Sony Xperia PRO-I Review | Photography Blog

Introduction

Ease of Use

Before we get into the nitty gritty of the camera and apps, let’s take a look around the sleek and slender Xperia PRO-I.

It has the same ultra-wide 6.5″, 21:9 aspect ratio 4K HDR OLED (3840×1644 pixel) screen as the Xperia 1 III. With a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 10-bit equivalent display, the colours are rendered beautifully.

Asides from being the perfect format for watching movies and gaming, there are a few other benefits to ultra-wide screens.

With a maximised display size, the ‘multi-window’ function that allows you to view and operate two apps simultaneously has enough room to breathe – it’s a genuine option.

The ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio of the screen also gives a cleaner display for image making, being perfectly suited to video, but in this case also for photography. That’s because in the Pro Photo app, the camera functions and menus are displayed in the empty space to the side of the best quality 4:3 aspect ratio live view.

Overall, the screen is great, although we did find it a challenge at times to see it clearly when out in direct sunlight, even at its brightest setting.

The phone itself is narrower than other 6.5-inch phones and therefore easier to hold. However, it’s long format is unwieldy for single-hand use and you’ll generally want both of your hands free for using the camera.

Design-wise, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on both sides make the Xperia PRO-I a tough phone. You will still want to buy a protective case though, not least of which because the smooth surface is slippery.

It also offers water resistance to an IPX5/IPX8 rating and dust resistance to an IP6X rating.

The battery has 4,500mAh capacity and can be charged to 50% in around 30 minutes with the supplied 30w charger. You’ll easily get a full day’s use on a single charge – a performance that matches up to the competition. There is also compatibility with a wireless charger dock, although this unit is not supplied with the phone.

A further look around the phone reveals the single shared SIM/micro-SDXC card slot, volume control rocker switch, and an on/off button.

Brand new to the Xperia PRO-I is a button that can be used to jump straight into the Video Pro app, alongside which sits the newly redesigned shutter-release button – one press of this immediately opens the Photo Pro app – making it incredibly quick and easy to jump straight into the main still and video modes.

Lo and behold, there’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack, too, while the somewhat superfluous dedicated Google Assistant button from the Xperia 1 III has thankfully disappeared.

For quicker and easier access to the phone apps, we would like to see an on-screen fingerprint scanner, instead of the power on/off scanner.

As standard, the internal memory is a generous 256GB and a micro SDXC card card be installed with support for cards up to 1TB.

On the rear is the triple lens camera, flash and a 3D iToF sensor used for autofocus and depth sensing. Thankfully, the lenses are positioned in the centre as you hold the camera in landscape format for taking photos, meaning your fingers are much less likely to get in the way.

The primary rear lens has a 24mm focal length with 82° field of view and maximum f/2 aperture. You then have the 50mm camera with 48° field of view and f/2.4 maximum aperture, plus the 16mm ultra-wide lens with 124° field of view and f/2.2 maximum aperture. It’s also possible to digitally zoom in with any of those lenses, up to a maximum of 150mm using the 50mm lens.

There is a single front-facing ‘selfie’ camera with 8MP resolution, 78° field of view and f/2.0 maximum aperture.

While out and about, we have really appreciated what each of the 16mm, 24mm and 50mm lenses bring. For landscape scenarios, that ultra-wide lens is particularly useful. We have largely ignored the digital zoom because of the adverse impact on image quality.

Each of the three lenses offers a maximum 12MP image size at 4:3 aspect ratio, but unlike the Xperia I III, they all utilise different sized-sensors

The star of the show is the 24mm module, which is paired with the same 1.0-inch-type Exmor RS sensor that’s found in Sony’s Cybershot RX-series of compact cameras.

Image Quality

All of the sample images in this review were taken using the 12 megapixel JPEG setting, which produces an average image size of around 5Mb.

Noise

Manual exposure control is possible in the Photo Pro mode (the aperture can be set to either f/2 or f/4 when using the 24mm lens only), with an ISO 100-12800 range, plus auto ISO. The ISO setting can be shifted in 1/3EV steps, and we have included identical shots taken at the base ISO and then every full ISO stop between ISO 100 and 12800.

With a maximum aperture between f/2 and f/2.4 depending on the lens in use, plus 5-axis image stabilisation, chances are the Xperia PRO-I will be set to ISO 100 or ISO 100 via auto ISO the majority of the time.

Certainly, you’ll want to do your best to use ISO 100 because the adverse effects of noise is progressive with each ISO setting increase. Viewing images at 100% size on screen, detail remains sharp up to ISO 1600, then mushier from ISO 3200 and higher, with the fastest setting of ISO 12800 best avoided altogether.

In low contrast light such as shadows, JPEG detail will be less well defined than in the brighter areas, whatever the ISO setting. Noise is also influenced a lot by the lens in use – you’ll get the best quality pictures possible by using the primary 24mm lens because it’s the only one that is paired with the 1-inch sensor, whereas the 16mm and 50mm lenses use much smaller 1/2.5″ and 1/2.9″ sensors respectively.

All being said, if you’re viewing the JPEG images on a smartphone or tablet, they will appear very sharp up to ISO 1600.

The corresponding DNG format RAW images are noticeably noisier and not as sharp as their JPEG equivalents, with more colour artifacts at the faster ISO speeds, but they do clean up much better than the JPEGs in post-processing.

JPEG	RAW
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)
ISO 12800 (100% Crop)	ISO 12800 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

Three front lenses provide the equivalent focal lengths of 16mm, 24mm and 50mm, with the 24mm being the primary lens. Each lens can digitally zoom in via the volume buttons, with a maximum reach of 150mm when using the 50mm lens.

16mm

24mm

50mm

Macro

As with any small-sensor smartphone, the Xperia 1 II has decent enough macro capabilities. It’s minimum focus distance is approximately 10cm. Note that when auto-focusing with the 50mm lens, the camera always says that the subject is in focus, even when it clearly isn’t.

Distortion

Barrel distortion is well-controlled even when using the 16mm ultra-wide-angle lens.

16mm

24mm

50mm

Flash

Both in the Photo Pro and the standard camera apps, the flash options are; auto, fill-flash, red-eye reduction, off and torch. Depending on lens choice, app choice and camera settings, not all flash options are available and there are inconsistencies between apps.

Off

On

Portrait Selfie

There is also a special Portrait Selfie mode which is available from the More menu in the Basic shooting mode which provides various options for “improving” the portrait image, including bokeh, soft skin, skin brightness, eye enlargement and slender face.

Night

Shutter speed and ISO is automatic in the standard camera app, but in the Photo Pro app those settings can be manually adjusted. The maximum camera settings for night photography is a 30 second shutter speed and ISO 12800.

Creative Effects

There are a wide range of different Creative Effects which are available from the More menu in the Basic shooting mode – there are 19 effects in total.

Normal

Brightness-Contrast

Hue-Saturation

Mirror

Old Film

Motion Effects

Mosaic

Motion Trail

Nostalgic

Miniature

Vivid

Tint

Fisheye

Colour Sketch

Pencil Sketch

Comic

Partial Colour

Harris Shutter

Kaleidoscope

Panorama

The Xperia PRO-1 provides a 360-degree Panorama mode which is available from the More menu in the Basic shooting mode.

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Sony Xperia PRO-I camera, which were all taken using the 12 megapixel JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Sony Xperia PRO-I enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We’ve provided some Sony RAW (DNG) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movies & Video

Product Images

Conclusion

The Sony Xperia PRO-I is the most capable smartphone for photography that we’ve ever tested, but it’s also by far the most expensive – only you can decide if it fits within your own personal workflow.

While the PRO-I may well have a 1-inch sensor inside it, the fact that it only uses roughly 60% of that sensor’s area is undoubtedly going to disappoint anyone who’s swallowed Sony’s marketing blurb whole.

What you do get from the 1-inch sensor is a much larger pixel size than regular smartphones, which in turn results in much better low-light performance. Compared to Sony’s own Xperia 1 III, for example, which starts to lose detail at ISO 400, we’d be happy to use the PRO-I all the way up to ISO 1600, especially when shooting RAW files.

The other important thing to note when evaluating the Xperia PRO-1 is that almost all of its most features – 20fps burst shooting, dual aperture control, real-time eye AF, anti-distortion shutter, 12-bit RAW files, 4K HDR 120fps video and others – are only supported by the 24mm standard lens and its 1-inch sensor.

Consequently, it’s a much better idea to see the PRO-I as a smartphone with an immensely capable 24mm prime lens, that also happens to have less well-appointed but still useful 16mm and 50mm lenses onboard too – just don’t expect to get equal performance and feature support from all three.

We loved the handling of the Xperia 1 III, and the new PRO-I takes things even further with the addition of a video record button and a much better shutter-release button. The fact that you can long-press both to instantly jump into the Video Pro and Photo Pro apps, even when the device is switched off, is really appealing.

The fact still remains that whether you are a Sony Alpha camera user or simply a photo enthusiast, the layout and handling of the three different Pro apps is arguably the best around in any smartphone, clearly designed for those who desire much more creative control.

If you’ve ever been frustrated or limited by your phone’s camera app, make sure to try out the Xperia interface to see what it should really be like. We only wish that all of the shooting modes supported portrait orientation, and not somewhat inexplicably just the Basic mode.

On the flip side, this certainly isn’t a smartphone for more casual users. While the Basic mode does its best to reduce the complexity to simple point-and-shoot, the fact that there’s no dedicated algorithms for things that most other flagship phones offer, such as a ‘Night Mode’, will ultimately just prove bewildering for many.

Which leads us nicely onto the price-tag. At £1,599 / $1,799 in the UK and USA respectively, the Xperia PRO-I is by far the most expensive smartphone that we’ve ever tested.

In combination with its no-holds-barred focus on experienced photographers and videographers, this also makes it the most niche smartphone that we’ve ever tested – even a lot of those target users are going to be put off by the asking price, which after all is enough to buy a decent mirrorless camera with a lens.

But if you fit the user profile and have deep enough pockets, the Sony Xperia PRO-I is the ultimate smartphone for photographers and videographers alike – there’s simply nothing else like it on the market.

Main Rivals

Listed below are some of the rivals of the Sony Xperia PRO-I.

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Sony Xperia PRO-I from around the web.

Specifications

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