Powered by Qualcomm’s top-end Snapdragon 865 chipset, the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra is the Chinese manufacturer’s latest flagship device and was launched on the occasion of the company’s 10-year anniversary. Like its sister device (the Mi 10 Pro that was released earlier this year), the Mi 10 Ultra comes with a quad-camera setup that includes dual-tele cameras and an ultra-wide module. However, there are some important differences in the camera hardware.
The Ultra’s main camera uses a 48MP Quad-Bayer sensor instead of the 108MP version in the Pro. The long tele-lens is stabilized and now comes with a staggering 120mm equivalent focal length versus 94mm on the Pro, and at 1/2-inch versus 1/4.4-inch, the image sensor is considerably larger on the Ultra. Xiaomi has also made improvements to the ultra-wide camera. It offers an optical focal length of 12mm, and even after distortion correction has been applied, we still measured 12.5mm, the widest field of view of all ultra-wide cameras we have seen to date.
With updated hardware and software improvements, can the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra top the excellent performance of the Mi 10 Pro and head to the very highest spot in our ranking? Read on to find out.
Key camera specifications:
- Primary: 48MP 1/1.32-inch Quad-Bayer sensor, 25mm-equivalent lens with f/1.85 aperture, PDAF and OIS
- Telephoto 1: 12MP 1/2.56-inch sensor, 50mm-equivalent (2x optical) lens with f/2 aperture, Dual-Pixel AF
- Telephoto 2: 48MP 1/2-inch Quad Bayer sensor, 120mm-equivalent (5x optical) lens with f/4.1 aperture, PDAF and OIS
- Ultra-wide: 20MP 1/2.8-inch sensor, 12mm-equivalent lens with f/2.2 aperture, PDAF
- Dual-LED flash
- Multispectral color temperature sensor
- Video: 8K 4320p at 30fps, 4K 2160p at 30/60fps (2160p/60fps tested)
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset
About DXOMARK Camera tests: For scoring and analysis in our smartphone camera reviews, DXOMARK engineers capture and evaluate over 1600 test images and more than 2 hours of video both in controlled lab environments and in natural indoor and outdoor scenes, using the camera’s default settings. This article is designed to highlight the most important results of our testing. For more information about the DXOMARK Camera test protocol, click here. More details on how we score smartphone cameras are available here.
Test summary
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra achieved a DXOMARK Camera score of 130 in our testing, taking the pole position in our ranking. Its Photo score of 142 is also a new record.
The exceptional Photo score is based on an excellent still image performance across all test areas. The camera gets all the basics right most of the time such as target exposure, color rendering, and white balance, and offers a very wide dynamic range, capturing good detail in both bright and dark areas of the scene. This makes it ideal for shooting in challenging high-contrast conditions.
It’s also a perfect choice for photographers who like as much flexibility as possible in terms of focal range. The Xiaomi’s ultra-wide camera offers the widest field of view we have seen, and at the long end, a 120mm-equivalent tele-lens provides more reach than most competitors. In addition, image quality leaves little to complain about across the entire zoom range, with only some loss of texture and slightly increased noise levels at the widest and longest zoom settings.
Night and low-light photographers will be satisfied with the Mi 10 Ultra, too. Xiaomi has managed a good trade-off between texture and noise in images captured in dim conditions, and the camera is capable of achieving good exposures even in extremely low light. Portrait shots recorded in bokeh mode show the usual slight isolation imperfections around foreground subjects, but the blur effects look quite natural, and bokeh images are overall on a level similar to those from other top-end phones.
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra also moves into the number one position for Video, thanks to an outstanding video score of 106. It’s the first device we have tested that achieves the overall best results at 4K resolution and a frame rate of 60fps. The fast frame rate ensures smooth motion and panning in all situations. Usually using 60fps or even faster frame rates means having to make compromises in other areas, but the Xiaomi is capable of delivering good exposure, nice color, and good detail, even when recording in low light, thanks to its adaptive frame rate control which slows things down to 33fps in dim and/or difficult conditions. The autofocus is fast and consistent, too, and the stabilization system counteracts photographer motion very effectively. Dynamic range could be wider and some highlight clipping can be seen in high-contrast video clips, but overall the Mi 10 Ultra records the best smartphone videos we have seen to date.
Photo scores explained
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra achieves a new top mark for Photo at 142 points. The camera achieves new high scores in several categories, with no serious weaknesses observed during our tests. In this section, we take a closer look at how each sub-score was determined and compare image quality against key competitors in a similar price bracket, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, Oppo Find 2X Pro and the Huawei P40 Pro.
The Mi 10 Ultra achieves a new top score for exposure, thanks to a very wide dynamic range and accurate target exposure in all conditions. Good detail is visible in both highlight and shadow areas of the frame, even in challenging high-contrast scenes, and the Xiaomi is capable of recording good exposures even in very low light where many competitors struggle.
In the scene below, all three comparison devices do a good job, achieving accurate target exposure on the subject and maintaining good highlight detail in the brighter background.
In this backlit outdoor shot, the Xiaomi captures a slightly better exposure than the comparison devices, which both render the building slightly darker. All three devices capture good detail in the bright parts of the clouds.
The Xiaomi is also among the very best in the color category. Color rendering tends to be very pleasant, with nice blue skies and lush greens. This is true for all light levels down to low light, where some other devices lose color fidelity. In addition, the auto white balance system works accurately in pretty much all conditions, avoiding noticeable color casts.
The auto white balance system also works well in this outdoor scene. Color balance is again very neutral. In comparison in the Oppo image the sky looks a touch oversaturated. The Huawei’s white balance is similarly neutral to the Xiaomi, only the sky has a slight purple cast.
Autofocus
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
99
100
The Mi 10 Ultra autofocus system performs well in pretty much all conditions. It is quick to lock onto the target and consistently delivers sharp images in both our image quality lab and natural scenes. Among all our sample shots we found only a handful of out-of-focus images, most of which were difficult backlit outdoor scenes or taken in very low light, but they were the reason the Xiaomi missed the perfect autofocus score of 100 by one point.
This graph shows the results of our autofocus lab test. The Xiaomi locks on pretty much instantly in low light (20 lux) and delivers good sharpness after both a long and short delay after unfocusing on the test target.
Texture
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
81
85
Noise
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
80
82
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra delivers a good trade-off between texture/detail and noise, but cannot quite match the very best in this category. The new image sensor’s 12MP output file resolution is slightly more limited than on some competing devices with higher pixel counts, including Xiaomi’s own Mi 10 Pro. The difference can be especially noticeable in low-light scenes.
In bright light the Mi10 Ultra is capable of resolving high levels of detail, though. In this outdoor scene, the difference between it and the Huawei P40 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, which both achieve higher-resolution figures in our lab testing, is fairly marginal. This is also one of the few outdoor examples where the Xiaomi auto white balance system produces a slightly too warm color cast.
The difference in texture rendering between the Mi 10 Ultra and P40 Pro is a little more visible in the sample shot below. The Huawei is capable of squeezing a little more detail out of the low-contrast textures in the brickwork of the building in this scene.
Image noise is very well managed and image output is similarly clean to that of the best cameras in this category. As usual, noise becomes a little more visible in low light, but the Xiaomi is among the best in this category, too.
Real-world results are confirmed by our lab tests in which the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra achieves very good results across all light levels.
Artifacts
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
83
86
Image artifacts are generally well managed on the Mi 10 Ultra camera. Our testers found some fusion artifacts and color quantization, as well as flare, moiré, and some color fringing, but you would have to look very closely to spot any of these effects. It’s also worth mentioning that the Xiaomi maintains good sharpness into the corners of the image, which is where many other devices, even high-end models, suffer from a loss of acutance.
If you look closely in the corners of this shot, you can see an unnatural rendering of texture that is likely caused by the Xiaomi camera’s fusion algorithms.
Maze artifacts are visible in the fine textures on the facade of the building in the background.
The Mi 10 Ultra follows in the tradition of previous Xiaomi flagships like the Mi 10 Pro and sets a new benchmark in the zoom category. Image quality in general and detail specifically are outstanding across the zoom range, making the Mi 10 Ultra the new go-to device for mobile photographers with a need for lots of zoom power.
Compared to the output of most of the competition, zoom images are very sharp with lots of detail, especially at close, long, and very long zoom distances. At medium zoom factors (around 4x) the Xiaomi images still offer very good detail at the center of the frame but there is a noticeable fall-off in sharpness towards the edges which is caused by image fusion. Some strong luminance noise is also visible in some images and our testers also observed an occasional loss of texture on small surfaces, such as on the side of a distant building.
The shots below were captured at a zoom factor of approximately 10x. The Xiaomi records more detail than both the Samsung and the Huawei, and also produces the cleanest image in this comparison. For a smartphone zoom, these are really quite impressive results.
The difference between the Xiaomi and the competition is even more visible at a 30x zoom factor. A loss of detail is evident when viewing at pixel level, but the Xiaomi images are more than adequate for web use, even when captured at such extreme zoom settings.
The Mi 10 Ultra is more than capable of producing a good-looking simulated bokeh shot and is among the very best devices we have tested in this category. The camera uses the short tele-lens with its 50mm focal length in bokeh mode, which gives it an advantage in terms of field of view over devices that record images with a wide-angle camera in portrait mode.
Depth estimation is also generally accurate, with only fairly minor depth artifacts visible around challenging elements of the scene. Bokeh mode also gets all the basics right, such as exposure and color, and sharpness is good.
Bright spotlights in the background are round with good contrast, as they should be, but the blur gradient from front to back can occasionally look a little unnatural, with fairly abrupt changes in blur intensity.
In this sample below, the Xiaomi does an excellent job at isolating the subject’s fine hair from the background. The Huawei is good as well, but the Samsung struggles somewhat.
In this long-range comparison, the Xiaomi produces stronger background blur than the other devices, which makes for a very pleasant effect overall.
The ultra-wide camera is a highlight of the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra’s camera performance. On paper it offers a very wide 12mm focal length but the camera applies some distortion correction which very slightly reduces the field-of-view. However at a measured 12.5mm it still offers the widest field-of-view of all smartphone cameras to date, making it a great option for fans of ultra-wide-angle photography. In terms of image quality, the ultra-wide gets all the basics right, too, delivering very good target exposure and a wide dynamic range as well as pleasant color.
Detail could be better, but the Xiaomi has that in common with most ultra-wide cameras we have tested. Some noise is visible, too. Images show some distortion, but the effect is fairly well under control. Thanks to a fairly light distortion correction, the loss of sharpness towards the edges of the frame that we see on many ultra-wides is not too strong on the Xiaomi. Our testers also observed some chromatic aberrations and ringing under indoor lighting, but image artifacts are otherwise pretty well controlled on the Mi 10 Ultra’s ultra-wide camera.
In the scene below you can see that the Xiaomi squeezes a lot more scene into the frame than the Huawei (and other phones on the market). On the other hand, the Huawei’s ultra-wide camera is hard to beat in terms of texture/noise and dynamic range.
The Xiaomi is also slightly wider than the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra and produces images with slightly better detail and less noise.
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra is also our new top performer for night and low-light photography, thanks to excellent image quality in all types of low-light scenes.
With the flash set to auto mode, the camera behaves as it should, triggering the flash for portrait shots, but not for landscape or cityscape images. Further, the Xiaomi does an excellent job with indoor portrait shots. The flash output is nicely balanced with the ambient light, making for a nice exposure and overall natural feel of the image. The Samsung does not trigger the flash for this scene, which results in a target exposure on the subject that is lower than on the Mi 10 Ultra, and there is also some highlight clipping in the background.
In night landscapes and cityscapes, target exposure is usually good and the auto white balance system works accurately. In the sample below, you can see that the Xiaomi produces a slightly brighter exposure than the Oppo Find 2X pro and especially the P40 Pro, which makes for an overall more pleasant look in many night shots.
Flash-off mode produces good results, too, with good exposure and decent detail. The portrait shot below has pleasant skin tones with good facial exposure and well-controlled noise. The P40 Pro produces an overall brighter exposure for this shot, but this results in slightly washed-out skin tones, highlight clipping in the background, and a strong loss of detail. The Oppo captured a strongly underexposed image. The Xiaomi deals by far the best with this difficult low-light situation.
The Mi 10 Ultra also comes with a dedicated night mode that can slightly improve exposure and the texture/noise trade-off, but otherwise doesn’t offer any substantial improvement over the standard mode, which already performs very well in low light.
Video scores explained
A device’s overall Video score is derived from its performance and results across a range of attributes in the same way as the Photo score. The Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra’s video scores are as follows: Exposure (87), Color (93), Autofocus (98), Texture (84), Noise (81), Artifacts (90), and Stabilization (96). In this section, we take a closer look at the device’s strengths and weakness for video, with some comparisons against key competitors.
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra delivered its best results in video mode when set to 2160p resolution and a frame rate of 60fps. Overall, the device performs very well at these settings, achieving our highest Video score to date at 106. Exposure is not one of the camera’s strengths for video, though. Target exposure tends to be accurate, but dynamic range is more limited than on some competitors, with highlight clipping often visible in challenging high-contrast scenes. Exposure adaptation in changing light levels is good but not quite perfect, so there’s some room for improvement here.
Color, on the other hand, does not leave any reason to complain. Color rendering is pleasant in all situations and white balance is accurate, usually avoiding nasty color casts of any kind. In our lab tests the Xiaomi video mode delivered very accurate colors, as you can see in the chart below.
The camera also finds a very good compromise for texture and noise. Texture is consistently high and at the same time noise is very well under control.
The frame grabs below were taken from a real life clip and confirm the results of our lab tests. The Xiaomi squeezes a tiny amount of additional detail out of its video footage when compared to the comparison devices but in bright light the difference is fairly minor.
Like in stills mode, the autofocus system performs very well, reacting quickly and offering reliable tracking in both bright outdoor conditions and under indoor lighting. Stabilization is very effective, too, reducing camera shake and walking motion significantly. The 60fps also means panning is buttery-smooth and the judder effect that is often noticeable at lower frame rates is reduced to a minimum.
Conclusion
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra is the new number one in the DXOMARK Camera ranking and deservedly so. In Photo mode it doesn’t show any real weaknesses and delivers class-leading results in several categories. It’s particularly impressive in the wide and zoom sections, making it an ideal choice for those who want a zoom range as big as possible without compromising on image quality.
It’s also a great tool for mobile videographers, offering excellent overall video quality with efficient stabilization at 4K and a fast 60fps frame rate that makes for super-smooth panning and motion. Overall, if it fits within your budget, the new Xiaomi flagship phone is an easy recommendation for mobile content creators.
Photo
Pros
- Good target exposure and wide dynamic range
- Accurate white balance
- Excellent detail at medium- and long-range zoom
- Very wide field of view and good dynamic range on the ultra-wide camera
- Wide dynamic range and pleasantly bright exposures in night shots
- Good white balance in flash shots
- Pleasant bokeh effect with strong but natural-looking blur
Cons
- Fusion artifacts in HDR scenes
- Slight luminance noise in most conditions
- Occasional unnatural texture rendering on fine details in HDR shots
- Depth artifacts on complex objects in bokeh mode
- Noise and loss of detail in ultra-wide shots
- Strong yellow cast under low sodium vapor light
Video
Pros
- Very good texture/noise trade-off in all conditions
- Accurate white balance and nice color in almost all situations
- Very effective stabilization, especially in bright light
- Fast and repeatable autofocus
Cons
- Slightly limited dynamic range
- Occasional slightly low target exposure in indoor videos
- Artifacts such as flickering, color quantization, aliasing, and moiré are sometimes visible
Videos
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra camera review
Aug 13, 2020
The post Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra Camera review appeared first on abangtech.
source https://abangtech.com/xiaomi-mi-10-ultra-camera-review/
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