This is part one of my two-part review of the Sony Xperia 1 camera system. Sony’s PR firm sent me a new Xperia 1 to test for about one month.
Like many of this year’s new mobile phones, the Xperia 1 comes with three cameras: A ultra-wide, a normal and a telephoto. My goal was to see how Sony’s new technology holds up to some of the other standard-bearers in the industry. I took the camera to a variety of locations to see how well the Sony cameras held up to my iPhone and my Nikon Z 6. Obviously, comparing the Xperia 1 to the Nikon mirrorless camera isn’t really fair, but I wanted to understand how well the newest mobile technology from Sony performs in the real world.
Here’s my video review showing my experience with the Xperia 1 photographing my hometown from both the land and a kayak. After the outdoor test, I review the files in detail in Lightroom Classic to compare and contrast the images.
I thought the Xperia 1 cameras were very good and held their own against the iPhone X cameras. For travel photography, having all three lenses in the Xperia 1 was a real boon, allowing me to seamlessly switch between ultra-wide, normal and telephoto. This matches my general photography storytelling approach where I bring three lenses with my DSLR /mirrorless cameras and shoot a wide-angle establishing shot, a medium shot and a telephoto shot.
I loved the huge 4K screen on the Sony and wish my other mobile devices had similar screen capabilities. Overall, I think Sony has come a long way in the mobile photography realm and consider the Xperia 1 to be a real contender in the smartphone photography market.
