At the beginning of 2024, in addition to the respective super-large cup models that continue to be polished, the new flagships of each company have basically debuted. As expected, the press conferences of each company are still firmly centered on the word "image", and the "volume" of mobile phone images in recent years has made it possible to make the shortcomings on the "barrel" of the image on the super-large flagship mobile phone, and it is a good photo to take a picture.
Under the crazy involution, technology and hardware are no longer the key to determining the outcome of the game, but also the test of the manufacturer's image strength, is the unique tone and style formed on the software and hardware tuning, "how to make the barrel beautiful and unique, and make the longboard longer" has become the key to a new round of competition. In this article, we'll compare the images of the Oppo Find X7 Ultra, Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra, and iPhone 15 Pro Max from different dimensions to see off the Turbo Imaging Flagship.
The three mobile phones are the same super-large flagships, but each has its own characteristics. One is the world's first dual periscope flagship just released by OPPO this year, not only the new LYT900 one-inch outsole, a new generation of super light and shadow image engine and other software and hardware technologies, Hasselblad legend has also evolved again, so that the use experience and imaging have reached a new height;
One is the super-large image flagship jointly developed by Xiaomi and Leica last year, with Leica's one-inch variable aperture main camera and Leica optical full-focal length quad camera, realizing a full-dimensional leap in Xiaomi's imaging capabilities;
Finally, the new five-fold optical telephoto of the iPhone annual super cup flagship, is also the pinnacle of the current iPhone image strength, no matter what the period, its balanced image strength, will be one of the objects of the comparison of the super large cups.
Who can go one step further on the track of video and stretch the longboard infinitely, let's take a look.
In order to restore the user's real shooting scene and shooting habits as much as possible, we compared the three super large cups from three angles: telephoto, portrait, and wide angle, among which the portrait was shot in portrait mode, and the rest used the default mode. The specific parameters of the three mobile phone lenses are shown as follows:
Portrait - Dimensionality Reduction Strike The charm of the Hasselblad portrait
In the era of social media, mobile phone photography has become an important way for people to record their lives and share their moments, and only the default photo mode can no longer meet everyone's needs for taking pictures.
Portrait mode can be used in a variety of scenarios, whether it's a daily selfie, a party souvenir, or a travel check-in, it can add a sense of artistry and sophistication to your photos. We used Portrait mode for different indoor and outdoor scenes, and it was cloudy outside.
1. Outdoor standard portrait on a cloudy day
In this portrait mode photo, the Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra has obvious redness on the subject's overall face in a cloudy and poorly lit environment, and at the same time, the detailed vignetting around the frame has been added, and the overall photo is also dark, and the cup in the hand is too colorful, which is a bit of a "rollover" look. The iPhone 15 Pro Max is as true as ever, with better color performance in the default portrait mode, and the flaws on the person's face are also "intact" preserved, and the background of the person is somewhat blurred, but the overall look and feel of the photo is not good.
In contrast, the performance of the OPPO Find X7 Ultra in this scene is remarkable, on the one hand, the main body of the character is highlighted by the background blur, and at the same time, the face of the character is brightened and beautified to a certain extent, the face is clearer and three-dimensional, and the degree of beautification can be said to be just right, and the color restoration of the orange and yellow cup in the hand is very good.
2. Outdoor portrait capture on cloudy days
In this shot, the figure is captured in motion, and all three devices perform well, with a natural background blur, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max's color performance is slightly poor, with the subject's face and hands being reddish and dull, giving the subject a visual impression of a poor mental state. Compared to the previous photo, the Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra's performance has improved a lot, with the blessing of variable aperture, the blur of the background of the character is more natural and comfortable, the face is moderately brightened and beautified, and there is no redness, the disadvantage is that the character's clothes and the orange-yellow cup in the hand have a color cast, and the blur near the character's ears is not in place.
The Oppo Find X7 Ultra is still stable, with a natural look, a ruddy complexion on the face that has been moderately optimized, and a relatively realistic color reproduction of cups and clothes, while the fold details in the pockets of the clothes are also preserved.
3. Indoor standard portraits
In indoor portrait mode, the Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra shows noticeable overexposure, with overly bright faces and some distortion of clothing colors, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max does a good job of preserving and restoring the light and dark details of the faces. The Oppo Find X7 Ultra also does a good job of portraying the details of the character's face and clothes, and gives some beautification to the face, but there are slightly heavier skin grinding marks in this photo.
4. Indoor standard portrait 2
In this well-lit room, the portrait mode performance of the three super-large flagships is more outstanding, and it is worth mentioning that in this set of photos, we asked the young lady to slightly edit according to her usual habits. The OPPO Find X7 Ultra has a high degree of bokeh for the background of the character, highlighting the main body of the character well, and the lines of facial details such as hair, eyebrows, and nose wings are softer, and the details of the light and dark from the chin to the neck are controlled and the natural transition makes the character's face more three-dimensional and layered.
In contrast, the Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra takes photos in a different style from the OPPO, with a more ruddy and blood-colored face, and facial features that are more three-dimensional, with a good overall look, but the hair is slightly rough in the treatment, which is easy to mix with the blur of the background.
The background blur of the iPhone 15 Pro Max is not as obvious as that of OPPO and Xiaomi, and the main body of the character is not highlighted in comparison, and at the same time, the details of the face such as fine lines at the corners of the eyes and faint dark circles are retained, and the overall style is still biased towards restoration and realism, and the space is relatively large in the later stage.
5. Portrait comparison summary
Through the comparison of the above several different scenes,OPPO's advantages have been clearly highlighted,Regardless of whether the indoor and outdoor light is sufficient、Whether the character is in motion,OPPO can take good photos,For the overall color reproduction is better,The face of the character does not choose to pull up the beauty without brains,But through appropriate optimization,It not only retains the details of the face while looking more comfortable,And retains the details of the dark places,Make the characters more three-dimensional through the contrast of light and dark。
The Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra is a bit picky about the environment, and in good lighting conditions, it can capture good portraits with natural background blur transitions, but when the ambient light is not enough, it is easy to "roll over" and appear overexposed or too dark.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max's portrait resolution is good, focusing on restoration and realism, and details such as the person's face and the whole can be well preserved, but compared with the other two, it doesn't seem so outstanding, and there is still a certain gap in the perception.
Telephoto – Hasselblad vs Leica Wins and loses
Just as fashion is a cycle, if there are no new trends, then retro must not be wrong, and the same is true for mobile phones. If you ask what retro trends have been in mobile phone imaging over the past year, there is no doubt that periscope telephoto is a full return. From super-large flagships to mid-range cost-effective models, periscope telephoto has once again become standard.
On the super-large cup model, the periscope telephoto has been played with new tricks, and even a double periscope lens has appeared, so that the focal length coverage of the mobile phone is more complete, which not only improves the frequency of daily use, but also increases the upper limit of image creation.
Telephoto is once again valued by major manufacturers, precisely because of its practicality and indispensability in photography. In the simplest terms, a telephoto is the phone's ability to shoot farther, which means it can help us capture details farther away.
In addition, the telephoto is able to achieve a better depth of field, helping us to shrink the angle of view, highlight the subject, and so on. Among the three super-large phones compared today, the OPPO Find X7 Ultra is the world's first dual periscope telephoto, a 65mm 3x periscope telephoto camera, and a 135mm 6x periscope telephoto lens, all of which support OIS stabilization.
1. Telephoto telephoto comparison
The Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra also comes with two telephoto lenses, but the default focal length is slightly different, one is a 75mm 3.2x telephoto lens, and one is a 120mm 5x telephoto lens, both of which also support OIS stabilization. In contrast, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is a little "plain", using only a 120mm 5x telephoto lens.
The three phones were shot with telephoto lenses in different scenes, and the specific real-life samples are as follows:
As you can see from the photos of three different scenes, in the scene with more complex light and color, the three super-large flagships have good resolution, and the color reproduction is relatively good, Xiaomi and iPhone both have the default 5X 120mm focal length, and OPPO uses the default 6X 135mm focal length to shoot. In contrast, the black and white mottled on the wall, the white part of the wall will be whiter in the photos taken by the iPhone, and Xiaomi and OPPO are closer to the real color of the wall. Similarly, the sunset illuminated in the cracks of the building, Xiaomi and OPPO are warmer orange, closer to the real and more outstanding, while the iPhone is a cold and white yellow, and the overall photo is plain.
Figure 2,Photograph the moon in the sky in the distance through the gap in the building,Xiaomi's stylization is more obvious,The handling of the shadow of the building is more aggressive,The overall building is dark,iPhone and OPPO retain more details,OPPO is better than the iPhone in the handling of light and shade,The clarity of the edges will be higher when zoomed in。
The elements in Figure 3 are more complex, not only the sky, the leaves, but also the buildings. Same as Figure 1,iPhone is still partial in tone,And the color of the wall is slightly distorted,The original wall under the sunset is orange,The photos taken by the iPhone show a pinkish look,And Xiaomi and OPPO perform well in color differentiation,Whether it is the words of the building signboard、The color of the wall or the red stripe decoration at the bottom can well restore its own color。 On the sky and leaves on the left side of the picture, the leaves taken by Xiaomi and the nearby sky are a little overexposed, and the sky is gray as a whole, while OPPO's sky color is purer, and the light and dark details of the leaves are better handled.
2. Comparison of telephoto depth-of-field effects
As mentioned earlier, the telephoto also achieves a better depth-of-field effect, helping us focus on the subject, and in this image of a nail on a wall, the Oppo shoots significantly better than the other two. When shooting, the object we focus on is a nail on the wall, but the iPhone macro trigger is very close, and once the lens is slightly farther away, it will automatically exit macro mode, and it is difficult to focus, so the final photo taken is out of focus, and the nail is blurry. And Xiaomi is similar,Click the nail to focus under the fivex lens,The speed of camera recognition is slow,The final photo is still not focused,Only OPPO quickly responds to our clicking gestures when shooting,Successfully focused,And a certain bokeh is carried out on the back wall,Highlight the subject of the shot。
3. Telephoto night scene comparison
When shooting light signs at night, iPhone and OPPO are better at highlight suppression, zooming in to see the font on the light sign, the edges are still clear, Xiaomi's highlight suppression performance is slightly worse, and the edge of the light sign font is more blurry. In terms of color, the colors taken by the iPhone are closer to the real primary colors, while the Xiaomi and OPPO are more pleasing to the eye, the light signs in the photos create a better sense of atmosphere, and in the foreground of the photos, the color reproduction of the red lucky bag decorations is better.
4.10x telephoto comparison
In addition to the native telephoto focal length, 10x is also a very powerful focal length, which puts forward high requirements for the superresolution algorithm and lens group design. Judging from this set of photos, the imaging of the three companies still maintains their own styles, and the overall look and feel is relatively online. If you zoom in, the resolution of the Find X7 Ultra and the Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra is about the same, but the Oppo still retains a certain sense of hierarchy in the shadow part, and the shadow part of the Xiaomi looks relatively flat and lacks a three-dimensional effect. The iPhone 15 ProMax has a strong layer of detail painting, with the edges of the letters already blurred.
5. Summary of telephoto comparison
Through the comparison of telephotos in different scenes, in most scenes, the three super-large flagships are able to take good photos. In contrast, the iPhone 15 Pro Max's telephoto is more challenging when shooting, and it can have good imaging results under good lighting conditions, but when the light is insufficient, the clarity of the telephoto photo decreases significantly, the resolution is not enough, and the iPhone is more elegant in the adjustment of the color of the photo, the color saturation and contrast are not high, and there is also a white balance imbalance in some scenes, and it is easy to have problems with focusing when shooting close-ups with the telephoto.
In contrast, the OPPO Find X7 Ultra and the Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra are more stable in different scenes, and in default mode, the Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra's photographic style is more obvious, full of "Leica" flavor, and it is undeniable that it is more out of the film in some cases, but there are still certain problems in expanding to more scenes, such as not retaining much detail in the dark areas of the subject itself, the color tone is more intense, and some images are occasionally overexposed in complex scenes. Color inhomogeneity and weak suppression of highlights, as well as focus issues when shooting close-ups with telephoto.
The Oppo Find X7 Ultra is the best overall performer in different scenes, with image quality as consistent as ever, both day and night, and is capable of capturing an excellent image even in complex lighting and with a lot of color and content, compared to the Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra's distinctly Leica style Ultra's telephoto style is not obvious, it is closer to reality and restoration, and the details of light and shade in the photo are better handled, and the three-dimensional sense of the picture can be presented.
Wide angle - a duel with an oversized bottom
For these three super-large image flagships, it should be said that each camera is the main camera, but we still refer to the 1x wide-angle lens as the main camera according to the convention. This is the most widely used lens by users, usually users take pictures through the main camera, as the main working mode of the mobile phone camera, the main camera mode has the advantages of high resolution, large aperture, advanced sensor, etc., can capture delicate pictures, rich colors and vivid details. In travel, landscape, street photography and other scenes, the main camera mode provides us with excellent imaging results, and is also the focus of every imaging system.
In terms of parameters, the LYT900 used by Find X7 Ultra should be the most advanced of the three, and the IMX989 of Xiaomi 13 Ultra is the same as the 1-inch bottom, but LYT900 uses a more advanced 22nm process technology, lower power consumption, thanks to lower power consumption, so that the mobile phone calls the algorithm more actively, and the finished film is more textured.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max's main camera is the IMX803, which is only 1/1.28-inch but can output 24 million pixels. The Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra also has a unique highlight, which is that the main camera has a variable aperture design that can be switched to f/1.9 or f/4.0, further increasing playability.
1. Main camera comparison
From the perspective of image quality alone, the performance of the three super-large glass image flagships is similar, and the difference is mainly reflected in the style. Both the Oppo and Xiaomi have a good sense of ambience, in line with the warm sunset of the shots, but the Find X7 Ultra pays more attention to the details of light and shadow, and the texture of the walls looks textured and the contrast between light and dark is more pronounced. Apple is still the same "unretouched", the picture looks relatively plain, and the color is also cold.
2. Comparison of the main camera in complex scenes
The scenes of these two sets of photos are also more testing of camera skills, with bright sky and dark city walls, artificial light sources, leaves and lanterns, and the contrast between day and night is a test of the unity of the imagery. Overall, the performance of the three companies is very good, the iPhone is stable, and the warm lighting on the top of the door hole can be restored both day and night. OPPO's restoration of the dark city wall is in place, and it can be faithful to the truth in different lighting environments. Xiaomi is a rich warm tone, and it looks good in this scene.
In this group of photos, the difference between the three is relatively large. Because it is shot with a 2x focal length cropped by the main camera, it highlights the advantages of the OPPO and Xiaomi's outsole, and the layers of the sky and the details of the foliage are restored in place, and the picture is also very pleasing to the eye. The iPhone doesn't look very good, the clouds in the sky are overexposed, and the overall picture looks gray, but this is relatively close to what the human eye sees. In comparison, I personally like OPPO's imaging, which is in line with my expectations for this scene, real and textured.
Write at the end
In terms of telephoto and wide-angle lenses, there are some differences between the Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the Oppo Find X7 Ultra. Thanks to the advantages of hardware, Xiaomi and OPPO have better resolution, the advantage of the outsole is obvious, the color is also more pleasing, and the iPhone is still decent, focusing on a convenient late stage.
In the portrait, the difference between the three is widened, the iPhone focuses on restoration and reality, what you see is what you get, but it seems to have lost the purpose of the portrait, and the color of the photos taken is too pigmentary, and the perception is lacking. The Xiaomi Mi 13 Ultra performs a little better, with the blurring and over-naturalness of the background of the characters, but when the scene is poorly lit or complex, the Portrait mode performance is still not stable and the imaging effect is not good, in contrast, the Oppo Find X7 Ultra is able to stabilize the output in portrait mode regardless of the environment, and through the depiction of details and the control of light and shade, it creates a sense of light and shadow and three-dimensionality of the characters, which is excellent.
Super large cup flagship,There are no obvious shortcomings in the configuration of image hardware,More is the tuning of hardware and the choice of image direction。 In terms of images, the iPhone sticks to itself as always, focusing on restoring the truth, Xiaomi actively embraces Leica, bringing obvious stylized Leica photography, while OPPO further deepens its cooperation with Hasselblad, bringing a new Hasselblad full-focal range master image, professional Hasselblad portrait and Hasselblad retrospective portrait, entering a new realm in the image, especially at the portrait level, attaching importance to the midtone and exploring the charm of light and shadow.
Image is the art of light and shadow, between the reality of light and shadow and the world constructed by pixels, different mobile phones with their unique perspectives and excellent performance reflect each other in this visual feast, redefining the power of "instant is eternal" in different ways. Every moment the shutter is pressed, it is an affectionate gaze and tribute to life and beauty. In the future of mobile phone photography, we look forward to more miracles blooming in the world of light and shadow, let us witness and move forward hand in hand, so that the lens can become a unique language to gain insight into the world and convey emotions.