The most concerned thing on Meizu MX4 is the Sony CMOS with 20.7 million pixels. The number of pixels of this CMOS is basically the same as that of Sony's flagship mobile phone Xperia Z3, and both belong to the IMX220 series. What's the difference between the MX4 camera and the Z3 camera? That's the question to be discussed this time.

The specific CMOS model of Meizu MX4 is IMX220R, while the CMOS model of Z3 is IMX220C. The latter has reduced the thickness on the basis of the previous generation of products, and added edge lens to the CMOS to improve the image quality of the image edge, In addition, the lens field of view of Z3 is also larger than that of MX4. In the same case, it can capture more scenes.

In this comparison, both Z3 and MX4 use manual mode. The main reason is that the advanced automatic mode of Z3 can only output 8 million pixels of photos at most, and after a period of practice, we do find that Z3 can take better photos in manual mode. Therefore, although manual operation and adjustment parameters are cumbersome, in order to give full play to the strength of this camera, This comparison will not use the advanced automatic mode of Z3 (also known as the golden camera). In addition, since Z3 cannot use the HDR function when it is 20 million pixels, the HDR link is also canceled in this photo comparison, and each photo is a single image.

Photo interface comparison:

Sony's camera interface is still the same, with all kinds of buttons and switches. It is very easy to use after getting used to it.

The options that can be adjusted in manual mode include white balance EV、 Metering mode, focusing mode ISO、 Flasher switch, etc.

All kinds of camera modes are available, and you can also download more camera apps from Sony's electronics store.

As for the MX4, the interface is much simpler than that of Sony. Many controls are placed in the SmartBar. Sliding left and right can switch the photographing mode.

In manual mode, you can select shutter speed, ISO, EV and manual focusing. The white balance option is not found.

There is no manual white balance function in the setting.

Comparison of studio samples:

Before pulling these two mobile phones out to fight, we first let them explore their differences in imaging in a stable studio. In comparison, both mobile phones use automatic white balance and automatic ISO (it seems that there is no option of manual white balance in the MX4's manual mode).

Sample group 1: sufficient light

(Z3 at the top and MX4 at the bottom, both of which use automatic white balance and automatic ISO)

In the first group of samples, we can first find that under the same light source, the performance of the two is similar. Z3 is more accurate for color restoration, and the picture is more sharp and the contrast is higher. The picture of MX4 is slightly red, which is more obvious on the base of the central puppet.

After the central part is magnified, the difference between the two is more obvious. Z3 has made obvious sharpening on the image, so although it still has higher picture sharpness in the case of larger wide-angle, if you carefully study the details of the picture, it is a little more for the MX4, but the advantage of this amount of detail is not obvious, and you need to zoom to a large size to find it.

On the edge of the same photo, at first glance, the image of the MX4 seems cleaner, while the noise of the Z3 is more. However, careful observation shows that the clean image of the MX4 is due to the smearing algorithm of the fuselage. After smearing, MX4 In order to make up for the reduced picture quality caused by smearing, Meizu has added a heavy sharpening technique, even there is a white edge on the edge of the doll's eyebrows, making the picture unnatural, while Z3 does not have too many smearing traces. Although there are more noise than MX4, it is actually better to retain the details of the picture, such as the shape of the corner of the eye, The Z3 still retains its original shape, while the MX4 does not.

Sample group 2: poor light

In case of poor light, The center of the Z3 proof sheet appears red, and the color restoration also has deviation, but the color restoration at the edge is more accurate. As for the MX4, the color is very average, but the whole picture is red, and the brightness is not as high as Z3. Try to pull up the exposure compensation, and the result is that the shutter speed becomes slower, and the film rate is very low. If the fixed shutter speed is pulled up to ISO, Will cause serious noise.

Enlarge the center of the picture for viewing, The picture of Z3 is not only brighter, but also cleaner. Of course, a clean picture can not be separated from Sony's own painting work. Sony's painting technique is obviously more mature. At first glance, it seems that the details of the picture are still well preserved, but after zooming in, the details of the doll's hair are slightly lost, but even so, the details of Z3 can match the performance of MX4.

At the edge of the picture, the situation of the two is different. The Z3 still has higher picture brightness and less noise, but Sony's smudging algorithm has indeed led to a serious decline in the overall details of the picture, with a faint sense of oil painting. While the MX4 picture has a lot of noise, but the performance is more natural, and the retention of picture details is also better than Sony.

Sample group 3: sufficient light

In this group of dolls, the situation is similar to that of the previous group. The Z3 shows an overwhelming advantage when the light is sufficient, with more accurate white balance, better details and more beautiful colors. It can be seen that the combination of IMX220C and G lenses on the Z3 does have very strong strength. As for the IMX220R on the MX4, there is a gap with the Z3 in many aspects.

Outdoor daytime live shot comparison:

In the comparison of outdoor samples, if there is no special description, each group of scenes is above Z3 and below MX4. Based on the reasons of upload speed and browsing experience, the pictures are compressed. Before compression, the average size of the 20.7 million pixel samples of Z3 is between 8 and 9MB, some samples even reach 12MB, and the average size of the MX4 is below 7MB. The pictures on this page can be zoomed in by clicking.

The MX4 lens will have obvious purple edge in the face of high contrast environment, while the Z3 lens is relatively better.

In this group of samples, at first glance, the color of the MX4 is more pleasing, but in fact, Z3 is relative to the restoration of color More accurately, but the red color of Z3 is really a big problem.

In this group of comparison, the road surface of Z3 has obvious red traces, while the MX4 is seriously green when restoring the color of the outer wall of the nearby building. As for the picture details, they are very good.

In this group of samples, Z3's grasp of the overall picture can be said to be perfect. The picture of the MX4 is seriously yellow. The sunrise at 8 o'clock in the morning is snapped as the sunset at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Z3 also does a better job in preserving the details of the picture.

In this group of samples, the exposure of Z3 is darker, but this also makes the picture more layered, and the MX4 is more inclined to brighten the picture and retain the details of the dark places, which can only be said to have both advantages and disadvantages.

Summary:

In the daytime samples, Z3 and MX4 show very obvious differences, The Z3 photo color is slightly cold, with high contrast, rich and colorful hair, and the overall white balance is relatively accurate, but there will be a slight reddish phenomenon. The lens has better control over glare than the MX4, while the MX4's overall hair color is yellow and green, similar to the iPhone, which tends to please the eye rather than accurate color restoration. When the light is sufficient, Both of them have very high image center sharpness, but the MX4's sharpness drops significantly from the image center to the image edge. Thanks to the edge lens on the CMOS, the Z3 has better edge imaging quality as well as larger wide-angle.

The problem of both is very obvious, that is, white balance, The white balance of Z3 is always inevitably red, while the white balance of MX4 is always yellow and warm. In terms of light measurement, the MX4 can use touch light measurement, while the light measurement method of Z3 is relatively old-fashioned, and it is impossible to choose the light measurement point freely, which will bring some trouble to photography. In addition, the Z3 is easily overexposed under the default exposure compensation, which requires the user to manually adjust the exposure.

Night view sample:

In the night scene proof, the glare problem of the MX4 lens is obvious. When facing the light source, there are very obvious spots on the picture. As for the image quality, The performance of Z3 and MX4 is similar, but the Z3's image is always brighter. In terms of noise, the MX4's painting method is heavier, which also causes the MX4's image to be completely blurred after being magnified, without any details. Because of noise, the Z3's detail performance is also poor, which is slightly stronger than the MX4.

As for color restoration, the color saturation of Z3 is higher than that of MX4, and the color of MX4 looks far less powerful than that of the daytime proof.

Summary:

In fact, at the beginning of the photo studio, we can easily find that the camera of Z3 actually has a very good hardware quality. It is very sensitive to light, and can take bright pictures even when the light is very bad. In terms of lens quality, Sony's own G lens can also show excellent quality under complex light conditions, The ability to resist glare is commendable.

As for the MX4, MX4 The hardware quality of this camera is also very good, but Meizu's control of this camera is very general. For image processing, Meizu blindly pursues the candy color of the picture, and sometimes the photos taken are really good, but the four words of accurate restoration of such color harmony are 180 thousand miles away, especially when watching on the screen, The saturation of green is so high that it's scary. After all, overly bright colors may not please everyone.

In terms of noise reduction, Meizu's manual is more simple and rough. Large strokes of painting cause serious loss of picture details, and also cause the picture to look unnatural. Compared with Meizu's painting technique, Sony's technique is relatively delicate. In addition to the advantages of CMOS, Sony has better overall detail performance (especially edges) than Meizu in most scenes 。

In terms of color restoration, I personally attach great importance to the white balance, and it is in this regard that these two phones are very poor. The Z3 is red, and the MX4 is yellow. The problem is obvious.

To put it bluntly, the photos of these two mobile phones give me the feeling that two people who can't cook food use the best ingredients (at least one of them) to make a table that can eat but should be more delicious.