Here's how the 'revolutionary' Sony Xperia Z5 camera stands up to an iPhone 6s

Sony sent us their new Xperia Z5 to play with this week.

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The Japanese company has put a lot of work into marketing the device's camera, calling it "our best camera phone" and "revolutionary." We have a full review on its way. But first I wanted to compare Z5's much-touted camera to the most well-regarded pocket shooter in the industry: the iPhone 6s.

Sony Xperia Z5
Sony

The first thing you notice with the Z5's camera is the speed of its autofocus feature. Sony claims it'll ready a shot in 0.03 seconds in ideal situations. While I never experienced quite that level of fast, it was remarkable — and noticeably faster than the iPhone 6s.

Below are some images testing the two devices in various situations — outdoors, indoors, in mixed light, and in the dark. The Z5's lens is wider, and its sensor uses a narrower aspect ratio than the 6s. So you'll notice the compositions vary a little between the images. Also, I left both cameras in automatic mode, choosing not to take advantage of the manual settings Sony offers hardcore photographers.

Here's how the two smartphone cameras stacked up.

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In broad daylight, there was a surprising degree of difference between the Xperia Z5 and iPhone 6s

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Rafi Letzter/Tech Insider

The iPhone's camera system did a much better job here. An unmoving daylight scene is usually the easiest situation for a camera to nail, but the Z5 made some obvious mistakes.

First, the Z5 went a bit too bright, blowing out the clouds and reducing the overall contrast of the image. It also selected a cooler white balance, taking the punch out of the reflected sunlight and flattening the scene's colors across the board. The iPhone went with a warm tone that lent richness and depth to the image's colors.

Here are segments of each shot blown up to 100% size

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Rafi Letzter/Tech Insider

The Xperia Z5, a 23 megapixel device, offered less detail than the 12 megapixel iPhone 6s. Don't see it? Look at the stars on that American flag. This is partly because the Z5 uses its 23 megapixels less efficiently across a much wider frame, but also because megapixels don't actually matter.

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Here's how the two phones handled an indoor scene

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Rafi Letzter/Tech Insider

Again, the Z5 went brighter and cooler. But in this case it improved the shot.

Here's the same shots, blown up to 100% size

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Rafi Letzter/Tech Insider

Both phones produced similarly sharp, clear images in this situation.

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The Xperia Z5 has a slightly wider aperture than the iPhone, but it doesn't much affect focus

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Rafi Letzter/Tech Insider

Open apertures can throw the background more nicely out of focus, but the difference between the Z5 and the iPhone is unnoticeable. (More on aperture here.)

In even slightly mixed light, the Xperia Z5 messed up the exposure

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Rafi Letzter/Tech Insider

I like to test cameras in fancy sneaker stores because of the combination of intense color, bright lights, and dark backgrounds. The difference between the cameras in these two shots amazed me. Even with hard focus taps right on that yellow shoe, the Xperia Z5 blew it out on several attempts. The iPhone 6s exposed every part of the shot perfectly on the first try.

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I tried again under a softer light in a different part of the store, but ran into the same problem. Again, the iPhone had no trouble in this situation

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Rafi Letzter/Tech Insider

Here's how the two cameras handled truly dark shots

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Rafi Letzter/Tech Insider

The iPhone 6s produced a less attractive image here, possibly lowering contrast in an attempt to bring in more detail. The Xperia Z5 went for high-contrast, but took several attempts to focus properly.

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Blown up, the iPhone's image is grainier, while the Xperia Z5 shows some unfortunate software effects

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Rafi Letzter/Tech Insider

You can see here that the iPhone still landed a better focus in the dark in one shot than the Xperia Z5 after several tries. The iPhone's software left more grain in the image, while the Z5's removed it. This is a matter of personal preference, but I don't like the Xperia's JPEG-y product as much as the iPhone's grain.

Sony Smartphones Photography
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