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Will Sony Improve Software on Z3 Compact Camera ?

I am seriously considering the Z3 Compact - they have fixed almost all the limitations I was concerned about
and unlike Galaxy Alpha have a large Battery, SD Card, and fairly powerful Speakers.
The Camera performance is according to some Reviews equal to Iphone5s ,slightly better in some ways but some say closer to Galaxy S5.
Either way hands on reviewers suggest that the new Sensor is not maximized by the Software Engineers.
Will we see an Update from Sony which will be a major step up .

robertkoa said:
I am seriously considering the Z3 Compact - they have fixed almost all the limitations I was concerned about
and unlike Galaxy Alpha have a large Battery, SD Card, and fairly powerful Speakers.
The Camera performance is according to some Reviews equal to Iphone5s ,slightly better in some ways but some say closer to Galaxy S5.
Either way hands on reviewers suggest that the new Sensor is not maximized by the Software Engineers.
Will we see an Update from Sony which will be a major step up .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android L will bring a completely new camera implementation :good:

robertkoa said:
I am seriously considering the Z3 Compact - they have fixed almost all the limitations I was concerned about
and unlike Galaxy Alpha have a large Battery, SD Card, and fairly powerful Speakers.
The Camera performance is according to some Reviews equal to Iphone5s ,slightly better in some ways but some say closer to Galaxy S5.
Either way hands on reviewers suggest that the new Sensor is not maximized by the Software Engineers.
Will we see an Update from Sony which will be a major step up .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion the pictures/videos really depend on the situation. Sometimes the Sony's are better sometimes other phones. The phones do fairly poor in low light situations.

Dsteppa said:
In my opinion the pictures/videos really depend on the situation. Sometimes the Sony's are better sometimes other phones. The phones do fairly poor in low light situations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
I wonder how well they will perform in well lit interiors with flourescent and incandescent lighting and if they can enable some better
semi automated easy 20 megapixel modes
Or , merely maximize the 20 megapixel mode to be a top performer.
And add a few 20 megapixel Auto Modes.

geronimoid said:
Android L will bring a completely new camera implementation :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android L isn't going to be some miracle for the average user...
From I recall it'll give third party apps more access to and control over the camera.

King p1n said:
Android L isn't going to be some miracle for the average user...
From I recall it'll give third party apps more access to and control over the camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm more interested in what Sony will add to the package than the OS itself. This source claims a replacement for SA mode.

i'd say its a good chance that the camera firmware gets update sometime close to launch. This has been the case i've noticed for Sony phones...always a camera fix and always a little after launch. I could be wrong though.

robertkoa said:
Thanks.
I wonder how well they will perform in well lit interiors with flourescent and incandescent lighting and if they can enable some better
semi automated easy 20 megapixel modes
Or , merely maximize the 20 megapixel mode to be a top performer.
And add a few 20 megapixel Auto Modes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The full resolution images will always look worse than the downscaled ones. The 8mp superior auto pictures are created from 20mp images using a procedure called 'oversampling', which results in sharper images with less noise (a 20mp image is shrunken and resampled). But Sony's resampling algorithm just isn't very good. When I take a 20mp test image from a review and downscale it to the 8mp dimensions myself, using irfanview, I get a much cleaner and sharper looking result.

Sony X3 Compact Camera Resolution
Thanks DeGraff-
You would think Sony would have a better Algorithm for Downsampling an Image from 20 megapixel down to 8 megapixel than you are using-
Unless the algorithms that.do this well are math /CPU Intensive and would require too much time to process ?
As it stands the Sony XperiaZ3 Conmpact and Xperia Z3 seem to be on still
Images slightly below the sharpness of Iphone 5s , Galaxy S5, and LG G3
on most that I have seen, these photos are Online and I am viewing on a low res
phone but that's what I am seeing.
I want to be able to take some good photos for slide shows etc. and to email presentations- Galaxy S5 is sharper but TOO BIG to carry.
I hope SONY develops better Software but if they could, they would have already right ?
Is it possible to put a caption below each photo on Xperia?
Will image quality improve on software update ?

Better Downsampling Algorithm for Z Cameras ?
After I get my Z3 I would DEFINITELY pay $ 20 for a proven set of
Camera Downsizing Algorithms , one for Macro , one for Indoor Shots etc.
Could this possibly happen with Developers or as a Co - effort with Sony and Devs ?
Why doesn't Sony have Camera Software equal to Apple and Samsung.
You guys are Devs. Is digital noise reduction and correction so expensive and
hard to develop that Sony can't do it ?
Are there only 3 Guys that have the Math ?
Lol.

robertkoa said:
After I get my Z3 I would DEFINITELY pay $ 20 for a proven set of
Camera Downsizing Algorithms , one for Macro , one for Indoor Shots etc.
Could this possibly happen with Developers or as a Co - effort with Sony and Devs ?
Why doesn't Sony have Camera Software equal to Apple and Samsung.
You guys are Devs. Is digital noise reduction and correction so expensive and
hard to develop that Sony can't do it ?
Are there only 3 Guys that have the Math ?
Lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that I think of it, it might have to do with the split between Sony and Ericsson. Since the Sony Xperia Z, Sony decided to make their own phones, I don't know what they did with the people that work at Ericsson, but I assume they didn't took over everyone. So it might be a reason, that they have some people with lesser experience.
Sent from my D5803

I will be getting the USA Sony Unlocked D5803 which is the same as the Europe
Version except more money but enables a $79.99 great warranty including the
Butterfly Glass breaking ( my nickname lol).
Hopefully SONY got some GG3 or Dragontrail on these latest production runs.
I hope they tweak the Auto Modes in Android L and add some User,Presets for
different shots.
Either way, the Camera has been compared a tier below the Big,Boys
Iphone6, Note 4, etc. still good but with tweaking, or for example 2 different
Downsizing Algorithms, and a few tricks could be right up there....
You Devs who work with Photo Algorithms, a serious opportunity for a
big dollar App here , right ?
I will pay$20 , maybe $40 for an App that kicks a Z3C into top Lumia Category...

robertkoa said:
I will be getting the USA Sony Unlocked D5803 which is the same as the Europe
Version except more money but enables a $79.99 great warranty including the
Butterfly Glass breaking ( my nickname lol).
Hopefully SONY got some GG3 or Dragontrail on these latest production runs.
I hope they tweak the Auto Modes in Android L and add some User,Presets for
different shots.
Either way, the Camera has been compared a tier below the Big,Boys
Iphone6, Note 4, etc. still good but with tweaking, or for example 2 different
Downsizing Algorithms, and a few tricks could be right up there....
You Devs who work with Photo Algorithms, a serious opportunity for a
big dollar App here , right ?
I will pay$20 , maybe $40 for an App that kicks a Z3C into top Lumia Category...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some time ago, I emailed the developer of an app called "Open Camera" asking if he would add an option to simulate oversampling by automatically downsampling maximum-resolution photos. He liked the idea and he said he will try to add such a feature some time in the near future. It will be the first third-party android camera app to ever simulate oversampling. I'm curious to see he will manage to use a better downsampling algorythm than the one used by superior auto mode.

Thanks De Graff : you might want to tell this Dev that is he can get sharper photos
perhaps by using 3 Different Downsizing Algorithms:
One for Indoors, one for Indoors with Flash etc etc or maybe one that only downsizes from 20.7 to the 15 megapixel setting ?
And tell him many of us will PAY if he gets less noise, sharper, better exposure.
Xperia MAX Cam-maximize your Z3.

[Q] Z3C Camera... a dealbreaker?

I am in the market for a new phone. I use an old Samsung S3 now. The Z3Compact seems perfect, but my only concern is the camera. I use my phone as my main camera, but general consensus seems to be that it is not as good as the camera on the S5 of iPhone6. I like to shoot directly in HDR mode, but that seems to be a problem on the Z3. Without rooting, could I install the Google Camera apk and if so, would the Z3C be able to use the HDR mode from the Google Camera app?
Or should I change my plans and go for the S5?

The Google camera app on the Play Store installs fine. I'll post some comparison shots later this morning.
My sister has an S3 and we were taking comparison photos in her kitchen yesterday - obviously the z3c is a significant step up in quality from the S3, though I realize that's not really your question.

Thanks! And it is no problem to use the HDR setting in the Google Camera app? On my Nexus 7 the HDR is greyed-out in the Google Camera App, it will nog show up on every device i read in the Google Q&A

Google camera app permits HDR on the z3c.
Sony camera app also has HDR toggle in manual mode, but is grayed out if resolution is set higher than 8mp.
I know of several reviews claiming that Sony's Superior Auto mode isn't HDR, but since that mode captures at 8mp I'm wondering if it doesn't use it's internal HDR algorithm in auto mode, despite what I've seen the reviewers claim. I can't really tell the difference between Superior Auto and Manual 8mp HDR photos taken with the Sony camera app.
---------- Post added at 12:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:08 PM ----------
Ok, here are some comparison pictures of the Z3C's camera, using both the Sony Camera App, and the Google Camera App from the Play store.
I have uploaded the pictures to an imgur album, and added descriptions for the six photos. Just for clarity's sake, I should mention I am not really into photography that much, and my skills are probably not up to par for composing or technique, so take that into account.
There are six pictures (they're labeled appropriately in the album, but I'm reproducing them here so people can decide if they're interested before viewing them, since the images are large):
1) Sony App, Superior Auto setting (8mp), No Flash
2) Sony App, Superior Auto setting (8mp), Flash
3) Sony App, Manual Setting at 20mp, No Flash
4) Sony App, Manual Setting at 20mp, Flash
5) Google App, HDR setting at 20mp, No Flash
6) Google App, HDR setting at 20mp, Flash
Here is the link to the imgur album:
http://imgur.com/a/KjL4D#0
Hope this is helpful.

I just did a quick Google cam vs stock cam test myself. The stock cam in auto mode definitely takes pics that are a little on the cold side. In manual mode though, it was more accurate. The google cam seemed more or less the same. I'm sticking with the stock Sony cam.

DrPanz said:
I am in the market for a new phone. I use an old Samsung S3 now. The Z3Compact seems perfect, but my only concern is the camera. I use my phone as my main camera, but general consensus seems to be that it is not as good as the camera on the S5 of iPhone6. I like to shoot directly in HDR mode, but that seems to be a problem on the Z3. Without rooting, could I install the Google Camera apk and if so, would the Z3C be able to use the HDR mode from the Google Camera app?
Or should I change my plans and go for the S5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People shouldn't act as if the camera is bad, it's not bad at all. Just in some situations it under performs against iOS and the S5 for example, but in other situations it' better.
Check out the topic I made for people with doubts, you can see samples there:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/themes-apps/post-pictures-xperia-z3-compact-t2889119

Thank you. Not quite made up my mind yet. I read a lot of horrorstories on broken glass... maybe the S5 proves out to be a more secure option. Good camera, waterresistant and plastic - which in my S1 and S3 has survived a lot of drops.

I think it comes down to how important the form factor and potential battery life advantages are over other stuff.
There are choices with slightly better cameras and certainly ones less vulnerable to accidental damage.
For me, coming off Nexus 5 and Note 3, I am really prioritizing battery longevity, pocket friendliness and better one-handed comfort and use. So far I'm pleased but it's still early days so the jury's still out for me.
Be sure you can live with TouchWiz and other Samsung bloat (bugs with erroneous Knox warnings on the AT&T Note 3 model nearly drove me crazy). It really ruined my Note 3 experience for me and is what drove me to the Nexus 5, which in turn was somewhat spoiled by awful battery life despite rooting and aggressively optimizing (to the point of limiting usefulness) power consumption. Never got more than 8-10 realistic hours on the 5 no matter what I tried.

Form factor is great. As is battery life. That's one side. Other side is the camera, and how it stands up to a drop from the pocket. That last bit worries me.

Well I haven't had the Sony long enough to try and convince you the advantages outweigh the drawbacks - I may drop mine and destroy it this afternoon!
But I'm not sure any unprotected high end smartphone stands all that good a chance of surviving any particular dropping incident, and adding a protective case to a smaller device still nets you a slightly larger small device that is still a a lot smaller profile than a bigger device with a protective case. Just my. 02 worth.

It's not only dropping, but also spontanious cracks when carrying the Z3C in te front pocket. of your jeans. Been reading a lot of reports on that the last days.

Most of those reports are duplicates. Only a few confirmed cases.
Sent from my D5803 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

As far as I'm concerned, every other phone has more so-called "dealbreakers" than the Z3C. This phone has so many plusses that outweigh any possible negatives that people need to imagine faults and come up with ridiculous issues not to get it, and that's their loss.

In this German test of the Z3C the back panel cracked spontaniously:
http://www.areamobile.de/handys/4275-sony-xperia-z3-compact/testbericht
Sony states it was an isolated incident. Yeah...

DrPanz said:
I am in the market for a new phone. I use an old Samsung S3 now. The Z3Compact seems perfect, but my only concern is the camera. I use my phone as my main camera, but general consensus seems to be that it is not as good as the camera on the S5 of iPhone6. I like to shoot directly in HDR mode, but that seems to be a problem on the Z3. Without rooting, could I install the Google Camera apk and if so, would the Z3C be able to use the HDR mode from the Google Camera app?
Or should I change my plans and go for the S5?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you like to take nature photos, and if you are planning to watch the photos on something larger than the phone display, the Z3/compact is a bad choice. In this post is a comparison with the galaxy note 3
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=55980596&postcount=127
Now, this is viewing the pixels 1:1, which probably most people won't bother with. But even when scaling down this particular photo to about 2MP, the compression artifacts can still be noticed, and the GN3 photo is the better one! And it definitely proves that in certain cases, like photos with much detail, there are much better cameras out there.
But in other cases the Z3 camera produces beautiful images (if you don't look too closely), and it is great for low light photos. But for anything with trees or grass - definitely no!

radicans said:
If you like to take nature photos, and if you are planning to watch the photos on something larger than the phone display, the Z3/compact is a bad choice. In this post is a comparison with the galaxy note 3
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=55980596&postcount=127
Now, this is viewing the pixels 1:1, which probably most people won't bother with. But even when scaling down this particular photo to about 2MP, the compression artifacts can still be noticed, and the GN3 photo is the better one! And it definitely proves that in certain cases, like photos with much detail, there are much better cameras out there.
But in other cases the Z3 camera produces beautiful images (if you don't look too closely), and it is great for low light photos. But for anything with trees or grass - definitely no!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. the camera performance issues, the fact that HDR is a bit of a hustle to reach, and the reports of cracking displays have made me nervous enough to put my plans for buying the Z3C on hold, and maybe buy the S5. Not as pretty as the Z3C, but it may prove out to be a safe choice for now.

DrPanz said:
Thanks. the camera performance issues, the fact that HDR is a bit of a hustle to reach, and the reports of cracking displays have made me nervous enough to put my plans for buying the Z3C on hold, and maybe buy the S5. Not as pretty as the Z3C, but it may prove out to be a safe choice for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HDR is easy, you just have to set it to 8MP or less, then HDR switch becomes available. And with the Z3 there is no point whatsoever to shoot in anything larger than 8MP anyway!
But yeah, if I would have known about the camera compression/oversharpening issues I would have settled for another phone. And speaking of compression, the funny thing is that in the comparison photos i posted, the file size of the inferior Z3 photo is about twice as large over the galaxy note photo!! Nice one Sony..

What would have been the smartphone you would have chosen in stead?

Well, there are not many options, if you want to keep pocketability, form factor and dedicated camera button.
I have some nice results with Pro Capture, but compared to stock camera app with a little touch of post processing (Snapseed e.g.), the camera is capable of some nice shots. But it's nothing THAT special really.
Still, beats my Nexus5 in terms of focus speed, which is kinda important for me, so...
But, YMMV.

DrPanz said:
What would have been the smartphone you would have chosen in stead?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I really want the "small" form factor of Z3c, but without compromises. So that leaves most phones out I guess. Samsung galaxy alpha would have been nice, if it wasn't for the battery time and the big price tag. Probably would have waited with the purchase another 6 months or so, and see what the market looked like at that point.
I know I have ranted lots on the camera, but all things considered, it's still a great phone!

[Q] Camera App Comparison

My wife currently has a Samsung Galaxy S4 and she complains about how slow it is all the time. I think that the Nexus 6 is the best choice as a replacement due to it not having the overlaying UI. She is torn between the Nexus 6 and the iphone, since she had the iPhone 4s before that, but I believe she likes the Nexus 6 better for the front facing speakers, larger display, higher megapixel camera etc.
What I would like to know is... does different camera apps (on the nexus 6 specifically) produce "Better" pictures than the stock Google Camera App. If you have multiple apps, can you take pictures with the different apps and post them? I would like to know also if its purely hardware, software, or a combination of both that makes the best picture with this phone. Thank you in advance!!

ccsoccer03 said:
My wife currently has a Samsung Galaxy S4 and she complains about how slow it is all the time. I think that the Nexus 6 is the best choice as a replacement due to it not having the overlaying UI. She is torn between the Nexus 6 and the iphone, since she had the iPhone 4s before that, but I believe she likes the Nexus 6 better for the front facing speakers, larger display, higher megapixel camera etc.
What I would like to know is... does different camera apps (on the nexus 6 specifically) produce "Better" pictures than the stock Google Camera App. If you have multiple apps, can you take pictures with the different apps and post them? I would like to know also if its purely hardware, software, or a combination of both that makes the best picture with this phone. Thank you in advance!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can absolutely use multiple camera apps and compare for yourself, if that's what you want to try. I use the Google camera but I don't take tons of pictures, mostly pics of my kids. (wife uses the G3 for that) Many users do switch apps and get better results.
As far as hardware, for Nexus devices, this is the best so far. Obviously, things get better with every new device. Sadly, this is the only thing, IMHO, that Android loses to Apple. The hardware is there but software still seems to suffer. The camera on the S6 is supposed to be great and the upcoming G4, is supposed to be spectacular. The Nexus 6 camera isn't horrible, by any means, but there are better out there.
Hope I've helped a bit.

Evolution_Freak said:
You can absolutely use multiple camera apps and compare for yourself, if that's what you want to try. I use the Google camera but I don't take tons of pictures, mostly pics of my kids. (wife uses the G3 for that) Many users do switch apps and get better results.
As far as hardware, for Nexus devices, this is the best so far. Obviously, things get better with every new device. Sadly, this is the only thing, IMHO, that Android loses to Apple. The hardware is there but software still seems to suffer. The camera on the S6 is supposed to be great and the upcoming G4, is supposed to be spectacular. The Nexus 6 camera isn't horrible, by any means, but there are better out there.
Hope I've helped a bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Apps that come to mind are Manual Camera, Camera L, Camera FV -5. Do they make the pcitures better?

ccsoccer03 said:
The Apps that come to mind are Manual Camera, Camera L, Camera FV -5. Do they make the pcitures better?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do recall seeing a few of those mentioned, with positive results.

Some applications will have more "tunables" in it for instructing the camera how to operate. Generally speaking though, the picture is still a product of the hardware.
Having said that, in BLIND tests (referring to the methodology, not the people looking at the pictures...), Nexus 6 beats applefone6 massively when it comes to actual picture quality. The focus can be a bit slow on it though.

Is the Z3 camera as good as they say?

I am looking for an excellent camera. The Xperia Z3 sounds good. I do see the Z5 has a little better resolution, but I do need to root and fix up the software to run Xposed, so Z3 sounds better.
Is the Z3 camera actually excellent?

Xperia series of camera are good in my oppinion, a lot better compared to iPhones due to the number of features added.
However i suggest not getting a Z3 Compact (Or any xperia compact) as they are quite dodgy (hardware problems all the time)
But in conclusion the Z3 camera is good, but if you wanted 20MP in superior auto you need to root and install xposed anyway.

interestor said:
I am looking for an excellent camera. The Xperia Z3 sounds good. I do see the Z5 has a little better resolution, but I do need to root and fix up the software to run Xposed, so Z3 sounds better.
Is the Z3 camera actually excellent?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can tell you one thing for sure excellent it is not. on the contrary, far from that, average at best I'd say. The stock camera app is very slow compare to other flagship smartphones which were available at the time of the release of the z3. The auto focus is also pretty slow and quite bad. Moreover, the front-facing camera is also average, but I haven't seen any smartphone excel at that area. In addition, I don't really know if its a factor to you or not, but the flash is by far THE WORST flash I have ever seen a smartphone to be equipped with - a single LED flash which can with very little power to it.
The only positive thing I can say about it, that if you go manual in the stock app you can get some very good shots with it, but I doubt anyone does that with a smartphone on a daily basis.
Don't get me wrong, its a decent phone for it's price. However, the sole reason I sticked to Sony is because they are the only company to release a below 5" flagship speced smartphone in 2014.

nzzane said:
Xperia series of camera are good in my oppinion, a lot better compared to iPhones due to the number of features added.
However i suggest not getting a Z3 Compact (Or any xperia compact) as they are quite dodgy (hardware problems all the time)
But in conclusion the Z3 camera is good, but if you wanted 20MP in superior auto you need to root and install xposed anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn! I am leaning toward getting one mainly because of small size (and lanyard mount and button). What are the common problems with the compact?
What, an xposed module lets you run the camera at higher performance? What's its name? what's it do?

Sydrox said:
I can tell you one thing for sure excellent it is not. on the contrary, far from that, average at best I'd say. The stock camera app is very slow compare to other flagship smartphones which were available at the time of the release of the z3. The auto focus is also pretty slow and quite bad. Moreover, the front-facing camera is also average, but I haven't seen any smartphone excel at that area. In addition, I don't really know if its a factor to you or not, but the flash is by far THE WORST flash I have ever seen a smartphone to be equipped with - a single LED flash which can with very little power to it.
The only positive thing I can say about it, that if you go manual in the stock app you can get some very good shots with it, but I doubt anyone does that with a smartphone on a daily basis.
Don't get me wrong, its a decent phone for it's price. However, the sole reason I sticked to Sony is because they are the only company to release a flagship speced smartphone in 2014.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Yeah, I have read about lag, and focus hunting. Good to mention the flash.
I am interested in the manual controls, but also shooting from the hip.
Now that it is a coupla years old, price is getting better, making me think about redefining excellent.

interestor said:
Damn! I am leaning toward getting one mainly because of small size (and lanyard mount and button). What are the common problems with the compact?
What, an xposed module lets you run the camera at higher performance? What's its name? what's it do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Commonly they will have water proofing failures, or bad batteries, but some people are lucky and get away with no problems.
Yeah i believe its called 20MP xperia or something similar and there is also this modded camera which adds many funtions to camera like more ISO options, exposure, shutter speed etc.

I have one z3c and the camera it's ok much better than most of phones. I have xposed as well and camera fx, i don't have troubles yet so far so good.

Nope, it's pretty bad and certainly a big disappointment.
In good light and with a bit of luck it can take great pictures, but most of the time it's just frustrating (mainly because you know that it is capable when it feels like it). In poor light or with the flash it's just a terrible smudgy mess, my old Galaxy S3 is considerably better. After 6 months I got sick of it and bought a Galaxy S5 which blows it away all the time.

In all reality though, if you wanted to take good photos, use a proper camera, phone cameras are only point and shoot, and are pretty crap compared to what a good camera can do

Camera quality gets me thinking to switch to another phone.. Any inputs?

Hi all,
So it has been a week that have XZ1 Compact, but as most of you aware from the forums camera is not very satisfying. I got a chance to use Galaxy S8 for two months prior to XZ1C, which is also a great phone, however I get the XZ1C just like most of us here; for the phone being in a compact size.
So with the disappointing camera, I am very torn between keeping the phone and wait for an update maybe for the issue to be fixed, or return the phone and get the taller S8.
I wonder what other fellow XDA users think on this issue whether the camera quality can be fix or why should I stay with XZ1C or leave it for S8?

i have the s8 and the XZ1C.
in my opinion, the only thing s8 really has that is special is the camera. i also think this is very overblown. most people don't use their camera that much, but it has become a strong focal point of choosing which phone to buy.
s8 has a slew of issues, including the rounded edges on the screen, the laggy interface, incompatible aspect ratio, bluetooth & wifi issues, poor battery life and a locked bootloader.
before asking if the camera is worth going to, ask yourself if the camera really matters that much. sony camera isn't as good as s8, but then again none are. if the camera means that much to you, then you are forced from here on to only buy samsung products. they really do always have the best cameras, but they pretty much suck at everything else. i don't ever miss my s8 now that i've switched. hell, i enjoy my OP5 more than the s8.
EDIT: you wanna buy my s8? lol (not joking)

The XZ1c is a great compact phone. There isn't any other compact comes close. I bought it because it fits in m pocket and I can drive it with one hand. That's why I love it.
Sure I am disappointed that it can't do close up's, but I have been using the camera a couple of weeks and for all the outdoor stuff and landscapes, it's brilliant. I think people have made too much of an issue about the distortion.
If you're asking the thread if you should get another phone, why not ask yourself what you're going to do with the phone.?
Is it going to fit in a pocket?
Are you going to be taking close up pictures of keyboards?
The sound chip is outstanding, as is the video camera and there's nothing comes close to out performing the battery life, there are so many things that this phone does right.
£500 for qualcomm 835, you're not going to beat that.

I find the issue with the camera is that you can't "just get it out and snap a pic" then expect the result to be something good every time.
With the S8 (and S7, and recent iPhones, and the Pixels) you can do that and most of the time you have a very decent picture.
On the flip side if im careful when taking the picture (mainly making sure there is zero shaking, exposure being correct, etc), the result is generally of higher quality, as long as it's not in low light. I can't easily reproduce the results with the S7/8/iPhone at least.
I suspect that whenever this gets OIS (or they somehow do even better magic with the EIS) this might solves most of this.. (XZ2C?!) but so far, it's not really as good in the "snap and boom decent pic" area.
Finally, I currently own a S7 and while the pic quality is a little less good than the S8 it performs admirably. I'm very tempted to switch full time to the XZ1C and sell the S7 though, because as other said, the XZ1C is better *everywhere else*.

I own XZ1c for 4 days now and annoyed by the camera too. 2 problems on the camera which I found followed by its solution:
1) Distortion problem. I have read various sources, it is due to wide angle lens that caused this, and this issue found too in other phones like Samsung S7 or LG G6. There is 2 solutions from what I know which is a) a software update from Sony that adds an additional step in post photo processing that corrects the distortion, and b) manual correction via software like Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop with 'lens correction' tool.
2) Dark photos during low light environment, in superior auto mode. I managed to get better photo by a) adjust 'colour and brightness' in the setting, or b) switch to manual mode and increase the 'EV' attribute.
Hope it helps.

WaxysDargle said:
i have the s8 and the XZ1C.
in my opinion, the only thing s8 really has that is special is the camera. i also think this is very overblown. most people don't use their camera that much, but it has become a strong focal point of choosing which phone to buy.
s8 has a slew of issues, including the rounded edges on the screen, the laggy interface, incompatible aspect ratio, bluetooth & wifi issues, poor battery life and a locked bootloader.
before asking if the camera is worth going to, ask yourself if the camera really matters that much. sony camera isn't as good as s8, but then again none are. if the camera means that much to you, then you are forced from here on to only buy samsung products. they really do always have the best cameras, but they pretty much suck at everything else. i don't ever miss my s8 now that i've switched. hell, i enjoy my OP5 more than the s8.
EDIT: you wanna buy my s8? lol (not joking)
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I have the S8, have it set up with Nova Launcher, turned all animations to.05 & set the speed on Nova Launcher to the fastest. Got rid of all the bloat ware. This phone flies. It's a great phone with a little doctoring. Saying that I'm still getting the XZ1 Compact, the phone is the perfect size. Just wish the damn phone had FM Radio & more internal storage. 32 just isn't enough for today's apps.
Vinny [emoji631]
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

The distortion is annoying if you tafe photos that are straight like a building for example. in other cases you wonto notice unless its a close up foto. So yes, it is annoying. there is a rumor sony will improve this, but thats it, just rumor.
Overall the xz1c makes fotos almost as good as the s8 in daylight conditions. You can prove my statement useing the compare tool from gsmarena.
It is in the night that the thing goes bad to the Xz1c. But anyway im still kinda satisfied with its capability in night mode. definetly not good as the s8 i8, but its not bad either. You have to think how important is that to you.

vinnyjr said:
I have the S8, have it set up with Nova Launcher, turned all animations to.05 & set the speed on Nova Launcher to the fastest. Got rid of all the bloat ware. This phone flies. It's a great phone with a little doctoring. Saying that I'm still getting the XZ1 Compact, the phone is the perfect size. Just wish the damn phone had FM Radio & more internal storage. 32 just isn't enough for today's apps.
Vinny [emoji631]
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
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i also noted a big improvement on my s8 after some extreme debloating via ADB. performance was definitely not the worst thing about the phone. i can deal with occasional hiccups.
for me, the worst thing is the screen. my ear pressing buttons while on a call, accidental grazes on the edges and loss of the corner utility because of the roundness and curved nature. looks cool, but not practical once used. it's a beautiful device, but i never could figure out exactly how to hold it securely and still remain functional.
oh, and the speaker on that thing! i've heard mouse farts that could drown out max volume on the s8.

The only thing I don't like with the camera is the slow autofocus. The feature of holding the shutter button to take many pictures quickly apparently focuses between each shot, so why can't the first single shot have a faster autofocus?

I've just looked at my pictures on the computer and holy ****, the quality is horrible for anything not taken outdoors. Just wow. The one thing holding me from unlocking the bootloader was what I thought were the camera improvements by Sony's DRM keys, but since that does nearly nothing to the quality of the pics, I may just do it whenever there's an AOSP rom available.

android_fury said:
I may just do it whenever there's an AOSP rom available.
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They've been available for a while now.

legendnexus said:
Hi all,
So it has been a week that have XZ1 Compact, but as most of you aware from the forums camera is not very satisfying. I got a chance to use Galaxy S8 for two months prior to XZ1C, which is also a great phone, however I get the XZ1C just like most of us here; for the phone being in a compact size.
So with the disappointing camera, I am very torn between keeping the phone and wait for an update maybe for the issue to be fixed, or return the phone and get the taller S8.
I wonder what other fellow XDA users think on this issue whether the camera quality can be fix or why should I stay with XZ1C or leave it for S8?
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If you don't like the phone, just get another one. You won't find one where you like every aspect, so you'll have to priorize.
Regarding fixing the issues, yes, that's entirely possible.
The distortion comes from the wide-angle lense used and can be corrected in software.
The blur and loss of detail is part of Sony's smoothing algorithms and could be turned off in software.
Also, regarding the distortion: https://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xper...as-serious-distortion-issue/m-p/1271268#M7658

4rz0 said:
If you don't like the phone, just get another one. You won't find one where you like every aspect, so you'll have to priorize.
Regarding fixing the issues, yes, that's entirely possible.
The distortion comes from the wide-angle lense used and can be corrected in software.
The blur and loss of detail is part of Sony's smoothing algorithms and could be turned off in software.
Also, regarding the distortion: https://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xper...as-serious-distortion-issue/m-p/1271268#M7658
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Wow, that message sounds promising. Lets see what the update has to bring us

In the XZP oreo update, aside from camera distortion fix, there is also addition of 3D scan feature which previously only limited to XZ1 series. And if this is the update pattern, to let all recent series capable of running the sama feature, I am sure camera fix for XZ1 will come in next update.
The other thing I really hope for in next update is tap to wake feature, which shall very handy in real life usage experience.