Since 2016, Xiaomi has successively launched the full Netcom version of Hongmi Note3, Xiaomi 4S, Xiaomi 5 and Xiaomi Max. Although they are devices with different positioning and price, perhaps many users who buy Xiaomi mobile phones will be curious about how different they will be?
parameter
Guess the camera model of Xiaomi Max: According to the actual wide-angle and exif information of the film, the focal length is the same as that of the red rice Note3 All Netcom, and the sensor size should also be 1/3.06 inch. For the 16 million pixel sensor of this size, the most common ones are the Samsung interpolation version of S5K3L2 and the Hongmi Note3 All Netcom version of S5K3P3. The former does not support phase focusing, so Xiaomi Max is likely to use the sensor of the Hongmi Note3 All Netcom version.
However, there is doubt that the limit state of Xiaomi Max is 3153 ISO and 1/14 second shutter, while Hongmi Note3 All Netcom is 6400 ISO (the device with the highest ISO extreme value in Xiaomi's history) and 1/10 second shutter. Possible reasons include different sensors, algorithm changes, and EXIF information errors, which cannot be confirmed temporarily.
Effect speculation: The hardware parameters of Xiaomi Max and Hongmi Note3 All Netcom are very similar, and the performance is not far different. The 1.0 micron ultra small unit pixel size of the CMOS S5K3P3, even with ISOCELL technology, is estimated to be weaker in daytime and weak light imaging than the Xiaomi 4S, and the gap between them and the IMX298+optical anti shake Xiaomi 5 is estimated to be further.
Photo experience
Camera interface: The camera of MIUI has not changed much since MIUI 6. On the left side are special functions such as HDR and panorama, and on the right side are filters. Among the four machines, only the Hongmi Note3 All Netcom, which belongs to the Hongmi series, has no voice shutter function, but has several scene modes (including character, landscape, sports and other modes), but the overall difference is small;
Intelligence: Only Xiaomi 5 can automatically identify whether Trigger night view mode, others The night view mode must be manually turned on 。 Xiaomi 5 and Xiaomi 4S can automatically determine whether to trigger HDR mode according to the light difference However, Hongmi Note3 and Xiaomi Max have to be opened manually, which is less intelligent;
Shutter response and imaging speed: The shutter response and imaging speed of MIUI are always fast, from Hongmi Note3 to Xiaomi 5;
HDR and night scene processing speed: This is directly related to the processor's computing performance. Xiaomi 5's processing speed is very fast, and the samples can be processed in less than 1 second, followed by Xiaomi Max and Hongmi Note3, which are all connected through the Internet, while Xiaomi 4S is a full file slow, and HDR and night view samples are all about 2 seconds, which means poor experience;
Focusing success rate: All four mobile phones are equipped with phase focusing, and the focusing speed in daylight and normal light is good. However, when Hongmi Note3 All Netcom switches between the far and near scenes, the camera will twitch a lot (which directly leads to the slow speed). Xiaomi Max is slightly better, but there is a certain gap with Xiaomi 5 and Xiaomi 4S. but Xiaomi 4S has a weak focus in extremely weak light , even if you manually click the screen to focus many times, you cannot focus. The other three machines do not have this problem. In addition, the focus frame of MIUI will turn green regardless of whether it is focused or not, which has a great impact on the photographing experience;;
Film rate: In addition to Xiaomi 5, which is equipped with optical anti shake, the film rate of the other three parts is relatively average, even if the light is slightly weak, there will be a greater chance to shake the film by hand.
HDR and night view mode effects
The availability of the HDR algorithm of MIUI camera has always been low, and there is no sign of improvement on the latest Xiaomi Max. HDR sample The effect is very unnatural. In addition to the dark details will be excessively brightened, the color saturation will be too high, and the white balance will be significantly shifted, its excessive traces will be stiff, and algorithm smearing and sharpening will be intensified. In the same sentence, let the HDR function of MIUI remain closed
In addition, except Xiaomi 5, the white balance of the other three machines is a little unstable. For example, in the Xiaomi Max sample above, if the focus is slightly shifted, the white balance of the pieces will change significantly
Before Xiaomi 5, the night scene mode of Xiaomi was all "strong smearing". Large radius noise smearing would make the picture look cleaner, but at the cost of lost details, and sometimes even give people the illusion of not focusing properly.
The latest Xiaomi Max and Xiaomi 5 have reduced noise smearing (even no smearing trace can be seen) in their night view mode to retain the discrimination. The discrimination and color saturation are intact, but the color noise with large granularity does affect the appearance.
Xiaomi Max dual mode, extremely weak light scene contrast
Xiaomi Max dual mode, light scene contrast
In general, the availability of the new night scene mode is relatively high, which can greatly reduce the problem of color saturation reduction in low light, retain a lot of details, and use in light scenes will not have obvious side effects.
Lens quality&wide angle
Actual sample size comparison: all samples are 4:3 samples. Hongmi Note3 All Netcom and Xiaomi Max with the same focal length have a slightly larger wide-angle/imaging field of view than Xiaomi 5 (the common 28mm equivalent focal length), and Xiaomi 4S is the smallest (30mm equivalent focal length).
The sample sheet is magnified proportionally to compare the same object
Analytic prediction: The same object has more pixels in the proof, and its discrimination will be more advantageous. and The high pixel of Xiaomi 5 is matched with medium wide angle, and objects can be divided into more pixels (larger after equal magnification); Although the Xiaomi 4S has only 13 million pixels, its wide-angle range is smaller than that of other machines. To a large extent, it "sacrifices" the viewfinder range to alleviate the weakness in the number of pixels In the proof, the object is larger than 16 million pixels in wide angle Hongmi Note3 All Netcom and Xiaomi Max are larger.
Lens glare: The lens quality of Hongmi Note3 All Netcom and Xiaomi Max is relatively general, with obvious radioactive light, fog and flare, and purple light spots appear beside the strong light. There is a big gap between Hongmi Note3 and Xiaomi 4S and Xiaomi 5, but the performance of the latter two is only medium.
The left is the sample after repeatedly wiping the lens, and the right is the sample in normal use
In addition, the lens glass of Hongmi Note3 All Netcom and Xiaomi Max is easy to absorb oil, which can cause serious glare. You need to wipe the lens with a lens wiping cloth several times to avoid it. Its maintenance is too difficult, and it is difficult for ordinary users to avoid the problem of "oil spill" of the lens during normal use. It is necessary to avoid the strong front light source as far as possible.
White balance&metering&saturation
PS： This part of the sample is used to compare the white balance, photometry and color saturation, and the discriminant force sample is concentrated in the last part
Sun Scene 1
Sun Scene 2
Daylight scene 3 (both are biased. Relatively speaking, red rice note3 metering is more accurate, but the white balance is slightly green)
Daylight scene 4 (all different green)
Sun Scene 5 (all different red)
Light Scene 1
Light Scene 2
Light Scene 3
Weak light scene 1
Weak light scene 2
Weak light scene 3
Weak light scene 4
metering: The metering of Xiaomi 5 and Xiaomi 4S is closer to the naked eye. Hongmi note3 All Netcom and Xiaomi Max are slightly darker, but the range is not large
White balance: Over the years, Xiaomi's photography algorithm still needs to be improved. In the daytime with lower difficulty in white balance, once encountering a scene with slightly larger object contrast (the sky in Scene 3 and the bushes in Scene 4), the white balance and color saturation of the four Xiaomi devices (the flowers in Scene 5) are different.
In general, Xiaomi Max is yellow, Xiaomi 5 is blue-green, and Hongmi Note3 is yellow and green. Relatively speaking, Xiaomi 4S is the most authentic.
Discriminative power
PS： Click the picture to view the large picture
Optical anti shake strategy: Xiaomi 5 is the only machine with optical anti shake, but its optical anti shake seems to be more used to improve the film rate than to improve the quality of photography. In most scenes, the shutter time and ISO of Xiaomi 5 are the same as those of other Xiaomi mobile phones, but with the addition of optical anti shake, it should be possible to take better samples with lower ISO, which is somewhat regrettable. If it were not for the inherent hardware advantages of IMX298, the imaging of Xiaomi 5 might not be able to open a gap with other products of its own.
Difference between old and new night scene algorithms: Xiaomi 5 and Xiaomi Max are two of Xiaomi's latest machines, both of which use new night scene algorithms. The new algorithm gives up the previous strong noise smearing, even giving people the feeling of not smearing at all. It pays more attention to the retention of details, color saturation and discrimination, but the color noise is slightly green overall, and the granularity is large, which affects the appearance.
The old and new algorithms are two extremes. For Xiaomi 5, which has strong hardware, this may not be a problem. However, for Xiaomi Max with weak hardware, whether the new algorithm is suitable or not remains to be discussed.
Discriminative power
Scenario 1
Scenario 2
Scenario 3
Scenario 4
Scenario 5
Scenario 6
Light Scene 1
Light Scene 2 Center Down
Light Scene 2 Center
Light Scene 3 Center
Light Scene 3 Center Down
Light Scene 4
Weak light scene 1 (Xiaomi 4S can't focus)
Weak light scene 2 (Xiaomi 4S can't focus)
Weak light scene 3
Weak light scene 4
In daytime and lighting scene, The performance of Xiaomi 4S is amazing. The lens with longer focus is very similar to that of Xiaomi 5. The fine noise and details in the daytime are far away from that of Xiaomi Max and Hongmi Note3.
In the low light scene, As expected, Xiaomi 5 left other machines by a large margin, followed by Xiaomi 4S. Hongmi Note3 ranked the bottom in all Netcom. Xiaomi Max is much better than Hongmi Note3. If they are really the same sensor, it will be the victory of Xiaomi's new algorithm.
Summary
After all, these are four Xiaomi devices with completely different prices and positioning. Their photography gap is obvious. The conclusion is very simple and rude: Xiaomi 5>Xiaomi 4S>Xiaomi Max>Hongmi Note3 All Netcom.
The photography of Xiaomi and Meizu has always been a "brother in disguise", but in fact, we can see the path of Xiaomi's progress: Xiaomi 4C has succeeded in catching up with the daytime discrimination, Xiaomi 5 has caught up with the weak light discrimination, and the special night scene algorithm since Xiaomi 5 has also been used in the latest Xiaomi Max.
However, Xiaomi's white balance and HDR algorithms do have much room for improvement. I hope they will be the next improvement.
