Sony Xperia 5 III Smartphone Review - Performance

Sony Xperia 5 III Performance

The performance section is where we look at the image quality performance of the camera. Additional sample photos and product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review, photos and product ratings.

Sony Xperia 5 III Sample Photos

Sample Photos - When we put the Sony Xperia 5 II to the test, we said you might be mistaken for thinking images lacklustre when actually, the Xperia 5 II produced true-to-life results and it was other smartphones over-cooking certain colours so they appear more saturated than they are. This is still the case with the Sony Xperia 5 III with some shots but we also found that the AI did want to push greens and blues a bit more this time. Purple fringing can also appear around branches in bright conditions but the camera performed brilliantly for the majority of the time. 

Sharpness is great as is the dynamic range with beautifully balanced shots occurring when mixed lighting was a big part of the frame. It's also worth mentioning that autofocus was impressively quick and had no problems with tracking. Some lovely bokeh was also introduced when needed by the camera's AI, too. 

Sony Xperia 5 III Lens test images

Lens Performance - The ultra-wide and wide-angle lenses generally produce good results but sharpness is marginally better with the wide-angle lens as is dynamic range. The telephoto sensor with its two lenses also performs well with the 4.4x zoom still producing good quality images. Go beyond this and images might look good on social media but when you look at them at full-size, it's easy to see image quality does drop off and shake is easily introduced. Images aren't unusable, though, as we've seen with some other smartphones but where possible, we recommend you stick to the optical zoom. 

Sony Xperia 5 III Digital filters

Digital Filters - Various filters are built-in which can be applied both during capture and after in the photos app. A selection of what's available are shown above. The sketch and miniature effects are fun but there are some slightly odd filters that we can't see many people using. The sepia and black and white ones are great, though. 

The panorama mode is easy to use and stitches well so the smartphone produces an image quickly and pleasingly. However, mixed lighting can prove to be tricky for the smartphone with shadow areas appearing particularly dark. 

Video Sample: 

Video - Video is captured at 4K and 1080p (shown above) with various frame rates, including slow motion in Full HD. You also have access to stabilisation technology which means you can capture video handheld and shake isn't an issue.