Sony Xperia T3 Review - Camera Review

Sony Xperia T3: Camera

Those expecting Xperia Z2-like camera quality are going to be disappointed. Despite Sony’s intentions to unify the photo-taking experience, the T3 delivers good photos for sharing, but it’s nothing you’d swap a dedicated camera for.

There’s an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, again matching the Xperia M2 for megapixel count, with an LED flash and even a torch mode to aid low-light shooting. A 1.1-megapixel front-facing camera is also in place to produce reasonably decent selfies in the right lighting conditions.

Visually, core camera features are well laid out and easy to access through the main camera app UI. It’s when you need to go digging to shoot in full 8-megapixel resolution or switching to HDR mode things are more confusing as you need to muddle through the manual settings to find them.

For more experienced photographers there’s a manual mode where you can adjust elements like metering and ISO sensitivity.

Of course, most will stick with the Auto mode, but it’s a nice option to have if you know what you’re doing.

The camera is a little slower into action in comparison to more accomplished camera phones and that can often lead to problems with the sluggish autofocus capturing out of focus shots. The most rewarding results are from a distance, where the T3 produces good detail and punchy colours. Up close, in good and low light images are generally good, but there are some issues with noise.

8-megapixel resolution photo shot in Superior Auto mode

Low-light photography is decent but images can look muted on closer inspection

HDR mode can brighten up images and add punch to photos in general but as the images below illustrate, it doesn’t always work with great results.

HDR mode off

HDR mode on

On the whole, this is a camera equipped for sharing-friendly images, you just won’t want to get up close and personal with them on a computer to see the real quality of your efforts.

Video recording shoots at a maximum out Full HD 1080p from the main camera and 720p HD for front-facing action. Like most phones, you can simply switch between stills and video from the main camera UI. Additional settings include HDR mode, microphone support and Sony’s SteadyShot, which is aims to prevent video from looking shaky.

It handles motion well even if overall sharpness is lacking and colours are rich. You are not going to swap this for a proper camcorder but it does a good, if not fantastic job of filming.