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As long as the camera in on a mobile device,after zooming you won't get too much detail. This is the case for digital zoom.
when you zoom in, I'm sure you've noticed that the zoom bar it's split in half, the first half it's optical zoom and the second half it's digital zoom, anything on digital zoom will degrade the picture quality.
all the things after updating to 4.4.4 went worse.now in lollipop nothing happened.
i think xperia sp has better performance in video recording.badest cameras are from sony!sony improve qualitiy like other companies.
I took the liberty of merge your posts
you can use PCC to repair/reset your phone
Bridge (for Mac)
Alternatives on How to backup Xperias
http://talk.sonymobile.com/thread/36355
If PCC doesn't work then it could be a hardware issue, contact your local Xperia care