Xiaomi 14 Ultra :
The new global variant of the Xiaomi 14 Ultra let’s start with what is inside the Xiaomi 14 Ultra photography kit, So that the box is large enough, and as soon as you open the lid of the box, there is the visual of the outline of the photography kit, Which immediately reveals the entire well-arranged kit, and this is where the protective case of the photography kit is located. Xiaomi 14 Ultra a thread filter adapter, 67 mm the decorative ring, the camera handle, and a small white box where in there you will find a small paper pouch, which has the wrist strap, Then there are also the user manuals.
Starting by putting on the protective case of the photography kit, then slide the camera handle with the USB port aligned on the phone And the cool thing is that this camera handle also has a built-in 1500 mAh battery, so it will immediately charge the phone.
Now let’s move on to the overall use of this camera grip from Xiaomi, in addition to giving you a nice grip, of the camera, it also gives you physical controls, for camera settings very similar, to how a digital camera, is the first.
The biggest button, is the shutter button and by pressing it, it gives you the manual focus, and you can turn the lever there to zoom in and of course, it allows you to change the different zoom levels, in a very transparent way.
Then next to it is the custom dial, where by default it adjusts the exposure very easily, then there is a dedicated recording button there, Then on the back is where you can put the filter adapter, 67 mm threaded, to put additional filters probably like an ND filter but as I don’t have one.
If you like your experience to be more physical, when recording videos to get a quick setting, manually, or if you just like the functionality of the phone looking like a real camera, then yes, this photography kit is for you next.
So, the main camera is a 50MP with a huge 1-inch Sony LYT-900 sensor, and a native dual ISO Fusion Max, so it has a dynamic range of 14 stops, and that’s even more than my Blackmagic 6K cameras, which only have 13 stops.
Then the other three cameras are also 50MP, With a 75 mm Leica floating telephoto lens with 3.2 x optical zoom, a 120 mm Leica Periscope lens with up to 5x optical zoom, and a 12 mm Leica or a 0.6 x ultra-wide lens, and these three lenses are first of all the IMX 858 sensor.
Let’s go through the camera app first and explain the basics first Under the video options, which I am very sure you are used to usually.
There are different focal lengths available between an optical zoom of 0.5 x to 5x, which you can go up to a digital zoom of 15x specifically, for this video mode, then right next to the camera lens option.
There is a function that shows EV, which means Exposure value, and this for the phone case is where you can control the aperture value, so why would you use this feature?
Well, you know how when you try to take a video of a room or an area of light and dark, then you see this strange change in brightness, where it suddenly becomes bright, and then you have to touch the screen to hopefully adjust the right brightness.
Now you can control it manually so that you can control it manually, it stays the same until you manually adjust it, so imagine a scenario where you switch from indoors to outdoors by default, when shooting towards the sky, the automatic EV settings, on the ordinary smartphone will usually try to underexpose or overexpose,r the sky depending on the “mood” of the phone.
Now, on this phone, you can do it yourself, because sometimes you maybe want to show the sky a little more or sometimes you want to expose the subject a little more, so these manual adjustments mean that you are the boss!
And if you click on the star-shaped icon, you can choose the different professional LUTs available, which means “Consultation Table”, which are color presets that you can choose between Scarlet, Vermilion Teal Mist, which is my favorite to give an orange movie look, and teal.
And then there is ink for the black and white look, and other filters like Glee, Green Tea, and Hazelnut, Then under the nail filters, filters of similar style but more adapted to those of Leica like the Leica VIV, or Vibrant, Leica Natural Black and white, Leica Natural, and many others to choose from to suit what you prefer.
Then there is the Beautify nail where, in case you don’t know, it puts a beauty effect on the person you are photographing, there is the toggle to turn on the flash in the middle, there is an arrow, and a drop-down menu, for options like the flash, and the resolution where you can select up to 8K 30 FPS.
Yes, 30 FPS, the right frame rate, but keep in mind that you can only record in 8K, if you turn off HDR and then then there is the frame rate where, in 4K, it can shoot up to 120 frames per second, and this is something that only high-end mirrorless cameras can do and some cinema cameras like these Blackmagic 6K cameras, cannot even shoot at such a high frame rate, then there is the stable video toggle to stabilize the shots.
A Pro mode is therefore located right next to the Movie mode and by default, it will be under the photo settings, but simply click on the video camera icon at the bottom right, to switch it to video, And the interface of this application is somewhat similar to the two previous modes presented.
But instead there are additional professional-level settings, It reminds me of the Blackmagic camera app, which unfortunately is only available for iOS devices.
So it’s nice that the Xiaomi 14 Ultra has this built in, and that it also captures in DIARY format, to give you even more flexibility in post-production.
First of all, there are the adjustments for ISO, which is the light control as mentioned earlier, variable aperture settings between F1. 63 and F4.0, and you can even make adjustments without steps between these two apertures, transparently, and this of course affects the overall light, and also the shallow depth of field, or the subject to background blur in simple terms.
Then there is also an adjustment for the shutter speed, which affects not only the light but also the motion blur, So the higher the shutter speed, the darker the video will be, but if you move from left to right, it will give you less blur movement and that’s what motion blur means.
So AF is for autofocus, where you can leave it at Auto or if you prefer manual adjustments, you can do that too.
Then finally, there are the White balance adjustments there, where you can leave it at Auto or simply adjust it to make your footage warmer or whiter, Then the microphone icon, shows the different audio sources that you want to use when you record the video, where there is the audio counter at the top left, so that you can monitor the audio accordingly, then at the bottom, the “i” icon is to give you a description of all the features, which you can refer to.
One last Pro mode that you need to introduce is the Director Mode and by default you will find it under the More tab? This is a revamped Director mode with a workflow, fully customizable it has the similar adjustments mentioned in the Pro mode, but it has a very unique feature that no other smartphone has which is the possibility of using other Xiaomi phones.
And even Xiaomi Pad tablets, as a monitor, therefore, it will give an even more immersive video surveillance experience.
Conclusion :
If you are a director or if you want someone to help you shoot, you can monitor the shots accordingly, to use this feature there will be a camera icon at the bottom left, then you can choose whether or not you want the phone to be the camera or a monitor.
And make sure that both devices have the same Wi-Fi network and that you are ready, the other additional monitoring options in this mode are the battery indicator, the total recording time and the histogram, and the waveforms for the exposure too.
For more information please don’t hesitate to contact us
