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Low light

At the club, at the bar, or just in your mom's basement, nighttime is when you come out to play. Rate this thread to express how the Google Pixel XL's camera performs when no or low light is present. A higher rating indicates that the camera sensor "sees" lots of light in dim conditions, and that the resulting photos have minimal noise. A higher rating also indicates that when the flash fires, the resulting photo is evenly-lit without any bright spots.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

I posted a link to my picture folder I have on google photos under the main picture section of The Real Life Review section. There are some low light photos in there that compare the normal google camera on the pixel to the manual FV-5 app in low light. I have to admit I am throughly surprised by how well it does in low light. Usually you'd need OIS in order to compensate your hand shake for lower light photos to turn out. Using the normal google camera the super low light photos pretty much sucked. But using manual modes through FV-5 I got it to .5 second shutter open (The highest you can set it) and up to 10k ISO. I know 10k is insanely high but when the shutter won't stay open for more than .5 seconds even on manual, you need a higher ISO to compensate. And it allows just as much light in as my LG G5 did on 20 second manual mode. Mind you, the 20 second manual mode at 800 ISO is going to be MUCH MUCH less grainy than on the Pixel.
But the fact the pixel can get the colors right and show so much detail in .5 seconds is nuts. I'm attaching the Google Camera App low light photo and the one for the FV-5 manual photo

There's a bit more noise than what I would prefer, but the colours and brightness are phenomenal.

I was just going to post a question on this. This is the same picture, my front porch, dim porch light behind me. No flash and flash. I reproduced the effect several times. I'm probably going to try and return the phone tomorrow in hopes it's hardware. If other people have the same results though......

noremac258 said:
There's a bit more noise than what I would prefer, but the colours and brightness are phenomenal.
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There's so much noise because the ISO was boosted to an obscenely high 10k. A third party camera app with manual controls had to be used to achieve that, because no automatic mode would ever go to such a high light sensitivity.
Edit for additional elaboration: I say this because the way you've worded your post leaves ambiguity in terms of whether you're blaming the phone itself for the presence of noise

It's a decent low light performer. Although the lack of OIS shows sometimes if you don't have a steady hand.

I wanted to try low light so I went out of my way to try the camera in a few cheesy museums in Niagara Falls. They were very dark and my flash on went off once. The pictures were great.

Mine is terrible. I get random colors, either washed out white or green. Nothing intelligible in the pics. If I snap the same shot every time I will eventually get a clear one. It's like the sync between flash/shutter is off on most of the pictures.

Can't seem to focus

Did some testing with the XL and the S7 edge seeing a live band and while the XL kickass in daylight, the edge won hands down when it comes to taking pics inside low light....XL produced grainy, slightly blurred pics...XL was set to 16:9 8m and the Edge was set to 16:9 9.1m.....I still love my XL though

mav42 said:
Did some testing with the XL and the S7 edge seeing a live band and while the XL kickass in daylight, the edge won hands down when it comes to taking pics inside low light....XL produced grainy, slightly blurred pics...XL was set to 16:9 8m and the Edge was set to 16:9 9.1m.....I still love my XL though
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Click to collapse
Pics?

mav42 said:
Did some testing with the XL and the S7 edge seeing a live band and while the XL kickass in daylight, the edge won hands down when it comes to taking pics inside low light....XL produced grainy, slightly blurred pics...XL was set to 16:9 8m and the Edge was set to 16:9 9.1m.....I still love my XL though
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Really? In auto-mode? Currently I´ve testing both phones. The S7 really sucks in auto-mode in low light, but with manual controls I can produce better or sharper shots than with the pixel.

mav42 said:
Did some testing with the XL and the S7 edge seeing a live band and while the XL kickass in daylight, the edge won hands down when it comes to taking pics inside low light....XL produced grainy, slightly blurred pics...XL was set to 16:9 8m and the Edge was set to 16:9 9.1m.....I still love my XL though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice comment.. because I like to buy a s7 edge or pixel xl and.. I still undecided.

tried to up load pics but files are too big and i get a error

6:15 am... Some artifacts, but most phones wouldn't have shown anything.

From what i've seen I have yet to be that impressed with low light shots.... i still have one a XL on order, I don't get why google yet again left OIS out. Its not like they were trying to keep the price down this time.

nice !

noremac258 said:
There's a bit more noise than what I would prefer, but the colours and brightness are phenomenal.
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Click to collapse
For iso 10,000 that is super clean!

Certainly not as good as my old S7 Edge for lowlight

​

Camera is buggy - Too much Noise ( High ISO - 2000-3000 )

Hello,
So I received my all new HTC U11 3 days back ( in India) officially. HTC u11 has world's best rated camera but I am not quite satisfied with the results.
1.) Rear camera is really struggling to capture the photos in low light. I can clearly see the noise.
2.) Front facing camera has no OIS so pictures are blurry and most of the times I noisy photos.
Find the attachments below :
1.) Front facing camera
2 ) rear facing camera
See the noise and level of quality.

hm.. photo #1 has the plant completely out of focus. photo #2 has the pot in focus. you may wanna make sure that the subject is in focus before snapping.
did you change the camera settings to "Touch autoexposure"? The default mode of the camera is "Center-weighted"

Conan1986 said:
hm.. photo #1 has the plant completely out of focus. photo #2 has the pot in focus. you may wanna make sure that the subject is in focus before snapping.
did you change the camera settings to "Touch autoexposure"? The default mode of the camera is "Center-weighted"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for replying. Let me make the things clear.
The first photo was taken from the selfie camera where I tried to focus on the plant/pot everywhere but it was not focusing anyhow. No matter what it wasn't focusing.
In low light, I can clearly see the noise in the all corners.

The selfie camera doesn't have auto focus everything is in focus ( as long as it is at least 18 inches away). Play around with the settings for the rear camera. HDR auto, HDR, so far all my photos are excellent focal point and background.

Conan1986 said:
hm.. photo #1 has the plant completely out of focus. photo #2 has the pot in focus. you may wanna make sure that the subject is in focus before snapping.
did you change the camera settings to "Touch autoexposure"? The default mode of the camera is "Center-weighted"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
schmeggy929 said:
The selfie camera doesn't have auto focus everything is in focus ( as long as it is at least 18 inches away). Play around with the settings for the rear camera. HDR auto, HDR, so far all my photos are excellent focal point and background.
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Click to collapse
Well I have attached a sample selfie shot. Please check and tell me.

[email protected] said:
Well I have attached a sample selfie shot. Please check and tell me.
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Click to collapse
Like I said you are too close using the selfie cam, it is meant too be an arm's long away to have everything in focus.

schmeggy929 said:
Like I said you are too close using the selfie cam, it is meant too be an arm's long away to have everything in focus.
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Click to collapse
Sir I am not complaining about the focus and all... See the noise... Can't you see the noise in the picture?
Even zoom your spiderman... You will notice the same noise.

[email protected] said:
Sir I am not complaining about the focus and all... See the noise... Can't you see the noise in the picture?
Even zoom your spiderman... You will notice the same noise.[/Q
Adjust the iso manually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Conan1986 said:
did you change the camera settings to "Touch autoexposure"? The default mode of the camera is "Center-weighted"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi. Can you say more here or is there a link to how we can best make this adjustment? I'm not terribly savvy and appreciate the tips. Thx.

skypilotofhope said:
Hi. Can you say more here or is there a link to how we can best make this adjustment? I'm not terribly savvy and appreciate the tips. Thx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, in the camera app, pull down the slider with the = icon, swipe to the right to reveal "Settings" which is on the left, tap on that and "Touch autoexposure" should be the first option.
This option is important if you tend to compose your shots with the subject not in the middle (rule of thirds) so tapping on your subject will adjust the exposure and focus according to your subject.

My low light shots are all at over 3000 ISO which leaves quite a bit of visible noise in the picture.
Not liking the camera in poor lighting just yet. Hopefully they will introduce an ISO limiter, or simply fix this in an upcoming update.

I also have a lot of noise in low light photos (rear camera). Automode just isn´t usable if you want to have nice low light photos. The pictures look like that of phones some years ago. Light sources are also always blown out a lot. I also think that the OIS of the U11 isn´t the best out there. So far I don´t really think that this is the best smartphone camera and I was hoping for a better camera performance. HTC told a german magazine in May that they want to deliver an update for the camera. But I don´t know if they really deliver or if this update was the small update of June (?) of the camera app itself. I did this update and nothing changed.

Camera is phenomenal with stunning low light performance.
Check one of mine in auto
IMAG0247 by xristos zerzis, on Flickr

Guys, I've been into photography for over 40yrs. - shooting at ISO 3000 will give you noise onless you're using one of the latest Pro or Prosumer cameras w/advanced sensors- the Nikon D5 / D500 are full frame cropped frame verions ef virtually the same camera in terms of auto focus, pic rendition, & yes, superlative results w/astronomical ISO's - which both support. This is a phone, not a prosumer or petter camera. 3000 ISO is gonna give noise. There are a number of companies that make post processing software specifically to help w/Noise. That nite shot the other fellow took is good work.
The phone is great. The camera is quite good. Deal w/the technical realities & don't expect the cellphone camera to deal w/noise like a Pro DSLR.

foxy4270 said:
Camera is phenomenal with stunning low light performance.
Check one of mine in auto
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Click to collapse
That's great, but the ISO fired at only 1262.
Whenever I take a shot in similar lighting, auto mode uses ISO 3152, which means there will be a lot of noise.
Perhaps there are different software versions going around, because my phone has very poor low light performance in auto mode due to it using a far higher ISO than it should.
oldwolf613 said:
The phone is great. The camera is quite good. Deal w/the technical realities & don't expect the cellphone camera to deal w/noise like a Pro DSLR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not expecting such a small sensor to handle ISO well - I'm expecting that the camera won't default to a ridiculously high ISO like 3152 where my previous Samsung S6 was happily snapping along at ~1000 with stellar results.

Yes, everyone knows that this isn't a DSLR. But when they claim to have the best smartphone camera around I expect better results. I also don't know why they use a smaller sensor than before... This phone goes for 749 Euro and the low light results often look like from an old S5 or iPhone 4. The Automode just isn't usable in this scenarios. If they deliver an update they could solve the issues, I guess.

Turn on pro mode and drop ISO..

rom116 said:
Turn on pro mode and drop ISO..
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Click to collapse
And here in the first sample you can see what I mean with this weak OIS...

Zico, as someone else said go Pro mode & get lower ISO, & even if this phone's camera sensor is smaller than prev ones, - compared to a Pro(sumer) DSLR, this fone's cam compared to prev one vs.
DSLR is like the choosing pinch hitters who bat .249 & .253- the smaller fone sensor is just a bit less than the prev *slightly* bigger one- then there is the density of pixels & dynamic range that make for a good camera - Y am I still talking abt this?

Pro mode and manually selecting ISO is not a solution to a poorly tuned auto mode - it is a workaround that is barely tolerable.

Best Settings for Camera

Anyone can share settings for camera app to have best quality in pro mode? for natural landscape

Pro mode is for pro.
If you don't know what's ISO etc., I recommend you to grab some DSLR basics on the Internet. Then you can set up the camera rightly fitting the situation.
If not, I suggest you stay on auto mode. U11 is good for that, except personally speaking I think the low light shot is too bright and with noise.

Alpert3 said:
Pro mode is for pro.
If you don't know what's ISO etc., I recommend you to grab some DSLR basics on the Internet. Then you can set up the camera rightly fitting the situation.
If not, I suggest you stay on auto mode. U11 is good for that, except personally speaking I think the low light shot is too bright and with noise.
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Click to collapse
I will read up on best night time settings in pro mode. I have seen some amazing night shots online done with the U11.
Daytime photos with U11 in auto mode are very nice. So crisp and true colored. Agreed that night time outside photos in auto have a grain to them. The night sky backdrop ain't easy for most cameras. Coming from the Nexus 6P, I must say it handled low light in doors really well.
Here is one from my U11.

johninsf said:
I will read up on best night time settings in pro mode. I have seen some amazing night shots online done with the U11.
Daytime photos with U11 in auto mode are very nice. So crisp and true colored. Agreed that night time outside photos in auto have a grain to them. The night sky backdrop ain't easy for most cameras. Coming from the Nexus 6P, I must say it handled low light in doors really well.
Here is one from my U11.
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Click to collapse
I heard 6P has very clean night shot. So, yeah, very good to hear your comment!
As for night shot images, I shared plenty on my twitter: https://twitter.com/ChengmingAlpert/status/886173535181393920

Awesome photos of fireworks. Was it shot on auto or pro?

It is not me, but I can answer because I also took pictures of the same show with my U11 : they are shot in pro mode. In auto mode, there is overexposure and taking pictures of light sources in the dark (a firework is a good example) gives bad results.
I hope HTC can fix that with an update.

Yes day time & auto mode = awesome pics

Go into the camera settings and enable the touch to expose setting. This will enable spot metering which IMO helps with over exposing. Been taking some great shots.

This is what i do for great night shots. Enter pro mode, take ISO down 1 notch, you will notice a difference right away. Snap photo, for extra POP, open in google photos (or I use HTC Album app included in Viper U11 Custom ROM) and select auto enhance. Here are a couple examples of shots i've taken at night with this method.

Pro mode gives the ability to save custom settings. Maybe to share our settings for example pics with motion,daylight and night?The ability to fast switch i think i great

auto mode is good enough for every day scenarios and for the average people. Just remember to take the exposure down a bit in low-light condition, otherwise you will get a over-bright but too much noise!

Low light

At the club, at the bar, or just in your mom's basement, nighttime is when you come out to play. Rate this thread to express how the OnePlus 5's camera performs when no or low light is present. A higher rating indicates that the camera sensor "sees" lots of light in dim conditions, and that the resulting photos have minimal noise. A higher rating also indicates that when the flash fires, the resulting photo is evenly-lit without any bright spots.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Probably requires a little work on the SW, as I've noticed it takes great pictures at times, and then bad pictures in the same conditions at times. Misses one star for low light pictures.

I deduct 3 star for low light, EIS doesn't work in still image & there is no OIS in OP5 (OP5 downgraded from op3 in stabilization) so, in pro mode it's impossible to use 30s long shot without tripod or stands(who the hell like to use tripod in smartphone).
And the normal shots has lots of visible noises compared to advertised, portrait mode doesn't work in low light with flash, (missing on background lights bokeh), telephoto lens which is only 1.5x optical doesn't work in low light.
??????????????????

It's great to my untrained eyes. XD

bullooka said:
I deduct 3 star for low light, EIS doesn't work in still image & there is no OIS in OP5 (OP5 downgraded from op3 in stabilization) so, in pro mode it's impossible to use 30s long shot without tripod or stands(who the hell like to use tripod in smartphone).
And the normal shots has lots of visible noises compared to advertised, portrait mode doesn't work in low light with flash, (missing on background lights bokeh), telephoto lens which is only 1.5x optical doesn't work in low light.
??????????????????
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What lol, who would use 30sec shutter time without tripod?

TheGripper said:
What lol, who would use 30sec shutter time without tripod?
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Isn't that possible with Stabilization?

bullooka said:
Isn't that possible with Stabilization?
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No the photo would come out terrible. Tripod is a must on any phone with a long shutter time.

TheGripper said:
No the photo would come out terrible. Tripod is a must on any phone with a long shutter time.
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Click to collapse
Now I ordered a tripod from Amazon, and a separate smartphone holder. I already got a Bluetooth remote that can be used as remote shutter.
If you are experienced photographer or using OP5. can you tell me what setup would be the best to take photos of half moon with lots of patterned light clouds, I tried to take photo of that and the Moon is all blured out to a round bright circle, I tried on different iso and shutter speed, with focus on that landscape sign ...

I'm very impressed with the low light quality of this camera.
http://i.imgur.com/b2OQGcZ.jpg
It even got the stars from the night sky.
I putted an auto picture for comparison.
Also Consider the loss of quality from the collage app.
If you are interested in the originals or the shutter speed/ISO settings, just tell me.

how is low light photos after 4.5.8 update ? is it still blurry ?

gonsa said:
I'm very impressed with the low light quality of this camera.
http://i.imgur.com/b2OQGcZ.jpg
It even got the stars from the night sky.
I putted an auto picture for comparison.
Also Consider the loss of quality from the collage app.
If you are interested in the originals or the shutter speed/ISO settings, just tell me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have other low light shots? Can I use them in a video review please?

ermacwins said:
Do you have other low light shots? Can I use them in a video review please?
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Click to collapse
Yes, I provide here the link for the photos.
These are a set of night pictures, all taken in the same place with a tripod and different settings. This was my first test with a lot of different manual settings.
In every picture taken there's the apperture, the shutter time and the ISO in the details.
You can see for yourself which settings took the best pictures.
Remember this was complete night time with just a few street lights.
The download is pretty big, 427MB but they are the originals with the respective RAW files.
https://mega.nz/#!eMVnBZqC!tWWE7MB-oyWyjjCpLmqtnobW0TC3PMsM81AoqIeBsw0

gonsa said:
I'm very impressed with the low light quality of this camera.
http://i.imgur.com/b2OQGcZ.jpg
It even got the stars from the night sky.
I putted an auto picture for comparison.
Also Consider the loss of quality from the collage app.
If you are interested in the originals or the shutter speed/ISO settings, just tell me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How you do that? That's Amazing result

gonsa said:
Yes, I provide here the link for the photos.
These are a set of night pictures, all taken in the same place with a tripod and different settings. This was my first test with a lot of different manual settings.
In every picture taken there's the apperture, the shutter time and the ISO in the details.
You can see for yourself which settings took the best pictures.
Remember this was complete night time with just a few street lights.
The download is pretty big, 427MB but they are the originals with the respective RAW files.
https://mega.nz/#!eMVnBZqC!tWWE7MB-oyWyjjCpLmqtnobW0TC3PMsM81AoqIeBsw0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, do you have any low light videos?

How did you manage to take that shot from so dark to do bright? Settings please

Google hacked hdr+ camera makes this camera see in the dark.

zathus said:
Google hacked hdr+ camera makes this camera see in the dark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you shot some low light photos with that hacked app ?

jauhari said:
How you do that? That's Amazing result
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nsdhillon10 said:
How did you manage to take that shot from so dark to do bright? Settings please
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EXIF: F/1.7 4mm 10 seconds shutter speed, ISO 500, White Balance 2300K.

zathus said:
Google hacked hdr+ camera makes this camera see in the dark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you use it? Did you notice some grid from small circles when you crop a picture?

First one was done with stock camera, second one with Gcam HDR+

Is this level of noise normal on the camera?

Hi
There seems to be a lot of noise and graininess in low light shots with my Pixel 2. I understand low light is difficult but I just want to make sure whether the shots in the link is normal or is there something wrong with my camera.
It's just automatic mode so not HDR+ enhanced. There are some that I've turned the compensation down as well by focusing and sliding down the brightness gauge. Is there any other way to mitigate the noise and blown out pics like these like a separate option to lower the shutter speed or is there something wrong with my camera?
There's also other 2 other pics indoor with low light. One is with enhanced HDR and the other just normal. The noise is crazy here. I'm pretty sure my iPhone 6 did better here. Also, my camera seems to flicker (like when you video old TV's theres lines that travel either up and down or left and right) in certain lighting conditions, mainly the gym and the room in the picture. The room is lit by LED light and my tv is also LED. Is this normal?
Albums:
imgur(dot)com/a/xeJLl
imgur(dot)com/gallery/ywxEx
Thanks

Delos Dinh said:
Hi
There seems to be a lot of noise and graininess in low light shots with my Pixel 2. I understand low light is difficult but I just want to make sure whether the shots in the link is normal or is there something wrong with my camera.
It's just automatic mode so not HDR+ enhanced. There are some that I've turned the compensation down as well by focusing and sliding down the brightness gauge. Is there any other way to mitigate the noise and blown out pics like these like a separate option to lower the shutter speed or is there something wrong with my camera?
There's also other 2 other pics indoor with low light. One is with enhanced HDR and the other just normal. The noise is crazy here. I'm pretty sure my iPhone 6 did better here. Also, my camera seems to flicker (like when you video old TV's theres lines that travel either up and down or left and right) in certain lighting conditions, mainly the gym and the room in the picture. The room is lit by LED light and my tv is also LED. Is this normal?
Albums:
imgur(dot)com/a/xeJLl
imgur(dot)com/gallery/ywxEx
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just for clarification, you've tried pictures without HDR+, with HDR+, and with HDR+ enhanced (must be enabled in the camera settings somewhere)? If not, "HDR+ enhanced" mode might be what you're looking for since it (from my understanding) is the common HDR mode that takes a little longer in order to shoot multiple photos and combine them. There's a thread called "HDR+ on vs HDR+ Enhanced?" that could be helpful, as well as an interview with someone at Google about the camera decisions and different modes. I don't have enough posts to include links, but they're easy to find. If you already knew about the additional "HDR+ enhanced" mode though then I'm afraid I can't help you. Every picture looks incredible to me coming from the HTC One M7, so I haven't played with it much.

Delos Dinh said:
Hi
There seems to be a lot of noise and graininess in low light shots with my Pixel 2. I understand low light is difficult but I just want to make sure whether the shots in the link is normal or is there something wrong with my camera.
It's just automatic mode so not HDR+ enhanced. There are some that I've turned the compensation down as well by focusing and sliding down the brightness gauge. Is there any other way to mitigate the noise and blown out pics like these like a separate option to lower the shutter speed or is there something wrong with my camera?
There's also other 2 other pics indoor with low light. One is with enhanced HDR and the other just normal. The noise is crazy here. I'm pretty sure my iPhone 6 did better here. Also, my camera seems to flicker (like when you video old TV's theres lines that travel either up and down or left and right) in certain lighting conditions, mainly the gym and the room in the picture. The room is lit by LED light and my tv is also LED. Is this normal?
Albums:
imgur(dot)com/a/xeJLl
imgur(dot)com/gallery/ywxEx
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I looked at your photos, I don't think we're seeing the same things. The pics look great aside from a few being out of focus. I just had an iphone 6 for a short time and I'm 100% sure it can't come close to those photos in low light.

delta7019 said:
Just for clarification, you've tried pictures without HDR+, with HDR+, and with HDR+ enhanced (must be enabled in the camera settings somewhere)? If not, "HDR+ enhanced" mode might be what you're looking for since it (from my understanding) is the common HDR mode that takes a little longer in order to shoot multiple photos and combine them. There's a thread called "HDR+ on vs HDR+ Enhanced?" that could be helpful, as well as an interview with someone at Google about the camera decisions and different modes. I don't have enough posts to include links, but they're easy to find. If you already knew about the additional "HDR+ enhanced" mode though then I'm afraid I can't help you. Every picture looks incredible to me coming from the HTC One M7, so I haven't played with it much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, the first set of pictures was just standard HDR. Do you also think the second album us good looking? There's a lot of noise there looking from both my phone and laptop.

Delos Dinh said:
Thanks, the first set of pictures was just standard HDR. Do you also think the second album us good looking? There's a lot of noise there looking from both my phone and laptop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take some pictures in another place with the same lighting levels and a few in a slightly lit environment. I haven't checked my phone's photos on a PC, but on the phone they looked pretty good. Do you see noise when you view your photos on the phone itself?

Delos Dinh said:
Thanks, the first set of pictures was just standard HDR. Do you also think the second album us good looking? There's a lot of noise there looking from both my phone and laptop.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's some noise on the second set of pics around the TV area, but I can't tell how dark the room is. They remind me of times that my HTC One lens was dirty--especially since the odd marks are about the same shape and in just about the same place even with different shooting modes. When mine got dirty, I couldn't tell just by looking at it, and I had to wipe it with a damp cloth (dry cloth didn't work). It could also be something with the way the TV screen is processed; certain types of screen cause different effects on different phones. Just FYI, apparently the default camera mode can't be changed (HDR+), so it has to be toggled off every time the camera is opened if you don't want it.
---------- Post added at 08:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:38 PM ----------
In the Google interview, the guy mentions that they made a trade off between noise and brightness so that Pixel 2 users can see more of the image subject. Made it seem like Google decided what's the point if you can't see anything and figured it's easier to later darken an image rather than brighten it without damaging the quality.
delta7019 said:
Just for clarification, you've tried pictures without HDR+, with HDR+, and with HDR+ enhanced (must be enabled in the camera settings somewhere)? If not, "HDR+ enhanced" mode might be what you're looking for since it (from my understanding) is the common HDR mode that takes a little longer in order to shoot multiple photos and combine them. There's a thread called "HDR+ on vs HDR+ Enhanced?" that could be helpful, as well as an interview with someone at Google about the camera decisions and different modes. I don't have enough posts to include links, but they're easy to find. If you already knew about the additional "HDR+ enhanced" mode though then I'm afraid I can't help you. Every picture looks incredible to me coming from the HTC One M7, so I haven't played with it much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

delta7019 said:
There's some noise on the second set of pics around the TV area, but I can't tell how dark the room is. They remind me of times that my HTC One lens was dirty--especially since the odd marks are about the same shape and in just about the same place even with different shooting modes. When mine got dirty, I couldn't tell just by looking at it, and I had to wipe it with a damp cloth (dry cloth didn't work). It could also be something with the way the TV screen is processed; certain types of screen cause different effects on different phones. Just FYI, apparently the default camera mode can't be changed (HDR+), so it has to be toggled off every time the camera is opened if you don't want it.
---------- Post added at 08:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:38 PM ----------
In the Google interview, the guy mentions that they made a trade off between noise and brightness so that Pixel 2 users can see more of the image subject. Made it seem like Google decided what's the point if you can't see anything and figured it's easier to later darken an image rather than brighten it without damaging the quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Il try it.

Charkatak said:
Take some pictures in another place with the same lighting levels and a few in a slightly lit environment. I haven't checked my phone's photos on a PC, but on the phone they looked pretty good. Do you see noise when you view your photos on the phone itself?
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Thanks, on both my phone and laptop, I see a lot noise :S

mikeyinid said:
I looked at your photos, I don't think we're seeing the same things. The pics look great aside from a few being out of focus. I just had an iphone 6 for a short time and I'm 100% sure it can't come close to those photos in low light.
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Thanks. Hmmm.. even for the second lot of pics? There's just a lot of noise and graininess I can see from looking at form my phone and laptop. :S It's always good for a second opinion thank you.

Delos Dinh said:
Thanks. Hmmm.. even for the second lot of pics? There's just a lot of noise and graininess I can see from looking at form my phone and laptop. :S It's always good for a second opinion thank you.
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I took close to 100 photos this weekend when I took my family to see Christmas lights in a nearby town. It was night time and I have to say, I was very surprised how well the photos came out. I do see some noise/graininess in some, mostly ones of people. But they are still very good considering the darkness. Even portrait mode worked very well in low light.

Yes, I would say that it's normal (I only looked at the image with the buildings). HDR+ enhanced could be worth a try.
It's possible that other phone cameras would have less noise in this light condition, but then they would blow out the highlights. In my opinion Google does the right thing: Slightly more noise for less blown out highlights. Though in low light the images are often too bright. So the best thing you can do is using the exposure compensation. This can also make the shutter speed faster. Be aware that less noise will be visible when you underexpose, but when you adjust the brightness with software afterwards, then the noise will be even worse.