felt quite smooth and never felt any lag during touch input. However, I wish the display panel was LTPO instead of regular 120Hz which can only drop down to 60Hz when the display is idle.
There's an in-display fingerprint sensor that is placed in a position where your thumb might naturally rest. Unlocking was pretty quick.
The display is 10-bit which means it can produce up to 1 billion colours. The default colour mode is set to Vivid however you can select other available colour modes that are Natural & Pro Mode to tune it as per your preference.
vivid, natural & pro-mode for display calibration.​
The display gets bright enough with 500 nits of default peak brightness which can go up to 800 nits and boosts up to 1,000 nits while watching HDR content. Visibility is great under direct sunlight.
There's an earpiece up top which also doubles as a secondary speaker. The speakers are loud enough and I did not find any distortion at high volumes.
I'm impressed with the device, OPPO has done a great job with the overall design and build quality of the Find X5.

CAMERA
I was really curious to test out the cameras on the Find X5 since this is the first device to have OPPO's self-developed chip, the MariSilicon X for better image processing, and their partnership with Hasselblad for natural colour calibration.
MariSilicon X is built on 6nm process technology that helps capture 20bit Ultra HDR, 4K night video, real-time 20bit RAW processing, and many more.
The primary lens on the Find X5 is a 50MP shooter with a Sony IMX766 sensor. The aperture is f/1.8 and it does have Optical Image Stabilisation.
Interestingly, the ultra-wide angle lens is also the same 50MP Sony IMX766 camera. The aperture though is f/2.2 with a field of view of 110°
The third lens is a 13MP telephoto camera with an aperture of f/2.4 that has a 2x optical zoom.
The camera app is quite straightforward to use. You get the Hasselblad coloured orange shutter button and the modes can be arranged by pressing the edit button which can be found in the more section. OPPO has also incorporated Hasselblad’s iconic leaf shutter sound.
user interface of the camera app.​
I did my camera testing under different conditions such as outdoors, indoors, and under low light, and here's what I have to say about the camera on the Find X5.
In case you don't want to read the whole review part and just want to check out the samples then click here.
Outdoor shots with the main camera are very good. Colour reproduction is quite natural looking and pictures have a good amount of contrast. The Find X5 handles dynamic range better most of the time and the pictures are well detailed.
pictures shot from the main camera.​
The white balance is correct, never encountered any weird colour shifting.
Also, due to the sensor being large, the pictures have a natural depth to them even without using the portrait mode.
Pictures from the ultra-wide angle camera are also quite good. Being a 50MP camera and having the same IMX766 sensor as the main lens, the details, white balance, and contrast levels of shots were quite consistent and similar to the main lens.
pictures shot from the ultra-wide angle camera.​
There are very minimal chromatic aberrations around the edges.
The phone can also shoot close-up macro shots. The camera switches itself to macro mode whenever you take the phone up close to the subject.
pictures shot with Macro mode.​
The 2X telephoto camera is also quite close when it comes to white balance consistency. The details are good but not as good when compared with the main & ultra-wide. Also, I did wish that the telephoto camera had more zoom capabilities, maybe a 3X.
pictures shot from the Telephoto camera.​
White Balance was mostly consistent between all the three lenses in the outdoor shots.
lens comparison - outdoor conditions.​
Under indoor conditions, pictures from the main camera are bright and detailed with very less noise. Shots from the ultra-wide camera are also very good with very less noise and good detail levels. Pictures from the telephoto camera also did a good job and details are quite close compared to pictures from the other two lenses. The white balance between all the three lenses was quite similar.
lens comparison - indoor conditions.​
The same goes with the low-light shots. The main camera takes good shots with plenty of light and very low noise levels. Pictures from the ultra-wide camera are also very impressive. It is as bright as the pictures from the main camera & the detail levels are similar. Pictures from the Telephoto camera are again good but compared to pictures from the other two lenses they are a bit soft and less detailed.
lens comparison - low-light conditions.​Now I noticed that during low light conditions, the Telephoto Camera uses the Main Lens which is cropped to 2X instead of the actual Telephoto Lens.
Using the main camera during low light conditions is better since the aperture and resolution of the main camera is better than the aperture and resolution of the Telephoto Lens.
Here's a side-by-side comparison of pictures shot on Telephoto & Main Camera with 2X zoom. Zooming in you can see the keyboard is quite detailed in comparison with the picture shot on Telephoto.
The colours are also off on the picture shot from the Telephoto camera.
There's Pro Mode that lets you have full control over ISO, Shutter speed, White Balance, Focus, and Exposure Values.
You can use all three lenses in Pro mode and all three lenses support shooting in "RAW" format. However, I do not like the position of switching the lens which is at the top instead of keeping it at the bottom. The bottom instead has a 1x and a 2x zoom which is a crop from the main lens. I would've preferred the actual lens switching option at that place.
There's a new "RAW Plus" mode that captures more details & a better dynamic range than the standard RAW mode. I loved the RAW Plus mode. Having dynamic range already on a RAW picture means that the shadows and highlights are already worked upon meaning editing these pictures in Lightroom took minimal effort.
Here are some pictures shot in RAW format & edited with Lightroom.
pictures shot with Pro mode.​One thing I do not like about the Pro Mode is that it does not remember your last used shooting format. The shooting format resets back to JPG after some time. This was very annoying as I have missed shooting in a RAW format a couple of times. Even if I did remember, it was still annoying to enable RAW format every time.
The front camera is a 32 Megapixel with an aperture of f/2.4. Now I'm not a selfie person but the pictures coming out from the front camera are good.
The Portrait mode worked great with animals and humans in daylight and also at nighttime. Edge detection was pretty good and skin tones were accurate.
There's a Long Exposure mode that you can use to capture motion shots not just at night but even during the daytime. Quite useful for those who do not know using Pro mode to shoot such motion shots.
OPPO has also introduced XPAN mode co-developed with Hasselblad which shoots panoramic images in two profiles, color mode, and a unique B&W mode.
shot with XPAN mode.​
All the cameras can shoot up to 4K with 1080p & 720p as options at 30fps or 60fps. However, you cannot change the lenses while recording which is a bummer.
Video samples with max settings can be found here.
There's a dedicated Film mode that lets you shoot in a cinematic ratio and has options to manually set shutter speed, ISO, white balance, manual focus, and exposure values.
film mode feature.​
The mode also supports shooting in LOG format. This is great for those Pro videographers who want to later color-grade the footage. The Film mode supports all three lenses.
Here's a sample footage shot on Film mode and color-graded.
Overall OPPO has done a great job with the camera on the Find X5 and I can definitely recommend someone looking for a phone with a very good Primary & Ultra-wide angle camera with a decent zoom range.
There are some software annoyances & limitations like the Pro mode switching back to JPG format & also not allowing to switch lenses while recording. These are software-related issues so I hope OPPO fixes them soon by pushing an update.

SOFTWARE & PERFORMANCE
OPPO has come a very long way when it comes to it's software. Over the years, OPPO has refined ColorOS with each version, making the user experience better.
Starting with the Android version, the Find X5 comes with Android 12 out of the box with OPPO's ColorOS 12.1 skin on top. ColorOS over the years has changed quite a lot. OPPO's objective with ColorOS 12 is to refine and simplify the whole UI making it cleaner and easier to use. All of its system apps have been updated to cleaner UI and are easier to use with one hand by placing important menus at the bottom.
There's a good amount of customisation option for the launcher that people will appreciate. From the option to change the icon shapes & sizes, grid layout, to the option to change transition while switching pages & more.
customisation for icon, grid layout & page transition.​
OPPO also has introduced its own wallpaper-based theming similar to Google's theming which extracts colours from the wallpaper and applies them across the system and apps.
Unfortunately, OPPO's theming is only limited to the system settings, notification panel, and its own apps, Google apps do not adapt to the theme.
Edit: The device received an update with March security patch. The update now supports theming for Google apps. Good to see OPPO making the user experience better.
There are also tonnes of customisation options for Always-On Display where one can add custom patterns, text & images including system-provided clock & image options. Customisation also includes Font & display, Fingerprint animation, Edge lighting & more.
portrait silhouette feature.​
There's a new Portrait silhouette feature that basically draws an outline around the face and lets you set it as the background of the always-on display.
ColorOS 12.1 also includes all of the Android 12 features such as quick settings toggle to turn off Camera & Mic access to all the apps, option to give an approximate location instead of a precise location, privacy dashboard for checking what permissions were being used by the apps.
OPPO has also worked on animations on ColorOS 12 which they call "Quantum Animation Engine 3.0" adding more lifelike & seamless transitions.
There's an Icon pull-down gesture that can be used by swiping up alongside the edge of the display to bring down the icons close to your thumb and select an app to launch.
icon pull-down gesture, flexible windows & smart sidebar.​
Another feature I really liked is Flexible window which has the ability to turn any app into a floating window for quick multitasking. Smart Sidebar was another handy feature to quickly access functions and apps.
OPPO has done a great job in implementing haptics with the ColorOS. You can feel subtle vibrations across the system while dragging your finger or reaching the end of the page after scrolling. O-HAPTICS under settings lets you turn off system haptics, adjust the haptic intensity, and select a haptic style that has two options, Crisp and Gentle.
Talking about pre-installed apps, the phone did have a good amount of bloatware like Amazon, Facebook, and more. However, most of these can be easily uninstalled.
Another issue I want to address is that the folders do not adapt to the selected icon shape. This makes the home screen look a bit inconsistent.
folder shape does not change to a circle.​
Performance was also quite solid even though it has the last year's chipset, Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. I did wish it had the latest 8 Gen 1 processor, though adding last year's Snapdragon 888 to cut costs without sacrificing performance makes sense after all Snapdragon 888 SOC is quite a capable chipset and can handle everything you throw at it.
During my usage, it performed exceptionally well. I did not face any stutters or major slowdowns. 8GB of RAM was sufficient for multitasking and keeping the apps running in the background. If 8GB of RAM isn't sufficient then one can expand the RAM through the RAM expansion feature which utilizes the phone's storage space.
With a 120Hz refresh rate and 240Hz touch sampling rate the phone felt quite smooth to use and apps and games opened very quickly.
I don't really play games on my phone but I did install some games like BGMI & Asphalt 8 to test out its peak performance and it ran those games quite well with high graphic settings. The phone did get a little warm after running the games for about an hour but did not get abnormally hot.
Software experience has been mostly positive with the Find X5. Even though not having the latest 8 Gen 1 processor, the performance of the phone was pretty solid.

BATTERY & CHARGING
The battery size on Find X5 is a pretty respectable 4,800 mAh split between two cells allowing it to charge at a very high speed.
In terms of charging the Find X5, the device supports 80 Watt SUPERVOOC wired charging which charges the device instantly. The device also supports AirVOOC wireless charging at 30 Watts & Reverse Wireless Charging at 10 Watts.
Unfortunately, I couldn't test AirVOOC wireless charging as I did not have the wireless charger with me. However, Reverse Wireless Charging worked quite well with my OnePlus Buds Pro.
I did test the wired charging speed and the phone charged to 50% in about 15 mins & 100% in just about 40 minutes which is quite impressive. The device did not heat abnormally while charging the device at such high speeds.
I also briefly tested the battery life and in my moderate usage, I was getting somewhere around 7-8 hours of screen on time. Under heavy use expect the screen on time to be around 5 to 6 hours.
battery life with heavy and moderate usage.​
My usage generally includes apps like YouTube, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, Twitter, and Reddit, taking a lot of pictures, and editing pictures in Lightroom.
There's Power saving mode which is nothing but Battery Saver mode. You can enable it manually or set it to enable automatically based on specified battery levels from 5% to 75%.
Power saving mode also includes options to control screen brightness, screen time-out, background sync, and screen refresh rate.
There's also a High performance mode under battery settings which increases device performance. I did not feel any need to enable it since the performance was quite good even without this mode being enabled. Other features include standby optimisation and optimised night time charging for preserving battery health.
Overall I would say OPPO has done a great job in terms of Battery and Charging department.

VERDICT
The Find X5 is a solid flagship with a little compromise.
Even though having last year's Snapdragon 888, performance will be more than adequate for the majority of users. The software did impress me more than I expected it to be. There are some minor software issues that can be easily fixed via a software update. The display & build quality is great, the charging speed is more than adequate, and battery life is also great. The overall camera performance is great, except for the decent zoom range.
And that's all I have to say about the OPPO Find X5. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'd be glad to answer them.
I'd like to thank the @OPPO Ambassador Team again for giving me the opportunity to review OPPO Find X5!
Looking forward to what OPPO brings to the table next year with the Find X6!