Sony Xperia Pro-I review

Video quality

The Xperia Pro-I is more of a video recording pro with stills an advanced hobby. At least, that's what we're being led to believe by the fact that it has three in-house apps that can capture moving pictures. We talked about the differences between their capabilities in a earlier dedicated article and also re-iterated some of that just a couple of pages earlier.

Here, we'll try to focus on the quality of the clips coming out of the Pro-I. We recorded in the Basic mode of the Photo Pro app and then switched to Video Pro for comparison, and where the two can record in the same resolution and frame rate (basically 4K30 on all three cameras), the end results are identical.

For our standard terrace scene, shot on the main camera, the results are good but not outstanding and outstanding is what we were expecting from a Pro-I. 4K30 footage gets a 55Mbps bit rate when encoding with the h.264 codec, and that's an above-average bitrate as smartphones go, yet the detail isn't there to justify it, and textures appear soft and smoothed out. The good news is that this is the only beef we have with the Pro-I's videos - exposure is on point, dynamic range is excellent, color rendition is likable. We do like our detail, though, and the Pro-I isn't delivering.

Video Pro is the one capable of capturing 4K at 60fps and 4K at 120fps, and we're happy to report that 4K60 (bitrate is a generous 120Mbps) is no worse than 4K30, as is too often the case. Then again, it's no better either, and we already said we're not ecstatic about that.

4K120 on the main camera is encoded using the h.265 codec at 140Mbps, again a respectable number. It's played back at 120fps too or at real-life speed, but you can slow it down to 30fps or 24fps in post if you're after a slow-motion effect. Global properties like colors and dynamic range remain unchanged, which is great, but detail takes a further hit, and we're not loving it. Admittedly, being able to record in this mode is no small feat in the first place; it's just that we like being able to count the twigs in the trees... at any frame rate.

The telephoto camera maxes out at 4K30 (55Mbps with h.265). We're happy to report it's doing a better job satisfying our pixel-peeping cravings and returns nicely sharp and detailed footage. In doing so, it's not sacrificing any of the other aspects and has a wide dynamic range and pleasing colors.

The ultrawide is no slouch either, and it too manages to deliver solid pixel-level results, both in the context of ultrawides, but also in absolute terms. In fact, we'd go so far as to say that it resolves more detail in video than the main camera, at least for our balcony test scene.

In low light, the Xperia's performance suffers, inevitably, but we'll have to discuss this in more relative terms, for some context. The Pro-I's main camera output is comparable in terms of detail or a tiny bit better than the iPhone 13 Pro's with the Xperia gaining a more tangible lead the darker it gets, though it does exhibit a lot more noise then. The Mi 11 Ultra remains ahead of both in the amount of detail and sharpness it manages to retain.

The Pro-I's clips have an okay dynamic range in the dark, but the Mi is one bit better, and the iPhone wins this hands down. The iPhone's colors can be a little washed out in comparison, while the Mi and the Pro-I here retain saturation better, though the Xperia is leaning too heavily towards orange with its street lights.

2x zoom cameras are a bit hard to find these days, but the one on the Xperia does fare decently as the light levels drop. Around dusk, you can expect okay levels of detail in areas of balanced lighting, but bright light sources are blown out and carry a sort of a halo around them. As it gets darker, the already quite prominent noise gets worse, and things turn softer overall.

The ultrawide is not in its element at night and is only good as a last resort. The iPhone is perhaps a tiny bit better in terms of detail and superior when it comes to dynamic range, but the Mi 11 Ultra remains a substantially better performer in such conditions.

In all of the low-light clips, we experienced some heavy flickering with the street lights, not something we normally see, or at least not to this extent. Your mileage will vary with this, but it's worth keeping in mind.

Here's a glimpse of how the Sony Xperia Pro-I compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

Sony Xperia Pro-I against the Mi 11 Ultra and the Zenfone 8 Flip in our Video compare tool

The Xperia Pro-I supports electronic stabilization in 4K30 from each of its three cameras, and it's a setting you can turn off if you have the phone stabilized otherwise (some makers don't let you disable it). There's no stabilization in 4K at 60fps or 120fps, however, if you were looking for that specifically.

4K30, on the other hand, is well stabilized on all three cameras. The main and the ultrawide do well for ironing out walking induced shake, while the telephoto dealt with the ever-present wind on our balcony with grace. All three pan smoothly, too.

One odd issue we ran into while testing the stabilization when holding the phone with just the right hand is that since the index finger naturally ends up on top of the shutter release button, you need to move it further towards the very end of the handset and that makes for a less stable grip. Add to that the unusually tall form factor, and your pinky ends up pretty heavily loaded.