To say that the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is a remarkable device would be a huge understatement. It is a phone that boldly breaks the status quo among Android high-ends – a phone the very existence of which proves that a top-notch Android device can come in a relatively small, pocket-friendly package. Design, however, isn't the only thing there is to like about the Z1 Compact. One should also be excited about the 20.7MP camera that the phone comes equipped with. The snapper isn't just good. It ranks among the best that we've come across recently, which makes the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact well worthy of being stacked against the big boys in the cameraphone department.
So yeah, it is time for another smartphone camera comparison, and the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is having the honor of being the star of the show. We've chosen to compare its camera against those of five other capable and well-known smartphones, namely the Xperia Z1, the LG G2, the iPhone 5s, the Samsung Galaxy S4, and the HTC One. We've also used a Panasonic Lumix GH2 in the shoot-out in order to demonstrate how a proper camera would have captured each of the test scenes we've selected. Now for those who are into digits and raw data, here's a rundown of the specs of these phones' cameras.
Before we dwell any further, we feel obliged to shed some light on the shooting process by which the images from the Sony Xperia Z1 and Z1 Compact have been produced. We chose to leave these two phones in their default Superior Auto camera mode since we believe that's what a typical user would be feeling most comfortable with. Sure, Manual mode lets one crank up the resolution gauge all the way up to 20.7 megapixels, but in reality, most people rarely need such gigantic photos. Instead, the great majority of smartphone users should be perfectly happy with Superior Auto's high-quality 8-megapixel photos of “easy-to-share” size. Keep in mind that the camera software produces these by scaling down images captured using the entire width of the sensor – that's why there's a lot more detail in them than one might expect. Plus, Superior Auto offers lossless-like digital zoom and takes care of scene adjustments automatically. No modes other than their respective default ones have been applied on the rest of the phones, unless noted otherwise. With this lengthy disclaimer out of the way, let's dive into it!
Color reproduction
Grading the color reproduction of these phones' cameras is a challenge, to say the least. Color accuracy in their photos tends to vary slightly from one scene to another so if a camera performs well under certain conditions, it might not get its job done as well in others. If you're holding on to a Sony Xperia Z1 or a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact, however, chances are that the results won't leave you disappointed. Their cameras stick very closely to the neutral color tone, just like a proper camera should.
The iPhone 5s tends to take photos that are slightly warmer than they are in real life, but it rarely goes beyond what we'd call acceptable. Actually, its photos are very pleasing to the eye because of that – the scene is more lively and likable even though it is a tad detached from the way it looks in real life. The Samsung Galaxy S4 and the LG G2 take photos that look nice overall, but some scenes end up colder than they should be. Also, their cameras tend to produce images that are a bit lifeless – brighter and even a tad overexposed at times. As for the HTC One, it has its own opinion as to how colors should look like. Some scenes are very neutral, while others are colder, greenish, or yellowish. On top of that, we don't like how it makes white objects brighter than they are, thus destroying all detail in them. Exposure is sometimes off, although that could be rectified with a tap on the object being photographed.
Details
Here's something we hope all of you reading these lines would agree with – a detailed photo is a beautiful photo. There's just something special about being able to examine an image from up close – to inspect every leaf, every blade of grass, and every tree branch that has been preserved. In general, the more pixels a camera has at its disposal, the more visual information it can capture, which bodes well for the Z1 Compact's ranking in this particular category. But in reality, the Sony Xperia Z1 outruns its little brother by an inch. The Z1 ranks best among all, for that matter. Sure, both handsets' photos look great overall, but the Z1 Compact's snapper produces slightly softer details, especially in the outer areas of the image. That aside, the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact is still a respectable shooter. Let us not forget that if you want to squeeze out even more detail out of your photos, you can always switch to manual mode and take 20MP shots instead.
Next up we have the Samsung Galaxy S4, which can't beat the Z1 and the Z1 Compact when it comes to detail preservation, although it doesn't lag behind them by much. Details in its photos are good, but rarely better and usually look artificial. Not to mention that the Galaxy S4's images are slightly noisier when compared to those from both Xperias. The LG G2 takes detailed photos as well, but it also has its flaws. It captures scenes in detail, but finer elements appear smudgy and unnatural when you take a closer look. The iPhone 5s is a step behind in the detail category. On one hand, its photos look pretty nice and sharp, but on the other hand, digital noise is more likely to appear. Trailing behind the pack is the HTC One – its photos have little detail, too much digital noise, and the camera processing algorithms boost the sharpness way too much.
Indoor photos
Taking photos in broad daylight is an easy job even for a cheaper phone's camera. Shooting indoors, however, is trickier of a task since there's much less light illuminating the scene, and to little surprise, the results we got after our studio shoot-out were a mixed bag. Overall, the Sony Xperia Z1 and Z1 Compact are feeling pretty comfortable in low light. Their images are sharp, very detailed, and with accurately represented colors (slightly cold on the Compact) even when the LED light has fired. There is some digital noise in their shots, but its presence isn't too disturbing.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 takes very good photos when there's a strong artificial light source nearby, but in dim light, its LED flash lights up and usually throws the color balance out of the window. (Note: a software update should be able to rectify the issue.) The camera on the LG G2 behaves differently – the phone uses its LED light only in extreme cases, which can be either a good or a bad thing, depending how you look at it. Natural colors are preserved well enough and light is evenly spread in its low-light indoor photos, but details are smudgy. In the presence of a strong light, however, the G2 delivers commendable results. Same can be said about the iPhone 5s, which captures great indoor photos with the help of a nearby light. Darker scenes are also usable, as long as you don't mind the grain. At the bottom of the chart we have the HTC One again. Its indoor photos are lifeless, to say the least, and on top of that, the camera has a hard time focusing on the subject when it is too dark.
Night photos
One of the few things that the Z1 Compact's camera can't do very well is to shoot photos at night. Many of the night scenes that we photographed with it were underexposed and with disturbing color inaccuracies. As you might guess, the Xperia Z1 didn't perform any better than its smaller counterpart, delivering equal results in a number of cases. On the bright side of things, they preserve a very good amount of detail in their nighttime photos.
In contrast, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is ideal for taking night photos, especially if you have a steady hand. Everything from sparkly Christmas trees to buildings illuminated by bright projector light is captured in great detail. No less impressive are the night shots from the iPhone 5s, which performs amazingly well without the need for one to adjust any modes or settings. But the phone that truly deserves the top spot in this category is the LG G2. It is well capable of preserving detailed night scenes all the while exposing them accurately and reducing graininess to a minimum. The HTC One is once again at the bottom of the chart with its noisy, overly bright, and awkwardly colored night photos.
Panorama photos
Panoramic photos, which are made of several photos that have been digitally stitched together, are ideal for capturing a scenery that just can't fit into a single shot. The feature is built into the camera software of every single one of the phones we're comparing and using it is a piece of cake. Some of these phones produce better results, however. The Galaxy S4, for example, takes amazing, perfectly stitched panoramic photos that capture a 360-degree scene in stunningly high resolution. Panoramas shot with the iPhone 5s are almost as detailed and encompassing, with no visible seams in the picture. The HTC One takes panoramas of decent quality so it is fit for the task as well despite the presence of grain in the shot. Sadly, the Sony Xperia Z1 and Z1 Compact just can't take good panorama photos. They are very poorly stitched and of low resolution, which renders them unpleasant to look at. As for the LG G2, its panoramic photos are plain awful.
Video
Videos taken with the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and the Xperia Z1 are very good overall. They aren't jaw-droppingly good by any means, but they're definitely smooth and detailed enough to be enjoyed. Shaky hands? No worries! These phones' built-in software image stabilization keeps the frame steady. Furthermore, the recorded stereo sound is very clear and sufficiently loud.
The iPhone 5s, however, records video of even higher quality. In fact, we find it best among the bunch in that respect. Even at night, its footage is very detailed, silky-smooth, and flawlessly stabilized by the camera software. On the downside, sound is the iPhone 5s's videos is just terrible.
The LG G2 is the only phone among these that is capable of recording 1080p video at 60 frames per second. Video shot in this mode occupies extra storage space, but will wow you with its incredible smoothness. Thanks to its optical image stabilization capabilities, the camera automatically reduces accidental shakes and bumps to a minimum. But the G2's snapper is far from flawless. Even at 30 frames per second, moving objects its nighttime video appear awfully blurry. The other thing we have to complain about is sound quality, which is mediocre at best.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 captures some pretty decent videos regardless of the lighting conditions. Like the Z1 and Z1 Compact, it does not stand leagues above any other phone, but it does not disappoint in any way either. Videos from the Galaxy S4 have sufficient detail, loud and clear audio, and an accurate color balance.
As for the HTC One, we like how smooth, detailed, and stable its daytime videos are. What we don't like, however, is that the focus in videos is locked by default and it doesn't shift automatically as you record. If enabled, the continuous autofocus sometimes struggles to lock the focus where it is supposed to be. The One's nighttime videos are okay. They are smooth and stable, but the colors may be a bit off, depending on the scene you're shooting.
Camera interface and ease of use
We've come to the section where we leave image quality aside and focus on the actual image capturing process. Why is this important, you ask? Because we hope you'll agree that even the best smartphone camera is useless if one can't utilize it optimally.
Let's begin with the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. First and foremost, the shape and size of the device are ideal for it to be used for taking pictures. The handset has flat sides and isn't too thin or too large, which makes it very comfortable to hold in landscape mode. Also, its 2-stage camera shutter button is a valuable asset giving us better control when composing a frame. As for the phone's camera interface, the default Intelligent Auto mode is highly suitable for use by people who aren't photography aces – it automatically takes care of scene selection based on what's in the viewfinder. Those who are more experienced with digital photography may take advantage of the Manual mode available on the Xperia Z1 Compact. It gives access to resolution settings, focus modes, white balance adjustments, exposure, and more. On top of that, the phone has a few neat features pre-loaded, including Social Live, which is made for streaming events straight to your Facebook wall, and a bunch of cool augmented reality effects. More of these modes can be downloaded from the web.
The Sony Xperia Z1 has an identical camera interface so we're not going to go over it in details again. Even though the phone is physically larger than the Z1 Compact, we find it nearly as comfortable to hold while shooting photos or video thanks to its shape.
On the LG G2 we find a well-arranged user interface with lots of shooting scenes for photos and live effects for videos. The best thing about the smartphone's camera is that it features optical image stabilization, and it works pretty well, as our experience shows. Another awesome perk is the option to shoot video at 60 fps, which dramatically improves the quality of daytime videos. The handset itself isn't as comfortable to grasp while snapping because of its tapered edges, but we don't feel like we're going to drop it any second either.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 offers a whole ton of shooting scenes and modes for the user to play with, and most of them can actually be quite useful given the appropriate conditions. We find it convenient that two separate shutter buttons have been added – one for taking photos and another for recording videos – so there is no need to switch manually between modes. With its flat sides, the Galaxy S4 is comfortable enough to be held steadily during shoot-outs.
The iPhone 5s isn't very generous on camera settings. In fact, there's very little one can adjust manually. That's not as bad as it sounds, however, for the interface is extremely easy to use and can be accessed in a blink of an eye via the dedicated lock screen shortcut. What's more, the camera launches almost instantly and requires minimal time between individual shots. For those who are into these, image filters can be applied to the photo. Special modes include HDR, which works surprisingly fast, and 120fps slow-motion videos. The handset itself is very comfortable to hold and its volume button can be used as a shutter key.
There is no shortage of shooting scenes, modes, and options on the HTC One. It can take HDR photos and videos at 1080p resolution, or 60 frame-per-second videos at 720p. However, the UI hasn't been organized the best way possible. Most settings and adjustments are placed in a single list with lots of sub-menus, so getting to the one you need may take more steps than it should. Thankfully, the frequently used ones are placed on the very top of the list.
Conclusion
There is no denying that the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact's camera is among the better one's we've had the chance to try recently. With over 20MP at its disposal, it takes great photos and videos at the tap of a button, and one doesn't have to be a photography guru in order to use it effectively. It does fall short of being the ultimate camera in existence, but given the right circumstances, it should be capable of outperforming the cameras on many of today's flagships. If photography is your thing and you're in need of a reliable snapper, the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact won't disappoint.
As for the Sony Xperia Z1, we're not surprised to see that its photos are at least as good as those produced by its smaller sibling. Both have the very same camera outfitted on them after all. In some cases, the Z1's camera might produce slightly better results than the Z1 Compact, but the difference in quality between both phones' photos is negligible.
The remaining part of our conclusion section shouldn't bring much in terms of surprises. As expected, the Samsung Galaxy S4 scored well in our comparison, proving that its camera is not to be underestimated. Even though the smartphone has been around for almost a year now, its 13MP camera should meet the needs and quality standards of both amateur and experienced photographers.
Same can be said about the iPhone 5s, which proves that a camera doesn't need a two-digit megapixel count in order to wow us with the photos and videos it produces. And if that's not enough to love about it, Apple's smartphone has to be the simplest and fastest to use, allowing photographers of all ages to snap excellent photos with minimal effort.
The LG G2 is a strange creature. Its 13MP camera excels in most scenes, then somehow manages to mess up others. Thankfully, the latter phenomenon does not occur often. Overall, the phone is well capable of capturing excellent photos and videos given enough light.
In last place we have the HTC One, whose results demonstrate that the company's Ultrapixel brand has to be either abandoned, or dramatically improved. Of course, the smartphone is perfectly suitable for snapping casual photos, but a high-end smartphone should be able to do way better than this.
Disclaimer: The overall score for each phone represents its average rating, but note that we're only taking into account the Details, Color representation and Indoor categories in the Overall score. We're factoring all the others (such as Night and Panorama) out, since those represent situations where users are less likely to take images in. Video recording isn't included as well, since we consider it a separate thing from photo-taking. We've done this in order to end up with an Overall rating that is representative of a camera's performance in those areas, which we think are most important to users.
Software versions of the smartphone units used in the comparison:
Sony Xperia Z1 compact: Android 4.3, Build 14.2.A.1.114 Sony Xperia Z1: Android 4.2.2, Build 14.1.G.2.257 LG G2: Android 4.2.2, SW version D80210e-EUR-XX HTC One: Android 4.3, Software 3.63.707.3 Samsung Galaxy S4: Android 4.2.2, Build JDQ39.I9505XXUAMDM iPhone 5s: iOS 7.0.4 (11B554a)
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