I Took Hundreds of Photos With the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. These Are My Favorites

1 week ago 4

1 of 21Andrew Lanxon/CNET

The Xiaomi 15 Ultra has a triple-camera setup with a large 1-inch type camera sensor at its heart. It's a potent camera setup and I was keen to put it to the test. I've taken hundreds of images in my testing time so far, across multiple countries and even in the Arctic.

Here's a selection of my favorites and be sure to check out the full Xiaomi 15 Ultra hands on for a lot more information on the phone.

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Taken with the main camera, this image is colorful and sharp.

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I love the contrast and colors on this shot from the main camera.

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Using the telephoto zoom, I've been able to get closer up on this street performer in Edinburgh. The details look great.

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I love using this phone's high-contrast black-and-white mode. It gives a punchy look that's great for street photography. This one was taken with the telephoto lens.

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Even with a high zoom level, the details still look nice and sharp.

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I love the black-and-white look the phone provides using any of the lenses. This time, it's the main camera.

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And here it's using the ultrawide.

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Using the zoom and focusing on this person's phone gives a nice out-of-focus background to this scene.

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This JPEG looks gloomy...

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But I was shooting in Pro mode so I had the DNG raw file to work with. After a bit of Lightroom work, I've been able to craft a much more pleasing image that shows off the lovely sunset colors. The 15 Ultra's files capture a lot of information.

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This edited raw file of my sweet ball of orange fur has come out nice. I love that the phone has kept the shadows nice and deep rather than trying to artificially lift them as many phones do.

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This night-time edited raw file was taken with the telephoto zoom. It's pin sharp.

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Another night time scene, this time taken with the main camera in JPEG. The exposure is good and details are crisp.

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I also like this night shot taken in the arctic.

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While the phone does a great job at night, it lacks the variable aperture of its predecessor so the street light here doesn't have the attractive starburst that I'd have hoped for.