So i decided to test out the camera on my V20 in both well lit and poorly lit conditions. I took several pictures of each, focusing on different points in the shots. In almost all of them, the phone never turned on HDR when it would have been preferable to do so. Don't even get me started on the viewfinder lag and long focusing times in low light.
I suppose you could always have HDR enabled, but it's kind of disappointing that a new flagship phone can't seem to get something so basic right. I love this phone, but i REALLY hope LG can fix this camera in an update.
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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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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.)
so i've been toying with my note edge a little, and as i own a note II i decided to place them together and
check out the differences in the camera viewfinder. at first i launched the rear facing camera, and well..
some differences, but all in all both seem to work great. i did however notice something when i launched the
front facing camera. if the regular selfie mode is activated on the note 4 / note edge, the viewfinder gets REALLY choppy.
all movement is also easier blurred. i tested this by making some minor movements with my phone while taking a few
photos, and sure enough, they ended up being really blurred.
i could literally nearly write alphabets with my fingers if i did it fast enough, that's how laggy the movement was.
i have seen several reviews on youtube where this problem occur, even though most reviewers usually don't
pay that much attention to it. as for me, i find it really annoying. i have to keep the phone extremely still to get sharp shots
due to this viewfinder blur/lag issue.
if i activated the wide angle selfie mode, the viewfinder had normal smooth motion and the photos taken were
sharp and crisp, even if i did some elaborate shaking with my hand while shooting.
i paid a lot of money for this device, which makes the disappointment even bigger knowing people buying phones
at half the price still has a better working front facing camera than i do. sure, it does work and it takes great video and / or pictures..
but this doesn't make it flawless. why the normal selfie mode is so choppy and laggy i do not know. pretty surprised this hasn't been fixed,
as i have noticed several others with the same problem.
how about you? is your front facing camera also making the viewfinder seem laggy / choppy in selfie mode, compared to the wide angle selfie mode?
i'd love to hear your opinions on this. :good:
niqen said:
so i've been toying with my note edge a little, and as i own a note II i decided to place them together and
check out the differences in the camera viewfinder. at first i launched the rear facing camera, and well..
some differences, but all in all both seem to work great. i did however notice something when i launched the
front facing camera. if the regular selfie mode is activated on the note 4 / note edge, the viewfinder gets REALLY choppy.
all movement is also easier blurred. i tested this by making some minor movements with my phone while taking a few
photos, and sure enough, they ended up being really blurred.
i could literally nearly write alphabets with my fingers if i did it fast enough, that's how laggy the movement was.
i have seen several reviews on youtube where this problem occur, even though most reviewers usually don't
pay that much attention to it. as for me, i find it really annoying. i have to keep the phone extremely still to get sharp shots
due to this viewfinder blur/lag issue.
if i activated the wide angle selfie mode, the viewfinder had normal smooth motion and the photos taken were
sharp and crisp, even if i did some elaborate shaking with my hand while shooting.
i paid a lot of money for this device, which makes the disappointment even bigger knowing people buying phones
at half the price still has a better working front facing camera than i do. sure, it does work and it takes great video and / or pictures..
but this doesn't make it flawless. why the normal selfie mode is so choppy and laggy i do not know. pretty surprised this hasn't been fixed,
as i have noticed several others with the same problem.
how about you? is your front facing camera also making the viewfinder seem laggy / choppy in selfie mode, compared to the wide angle selfie mode?
i'd love to hear your opinions on this. :good:
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Click to collapse
hi there !
i had a bit choppy main camera, it doesn't bother when taking photos but it shows up when i play recorded videos
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
Hi,
I'm in the market for a new phone and really interested in the P20, it ticks a lot of boxes for me.
However the most important thing for me is the camera: I take a lot of pictures of my kids - often indoors
I went to 2 shops to test the phone and noticed that the pictures came out sharp but dark. The light grey carpet turned out dark grey in many instances.
Only when tapping on the screen (and focusing on the carpet) the brightness was increased but then the focus of the picture was on the carpet instead of the overall picture I wanted to take.
Also the pictures were sometimes not consistent, taking a couple of pictures in a row produced different results.
I tried switching on/off different settings but pictures remained quite dark.
The night mode really took a good picture but asking my kids to sit still for 4 seconds is nearly impossible
Same thing for the P20 pro, pictures also turned out darker then irl.
The S9 was in the shop as well and this phone actually made everything a bit more bright then irl but the pictures seemed more pleasing.
Where I really had to focus on the picture to see what was in the darker parts in the P20's pictures, the S9's photo revealed all without effort.
Although a samsung user for a long time, I'm not attached to the brand, I was in fact really hoping to make a switch to another brand but the test pictures I took are putting me off a bit.
Anybody else experience this? Any advice on which combo of settings to try?
Cheers
B
This is true they use the night mode feature to steer attention away from the photos taken with the flash. Those pictures are terrible even a midranger can take better photos than that with the flash enabled. Don't buy the phone if you take a lot of photos which requires a flash.
I have OnePlus 7 for exactly one week, use the stock camera on auto with default settings and took under 20 pictures. Even though I take images in bright summer light and my daughters are in little to no move, I often end up with these poor artifacts.
I will try switching HDR off. Any other suggestion (except trying GCam)? Does anyone else experience something like that? (Am I using it wrong? I had no issues with Samsung Galaxy S7.)
Have similar issues. Portrait mode comes out with artifacts as well. Stock cam sucks despite what everyone else says. Not sure if the OP7pro's cam is as bad.
I think OP needs to put more effort into marketing the OP7 globally (not just the pro) and improving the cam. I am very disappointed.
Have just installed GCam to try. Hopefully it is better.
HDR is and never will be made for super low shutter speeds.
As I reckon these kids are moving quickly there is simply not enough time for the phone to quickly burst shoot and merge those 5 or so pictures for HDR
Just my guess. Try holding your phone still and shoot a static object and see if these problems persist
The attached pictures were taken with shutter speeds of 1/50 to 1/450 sec and on Oxygen OS 9.5.5. I'm now on 9.5.6 but I still experience issues with HDR so I keep it off.
The thing is that with Samsung (S7), only really low shutter speeds of around 1/10 s and low light caused issues - but then objects were blurred, which is what I expect. Not weird artifacts like the samples.
I basically never have enough time to play with settings so I only use auto.