I think photography has two meanings: to create and to record. Professional photographers take their cameras and create all kinds of amazing photos. Their photos often express their thoughts. Most people don’t have cameras, so they use their phones and record their lives. I took these photos in Hong Kong with my Xiaomi 13 Ultra. Finding this phone, it is really different from all the previous phones. It can record life, and create your own works of photography.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra is a phone, but it can make people really love photography. For this review, I don’t want to zoom in on the picture to compare other phones. You must already be well aware of its pros and cons after watching many comparison videos. Let’s talk a little bit about what you don’t know, such as its user experience.
(You can click to view the original image: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yIi-K6C7IpzMc0SGL6oFMhdEDnVocA_N?usp=sharing)
Pros
If a photo looks good at first glance, color, and light must be the main reason that makes you feel that way. As Leica’s mobile partner, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra certainly takes its cue from Leica in terms of photography style. In addition to the design being very similar to the M10R, the photo style is also. Give up the high dynamic range of traditional phones and increase the contrast and vignetting. this is one of the best options for making the subject of a photo look more prominent.
If you have used a professional camera, you will find that they actually look like these photos without post-processing. To be precise, it’s the Xiaomi 13 Utlra that’s more like a professional camera, without much AI processing. On this phone, you won’t see over-sharpening, you won’t see too strong HDR, and you won’t see oversaturated. With this camera grip, sometimes I forget I’m using a phone and not a camera.
One thing it’s even better than the camera is the “convenience”. Compared to other phones, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is big and heavy, but compared to the camera, it must be small and light. You can pull it out of your pocket when you need to take a picture and put it in when you don’t. The feeling is really good.
There are four different focal lengths to use without changing lenses. The phone is also much less invasive, allowing for more natural photos without disturbing people’s activities. Isn’t this the Street Photographer’s dream camera? I mean, a cell phone. When you’re out, the camera won’t always be with you, but the phone certainly will be. So this can be your second camera, and you won’t miss any of those great moments around you.
For the normal person, like me, the unique color style of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra can inspire a person to take photos. This time in Pro mode, you can customize the tone. to make the style more retro, I turned up the tone and the resulting photo looks more like the feeling of an old camera shot. Even if it’s just to record what you see on your travels, the photos look like they’re full of stories. You don’t have to be afraid of taking a bad photo, even the most ordinary ones look good after Leica’s processing. This is perhaps the charm of Leica.
Cons
Just because I say the Xiaomi 13 Ultra looks like a professional camera, doesn’t mean it can really replace one. The difference in their sensor area, aperture, and lens quality is still very large, so shooting at night can be very difficult. Often you can take a blurry picture. Do not get me wrong, even if the camera, taking pictures at night is actually not simple. If you learn to hold up the phone in advance and wait for the right time to press the shutter, as long as you do not zoom in, then you are actually able to take some good photos.
There are a few camera experiences that I feel Xiaomi hasn’t done well enough, the Pro mode doesn’t allow for continuous shooting, and the button to switch lenses with one hand is very far away. This made it very difficult to shoot on a rainy day when my other hand was holding an umbrella. Regardless of the mode, when the 13 Ultra detects a human face, it will automatically increase the exposure for you. I have not found a way to turn off this feature, which is really annoying to take pictures in crowded environments.
I did find that the 13 Ultra added the Auto-adjust lens switch, finally, you can not automatically switch the lens, good job. Another annoying thing is that sometimes it can’t remember your choices. For example, HDR is always on, and video recording always defaults to 1080p 30fps. even if you have changed to 4k, the next time you open the camera it will still change back to 1080p.
Variable aperture
This time, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra has some special features. For example, variable aperture. To be honest, most of the time you don’t need to change the aperture because there is not much difference between F1.9 and F4.0 on the phone. A small aperture will become a disadvantage at night, and the 13 Ultra’s aperture auto switch is almost useless, so you can just use F1.9 for everyday use.
There are only two situations where you can switch to F4.0: shooting food or text. A small aperture will allow you to see them overall, and excessive bokeh will make it difficult to see the details behind them.
Ultra Raw
It’s no shock that flagship phones nowadays shoot Raw, but the 13 Ultra uses multiple Raw photo stacks to bring out a new Ultra Raw mode. when you try to bring up the exposure in the dark areas, you’ll find that Ultra Raw photos have much less color noise. The price is that the file size is twice as large.
Video Recording
It is hard to believe that it is now possible to record 4K 30fps 10bit Log video with a cell phone. This has improved the phone’s ability to shoot video. However, only the main camera is currently supported, and you can’t shoot at 60fps, and the video bitrate is a bit low. To shoot high bitrate and 60 fps video you can choose to turn on the Dolby Vision switch. But it requires a very professional post-processing process, non-professionals who do not open this option are better.
In fact, the auto mode can also be very good for basic shooting jobs. The most impressive thing is that you can switch between four shots during recording. Seamless shooting at the ultra-long range and ultra-wide angle.
Wireless camera grip
Finally, let’s talk about the wireless camera grip, which is secured to the case by a fastener and is still very solid. The case can be fitted with a 67mm camera filter via an adapter ring, meaning you don’t need to fit those junky plastic phone filters. The biggest benefit of this camera grip is that it makes the 13 Ultra more like a camera, and operates like a camera. A firmer grip allows you to capture photos faster. The battery is also very durable, I used it the whole day also only consumed 1% of the power.
But the Zoom experience is very bad, once the operation is fast will be sluggish, or no response. Pro mode also can not switch lenses through the grip, only digital zoom within a lens. Plus the current super expensive price, I do not recommend you buy now. I think $70 should be a price I can accept.
Conclusion
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is a phone truly built for photography. And his real competition would be smaller cameras like the RICOH GR series. 13 Ultra has four fixed-focus lenses, super-fast autofocus, and excellent video recording, plus Leica’s color science. Anyone considering a RICOH might really want to consider this phone, after all, the price is about the same. the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, would have to be my favorite camera of the year. Yep, cameras, not phones.
(You can click to view the original image: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1yIi-K6C7IpzMc0SGL6oFMhdEDnVocA_N?usp=sharing)
