Phone photography prowess is going to be a key marketing feature again this year, based on the flagship releases so far. I’d almost forgotten that Sony had launched its Xperia X range of smartphones earlier in the year, but the company has teamed up with Brazilian visual artist Rafael Mantesso to showcase the X’s camera capabilities as well.

Mantesso took the smartphone for a spin around Barcelona, and, accompanied by his six canine companions, snapped a selection of rather good looking pictures before editing in his own unique quirks. Here’s a selection of the samples captured using the Xperia X, and they certainly look rather good.

One of the Xperia X’s major camera features is Sony’s new Predictive Hybrid Autofocus. This feature can help to predict the movement of an object on screen in order to anticipate and capture the perfect in-focus picture. We know that Sony’s Exmor RS autofocus technology is pretty fast, and it seems that the Xperia X has no problems keeping up with these active mutts.

“It can be extremely challenging capturing photos of one animal, let alone six, but I was really surprised at how easy it was to get great shots of the dogs, even as they wriggled about and refused to sit still! The autofocus on Xperia X anticipated their movement and meant the images always came out without any blur.” – Rafael Mantesso

The Xperia X and X Performance models both feature 23 megapixel 1/2.3″ rear cameras with this new predictive autofocus, which is paired up with a wide angle F/2.0 13 megapixel front facing camera. The more mid-range Xperia XA comes with a 13 megapixel 1/3″ rear camera with the same hybrid focusing technology.

Sony’s Xperia X, X Performance, and Xperia XA will begin hitting store shelves in the summer of 2016. Animal lovers who want to see more about the Barcelona camera tour should check out the video below. What do you think about the pictures?