Xiaomi 13T review

Brand new triple camera setup with two 50MP shooters

The new camera setup on the 13T duo puts it much closer to the Xiaomi 13 flagship lineup because it brings three new cameras on board with Leica lenses and color optimizations.

The main camera is now 50MP, not 108MP, but uses a much bigger Sony IMX707 sensor, measuring 1/1.28" in size with big 1.22µm individual pixels. The sensor is coupled with an optically-stabilized 24mm, f/1.9 lens.

The second 50MP is also a new addition. Previously the T-series didn't have dedicated zoom cameras but this time around, the duo can rely on a 50MP OmniVision OVD50D 1/2.88", 0.61µm pixels paired with a 50mm, f/1.9 lens. The ultrawide camera has also finally changed and is no longer the outdated 8MP shooter. It's now replaced by a 13MP OmniVision OV13B 1/30.6", 1.12µm sensor and f/2.2 aperture. Focus is fixed.

It's important to note here that the official specs say 12MP ultrawide camera, and we believe the difference comes from the lens distortion correction. Xiaomi is likely trimming the edges of the image and outputting 12MP stills as a result.

Sadly, the selfie camera remains unchanged - 20MP Sony IMX596 1/2.8" sensor and is coupled with a 26mm f/2.2 lens. It was not very good in the past models.

Camera menus

The camera app on the 13T is more or less the same as on other Xiaomis, but with a twist - the accent color here is red, presumably in honor of the Leica collaboration.

Another Leica-related touch is the processing 'mode', which you choose the first time you launch the camera. The two options are Leica Vibrant (default) and Leica Authentic (mostly color accurate), and once you're past the welcome screen, you can switch back and forth between them all you want. You do have to be in one or the other - there's no 'generic' non-Leica auto mode.

Camera modes

There is an 'AI' toggle in addition to that because, of course, there needs to be. It usually increases contrast and saturation depending on the scene.

Previously added Teleprompter Video mode is here to stay. You can paste your video script here and read it easily while you capture your video. And now you can also enable or disable the electronic stabilization, but only for the Pro Video and Timelapse Modes (this widens the field of view).

Photo and Video Pro modes

Aside from that, the app functions like on any other recent Xiaomi. Basic operation for changing modes works with side swipes as expected, and you can also tap on the modes that you can see to switch to those directly. You can add, remove, and rearrange modes in the main rolodex by going to the More tab and navigating to the edit button, and you can access that from the settings menu as well.

At the far end of the viewfinder, you have a flash mode switch, an HDR switch, and the AI toggle. There's also the hamburger menu, which contains additional options like aspect ratio, self-timer and grid lines. You won't find an option to set the output resolution for any of the cameras (not that we particularly care), besides the 50MP mode that supposedly outputs at full res.

Camera settings

On the near end, you have the camera zoom switch that operates in one of two fashions. The first one is simply tapping on one of the four dots that represent the ultra-wide (0.6x), primary (1x), and telephoto (2x) options. Or you can tap on the active magnification and reveal even more zoom modes - 5x, 10x, and 20x.

There's a nicely capable Pro mode, where you can tweak the shooting parameters yourself. You get to pick one of 4 white balance presets or dial in the light temperature with a slider; there's a manual focusing slider (with peaking as an option), and shutter speed and ISO control with ranges depending on which camera you're using - yes, you can access each of the three cams in Pro mode.

Night Mode is available on all four cameras, and there is even Night video for the primary cam.

Finally, the Portrait mode uses the telephoto camera by default, but you can switch to the main camera, if you want. There are different effects for those wanting more artsy portraits.

Daylight photos

Main camera

We found the main camera's performance during the day to be excellent, leaving us with little to no complaints. Overall processing is identical to the 13T Pro with plenty of detail, sharp enough objects, wide dynamic range and no noise. We went for the Leica Vibrant option by default, which delivers more lively colors and lighter shadows, but without going over the top. Color reproduction is still somewhat realistic.

Daylight main camera (Leica Vibrant)

The camera seems to be consistent indoors as well, with virtually no noise and little to no deterioration in overall quality in more challenging lighting conditions.

The Leica Authentic preset goes for more accurate and realistic color reproduction, higher contrast, deeper shadows and a subtle vignette effect. We believe the Authentic preset will be useful for some dramatic shots in the city or when shooting greenery as the green color comes out quite different in this mode.

Daylight main camera (Leica Authentic)

We are quite surprised by the 50MP mode. It produces some really nice samples with good dynamic range, lots of detail, good enough sharpness and noise that can only be seen from up close and mostly in the shadows.

Daylight main camera 50MP mode

2x zoom camera

The dedicated 2x zoom camera offers an almost identical rendition with slightly softer output and less detailed output, but that's to be expected. The 50MP sensor used for the zoom camera is considerably smaller, but compensates with a bigger aperture. Either way, the 2x zoom samples look pretty nice with a wide dynamic range, accurate color reproduction, nice contrast and essentially no noise. However, the camera is still pretty sensitive to changes in the lighting conditions and some of the indoor shots come out a bit too soft to our taste.

Daylight 2x zoom samples

Ultrawide camera

The 13MP ultrawide camera outputs 12MP samples probably because the lens distortion correction algorithm trims the edges, resulting in a 12MP sample. In any case, quality is okay - it's not amazing, but it's definitely better than the old 8MP ultrawide shooters.

Daylight ultrawide camera samples

Detail could have been better for a 12MP camera, but overall looks and processing are similar to the main camera's and sharpness is acceptable. Dynamic range isn't as wide, though, as shadows appear to be darker than usual and some bright white objects are clipped in some of the samples.

Portraits

The portrait mode allows you to shoot with both, the main camera and the 2x zoom snapper. The latter is the default option in the camera settings. Xiaomi and Leica offer a powerful Portrait mode with a few options to choose from - default (50mm, no enhancements), 35mm (crop from main camera), 50mm Swirly Bokeh, and 90mm Soft Focus. There is also a Full Body mode, which shoots portraits with the primary camera.

2x zoom portraits: Portrait mode • Normal

And as long as there's plenty of light around, the 2x zoom (50mm) portraits look really nice with excellent color reproduction, good level of detail, good enough sharpness and wide dynamic range. But as is the case in the normal Photo mode, the 2x zoom camera struggles to deliver consistent sharpness and detail across all lighting conditions so even the slightest drop in ambient light results in rather soft rendition.

Selfies

As is the case with the previous Xiaomi T-series, the 13T's 20MP selfie camera produces unsatisfactory selfies. The Quad-Bayer sensor is supposed to shoot in 5MP resolution, but Xiaomi outputs the full 20MP resolution, resulting in grainy and soft selfies with little fine detail. No matter the lighting conditions. Dynamic range and color reproduction are on point, at least.

Selfies

Low-light photos

Main camera

The Night mode can be triggered automatically by default whenever the software sees fit, but you can turn that setting off if you want. We found that the software tends to use the standard Photo mode and rarely uses the dedicated Night mode for its main and zoom cameras.

Low-light main camera

Either way, the standard Photo mode produces excellent low-light photos and with obvious HDR and image stacking. Even without resorting to the Night mode, the photos look sharp with plenty of fine detail, even in the shadows, wide dynamic range with impressive highlights/shadows balance, nice contrast and accurate color reproduction. The non-Night mode definitely produces natural-looking photos with just a small brightness boost in the shadows. Noise can be seen only in extremely dark areas, which is understandable.

Night mode main camera

Interestingly, the Night mode doesn't seem to change the scenery all that much, meaning it's not as aggressive as we initially anticipated. It does improve the highlights and the light sources and also takes care of the noise, without any apparent downsides. That's why we suggest forcing the Night mode after dusk as it produces shots with better quality overall, while preserving the natural look of the night scene.

2x zoom camera

Unless you opt out of the automatic camera switching depending on the scenario, most of the low-light photos will be taken with the main camera, so if you insist on using the telephoto camera after dusk (which we recommend), you should turn off that option. However, forcing the Night mode is once again strongly advisable.

Low-light 2x zoom camera: Normal • Night mode

The standard Photo mode produces rather soft images with lacking detail and plenty of noise. The Night mode takes care of these issues and introduces some good-looking samples with an adequate amount of detail, sharpness and wide dynamic range without much noise. Using the Night mode + 2x zoom camera combo bears good results in most scenarios.

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera at night is barely usable as samples are way too dark, soft, fuzzy and with a narrow dynamic range. The Night mode improves image quality quite a bit by adding artificial sharpening and balancing out the highlights and shadows and clearing the noise. However, the Night mode tends to go for a darker exposure, making the shadows even darker and resulting in gritty-looking images. They are still good for social media posting, though. Maybe a bit grainier due to the added sharpness, which makes the noise pop up.

Low-light ultrawide camera

Here's how the primary camera on the Xiaomi 13T stacks against the rest of the competition in the controlled environment of our Photo Compare Tool.

Xiaomi 13T against the Galaxy S23 and the Nothing Phone (2) in our Photo compare tool

Video recording

The Xiaomi 13T caps at 4K@30fps video recording using its main, telephoto and ultrawide camera. The selfie shooter can only do 1080p@30fps and unlike the 13T Pro, the 13T can't do 8K videos, which isn't a surprise nor a big omission. This is due to the chipsets' ISP capabilities. HDR video recording is still available, though, and EIS is available in all modes.

Starting with the 4K footage shot on the main camera, we see excellent detail, sharpness, dynamic range and rather accurate color reproduction. Contrast could have been better, though, and we are observing some sort of peachy tinge, maybe due to the overly warm white balance. We can't put our finger on it, but besides that, the video looks great.

Interestingly enough, the ultrawide camera delivers the same exact rendering but with some loss in detail and sharpness, which is expected from a camera of this caliber. Still, we are surprised by how good the edges of the frame look - they are not as soft as initially anticipated. The peachy tinge is still prominent, though.

The 2x zoom video looks excellent - it's sharp, with lots of fine detail (notice the trees) and with excellent color reproduction. The orang tint remains.

You can also take a look at our video compare tool to see how Xiaomi 13T stacks against the other phones we've reviewed.

2160p: Xiaomi 13T against the Galaxy S23 and the Nothing Phone (2) in our Video compare tool