Sony's Xperia Z smartphone, available in Japan right now and coming to other places starting February 28, looks to feature a very strong camera system. Here's why the Xperia Z may be Sony's return to its mobile camera roots.
30 years ago, in 1983, Sony released the first camera system for the everyday home consumer. At the time, the Betamax vs. VHS wars were still taking place, and Sony lined up behind Betamax with the first camcorder for the general consumer, called Betamovie.
The system, sold for $1,500 at the time, featured a video camera connected to a Betamax cassette recorder that conveniently rested on your shoulder. This was a revolutionary mobile feature because it didn't require a bulky separate tape recorder connected to a camera by a wire. It came in a handy carrying case approximately the size of the President's "football," the nuclear launch briefcase.
Times have changed, technology has gotten smaller and smarter, but Sony appears to be aiming to set a new standard in mobile image and movie-making with the Xperia Z. The 13.1-megapixel camera on the Xperia Z can take a picture at 4128x3069 pixels or video at 1080p with 30 frames per second, and features software that powers panoramic image capture, HD photo and video recording, 16x digital zoom, a video and image stabilizer, fast burst, and low-light photography and video capture.
This week, the last two features, fast burst mode and low-light videography, hit the web with two impressive home-made videos depicting those features in action.
Here, with the sound on, you can here the rapid shutter-click of the Xperia Z's fast burst mode, which is capable of taking at least 10 frames per second at 9-megapixels, though this video seems to feature faster than 14 pictures per second for a grand total of 999 images in a little over a minute.
And here, French tech bloggers for FrAndroid took the Xperia Z for a tour of Paris at night, resulting in stunning high resolution, low-light video. The frames compare the Xperia Z to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and the LG Nexus 4, and with rich image color, better resolution, and the ability to see lots of unlit detail despite other sources of light being in the frame, the Xperia Z blows the others away.
For regular picture taking, compare the Sony Xperia Z to the iPhone 5 and Oppo Find 5 below. We found this comparison on Gottabemobile, and, yet again, the colors and lighting were far and away better than the others.
Finally, this video shows a much-talked about feature of the Xperia Z: it's dustproof and waterproof.
The video shows the Xperia Z still functioning when dunked in water, and says that the Xperia Z is rated for up to a meter (about 3.2 feet) underwater and up to 30 minutes submerged. This brings the obvious question: Could the Xperia Z be used for causal underwater photography?
You can bet Sony won't be pushing consumers to do that, and the Xperia Z isn't ready to become a scuba-cam, but for creating movies of your family's vacation at the beach or a pool party, I couldn't think of a better piece of equipment. You could even take your videography into the water without worrying about ruining the device. Which is why this device may help Sony revolutionize the consumer video recording market yet again, allowing home movie-makers to be more spontaneous and mobile, even in the water, without sacrificing video quality - or your video camera.