subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 15 June 2019 9
First impressionstoday’sphonesit hasa slipperyfinishand
caneasilyslipfromyourhand,asit did
frommine,if youdon’tbuya rubber
caseforit. Thosewhoswitchbetween
differentappshavetheoptiontouse
the21:9multi-windowviewertorun
twoappssimultaneously,andthere’sa
side-mountedfingerprintsensorlocated
betweenthepowerandvolumebuttons.
Asforperformance,theXperia1 usesa
powerfulQualcommSnapdragon 855
chipsetandis poweredbya 3330mAh
batterythat’srechargedviaUSBType-C.
Elsewhere,it has6GBof RAM,128GB
of internalstorageandallowsyouto
insertMicroSD cards up to 512GB.
Camera
TheXperia1 arrangesthree12MP
camerasoneabovetheotherat therear.
There’sa 16mmf/2.4ultra-wideangle
lens,a 26mmf/1.6general-purpose
lensanda 52mmf/2.4telephotolens.
Opticalimagestabilisationis featuredas
is EyeAF,makingit thefirstsmartphone
evertobeequippedwiththisfocusing
technology.TheXperia1’sEyeAFisn’t
asadvancedaswe’reusedtoseeingon
SonyAlphacamerasthough.It doesn’t
provide Sony’s unique real-time Eye AF
foranimalsfeatureandyoucan’tselect
betweendifferentpeoplein a group.
Thatbeingsaid,it’sjustasaccurateand
responsiveat lockingontopeople’seyes
asweknowSonyA7-seriescamerasto
be.A smallgreenboxrevealswhicheye
it is focusedon,andthere’stheoptionto
turnEyeAFoffandswitchto FaceSelect.
Aswellasprovidingrawsupport
(thoughnotdirectlyfromthenative
cameraapp),theXperia1 letsusers
shootcontinuouslyat upto10fpswith
AF/AEtrackingbyactivatingtheburst
withcamerakeysetting.There’salsoa
front-facing8MP23mmf/2camerafor
selfies,butlikethewideangle16mm
camerathisdoesn’tsupportEyeAF
functionality.Userswho’dliketoadjust
exposurevariablescandosofromthe
manual-shootingmode,andwiththe
screenbeingsolongandthinthere’s
massesof spaceaboveandbelowthe
previewimageforiconstobedisplayed.
In someareastheXperia1’scamera
interfacedoesfeela littledatedthough,
particularlythewaycreativefiltersare
appliedandused.I alsofoundthe16mm
lenssuffersheavilyfromdistortion,which
forcedmetoswitchontheprioritise
correction for distortion option.Afterspendinga dayusingtheXperia1, I wasleftimpressedin onesense,but
underwhelmedin another.It’sgreattoseeSonyimplementingfunctionalityfromits
Alpharangeof cameras,withEyeAFmakinglightworkof focusingwhenshooting
peopleanditsfast10fpsburstgivingyoutheopportunitytocapturefast,fleeting
momentsastheyhappen.Its12MPresolutionis adequateforsocialmediaposts
orsmallprintsandthegeneralcolourreproductionis faithful,thoughit seemedto
struggletoexposetrickybacklitscenes,andevenwithbrightnesssettomaximum,it
wasn’tparticularlyeasycomposingorreviewingimagesin high-contrastconditions.
Thededicatedshutterbuttonat thesidemakesforintuitivefocusingandshootingin
thelandscapeformat.Butwhilefurthercomparisonneedstobecarriedout,first
impressionsseemtosuggestit doesn’toutdotheHuaweiP30Pro,GooglePixel3,
Samsung Galaxy S10+ or iPhone XS. We plan to follow up with a full review soon.
S-series 1.4xand2xteleconverters arrivePANASONIChasalsobroughtout1.4xand2x
teleconvertersforitsLumixS-seriestelephotozoom
lenses.TheycanbeattachedtotheLumixS PRO
70-200mmF4OIS,extendingthezoomrangeuptoa
maximumof 400mm‘withhigh-speed,high-precision
AF’,claimsthecompany.Thetelecovertersaredust/
splash-resistantandcompatiblewiththeupcoming
70-200mmf/2.8S-serieslens,duetoarrivelaterthis
year.The1.4xteleconverterwillsetyouback£489.
andthe2xmodelwillbe£579.99.Bothshould be
available now. See http://www.panasonic.com/uk.Panasonicfull-framemovie workhorseIT’SBEENa busy
weekforPanasonicas
it announcedthethirdof
itsfull-framemirrorless
cameras,theLumixS1H.
Thiscamera’shighlightis
6Kvideorecording,soit’s
verymuchaimedat movie
makers.Witha multi-
aspectoutput,theS1H
captures6Kvideoat 24p
in a 3:2aspectratio,5.9K
16:9videoat 30pand
anamorphic4:3video.As
withthefull-frameS1and
S1Rit canalsocapture4K
at upto60p.Panasonic
claimstheS1His the
world’sfirstfull-frame
interchangeable-lens
systemcameratoenable
6K/24p, 5.9K/30p, and10-bit60p4K /C4Kvideo
recording.UKpricingand
availabilityarestilltobe
confirmed.Fora video
shotusingtheS1H,see
youtu.be/gT2B DUEbiw.
Thecompanyalso
revealedthattheS1will
getmanyof theS1H’s
high-endvideocapabilities
viaa ‘softwarekey’which
is freetoexistingandnew
usersuntil 30 September,
butwillbe£179thereafter.
Additionalfeatureswill
includeV-Logrecording
with14+stopsof dynamic
range,in-cameraLUT
applicationbothduring
andafterrecording,anda
waveformmonitor – but
not 6K output.TheXperia1’sEyeAFhad
nodifficultyidentifying
themodel’seyein
thisfull-lengthshot
SonyXperia1,1/3200sec
at f/1.6, ISO 64TheLumixS1H
offers6K
video recording