[Review] Xiaomi 14 Ultra Photography Kit features, camera, battery

In an period the place the road between telephones and conventional cameras blurs, the hunt for the proper shot persists for images nerds who demand extra from their system’s digicam capabilities. 

There’s a motive why conventional cameras, notably these with particular dimensions and varieties, are nonetheless in demand: nothing compares to the tactile really feel of real buttons, dials, and robust grips. 

These are options that the majority telephones lack, nonetheless, the Xiaomi 14 Extremely is an exception. 

Unlocking the photographer’s arsenal

What really makes this telephone a digicam is the elective accent bundle for Xiaomi’s flagship, the Xiaomi 14 Extremely images equipment.

It consists of some elements: a leather-based telephone case, a 67mm filter adapter ring, a few ornamental non-functional substitute rings, a wrist strap, and most significantly a digicam grip with a shutter and video buttons.

It has a feminine USB-C port of its personal for passthrough charging, and it plugs into the Xiaomi 14 Extremely’s backside by way of USB-C. 

To totally cost the 14 Extremely, the grip additionally has a 1,500mAh battery.

When the grip is mounted and locked, the Xiaomi 14 Extremely genuinely has the feeling of an exceptionally skinny point-and-shoot digicam. 

The grip protrudes simply far sufficient in your fingers to have a agency one-handed maintain with out being so giant that it turns into troublesome to slot in your pocket. The underside edge suits comfortably within the palm of your hand.

And all the pieces on the grip is tremendous useful. 

What’s the grip all about

On the highest of the grip, there’s a two-stage shutter button with a zoom lever surrounding it, a devoted video button, and a programmable dial. By default, the dial is about to publicity compensation.

I actually get pleasure from that I can modify the brightness of a picture with out having to the touch the display. Not simply handbook, but in addition the usual digicam taking pictures mode is suitable with this.

The one factor I’ve to complain about is how easy it’s to bump it and by accident modify the zoom lever with out realising it.

The video button is equally helpful as it’s designated for features comparable to focus peaking or white steadiness settings.

The dial will also be used to change the usual digicam traits, together with aperture management, as the primary digicam of the 14 Extremely incorporates a variable f/1.6-4 lens.

Apart from, switching to video recording doesn’t require me to look on the display as I can simply click on the shutter button.

Each certainly one of these enter strategies is customisable. Most significantly, you may programme the zoom rocker to maneuver between lenses sequentially as an alternative of utilising steady digital zoom between lenses.

The shutter button additionally works rather well. As with a traditional digicam, you could half-press it to set off autofocus, which highlights the topic within the viewfinder by mentioning phase-detection factors. Holding down the half-press button means that you can seize many pictures with the identical focus mounted in, which may be very useful when taking footage of individuals.

Lastly, even with the telephone locked, urgent the shutter button offers a handy methodology to open the digicam app immediately.

Subsequent-level upgrades

Primarily based on my analysis, Xiaomi launched the same images equipment for the 13 Extremely final yr, however the 14 Extremely model makes just a few important enhancements over that mannequin. 

The 13 Extremely mannequin requires a second 330mAh battery for charging and could be operated solely with a Bluetooth connection. 

Nevertheless, the 14 Extremely equipment now provides a extra dependable and responsive reference to the USB-C change. Even when the telephone runs out of battery, it will also be charged concurrently with the telephone. 

Alternatively, the bigger inner battery has the power to cost the telephone within the reverse route, which may considerably influence how lengthy it lasts on days if you shoot so much. 

The one disadvantage is the battery does add somewhat weight, and it’s sufficient to note the distinction when you may have the telephone balanced in a single hand with the grip.

Leica lens magic

The Xiaomi 14 Extremely, which was co-developed with the well-known German digicam firm Leica, is claimed to be jam-packed with cutting-edge optics, a versatile digicam setup, the best {hardware} accessible, intricate computational images software program, and illustrious Leica color profiles.

It makes use of a 1-inch-type major digicam sensor and is among the largest sensors accessible for a smartphone. 

The telephone’s rear has a quad-camera system with a 50MP decision that features an ultra-wide angle, a large angle, a telephoto, and a periscope digicam.

The primary spotlight is that the digicam builds on the twin aperture structure of the 13 Extremely by providing an f/1.63-f/4 step-less variable aperture. 

The vast majority of telephone cameras that you’ve ever used have a hard and fast aperture; only a few have ever had a number of aperture settings. To seize extra gentle, you would need to select the widest mounted aperture setting potential as many of the telephone cameras have tiny sensors and lenses. 

As talked about, the Xiaomi 14 Extremely will not be like most telephone cameras. It is because the 1-inch sensor format is giant sufficient, and having the choice to cease all the way down to a decrease aperture is beneficial in just a few methods. 

After a few week of taking pictures with the 14 Extremely, I nonetheless really feel like I’m solely starting to discover all that this digicam is able to. 

So far, the picture high quality is fairly spectacular. 

The one draw back is that the segmentation in portrait mode lacks the sophistication of a Samsung telephone.

Regardless of the massive dimension of the 14 Extremely’s digicam sensor, in case your topic is nearer than a foot away and also you need an especially smooth backdrop, you’ll nonetheless want to make use of portrait mode. Whereas it’s not the best within the sport, it’s undoubtedly an honest portrait mode.

Verdict

General, the Xiaomi 14 Extremely remains to be good as a each day driver, too, with stellar efficiency from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, a wonderful show, and ok battery life. 

For the time being, many on-line evaluations are evaluating the Xiaomi 14 Extremely to Samsung’s Galaxy Extremely S24. A lot of this has to do with each cameras’ specs being fairly related.

Relating to pricing, Xiaomi appears to beat Samsung with the Xiaomi 14 Extremely’s beginning value at RM5,199 (16GB + 512GB). Nevertheless, the elective images equipment prices a further RM799.

To be clear, I don’t imagine that telephones ought to or can take the position of conventional cameras.

Regardless, I’m glad to see a telephone producer studying from the profitable typical digicam trade. 

I personally suppose the Xiaomi 14 Extremely Pictures Package shall be a game-changer for images fans like me who rank a smartphone’s digicam as one of the vital essential concerns when making a purchase order.

Be taught extra about Xiaomi 14 Extremely Pictures Package right here. 
Learn different articles we’ve written about Xiaomi right here.

VP Verdict is a collection the place we personally try to take a look at out merchandise, companies, fads, and apps. Need to counsel one thing else for us to strive? Go away a remark right here or ship the suggestion to our Fb web page.

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