[Q] Better camera performance for the Nexus S? - Nexus S Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Are there any mods/apps/tweaks that make the Nexus S take better photos/videos?
I mean the hardware is something you guys can't control, but what about the software side, have any improvements been done there?
Thanks.

TareX said:
Are there any mods/apps/tweaks that make the Nexus S take better photos/videos?
I mean the hardware is something you guys can't control, but what about the software side, have any improvements been done there?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What kind of improvements are you looking for? The actual quality of the pics, or the UI on the camera?
I've got three different camera apps on my phone (stock, Camera360 pro, Vignette pro), they each have their strengths, but in the end, the camera lens and sensors are what will matter in terms of how good a picture can look.

distortedloop said:
What kind of improvements are you looking for? The actual quality of the pics, or the UI on the camera?
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Click to collapse
Def not the UI; I meant the image quality.
From what I understood, iPhone 4's images undergo a few post-processing effects that improve the final result... (which is kinda weird since I thought any post-processing effects make the quality worse)

Are there any apps that control the flash intensity? I find the Nexus S' flash to be so strong, it whitens out so many pictures in the dark.

TareX said:
Def not the UI; I meant the image quality.
From what I understood, iPhone 4's images undergo a few post-processing effects that improve the final result... (which is kinda weird since I thought any post-processing effects make the quality worse)
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Click to collapse
I mentioned the other camera apps I use because I believe they have options for doing some processing on the pics...they both have free versions and might offer some improvement.
Personally, I'd just rather tweak my pics myself with an app or on the computer. I thought the iPhone only did the processing when you selected the HDR feature on the camera, which I have to admit, makes some really good pictures.

Related

Is there any camera mods?

I was just wondering if there were any hacks that can be done to the camera. Like speed and quality. The camera doesnt seem like it put out '5mp' quality images.
mroneeyedboh said:
I was just wondering if there were any hacks that can be done to the camera. Like speed and quality. The camera doesnt seem like it put out '5mp' quality images.
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Click to collapse
You can change the quality via settings...
what hes asking is if you can change the shutter speed, not the image quality settings.
mroneeyedboh said:
I was just wondering if there were any hacks that can be done to the camera. Like speed and quality. The camera doesnt seem like it put out '5mp' quality images.
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Click to collapse
try to understand that its not a camera but a phone, the camera is a 5mp sensor but the quality of the sensor and the rest of the optics are not going to be on par with a 5mp point n shoot dedicated camera. software tweaks will only do so much given what they have to work with. you can get pleasing snap shots in good lighting conditions when you're without a proper camera.
some phones will focus(no pun intended) on the camera feature(of the PHONE) and you will get better images. for example my nokia n95 takes much better photos than my hero, and the new experia x10 supposedly has a really good camera(for a PHONE) although i haven't used it first hand im told it can almost replace your point n shoot cam.
so in short you should lower your expectations a notch or two.
Like the above poster said, I mean you've got plastic optics and a fixed focal point--you aren't going to be taking awesome pictures.
ASULutzy said:
Like the above poster said, I mean you've got plastic optics and a fixed focal point--you aren't going to be taking awesome pictures.
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Wait..what? I have been waiting for HTC to release a 70mm-300mm zoom lens with image stabilization for the Hero.. Are you saying that I will have to wait forever?
danknee said:
Wait..what? I have been waiting for HTC to release a 70mm-300mm zoom lens with image stabilization for the Hero.. Are you saying that I will have to wait forever?
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its coming with the 2.1 update.
I only wish the shutter speed was a little faster, but this goes for ALL phone cams. You can never get a steady picture if you have shaky hands or are trying to snap a shot of a 2 year old.
bring the came close to your body and slowly exhale when taking your photo. try stabilize yourself better. the shutter speed is pretty slow cause the sensor is not all that sensitive so more light exposure is needed.
as for getting kids to stay still, good luck.
Kcarpenter said:
I only wish the shutter speed was a little faster, but this goes for ALL phone cams. You can never get a steady picture if you have shaky hands or are trying to snap a shot of a 2 year old.
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Try ISO 400 or 800, you'll get more image noise but you should get better results with fast moving targets....3 and 6 year old, here
Fixed Focal length
ASULutzy said:
Like the above poster said, I mean you've got plastic optics and a fixed focal point--you aren't going to be taking awesome pictures.
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Click to collapse
Wouldn't the fact that it has autofocus infer that it is not a fixed focal length? There is a mechanical autofocus lens in the camera. Still not as good as any real camera, but it is the best phone camera I have ever had.
<deposit>$.02</deposit>
hahaha, I wasnt looking for photography quality. 'but I see now what your saying about its a sensor and what it has to work with isnt great. Thats all I wanted to hear. I know its not guru style ish, just a camera phone. Just looking to see if there was anything you could do to it, but guess not. Thanks.

Camera picture difference between Cm9 vs sense 4

So i was wondering if someone can tell me how much is the picture quality difference between cm9 camera and the stock sense 4 camera. Can you improve cm9 camera further somehow?
Only thing stopping me to use cm9/aokp/paranoid is camera. Would like your review.
Sent from my HTC One XL using xda app-developers app
jags_the1 said:
So i was wondering if someone can tell me how much is the picture quality difference between cm9 camera and the stock sense 4 camera. Can you improve cm9 camera further somehow?
Only thing stopping me to use cm9/aokp/paranoid is camera. Would like your review.
Sent from my HTC One XL using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
It's really all preference, I mean yes sense camera is better, but your best bet wod be to backup current rom and give one a try to see for yourself.
We could give you opinions all day, but until you try it for yourself you will never truly know.
Plus the benefits of aosp roms outweigh the camera for most.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Camera is a pretty big deal for me. Of the AOSP based ROMs, I only tried AOKP, and only for a short time. But from my experience, the picture quality itself is actually not that different, if at all. For picture quality, the software doesn't make as much difference as the sensor and the optics, which of course is all there in CM9 as well as Sense.
What is different/lacking, is that the autofocus takes longer on AOSP (and the near zero "shutter lag" on this phone is to me one of the best features). Plus, the interface on the Sense camera is far superior IMO (more functional layout). Also, I believe AOSP does not have a widescreen mode that takes a picture that fills the whole screen (at full resolution). One of the modes has an aspect ratio that fills the screen, but I think at a lower resolution.
Also, related to camera, the camcorder is still pretty much busted (gives garbled output almost half the time). If you use the camcorder and significant amount, this is pretty much a deal breaker. But hopefully that will get sorted out soon, now that kernel source is released.
redpoint73 said:
Camera is a pretty big deal for me. Of the AOSP based ROMs, I only tried AOKP, and only for a short time. But from my experience, the picture quality itself is actually not that different, if at all. For picture quality, the software doesn't make as much difference as the sensor and the optics, which of course is all there in CM9 as well as Sense.
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This is incorrect. The sensor and optics only record light intensity. How that gets converted into color is a combination of hardware encoded algorithms and software code. This is one of the reasons Nikon cameras running on Sony sensors practically always produce truer colors and lower noise signals that Sony cameras using the very same sensor. There are numerous examples of this, but Google ot
GroovyGeek said:
This is incorrect. The sensor and optics only record light intensity. How that gets converted into color is a combination of hardware encoded algorithms and software code. This is one of the reasons Nikon cameras running on Sony sensors practically always produce truer colors and lower noise signals that Sony cameras using the very same sensor. There are numerous examples of this, but Google ot
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the more technical point of view. At least as far as CM/AOSP based ROMs versus Sense, or versus 3rd party photo apps (which people often claim as "better" pic quality), I've never seen much of a difference in resulting picture quality for the 2 Android phones I've owned. Possibly the hardware coded algorithms you mention play a big role regardless of what is on the software side? Also, while I can believe that software plays some role, I still don't believe that optics are not also important. The quality of the optics (lens) obviously plays a big role on any camera. Given, the lens is tiny on a camera phone, but it still must play a major role.
Related to the quality difference between the two cameras: the main thing I noticed that bugs me the most is that the Sense camera uses the full screen for the photo aspect ratio while the AOSP camera cuts off about 1/4 of the frame with it's giant gray button area.
The full screen camera just felt really good, and then looking though the photos I took they would all perfectly fit the screen.
I can't say I really understand this choice by Google. Does anyone know of a way to force a different aspect ratio? Or perhaps recommend a camera app that will fill the screen?
Does anyone else feel this way or have an argument in favor of the AOSP camera?
Okay I had to go though this for an event and wanted the best picture quality I had to flash 4.5clean +HQ mod. vs cm9 with the best setting and ICS+ below is the comparison.
CM9 1st then 4.5 CleanROm
How ever I use cm9 as my DD and cleanrom if I need o use the Cam
The sensor for the camera in the HoX has. 4:3 aspect ratio. So the pictures that cm9 takes actually use the whole sensor. The sense rooms actually take the 4:3 aspect and cut off the top and bottom to make it 16:9 and then it appears full screen. Cm9 actually gives you a picture with "more detail" in it.
As for the HQ mod for sense cameras, it increases your video quality but decreases still cam, so if you want the best sense cam, don't use HQ.
As for straight quality, they are basically the same. HTC just applies a couple more adjustments to the pic than cm9, but I would rather have the original pic and edit it myself cause I can do better than what HTC auto adjusts
Sent from my One XL
PurpleFries said:
The sensor for the camera in the HoX has. 4:3 aspect ratio. So the pictures that cm9 takes actually use the whole sensor. The sense rooms actually take the 4:3 aspect and cut off the top and bottom to make it 16:9 and then it appears full screen. Cm9 actually gives you a picture with "more detail" in it.
As for the HQ mod for sense cameras, it increases your video quality but decreases still cam, so if you want the best sense cam, don't use HQ.
As for straight quality, they are basically the same. HTC just applies a couple more adjustments to the pic than cm9, but I would rather have the original pic and edit it myself cause I can do better than what HTC auto adjusts
Sent from my One XL
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Click to collapse
The 4.5 cam is posted in the apps forum. Significant improvement over both 4.0 stock and HQ

[Q] Sense Based Camera vs AOSP Camera

I would like to know why does the Sense based camera do such a much better work whe it comes to focusing, or actually the whole quality of the image. Why? I get so much more detail and a better focus on the sense camera. That's the only reason at all I stay with sense roms, because of the camera. It also has better stock effects, while the AOSP camera comes with some ugly ones like sepia aqua like yeah there are some cool ones depending on which type of photo you're trying to take but the sense camera comes with the country effect which just takes amazing quality photos on the effect.
Jimmyriel said:
I would like to know why does the Sense based camera do such a much better work whe it comes to focusing, or actually the whole quality of the image. Why? I get so much more detail and a better focus on the sense camera. That's the only reason at all I stay with sense roms, because of the camera. It also has better stock effects, while the AOSP camera comes with some ugly ones like sepia aqua like yeah there are some cool ones depending on which type of photo you're trying to take but the sense camera comes with the country effect which just takes amazing quality photos on the effect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sense includes software tweaks? I don't notice very much of a difference myself *shrug*
exad said:
Sense includes software tweaks? I don't notice very much of a difference myself *shrug*
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Click to collapse
Yeah, the only real difference I notice is slightly faster focus and (obviously) the near ZSL
RollTribe said:
Yeah, the only real difference I notice is slightly faster focus and (obviously) the near ZSL
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Click to collapse
Well yeah it actually is just a little difference but when it come to the country effect it's just astonishing the pics I can take with it. When I take a picture on the country effect it looks like they've been taken from a DSLR camera. Is there any way that effect can be ported to AOSP ?

[Q] About the camera...

Sorry for bringing up something that might already have been covered, but there's one thing that I haven't understood completely.
There's quite a lot of talk about the camera not really performing that well, but looking into the matter I also read that this might be more software related than a hardware problem. (Another app might do the trick?)
The reason for asking is that I am thinking about maybe replacing my Samsung Galaxy S3 with the 16GB version of the Moto G, but I'm a bit hesitant because of the camera - especially since the one in the S3 is quite good.
I don't really care that much for MP's - they never really tell the full story - but if the quality between my current S3 and the Moto G differs to much...
Any input?
Thanks in advance,
/gosa
It'll be more the sensor that software...
Anothe camera app wouldnt make a massive difference to quality of the photo tbh.
Its just one of the tradeoffs for a cheaper phone unfortunately.
King p1n said:
Anothe camera app wouldnt make a massive difference to quality of the photo tbh.
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Click to collapse
The sensor is not that bad.
I compared MotoG to S3 here (left MotoG, middle RARZi, right S3):
http://www.android-hilfe.de/motorol...n-zur-kamera-bildqualitaet-2.html#post6758301
and here is a comparison from stock camera to Snap Camera from Playstore, watch the details!
http://www.android-hilfe.de/motorol...n-zur-kamera-bildqualitaet-6.html#post6853774
shaftenberg said:
The sensor is not that bad.
I compared MotoG to S3 here (left MotoG, middle RARZi, right S3):
http://www.android-hilfe.de/motorol...n-zur-kamera-bildqualitaet-2.html#post6758301
and here is a comparison from stock camera to Snap Camera from Playstore, watch the details!
http://www.android-hilfe.de/motorol...n-zur-kamera-bildqualitaet-6.html#post6853774
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like I said a different app wouldnt make a huge difference.
And to me it doesnt have much of an effect from your photos imo.
shaftenberg said:
The sensor is not that bad.
I compared MotoG to S3 here (left MotoG, middle RARZi, right S3):
http://www.android-hilfe.de/motorol...n-zur-kamera-bildqualitaet-2.html#post6758301
and here is a comparison from stock camera to Snap Camera from Playstore, watch the details!
http://www.android-hilfe.de/motorol...n-zur-kamera-bildqualitaet-6.html#post6853774
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had an LG P920 and have used the Snap Camera with a significant improvement in the quality of the photos. In Moto G use the default camera app just for movies slow. For photos I use Snap Camera and I am pleased with the results.
King p1n said:
Like I said a different app wouldnt make a huge difference.
And to me it doesnt have much of an effect from your photos imo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The photos he displayed to show the difference when using stock and snapchat show a vast improvement in my opinion.
Look at the post-it note text for the biggest difference.
Obviously software can only go so far, but the stock camera app I feel is clearly doing something wrong with how it sharpens/smooths the image. I'm guessing their sharpening algorithm is assuming a much bigger resolution and using too large of a kernel size for us. So it ends up looking blurry because the blurring becomes exaggerated. Regardless, using a different camera app will help out with these things. That is, assuming they aren't doing these corrections somewhere in the kernel before it even reaches user-land.
dannyfritz said:
[..] That is, assuming they aren't doing these corrections somewhere in the kernel before it even reaches user-land.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100% not.
I decompiled the stock camera app and switched off the Noise Reduction just to see how the sensor sees the image, look here:
http://www.android-hilfe.de/motorol...n-zur-kamera-bildqualitaet-5.html#post6803183
The stock app softens the image massively and then set a bad compression level. Look at the pattern at the Gauloise package from my other post and see how the stock app filters out all small lines.
shaftenberg said:
100% not.
I decompiled the stock camera app and switched off the Noise Reduction just to see how the sensor sees the image, look here:
http://www.android-hilfe.de/motorol...n-zur-kamera-bildqualitaet-5.html#post6803183
The stock app softens the image massively and then set a bad compression level. Look at the pattern at the Gauloise package from my other post and see how the stock app filters out all small lines.
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Click to collapse
So its the app compressing them?
Im not too knowledgable on this stuff.
Could you not 'decompile' the stock and change the compression softening settings or something? If its the app
I've seen this about compression removal for Droid Maxx worth a lookl?
http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/24758/motorola-razr-maxx-compression-removal
Also some ROMs have the following line in build.prop:
ro.media.dec.jpeg.memcap=2000000
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might be worth adding and changing the value to see if there is any benefit.
Guys,
Thank you all for your inputs, it's made for some interesting reading. Especially those example pics that shaftenberg posted gave quite a bit of info.
Yesterday I ordered the 8GB version for my wife to replace my old water damaged Desire that - after over a year of running "post-swim" without any kind of problems - is dying on her... I'm confident that the change Desire - Moto G will make a huge difference in image quality for her.
I think now the plan is to compare her Moto G with my S3 for some time and then - if I feel ok with the image quality - go for the 16 GB version.
Some people might think it's a bit strange to swap out the S3 for a Moto G, but the benefits of getting something more updated with regards to OS (and more open if you compare with Samsung and Exynos) and such... the only thing that worries me is image quality.
/gosa
I find that VSCO Cam is also better than stock camera, and probably also even better than Camera Zoom FX.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vsco.cam
The one thing I've found a huge benefit of the Moto g over the n4 and s3 is that its made for one hand. I often find with phones now days I end up when sitting down using them I use my thumb and for finger to support the phone and only half wrap my hand round it to get full use of the screen. There are no such issues with this phone.
Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk
This phone's camera is clearly not tuned well. The noise reduction is wayyyyy too high and the white balance is off.
The Moto X had similar issues and it was mostly fixed with an update. The same will probably happen with this phone, likely bundled with the Kitkat update.

Can someone please explain the reason for the photo quality difference on the OP7P?

Hey, All...
I'm on the newest 9.5.7 on my 12/256 OP7P that I ordered direct from OP.
Although the updates are making the camera better, I still can't wrap my mind around how there can be such a detail and focus issue between photos and apps on the SAME device. To me, that means that it's software that is the issue, and not actually hardware quality...
Here's a comparison of two photos I took with the same conditions in the same distance in the same lighting. One is from the G cam app on my OnePlus 7 Pro and the other is from the stock camera on my OnePlus 7 Pro How can there be such a difference?
Needless to say, the photo that looks better and has much more detail is from the G cam app
To be totally transparent, I also have a Pixel 3XL that I use
Thanks for helping me understand!
Yay for black cats! I have one, too.
Anyhoo, if you're trying to understand the difference in quality between Google's software and OP's, I don't think it's fair. Google's software for their camera is the best on the market. Even the likes of Samsung haven't beaten them yet (for still images and night shots). Personally, I'm happy with the stock camera performance on this 7 Pro because I don't really demand the bleeding edge camera performance on a phone. Not to suggest that you require that, most of us just want usable pics to share online with each other.
Pixel 3a is $400 and has the second best camera (behind the regular Pixel 3) on the market. For some folks, the camera is the number one reason for choosing their phone. For me, it's like number 4 on my list. I didn't like the 6T performance because even for regular shots that I shared online, it was hot garbage. But they've made enough improvement to it on this 7 Pro to make day to day living and photo shooting fair enough. When I need just that much more quality (especially at low light), I just use the Gcam.
There is a lot of software voodoo going on to improve pictures. It isn't just capture the image, and there it is. Lots of processing goes on to take the raw data and convert it into an image.
Google has some smart people working there to have their code to some real good work.
stuff said:
There is a lot of software voodoo going on to improve pictures. It isn't just capture the image, and there it is. Lots of processing goes on to take the raw data and convert it into an image.
Google has some smart people working there to have their code to some real good work.
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Click to collapse
I wonder how good the actual hardware is on the pixel 3xl camera compared to the OP7P then, lol.
KillerQ said:
I wonder how good the actual hardware is on the pixel 3xl camera compared to the OP7P then, lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion, I don't think it's any better or worse tbh. The capability of the camera application is crucial.
Google put all their effort into taking the best "auto" photos it can conjure up. That's why there doesn't exist the ability to manually change it.
But that camera app is also designed specifically for that HW camera (whichever hw model Pixel it is).
Google just knows what they are doing in that dept.
stuff said:
There is a lot of software voodoo going on to improve pictures. It isn't just capture the image, and there it is. Lots of processing goes on to take the raw data and convert it into an image.
Google has some smart people working there to have their code to some real good work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
stuff said:
In my opinion, I don't think it's any better or worse tbh. The capability of the camera application is crucial.
Google put all their effort into taking the best "auto" photos it can conjure up. That's why there doesn't exist the ability to manually change it.
But that camera app is also designed specifically for that HW camera (whichever hw model Pixel it is).
Google just knows what they are doing in that dept.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, this means, as soon as someone comes up with an amazing G cam port for our phone, we'll be sitting pretty just like everyone else.
KillerQ said:
So, this means, as soon as someone comes up with an amazing G cam port for our phone, we'll be sitting pretty just like everyone else.
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Click to collapse
Don't take my word 100% on it, but I believe that is the case.

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