* for all its faults and unfinished status!
It's notable that Sony phone cameras have traditionally underperformed, despite Sony itself being a leader in sensor technology - the blame is usually laid at the door of the teams working on optimisation and image processing, but it does seem from my tests here that the team has at least been doing some good work.
Let's start with a few specs:
| iPhone 12 Pro Max (2020) | Sony Xperia 5 ii (2020) |
|
12 MP, f/1.6, 1/1.9" main sensor, |
Dedicated two-stage shutter button/launch key
12 MP, f/1.7, 1/1.7" main sensor, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS |
Notes:
- I've shot at 4:3 at the default output resolutions on each.
- On the iPhone 12 Pro Max, I shot in ProRAW mode (it's a toggle in the UI). Note that I didn't do ANY processing of these ProRAW images and that I didn't 'cheat' - I simply use this mode for imaging tests because it forces the iPhone to leave out populist edge enhancement routines. I then shared back to the desktop and then to the Web here as a standard JPG. It's my 2020-2025 benchmark for these sites.
- All photos were taken on full auto and handheld, as a regular user would do. No tripods or desktop Photoshop editing sessions needed!
Let's pit the results against each other, using our Famed Interactive Comparator (FIC). All 1:1 crops are at 900x500 for comparison, though I've put up the originals on the server, for you to download if you want to do your own analysis.
| Note that the interactive comparator below uses javascript and does need to load each pair of images. Please be patient while this page loads, if you see a pair of images above each other than you've either not waited long enough or your browser isn't capable enough! You ideally need a powerful, large-screened tablet or a proper laptop or desktop. This comparator may not work in some browsers. Sorry about that. On Windows 10 Mobile, use the 'AAWP Universal' UWP app, which handles the comparator very competently (see the tips in the app's help screens) |
Test 1: Sunny landscape
A nice river shot in Henley on Thames. Here is the overall scene:
You can grab the original (shared JPG) photos here from the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Sony Xperia 5 ii for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
This is interesting - Sony's image processing is delightfully Lumia-esque now, in that even the iPhone 12 Pro Max's 'ProRAW' mode looks enhanced by comparison. Check out the greenery, even the roof tiles, and I'm really impressed by how natural the Xperia 5 ii's images are even at the pixel level here.
iPhone 12 Pro Max (ProRAW): 9 pts; Sony Xperia 5 ii (mid 2021 retest): 10 pts
Test 2: Sunny landscape, zoomed
The same shot, but using the native telephotos (2.5x and 3x) in each phone.
You can grab the original (shared JPG) zoomed photos here from the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Sony Xperia 5 ii for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
The iPhone levels the playing field a little when zooming - partly that Apple's image processing for zoomed photos is so good (I've noticed this before), but also that Sony's telephoto shots used to be too 'soft' - and now they're much better, but pretty much on a par with the leading camera phone of today (I contend). Top marks all round - remember that these crops are real detail at 1:1 on the sensor/output. No jaggies, no over-enhanced edges to be seen, hoorah!
iPhone 12 Pro Max (ProRAW): 10 pts; Sony Xperia 5 ii (mid 2021 retest): 10 pts
Test 3: Medium distance
More river action, with the subject at five metres. Here is the overall scene:
You can grab the original (shared JPG) photos here from the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Sony Xperia 5 ii for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Although detail levels are similar, the iPhone's image is slightly too contrasty and I rather like the smoother, more cinematic and natural Xperia 5 ii photo. Having said that, it would be churlish to dock the iPhone a point, plus it does have higher dynamic range. So honours even, I think. Mind you, in such perfect lighting, almost any smartphone camera could get close to this, I feel. Yes, even a Samsung!
iPhone 12 Pro Max (ProRAW): 10 pts; Sony Xperia 5 ii (mid 2021 retest): 10 pts
Test 4: Medium distance, zoomed
The same scene, but again zoomed with native telephoto zoom.
You can grab the original (shared JPG) photos here from the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Sony Xperia 5 ii for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
As before, once you factor in zoom camera processing (even though the zooming is all in the optics), the iPhone does better, with details evident here - fittings, rivets, materials - slightly overblown on the Sony. It's as if it's having to work hard - some phone cameras in the past have claimed '12MP' but have really been 8MP and then upsampled the result. I've no evidence that this is the case here, so will assume that it really is a 12MP sensor and that something's not quite right in the image processing stack. Don't get me wrong, the Xperia 5 ii's telephoto camera isn't bad, it's just very slightly underperforming. And yet again I wonder whether it's software that's to blame and whether an update can improve things.
iPhone 12 Pro Max (ProRAW): 10 pts; Sony Xperia 5 ii (mid 2021 retest): 8 pts
Test 5: Wide angle test
Another boat, shot from the footpath and with the ultra-wide lenses on both phone cameras. Here is the overall scene from those lenses:
You can grab the original (shared JPG) photos here from the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Sony Xperia 5 ii for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
I wasn't expecting the Sony ultra-wide to match the iPhone's and this was indeed the case. A matter of degrees, of course, plus remember that this is the iPhone in its ultra-pure ProRAW mode, but looking up close at the pixel level you can see extra noise and fuzziness that's simply not there in the iPhone 12 Pro Max photo.
(Of note is that the Xperia 5 ii's software offers two ultra-wide modes, offering the choice of higher image quality or correction of ultra-wide frame distortion - obviously I chose the former for these tests.)
iPhone 12 Pro Max (ProRAW): 10 pts; Sony Xperia 5 ii (mid 2021 retest): 8 pts
Test 6: Ultra-wide, test 2
A pretty river-side house in Henley on Thames. Here is the overall scene from the ultra-wides, shot from the path and I couldn't step back without getting very wet(!):
You can grab the original (shared JPG) photos here from the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Sony Xperia 5 ii for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
I'll score these more evenly, I think, even if I'm being a little generous to the Sony. Both cracking ultra-wide test shots.
Again, note that the slight fish eye nature of the Sony's shot can be fixed in its software at the expense of slightly lower image quality and interpolated pixels around the edge of the frame, but I went for pure image quality. Just something to note. In fact, now that I've checked, the iPhone Camera software has a similar toggle and I had this set on, explaining why the house's verticals are better on the 12 Pro Max. But if you start playing with ultra-wide cameras on any phone then be aware that there's usually this choice to be made somewhere in settings.
iPhone 12 Pro Max (ProRAW): 9 pts; Sony Xperia 5 ii (mid 2021 retest): 9 pts
Test 7: Indoor texture
Plenty of light, thanks to the sun through a window, pouring onto a colourful cushion. Here is the overall scene:
You can grab the original (shared JPG) photos here from the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Sony Xperia 5 ii for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
This is where the iPhone draws ahead of most other phone cameras, of course. The combination of the 'Deep Fusion' algorithms, the pin-sharp Lidar focussing, the sophisticated colour management, all pay dividends, while the Sony tries its best, but neither focus, colouring, or texture handling really satisfy.
iPhone 12 Pro Max (ProRAW): 10 pts; Sony Xperia 5 ii (mid 2021 retest): 8 pts
Test 8: Dusk
With light very low, suburbia after sunset (you can see the street lights on). Here is the overall scene:
You can grab the original (shared JPG) photos here from the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Sony Xperia 5 ii for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Another 12 Pro Max win, perhaps unsurprisingly - the iPhone's low light handling is unsurpassed, bringing out natural colours even when there's little light bouncing around. The Sony didn't do too badly (going automatically into its own multi-exposure night mode), with super detail and only let down by over-dramatic colours.
iPhone 12 Pro Max (ProRAW): 9 pts; Sony Xperia 5 ii (mid 2021 retest): 8 pts
Test 9: Dusk, zoomed
Yes, I realise that zooming in low light is probably not a good idea, but we're trying to stretch the phone cameras here, so...
You can grab the original (shared JPG) photos here from the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Sony Xperia 5 ii for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
All very interesting, and I can explain it after looking at the EXIF data - in very low light, the iPhone hates using its telephoto lens and so switches to digital zoom on the main lens. Yes, this is larger and better stabilised, but optical zoom always trumps digital and the Xperia 5 ii here uses its telephoto lens as ordered, with no downgrading possible. And, although the colours are still a little overdone (bricks really aren't that red), considering that we're looking at the pixel level in a zoomed shot in very low light, I was impressed.
It did raise the question of whether it's possible to force the iPhone to use its telephoto mode after all, but in a 'night', multi-exposure mode? Perhaps, maybe there's a trick to this. I'll experiment!
iPhone 12 Pro Max (ProRAW): 7 pts; Sony Xperia 5 ii (mid 2021 retest): 9 pts
Test 10: Night time, lit
At night, an artificially lit station concourse. Here is the overall scene:
You can grab the original (shared JPG) photos here from the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Sony Xperia 5 ii for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Though the light levels were challenging, the iPhone's photo here is astounding in terms of clarity and lack of noise - Apple's chipset power and multi-frame exposures, at least here in ProRAW mode, are tremendous. This is at least one of the reasons why the 12 Pro Max has been my primary smartphone for the last ten months. The Xperia 5 ii was never going to beat the iPhone here, but it doesn't do too badly. Slightly worse OIS, slightly worse software stitching, slightly smaller sensor, they all add up, and it's at least one notch back.
iPhone 12 Pro Max (ProRAW): 10 pts; Sony Xperia 5 ii (mid 2021 retest): 9 pts
Test 11: Night time
Dead of night, despite the apparent light in the sky, thanks to camera phone magic making it seem almost day time(!) Two hours after sunset, anyway. Here is the overall scene:
You can grab the original (shared JPG) photos here from the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the Sony Xperia 5 ii for your own analysis.
To look at the images in more detail here, here are fairly central 1:1 crops, just wait to make sure the page has fully loaded and then use your mouse or trackpad pointer to compare the images:
Yet again, despite a sharp multi-frame image and impressive lack of noise, the Xperia is still a clear notch behind the iPhone, at least in terms of gathering light and creating a photo from almost nothing. The detail gathered at 100m in really dark conditions, with weedy street lights, by the iPhone 12 Pro Max is astounding.
iPhone 12 Pro Max (ProRAW): 10 pts; Sony Xperia 5 ii (mid 2021 retest): 9 pts
Verdict
Adding up the points gives us (unsurprisingly) a win for the iPhone 12 Pro Max:
- Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max (ProRAW): 104 pts
- Sony Xperia 5 ii (2021 retest): 98 pts
What did surprise me is how far Sony has come though, in terms of its image processing tweaks in updates. Non-zoomed shots are now completely top notch, while zoomed and wide angle shots are now very useable, especially if you don't look too closely, as I did above. Given that the iPhone 12 Pro Max is top of the smartphone imaging tree in my opinion (only really beaten for zoom by some of the monster periscope systems), to sit 'only' 6 points behind across 11 test shots is pretty darned good.
Comments welcome anyway. Obvious follow-up features include the Xperia vs the trusty Lumia 950 XL, of course, plus using the iPhone in its 'default' mode (edge enhancement, etc.) Anything else you're interested in?
PS. The Sony Xperia 5 iii is delayed, but I'll hopefully have one in September, for more testing!