How to take a photo with a long shutter speed on a Xiaomi phone: a guide with examples

Long exposure photography on Xiaomi’s smartphone allows you to create professional shots: glowing tracks of cars at night, blurred water in waterfalls or unusual portraits with the effect of movement. Photos are blurry, noisy, or too dark. In this article, we will discuss how to properly set up Xiaomi’s camera (including the Redmi Note 12 Pro models).+, Xiaomi 13 Ultra and others for shooting with long exposure – without additional applications and with them.

It's important to understand that long exposure on a phone is different from DSLR shooting. There's no physical shutter, and image processing algorithms work differently. But with the right approach, you can get results that are as good as budget mirrorless. We tested methods on different Xiaomi models and only selected those that give predictable results.

What is a long exposure and why you need it

Long (or long) shutter speed is a shooting mode in which the camera shutter stays open longer than usual (from the usual) 1/10 and then a few minutes:

• 🌌 Night scenes get brighter as camera gathers more light.
• 🚗 Moving objects (cars, water, clouds) blur, creating a smooth effect.
• 🎆 Light traces (fireworks, stars, candles) are fixed as continuous lines.

On Xiaomi smartphones, this mode is implemented software: instead of a mechanical shutter, electronic is used, and algorithms are used. HDR+ Night Mode makes up for the noise, but there are limitations:

⚠️ Attention: When you shutter for more than 4 seconds, most Xiaomi models (except Leica-optic flagships) have a strong thermal noise, such as purple or green dots in the photo.

For comparison: on Xiaomi 13 Pro with a sensor IMX707 The maximum effective shutter speed without noise is up to 8 seconds, and on the Redmi Note 10 Pro it is no more than 2 seconds. To circumvent this limitation, you will have to use third-party applications or shoot a series of frames followed by gluing.

What Xiaomi models support long exposure

Not all Xiaomi smartphones are equally good at long exposure, and we analyzed the capabilities of different ranges:

On smartphones with a Sony sensor IMX766 (For example, Xiaomi 12 Pro) long shutter speed works better thanks to improved noise processing and support for 10-bit color. If your model is not in the table, check for Pro mode in the camera app - if any, long shutter speed is available.

Preparing the phone for shooting

Before you shoot with long exposure, follow these steps:

Set your phone on a tripod or stable surface

Clean the lens of dust and fingerprints

Turn it off. HDR In the camera settings (if there is an option)

The battery should be charged. >50% (long exposure consumes a lot of energy)

Activate Do Not Disturb so notifications don’t get the focus off-->

The most common mistake newcomers make is taking pictures with their hands, even when you're holding it. 1/2 For a second, the trembling of the hands causes blurring:

• 📷 Mini-Statutories (e.g. Xiaomi Mi Portable Tripod).
• 🧱 Resources: Put your phone on a stack of books or a bridge railing.
• 🎧 Remote or timer: In the camera app, turn on the descent delay (2 or 10 seconds) to avoid wiggling when pressed.

If you shoot at night, avoid parasitic light sources (lights, screens of other devices) that create glare on the lens. For best results, use black tape to close the flash, which can automatically fire in dark conditions.

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On models with Leica optics (Xiaomi 13 Ultra) before shooting, turn on the Leica Authentic mode in the camera settings - it turns off aggressive processing and saves more detail.

Step-by-step: shooting in the camera's stock app

If your Xiaomi model has a Pro (or Manual) mode, follow these steps:

1. Open the Camera app and switch to Pro mode (usually a swipe up or button in the modes menu).
2. Click on the S icon (suspension) and set the value from 1/10 sec. 30 (depends on the model) For night scenes, start with 2 sack..
3. Install. ISO manually: 🌃 At night: 800-1600 (higher – more noise). 🌇 At dawn/sunset: 100-400.

Click on the screen to focus (use) MF — manual focusing if the object is static).

Start shooting with the shutter button or voice command (on some models works OK, Google, take a photo).

After you shoot, check the histogram in the gallery. If the peaks are on the right edge, the photo is overlit, reduce the shutter speed. If the bar chart is shifted to the left, the frame is too dark, zoom in. ISO ortress.

⚠️ Attention: On the Redmi Note 10/11 aged >1 Sec. automatically turns on Night Mode, which can ruin the blur effect.

Long exposure shooting without Pro mode

If your Xiaomi model does not have a Pro mode (e.g. Redmi) 9A POCO M4), Use these workarounds:

Method 1: Night Mode with manual settings

Xiaomi's Night Mode algorithm actually mimics long exposure by gluing together a few frames to get a blur effect:

1. Activate Night Mode.
2. Press the badge. ⚙️ Choose a Professional (if applicable).
3. Set the shooting time to a maximum (usually 5-7 seconds).
4. During the shooting, smoothly move the phone behind an object (such as a car) to create a movement effect.

Method 2: Long exposure applications

For full control, install one of these applications:

• 📱 Camera FV-5: Supports shutter speeds up to 60 seconds, manual focusing and saving in RAW.
• 📷 ProCam X: There is a Light Trail mode for shooting light tracks.
• 🌌 NightCap Camera: Specializes in long exposure night photography.

In these applications, you can configure:

• 🔘 Bracketting (a series of frames with different exposure for subsequent gluing).
• 📊 Histogram in real time.
• 🎯 Distance focus (useful for long exposure macro photography).

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Even with the right settings, long shutter speed photos on Xiaomi can fail.

Another common mistake is shooting in format HEIF (This format compresses the image, which leads to artifacts at long exposure. Always save the photo in the image. JPEG or RAW (if maintained).

⚠️ Note: Xiaomi with Snapdragon processor 8 Gen 1/2 (for example, Xiaomi 12 Pro) if you run a long shutter speed, you may overheat. If the phone gets hot, take a break. 5–10 The camera will automatically limit the maximum shutter speed.

Post-photo processing

Raw photos with long exposure almost always require improvement.

On the phone:

• 📱 Snapseed: Selective correction tool will help to remove noise in dark areas.
• 🎨 Lightroom Mobile: Increase Contrast and Reduce Shadows to Show Details.
• 🔍 Topaz Photo AI (Xiaomi with Google Play support: Automatically removes noise without losing details.

On the computer:

For advanced processing, suitable:

• 🖥️ Darktable (free): Denoise (profiled) is more noise-reducing than Lightroom.
• 🎭 Photoshop: Use a Smart Object → Stack on the median for gluing several frames.

When processing long exposure photos, avoid:

• 🔴 Strong increase in brightness – this increases the noise.
• 🔴 Excessive sharpness – it makes noise more noticeable.
• 🔴 Keeping in HEIF — use TIFF or PNG archival.

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The most effective way to reduce noise in long exposure photos is to take them off. 3–5 frames in a row with the same settings and glue them together in the Sequator (Windows) or StarStaX program (macOS/Android).

FAQ: Frequent questions about long exposure on Xiaomi