Sony introduced the 19MP f/2.0 camera found on the XZ3 a year ago in the
Sony Xperia XZ1, but while this might put off anyone thinking of upgrading from an XZ1, the XZ3’s camera is much, much better.
The user interface has been streamlined for starters, so there’s less swiping to get to the various modes and frequently accessed settings are always shown on-screen, so there’s minimal fiddling around when prepping your shot.
Image quality is much improved over the XZ1 too, with better clarity, low-light performance and dynamic range. It feels like a completely different camera.
But while the XZ3 is an excellent stills camera by Sony’s standards, it isn’t quite so impressive by those of other flagship smartphones.
In good light, detail is strong, and a nice amount of background blur can be achieved without calling on any bokeh modes. Where things fall down is when it comes to dynamic range – the camera has a tendency to overexpose highlights in higher-contrast scenes. If you want to use this camera in auto mode, the exposure slider is going to be your best friend.
Where Sony pulls things back is when it comes video. The digital stabilization works well in good light in particular, and the 4K HDR footage you can capture is simply breath-taking.
In contrast to stills capture, dynamic range in video trounces the competition when footage is viewed on a compatible HDR screen, such as those on this phone or the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, so any video buffs can get excellent results if the lighting’s right and they’re willing to invest time squeezing the best from the phone’s video camera.