Camera Showdown: The Apple iPhone 6 vs. the Sony Xperia Z3

Cameras Compared: The Apple iPhone 6 vs. the Sony Xperia Z3

For some smartphone users, the OS may not be as important as how well the camera performs. With several social sharing platforms and an always-connected lifestyle, you tend to want to share as many cherishable moments as possible. More so if you’re addicted to posting on Instagram or just like to chronicle your days through pictures. And when it comes to prioritizing the capabilities of good camera phones, chances are you probably would have considered and even taken a look at the iPhone and the top of the line Sony Xperia phones.

The iPhone is the camera of choice for many casual shooters, while the newer Sony Xperia Z series of phones sport impressive 20.7-megapixel cameras. Roughly a year ago, we pitted the iPhone 5S against the Sony Xperia Z1 in detail and Apple came up ahead. With the new iPhone 6 and Sony Xperia Z3 both hot off the factory line, it’s now time to take a look at these two favorites in a thorough camera performance test. But before, that let’s take a quick look at the respective camera capabilities in both devices to get a better understanding of the performance outcome in the later pages.

Camera hardware on the Apple iPhone 6

Hardware remains mostly the same, with the highly-anticipated iPhone 6 sporting an 8-megapixel camera with an aperture of f/2.2 and 29mm focal length (35mm equivalent). While resolution and sensor size (1/3-inch) is unchanged, the sensor is new though, with Apple claiming that the new iSight sensor will produce faster focus speeds.

The iPhone 6 Plus does come with optical image stabilization, which should help when taking pictures in low light. We’re assuming the smaller dimensions of the iPhone 6 won’t be able to fit this feature, so you’re stuck with digital image stabilization on the iPhone 6.

Camera hardware on the Sony Xperia Z3

A quick look at the specs sheet will reveal that the Xperia Z3 is not that much different from its predecessor, the Z2 (and even the Z1). But even then, the Xperia Z3’s camera sensor is much bigger than many smartphones since it’s the same 1/2.3-inch sensor (size-wise) as that found in most entry and mid-range digital compact cameras.

Similar to the Z2, the Xperia Z3 shoots at 20MP when in Manual mode, and 8MP in Superior Auto mode. According to Sony, the camera doesn’t use a reduced imaging area when shooting 8MP, instead the image has been down-sampled to produce a 8MP picture, which helps to reduce image noise. The camera has a focal length of 25mm (35mm equivalent) and an aperture of f/2.0.

Testing Notes

Since both the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus share the same sensor, most comparison shots in this article will be from the iPhone 6. Where we find there's special interest to share the outcome from the 6 Plus for further comparisons, we've denoted them appropriately.

Another point to take note is that the iPhone does not offer any form of manual control, so we can’t control which ISO setting the iPhone’s camera will shoot at. That being the case, we'll have to make do with different conditions that the shots have been captured (thus representing the true Auto nature of the iPhone) and at times it’s not possible to conduct a direct one-on-one comparison with the Sony Xperia Z3. The same conditions also apply when we are taking photos on the Sony Xperia Z3 using the Superior Auto mode that have very limited control. In manual mode though, we can better choose options that match-up against the equivalent photo taken on the iPhone 6.

Resolution

Apple iPhone 6

The resolution chart test here serves to provide us with information about the highest resolution that can be realistically achieved with the phones.

Since both the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus share the same sensor, performance is mostly the same across the board in terms of resolution. What’s most impressive about the iPhone 6 is that its lens is pretty sharp from corner to corner, with the phone scoring 1800 LPH both vertically and horizontally (similar to the iPhone 5S). There is however, some moiré present, which is a result of the iPhone being unable to process the details due to its small sensor.

Sony Xperia Z3

The Sony Xperia Z3 scores higher in the resolution test, at 2200 LPH horizontally and vertically when shooting at the camera's full 20MP resolution (again, this outcome is similar to the Xperia Z1). There's a slight moiré effect, but what stands out more are the random artifacts in the middle of the chart, which hints to potentially aggressive noise control algorithms and the camera's inability to resolve that degree of resolution. Fortunately, it's not as pronounced as what we saw with the Z1.

When using the camera's Superior Auto mode, the resolution is reduced to shooting at 8MP. That also means you won't be noticing as much smudged details or artifacts. However, the lens corner softness remains unchanged however since it's hardware limitation that won't be affected by shooting at differing resolutions. This is the 8MP camera shot when using Superior Auto mode:-

ISO Tests

iPhone 6/ 6 Plus

Since the iPhone does not let you manually set the ISO, we had to go along with whatever ISO setting the camera elected to shoot at. In this case, the iPhone 6 shot at ISO250, while the 6 Plus shot at ISO125. As both phones share the same sensor, it's safe to assume that ISO performance is similar for both devices. There's not much image noise going from ISO125 to ISO250, but details are already getting smudged at ISO125.

Sony Xperia Z3

More megapixels may not necessarily produce a better image, as images shot at full resolution (20MP) showed smudging of details as early as ISO100. Shooting at a smaller resolution produced better results. In fact, images shot at 8MP (which is essentially downsampled from the 20MP shot) managed to retain a bit more detail when compared to the iPhone 6. Some of the more evident spots to notice this is the label on the red bottle as well as the metal tools near the stack of cards.

Chromatic aberration

iPhone 6/ 6 Plus

Chromatic aberration is present in the iPhone 6, but it's less pronounced as compared to the Sony Xperia Z3.

Sony Xperia Z3

The Sony Xperia Z3 displays a higher level of chromatic aberration when compared to the iPhone 6.

Low light performance

iPhone 6/ 6 Plus

The iPhone 6 does a good job of keeping noise to a minimum, though this comes at the cost of detail retention. While the difference is barely noticeable, the iPhone 6 Plus' optical image stabilization does help when it comes to capturing the minute details. But if you aren't going to pixel-peep, the iPhone 6 performance is comparable to the 6 Plus at smaller resolutions. Oddly though, you can notice a bad case of purple fringing at the bottom right corner where the light is shining on the art piece - this wasn't apparent on the Xperia Z3.

Sony Xperia Z3

Since the iPhone 6 does not allow for manual setting of ISO, we opted to shoot this scene with only Superior Auto mode on the Sony Xperia Z3 in order to level the playing field. The smaller resolution (8MP) shot probably helps mask flaws in an image such as noise and artifacts which are usually magnified in larger resolutions. Further to that, the way the 8MP shots are captured are from downsampling a 20MP shot. Compared to the the iPhone 6 shots above, we notice a very slight loss of detail and depth from shadows that have been muddled as they photo was downsampled. Overall, this 8MP image here manages to avoid displaying any obvious artifacts or noise, but we would say it's a shade behind what the iPhone 6 delivers natively on its 8MP sensor.

Color

In terms of color, it's a pretty even fight between the Sony Xperia Z3 and the iPhone 6. While color performance can be subjective, it's fair to say that both the Xperia Z3 and iPhone produced natural colors are not too saturated. However we did notice that in certain shots the iPhone 6 Plus had inaccurate white balance, with a blue cast present or purple fringing in some shots. According to Tom's Guide, it's apparently an iOS 8 issue, so a software patch should be able to resolve these issues. 

User Experience

As with previous iterations, the Apple iPhone 6's user interface is basic, straightforward and easy to use. It's suitable for those who like a fuss-free shooting experience - it's literally point and shoot. However, if you want a little more control over settings like ISO, you can only accomplish that with third-party apps.

The Sony Xperia Z3 on the other hand, offers more control with its manual mode. You get to tweak white balance, ISO and exposure compensation. If you like a little more control without having to resort to third-party apps, the Xperia Z3's camera interface will be more to your liking. Sony also provides more camera effects and camera apps to capture creative and interesting shots. While iOS 8 manages to bring about some nice new camera features, Sony has even more to offer such as these:-

• Sound Photo captures a few seconds of audio to give your photo more context and relive the shot.
• AR Fun allows you to place virtual objects randomly to create an interesting scene and it's fun to use.
• Face In ensures you face appear in photos or videos using both the front and rear cameras simultaneously. It won't replace a selfie shot, but at least it helps you quickly capture your experience/expression at that moment.
• Timeshift Video - record high frame rate videos and apply slow motion effects
• Background Defocus - does exactly what it says for the bokeh effect evidenced from shots taken on more advanced digital cameras.

There are even more camera apps and effects offered on the Sony Xperia Z3 out of the box, but almost all of them require you think of the intended outcome and launch the selected camera effect prior to taking the shot. In other words, you can't engage most of these options as a post-processing workflow after taking a shot. Most phones and camera functions have to be engaged in a similar manner (apart from the HTC One M8 in some instances), so it's not a fault or limitation of the Xperia Z3 but more of a note of consideration when you want to use such effects.

Overall, the Xperia Z3 comes out ahead in the user experience department as it's simple enough when using the Superior Auto mode and it offers quite a bit of camera functions and effects out-of-the-box when you wish to add some creative flair (and there are more options to download or add direct from the camera interface). And let's not forget the Movie Creator in the Xperia Z3 that automatically puts together a photo montage based on what you shoot and offer to save that as a video to export and share it.

Conclusion

While the odds were pretty much in Apple's favor when we conducted the comparison between the iPhone 5S and the Sony Xperia Z1, somehow the choice isn't so clear when pitting the the iPhone 6 and Xperia Z3.

For the Apple iPhone 6, its biggest strength lies in its glass. It's surprisingly sharp from edge to edge, which is a feat considering some digital compact cameras are unable to achieve this level of sharpness. However, this time around iOS 8 seems to have thrown the camera's white balance off, with some shots exhibiting a blue cast or obvious purple fringing. Hopefully an OS update will fix that anomaly.

Sony's engineers seemed to have tweaked the camera's software as there was less image artifacts present this time when compared to the shots produced by the Sony Xperia Z1. That aside, smudging of details is more apparent when shooting in full resolution at 20MP than at 8MP, but that's not to say the latter doesn't see any. However in general it appears you would get the best results by shooting in Superior Auto mode, which shoots at 20MP and then down-samples them to store them at 8MP resolution. For the casual smartphone shutterbug, this may not matter as the images are honestly very similar when viewed at lesser resolutions.

While it's difficult to call out, the Apple iPhone 6 edges out the Sony Xperia Z3 when it come to pure imaging quality as it's simple to use and it's generally sharper in most situations. However, there's still the issue of iOS 8's erratic white balance performance, so while the iPhone 6's color reproduction can be more pleasing to the eye at times, there are a few shots that you will probably need to shoot again due to the inaccurate white balance. The Xperia Z3 on the other hand comes in a very close second from an imaging standpoint, but it makes up for it by giving you a lot of creative effect and options out of the box for a better overall imaging experience with your device.

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