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[Q] Better camera app/settings?

So far, I'm pretty happy with this phone but very disappointed with the stock camera app. The camera does pretty well outdoors and in low light, but is terrible in moderate light conditions (i.e. normal indoor conditions.) I just took a bunch of blurry, grainy pictures of my kids with their Easter baskets that all snapped 1/2 a second after I clicked the shutter. The thing that makes me think the camera can do better is that everything looks great on the screen up until I ask it to take a photo, then it refocuses and everything goes to hell. I tried Samsung's sports mode, and that is only marginally better. My wife's new S5 is suffering from the same problem.
Has anyone had better luck with other camera apps or a change in settings? Camera Zoom FX and Google's new camera app don't seem any better. I don't care about effects, HDR, manual photo settings or gimmicks; all I want are sharp, in-focus photos that take without a bunch of lag.

Bazirker said:
So far, I'm pretty happy with this phone but very disappointed with the stock camera app. The camera does pretty well outdoors and in low light, but is terrible in moderate light conditions (i.e. normal indoor conditions.) I just took a bunch of blurry, grainy pictures of my kids with their Easter baskets that all snapped 1/2 a second after I clicked the shutter. The thing that makes me think the camera can do better is that everything looks great on the screen up until I ask it to take a photo, then it refocuses and everything goes to hell. I tried Samsung's sports mode, and that is only marginally better. My wife's new S5 is suffering from the same problem.
Has anyone had better luck with other camera apps or a change in settings? Camera Zoom FX and Google's new camera app don't seem any better. I don't care about effects, HDR, manual photo settings or gimmicks; all I want are sharp, in-focus photos that take without a bunch of lag.
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Turn picture stabilization off and it gets rid of the picture lag.
But yes, otherwise similar issues.
That's the thing. The HTC M8 wins on indoor/low light pics (if you don't get that purple blob effect), this will on outdoors. That's where the whole MP vs. sensor size come into play as larger sensor means more light but not as sharp vs. more MP means sharper but due to smaller sensor less light thus not always great.
Anyway I've found it takes me about 2 pictures to get one I like with HDR and image stabilization off. With that on that all seem to suck due to the delay. Would have been nice to have some true optical image stabilization too. Samsung just doesn't seem to learn/care though.
We get good HW but they cheap out on the little things that make it better.

Yeah, turning off stabilization, HDR etc helps, but there's still a noticeable lag. The lag bothers me less than the fact that my near-stationary subject is coming out blurry. If the camera would simply capture the exact image that is on-screen at the moment I hit the shutter, I would be thrilled...
Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

So here's kinda the problem. And it happens a lot with people taking pictures on your phone.
A phone was not meant to be a camera. It just wasn't. In the early days of low resolution things went faster. When you try to run 16 megabit... things are necessarily going to be harder.
Here's the easiest solution to your problems: Practice taking pictures with the phone. Keep your arms tucked in at your sides, keep the phone closer to your body. Shoot in landscape instead of portrait so your hands are in better position. I use the flip case for this phone which means I can use that as well to have better grip and stability. Take the picture... and keep the camera pointed just where you were taking the picture for at least 1/2 sec after you tap the "shutter release". Shutter lag will only be exacerbated by being too quick to move the phone. Also, you don't have to mash the on screen button, light tap and whatnot. Oh and the 1/3 of a sec focus time is their "fastest" rating. While in truth that is pretty darn decent, it's also the fastest you'll have. Expect a possible 1/2 to 3/4 sec focus time. And make sure you're PICKY about your focus. Do it over and over again if it's not right.
Also, your metering mode will have a big impact on your images. Get used to changing them to suit your subject.
I have 13+ years experience as a photographer. If it weren't absolutely absurd, and say all of my bodies died at the same time... I would be carrying a monopod or tripod for use with my GS5... Stability is the key to image quality. Who cares what you look like when you take the picture, it's the picture that matters.
Oh and one other thing, image blur is exacerbated when objects are either very close, or very far away. One because the contrast elements (edges and such) are easy to distinguish from the rest and when they're blurry... you notice it. The other because detail elements are TINY at that range, down to even 1 pixel width, so any shake makes those disappear entirely into blur.
Just some basic things to do. Honestly if it's a choice between getting the shot with my Nikons... or getting it with my GS5? the Nikons will win every time. But in a pinch, the camera on the GS5 is good enough. Just takes the right hands and the right frame of mind.

Arkanthos2015 said:
So here's kinda the problem. And it happens a lot with people taking pictures on your phone.
A phone was not meant to be a camera. It just wasn't. In the early days of low resolution things went faster. When you try to run 16 megabit... things are necessarily going to be harder.
Here's the easiest solution to your problems: Practice taking pictures with the phone. Keep your arms tucked in at your sides, keep the phone closer to your body. Shoot in landscape instead of portrait so your hands are in better position. I use the flip case for this phone which means I can use that as well to have better grip and stability. Take the picture... and keep the camera pointed just where you were taking the picture for at least 1/2 sec after you tap the "shutter release". Shutter lag will only be exacerbated by being too quick to move the phone. Also, you don't have to mash the on screen button, light tap and whatnot. Oh and the 1/3 of a sec focus time is their "fastest" rating. While in truth that is pretty darn decent, it's also the fastest you'll have. Expect a possible 1/2 to 3/4 sec focus time. And make sure you're PICKY about your focus. Do it over and over again if it's not right.
Also, your metering mode will have a big impact on your images. Get used to changing them to suit your subject.
I have 13+ years experience as a photographer. If it weren't absolutely absurd, and say all of my bodies died at the same time... I would be carrying a monopod or tripod for use with my GS5... Stability is the key to image quality. Who cares what you look like when you take the picture, it's the picture that matters.
Oh and one other thing, image blur is exacerbated when objects are either very close, or very far away. One because the contrast elements (edges and such) are easy to distinguish from the rest and when they're blurry... you notice it. The other because detail elements are TINY at that range, down to even 1 pixel width, so any shake makes those disappear entirely into blur.
Just some basic things to do. Honestly if it's a choice between getting the shot with my Nikons... or getting it with my GS5? the Nikons will win every time. But in a pinch, the camera on the GS5 is good enough. Just takes the right hands and the right frame of mind.
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Click to collapse
Lots of truth to your post in regards to the pointers about technique and settings. I've got an EOS-1Ds I use when I plan to take photos, and you need to know how to use your gear and be practiced if you want to take a decent photo.
However, I disagree when it comes to expectations for smartphone camera performance. I used to have the same attitude you expressed about taking photos with a phone, until I recently backed up and printed some of the photos off my wife's old iPhone 4S. The photos it took were shockingly good, and my disappointment with the Galaxy S5 camera stems from the fact that it is getting severely outperformed by the 3 year old iPhone. If the Apple crowd has been able to rely on their iPhones as a competent point-and-shoot camera for years, I see no reason why my flagship Android phone should be no different.
In other news, I've been playing with different settings and apps all afternoon, and still aren't seeing any improvement in performance. Camera Zoom FX allows for ISO 1600, and that's giving me the best performance so far in terms of reducing lag and image blur. (Of course, the images are quite grainy...boo hiss.)

Camera photo quality

I've just bought the GEM-702L and I'm a bit disappointed with the main camera quality, even in very good lighting. Photos of things reasonably near are OK, but general scenic shots aren't very sharp at all particularly near the edges, regardless of whether I set it to 13 MP or 6 MP. The pictures look like they're not quite properly in focus. For comparison, the same photos on the Galaxy Note 4 are much sharper, even at the same number of pixels.
What do others think of the main camera quality? Any tips for getting better results? I'd be grateful if you could post some photos you've taken so I can see if they're similar to mine in quality.
I've linked two of my own photos for comparison, both at 6 megapixels, one from the X2, and one from the Note 4.
X2: https://app.box.com/s/8jdqn7gci9sn8nvl78apjzwi90en6qrs
Note 4: https://app.box.com/s/jl7sazpavt637em04vgbww3sudkaj67l

Auto focus is the problem
No replies - maybe this is a bit of a sore point with fellow X2 owners?
Anyway after more experimentation, I've discovered that the problem seems to be with the camera auto focus - it tries to focus too close. Tapping on a different part of the picture doesn't seem to help. However, if I assign focus to the volume keys and manually focus at infinity, scenic shots come out much better. That's not ideal, but it's a simple and easy workaround and so I'm a lot happier. Unfortunately I can't change my poll vote, but if I could I'd put it up one grade from poor to good.

Camera has been very good for me. Photos are crisp and clear

The camera isn't bad in broad daylight but it's not nearly as good as the camera on my Nexus 6.

In good light today and using manual focus I took a number of photos using manual focus and I was happy with the results, unlike the ones I took with autofocus. I've got the 702L, although I wouldn't have thought the camera software and results on the 703L would be any different. I tried using Open Camera, but that didn't help and wasn't able to control the focus.
Does anyone want to share any of their photos taken with the X2?

Moandal said:
In good light today and using manual focus I took a number of photos using manual focus and I was happy with the results, unlike the ones I took with autofocus. I've got the 702L, although I wouldn't have thought the camera software and results on the 703L would be any different. I tried using Open Camera, but that didn't help and wasn't able to control the focus.
Does anyone want to share any of their photos taken with the X2?
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Here's one I took on my X2 in NY on my way to a camping trip in NJ. The second one is a photo I took a minute later with my Nexus 6. The next two are two I just took in low light conditions in my office. The first one is from the X2, the second from the Nexus 6. The same for the third set of photos.

Moandal said:
However, if I assign focus to the volume keys and manually focus at infinity, scenic shots come out much better. That's not ideal, but it's a simple and easy workaround and so I'm a lot happier. Unfortunately I can't change my poll vote, but if I could I'd put it up one grade from poor to good.
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Click to collapse
May I know how you did that? Sounds :good:

Go into the camera settings and look for the "Volume Button Function" option.

Camera Issues
So I know this is an old thread, but I love my phone but the camera just looks like crap. seems like there are bubbles on the lens itself. Anyone else have this issue?

t69broken said:
So I know this is an old thread, but I love my phone but the camera just looks like crap. seems like there are bubbles on the lens itself. Anyone else have this issue?
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I've never seen that. My camera in both my X2's are not bad. Here's a few I took with my 702L yesterday while looking at wedding venues. It looks like you have some kind of condensation or mold in the camera lens.

ajsmsg78 said:
I've never seen that. My camera in both my X2's are not bad. Here's a few I took with my 702L yesterday while looking at wedding venues. It looks like you have some kind of condensation or mold in the camera lens.
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Mold might be a bit extreme, but it looks like a bad tint job on my lens, it is the only reason I've thought of getting a different phone.

t69broken said:
Mold might be a bit extreme, but it looks like a bad tint job on my lens, it is the only reason I've thought of getting a different phone.
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IMHO it should be the first reason to ask retailer for replacing your phone...

Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Huawei Nexus 6P come out. A higher rating indicates that photos offer rich color (without over-saturating), sharp detail (with all subjects in-focus), and appropriate exposure (with even lighting).
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

One of the best mobile cameras. Color saturation, ease of focusing, and HDR is all excellent.

Surprisingly very good! The Moto X Pure was good, but this has crisper images. The OnePlus2 was OK, but the images were "smudgy" in the background.

The nexus 6p takes great pictures. I love it and the double power button push to open camera really does work and its quick.

Great so far, nice upgrade from the stock S5 camera. Low light images look better and apps like ProShot giving us manual controls can be quite handy.

The video is very crisp too!

To be honest it's not bad at all. It's up there for sure but for sure not no1. Happy with mine

I guess since I came back to the Nexus line from the S6, I have to say I'm disappointed. My expectations weren't too high though, so I'm not overly disappointed. I got used to, and liked the S6's 16X9 pics. I like how they filled up the S6's display. I'm trying to get used to the N6P's 4X3 pics. I can positively say that low-light pics are nowhere near as good as Google would have one believe they'd be. Period. As long as the lighting is good, the pics will be as well.
Of course, a lesser camera is still worth coming back to the Nexus. So overall I'm happy.

I'm blown away by the quality of the camera!

Coming from an HTC one m8, the photo quality is amazing on the 6P. I'm not used to the amazing quality but I love it!
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I would prefer a Lumia, but since there is a lack of apps on Windows Mobile... 6P.

Pictures seem very good., but the white balance when using the flash has a slight green tint compared to the 5X. I noticed this last night and was also mentioned in this article: http://pocketnow.com/2015/10/19/google-nexus-5x-vs-6p-video
"If you’re really looking for a consistent difference here, maybe try to spot the green tint in a few of the 6P’s photos, which for some reason becomes more pronounced when using the flash."
I've attached pictures for comparison. First image is with the 6P and the second is with the 5X. Hopefully this will get fixed in a future software update.

In my testing I am seeing better indoor photos than outdoors in even lighting. Outdoor photos tend to produce darker images against bright backgrounds (sky). If I move the focus to the subject, it compensates the brightness for the subject but then sky is blown out. This is without using HDR+. With HDR+, photos are evenly lit but still on the darker side. Images,. however, are very sharp and capture excellent details. I have a Note 4 too. I would say that Note 4 has a better camera than Nexus 6P. So in my opinion Nexus 6P is good but not excellent.

Coming from a Nexus 6 I'm loving the quality of this camera. However in HDR mode trying to take pictures of my children is pretty difficult. It's quite a bit slower in this mode
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

wvcadle said:
I guess since I came back to the Nexus line from the S6, I have to say I'm disappointed. My expectations weren't too high though, so I'm not overly disappointed. I got used to, and liked the S6's 16X9 pics. I like how they filled up the S6's display. I'm trying to get used to the N6P's 4X3 pics. I can positively say that low-light pics are nowhere near as good as Google would have one believe they'd be. Period. As long as the lighting is good, the pics will be as well.
Of course, a lesser camera is still worth coming back to the Nexus. So overall I'm happy.
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Click to collapse
I have to agree with you. I had the S6 and I loved the form factor and the camera. I hated the S6 because my wife would always use my phone for photos. She actually used more of my photo storage than I did. I thought the 6p camera was suppose to be on party with the S6 . I have to say some photos of the photos are good but with the S6 I never had a bad photo.
I just hated that the S6 updates would take forever. I know that with Verizon, Marshmallow will not be available until March/April 2016. I went with the 6p cause I could keep Verizon and will always get timely updates. Also I didn't want to have to worry about rooting a phone for it to be functional.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA Free mobile app

wvcadle said:
I guess since I came back to the Nexus line from the S6, I have to say I'm disappointed. My expectations weren't too high though, so I'm not overly disappointed. I got used to, and liked the S6's 16X9 pics. I like how they filled up the S6's display. I'm trying to get used to the N6P's 4X3 pics. I can positively say that low-light pics are nowhere near as good as Google would have one believe they'd be. Period. As long as the lighting is good, the pics will be as well.
Of course, a lesser camera is still worth coming back to the Nexus. So overall I'm happy.
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Click to collapse
#this
I'm gonna get the 6P tomorrow as I just got sick of the S6 and its security/bloat. I'll miss the camera for sure. Hopefully we'll get the 16:9 native through a future software update.

Dissmeister said:
#this
I'm gonna get the 6P tomorrow as I just got sick of the S6 and its security/bloat. I'll miss the camera for sure. Hopefully we'll get the 16:9 native through a future software update.
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Click to collapse
I'm would not say that I'm made with my decision to get the 6p. Just a little jealous because the S6 had a great camera and size. Everything else is wrong with the phone.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA Free mobile app

By far the best camera, I thought the nexus 6 with HDR was good....this is just amazing on the 6P.
Here's a picture I took lastnight.

Dissmeister said:
#this
I'm gonna get the 6P tomorrow as I just got sick of the S6 and its security/bloat. I'll miss the camera for sure. Hopefully we'll get the 16:9 native through a future software update.
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Click to collapse
Don't you know that you can switch to 16:9 in the camera setting ? (but of course , you will lose some megapixels)

kifac said:
By far the best camera, I thought the nexus 6 with HDR was good....this is just amazing on the 6P.
Here's a picture I took lastnight.
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the camera is good,

Over sharpening of camera image

Can anyone confirms this? Almost 4 units i tested from sony stalls has this issue.
The photos taken by camera turns out to be overly sharpened, with lots of artifacts.
Turning on or off image enhancements does not help.

I am seeing this as well. And most of the reviews I saw also reported this.
Currently I am trying a few third party camera apps to see if they do the same

Haiz.. Why can't they make the camera right for once?

I concurred this. Mine focused good. I learned a trick that you actually have to tap the screen then press and hold the camera button on screen or side until it is clear. When i first got it, all my photos was focusing on the wrong spot. However, now with that trick i could get sharp images but zooming in they look very blurry and a lot of noise.

Do you experience this is good or low light? You do have to work a little bit harder with the camera settings as the light drops off to get the right image. And use the designated camera button too rather than the on screen one.

Good lightings... Not to mention if its poor lighting conditions. Guess have to wait for a new firmware.

Yep so much sharpening in all lighting conditions. Hoping for a software update soon.

Here is samples pictures from my XZ. It has undoubtedly the best selfies camera under daylight. Lowlight shooting takes a bit to get used to it. It was bad as first but if you toggle on "tap - focus and brightness" in setting it will improve tremendously as it uses it light sensor to automatically brighten the photos. Overall, I'm happy with the camera. It beats Iphone 7 Plus and on par with the S7Edge. My beef with the XZ is the small size and 3GB. I would prefer 5.5 and 4GB for a $600 phone. But if you can get it for $450 or $500, this phone is definitely worth every penny.
http://imgur.com/a/1S4Si

I am not talking about selfies. I am talking about the main camera. Very bad quality here. So fall 8 sets i have tried, same issues

Noticed this myself, not impressed with the image quality. Seems to be worse than my Z2. Hoping when they eventually drop Nougat it'll iron out some of the issues.

About blure and noise, increse ev to +0.7 or 1

A very good example of xz camera samples. You can guess which photos are by xz. The oversharpening of images when zoomed in.. Soo much artifacts.
http://m.gsmarena.com/blind_shootout_iphone7_galaxy_s7_xperia_xz_lg_g5

Galaxy Note 8 At&t taking noisy pictures!

I recently bought a used note 8 which is taking very noisy (grainy) pictures, especially from telephoto lens. I'm really loving this phone but I can't live without a good camera. Is there any way to fix it?
I guess it is a hardware fault because I have also tried different camera apps. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
:crying:

Asadjk said:
I recently bought a used note 8 which is taking very noisy (grainy) pictures, especially from telephoto lens. I'm really loving this phone but I can't live without a good camera. Is there any way to fix it?
I guess it is a hardware fault because I have also tried different camera apps. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
:crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have an example?

barry99705 said:
You have an example?
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Tried for hours, unable to upload.
Let explain to you:
Pictures taken has so much grain (which comes when ISO settings are set high). I have tried pro mod, it do makes a difference but is very laggy (slow shutter speed)
In short, pictures are too much noisy. Noise is clearly visible in viewfinder, specially when taking close up shots, using live focus or telephoto lens.
Primary lens also has too much grain visible when zoomed in.
I had used iPhone 7 plus which can take spectacular photos, note 8 pictures are worse than iPhone 6's. Definitely not what I wanted

Well, it is still a digital zoom, after the 2X optical zoom. Some of my zoomed pictures look like crap, but others work pretty well.
examples;
Looks pretty good, was documenting the hole in the side of a building. I was about 30 feet away, zoomed in pretty much all the way.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7MPw7kraX2GyREVk2 <-- Brightly lit.
This one is pretty crappy. Owl was in the basement of my barn, 12 feet away.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/o4I0O8mukoOfBMsj2 No zoom for reference. https://photos.app.goo.gl/47vRH3xgXWXTjFJ02 <-- Not so brightly lit.

Your pics are better than mine.
Of course pictures loose details when zoomed in digitally, but mine is different story. It shows grains even without digital zoom. It shows visible static noise. Your pictures are waaaaaaay better than mine. I might return it today. I'll miss it, It's a great phone ?

Asadjk said:
Of course pictures loose details when zoomed in digitally, but mine is different story. It shows grains even without digital zoom. It shows visible static noise. Your pictures are waaaaaaay better than mine. I might return it today. I'll miss it, It's a great phone ?
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Yea, if it's showing grain without zoom, something's wrong with the camera.

barry99705 said:
Yea, if it's showing grain without zoom, something's wrong with the camera.
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Click to collapse
Returned it!

I had the same problems. Them I sat it to 4:3 (12M). Turned off HDR, made sure I didnt use live or manual focus and my pictures are great! Check this site out. Youll see side by side comparisons of off the shelf note 8s and Iphone 8s. High end DSLRs require settings changes and different focusing and lighting for some pictures. But they are huge and expensive that they have room for all the mechanisms and sensors that you pay a hefty price for. This is a phone and some places you may have to use pro mode to get the right shot. The phone doesnt always know what a good picture looks like to you and in some cases cant figure out what to adjust to clean up the picture. Practice with pro mode.
https://www.phonearena.com/news/iPh...-is-better-for-taking-photos-at-night_id98511