Sony Xperia 1 VI vs. OnePlus 13: The big camera comparison for travel photographers (Frankfurt, Würzburg, Middle Rhine)

Our two test devices are:

• The Sony Xperia 1 VI is the manufacturer's current flagship, which has some rather unusual features for a high-end model: a 3.5 mm audio port, a microSD reader, and a shutter button for the camera. Speaking of the camera: In addition to the Exmor T sensor with 48 megapixels as the main camera, Sony has also installed a 12 megapixel telephoto camera with up to 7.1x optical zoom. The wide-angle camera, which has a field of view of 123°, also has 12 megapixels. The optics have been refined in collaboration with Zeiss. The Sony Xperia 1 VI costs around 1,380 euros on Amazon.de at the time of testing
  
• The OnePlus 13 is available at a much lower price: The variant with 512 GB mass storage costs 999 euros, and with 256 GB it is even 50 euros cheaper, for example, at Amazon.de. The OnePlus phone also has a 50-megapixel camera with an aperture of f/1.6, offering high light sensitivity. The telephoto camera also has 50 megapixels and a 3x optical periscope zoom, so a total of 6x optical magnification is possible. OnePlus even allows up to 120x digital zoom.

We start our journey in Frankfurt. What is more characteristic of the city on the Main than the skyscrapers of the banking district?

In the evening light, we take a first photo with both smartphones and take a look at the results. Both images appear clean at first glance, but it is noticeable that the Sony smartphone shows the clouds illuminated by the sun in less detail and is over-illuminated at this point.

When zoomed in, you can also quickly see that the OnePlus shows much sharper details on the facades of the skyscrapers.

Due to its location on the Main, the weather in Frankfurt is much milder than in other regions of Germany, so spring was already in full swing here when we visited in early April. The magnolias bloom all over the city and make an excellent photo motif.

The photo from the OnePlus 13 brightened better and is also more detailed. Here, the OnePlus 13 shows individual veins in the flowers and significantly more color gradations.

In the light of the evening sun, we also photograph the old half-timbered houses on the Römerberg, the central square of Frankfurt's old town.

In the magnification of the Sony Xperia 1 VI's photo, some details remain somewhat more legible, such as the signs of the stores and restaurants. The OnePlus 13 brightens the scene more, contributing to a clearer image impression; on the other hand, the lighting mood is reproduced more realistically in the photo from the Sony phone.

Frankfurt is also home to "Ebbelwoi", the apple wine that is served in many inns and which we also discover as a mural on a wall.

Here, apart from the somewhat stronger brightening caused by the OnePlus 13, you have to look very closely to see the differences: it only becomes clear at a high magnification that the Xperia captures the area of the jug more blurred and also shows slightly less detail of the wall structure.

We continue our walk over the Iron Footbridge to the other side of the Main and look back at the skyscrapers as the sun sets. The Xperia 1 VI captures the evening atmosphere on the banks of the Main well with its somewhat stronger contrasts between light and dark.

On the other hand, details such as the reflections on the water are sharper on the OnePlus phone, and the high-rise facades also have more details and significantly more sharpness on the Chinese smartphone.

Now comes a challenge for both smartphones: with only a little daylight left, we zoom in on the Westendstraße 1 high-rise and the Messeturm, which are around 800 meters away from our location.

This is where the Sony Xperia 1 VI comes up trumps: while we only get a somewhat blurry photo from the OnePlus phone despite several attempts, the image from Sony's camera phone looks much sharper, even if the detail is imperfect.

We walk to our hotel through the alleyways of the Sachsenhausen district and discover a specially staged designer dress in the shop windows at night. Once again, Sony does a better job of capturing the lighting mood, but unfortunately, it loses out again in terms of sharpness and richness of detail.

The next day, we board the train and travel via Wiesbaden, where the Main flows into the Rhine and Upper Middle Rhine, which has fascinated people for thousands of years. We get off in Rüdesheim am Rhein with its historic town center. We want to visit a very special woman here.

But first, we climb up into the surrounding vineyards and look at the town and the Rhine from above.

Both camera smartphones choose a very different color temperature for the image: while Sony delivers a much cooler image, OnePlus bathes the scene in warmer colors. The strip of sand in the middle of the river is almost too bright in the shot from the Sony phone, while OnePlus creates a slightly more contrasty image here. Opposite on the hill, you can see the St. Rochus Chapel, a few more details are visible here in the picture from the OnePlus 13 can be seen here.

In the town itself, with its numerous half-timbered houses and villas, there is an age-old wine tradition. It is also displayed on the inns and restaurants with traditional advertising displays, the so-called "nose signs". The gilding, which has already flaked off a little, is shown to greater advantage in the OnePlus photo, where Sony has opted for a very restrained color rendering. When enlarged, the photo from the OnePlus phone also looks much sharper again.

In a church on the outskirts of the town, we finally discover the woman we are actually looking for in Rüdesheim: Hildegard von Bingen, the nun, poet, healer and monastery founder known far beyond Germany, was born in 1098 AD and lived and worked around the town of Bingen, directly on the other side of the Rhine.

First, we look at and photograph one of the many statues of the nun, who has since been elevated to sainthood. The OnePlus 13 takes a rather dark photo here, which makes details much less visible than in the photo of the Xperia 1 VI.

The bones of Hildegard of Bingen lie in a shrine in the otherwise relatively simple church. You can find a picture below.

From the church, we climb back up the vineyards and can already see one of the monasteries founded by the ubiquitous saint above us: the Benedictine abbey, which of course bears the name St. Hildegard.

However, the current monastery is a new foundation from the beginning of the 20th century, as the old monastery was destroyed. Nevertheless, the monastery church, built of natural stone, towers imposingly above the vines.

Once again, the clear difference in the color scheme is striking: The Xperia 1 VI uses significantly cooler color tones for its image. We also notice a blurred spot on the front of the right tower in the photo from the Sony phone.

In general, the individual, slightly differently colored stones in the picture of the OnePlus 13 are more clearly recognizable, but the sharpness also decreases significantly when enlarged.

We also wanted to capture the magnificent view over the Rhine Valley on video and chose 4K resolution and 60 frames per second for both smartphones. We discover a few curiosities here:

1. The OnePlus video only seems to switch to 4K resolution after a few seconds, but this is due to YouTube; this cannot be seen in the original video.

2. Both videos jerk briefly at one point, which is also not noticeable in the original video.

Otherwise, the image quality of the recorded videos is very high on both smartphones. With the zoom, we like the end result of the OnePlus 13 slightly better, as it offers a little more detail.

Now we leave the Rhine and turn back to the Main. A good distance upstream from Frankfurt is the Main bend in Franconia, which has picturesque villages and, of course, vineyards. Vogelsburg Castle towers above.

When you take a photo across the vineyards, you can immediately see that the Xperia 1 VI again has problems with sharpness: the individual vines look blurry, and we also like the contrast much better in the picture from the OnePlus phone.

If you want to cross the Main here, you can use a small ferry that takes people and cars to the other side in just a few minutes. The Xperia actually manages to take the slightly sharper picture here, as you can see from the ferry sign, for example.

The colors on the Sony phone are also much more vibrant, but this is a matter of taste.

We climb a viewing hill in the vineyards and discover an old pilgrimage church in the distance—a perfect destination for a Zoom series to see who does better here. The OnePlus 13 is a clear winner because it allows up to 120x zoom, whereas only 20x is possible for the Sony.

Of course, the high zoom levels of the OnePlus smartphone are primarily digital zoom, but this is improved on the device with AI and thus still provides recognizable details. However, some details, such as the tower, appear strangely shifted, so the result should not be completely trusted.

Even the lower zoom levels are much more useful on the OnePlus, however, because they are sharper than on the Sony phone.

Würzburg is also located in Main-Franconia. The Bavarian city impresses with its warm climate, pretty old town, and the old Main Bridge, where you can even enjoy a glass of wine in the form of a Brückenschoppen.

On the edge of the old town is the Church of St. John. The OnePlus demonstrates enhanced sharpness, while the Xperia 1 VI chooses a somewhat softer image and a color scheme that aligns more closely with the evening sun.

Walking through the old alleyways and streets, we notice a door with stunning metal fittings. Both phones display the details well, with a slight advantage in sharpness for the OnePlus 13 becoming visible.