Sony teases new IMX686 image sensor, shows first samples in a promo video

07 November 2019
Not full resolution samples, though. In fact, Sony is keeping the sensor's resolution a secret for now.

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vrvly, 14 Nov 2019They basically fail at adding new features and selling them... moreAgreed. Marketing is what sells phones, not specs. And software is what keeps people coming back. If Sony can nail the software to take FULL advantage of the hardware, then we'll be getting some pretty damn nice photos

    Walter C. Dornez, 13 Nov 2019Hey, I wish they would. Out of all the companies, they're l... moreThey basically fail at adding new features and selling them. Sure they got some original ones, but they miss the other and are unable to push forward like in creating interesting ads or giving customers some experience stores.
    Push from Samsung and Huawei into ads, Xiaomi and Apple into stores got visible results. Then basically more customers - better service for one user.
    As for camera output, they got pleasant colors but lack in detail and quality, basically you are better off using manual hdr and raw and that's opaque of what you should be doing on the smartphone.
    Last time I compared view20 and xperia1, view20 ultra clarity could capture more detail than tele from sony.
    When you can choose between hi q low res and average q hi res, latter one is more usable as you still can photoshop it. There is that awkward feeling though of missing colors or yellow/brown saturation some use, but with sensors getting bigger its less of an issue.
    Not to mention getting quality and hi res from tele is about as important as getting it from main camera, in my case I would use it more often as you get more of subject into focus or can get close to it(like what you would do with full size Tele lens).
    Competition in phone space is now way higher and its mostly about cameras per price ratio, there are limits like os and some sw features, but with new tech every half year you got to consider what is worth that money.
    It's golden age of mid range, hi-end-for-half-year tech.

      vrvly, 07 Nov 2019Tech from A7RIV would be also welcome, using 12mp sensor bu... moreHey, I wish they would. Out of all the companies, they're literally sitting on a gold mine off photography capabilities

        vrvly, 07 Nov 2019Tech from A7RIV would be also welcome, using 12mp sensor bu... moreThere problem with Sony fans is that they claim the camera HAS to be used manually for it to get "pictures blowing away any shitsung".

          EmojivsKimchi, 10 Nov 2019Then tell me how to turn off P30 Pro's chromatic aberration... moreMost of issues that P30 Pro had, especially colour rendering, were fixed or greatly mitigated through a bunch of software updates that the phone received after it had been reviewed by DxOMark. Why are you even bringing up P30 Pro when Mate 30 Pro is already official anyway, did you actually think they had the same main camera just by looking at the spec sheet alone? Hilarious.

            EmojivsKimchi, 10 Nov 2019You two trolls are also didn't "touch" Xperia 5, why you tw... moreSony is Not God.
            Stop blindly defending it.

              Nick Tagataka, 10 Nov 2019Street style colour? That's only true when you select one o... moreThen tell me how to turn off P30 Pro's chromatic aberrations for unusual artifact in night shot and unnatural rendering of sky color when shooting outdoors. Since you rely on Dxomark you must have read the review.

                A smart Shooter, 10 Nov 2019That's the true definition of vV5You two trolls are also didn't "touch" Xperia 5, why you two can much nitpicking? You even don't appreciate Xperia from all your comments, how can we trust you!?

                  Nick Tagataka, 10 Nov 2019I just took a look at his user page and holy crap that gave... moreI see many people choose for any brand with love, you can like it any way. Why must you even have the phone you like? You are not wealthy at all, so you can only like it and "save in mind"!

                    Nick Tagataka, 10 Nov 2019I just took a look at his user page and holy crap that gave... moreThat's the true definition of vV5

                      [deleted post]I just took a look at his user page and holy crap that gave me a disease lol. He is adding every single Sony phone since Z5 to the list of his favorite devices and posting BS about other phones without even touching them, just fantastic.
                      Thanks for the advise and from next time I'll make sure to check what kind of person have sent me the reply comment before replying back to him/her.

                        Mike, 09 Nov 2019Processing you talk about is what's known as HDR stacking a... moreSony DOES use HDR stacking for their mobile phones in auto mode, but instead of as a trigger happy/always-on HDR, they have it as one of the scene recognition modes which makes it impossible for their phone to use other modes on top of HDR like Samsung/Huawei/Xiaomi do.

                        Sony uses machine learning algorithms to exploit the hardware features fully, but only for improving the shooting experience and not the actual image quality. Eye tracking autofocus, predictive capture with tracking autofocus (this doesn't mean images have less motion blur, by the way, since that all depends on the exposure time), HLG video recording, yeah I get that some of them are definitely useful features that I want to see on other phone cameras. But what about the actual quality of the photos itself?

                        Best ultra wide? As long as HDR gets triggered to prevent highlight blowouts, then maybe it comes second after the one on Mate 30 Pro. Unfortunately the camera misses the backlight scene way too often even when it's dynamic range extension is clearly needed. The same goes for the main camera. You just said it yourself, "Quality of shots varies from shot to shot" - on iPhone, Galaxy, Pixel or Huawei, the quality of shots don't vary in the same scene. On Xperia sometimes the highlights are completely overexposed and sometimes they are contained well even if the lighting condition is identical, and it's way too inconsistent. It messes up indoor shots as well as it fails to trigger almost all the time and keeps shadows very underexposed. Night shots aren't too great either as you don't get an option to shoot with a dedicated night mode.
                        I'm not saying it's a bad low light shooter, but compared to Apple, Google and Huawei's offerings, can the one from Sony really compare? Not really.

                        And finally, please stop saying it's an overkill, because there's no such thing. Samsung is just about to release the new version of their 108MP sensor for Galaxy S11 according to the rumours, and I'm pretty sure it will have DRAM inside just like their previous sensors for their flagship lineups. If Sony can release a larger sensor with DRAM, then they should, and there's no way they can't.

                          EmojivsKimchi, 10 Nov 2019One of the Huawei flagship fans/user told me the Huawei tak... moreStreet style colour? That's only true when you select one of Leica film filters, with those options off my P30 takes photos with very natural colour saturation or sometimes slightly less saturated colours compared to what I see with my own eyes.

                            Nick Tagataka, 09 Nov 2019Color tuning is extremely subjective and whether one camera... moreOne of the Huawei flagship fans/user told me the Huawei takes street style color photos and it looks like the magazine cover, you can judge it oversaturated and way too much punchy color than reality. For the Samsung camera it aslo produce punchy color, I review a photo of an older flagship from my friend he share me thru bluetooth, the image has too much punchy color and not as well as we saw it

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                              • Anonymous
                              • vDC
                              • 09 Nov 2019

                              Anonymous, 08 Nov 2019Why is that? What's the problem with smartphone lens?they are too small and need much digital correction.

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                                • Mike
                                • LHe
                                • 09 Nov 2019

                                Nick Tagataka, 08 Nov 20191) Some phones are smart enough to achieve the similar effe... moreProcessing you talk about is what's known as HDR stacking and Sony doesn't do HDR stacking and most likely never will, they do traditional metering. Could they improve spot metering to not overexpose and multi metering to not underexpose? Sure they could no doubt but it has nothing to do with HDR stacking. Sony operates Xperia camera more in a line how their digital cameras work and to say they lack in processing department is really naive. Xperia can track objects in motion while shooting burst which means less motion blur, it does predictive capture by doing four full-res images you can choose from unlike others that only do low res images in predictive captures, it records HLG video and so far with Samsung is the only one to do so. It's very versatile camera for both video and stills. Xperia 1 has one hell of a ultra wide camera that bests all of them on regular basis both day and night time. Is it because of the sensor? No, it's because of what Sony did with that sensor. So to say that Xperia is on the back burner with software development is simply not true.

                                Xperia being behind other flagships is one giant myth from back in the day. Quality of shots varies from shot to shot but that is true for any flagship out there. I had better shots with my XZ2 than with iPhone X and vice versa depending on the scene. It's good enough to be a flagship.

                                One more thing. There will never be quadbayer with DRAM to have all the features that Xperia main camera can do right now. It's an overkill.

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                                  • AnonD-731363
                                  • SH3
                                  • 09 Nov 2019

                                  Anonymous, 08 Nov 2019Will distribute with cheap screen from a barely known compa... moreWell i said that.
                                  Sony even for low specced phone ask 500 bucks.
                                  Every Sony phone cost a fortune even if it have worse specs than Xiaomi 8A.


                                  And by the way even if Xiaomi using cheap parts their phones easily lasts 2 years which is time where most of us buying new device.
                                  So in this case it doesnt matter.

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                                    • Dingdongheapipe
                                    • NU$
                                    • 09 Nov 2019

                                    EmojivsKimchi, 08 Nov 2019You lie, midrange capture more artificial image even it is ... moreYou lie, xperia camera is always worse than the competitors.

                                      These are very beautiful photos. Can't wait to see it in action!

                                        EmojivsKimchi, 08 Nov 2019You lie, midrange capture more artificial image even it is ... moreColor tuning is extremely subjective and whether one camera has better one than the other mostly depends on the personal preference. Plenty of midrange devices are capable of taking photos with true-to-life colours.

                                        "Only Xperia stay true to the real scene"
                                        If you don't account for its tendency to underexpose and put a pink cast to the entire frame, then yeah you can say it captures relatively natural looking image.

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