Sony Xperia 1 VII review

Same continuous 3.5x-7.1x zoom, brand-new ultrawide

The Xperia 1 VII doesn't change much in its camera hardware compared to the previous generation, at least not in the areas where other makers have been pushing. The tri-camera setup still consists of a reasonably sized wide main camera, an ultrawide, and a stepless zoom telephoto, which on last year's model sounded intriguing on paper, but was not so amazing in practice.

The main camera maintains the same bits as last year, the 52MP 1/1.35" IMX 888 getting a small crop to a 48MP effective resolution for stills. The telephoto is also the same unit, a 12MP sensor placed behind a periscope lens that covers an 85-170mm equivalent focal length range - other makers have two separate telephoto cameras instead, Sony insists on its own approach.

It's not all the same on the 1 VII's back, though. The ultrawide camera is new this time around, and here you'll be getting a 1/1.56" sensor. It's been some 2 years since we last saw this big of an imager on an ultrawide camera from a major brand - the Find X6 Pro comes to mind, and it feels like it's been ages since that one came along. The nubia Z60 Ultra was a more recent effort with a similarly sized sensor, but nubias tend to fly under the radar. Either way, we don't get ultrawides this nice too often.

The Xperia mates that sensor to a 16mm equivalent lens - Sony likes the classic numbers. There's no harm in that, but we would have liked a wider field of view. That said, the relatively less extreme focal length has allowed the engineers to make a lens that's optically corrected for distortion so there's not that much of a need for software correction.

Over on the front, we're back to some familiar stuff - the selfie camera has been carried over from the previous generation as well.

• Wide (main): 52MP (48MP effective) Sony IMX 888 (1/1.35", 1/1.43" eff., 1.12µm - 2.24µm), f/1.9, 24mm, dual-pixel PDAF, OIS; 4K@120fps
• Ultrawide: 50MP Sony IMX 906 (1/1.56", 1.0µm-2.0µm), f/2.0, 16mm, dual-pixel PDAF; 4K@120fps
• Telephoto: 12MP Sony IMX 650 (1/3.5", 1.0µm), f/2.3-3.5, 85-170mm, PDAF, OIS; 4K@120fps
• Front camera: 12MP Sony IMX 663 (1/2.93", 1.22µm), f/2.0, 24mm, fixed focus; 4K@60fps

The previous generation marked a shift in Sony's camera software approach, merging all three previous apps into one - the regular all-purpose app, and the Photo Pro and Video Pro ones. This implementation continues on the Xperia 1 VII and you get the same UI as last year, heavily influenced by the company's Alpha 'real' cameras division.

The buttons, menus and operation all look like what you'd find on an A7 IV, for example - you get the same green square visualizations for focus points, there's Eye AF, real-time tracking AF, and a similar menu structure. In a way, the Xperia is an almost too natural choice for a Sony mirrorless camera user.

Sony has leveraged AI for some of its camera functionality including the Eye AF (for humans and animals alike), main subject recognition, human pose estimation, white balance, and exposure.

Two new video modes also use AI to deliver more or less constant framing for moving subjects, including in use cases where you might be running alongside a subject that is itself moving.

Additionally, there is also now a Pro video mode included in the app as well.

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

Daylight photos out of the Xperia's main camera are generally looking great. They have an expressive contrasty look (more contrasty than most), yet maintain very good dynamic range with well developed extremes. White balance is spot on outdoors and only slightly questionable on occasion when inside. Detail is excellent overall, with nicely natural rendition of random textures and little to no noise.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x)

Photos of people are alright, but there's something about the way facial detail is rendered that is not entirely likeable, which is in contrast with how we feel about photos in general. The Portrait mode results can be a little too liberal with the background blur and there were occasional missteps in the subject detection.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), Photo mode

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), Portrait mode

The full-res shots are quite alright too, particularly in abundant lighting. They're not as sharp on a pixel level as the binned ones, of course, but they're not a straight upscale job from those either. Not that we're seeing a direct application of the 48MP files, but if you can get them to work for you in your situation, help yourself.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 48MP

The 2x zoom results are very good too - in most instances, at least. We had a bit more success outdoors, while indoor shots were a little softer, but all things considered, the 2x zoom level is more than usable.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x)

Portraits are alright as well, again, with the caveat that the actual Portrait mode adds a bit too much blur for our liking (there is a slider to adjust it, of course).

Daylight samples, main camera (2x), Photo mode

Daylight samples, main camera (2x), Portrait mode

Telephoto camera

The Xperia's telephoto camera spans the entire 85-170mm range so you get 3.5x to 7.1x uninterrupted optical zoom (the minor discrepancy comes from how they round the numbers).

At 3.5x, the camera is doing good overall. Detail and sharpness are okay, there's a bit of noise, particularly indoors, but it's not too bad. Dynamic range is great, with the same contrast look as on the main camera, and color are easy to like as well.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (3.5x)

The telephoto does put you at a comfortable distance from your subject at this zoom level - 85mm is a classic focal length for portraiture. The results are okay. Dynamic range is nicely wide and the exposures are tailored for your subject - perhaps a little too bright overall as a result. Colors are also pretty nice. Detail, however, is a bit disappointing.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (3.5x), Photo mode

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (3.5x), Portrait mode

Things get a little softer at 5x - around the middle of the zoom range, because we figured there was no need to be all too precise and hit 5.2x. Plus the whole point is that you can zoom in to whatever focal length matches your compositional vision, not fixed steps. Well, for that, the Xperia is great - it's just that the resulting images aren't exactly stellar in terms of sharpness.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (5x)

At around 5x zoom, People shots are a bit more of the same - detail isn't great, but the other aspects of the photos are good. There's no Portrait mode for in-between focal lengths like this one - just for 3.5x and 7.1x.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (5x), Photo mode

Zooming in further, there's yet more of a decline in sharpness, though we'd still consider the 7.1x results quite good for outdoor shooting of distant subjects.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (7.1x)

170mm is a bit too long for portraits, particularly with a smartphone-first mindset, though the Xperia still gives you that option. We're not too fond of the sharpness of these photos.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (7.1x), Photo mode

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (7.1x), Portrait mode

Telephoto macro

The Xperia has a 'Telephoto macro' mode that seems to mechanically move lens bits to allow for some super-close focusing. It locks you at 120mm equivalent focal length optically, with further zooming in possible digitally to 360mm. The minimum focusing distance is around 4cm - compare that to the 35cm you get in regular photo mode. No AF is available in this mode, though, so you might struggle to get your subjects in sharp focus on the first try, and the super shallow depth of field isn't helping.

It's nothing short of remarkable how close you can get to your subjects and what magnification you can achieve - it's fascinating when you shoot and then once again when you view the images on the screen. That said, and you probably would have guessed it, absolute image quality and sharpness aren't all that amazing when you go pixel-peeping.

Telephoto macro mode samples, 120mm

Ultrawide camera

We're saving the superlatives for last - the new ultrawide is, indeed, well worthy of praise. Its shots are super sharp and detailed, and noise is well controlled. Dynamic range is excellent, and color rendition is superb too. It's arguably the one camera on the 1 VII that delivers truly standout results. There's no full-res mode, though, for some reason.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.7x)

Selfies

Don't get us wrong, it's not just the ultrawide camera that impressed us - the selfies are pretty awesome too. We're loving the colors - overall, and skin tones in particular, and dynamic range is excellent too. Detail is very good too, and we'd forgive the occasional graininess in the dimmer regions of the frame.

The lack of autofocus is a bit limiting - no sharp closeups of your nose with this one.

Selfie samples

Low-light photo quality

Main camera

At night, the Xperia continues along the same path of serving high-contrast images that still manage to deliver very good dynamic range. We'd say that it strikes a really nice balance with its highlight preservation and shadow development without producing excessively brightened results. It doesn't like the bright coffee shop sign though, or at least we don't like the Xperia's take on it. Detail is top-class, with no signs of oversharpening. White balance and color saturation are also leaving us no grounds for complaint.

Low-light samples, main camera (1x)

Things do get noticeably softer at 2x zoom, but certainly nowhere near throwaway territory. These look great on the phone's display, and at reasonable magnifications on your PC monitor too.

Low-light samples, main camera (2x)

Telephoto camera

The zoomed in shots from the Xperia 1 VII at night are alright. They weren't anything special last year, and they haven't really gotten noticeably better this year, while the major cameraphones out there have large sensor teles doing marvelous things.

The Sony captures good detail at 3.5x though 'sharp' wouldn't be the first word on your mind when describing these photos. Dynamic range and colors are pretty great though.

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (3.5x)

When you zoom in further, there's a progressive decline in quality on a pixel level, though global properties remain good.

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (5x)

Even at 7.1x, you'd be getting okay shots, just not ones that will make you go 'wow'.

Low-light samples, telephoto camera (7.1x)

Ultrawide camera

Again, though, it's the ultrawide that's giving us wow results, with some outstanding detail and low noise in its low-light shots. We're loving the colors and dynamic range too.

Low-light samples, ultrawide camera (0.7x)

Video recording

The Xperia 1 VII can record video up to 4K120 with all three of its rear cameras, while the selfie camera maxes out at 4K60. All of the cameras can also do 4K24, in addition to the 'standard' 4K30.

In terms of codecs, SDR videos are encoded using h.264, while HDR ones switch to h.265 - you don't get to choose which codec to use. There are all sorts of settings and options, even in the 'regular' video mode. The manual focus and shutter speed controls, for example, can come in handy (enabled in settings, also apply to Photo mode).

There are two different dynamic range modes ('Wide' with multi-frame processing, and 'Standard' with single-frame). Two different levels of stabilization are also available - it's unclear how 'High quality' differs from 'Standard', other than the warning for the possibility for overheating in 'High quality' - plus you can turn it off completely. Face and Eye AF are available and you can turn those off too.

That's before you get into the new Pro video mode, where you get more control over exposure (there are Program, Shutter priority and Manual modes), audio levels monitoring, and a histogram (not a waveform, though).

You can check out the playlist below, which includes multiple video samples.

Video sample playlist

The Xperia's daylight videos at 4K from the main camera are good, but not great. We're loving the colors and there's no shortage of dynamic range, so all that is top-class. What's not awesome is the general softness that's not limited to just intricate foliage detail, but is prevalent across the frame. The different frame rate modes don't change that a whole lot either - on some phones, 60fps or 120fps footage is sharper than 30fps, but that's not the case with the Xperia. The 2x mode stacks up decently to competing efforts, for what it's worth - it's not super sharp, but it's alright.

We kind of expected a bit more from the ultrawide too - when it comes to detail, it's not really delivering on the promise we saw in stills, though colors and dynamic range remain excellent.

On the telephoto, there's no such discrepancy - its photos weren't the epitome of sharpness, and neither are its videos. Again, colors and dynamic range don't really leave us wanting. Overall, we can appreciate how the continuous zooming capability could have its uses and the benefit of having it could outweigh the less than stellar quality, though maybe the balance here is erring on the wrong side.

In the dark, the Xperia's ultrawide captures a little bit better detail than average, its larger-than-most sensor managing to give it an edge over other big-name rivals. The main camera's footage is reasonably good in its own context too. The telephoto, on the other hand, isn't competitive against fixed focal length cameras with big sensors - its clips are simply too soft.

Stabilization on the Xperia 1 VII is a notch below excellence. Pans are smooth on all cameras, so that's great. Standing still, the main camera and the ultrawide are doing a good job, but we've gotten used to even steadier footage recently, and the telephoto also leaves a bit of a tremor. Similarly, if you're walking and shooting, there's some residual shake that we don't get on the best of cameraphones.