Lucky fellow journalists got the chance to smuggle out an Xperia Z outside the CES grounds for a short photo shoot and they've published the results.

Sony made a real splash with their Xperia Z and ZL announcement at CES this year. Besides the 5-inch 1080p screen, the Xperia Z features a 13MP camera with an Exmor RS sensor, which is supposedly improved over last year's Exmor R lineup. There is also a built-in real-time HDR mode for shooting video, which sounds intriguing, to say the least.

According to the guys over at BestBoys.de, who got to shoot with the Xperia Z, the auto focus is incredibly responsive both in continuous and in touch mode.

From what we see, image sharpness is not ideal at 100% magnification but other than that, we definitely see improvement over last year's Xperia T. The noise levels are lower and the exposure metering seems correct.



Sony Xperia Z camera samples

We even got a video with the new HDR video mode. The effect is visible when shooting backlit or dark subjects. The "HDR" algorithm opens up the shadows to create a more evenly illuminated scene without blowing up the highlights.

Video quality (sharpness, especially) is really good though the continuous auto focus is on the slow side (which can be an advantage in certain situations). So we are definitely witnessing an improvement over the Xperia T. Reportedly, however, the camcorder strangely lacks the option for video stabilization, unlike the Xperia T.

Here's the camera sample and don't forget to open the video fullscreen and turn on the 1080p mode. Oh, and don't mind the Asian dude that's doing standing pushups.

Check out even more camera samples at the source link below.