Sony releases videos showing the features on the Xperia 1 II 5G camera

Just a couple of days ago we told you that B&H had jumped the gun by taking pre-orders for the upcoming Sony Xperia 1 II. The price that was listed on the website, $1,198, had people fainting and passing out in front of their phone, tablet, and computer screens. So if you were to saunter over to the B&H website today, you'll see that it simply says that the device is "coming soon."

Over the last couple of days, Sony has posted video tutorials featuring the camera system on the phone. The quad-camera setup includes a 12MP primary camera, a 12MP Telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, a 12MP Ultra-wide camera, and a time-of-flight depth sensor. The latter measures the time it takes for an infrared beam to bounce off of the subject and return to the phone. With this data, the phone will offer improved depth measurements for AR, portraits, low-light photography, and more.

The first video in the series, Chapter 1, is called Introduction to Photography Pro and it will take you on a tour of the UI and explain to you how to change the settings if you are or consider yourself to be a knowledgeable photographer. Some of the UI design has been copied from a major camera company. Don't expect a lawsuit though, we're talking about Sony using a similar UI on the phone to the one found on its Alpha cameras. The Sony 1 II has a dedicated shutter button and you press it half-way down to focus, all the way down to snap a picture.

Chapter 2 discusses the P mode or Program mode. This mode, Sony says, is recommended for photos taken of kids, pets, and general snapshots. With this setting, you don't need to make any adjustments to the camera. The brightness level will automatically adjust to new angles under low-light conditions.

With S mode you can adjust the speed of the shutter when taking photographs of fast-moving objects. Faster shutter speeds will freeze the action and the Xperia 1 II has a shutter speed as fast as 1/8000. The video shows how you can use different shutter speeds depending on what you're looking to get from your photograph. Since the camera is prone to showing the results of shaking at slower shutter speeds, Sony recommends using a tripod with those shots.

Half-pressing the shutter button focuses on the subject. There are three preset focus modes available: AF-C, AF-S, and Manual Focus. AF-C continuously keeps a moving subject in focus making it useful for taking photos of children, pets, and sports. The system tracks the faces and eyes of humans and animals. With AF-S you can focus on one specific subject as long as the shutter remains half-pressed. Sony recommends using this setting for taking photos of scenery or general photos with minimal movement.

The next video puts everything together to give you tips on how to take a great picture. For example, when putting together a composition you should avoid any objects that you don't want in the photo. The grid lines or the level indicator will indicate whether your photo will be level. A green light means that everything is level while orange indicates that it is tilted. The video also includes ideas on when you should increase or decrease the exposure of the picture.

Another video promotes a feature on the Xperia 1 II called Optical SteadyShot. This is a hybrid combining optical image stabilization, which physically adjusts the camera to compensate for movement, and electronic image stabilization; the latter uses non-physical means to adjust for movement (often using the accelerometer on the phone) when taking a video. This clip shows you the comparison between a recording shot with Optical SteadyShot and one that was shot without it. The difference is striking.

Lastly, the Sony Xperia 1 II has an intelligent wind filter to improve the audio on recordings. Once again, side-by-side comparisons are used to show how well the feature works.

The Sony Xperia 1 II is equipped with a 6.5-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1644 x 3840. That works out to a tall and thin 21:9 aspect ratio great for viewing streaming video. The screen is packed with 643 pixels per inch. The handset is powered by the Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform and features 8GB of memory (LPDDR5 RAM) and 256GB of storage. Keeping the lights on is a 4000mAh battery.

If you're interested in the Sony Xperia 1 II, the false start by B&H and the release of these videos could mean that the release of the phone is imminent.