Xiaomi 13 Ultra review

Daylight photo quality

Saying that the Xiaomi 13 Ultra's main camera captures wonderful photos doesn't really mean much, does it? But we have to start somewhere.

Xiaomi images traditionally have a tendency for vibrant color rendition, and that's what we're getting in the Leica Vibrant mode on the 13 Ultra. We wouldn't call the colors excessively saturated by any stretch - it's a well-measured and mature approach that produces expressive results. We observed no issues with the auto white balance either. Predictably, the dynamic range is also excellent.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), Leica Vibrant

Detail is very nicely rendered on the 13 Ultra and has a reasonably natural quality to it. There's no noise in outdoor images and even somewhat dimly lit indoor scenes are very clean as well.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), Leica Vibrant

Now, there's also the Leica Authentic mode, and it requires a special mindset to appreciate its results - let's just say it's not for everyone. You'd think it would be a toned down, underprocessed version of reality, and in some ways it is. For example, colors don't have quite as much pop, and detail looks even more organic than the already not overtly artificial Vibrant look.

But there are also stylistic choices that we don't necessarily agree with, and they are, in a way, an overprocessed rendition of the world around us. It may be that back in the day, this gloomy look with dark shadows was a thing, whether due to technological limitations or artistic trends, but today we're hardly fans of it.

We also can't quite approve of the ever-present vignetting - just because we couldn't make lenses with no light fall-off towards the edges back then doesn't mean we have to emulate in processing now what is essentially a flaw in optical design. Or even if current lenses do have some light fall-off towards the corners, correcting it in software sounds like the more logical solution. Don't get this wrong - adding a splash of vignetting for creative purposes, to set a mood or focus attention in the center, is fine. It doesn't have to be a 'mode' in the viewfinder, though. Rant over.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), Leica Authentic

Moving on to a more positive topic, the 13 Ultra's primary camera does have a feature the rest of the 1-inchers don't - a changing aperture. Being able to switch from f/1.9 to f/4.0 allows you better control of what and how much of it is in focus.

Typically, we're all easily wowed by shallow depth of field (it's how 'Portrait mode' was born in the first place), but shallow depth of field can pose issues, particularly when you're presented with a nearby subject that has any depth in itself as opposed to being in a flat plane head-on. Changing to f/4.0 will let you guarantee you have, for example, more petals in sharp focus, or almost the entire Vespa.

That said, more often than not, you specifically want to draw attention to your subject and lose the background, and the f/1.9 aperture will give you precisely that. And we'll remain suckers for blurry out-of-focus areas - the more blur, the better.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x): f/1.9 • f/4.0

Another aspect of changing apertures is the potential to get a sharper image when stopping a lens down as opposed to it being wide open. Without going too deep into it, we'll just say that we did not observe an appreciable difference in sharpness between photos shot at f/1.9 and ones taken at f/4.0 - aside from the effects that the depth of field accounts for, of course.

As a stepping stone to the 13 Ultra's zooming capabilities, let's look at the primary camera's photos captured at the nominal 50MP resolution. These do offer a bump in fine detail, more readily observable in artificial patterns (for example, the pillow in the 8th sample below and test charts) and generally at closer range, than in random detail like foliage at a distance. We wouldn't say the 50MP mode has much utility in general, though if you're one who enjoys cropping after the fact, it will serve you really well.

Daylight samples, main camera (1x), 50MP

That's more or less how the 2x mode on the zoom selector gets its results - it's essentially a 12.5MP center crop from the 50MP mode. With a 3.2x dedicated camera, Xiaomi didn't have to include a 2x mode, but when they can extract results of this caliber, they might as well do.

Daylight samples, main camera (2x)

On to the actual zoom camera, the first of the two. The 3.2x zoom shots are also excellent - they have great sharpness and capture nicely fine detail. We are starting to see some grain in areas of uniform color - it's very fine grit, and it's not at all obtrusive; it's just that the telephoto photos are not quite as squeaky clean as the main camera. The zoom photos have great contrast and the same level of balanced pop in their colors.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (3.2x)

The Xiaomi continues with its top performance on the longer telephoto as well. The excellent colormatching between the cameras remains a thing here. Sharpness is top-notch, and the great microcontrast makes for well-defined detail. Same thing with noise as on the 3.2x module - it's there, but only if you go looking for it.

Daylight samples, telephoto camera (5x)

Taking a sharp turn from the 120mm equivalent telephoto to the 12mm ultrawide (which is, indeed, wider than most), we're not disappointed either. Consistency in color science remains remarkable, and dynamic range is excellent too. Images are sharp across the frame, and detail is solid, even if grittiness has gone up a notch.

Daylight samples, ultrawide camera (0.5x)

Portrait mode

The 13 Ultra has a Portrait mode with wide-ranging options and sub-modes that are even more complex than the 12S Ultra's.

Portrait mode modes

The Default mode leverages the 3.2x telephoto camera in its native field of view. It delivers both very good image quality and a comfortable shooting distance.

Portrait mode samples, Default

Then there's the 'Documentary' mode - shot on the main camera, but with a crop to match a 35mm lens. Its icon suggests it should shoot in black and white (which was also how the 35mm mode was implemented on the 12S Ultra), but it captures color images. The main camera proved its worth for cropping already, so these are unsurprisingly of solid quality as well.

Portrait mode samples, Documentary (35mm)

Next in line is the Swirly Bokeh mode - this one again coming from the main camera, but cropped to a 50mm equivalent focal length. Image quality is excellent (unless you're in dimmer lighting), and the vignetting works nicely to direct attention to your subject.

Portrait mode samples, Swirly Bokeh (50mm)

The light fall-off is also present in the Portrait Portrait mode, shot on the 3.2x zoom camera at 75mm equivalent focal length. That's the same zoom level as the Default mode, but with heavier default background blur (in addition to the vignetting).

Portrait mode samples, Portrait (75mm)

Last on this list is the Soft Focus mode - this one also comes from the 3.2x zoom, upscaled to a slightly longer focal length equivalent (90mm) and with some digital vaseline smeared on the lens (as a special effect, of course). If that's your thing, go for it.

Portrait mode samples, Soft Focus (90mm)

Surely there can't be any more modes, can there? But there are. The 'Full Body mode' is accessed from the contextual settings menu (the arrow at the far end of the viewfinder), and that gives you the native field of view of the main camera (that of a 23mm lens). It's for those instances where you want to put your subject into the context of their surroundings, but their surroundings are less picture-perfect, so don't need to be in focus.

Portrait mode samples, Full Body mode (23mm)

For comparison, here's how these scenes would look if shot in the regular Photo mode on the main camera and the two telephotos.

People shots, main camera (1x)

People shots, telephoto camera (3.2x)

People shots, main camera (5x)

Selfies

Selfies out of the 13 Ultra come out at two magnifications, the 0.8x one offering the native field of view of the camera, and the 1x that crops in and upscales. The shots come out at 32MP, and there's no way to switch to a 4-to-1 binned 8MP mode (and it is a Quad Bayer type of sensor). They most certainly don't have 32MP worth of detail, but they do take up space - to no practical benefit.

Selfie samples, 32MP

They'd make great 8MP shots, and we understand how that's not easily marketable, but the Ultra can always have 32MP on the tin, with an option for 8MP if you want all the image quality distilled in a smaller size.

With all that said, colors and dynamic range are pretty great. That backlit scene at the end may be a little overexposed, and, with the HDR in full swing, it does look pretty washed out.

Selfie samples, manually downscaled to 8MP

Speaking of HDR and backlit scenes, these two don't go together in selfie Portrait mode. By the way, portrait selfies come out at the zoomed-in 1x magnification (as opposed to the native 0.8x), and there's no way to change that.

Selfie portrait samples