Xiaomi 12s Ultra : Around Tokyo, Milan and Florence. Shall I upgrade to the 13 Ultra ?

Time really flies!

In this world of Tik Toks, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube and whatever book, gram etc etc, I am not so sure anyone read blogs anymore. I am speaking for myself…..there are so much to see, absorb, process and understand……not enough time !

And now the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is released, and I am a big fan of this monster of a photography phone. I have been using the Xiaomi 12s Ultra for a year or not and I love the phone like crazy. Am pondering if I should go for an upgrade, just that the difference between this and my current phone is not too big, same 1-inch sensor, more or less same stats. The main difference is that you can choose to use F1.9 or F4.0. Not a deal breaker.

I have a choice to not carry that the Leica body and its lens anymore. The phone is just so much more convenient. Now, image quality wise, the M240 with its 35mm lens is definitely better. Heck, even the Canon 5,6,7Ds are better. But unless you compare the images side by side, the Xiaomi 12s Ultra shots are good enough for me.

I like to take pictures of food (who doesn’t these days…the camera eats first). My family has gotten used to waiting for the pictures to be taken when the dishes arrived. But with the phone, I spend less time, which means….Hey ! They can still get to eat the food while its hot!

Was never happy with the bokeh of my food shots, there is not enough to make the food pop. Until I realized that you can do food shots in Portrait mode. It’s not perfect but it blew me away. Bye Bye – Camera body with 70mm minimum focusing distance!

Pictures look better if you view this off your mobile phone. If you are reading this on your Mac/PC, you should now be zooming in and out, picking out all its imperfection.

Am too lazy to breakdown the photos to the location I took them, shall just group them together. 🙂

See the bokeh at the back of the bowls or plates ? That’s what I wanted 🙂

Imperfection? Yes, because it’s just a 1-inch sensor, bokeh is still mathematically computed. If you ask me, I will never be able to compete bokeh with the leica pop.

Now that I am happily happy. Let’s talk about the everyday, walk about shots. Zoom, no zoom, sunset, low light, whatever. Am impressed with the Xiaomi 12s Ultra versatility. Zoom shots looks clear enough. And if the sun is too bright, I set the phone camera to manual, reduce exposure all the way and then brighten it up in post processing. But I got lazy, the way with the phone is that you tend to want to move fast. I didn’t want to try out different exposures, different apertures. I just want to snap and go.

I love my Leica because of zone focusing. I can do shots of people as I walked by. And if you are regular zone focusing guy/gal…… you will be able to set it quick and snap everything in focus in its range with the M.

But what if I wan to do it with the Xiaomi ? How dare the phone try to do a rangefinder shot at 1/20th of its price ? Lol, but I tried it. If you want that bokeh, you must set to portrait mode. Hold the phone up to your chest, get a Bluetooth remote in your hand or just thumb at the screen, walk, turn your phone discreetly left or right and snap away. In other words, you are shooting blind, not knowing where its focus is, where it’s pointing and what you are taking. And the results? See for yourself.