Sony Xperia 10 iii Stills

[VidThreeNorth]

Xperia 10 iii High Dynamic Range Stills (HDR)

For a couple of months now I have been leaving "real cameras" behind in order to force myself to use the Xperia 10 iii. I have carried real cameras daily, for years now, and I do not find doing so is inconvenient. I am still "exploring" the Xperia 10 iii's capabilities. What will I do when I am finished? We'll see.

I have not been covering still photography much, because that is not my main goal for photography. I take stills when I do not have the time to make a video, or when the subject matter is unlikely to be worth the file space, or when I just need a still to document something for future reference. If that latter sounds like "scouting" pictures, actually, even for scouting, sometimes I have taken short, lower quality videos.

But the Xperia 10 iii has more development for stills than for video. The video capabilities are actually very sparse, while the still capabilities are fairly well developed. There is a good chance that I will never get around to trying all the capabilities of the stills functions, but I have tried what I consider the basics.

From what I have tried so far, I like the "HDR" capabilities. I have tried to do some specific testing, but unfortunately, due to the conditions on that day, I count that effort as a failure. I will have to re-do the tests. But at the least, I can post some of the pictures I have taken that I have liked.


"01-0902_0007-rsz1200-C1.JPG"
- Probably set to "HDR Auto" (my usual setting)
- EV = 0
Partial EXIF of original photo:
Created 2021-09-02 13:04:24
F-stop f/2.4
Exposure time 1/275 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias 0 step
Focal length 6 mm
Max aperture 2.53
Brightness 6.72
Light source D65
White balance Auto


"02-DSC_0009-rsz1200-C1.JPG"
- HDR ON, EV ~ -1
This is my usual set of settings.
Partial EXIF of original photo:
Created 2021-09-02 13:04:56
F-stop f/2.4
Exposure time 1/441 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias -0.8 step
Focal length 6 mm
Max aperture 2.52
Brightness 7.4
Light source D65
White balance Manual


"03-DSC_0020-rsz1200-C1.JPG"
- HDR ON, EV ~ -1
Partial EXIF of original photo:
Created 2021-09-02 13:16:58
F-stop f/2.4
Exposure time 1/338 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias -1.0 step
Focal length 6 mm
Max aperture 2.52
Brightness 8.6
Light source D65
White balance Manual


"04-DSC_0025-rsz1200-C1.JPG"
- HDR ON, EV ~ -1
Partial EXIF of original photo:
Created 2021-09-02 13:17:36
F-stop f/2.4
Exposure time 1/422 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias -1.0 step
Focal length 6 mm
Max aperture 2.52
Brightness 8.32
Light source D65
White balance Manual

[2021-10-10 21:50 Sony Xperia 10 iii Video is covered in "Sony Xperia 10 iii for Video",
"Sony Xperia 10 iii for Video"]

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Detail Crop (from above):

I was going to wait till I posted a few more before posting a "detail crop". I was hoping to find a nice detail that might be particularly interesting. But there is a practical point for posting a detail crop early. I have comments and unanswered questions about the the still capabilities of this phone's cameras, and particular its HDR mode. Most importantly, how long does it take from the start of the first exposure to the end of the last exposure?

If I take a normal long exposure, say 1/30th second, then any motion in the subject matter or the camera will cause blurring. If the camera has an effective stabilization capable or correcting for the camera motion, the that much of the blurring might not occur. But motion of the subject matter can still create blurring. The cause of this is the fact that whatever is being recorded on a given pixel at the start of the exposure might not be there by the end of the exposure. If this happens during the taking of images in sequence which will be combined into an HDR, then the change in what is being exposed will result in a shifted image, which might be recorded as "doubled" in two different locations in the final image, or some other inconsistency.

If the camera is taking three exposures, say 1/2000 sec, 1/1000 sec and 1/500 sec., then it might be expected it could all be done within 1/250 sec. But it might not be that efficient. Despite the exposures taking less than 1/250 sec in a "perfect" case, there might be delays caused by processing or camera "overhead" that might create gaps between the exposures. It might actually take, say, 1/60 sec., or perhaps even longer.

At this point, I have no information about such "total exposure time".

The second point that I do not know about is whether the "stabilization" calculations are being used. I think they are. Except for test images (the colour chart photos), all the stills I have take have been hand held. I have done this deliberately with the Xperia 10 iii because this is really the biggest advantage this camera might have compared to my other small cameras. Most of my small cameras, like the Panasonic GF3, only have stabilized lenses. Oddly, the cameras that do not have sensor-shift capability have no stabilization at all. That includes my a6400. This is despite the fact that digital stabilization has been around for years.

Again, there is no mention of the HDR function using stabilization, but looking at the results, and knowing that I am not that steady, I have some reason to think that perhaps the HDR merging does use the camera motion stabilizing calculations that the video uses. Keeping in mind that all my stills have been taken in the middle of fairly clear sky days, I am still surprised that mostly they have turned out quite lacking in errors that result from motion.

The third thing I can say is that I am surprised that I fairly consistently get better results when I under expose about 1 stop. Yes, I have taken a few that actually benefited by increasing exposure, but mostly, (maybe around 90% of what I have taken so far) have turned out better with under exposure. I thought that HDR would reduce the need for that?


"DSC_0009.JPG" [not posted, see previous comment]
"02-DSC_0009-rsz1200-C1.JPG"
- HDR ON, EV ~ -1
This is my usual set of settings.
Partial EXIF of original photo:
Created 2021-09-02 13:04:56
Dimensions 3264 x 2448
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
Camera model: XQ-BT52
F-stop f/2.4
Exposure time 1/441 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias -0.8 step
Focal length 6 mm
Max aperture 2.52
Brightness 7.4
Light source D65
White balance Manual

"05-DSC_0009-Crop1500-C1.JPG"
Crop from 1600,1500, no adjustments
Dimensions: 1500 x 900

My first attempt at this crop was 1600 wide by 900 high, which is what I have been using as a "standard" size lately. But this time, a "C1" compression (least compressed) slightly exceeded 2,000,000 bytes (the limit for uploads), which is the first time this occurred. So I decided to crop it further down to 1500 x 900. I like the variety of textures in this crop.

A Pond of Surprises

The green patches on the water look like water lilies from a distance, but in fact, they seem to be clumps of small plants. The dark reddish brown in the water might at first look like the water is murky, but again, the opposite is more likely the case. What you are seeing is the bed of the pond, which is mostly a mud bottom. Standing over it, I could see small stones and debris occasionally breaking up the brown dirt. And the black shadows of the green clumps floating on top give a mottled texture. Within the water was small aquatic life swimming. I think these were tadpoles or other amphibians -- not fish. There are fish in the nearby creek, but these ponds are humanly maintained and "semi-artificial". Water entering and leaving them is through ducts that seem to be designed to make it difficult for animals to move from one area to another.

[2021-10-12 23:10 added following:]
About The "Aquatic Life"

I mentioned that there was small aquatic life that I could see swimming in the pond which was probably tadpoles. It did not occur to me to look for them in the picture. Looking more closely, I realized that in fact there are a few in the picture. In fact, they are in the detail crop, so we already have a chance to see them.

Coordinates for three of them are at (X,Y):
(490,338)
(501,335)
(514,334)

The sizes and configurations of these three "dark spots" and their pattern look similar enough to what I saw swimming in this general area of the pond. If this were a video, I am confident that they would be moving, which would be the final proof.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

There was a firmware update for the Xperia 10 iii around November (build number "62.0.A.3.131 release-keys". I thought I posted I posted information about it, but I cannot find it now, so I will continue this comment "here":

Xperia 10 iii Charging:

I have actually found a significant change in the operation of the Xperia 10 iii after the latest firmware upgrade. I am not sure how to see this change.

Previous Charging Operation

First, I have a handful of old USB chargers that I have been using for just about everything. They are not wonderful chargers, but I do not see the point in changing to newer chargers all the time. USB chargers have NOT been truly universal. There have been issues in the past, and when I find an issue or two that is/are significant, that is when I change to a newer charger.

I have been using an LG "Travel Adapter" model "MCS-02WR" (or maybe "MC8-02WR" -- it is hard to read). It takes 100 - 240 V, 50/60 Hz, 0.2A and outputs 5.0 V, 0.85A. The serial number is "RB441200910" and it was made in China by SUNLIN. I do not remember how I got it. I have had quite a few LG phones, and it might have come in any one of them.

Past Performance:

In general it has been ok. In recent years I have run into a problem that seems to have been caused by my Condo management. In order to reduce power consumption, they have decided to reduce the mains power during the day. This is actually a bad idea for the very reason that it caused me problems. Overnight, I could charge phones using this charger without problems. But if I left a phone in during the day, sometimes I found the charging would reverse and the phone would discharge instead. This is bad for the battery -- not terrible, but it does cause the battery to "age" more than just regular usage. But as I said, I have other chargers, and I did my best to make sure this one was not in use during the day unless I was there to check its operation. Keep in mind that this is NOT an error. Using a phone as a power source through USB for other devices is anticipated, and it is up to you to know what you have plugged in and which way the current is supposed to go.

Anyway, after the last firmware upgrade, I plugged in the Xperia 10 iii with the phone OFF, so it will charge "quickly", but I noticed that though the charge system started up, it did not charge. The charging light turned off and the animation did not indicate charging. This despite the battery showing around 76%. I thought about it, and tried again with the same results. At that point, I suspected that a change in the firmware was stopping the charging operation. I checked some boxes and found a charger from my Z5c and plugged that in, and everything worked properly with the charging operating normally.

I have since tried a "Digipower" charger designed to charge Sony camera batteries, and that works properly. So I have not proof that "most" chargers will work, but at least these two are working. But it is possible that the new firmware might cause problems for some people using non-Sony chargers. I expect that this is a Volt or Watt level problem, but I am only guessing. Hopefully, I will not find out more. Why do I not want to know more? Because the main reason I would have to find out more is if I run into more problems.

Android 11 Charging Problem Continued: [updated 2022-04-21]

After the last Android 11 upgrade, for a while, I could charge while the phone was OFF (to charge faster), but at some point the problem where the phone would only charge while it was ON started to reoccur again. As I mentioned before, this is not a big problem for most people because most people leave there phones ON while charging anyway. It continued like this until Apr 21, 2022 on which day (today) I upgraded to Android 12. I do not know what the charging is going to be like with Android 12. I'll have to report about this later.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Android 12 on the Sony Xperia 10 iii

Today, (Apr 21, 2022) I received and installed my Android 12 upgrade. There are some small visual differences in the interface, but nothing major so far. Apparently there is a "privacy" upgrade which allows the phone to make less precise reports of its location. I have not tried this yet. I can comment that Sony's "Imaging Edge" application that links the phone with Alpha cameras requires the camera location to be reported to the phone. As far as I am concerned, this is objectionable and it was the reason I refused to use the App in the first place. I will give this a try now and see how it goes. I actually tried the App yesterday before I installed Android 12 in order to see if I found differences using it with Android 12. This was interesting because I could not get my a6400 to work with the App. I did get the camera and phone to "link up", but I still have not successfully used the phone app to operate the camera and get a picture. Since I decided to go ahead with the Android 12 upgrade, hopefully that will solve the remaining problems.

The version I have installed right now is "62.1.A.0.550 release-keys".

 

[VidThreeNorth]

This set of Spring pictures was taken with Android 12. I made minor re-adjustments as noted. The out of camera files were fine, but I was being just a bit fussy. I do not intend to post detail crops this time. All are resized down to 1600 (height or width, whichever is the "long side"). I resize to 1600 because I can usually get away with C1 compression (highest detail), which makes them consistent for evaluation, but in this case, detail was higher than typical, so I had to reduce detail levels to C2 and even C3, so I would say that the Xperia 10 iii did well.

I believe I had "HDR Auto" for all of these -- it is how I usually use it now, unless I am specifically conducting evaluations. So it is not surprising that the adjustments mainly added just a bit of contrast.

A Note About Lenses:

In this group, the first two are taken on the "telephoto" lens (54mm equivalent) and the last two are taken on the "normal/wide" lens (27mm equivalent). As I have written before, I consider roughly 40mm - 65mm to be "normal" view. 35mm and wider is "wide angle" to me.


"DSC_0082.JPG"
A sure sign of early Spring, nonsensical traffic accidents. Possibly caused by allergic sneezing while driving?
SmartFix
Brightness
Overall 28
Shadows 5
Highlights = -5
Focus 28
Black 2

"DSC_0084.JPG"
Fresh dandelions.
SmartFix
Brightness
Overall 23
Shadows 5
Highlights = -20
Saturation = 40 (recommended 0)
Focus 22
Black 6

"DSC_0097.JPG"
SmartFix
Brightness
Overall 18
Shadows -20
Highlights = 10
Saturation = 8
Focus 24
Black 16

"DSC_0103.JPG"
The tree in the video frame I posted before.
SmartFix
Brightness
Overall 14 (28 recommended)
Shadows 0
Highlights = 10
Saturation 10 (0 recommended)
Focus 42
Black 6
White 10

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Spring 2022, 2nd Set:

The first four pictures from this set are a continuation of my set of Spring pictures.

Sony seems to be promoting this year's Xperia 10 iv as a "point and shoot" camera. It is closely related to this Xperia 10 iii that I am using, so I thought I would consider how this camera might fill that role and what changes and upgrades might help. The new 10 iv has an "upgraded processor" (SnapDragon 695) and possibly some support circuitry (Qualcomm SM6375 package), but not the Adreno 619 graphics chip which should be exactly the same as what I am using.

The camera sensor chips and lenses are very similar (not quite the same -- 12 MP, f/1.8, 27mm (wide - main), 1/2.8", PDAF, OIS* 8 MP, f/2.2**, 54mm (telephoto), 1/4.4", PDAF, 2x optical zoom 8 MP, f/2.2, 120˚, 16mm (ultrawide), 1/4.0"), and the software might have some improvements.
(*/** my Xperia 10 iii has NO OIS on the main camera and it's telephoto is f/2.4, so the new version should have less motion blur and better lower light performance in both these cameras)


"DSC_0002.JPG"
Horse chestnut w/wasp from rear, * best version *
Slight back focus?, over exposed and motion blur
This picture stands out in a negative way, but it demonstrates a problem that at this point, I do not understand, but seems difficult to avoid. It looks to me to be out of focus. That sounds simple enough, but I tried re-taking it about a dozen times, and they all look out of focus, to some degree. I tried zooming in and moving the camera back in case it was too close, but that was not the problem. In fact, while setting it up, some of the them started out "in focus" and then lost focus just before I took the picture. As noted, the flower is "horse chestnut". Maybe Sony does not support "horse chestnut"? No, I'm not kidding. Today's intelligent auto focus systems seem to be based on "data models" of common compositions. All the rest of the flowers in this group focused without problems. The same was true of other pictures I took, but the horse chestnut pictures all failed. About the exposure, I used "auto HDR" for all these pictures, and the very light petal flowers like this horse chestnut (and the flowers in pic 007) clipped a bit. I could have salvaged the situation by turning down the exposure, but that is not "just point and shoot". And that was part of what I was looking for in this set. Maybe Sony has further adjusted the auto HDR in the newer 10 iv, or maybe they feel that this level of clipping is acceptable (many photographers, including myself, generally accept a bit of clipping is this situation).

Created May 22, 2022, 16:31:18
Size 2,474,208 bytes
Dimensons 2448 x 3264
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
Camera model XQ-BT52
F-stop f/2.4
Exposure time 1/338 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias 0 step
Focal length 6mm
Maxx aperture 2.52
Flash mode No flash, auto
Brightness 7.04
Light source D65
Exposure program Normal
White balance Auto
EXIF version 0231
Computer BBLN04 (this PC)
Samrt Photo Fix:
Focus 41
"DSC_0002a-SmrtFx-Rsz1200-C1.JPG"


"DSC_0007.JPG"
- unknown flower?
If I get a chance, I will try to look up what this flower is. It is not uncommon, I just don't know that much about plants.
Created May 22, 2022, 16:42:56
Size 3,054,504 bytes
Dimensions 4000 x 3000
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
Camera model XQ-BT52
F-stop f/1.8
Exposure time 1/162 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias 0 step
Focal length 4 mm
Maxx aperture 1.69
Flash mode No flash, auto
Brightness 5.13
Light source D65
Exposure program Normal
White balance Auto
EXIF version 0231
Smart Photo Fix
Brightness
Overall 21
Shadows 5
Highlights -20
Focus 33
Black 10
"DSC_0007a-SmrtFx-Rsz1600-C1.JPG"


"DSC_0012.JPG"
- Light Lilac
I have photographed lilacs before. I am not normally motivated to put a lot of effort into lilacs because the are fairly common, and on a windy day, fairly difficult to photograph. But for 2021, there was a song by IU about lilacs referring to their association with "memories of youth", so for 2021 and 2020, I did photograph lilacs a bit more than usual.
Created May 22, 2022, 16:45:12
Size 2,687,825 bytes
Dimensions 3000 x 4000
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
Camera model XQ-BT52
F-stop f/1.8
Exposure time 1/699 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias 0 step
Focal length 4 mm
Maxx aperture 1.69
Flash mode No flash, auto
Brightness 6.93
Light source D65
Exposure program Normal
White balance Auto
EXIF version 0231
Smart Photo Fix
Brightness
Overall 28
Highlights 10
Focus 49
Black 10
"DSC_0012b-SmrtFx-Rsz1200-C1.JPG"


"DSC_0029.JPG"
- Dark Lilac
The same point as the light lilac applies
Created May 22, 2022, 16:48:00
Size 3,030,242 bytes
Dimensions 4000 x 3000
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
Camera model XQ-BT52
F-stop f/1.8
Exposure time 1/497 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias 0 step
Focal length 4 mm
Maxx aperture 1.69
Flash mode No flash, auto
Brightness 6.42
Light source D65
Exposure program Normal
White balance Auto
EXIF version 0231
Smart Photo Fix
Brightness
Overall 28
Highlights 10
Focus 33
Black 12
"DSC_0029a-SmrtFx-Rsz1600-C1.JPG"

The song that made me think about lilacs:
"[MV] IU(아이유)_LILAC(라일락)", posted by "1theK (원더케이)"
on Mar 25, 2021, [length 4:39]
""

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Another Attempt at "Horse Chestnut"

After failing to get a good photo of the "Horse Chestnut" blooms, and being curious and a bit annoyed, I decided to give it another try. This time I went "manual", HDR "OFF", and tried a few things. What I found was that reducing the exposure EV=-1 and -2 to bring the blooms down allowed the camera to figure out that this was the subject matter. I have set up the camera to use the "volume" controls to work the zoom. This does not work as well as I would like. First, there is a delay between the control and the effect. Pressing a control does nothing for about 1-2 sec, and then it does whatever you set. Not only does the zoom start late, but it stops late as well, so that it usually over-shoots and I have to use the control and carefully step back and forth to get the desired zoom.

Also, I started on the main camera, and despite the effective zoom going beyond 2x, I ended up with a digital zoom of the main camera rather than the camera switching to the "tele" camera and digitally zooming from there. I am uploading an adjusted and reduced version and a detail crop this time.

"DSC_0018.JPG" [Not uploaded]
Created May 27, 2022, 15:40:44
Size 3,432,813 bytes
Dimensons 3000 x 4000
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
Camera model XQ-BT52
F-stop f/1.8
Exposure time 1/1000 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias -2.0 step
Focal length 4mm
Maxx aperture 1.69
Flash mode No flash, auto
Brightness 7.75
Light source D65
Exposure program Normal
White balance Auto
EXIF version 0231
Smart Photo Fix:
Brightness:
Overall: 28
Shadows -10
Highlights 20
Focus 42
Black 4
White 16
Uploaded as "DSC_0018b-SmrtFx-Rsz1200-C1.jpg"
Detail Crop start 2700,450, no adjustments
Uploaded as "DSC_0018c-Crop1600-C1.JPG"

 

[VidThreeNorth]

About the Lilacs in "Comment #6"


I have not been bothering with "detail crop" versions of images from the Xperia 10iii lately because I think I have posted enough for people who wonder whether this is a good camera/phone to buy. Put simply the Xperia 10iii does a "pretty good job". It is not wildly wonderful. I have better cameras, and it is no great effort for me to carry a better camera -- I have done so on a regular basis for years. So, for the most part the argument that "gee it's a good thing I was carrying this, or I would have missed a great picture" is generally not true. But back up and remember I said that it is a pretty good camera. And, in general, if you want a better camera, you will end up paying more.

As I have written, the pair of lilac pictures were inspired by IU's song Lilac. I had kept an eye on the lilacs around me this season and on this particular day, they were about optimum. The lighter ones in particular were fully open, and the colour was roughly at their best. They start out darker, and as time goes on, they bleach lighter before they wilt and drop off. The first "0012" was lighted from the side as much as from the back, which one can tell by where the blooms are in shadow. The darker blooms in "0029" were almost fully back lighted. Corel's Smart Photo Fix, among other small changes, lightened them both and expanded the contrast. The "0029" image needed the brightening badly. But the "0012" image was fine right out of camera. I almost decided to change the adjustments a bit, to a sort of "half way" version, but in the end, I decided to go with the version I posted. The deciding factor was that it's adjustments gave it a proportional look relative to the "0029" image. They look sort of like "bookends". They go well together as a group. In a video, it is important the all scenes look a certain way relative to those before or after. A dark scene uses a low exposure to distinguish it from a light scene. Some photographers finish a picture as a free-standing image, not related to others. Sometimes I do that too, but actually, I do tend to finish an image relative to others that I have taken recently, with some intention of viewing them as a group. But that is why I posted the image that I did. No, it did not "need" the adjustments. As far as I was concerned, the original was actually ok, and the posted version was not better. It just goes better with the dark lilac picture.

"DSC_0012c-1600-C1.JPG"
- unadjusted detail crop from "DSC_0012"

[2022-06-23 added the following:]
The Camera App "So Far"

I have used the Xperia 10 iii with Android 12 enough now to say that the camera app is generally "ok". For most situations it does a fairly good job, and when necessary, I have found some "work arounds" to get what I want, or reasonably close to it. The only major irritant that I found was the "zoom" control. In particular, I do not like the way it choses which camera to use. This is unpredictable, and the choices it makes are often not what I really want.

I would like a "top level" selection capability to chose either "Automatic" or a manual choice of a specific camera. That could be integrated into a selection screen for cameras "U-Wide", "Normal" or "Telephoto" or "Selfie". So the "Automatic" would chose between the three back cameras, but the "Manual" would include the "Selfie" to simplify the menu system.

For the selection screen I would show a small version of what is visible on each camera, updated once per second.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

New Firmware:

2022-07-28 02:21

I installed firmware 62.1.A.0.617, (296.4 MB). I think it took about 12 min. I have not seen any notes on this update. I am not expecting changes to the camera(s). We'll see. . . .

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Sample Pics With Firmware 62.1.A.0.617

I am not planning on making a comprehensive analysis of my Sony Xperia 10iii with its latest firmware (Android 12, Sony release 62.1.A.0.617) update. I have made more detailed previous reports and I have no reason to believe there have been any substantial changes this time. For this report I am uploading three files.

[2022-08-12 NOTE:
I did not state this clearly before, but all images I posted in this and the next comment were not altered except by either "resizing" or "cropping". The images are the most accurate representation I could provide of the camera's capabilities. Actually, unless I say otherwise, you can assume everything posted in this topic will also be "unaltered"]

The first (01-vid010-rsz1600-C1.jpg) is a resized captured frame from a Full HD video (30 fps) taken with the main camera. Exposure is probably EV=-0. The day was slightly overcast with the sun unobstructed at the time of this video clip. Dynamic range is borderline for a sunny day. The crop was from (1000,2000) and was 1600 x 900.

Video Data:
"MOV_0010.mp4"
Size: 290,567,985 bytes
Created Aug 2, 2022, 12:29:00
Length 2:11
Frame width 1920
Frame height 1080
Data rate 17,563 kbps
Total bitrate 17,719 kbps
Frame rate 30 frames/second
Audio
Bit rate 156 kbps
Channels 2 (stereo)
Audio sample rate 48 kHz



The second (02_0002-rsz1600-C1.jpg) is a close focus image of a flower taken with the main camera. Exposure is -1 step. This has been my general observation for this camera/phone. The vast majority of pictures I have taken have turned out better with exposure reduction. In general -1 has been about right. If Sony asked me to recommend a change, I would probably suggest changing it to -2/3 stop. Why not -1.0? I have to believe there are some people who really do like it the way it came from the factory. I don't think that this was by accident. So recommending a change of -2/3 instead of -1.0 is my compromise for those people.

The third file (03_0011-crop1600-C1.jpg) is a detail crop from a still picture taken with the main camera during the same session as the first file. It is included as an example of the best image quality that this camera is capable of for stills. If you are used to a top-line interchangeable lens camera, then this is not going to impress you, but for a "$450-ish" (a lower mid-range) phone camera, it is pretty good. The thing is, I would not recommend spending the money for a current top-line phone camera. I think those are a waste. The money is better spent on groceries, or maybe a "proper" camera. For the cost of the top "flash ship" camera phones you can get a $450-ish range phone AND something like a Sony ZV-E10 or Nikon Z30, or Canon R10.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Testing the "Tele" Camera

Continuing my testing, here are a couple of stills taken with the "tele" camera. This proved a bit frustrating for me because I kept forgetting a quirk I knew about. If you tap the "1x" zoom indicator, then it jumps to "2x", which _should_ be the "tele" camera. But actually it is the main camera digitally zoomed. To use the "tele" camera one needs to zoom a step further. I have the volume control set up to control the zoom, and 1 click of zoom is enough. I think that using the original firmware the 1st click still reported "2x" but it used the "tele" camera. With the latest firmware the 1st click reports "2.1x". I do not know if there is an actual extra digital zoom, or if this is the same composition as the original firmware using the "tele" camera at lowest magnification.

Possible Bug The camera seems unable to use the exposure compensation and zoom at the same time. I thought that I did this successfully in the older firmware, but I should check this. For now, consider this a "possible" problem. I might not get around to checking this in the near future. Again, this camera is a "low priority" for me. Maybe someone else will look into it.

Anyway, here are the stats of the original JPEGs created by the camera. The re-sizing and cropping were done on my computer using Corel:

[About the file names: This use of the camera resulted in names repeated from an earlier set of the same subject matter, so I renamed them "+100" to prevent overlap. I also renamed them to identify the camera used. So image image "Tel_0114" was originally named "DSC_0014", etc.]

Other Issues: One "non-camera" problem that I am running into with this latest firmware is that the phone now only charges when it is "on". It does not charge at all when the phone is "off". It charges fast enough while "on", but in theory, it might have charged a bit quicker when "off", and that could be helpful in some situations. Note that it still does not charge unless it is plugged in the "right way". On occasion, I returned to the phone and saw it was not charged, and so I reversed the plug and it charged properly.

About FM radio: My version of the Xperia 10 iii did not come with FM radio capability. I did notice in GSM Arena's specs that there *is* a version with FM radio. I really did like having FM radio on my older phones, but I could not use it much because it increased battery drain. This Xperia 10 iii has a much larger battery which gives good battery life. If my version had included FM radio, I probably would be using it. This is another reason for having a "headphone jack". The headphone wire is used as an FM antenna on cell phones that have that support. Maybe the USB cable could be used this way, but you might need to have something plugged in at the other end.


"Tel_0105.JPG"
- size about 6" high?
Size 3,298,473 bytes
Created Aug 5, 2022 16:12:54
Dimensions 2448 x 3264
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
Camera model XQ-BT52
F-stop f/2.4
Exposure time 1/497 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias 0 step [was set to -1 or -2, did not seem to work]
Focal length 6 mm
Max aperture 2.52
Brightness 7.56
Light source D65
White balance Auto
EXIF 0231

Detail Crop from 400,450


"Tel_0114.JPG"
Size 4,524,912 bytes
Created Aug 5, 2022 16:14:22
Dimensions 3264 x 2448
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
Camera model XQ-BT52
F-stop f/2.4
Exposure time 1/454 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias 0 step [was set to -1 or -2, did not seem to work]
Focal length 6 mm
Max aperture 2.52
Brightness 7.44
Light source D65
White balance Auto
EXIF 0231

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Testing Main Camera at 2x

These are all taken using the main camera and digitally zoomed 2x. I see no obvious difference from these compared to similar pictures from the "tele" camera (see the comment above). Even looking at a detailed crop, there is not as much as you might expect.

Keep in mind that the "tele" lens sensor coverage is 2x the main camera but the sensor resolution is only 8mp. The main camera is 12mp. At "2x", the effective resolution is only 3 mp (12 / (2x2) is 3, not 6), and this is actually a fairly substantial reduction. But the resizing that I am doing is resulting in about 1/(2x2) resolution anyway, so the final images between the two cameras are very close in real detail. The "detail crop" files I upload though, also do not seem that different between the main camera at 2x and the "tele" camera. I am not really sure what can be inferred by that.

Anyway, I am almost done with my retest of the Xperia 10iii for now -- for this firmware version. I think I might post an image or two of a standard evaluation target (likely the colour chart that I have shown before). I do not know Sony's plans for upgrading Android 12. I do not expect that I will bother testing the next release unless I have some reason to believe that something has changed. I do expect an upgrade to Android 13, and I expect that I will do some "light" testing of that firmware. I can say right now that I do not expect substantial changes to the cameras even with Android 13 firmware versions.

Other Notes:

One thing I can say is that thumb-print reader is definitely working better now. Prior to Android 12 I would have to enter a password, maybe "about half the time". Now it generally does not need the password. That is mainly good, though often it "turns on" just when I pick up the phone or handle it, which is not something I want to happen. I think Freud said "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." Well, sometimes I pick up the phone, and I just want to stick it into a pocket, or move it from "here" to "there" -- I don't want it "turned on". I might be able to "turn off" this feature. But if so, then I will have to make a decision of whether I want it or not. Ironically, the fact that it "sometimes worked" before was more to my taste.

Also, I recently noticed that there are little (fine print) notifications on the bottom of the screen. I do not know if they were there before, or if they were recently added. It just happens that the way I usually hold the phone covers those notifications.

And More Notes: [2022-09-04 15:43]

When I posted these, I felt the pictures "spoke for themselves", but in retrospect, I think I should add a couple of comments.

First, pictures "001", "008" and "010" are exposed the way I normally like, which resulted in good accurate colours. You'd have no problem recognizing them in a garden on a sunny day. Having said that, they do not offer much room for adjustment. They are, maybe too precise in that regard. I would prefer to have had "raw" files for them, perhaps at slightly lower exposure.

"003" is problematic. It is nice and gives a good feeling, but the exposure is so high that the colours are not accurately represented. Seeing the actual flower, you might not recognize it. It is more saturated, which needs to be exposed about 1/3rd stop lower to captured properly. Darkening the picture in post would give an inaccurate colour palette. So this is the only one I am not really "happy" with. I wish I had exposed it a bit darker.

As for the detail crop of "010", it shows signs of slight over-sharpening, but is quite acceptable, and the level of detail is quite good.
[2022-09-08 clarified.]

My biggest wish would be to have an option for a "raw" file output of some kind instead of the JPEG. Of course, I could wish for a lot of things, but a "raw" option would be the top of the list.



"DSC_0001.JPG"
Size 2,993,958 bytes
Created Aug 6, 2022 11:14:02
Dimensions 4000 x 3000
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
Camera maker Sony
Camera model XQ-BT52
F-stop f/1.8
Exposure time 1/1646 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias 0 step
Focal length 4 mm
Max aperture 1.69
Brightness 8.07
Light source D65
White balance Auto
EXIF 0231


"DSC_0003.JPG"
Size 3,055,843 bytes
Created Aug 6, 2022 11:14:50
Dimensions 4000 x 3000
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
Camera maker Sony
Camera model XQ-BT52
F-stop f/1.8
Exposure time 1/688 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias 0 step
Focal length 4 mm
Max aperture 1.69
Brightness 6.8
Light source D65
White balance Auto
EXIF 0231


"DSC_0008.JPG"
Size 2,802,051 bytes
Created Aug 6, 2022 11:15:56
Dimensions 4000 x 3000
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
Camera maker Sony
Camera model XQ-BT52
F-stop f/1.8
Exposure time 1/2180 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias 0 step
Focal length 4 mm
Max aperture 1.69
Brightness 8.86
Light source D65
White balance Auto
EXIF 0231


"DSC_0010.JPG"
Size 2,839,870 bytes
Created Aug 6, 2022 11:16:36
Dimensions 4000 x 3000
Bit depth 24
Resolution unit 2
Color representation sRGB
Camera maker Sony
Camera model XQ-BT52
F-stop f/1.8
Exposure time 1/4366 sec.
ISO speed ISO-50
Exposure bias 0 step
Focal length 4 mm
Max aperture 1.69
Brightness 9.9
Light source D65
White balance Auto
EXIF 0231

The "cropped" version of this file starts at 100,2600

[2022-10-15 Apparently, all four of these flower types are begonias and are reasonably similar to grow, which is sensible. On the 12th I mis-labelled them as geraniums. Sorry for the mistake.]

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Xperia 10 iii Camera Controls
[2022-09-08 minor corrections]
I have not used the Xperia 10 iii continuously since I have bought it. In fact, mainly, I do not use it, and then occasionally I try to use it for a while. So far, that has not proved so bad, but lately I got confused by the interface and I could not tell if an upgrade had gone wrong. In that, it is possible that there have been such problems, but I cannot know that for sure because of the long gaps in my usage. Lately I ran into a confusing situation where I thought that EV adjustments were not working on the "tele" camera. What I have found out is that this is a current problem due to a lack of "orthogonality" in the interfacing."Orthogonality" means that one can place a list of characteristics in a 2D (or more) chart where every possibility is covered. For example:

__________ Switch is On Switch is Off
Power On Light is On Light is Off
Power Off Light is Off Light is OFF

The above chart has two cases for the "switch" and two cases for the "power" and every possible combination is accounted for. This is an "orthogonal" chart. Note that the above chart only has 1 case where the "Light is On". It is not necessary that every combination has a different result. The chart is still "orthogonal". All the possible combinations of the state of the "switch" and the state of the "power" are accounted for. This is all that it means. This is what can be confusing. The fact that the chart is filled does not mean that all the resulting states are unique.


The Xperia 10 iii has 2 sets of overlapping camera controls that I currently know of. It might even have more, but I am still learning it.

The first illustration shows one of the control screens. On the left side of the screen are six controls arranged vertically. The top is a picture of a "gear" and is for the main settings. The bottom is the flash control. In this illustration the 4th from the top is blue. It is for exposure and colour balance. In the picture area, on the right side are a pair of vertical slider controls. The one nearest the right is the EV control and the one to its left is colour balance. Below the EV control bar is an X which cancels this control mode. These controls are properly integrated and work with the main and tele cameras (and probably the ultra-wide, but I have not tested that lately).

On the right side of the control screen at the bottom is a control called "MODE". If you touch it, then the screen changes and shows the set of the controls in the second illustration. The right side of the screen now shows 7 touch controls starting with "Night mode" in the upper left. The leftmost control in the 2nd row is "Manual". If you touch that ("Manual") control, then the screen in the 3rd illustration shows up.

These controls are more extensive than the controls in the first illustration. From top to bottom, there are "white balance", "EV", ISO, shutter speed and auto-focus. Below the "AF" (auto-focus) is a RESET control which restores all these controls to their default states. The operation of this set of controls is more difficult than the basic control shown in the first illustration because one has to select the control with the first slider and then adjust the control with the second slider. Also, the spacing is tighter controls in the first illustration. While in this "Manual mode" the controls on the left of the screen change slightly with the 4th selection now selecting the aspect ratio and the 5th selection now controlling a self-timer.

This "Manual" control set has its own problem. It only seems to work with the "main camera". If another camera is selected, that selection is cancelled. In that sense, this control set is not "orthogonal" because it does not work with the "tele" camera (and probably not the ultra-wide). Recently I found this confusing, and I missed pictures because of the confusion.

So is this a good reason to buy one of the higher models, like the Xperia 5 iii (assuming you can find one), or a newer Xperia 10 iv? From what I have seen, the Xperia 5 iii and Xperia 1 iii have a different interface than this. If the controls are more orthogonal, then they might be easier to use. That is something I would suggest looking into.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Sony Xperia 10 iii Close Focus

I set up a test to find the closest focus of the Main camera and the Tele camera. These are detail crops from the Main camera at 1x (not zoomed). All pictures were hand held, with stabilization ON. Image #02 was the sharpest and I believe is the closest I can use the camera. Image #01 is probably too close. Image #03 is a bit of a puzzle. It is not as sharp as #02. This might be due to motion blurring (camera shake). It might also be a camera auto-focusing error, or it might be something else. Digital auto-focus is generally implemented with set focus steps rather than "continuous" evaluation. It might be that Image 03 falls too far from the subject for the auto-focus setting for picture 02 to cover, but not far enough away for the "next" focus step.
[2022-09-08 paragraph above corrected and clarified.]

Image #04 is the original file for image 02, but resized down to 1600 wide instead of cropped.

Main Camera at 1x magnification:

Detail Crops:

"01_0004a-Crop1600-C1.jpg"

"02_0005a-Crop1600-C1.jpg"

"03_0006a-Crop1600-C1.jpg"

"04_0005b-rsz1600-C1.jpg"


Calculations: [added 2022-09-10 01:15]

First Calculation -- Pixel Resolution:

The ruled stick in the picture starts at about 05.55 mm. and ends at about 153.3 mm. The first thing that can be calculated (using the resized version) that the image is covering about 153.3 - 5.55 = 147.75 mm. Since the original file was 4000 pixels wide, dividing 4000 pixels by 147.75 mm gives about 27.07 pixels per mm. horizontally. This is the first calculation, which can be important of you are thinking about printing.


Second Calculation -- Main Lens Macro Resolution:

According to GSMarena.com:

The lens is identified as a "4 mm" lens but identified as a 27mm equivalent (on a 35 mm film camera) on a 1/2.8" sensor. Taking a moment to look at the picture though is a bit sad. The "stick" is sharp enough in the middle of the picture, but the far left and right go obviously out of focus. Looking at the threads, it is clear that at least part of this is caused by field curvature as the focus is quite a bit closer to the camera at the far ends of the image.

Converting the sensor to metric is 25.4mm/(2.8") or about 9.07 mm diagonal. (squared = 82.29 sq mm -- might be useful later).

Calculating Frame Diagonal (of the subject)

First, the frame height:

frame height = (147.75 mm * 3 / 4) = 110.8 mm

Frame diagonal = root of ((147.75)^2 + (110.8)^2)
= root of (21,830 + 12,279.4)
= root of (34,109.46)
~ 184.7 mm

Calculating Focus Distance:

FocalLength / SensorDiagonal = FocusDistance / FrameDiagonal

4mm / SD 9.07mm = FocusDistance / 184.7 mm
(4mm x 184.7mm) / SD 9.07mm = FocusDistance
~ 81.5 mm or ~ 3.2"

I set up the phone to re-take this picture, and it does appear to be about 3" from the stick, so it seems to be confirmed.

 

[VidThreeNorth]

Closest Focus of the "Tele" Camera:

These are two "versions" of the same file which represent the closest focus I could achieve using the "tele" camera with no digital magnification, but handheld with stabilization active. I have not gotten around to making calculations yet.

[Following added 2022-09-11 14:29]
Camera Specs From GSMArena:

8 MP, f/2.4, 54mm (telephoto), 1/4.0", PDAF (the '1/4.0"' is the sensor size in inches measured diagonally)

First Calculations Image Range and Pixel Resolution:

Based on "DSC_0013.JPG" taken Sep 3, 2022, 17:00:04:
Pixel width (per EXIF data) = 3264
- "stick" markings from ~5.2 - 152.2 mm ~ 147 mm (about 5.79")
width ~ 147 mm

Pixel Density:

3264 pixels / 147 mm ~ 22.20 pixels per mm.

Image Height:

- Height of composition = 147 mm * (3 / 4) ~ 110.25 mm

Calculate the Diagonal of Composition:

Image Diagonal ~ root ((147 mm ^2) + (110.25 mm ^2))
Image Diagonal ~ root ( 21609 + 12155 )
Image Diagonal ~ root ( 33,764 ) = 183.75 mm

Find Focus Distance:

FocalLength / SensorSize ~ FocusDistance / ImageDiagonal

6mm / (1/4") = FocusDistance / 147 mm

FocusDistance ~ 8.7" (?)

- I am posting this "as-is" for now but actually, it looks wrong to me. I will have to think about it and see if I made a mistake.