One year ago, Xiaomi 12S Ultra was widely acclaimed for its superb image configuration and in-depth cooperation with Leica, allowing users to experience for the first time that cell phone photography can actually be played this way, allowing ordinary users to easily take blockbuster pictures with their phones. One year later, Xiaomi 13 Ultra with more comprehensive focal length, more Leica style, and a new way to play, can such a flagship phone bring even better experience?
New appearance design, more professional and more camera
Xiaomi 13 Ultra recognition can be said to pull full, the new appearance design, the use of Unibody metal center frame, metal material has been extended to the back cover, bringing a better grip feel, usually use the hand contact surface will be on the metal material, but also to further enhance the durability of the vegetal leather material.
The back cover uses the second generation of technology nano-skin material, compared to the first generation of technology nano-skin material used on the 13, anti-bacterial, anti-soiling, anti-yellowing ability have been improved, durability really do not need to worry too much.
The lens DECO position continues to use a camera-like ring design, and there is a gold ring around the lens module, which still looks a bit advanced in the sense. The back has been replaced by a more coherent and smooth line instead of the "cloud step" design used on the 12S Ultra.
When I first saw it, I sighed: "Xiaomi finally has a phone with a texture that pulls all the stops!"
Full focal length hardware configuration for excellent color consistency
If there is any regret in the image configuration of Xiaomi 12S Ultra, it must be the lack of a medium focal length lens of about 3x to make up for the commonly used street sweeping and portrait focal lengths, and Xiaomi 13 Ultra completely makes up for it in the focal lengths this time, leaving no regrets.
The main camera sample
The main camera of Xiaomi 13 Ultra is the IMX989 sensor that has been polished for two generations, with a one-inch large base that brings more light in dark light situations. The main camera has two parts, one is in the lens coating, this time with a multi-layer nano-coating, improve the light transmission rate at the same time, to further reduce the case of flare ghosting. The actual measurement compared to Xiaomi 12S Ultra, the ghosting problem has improved a lot.
The main camera is a double crop sample.
The newest addition is the variable aperture, which is more meaningful than the variable aperture on the small bottom sensor of the Friends, and the experience is obvious.
The main camera variable aperture comparison f1.9 (left) and f4.0 (right)
The actual shooting of two samples at different aperture values, you can see that at the aperture value of f/1.9, the one-inch base will make the edges of the photo vignette off, and there is no way to shoot the whole picture clearly, while when switching to f/4.0, it will be able to shoot all clearly, which is to help users to make better use of this large base lens. The company's main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers.
The main camera variable aperture comparison f1.9 (top) and f4.0 (bottom)
The camera can also be set to Auto, which automatically sets the aperture value according to the current scene brightness, focus distance and the number of faces, which is suitable for users who are too lazy to adjust the aperture value.
This time, Xiaomi 13 Ultra emphasizes the optical quality of the lens, starting with the ultra wide-angle lens. On Xiaomi 13 Ultra, aberrations have been eliminated at the lens end, eliminating the need to introduce correction algorithms at all. This enhancement also allows the phone to make full use of the full performance of the sensor, bringing a clearer picture quality presentation.
▲Ultra wide angle lens sample photos
The resolution of other lenses is also quite excellent, Xiaomi 13 Ultra uses "ultra-high order even polynomial" lens. The newest addition to the collection is the newest addition to the collection.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra ultra-wide angle, medium focus and telephoto lens are used from Sony's IMX858 sensor, this sensor is also currently in the characteristics of IMX989 to maintain consistency. The software also has an automated debugging process that keeps the auto-metering and auto-white balance of the four cameras almost consistent, and has a smooth animation comparable to Apple's when zooming.
▲ Multi-camera consistency comparison
As you can see from the chart above, the subjects of the dolls taken with either the ultra wide angle, prime, medium or telephoto lenses have very consistent color rendering and the brightness control of the entire chart is not too far off. The same performance is also seen in night scenes. The color consistency of Xiaomi 13 Ultra can be said to be very well done this time, and is far ahead of the industry.
The 3.2x medium focal length lens sample
The newest version of the camera is the one with the most advanced technology and the most advanced technology.
The only true telephoto lens in 2023, unlocking a new position for shooting
The company's main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers.
The first time I saw it, I was able to get a good look at it.
The company's main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers. The newest version of the camera is the one with a 5x zoom, which can easily beat the hybrid zoom of the flagship of the company, plus Xiaomi's optimization of the resolution of all the lenses.
We found in the process of shooting, Xiaomi 13 Ultra's automatic mode film Leica flavor compared to the 12S Ultra to say a lot of light, so that some of the old users are dissatisfied: "how increasingly not Leica? But in fact, Xiaomi has taken this problem into account.
The company's main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers.
The result is a comparison of the effect of turning on (right) and turning off (left) the professional mode Leica Shadow.
And it is worth mentioning that this adjustment is not as simple as filter color mixing. Parameters adjusted before shooting will retain more picture quality details than post-processing to ensure that colors will not be broken, and the adjustment of each setting has also been measured and subjectively certified, thus ensuring that the memory colors of people's skin tones and skies in the picture will not appear off-color.
This should be the most powerful update of Xiaomi 13 Ultra. In this mode, users can also adjust the brightness, shutter speed, aperture value and other data according to their preferences, fully allowing users to control the "camera" themselves, which can be said to be a true professional mode.
The camera UI of Xiaomi 13 Ultra has also received a major update, bringing a new interface and operating logic, the functions that have been turned on will be directly displayed in the "status bar" above, such as HDR or AI functions will be displayed, if you click off, it will be automatically hidden, you only need to open again To turn it on again, just slide down the center of the screen to bring up the detailed menu.
When users wanted to adjust the "Leica Classic" and "Leica Vivid" modes, they had to tap on them and then adjust them in the secondary menu, which was very troublesome.
Professional peripheral support, is this a phone or a camera?
Along with the Xiaomi 13 Ultra comes this professional photography kit, which includes a Bluetooth shooting handle, a hand strap, a phone case that can be fitted with the handle and filters, as well as a "black soft" filter and a "CPL" filter.
Just put on the phone case, you can shoot the handle stuck on, the whole camera grip is somewhat similar to the camera, the handle is connected to the phone through Bluetooth, after a period of time without the handle will automatically enter a hibernation state.
This handle has a zoom wheel and a shooting button, the shooting button also supports half-press to focus, use it to get exactly the same shooting experience as the camera, not to mention how cool, whether horizontal or vertical, how to shoot how you want to shoot, the angle is more free, shooting more enjoyable.
The zoom wheel will have some lag when zooming, but I usually use it to change a few large focal lengths, the experience is still okay. However, I found a big problem when using this peripheral grip, that is, the focus point, many times the Xiaomi 13 Ultra preferred focus point is not the point I want, there are very many focus on the wrong street photos. If you directly half-press the focus, there is no way to change the focus point, this time also requires the user to multi-point the screen several times to change the focus, this experience will be slightly less interesting.
Speaking of the handle, we have to talk about the new "street photography mode" brought by the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, after the user connects the handle to the phone via Bluetooth, just long press the shooting button, it will automatically enter the street photography mode and take a photo.
It only takes 0.8 seconds to start the street photography mode, and the camera will automatically remember the last setting to help you capture the fleeting beauty faster. The camera also has an interesting feature, the "depth of field trap", which is one of the reasons why street gurus love to use Leica cameras.
The camera will lock the focus distance and lock the aperture to f/4 for greater depth of field, and there is a depth of field ruler on the left side to present the current focus distance and the range of the front and rear depth of field.
The street photography mode can choose 1x (23mm), 1.5x (35mm) or 2x (46mm), where the 1.5x equivalent 35mm focal length is also one of the very common focal lengths for street photography, and after the initial setup is completed, the next time it is opened will be shot at this focal length. The newest version of the product is available in a variety of formats, including the following
The CPL filter comparison
The newest addition to the professional photography suite is the CPL filter, which eliminates the reflection of the screen or water surface, allowing the phone lens to take interesting pictures.
The first one is the "Black Soft Filter" portrait mode sample.
The company's first and foremost, the company's first and foremost, is a company that has been in the business for a long time.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra professional photography kit, so that the phone can be turned into a camera in seconds, the filter only need to remove the protective frame of the phone case, the adapter ring a twist, and then the filter can be rotated and installed, and the camera lens filter installation operation is exactly the same, the layman really looks a bit "professional" that meaning, their own use Up can also shoot a lot of interesting images.
Domestic screen can also be on the flagship phone, the view is not inferior to Samsung
After talking about the image, finally came to the screen part, Xiaomi 13 Ultra is equipped with a domestic screen from Huaxing photoelectric, this is not just a compromise or "support domestic", Huaxing photoelectric C7 light-emitting material can completely defeat the latest Samsung E6 material.
Look at the parameters, this is a 2K resolution 12bit color depth OLED screen, the maximum brightness of the screen can reach 1300nits, local peak brightness can even reach 2600nits, compared to the friendly 2500nits local peak brightness E6 screen, to be more powerful.
And not only that, this screen also has a larger viewing angle, Xiaomi and Huaxing photoelectric joint optimization of the large angle of the color shift problem, in the viewing angle of more than 30 degrees, compared to Samsung E6 has a greater advantage, in the horizontal screen when watching video experience more obvious.
Although the Samsung E6 material eye protection has finally followed this year, but the Xiaomi 13 Ultra screen is better, blue light compared to the E6 has been significantly reduced, high brightness support DC dimming, when the screen brightness is lower than 80nits will open the 1920Hz high frequency PWM dimming, with the most natural eye protection mode, can get more comfortable visual effects.
In terms of color gamut, unlike other phones that default to vivid color mode, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra defaults to "Professional Primary Color" mode, which provides more accurate color rendering and automatic color management. This mode is based on the CIE2015 color space calibration, a good solution to the problem of color consistency under different display technologies, but also to solve the OLED screen has been the problem of D65 yellowing.
This mode is based on the CIE2015 color space calibration and solves the problem of color consistency under different display technologies.
▲Xiaomi 13 Ultra Professional Primary Color Mode Color Gamut (left) and Vivid Mode Color Gamut (right)
The color accuracy of professional primary color mode
The color gamut of Xiaomi 13 Ultra is 95.5% sRGB in professional primary color mode and 99.9% sRGB in vivid color mode, and the average △E is 0.22 and the maximum △E is 0.83, which is quite good.
The addition of ring cooling pump technology keeps the phone cool
Finally, let's talk about performance. Xiaomi 13 Ultra is equipped with the second generation Snapdragon 8 flagship mobile platform, a chip that doesn't really need much introduction and is strong enough to finish the job.
In terms of heat dissipation, the previous Xiaomi MIX 4 Magic Edition used the "ring cold pump" technology to further improve the phone's cooling efficiency. This time also not to talk about the game performance, the official claim that Xiaomi 13 Ultra shooting 4K60fps video can do the whole process without dropping frames, this is also rare in the field of Android machines, enough to see the strong cooling capacity.
The battery capacity of Xiaomi 13 Ultra has also been improved, finally using a large capacity 5000mAh battery this time. With the new Surge P2 smart fast charging chip, the charging speed is also faster than the previous generation, rising to 90W wired charging, 35 minutes to full battery, and also supports 50W Pro wireless charging with small inductance and 10W reverse wireless charging.
And the last "against the ancestors" decision, Xiaomi 13 Ultra finally get rid of USB2.0 protocol, using USB3.2 Gen1, with 5Gbps transfer rate, finally able to transfer files at a faster speed! Finally, this "legacy problem" has been solved.
Summary
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is a flagship video phone that is one or two generations ahead of its competitors in terms of imaging and camera play. In the color rendering and aesthetics, it is very advanced, so that ordinary users can shoot a blockbuster. There is also enough excellent domestic screen, displaying accurate color and excellent brightness, coupled with excellent performance Snapdragon chip, smooth experience and calm at all times.
The new design of the appearance, feel texture big improvement, so that this machine really can not find the shortcomings at all, whether for image enthusiasts or camera whites, this is a very worthy choice of cell phone products, no one.
