Xiaomi 14T Pro Camera Experience: Is it Good and Better from 13T?

We’ve been using the Xiaomi 14T Pro for like a month and before I proceed any further, this is not the review – which we will save for other content. Instead, we are going to look at one of the major improvements Xiaomi has made to the 14T Series – the Camera and they have been raving about their low-light performance. So, let us talk about the Xiaomi 14T Pro Camera improvements and how it fares with its other brethren, the 14.

This content is brought to you in collaboration with Xiaomi Malaysia.

Xiaomi 14T Pro Camera

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What’s on Paper?

On paper, the Xiaomi 14T Pro, camera looks vaguely similar to the 14 and has the right kind of upgrades over the 13T Pro – I say this because I use the 14 as my daily phone. You get the Light Fusion 900 sensor from the 14, a proper functional triple camera setup that gives you ultrawide, wide and telephoto and the Xiaomi AISP experience, which you can control on and off at will.

• LEICA VARIO-SUMMILUX ASPH
  • 50MP 23mm f/1.6 Dual Native ISO Fusion Max | Light Fusion 900 Image Sensor
  • 50MP 60mm f/2.0
  • 12MP 15mm f/2.2

Now, let’s address the improvements over the 13T Pro because we have heard a lot of stories about it. For one, the 14T Pro can do in-sensor-zooming with the 23mm primary sensor and 60mm sensor to hit higher focal lengths through image cropping. Think of it as using your Full Frame camera and switching to APS-C/35mm mode to get that crop (which somewhat is a zoom of sorts). So, because of that, you see the option to do 2x, 2.6x and 5x.

Secondly, it’s made in collaboration with Leica – so, you get all that Summilux lens (instead of SUMMICRON in 13T Pro), Leica Authentic and Vibrant mode and the Master Lens System.

Enough about what’s on Paper

Because what’s on paper may sound good, but the experience you get matters the most. That said, we used the camera as extensively as possible. We wanted to compare it with the 13T Pro, but we don’t have one. However, we chose to use the 14 instead, to see if you are getting a flagship experience for the price you pay.

The Colour Test

To start, we kick things off with a simple colour test, to see how the Dimensity 9300+ ISP goes against the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 ISP. MediaTek has come a long way and it’s not as bad as it was once upon a time. To be able to go against a Snapdragon today is a big feat indeed.

• Immediately we can tell with the 14T Pro that the Leica Authentic has a more stronger vignetting whereas the Vibrant has almost none. The next focus I would say in the colours is the Red and Orange wooden toys on the top right, which is obvious among the bunch – where it’s less saturated with authentic and it’s properly vibrant in the Vibrant profile.
• Interestingly, the yellow piece looks brighter in Authentic and dull with proper shadows on the sides in the Vibrant.

• Now when we put it side by side with the 14, which uses the Qualcomm ISP – you can tell, with Authentic, the 14 has a slightly stronger orange and red in terms of contrast, lesser vignetting, and slightly warm as well. The vibrant, I must say that the 14T Pro is punchier with those two colours we mentioned earlier as compared to the 14. But the overall image is somewhat balanced.

• Here’s another comparison for the Xiaomi 14T Pro’s Authentic and Vibrant where we took a picture of this spot at Damansara Uptown. We must say that the Authentic adds a lot of vignetting which is not something I am personally a fan of. It makes the image dull, with the blue sky looking more grey. The Vibrant, however, adds a punch to the image but it’s executed with some level of tasteful-ness that it doesn’t look too artificial. The blue sky is pleasant to look at, the lighter contrast is pleasant to look at.

• In this image of the mural, on the left we have Vibrant and on the right, we have Authentic. The Vibrant knocks the brightness a little higher, the art does look more brighter. If you do look at the sky, we lose some details as it’s closer to white than the details retained on Authentic. Speaking of authenticity, the increased contrast albeit a dimmer image can be an acquired taste.

So, with this simple comparison, we must say that “theoretically” the 14T Pro nails bland and vibrant colours with the respective modes. However, the 14 has a more “natural” -ish colour with less emphasis on the contrast. If you want some contrasty image, you know which camera to go for.

The HDR Test

I have a love-hate relationship with HDR because it either messes up my image or gets the right type of feel I want. This is why I am glad for the on and off toggle on the top – so, for this, we are going to show a simple HDR and non-HDR shot in Lowlight – which we think is a better way to see it.

• Starting with this Winelust sign: with the HDR off you can see that the neon light is fully blown out in every letter, as it looks pretty bright from the get-go. But toggle the HDR on, you see the light get subtle and you notice the gradient in the light colour – making it more subtle and nice to look at.

• This next image of a hawker store: with the HDR off, you can notice how the lights – be it the signboard, tube lights, and so on are just blown out of proportion. You toggle the HDR on, and you can notice that the image no longer has that weird halation all around the sign is more controlled with proper reds, and the tube light is pretty fantastic as well.

• This signboard image is pretty obvious that the left is HDR On and the right is HDR off. You can see the details in the logo are well retained on the right but at the cost of losing every other detail surrounding the image with dimmer exposure. But if your goal is to take an image like this, that’s alright. I like the Right image.
• On the left side, the image has this halo glow around the logo, and the streetlamps have a star/halo effect as well. The insides of the building show a lot of details but do have some strong contrast.

HDR works by taking a quick set of images by over and under exposing it, therefore, balancing the light and shadows very well. There are times you will get good photos like these, but in daylight, the experience can vary. So, always toggle on and off if you need to, especially if you want to get a photo you like.

I will say this – the optics Xiaomi has opted in for behind this camera is as solid as it can get. Granted, due to the processor differences, you will see some variations. But hey, I hope this convinces you that the MediaTek ISP is no slouch and you won’t be entirely disappointed. And yes, for me, with the 14T Pro at least, toggling HDR on and off whenever I shoot and switching between authentic and vibrant colours help with taking the photos I like. With that, we are going to show other photos we have taken with this camera.

How to Get the Best Xiaomi 14T Pro Camera Experience

We are not going to gatekeep any of the things we have talked about here and show you the way we shot with the Xiaomi 14T Pro. So, you could try with yours when you get yours.

• The camera app is pretty straightforward to use, after you set it up, you have all the necessary controls such as the HDR, Leica Colour Modes and so on. We had no issues dealing with these. You can enjoy bokeh with the Master Controls that’s under Portrait but this is one part we feel Xiaomi could get better.

• Starting with a simple Ultrawide to Telephoto test, we went from 0.6x to 5x. The 0.6x has an odd colour shift which gives some green hues with a slightly cold tone, but 1x seems fine, then 2x which is a crop of the primary camera and so is the 2.6x, the colours are consistent and I’d say that I prefer the 2x over the 2.6x and finally, the 5x, the telephoto is pretty okay – though it lacks some sharpness.

• The Mural was shot with the ultrawide to show the colour differences between the Vibrant and Authentic. Head over to our YouTube Video to let us know which image you prefer.

• When you are trying to take images of lights like this one for instance, which is a Moonlight prop, the simplest way to get the nice effect on the right, is by tapping on the light and decreasing the light exposure. With EV controls in this camera, it offers more granularity as well. Something we don’t see in many phones.

• If you choose to use the Master Lens system on the Xiaomi 14T Pro, you can have a nice shot on the left. We went for a rather subtle bokeh instead of an aggressive one. On the right, I shot the photo with the main sensor by holding it in the “Gen-Z” style and I love how it turned out.

• We wanted to see how much detail the camera retains with its Light Fusion 900 sensor in broad daylight and after the sun sets. Cameras have come a long way to be able to shoot this well. Both the images are shot in Vibrant to eliminate the Vignetting. You can see the nice blue gradient on the left and since the sky is somewhat bright, it does lose certain details on the right.

• Lowlight shots at bars are your best place to see how well a camera balances light and shadow to give the best look possible. This is where the computational aspect of a camera kicks in. Let us know which shot you like on our Facebook or Instagram.

• And then there are moments like this for instance, when you notice that the camera does give you shots with very little to tell them apart from each other.

If you want to check out more photos and samples, you can tap here to check them out – as we have added a dedicated article just for the sample for you to pixel peep however you like.

That Said

Just based on what you have seen so far and what we have experienced, I will say that this camera is pretty impressive and gave my Xiaomi 14 a challenge which I didn’t expect. And just because it’s powered by MediaTek, doesn’t mean it’s a bad phone either. Leave all of that in the past, because they have improved. Sure, the camera can give you hits and misses but we can say the same for one of the flagships out there too.

But with that said, the 14T Pro surely handles itself very well. I’d give it a solid 8 out of 10. If I got this camera like in a phone back in 2016, I would have been a happy human. Oh, and the experience will improve, because right after the launch, Xiaomi has some updates as well for all that AI experience.

As for the rest of this phone, it screams premium in every way possible (and we know Xiaomi is venturing into that market). But they told us the price, which is RM 2,599 for 256GB, RM 2,999 for 512GB and RM 3,499 for 1TB – it’s pretty much a bargain. We intend to make a full review on this phone, so stay tuned for that and this won’t be the last content we will do with the 14T Pro – if you have any recommendations, let us know in the comments below.

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