So here is one thing I did not count on to say: I’ve been taking pictures extra with the principle digicam on the Xiaomi 17 Ultra than the telephoto. And I’m a telephoto individual—particularly on telephones. Have been for years. Wide angles stress me out. Anything below 50mm looks like a dedication I’m not able to make.But Xiaomi saved pushing the LOFIC sensor—that is Lateral Overflow Integration Capacitor, a mouthful that principally means the 1-inch important sensor captures mild that may in any other case clip your highlights earlier than they get an opportunity to. 16.5EV of dynamic vary, they mentioned. I used to be skeptical, then I began taking pictures at 28mm and 35mm extra significantly, and the images have been quietly altering my thoughts about wide-angle taking pictures altogether.I strapped on the pictures equipment grip—threaded shutter button, command dial set to publicity compensation, wrist strap—and that is kind of the place the telephone a part of this story ends, and the digicam half begins. What follows is per week of discovering out.
The telephoto remains to be the star
The 200MP telephoto pairs a Leica APO-certified lens with mechanical optical zoom between 75mm and 100mm equal—3.2x to 4.3x with none sensor cropping—and extends to a usable 17.2x with in-sensor crop. I’ve been reaching for it continuously, partly out of behavior, partly as a result of it retains delivering.
An individual strolling alongside a beachfront, shot from excessive up — white hat, strip of sand, a band of inexperienced under, boats sitting far out on nonetheless water. The telephoto compressed the gap between the determine and the ocean into one thing virtually flat, the sort of layered composition the place all the things sits on prime of all the things else. That’s what this lens does effectively.
Another scene I shot: a troupe of performers holding glowing hoop props, carrying white costumes, with blue stage mild spilling from behind and the moist floor throwing their reflections again up. I used to be taking pictures from a distance, and the telephoto pulled them in with out dropping the dimensions of the structure behind. The construction stayed sharp, the glowing rings had definition, and the reflections within the foreground added depth {that a} wider lens would have flattened into noise.
Portraits within the 75–100mm vary have a compression that is instantly flattering. I shot a Greco-Roman statue (fyi: it is a dwelling statue) framed in opposition to an arched colonnade—background falling away softly, stone element sharp within the topic, the arch framing the entire thing. No portrait mode, no edge detection working within the background. The separation occurred due to the focal size, the way in which it ought to.The mechanical zoom between 75mm and 100mm is extra refined in follow than it sounds on paper. Twenty-five millimetres is not a dramatic compositional leap, and I principally discovered myself touchdown at 3.2x and staying there. The engineering is kind of spectacular—this type of steady optical zoom at portrait focal lengths is new for Xiaomi—however do not count on the vary itself to alter the way you shoot.Beyond 17.2x, AI steps in. Xiaomi’s strategy is restrained—it sharpens edges reasonably than inventing element wholesale—so excessive zoom pictures look a bit crisp reasonably than painterly and unusual. At 30x and 60x, you are working with one thing extra like a reference level than a completed picture, but it surely holds up higher than most.The important digicam shocked me, and I do not say that flippantly
Right. Back to the LOFIC story.
I began taking pictures the principle digicam at 28mm and 35mm in scenes I’d usually have averted with a large lens—excessive distinction, arduous mild, tough dynamic vary conditions—and it saved dealing with them.
An excellent instance of what which means in follow: framing a harbour scene by means of palm fronds at golden hour, solar punching straight by means of the leaves, fishing boats sitting within the glittering water behind, a motorcycle and tiled terrace in deep shadow under. I shot it in Leica Authentic mode—it pulls saturation again, provides a light vignette, renders cooler and extra cinematic. The sort of shot the place most cameras both expose for the sky and lose the foreground solely, or elevate the shadows and blow the solar right into a heat, over-processed mess. The digicam held each ends—the fronds stayed detailed in opposition to the intense sky, the shadow areas within the foreground retained texture and heat, and the water behind caught the sunshine with out clipping.
Then, the identical efficiency I had shot with the telephoto earlier turned a unique scene solely when the fireplace performers got here on. Flames lit them arduous, orange and crimson, all the things behind virtually utterly black. I switched to the principle sensor—good time to place LOFIC to a more durable take a look at. I anticipated the highlights to clip and the shadows to flatten. Neither occurred. The fireplace had texture—particular person tongues of flame, not a blown-out blob—and the arch above retained its element in opposition to the darkish sky.Shot the identical scene twice, as soon as with the orange tones dominating and as soon as as the fireplace shifted redder, and each frames held the sunshine with out combating it.LOFIC, briefly, does what it says.
A pink Vespa on a cobblestone avenue — the right European scene. Shot late at evening, avenue lights throwing a yellow glaze on the bottom, a constructing behind it with lit home windows. I shot it in Leica Authentic once more, as I do—identical pulled-back saturation, identical gentle vignette, however right here it gave the scene a quieter, cooler high quality that felt proper for scene. And the picture got here out precisely the way in which I noticed the scene. The shadows within the cobblestones have been there. The heat from the road lights sat in opposition to the cooler ambient mild with out one swallowing the opposite—that is the LOFIC sensor doing its single-exposure vary factor once more, quietly. The telephone did not determine the scene wanted brightening or punching up.The 1-inch sensor does not have to choose its battles the way in which smaller sensors do, and it exhibits.The ultrawide at 14mm is one thing I attain for lower than the opposite two, but it surely does not really feel just like the weak hyperlink it so usually is on different telephones. I shot the identical Vespa scene with it—the cobblestone avenue, the constructing behind, all of it—and the 14mm gave it a way of place that the tighter body could not.
The lens is huge sufficient to present a scene its environmental context with out distorting edges or making proportions really feel squeezed. Corners soften a bit, but it surely responds to Leica Authentic the identical method the opposite lenses do—though you will discover some variations , do not count on it to be excellent.
The telephone, while you keep in mind it’s one
The 6.9-inch OLED is flat this time—no curved edges—and noticeably simpler to carry than the 15 Ultra. The display screen holds up in direct tropical solar, brilliant sufficient that you just’re really seeing the picture, not guessing at it. At 3,500 nits peak and LTPO between 1 and 120Hz, it is one of many higher shows I’ve used within the area.The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 retains all the things shifting with out friction. The usuals—switching between apps, looking social media, and no matter ten minutes of gaming I did—have been easy. Then, the digicam, which is what this telephone is for. Switching between lenses is instantaneous, the app by no means stutters, and modifying DNG information in Lightroom on the telephone itself occurs rapidly sufficient that it does not break your rhythm.The telephone obtained me by means of full taking pictures days comfortably. The 6,000mAh quantity does not sound sufficiently big lately, I do know, but it surely holds up, and 90W charging means topping up between periods takes minutes. HyperOS 3 on Android 16 is purposeful sufficient to remain out of the way in which.There’s extra to speak about how the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is as an on a regular basis telephone, and that’ll get its personal house after we’re speaking extra than simply hands-on.
Every week in and one query left
Xiaomi asks Rs 1,39,999 for the 17 Ultra, and it is critical cash. For that sort of cash, the digicam alone cannot be the one factor that holds up—and as I mentioned I’d put the telephone by means of the same old hoops earlier than I’ve fashioned my opinions on it. But so far as the 17 Ultra’s cameras are involved, they have been doing greater than sufficient to make the case on their very own.I got here in as a telephoto shooter. I’m nonetheless principally a telephoto shooter. But, someplace alongside the way in which, the principle digicam made a convert. Though, I’m nonetheless taking pictures—so ask me later.
