Sony Xperia 1 IV review

Updated triple-camera with seamless zoom

The Xperia 1 IV has a similar triple-camera setup as seen on the Xperia 1 III, but the telephoto has been updated with seamless zoom starting at 85mm and going up to 125mm. A ToF camera is also around for focus and bokeh purposes, and there is also an RGB IR sensor for accurate white balance adjustments.

The most striking camera on the Xperia 1 IV must be the telephoto. Just like before, it offers optical stabilization and two fixed magnification levels. However, they are slightly different here - you get 85mm (3.5x) f/2.3 and 5.2x (125mm) f/2.8 instead of the 70mm (2.9x) f/2.3 and 105mm (4.4x) f/2.8 zoom magnifications.

But here is the kicker - you can seamlessly zoom between these two levels just like you would on a digital camera with an optical zoom lens. The lens has been updated to support continuous zoom, so you can use anything between 85mm, and 125mm (e.g., 105mm f/2.7), and no digital zoom will be involved. Neat!

The continuous zoom camera is an engineering feat, and we certainly haven't seen anything like this one in recent years. Oppo, for one, has also developed a camera module similar to this one, but it's yet to implement it in a production device and it doesn't even come close to Sony's solution in terms of the aperture width.

The telephoto camera on the Xperia 1 IV uses a 12MP 1/3.5" sensor with 1.0µm pixels and PDAF. The HW apps read the sensor as a Sony IMX 650.

The primary camera relies on a 12MP Sony IMX 557 1/1.7" sensor with 1.8µm pixels that sits behind an optically stabilized 24mm f/1.7 lens. Dual Pixel PDAF is supported, too.

The ultrawide camera uses a 12MP Sony IMX 563 1/2.55" sensor with 1.4µm pixels sitting behind a 16mm f/2.2 lens. This camera also supports Dual Pixel AF, so it should be able to capture close-ups as well.

The ToF camera employs a Sony IMX 316 sensor (240x180, 10µm).

Finally, Sony has retired the old 8MP selfie shooter and is bringing a new 12MP front camera that uses a 12MP Sony IMX 663 1/2.9" sensor with 1.0µm pitch behind a 20mm f/2.0 lens and a fixed focus at infinity. This camera supports 4K video capturing, just like the others.

The cameras have learned a few new tricks since the Sony Xperia 1 III. On this new Xperia 1 IV, all cameras now support SteadyShot with FlawlessEye - that's improved stability in low-light conditions. Eye AF and Real-Time Object Tracking are now available across all camera, too.

Another thing that has made it to all cameras is the 4K video capturing at 120fps - this mode is now available to all cameras via the Cinema Pro app.

A brand-new feature is Wide Dynamic Range for videos, which works independently from HDR video capturing - meaning it can be on/off in both SDR and HDR modes. The wide dynamic range option, if enabled, shoots video by combining multiple frames and cannot support stabilization. The standard dynamic range mode processes each frame separately, and it can be stabilized.

Wind detection is also available for videos - it essentially isolates and removes the noise caused by wind while shooting videos.

The Shooting Grip and Vlog Monitor launched with the Sony Xperia Pro are great for those who'd like the make the most of their Xperia 1 IV. And they have been updated to properly support the new Xperia flagship.

The Shooting Grip now offers a new Endurance mode allowing you to live stream for longer.

The Vlog Monitor has been updated to show two new view modes - a Wave form monitor and False color. These work on the Xperia 1iv and the Xperia Pro and Pro-I.

Photo Pro (default app)

The default camera app on the Xperia 1 IV is Sony's Photo Pro. Its Basic mode is where you'll spend most of your point-and-shooting time when you don't much care about creative control. The sliders for (implied) white balance and exposure compensation, bokeh mode, drive mode, flash and aspect ratio are placed immediately next to the shutter release. The zoom selector is nearby, too, so pretty much everything can be operated with a single thumb without having to use your other hand. And you can use either the hardware or the virtual shutter keys.

At the opposite end of the viewfinder, and for these you'll need your other hand, you'll find a More button, a shortcut to Google Lens, a Menu button to access the (rather lengthy) Settings menu, and the button that lets you switch between this Basic mode/app and its Pro alter ego.

Basic UI

And here are the settings for the Basic version.

Basic Settings

When in the Pro section of Photography Pro, you get an Auto mode, as well as the classic Program, Shutter priority and Manual modes, plus a Memory Recall option where you can store a pre-set state of settings to be able to come back to quickly.

Pro UI

The Photo Pro interface is reminiscent of a dedicated Sony Alpha camera, only adapted for smartphone use. On the right, you get to change photographic settings like focus mode and area, white balance and ISO, but it's exposure compensation that's apparently the most important control since it gets about a third of the screen area. There is no virtual shutter here; you'd need to use the mechanical one.

Pro Settings

Cinema Pro

Cinema Pro is the most advanced app that Sony has and offers nuanced control over all aspects of the shooting process. It unlocks frame rates and resolutions not available in the basic app, including 4K up to 120fps, albeit in a 21:9 aspect ratio - that's really the only ratio in this app. You get the final say on the shutter speed (which you pick by shutter angle), ISO and f-stop (where applicable), as well as white balance and 'look' - sort of like a color profile of which there are a bunch (Venice CS, Opaque/BU60YE60, Bright/BU20YE60, and so on). A -2 to +2EV indicator scale in the bottom left of the viewfinder will tell you how far off you are from the metered exposure level.

Cinema Pro UI

One of Cinema Pro's most useful features is the ability to rack focus between pre-set focus distances (A-B) with control over the duration of the transition. There's also tap to focus functionality, but there's no tracking, so if your subject moves within the frame, the phone won't follow it - instead, it will focus on whatever is in the box where you tapped.

One major omission when it comes to focusing aids, and it's a persisting one, is focus peaking. Manual focus would benefit greatly from it, but it's a hit-and-miss affair as it stands.

There's no change in the availability of Eye AF in Cinema Pro either - it's limited to the other two apps.

Video Pro

The Video Pro app is also available on the Xperia 1 IV. Similar to Cinema Pro, this app offers granular exposure controls and extra frame rates on top of the basic app but saves you the hassle of color-grading the footage afterwards. That makes it more suitable for direct out-of-camera(phone) uploads to your favorite video-sharing platforms.

The Xperia 1 IV has an exclusive new feature here - live streaming on YouTube. You log in with your account, set the name, quality, and just hit Rec, and you are live. You don't even need to meet the YouTube requirements for subscribers count, Sony has made a deal with YouTube eliminating those.

Streaming options

Other than that, the interface of Video Pro features a similar split with a large viewfinder on the left and controls on the right. Always available are two sliders, one for focus and another one for zoom. There's an Auto switch up top, which frees the phone to take care of everything for you, and a lock button to disable all controls so you don't accidentally press something.

Video Pro UI

The exposure controls and other shooting parameters are accessed from the Menu button. Mind you, it's a separate button from the hamburger [menu] button - a bit of a confusing UI choice, which took us a while to figure out.

The first tab of the Menu is where you pick the lens (camera), resolution, frame rate, SDR/HDR, Stabilization, flash. You can record up to 4K120 here, and it's the regular 16:9 4K too, so 3840x2160px as opposed to the 3840x1644px in Cinema Pro. A small caveat is that it's encoded at 120fps, so it plays back at real-life speed and not in slow motion, though if it's slow-mo that you're after, you can slow it down to 1/4 or 1/5 in post. There's a 'slow motion' setting too, but that's only up to 60fps, and those clips play back at 30fps, so half-speed.

The second tab has the white balance, shutter speed and ISO settings.

The hamburger menu, on the other hand, holds less immediately used settings like ISO limits, codecs, mic mode and controls.

The hamburger menu