The Sony Xperia Pro-I is not the first phone to have a 1-inch camera sensor, however is the first one to copy the 1-inch sensor from the Sony RX100 VII camera into a phone. Sony also added a mechanical dual-aperture with a new 50-millimeter lens, EyeAF support to video, and a new app called Video Pro. The price will be around the USD 1,800 tag.
For camera fans, the past month has been great. Apple released the iPhone 13 and 13 Pro, Google the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro. And today is the Sony Xperia Pro-I.
Sony managed to fit a 1-inch sensor into a device body that is almost the same thickness as an iPhone 13 Pro Max. When you have in a phone a larger sensor, it means a wider dynamic range and improved low-light performance for photos and videos. But it seems that the 1-inch image sensor might not be fully exploited, it will only use 60% of the Xperia Pro-I’s 1-inch sensor is used for photos and videos. In other words, it means instead of taking 20-megapixel photos like the Sony RX100 VII, the Xperia Pro-I takes 12-megapixel photos. That’s kind of disappointing.
Here is a sample of the pictures taken with the main camera and its 24mm lens or the ultrawide camera with its 16mm lens.
Sony is not the only company to put a 1-inch sensor into a phone. But the sensor in the Xperia Pro-I has been through seven generations of improvements and updates and combines the finesse of Sony’s other phone photographic tools and apps.
Like the Xperia 1 III, the Xperia Pro-I has Sony’s Photo Pro and Cinema Pro apps. However this time Sony wanted a better video option for those looking for something more advanced than basic video recording and something not as complicated as using the Cinema Pro app. With the Xperia Pro-I, Sony is launching a new app called Video Pro which is aimed at journalists and vloggers.
