The crunch of snow under the snowdrifts, the smell of mulled wine, and the bright spotlights mercilessly cutting through the darkness. As a tech journalist, I can tell you that this is the toughest possible test for any smartphone camera: we have extreme contrasts, fast movement, and very little natural light.
Most phones simply “freeze” or create an unusable blur in these conditions, especially in the snow, where the contrast between darkness and bright spotlights is brutal. So I put on a warm jacket and stuffed it in my pocket. Xiaomi 17 UltraThey promise to turn this extreme into pure art.
Descent through the valley and taming the light
First, I observed a night descent. Normally, strong lights on white snow would cause the photo to be completely overexposed and devoid of detail. But this is where the main 50-megapixel camera with a 1-inch sensor and the brand new LOFIC HDR technology comes into play. Simply put: the system works by using an additional capacitor to retain “excess” light, thus preventing the image from being overexposed in high-contrast conditions. The result? The phone does not “burn” the whiteness of the snow under the spotlights, but preserves the texture of the snow base with incredible accuracy.
A frozen moment in complete darkness
As a skier hurtled past me, kicking up a cloud of powder, I wanted to capture that perfect “frozen” moment. I used the incredible 200-megapixel Leica telephoto camera. It boasts a unique 75-100mm mechanical optical zoom in the smartphone world, meaning it maintains native optical image quality at these distances without relying on digital cropping. Thanks to the ‘Pro’ mode and the custom aperture speed, the Leica optics showed their teeth. Instead of the usual white blur that most phones fail to capture in the dark, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra froze the snow spray in the air with stunning sharpness. The texture of the captured powder is impressively clear in the photo, which really highlights the dynamics of the night skiing.
A walk to Lake Jasna and the “gold standard” of photography
After the action on the slope, I went for a night walk towards Lake Jasna. The air was crisp, and the landscape was shrouded in darkness, lit only by a few lamps and reflections on the water surface. For such night scenarios, where we usually get blurry lights and a lot of noise, Xiaomi has built-in Leica APO optical lenses. These lenses are considered the gold standard, as they eliminate color distortion with the help of an advanced design and provide extremely sharp images. The silhouettes of the mountains and reflections in the night lake were captured perfectly, and the telephoto lens also significantly reduced glare around street lamps.
Apres-ski warmth and that real “Leica look”
With frozen fingers, I took refuge in the warmth of the local log cabin. Fire, red cheeks of friends, mulled wine and laughter. The perfect opportunity for portrait photography. I switched back to the 75–100 mm telephoto lens, which includes the entire range of “golden” focal lengths for portraits (75, 85, 90 and 100 mm). This is where the famous “Leica look” came into its own – incredibly soft background blur (bokeh) and completely natural skin tones, despite the very specific and strong orange light of the heaters. The blurred lights of the snowmobile in the background created a real cinematic atmosphere. Here you can really see the difference; this is not just a good night photo, this is real Leica photography.
Xiaomi 17 Ultra: A machine that can withstand the cold and the views
As a tech enthusiast, I can't ignore the guts of this machine. The phone has an extremely elegant, completely flat design with a high-strength aluminum alloy body. It is powered by the latest Snapdragon® 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, which ensures that everything runs brutally fast. What interested me most in the cold was the battery. With a capacity of 6000 mAh, the all-night test did not let me down. Even viewing photos in the cold at night was a visual treat thanks to the new 6.9-inch Xiaomi HyperRGB display with an astonishing peak brightness of 3500 nits. For those who are a little more clumsy, the good news is that the screen is protected by Xiaomi Shield Glass 3.0, which offers 30 % more resistance to drops.
Finally, when the last lights go out over Podkoren, something becomes clear: smartphones have long ceased to be just communication devices. With its impressive camera system and Leica optics, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra is a real photographic tool that pushes the line between a smartphone and a professional camera even further. It allows you to experience and save the demanding, sometimes even brutal lighting conditions, such as those offered by Kranjska Gora at night, exactly as you felt them - with all the depth, atmosphere and details. Xiaomi has thrown down the gauntlet to the competition and set a very high new standard for mobile night photography.
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Advertiser: Xiaomi Slovenia
