Xiaomi’s latest flagship smartphone, the Mi 4, is interestingly packed with a camera sensor that is used by two other Chinese flagship smartphones. The second-gen IMX 214 stacked CMOS sensor from Sony made its appearance first on the OnePlus One as well as the Oppo Find 7 and Find 7a. It is indeed odd for three flagship smartphones to feature a similar camera sensor, but each smartphone has its own software tweaks to separate it from the rest.
At Xiaomi’s experience zone for the Mi 4, we managed to capture some sample shots to have an initial assessment on how the camera performs.
The rear camera of the Xiaomi Mi 4 features a large f/1.8 aperture as well as a six-element lens, besides the Sony sensor. Given the performance on the older Mi 3’s 13MP Sony sensor, where the software manages to produce some amazing shots, the bar is set pretty high for the Mi 4’s new camera.
It must be noted, however, that while the experience zone was in a naturally-lit indoor area, the rooftop windows were tinted – and it was a rather gloomy day. As such, we will attempt to take a few more shots when we meet Xiaomi Global VP Hugo Barra today. In the meantime, here are some sample shots taken as far as the sample Mi 4’s security cable allowed us to.
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The colours on this image are a little warmer than the actual scene.
Accurate colour contrast, with true blacks.
Colours are slightly cooler than actual scene (could be due to blue LED).
An indication of the resolving power of the sensor: the paper diffuser was about 1m away when this image was taken, and the full-res image is able to clearly show the text on that piece of paper.
As we mentioned earlier, this is clearly just a preliminary test of the Mi 4’s camera sensor. We’ll attempt to have another session with the Mi 4 later today, and we’ll update this post with more images in difference lighting conditions.
[Update @ July 23, 5:35pm] We’ve managed to obtain a Mi 4 unit to further test the camera. Here are more camera samples, including the front-facing camera and the HDR mode:
Colour reproduction is much more accurate here, but the image is a little darker than actual scene.
Image taken right after the first image above, but in HDR mode. Once again, HDR mode is very good in terms of speed. Notice the lack of blurriness on the moving objects.
Test macro shot. Not very shallow depth of field.
Final indoor shot. Nothing special, except for the subject: the Mi TV 2, which is readily available in Mi Homes (Xiaomi retail and service stores).
Final image, a selfie using the front-facing camera…complete with photobomb.
