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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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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.)

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

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"
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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"
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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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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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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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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
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Conan1986 said:
did you change the camera settings to "Touch autoexposure"? The default mode of the camera is "Center-weighted"
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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.
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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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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.
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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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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.

How necessary is a telephoto camera?

I am wavering between buying an s10e or an s10. In favor of the s10e: I prefer the size of the device and I like that there is a slight bezel on the left and right of the screen. However, it doesn't have the telephoto camera. I found that zoomed photos with the telephoto on the s10 are quite a bit sharper. On the other hand, I seriously dislike the s10's infinity screen. It warps the egdes of photos, web pages, etc. So, it comes down to how much advantage the telephoto camera provides. If it's not so important, I'd opt for the s10e. I'd like to see some opinions about the necessity for the telephoto. BTW, I realize the P30 has 3 cameras and a flat screen, but it's not the horse I want to ride - no wireless charging, no IP68, so-so sound, probably even worse at updates the Sammy.

All depends what you want.

Yes, a dedicated zoom camera makes better zoom photos.
But, even with image stabilization it is harder to get good shots that are not blurry. I never used zoom on a phone. But i can tell you that since i have the S10e i do mostly 2 photos with the standard cam and than with wide angle. Wide angle does interesting photos.

It is good to have

I don't take photos all too frequently, and when I do I never use zoom. It degrades the quality of the image quite a bit, be it optical or digital.

Since asking this question, I took time at a local store to play with the 10 and 10e. I set both to 8x zoom, since that is the max zoom for the 10e. There is quite a noticeable difference. The 10e had lot of noise and the 10 didn't. In fact, at 10x, the 10 still had a clearer image than the 10e. Now, if I could just come to terms with the curved screen and the weird edge reflections.

Not at all to me but i wish samsung went for the same wide angle lens on huawei mate 20 pro, usable in close up shots and gets amazing photos.
Sent from my SM-G970F using Tapatalk

I don't think it's that necessary... When you get 5x or 10x optical then it's cool, but 2x nah... I think the ultrawide is more fun

Getting a 10e here. But wondering how much worse the live focus will be without the Tele lens. Anyone have the experience?

if could change the ultra wide camera with the telephoto? did change it?

i bought this phone because he came with flat screen, and small factor , on of the the down sides (besides 12MP) in this version no telephoto lens
in my opinion you can just do a panorama for 3 seconds, but you can't mimic x2 real zoom
my last phone was 24 mega pixel (about twice pixels i checked and there's a big different especially that Samsung do alot of softing going on, leave the raw option aside)
but my last phone was pretty bad in night mode (ofcourse it not the might reason i switched , samsung is pretty good at night(not like pixel or p30 but good)

I have been into photography for some 55 years and have always favoured a standard and wide-angle lens for my cameras. If I could choose only one it would be a wide-angle. It pleases me more to approach my subject to get a closer vantage point should I need to do so. I have never enjoyed a telephoto lens - it reminds me of using a pair of binoculars. A zoom lens is even worse, IMO. Lazy photographer stays put and uses a zoom lens to frame his/her subject. There is something special about a wide angle lens. I previously had an iPhone XS and very, very rarely used the telephoto but often wished I had a wide angle lens. I like what Samsung has done with the S10e.
I'm finding the photographs I take on my S10e as good as, and often better than, my iPhone XS. Night mode to me is rather odd. If something about a dimly lit scene attracts you and you take a photo which makes it look like it was daytime, you have a photo which is markedly different to what you saw. It's a fad and IMO people use it because it is a 'feature'.