Google Pixel Terrible Grainy Low-Light Video - Google Pixel Questions & Answers

Hi All,
I've done some web searches and noted that others are in the same boat both with the Pixel and Pixel XL--namely, in low-light, video shot with the stock Camera app is terribly grainy, no matter the settings. Photos shot in the same lighting conditions are OK, whether HDR is on or off. I expect this doesn't affect every Pixel, but I've read it's reported on both the Pixel and Pixel XL. I thought this was supposed to be the highest-rated camera!
Doesn't appear to be a hardware issue since shooting video with 3rd-party camera apps solves the issue, although I haven't found a great one that offers a 16:9 aspect ratio, 4K video AND access to Photo Sphere, Panorama, etc.
Safe Mode does nothing, as it was this way out of the box. Examples below. I bought mine New from eBay, but I saw that folks that had bought directly from Google have seen this issue, and warranty replacements also had it. I contacted Google and their response was to tell me to try safe mode (did it), then contact my seller for a return (lol). Obviously not an option for me, and based on what others have reported, I have no confidence that a replacement would solve the issue.
For reference, here are some videos you can download and see the stark contrast. (Playing them in-browser isn't the best way to view them since the browser may limit you to 360p, etc.)
Camera app (stock Pixel): https://goo.gl/BjVW0v
3rd party app (Z Camera): https://goo.gl/QCih6O
In Safe Mode:
Screenshot: https://goo.gl/f7DJYw
Video: https://goo.gl/QMh9DQ
So, my question is, if you have encountered this issue, any fixes? TIA!

Related

HTC Sense 3.0 Camera

I was testing out the HDR options for this and they do not seem to do much at all. There is a difference, but it is VERY minor. I took a shot without HDR, one with HDR, and then one using the free HDR app, and the HDR app simply blew the HTC HDR mode completely out of the water...
Has anyone else had any experience with this? Is there something I may be missing?
HDR always seemed like something better left to photo editing software to me (like photoshop). Phone camera filters always seem kind of lackluster, but then again, none of us are taking professional shots with a cell camera I assume
On topic though, I wouldn't doubt it being better. Sense stuff isn't exactly always perfection as far as software quality and HDR was probably just an afterthought tied into the camera so they could tick off a notch somewhere on some sheet for features.
Absolutely the same as my experience. I used HDR Camera from the market before this (free), and I really loved its results. When I installed the 3.0 Sense camera and saw the HDR setting, I was happy until I tried it. My theory is that it is NOT taking multiple pictures, but only doing an image adjustment --->> NOT the same thing. HDR Camera doesn't have the issues that some of you described. You do not have to be rock steady and my phone is plenty fast enough to take the three photos within about a second. The image settings are also adjustable (color, etc.).
On the other hand, the panorama mode in the Sense camera is Awesome!
yareally said:
HDR always seemed like something better left to photo editing software to me (like photoshop). Phone camera filters always seem kind of lackluster, but then again, none of us are taking professional shots with a cell camera I assume
On topic though, I wouldn't doubt it being better. Sense stuff isn't exactly always perfection as far as software quality and HDR was probably just an afterthought tied into the camera so they could tick off a notch somewhere on some sheet for features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Software cannot do what HDR does. HDR takes 2 pictures, adjusting the gain on the sensor between low and high. It combines the best of both images to gain detail in low light areas and avoid over exposure in high light areas. Software will not work after the fact because the extra information gained from low/high gain is not present. Unfortunately the HDR option is poorly implemented by HTC. If you try HDR on the Iphone, you can see a drastic difference.
Actually, I use Pro HDR on my Evo, and it takes fantastic pictures in true HDR. It is a touch slower than a pro camera, but it does actually meter the scene and adjust the camera's aperture accordingly. It then allows for adjustments between the composite image and allows for saving the final as well as the source images, meaning you can do further editing elsewhere. Outside of some cropping, I haven't had problems.
With that said, I would be curious to know what the deal is with Sense. What's interesting is if you put it in HDR mode, it shows the little icon in the top right with multiple images...like whoever designed it at least understood how true HDR *should* operate. Then, if you push and release it instead of the regular shutter button, it beeps and you hear the lens go, and the image focuses itself. So...idk. I don't see a noticeable effect in the regular images at all...

Take better low pictures using google camera and HDR mode

Hi Guys,
I wanted to let you all know that I happened to install Google camera as I was not particularly impressed with the noisy low light photos of the stock camera app.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the results using the google camera after enabling the HDR mode ,the low lights are vastly better than the stock camera in HDR mode, also photos in HDR mode with the google camera are saved much faster than the stock camera in the HDR mode.
Please note that google camera doesn’t show up for me in play store ,so I have side loaded 3.1.025 version .it’s not all rosy though, as the video mode is not working for me and there are occasional FC’s while the pic has been clicked and if you press the home button.
But despite all these, I honestly can’t go back to the stock camera for low light photos,I would suggest you all give it a try and let me know your thoughts.
Cheers.
Attaching some low light picture taken using the google camera.dont have the stock app photos side by side for comparison.sorry.
I have found low light with stock RAW very good as you can control noise levels and lights, even the simple gallery app DNG post treatment make very good results
vegetaleb said:
I have found low light with stock RAW very good as you can control noise levels and lights, even the simple gallery app DNG post treatment make very good results
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the Tip mate ,would try it out.I am inclined towards google camera because without any post processing the images have lesser noise compared to the stock camera.I would try to post some better pics,I will admit the ones I have put dont make a strong case for themselves because I was just trying them out
Cheers.

LG 360 Cam - Reviews, Photos and more

The LG 360 Cam is now available to buy. I got this from Clove Technology at the same time as the VR headset.
I spent a lot of time playing and using this, my detailed review is below. Includes sample media, screen shots and more.
https://gavinsgadgets.com/2016/05/04/lg-g5-friends-lg-360-cam-review/
Any questions, please ask. Also if anyone else has one, then add your views.
gavinfabl said:
The LG 360 Cam is now available to buy. I got this from Clove Technology at the same time as the VR headset.
I spent a lot of time playing and using this, my detailed review is below. Includes sample media, screen shots and more.
Any questions, please ask. Also if anyone else has one, then add your views.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks really cool man. Will consider to buy one.
How well do you think the 360 cam would work as a dash cam?
Probably overkill
I'm also considering it for a possible dashcam, but what are the practicalities like? Can you just plug it into a USB charger and have it record continuously (1 hr+) to a sd card, or are there some limits?
From memory it's 4gb video size max.
New beta software has arrived play store after some time they take back 5.2.2 to 5.1.1
software says for new features (3d audio for example) need to update firmware but when checks no new firmware found(also check with bridge
). Do u know anything about that?
Old thread, but i dig him out...
Got the camera yesterday for small money. Less money = less risk i thought.
The first impression: Video & photo quality are lower than expected.:crying:
Tried some apps from play store to handle the camera. THan i had made a firmware update because the camera doesn’t support life monitoring with the old firmware. (LGbridge) Now it seems to work alright.
The camera uses BT connection to control the hardware and uses the w-lan to transfer picture data to smartphone.
You can change between full automatic and manual mode. I tried the auto mode at first.
After a few experiences, the results are a little bit disappointing. Under low light, the results are noisy and a little bit unsharp.
The visible quality is lower than expected.:crying: BTW: Between the front and rear pictures, there is a small visible cutting edge.
I hope, this will be fixed in next release!
I think, i will give the project a last chance with daylight now. Thinking about to return the camera to dealer....
more about the camera:
-> http://www.trustedreviews.com/lg-360-cam-review
-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe6B4sgtLiQ
Edit:
ok, got better results using "daylight" ! Of curse not the same quality as the LG5 camera will do, but acceptable for me.
tried to make some records like GOOGLE does. Driving along the street with G360 on top of the car. That was amazing!
tried to edit 360 video with AndroVid and it worked for me! (cutting and adding sound, no color effects or titles!) Hope i will find more apps to handle my videos.
tried to edit a 360° picture with "snapseed" and "photo editor" and it work!
see my pic in attachment. I have cut me out!
BTW: after uploading my pic, it is only 5% of size as the original one. (4,5MB>245kb)
The quality is very reduced now compared to the original!
There is a new firmware available for 360 cam. Version "L"! Can’t see any differences until now. Was described as a camera optimization only. No new features.
max. record time ~20min / ~2.3Gb. - nothing changed!
no new fw until now.
juli.2017

This is seriously Crazy by Vivo!!!

Okay this had to be the title for the thread as what i discovered about NEX is seriously crazy.
What i discovered is, that NEX's display can render much better colours both while watching videos and browsing images, but the built AI **** is decreasing the quality of the display by reducing the saturation and a bit of sharpness.
How i discovered this: While i was browsing some 2K videos on NEX youtube app, i watched on video which is a 2K HDR 10 video and it looked completely off on the NEX display. It looked completely greyed out and horribly pale and i right away knew that the built in AI is doing something wrong. So, to further confirm this, i downloaded this app called NewPipe, which streams youtube videos and i saw that the same video which was looking horrible on the stock youtube app is looking really nice on this app. In fact the colours were looking as good as it looked on my Note 8. I was super surprised for a moment as i never thought NEX's display is capable of matching the Note 8's display in terms of colours and sharpness. So, once i was sure that its the AI thats decreasing the saturation of the display while we watch any content using the stock app, i downloaded a Gallery app from play store to check if its doing the same thing to the pictures too and as it turned out, the colours of the same image looked so much more better on that third party gallery app than it did in the stock gallery app.
So, now what i really want to know is, how to switch this AI thing off. If not completely, i want to at least disable it while watching videos and browsing images. I seriously dont know why has Vivo done this, as it is not doing any good to the display. In fact its bringing down the actual performance of the display which would have affected their sales over all. I am sure there would have been people comparing the Note 8 or S9's display to NEX and would have changed their decision based on it and one famous reviewer has compared it against the S9 plus and he clearly says the NEX's display cant match to the S9's, which is not at all the case.
I am super sensitive about colours and i really really happy that NEX can deliver colours as good as my Note 8, which was my only complain. While i am super happy after discovering this, i am equally restless to figure out a way to disable that AI thing on certain apps. You guys too can do this test and see the results for yourself. Let me know if anyone of you can find a solution for this.
Also, attaching comparison pictures of the display colours while using the stock gallery app against using a third party app.
shri080 said:
Okay this had to be the title for the thread as what i discovered about NEX is seriously crazy.
What i discovered is, that NEX's display can render much better colours both while watching videos and browsing images, but the built AI **** is decreasing the quality of the display by reducing the saturation and a bit of sharpness.
How i discovered this: While i was browsing some 2K videos on NEX youtube app, i watched on video which is a 2K HDR 10 video and it looked completely off on the NEX display. It looked completely greyed out and horribly pale and i right away knew that the built in AI is doing something wrong. So, to further confirm this, i downloaded this app called NewPipe, which streams youtube videos and i saw that the same video which was looking horrible on the stock youtube app is looking really nice on this app. In fact the colours were looking as good as it looked on my Note 8. I was super surprised for a moment as i never thought NEX's display is capable of matching the Note 8's display in terms of colours and sharpness. So, once i was sure that its the AI thats decreasing the saturation of the display while we watch any content using the stock app, i downloaded a Gallery app from play store to check if its doing the same thing to the pictures too and as it turned out, the colours of the same image looked so much more better on that third party gallery app than it did in the stock gallery app.
So, now what i really want to know is, how to switch this AI thing off. If not completely, i want to at least disable it while watching videos and browsing images. I seriously dont know why has Vivo done this, as it is not doing any good to the display. In fact its bringing down the actual performance of the display which would have affected their sales over all. I am sure there would have been people comparing the Note 8 or S9's display to NEX and would have changed their decision based on it and one famous reviewer has compared it against the S9 plus and he clearly says the NEX's display cant match to the S9's, which is not at all the case.
I am super sensitive about colours and i really really happy that NEX can deliver colours as good as my Note 8, which was my only complain. While i am super happy after discovering this, i am equally restless to figure out a way to disable that AI thing on certain apps. You guys too can do this test and see the results for yourself. Let me know if anyone of you can find a solution for this.
Also, attaching comparison pictures of the display colours while using the stock gallery app against using a third party app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I too noticed this while putting wallpapers on mobile.
From 1st day I am using Google's gallery app i.e. Photos , while pictures looked brilliant in the app but whenever I set a picture as wallpaper , it looks dull.
Second time I noticed it when I saw Avengers on MX player, colors looked bright and punchy where as it's trailer on YouTube looked very dull in comparison.
Exactly!! Hope someone can find a solution for this. Such a shame they are restricting what this phone can deliver.
Abby 244 said:
I too noticed this while putting wallpapers on mobile.
From 1st day I am using Google's gallery app i.e. Photos , while pictures looked brilliant in the app but whenever I set a picture as wallpaper , it looks dull.
Second time I noticed it when I saw Avengers on MX player, colors looked bright and punchy where as it's trailer on YouTube looked very dull in comparison.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HOLLY CRAP!!! I looked at your pictures but really couldn't see it. I then did same test you did and I'm Blown Away. This is horrible. See the attached examples. We need to chase support on this one for sure. For reference..I used the YouTube app vs new pipe app. U also checked the stock photo gallery versus a replacement photo gallery and you can also see the difference there ....see the last pic
roxboxxx said:
HOLLY CRAP!!! I looked at your pictures but really couldn't see it. I then did same test you did and I'm Blown Away. This is horrible. See the attached examples. We need to chase support on this one for sure. For reference..I used the YouTube app vs new pipe app. U also checked the stock photo gallery versus a replacement photo gallery and you can also see the difference there ....see the last pic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the gallery pic
shri080 said:
Okay this had to be the title for the thread as what i discovered about NEX is seriously crazy.
What i discovered is, that NEX's display can render much better colours both while watching videos and browsing images, but the built AI **** is decreasing the quality of the display by reducing the saturation and a bit of sharpness.
How i discovered this: While i was browsing some 2K videos on NEX youtube app, i watched on video which is a 2K HDR 10 video and it looked completely off on the NEX display. It looked completely greyed out and horribly pale and i right away knew that the built in AI is doing something wrong. So, to further confirm this, i downloaded this app called NewPipe, which streams youtube videos and i saw that the same video which was looking horrible on the stock youtube app is looking really nice on this app. In fact the colours were looking as good as it looked on my Note 8. I was super surprised for a moment as i never thought NEX's display is capable of matching the Note 8's display in terms of colours and sharpness. So, once i was sure that its the AI thats decreasing the saturation of the display while we watch any content using the stock app, i downloaded a Gallery app from play store to check if its doing the same thing to the pictures too and as it turned out, the colours of the same image looked so much more better on that third party gallery app than it did in the stock gallery app.
So, now what i really want to know is, how to switch this AI thing off. If not completely, i want to at least disable it while watching videos and browsing images. I seriously dont know why has Vivo done this, as it is not doing any good to the display. In fact its bringing down the actual performance of the display which would have affected their sales over all. I am sure there would have been people comparing the Note 8 or S9's display to NEX and would have changed their decision based on it and one famous reviewer has compared it against the S9 plus and he clearly says the NEX's display cant match to the S9's, which is not at all the case.
I am super sensitive about colours and i really really happy that NEX can deliver colours as good as my Note 8, which was my only complain. While i am super happy after discovering this, i am equally restless to figure out a way to disable that AI thing on certain apps. You guys too can do this test and see the results for yourself. Let me know if anyone of you can find a solution for this.
Also, attaching comparison pictures of the display colours while using the stock gallery app against using a third party app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you compare both mobiles playing Netflix and Amazon prime?
Abby 244 said:
Can you compare both mobiles playing Netflix and Amazon prime?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did and the colors look much better on the Note 8 and I am sure that the colours on the NEX can also look equally better provided someone finds out a way to turn of the AI thing.
I wish I can unsee it
If you want to really hate the AI, access YouTube in your mobile browser and then switch to request the desktop version. Then set it to a high resolution and look at the stunning quality.
I now seriously hate this AI!
Also just validated ..this is happening with the official and vanced versions of the YouTube app.
Tested:
- I installed older official YouTube apps - same issue
- I installed a few third party YouTube apps - all had beautiful color saturation
Jesus!!
What a mess.
Good that i'm always uninstalling all stock app and replaced them with third party for example for gallery i'm using Google Photo or Quick Pic with all my smartphone.
But must be some kind of spesific services related to AI that should remove via ADB that would be the best solution.
Anyone contact ViVo about this problem ?
t7gc7 said:
Anyone contact ViVo about this problem ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will be tomorrow with the photos and this forum presented as exhibits. I have been talking to vivo support on an off for the past week, so I suspect it will at least get logged.
I see the same problem. I used ES Explorer and default album with multitask to compare side by side. Really strange ...
I always use the QuickPic Since I got the device , However noticed the Bad quality with YouTube when I attempted to test a Video Playback . Mx player has better performance.
Lets Push Vivo Team to Correct this , There is a separate thread on XDA requesting them to release the source code.
Once they release the Source , I guess these problems will be Easily resolved.
Regards,
H
Also, you guys can use a third party app to set the wallpapers for both desktop and lock screen. It looks so much better when you do that. And if we should reach to Vivo on this. It's shame that their team has not checked on this, which is such a major thing.
Youtube and Youtube Vanced apps are playing video in 1080p HDR / 4KHDR mode , NewPipe is playing video in 1080p/4K Normal mode. you can check in video stream selection settings.
kpsr_007 said:
Youtube and Youtube Vanced apps are playing video in 1080p HDR / 4KHDR mode , NewPipe is playing video in 1080p/4K Normal mode. you can check in video stream selection settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's interesting. But where do you find those settings? On the youtube app or under phone settings?
kpsr_007 said:
Youtube and Youtube Vanced apps are playing video in 1080p HDR / 4KHDR mode , NewPipe is playing video in 1080p/4K Normal mode. you can check in video stream selection settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just download and install newpipe apk and then see the difference.
Abby 244 said:
Just download and install newpipe apk and then see the difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just do it and ... Wouah ...

The image quality of the camera is a LOT worse than advertised

Hello there, other S10e owners,
Recently, I took advantage of an early Black Friday sale to get an S10e, the phone I was craving for a while. They said the image quality is on par with the Pixel 3 after the May update, but in reality, it's just as noisy and "oil-paintingish" as my Xperia Z1 Compact from four (!!!) years ago.
The samples are in the attachment of this forum post; the first and the third image was taken with the Google Camera app, and the second and forth one with the Samsung Camera app. The first two images were taken with HDR, but the latter ones without HDR.
As you can see in the non-HDR pictures, the Samsung Camera picture has less noise, but cold, washed-out colours and less detail thanks to the aggressive noise cancellation.
On the other hand, the Google Camera image has the correct colour representation and more detail, but with the sacrifice of noise cancellation.
With HDR+, though... Things get even worse. The Samsung Camera app now blurs out even more detail and the Google Camera app just cranks up the ISO to levels that make the image too bright.
In conclusion, the image quality is not on the promised levels, but I hope there's something I can do with it (like a good setup.xml file that can fix GCam to shoot exceptionally good images in both sun- and low light or fixing the Samsung Camera app). So, in order to fix this, I need your help. Please give me advice to pimp back up the image quality to the levels I saw in camera reviews.
Edit: Oops, I forgot to mention that I have the Exynos version.
ThePS4Gamer said:
Hello there, other S10e owners,
Recently, I took advantage of an early Black Friday sale to get an S10e, the phone I was craving for a while. They said the image quality is on par with the Pixel 3 after the May update, but in reality, it's just as noisy and "oil-paintingish" as my Xperia Z1 Compact from four (!!!) years ago.
The samples are in the attachment of this forum post; the first and the third image was taken with the Google Camera app, and the second and forth one with the Samsung Camera app. The first two images were taken with HDR, but the latter ones without HDR.
As you can see in the non-HDR pictures, the Samsung Camera picture has less noise, but cold, washed-out colours and less detail thanks to the aggressive noise cancellation.
On the other hand, the Google Camera image has the correct colour representation and more detail, but with the sacrifice of noise cancellation.
With HDR+, though... Things get even worse. The Samsung Camera app now blurs out even more detail and the Google Camera app just cranks up the ISO to levels that make the image too bright.
In conclusion, the image quality is not on the promised levels, but I hope there's something I can do with it (like a good setup.xml file that can fix GCam to shoot exceptionally good images in both sun- and low light or fixing the Samsung Camera app). So, in order to fix this, I need your help. Please give me advice to pimp back up the image quality to the levels I saw in camera reviews.
Edit: Oops, I forgot to mention that I have the Exynos version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please give me the Gcam download link. I couldn't find any Gcam version that worked well on my S10e Exynos. Thanks
Julyh0rse.ManU said:
Please give me the Gcam download link. I couldn't find any Gcam version that worked well on my S10e Exynos. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can do something with it, here's the link: GCam Exynos APK
In sunlight, it should theoretically work with the stock settings, but they say it's recommended to change the auto-exposure correction to 1/2 sec, the Night Sight correction to 1/4 sec and the exposure compensation to -3,0 to get the best out of daytime GCam photos.
For Night Sight images, it's recommended to use the mackytravel-nightsight.xml file without any changes for outdoor night photos and for indoors, turn off auto-exposure correction and exposure compensation, change the Night Sight correction to 1
or 2 sec (depending on the level of darkness) and in the Advanced drop-down menu, turn off the ISO limit. This way, you can get more detail out from the S10e's powerful camera sensors.
Lastly, if you'd like to shoot something with the wide-angle lens, just change the auxiliary camera switching method to the long-press method.
You can find my GCam config folder with all of the said configuration files at the link here.
Just install the GCam apk, copy-paste the config folder to the root of your internal storage (/storage/emulated/0/) and double tap on the black area around the shutter button to choose between the three configuration files.
I've noticed a similar thing with my camera on my SD 855 model where images taken using the camera just don't look very natural or realistic. They look very much like a painting!
Currently I get better results with HDR on and scene optimiser turned off.
My iPhone 7 photos still look a bit more natural at times but obviously less detailed.
Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

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