Sony reveals in detail the operation of the smartphone camera, closer and closer to a real camera
Waiting for Xperia 1 II to hit the shelves – it should now be a matter of weeks if not days – Sony has released a series of information on the functioning of its photographic sector. It is no secret that this time the Japanese company has aimed really hard at us, but one cannot help but be amazed at some details, software and hardware, derived directly from the Alpha mirrorless camera series.
Starting from the sensors, the main 1 / 1.7 ″ maintains the resolution at 12 MP but has larger pixels (1.8 µm) with 50% more sensitivity than the Xperia 1. This results in a greater sensitivity to light which allows significantly improved shots in low light conditions (you can see the comparison in the gallery). Thanks to the contained resolution, the data is collected in about 10 ms, while a 108 MP one would require 32 ms for a shot at 12 MP and ten times as much for a photo at maximum resolution.
This speed allows the camera to shoot up to 20 fps with active autofocus and auto exposure. With the support of the ToF sensor, the processor can recalculate AF and AE up to 60 times per second. In addition to eye recognition and tracking for people, Xperia 1 II will also be able to follow the gaze of animals (as seen in the video below). The ToF sensor offers 43,200 focus points that the phone combines with 247 sensing points on the sensor to track movement as accurately as possible.
The other two sensors, wide-angle and telephoto, can also shoot in AF / AE but are limited to “only” 10 shots per second with recalculation 30 times per second. To give an idea of the power of the digital zoom offered by the three types of sensors put together, Sony compares them to the lenses that a professional photographer would take with him for a job: the main sensor covers the range of a 24-70 mm, the wide-angle 16-35 mm and the telephoto 70-200 mm.
To better manage all aspects of shooting, Sony has installed the Photography Pro app on the Xperia 1 II which allows you to manually manage the various parameters like on a mirrorless. Lenses also play their part and this is, in fact, the company’s first phone with Zeiss glasses. This is not new in the world of smartphones since Huawei has been using them for some time, but it is the first time that the lenses have the anti-reflective T * patina, which reduces noise and bright artefacts.
