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Recent Reviews
Camera Shootout: Sony Xperia Z vs HTC Butterfly
Posted:
March 10, 2013
By: soyacincau
25 comments
Before we publish our full review of the 5-incher Xperia Z and HTC Butterfly (We know you’ve been waiting), here’s a camera comparison between the 2 devices. To recap, the Sony Xperia Z boast a 13MP shooter while the HTC Butterfly has a smaller 8MP camera which has a wider angle.
In terms of loading up the camera, the Sony Xperia Z is a tad slower due to a lack of dedicated camera shutter button that’s popular in its previous Xperia S. Starting up from the start screen tends to be a bit sluggish with a second pause which is where the HTC Butterfly performed better. If you are the paparazzi type, the HTC Butterfly feels more snappier however the burst mode on the Xperia Z is superior with up to 10fps. While the HTC Butterfly has a limit of 99 shots, the Xperia Z keeps on going even beyond 1000 shots.
In terms of quality, the low light capabilities is rather a mixed bag. In certain situations, the Xperia Z appears a little bit brighter however the noise levels can be rather high, making the 100% crop looking rather smudgy. The Butterfly in the other hand may look sharper but we can’t help but to notice there’s excessive post-processing sharpening with the photos. Looking at normal resized view, the Xperia Z colours appear to be better and more natural than the Butterfly. Note that the Xperia Z we have is a rather early release model and there’s room to improve with newer firmware.
As comparison, we have also included sample shots taken from a Sony Alpha A55 DSLR camera as well. All shots are taken in automatic mode for simplicity across. What do you guys think? Which is better of the two?
Head after the break for the comparison shots and videos.
Sample #1
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Sample #2
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Sample #3
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Sample #4
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Sample #5
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Sample #6
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Sample #7
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Sample #8
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Sample #9
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Sample #10
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Video Samples
Sample #1
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Sample #2
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Sample #3
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
Sample #4
Sony Alpha A55
Sony Xperia Z
HTC Butterfly
25 Comments for Camera Shootout: Sony Xperia Z vs HTC Butterfly
sonyfan
yeah, mayb software prob..
hope the 4.2 update soon will fix it and the other bugs..
anyway it doesn't stop me from getting xperia z next week. XD
Cheeeerrss~!
amokio
android firmware can increase camera clarity?
MIllad
great job, i would see some micro shots as well
amokio
i think XperiaZ micro shot won't disappoint users.
Juan
why it seem xperia z fail to butterfly? i like xperia z, but it just when u try to zoom in, in normal picture, it still better
Ryan
Get your eyes checked please. Butterfly have too much noise while Xperia Z produce softer image.
HamTomatoCheese
Should include nokia 808, lumia 920 and iphone 5.
Btw HTC never produce phone with good camera
berjit
funny, I thought one of the reason HTC is famous for is the camera. Because that's clearly why I'm choosing HTC most of the time
HamTomatoCheese
Famous doesn't mean good
Everyone knows Najib but it didn't make him a good pm.
Go check some camera reviews on gsmarena, HTC produce the worst result. http://m.gsmarena.com/pureview_blind_test-review-…
amokio
no politic figure in SoyaCincau plz!
Idderes Mh
politic also here? hayoo
Idderes Mh
u stupid..shut up
Hujan
it's a good joke btw, good for u man.
zas
Lame htc n sony..wating new king coming…
anonymous
nice review! keep it up!
amokio
Sony Xperia fans insanely keep pressing thumbs down for negative comments…haha!
"Lame Sony XperiaZ" — Boooooo…thumbs down!
"Bravo Sony XperiaZ" — Hell yeah!…thumbs up!
C'mon guys, don't be bias..not all IT product is 100% perfectly made.
Accept the pros and cons!
HTC Butterfly is good at some, but battery consumption..erm..sadly..
Xperia Z maybe good at some others, but not camera…
BEAR WITHIT!
John
Sony build-in camera apps had problem so its may not be entirely Xperia Z hardware problem. I tried before comparing sony camera app and few more free/paid camera apps on a same scene (all auto mode) and the sony camera app (old ver on xperia S) is blur/noisy compared other. Not sure the new camera app used in Xperia Z but this might be 1 of the reason why the xperia photo doesnt look nice.
maybe soyacincau can try and post some comparison photo using different apps on Xperia Z to prove if this the case.
sonyfan
yeah, software problem..
sam has sung
i think the xz has problems with different versions. first, the screen/display quality are not similar based on those shown by users on youtube. some have good viewing angles while others have the awful washed out look. here, the camera samples are unusually dark and grainy. i’ve seen photos taken by other users posted on google+ and they are good. not dark. not as noisy. you can try looking for the photos posted by blunty on youtube in comparison to the iphone camera output.
pengtuck
The Sony Alpha is set on pattern metering while the 2 phones are set on Center Weighted Average. This review like the previous camera review is a bit dubious. The Alpha comes up different looking based on the exposure mode. Come on Soya, set the metering mode correctly for all the test subjects.
Tino
We lucky that you expose the bias of the camera setting. If not people will actually buy the Sony alpha instead of the mobile phone.
pengtuck
It is really subjective to benchmark camera phones, since not many of them let you set things like you can in a DSLR.
Case in point my HTC One X+. It's nice but where the hell is the f/stop setting ? And why the hell can auto white balance pick and guess to correct value but I can't set it ? So when you evaluate the phone cameras it becomes hard to correctly say which one is the best when you cannot fix the variables in the test.
If anything I would advice anyone here to look at sites like dxomark.com for reference. They have controlled tests. They're a bit slow in their updates but yeah they have the details and control.
pengtuck
Also to add, I think the xperia lens has a little bit more CA when shot wide open. It really shows in the Twin Tower photos. You don't see that with the Sony Alpha. It's well handled with the lens used.
For reference http://www.photographyblog.com/previews/sony_xper…
Neil
Day – Butterfly win
Night / Low Light – Xperia Z win
xperia z color doesn't look too nice. the first 2 pics on the Z was definitely darker. but on the first pic the xperia Z shows the cloud like there is going to be a downpour very soon but if the a55 is more accurate then xperia Z R(s) is not up to mark then.