Xiaomi 14 Civi review

Proper triple cameras and dual selfies on the front

The Xiaomi 14 Civ features a decently large 50 MP main sensor (also used in the Poco F6 Pro), joined by a 12 MP ultrawide camera, instead of the commonly used and rather poor 8 MP sensor.

The device also boasts a dedicated 50 MP telephoto camera, although its reach is rather modest at only 2x.

• Wide (main): 50MP OmniVision OVX8000 1/1.55", 1.0µm - 2.0µm), f/1.6, 24mm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS; 8K@24fps, 4K@60/30/24fps
• Telephoto 2x: 50 MP Samsung ISOCELL JN1 (S5KJN1), f/2.0, 50mm (telephoto), 0.64µm, PDAF; 2160p@30fps
• Ultrawide: 12 MP OmniVision OV13B f/2.2, 15mm, 120˚ (ultrawide), 1.12µm; 2160p@30fps
• Front camera (main): 32 MP Samsung S5KGD2 1/2.8", 0.8µm-1.6µm), f/2.0, 26mm, AF; 2160p@30fps
• Front camera (ultrawide): 32 MP Samsung S5KGD2 1/2.8", 0.8µm-1.6µm), f/2.4, fixed focus; 2160p@30fps

On the front, the Civi surprises with not one but two cameras. The main one has autofocus, while the secondary unit is paired with ultrawide optics.

On paper at least this is quite an impressive setup for a device in this class.

Daylight photo quality

Main camera

The main camera produces pretty good images and stays consistent indoors and outdoors. The stills are sharp with a good amount of fine detail and the colors are punchy without going too far or deviating from the natural look.

Main camera samples

We are impressed by the HDR algorithm, although it seems a bit too aggressive, boosting the shadows a bit too much. We would have prefered a more conservative, natural rendition.

Portraits: Normal • Portrait mode

We also took some 50 MP shots, utilizing the full resolution of the sensor, but they don't really add that much extra detail.

50MP samples

2x zoom camera

The 2x zoom camera has similar rendition to the main shooter, but shadows look more natural. We are pretty happy with the overall quality - processing, detail levels, dynamic range and colors are on point. Noise is virtually non-existent and going indoors has minor effect on quality. Sure, there's a slight drop in sharpness and just a tad more noise, but nothing to stress about.

2x zoom camera samples

2x portraits: Normal • Portrait mode

4x zoom

The camera app gives you an additional 4x toggle. This one is a crop from the 2x zoom camera and during the day, the stills are a lot better than initially anticipated. There is a noticeable drop in sharpness and detail, but definitely not as much as we've seen on competing solutions. In fact, we can say that outdoor samples look excellent, all things considered. Pictures start to get noisy and muddy when you try to zoom indoors.

4x zoom crop samples

Remember that the 2x zoom camera doesn't have OIS, so shooting 4x stills can result in blurry shots at times. Stabilizing your hand when taking 2x photos is easy, but 4x can be challenging.

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide samples are decent enough, but not a huge upgrade compared to some 8 MP ultrawide cameras. Detail is lacking, and dynamic range is okay, but far from the main camera's. Indoor scenes allow noise to creep in and quality deteriorates significantly. In fact, noise can sometimes be spotted even outside.

Ultrawide camera samples

Selfies

The 14 Civi stands above the majority of phones out there with its two selfie cameras and autofocus on the main wide one. Now the resolved detail on the ultrawide camera isn't spectacular, but it lets you do those group shots, which is still counting for something.

Main selfie camera samples

The main camera does great shots with good dynamic range is good, accurately rendered skin tones and impressive level of detail. There's a bit of noise, particularly indoors, but nothing too bothersome.

Ultrawide selfie camera samples

We've seen competing devices perform better in certain aspects or even image quality overall, but as a complete package the 14 Civi is right up there with the best.

Low-light photo quality

Main camera

The camera software has the automatic Night mode enabled by default, but in most cases, the software will prefer taking a standard photo. There's obviously some image stacking going on in the background, even when the Night mode isn't active. The Night mode is triggered only in very dim environments and there's even a little prompt asking you if you'd want to run a 3-second long exposure for better results.

Main camera samples

In any case, the low-light photos taken with the main camera are excellent. There's quite a bit of detail all-around, colors are accurate, contrast is nice and the dynamic range is wide. Maybe the shadows are a bit too bright at times and the scene loses that natural look. Noise is always kept at bay and light sources are rendered excellently.

2x zoom camera

The 2x zoom camera at night prefers the Night mode in pretty much all scenarios. The photos aren't as sharp as on the main camera, which is to be expected, but the image quality is good nonetheless. The detail is aplenty, the dynamic range is wide and noise is non-existent and color rendition is rather accurate.

2x zoom camera samples

In fact shadows are rendered better than on the main cam as they are a notch darker and thus more natural-looking. In more challenging scenarios with very limited light, the stills can be a bit fuzzy, though.

4x zoom

Shooting in 4x zoom mode is rather ambitious and beyond the 2x zoom camera's capabilities. Despite the Night mode trying to clear up the noise the samples still end up blurry. The lack of OIS at night in 4x zoom mode makes the end result very rarely usable.

4x zoom crop samples

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera's rendition is similar to the main camera's in a sense that it delivers bright and lively photos with plenty of color and without much noise, but sharpness is lacking. Even though the software always chooses the dedicated Night mode, objects in the shadows look soft. Then again, this is to be expected from an ultrawide camera, and we can even say quality is slightly above average.

Ultrawide camera samples

Video recording

The Xiaomi 14 Civi can record 2160p videos at 30fps with all of its cameras, including the selfie and ultrawide shooters. The main and 2x zoom cameras can even record 4K@60fps.

All video modes are aided by EIS, but Xiaomi provides two additional stabilization modes that mimic action camera-level stabilization - Steady video and Steady video Pro. Both modes are capped at 1080p@30fps, though.

Let's start with the main camera's 4K footage. The first thing we noticed is the rather obvious magenta tint and the slightly warmer color temperature overall. Aside from that, the video looks clean, sharp and despite the color deviation, it has punchy and lively colors. Contrast is good, dynamic range is excellent and we couldn't find any noise in the scene.

Video sample playlist

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

On the other hand, the 2x zoom camera clip doesn't have the same issues as the main camera. The video looks just as sharp, detailed and clean.

The ultrawide camera also has that slight magenta cast to its videos, although not as prominent. Since the sensor allows 4K video recording, the 14 Civi pulls ahead of some rivals that rely on 8MP ultrawide cameras and are thus capped at 1080p resolution. No wonder we find the ultrawide footage sharp, detailed and with excellent dynamic range, especially compared to the competing solutions.

The low-light footage shows the same tendency for warmer color temperature, but it's otherwise looking clean, sharp and with wide dynamic range, although some small highlight patches seem clipped. Noise can be hard to notice even in the shadows, while contrast and colors are excellent.

The EIS in 4K recording is more than adequate, while the Steady video Pro mode we tested takes things to another level with exceptional stabilization.