Database Users

Smart phone camera comparison - unexpected results

Wow, I didn't expect this. Phone arena done a test where users have to vote for which they think are the best photos taken with three smart phones and a digital camera. They were not told which photo is taken by which device. The results were really suprising as I thought my Samsung had the best camera among Android smart phones!
What do you guys think?
wwwdphonearenadcom/news/Smartphone-camera-comparison-you-choose-the-winner-Results_id20750[/url]

(remove the d's!) stupid url rule....

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Smartphone-camera-comparison-you-choose-the-winner-Results_id20750
full right link

Seriously??? I wasnt expecting them results either! Perhaps its just the screen on the S2 which makes the images look better than they actually are. Damn shame that!!!

Too bad there wasn't a Arc in the Game. It takes really great pictures, but the Galaxy doesnt do a bad job either. But if you take a picture with the iphone it uses HDR This is why the iphone images has more details on it.
I have no complaints about taking pictures with the phone, it's a phone not a camera. It is getting better (look 5 years back).
another great site for comparing pictures is gsmarena look at the following link http://www.gsmarena.com/piccmp.php3?idType=3&idPhone1=3621&idPhone2=3275&idPhone3=3619

Ex iphone4 user here, and these results just make me lol.....
Set the S2 to iso100 in daylight and it DESTROYS the iphone 4 camera.
Indoors and low light is probably not its strong point though, same as most phone sensors.

I haven't seen any pictures taken by the sensation but the sensation pics look like how my sgs2 takes pics (ie colors a little oversaturated)

I didn't spend too long looking but in the outdoor tests doesn't the S2 photos look most like the canon photos? The other two camera phones distort the image more compared to the samsung.
The flaw in this study has been pointed out in the comments on the website. They just asked for the best one and so as this was obviously the canon the results for the camera phones don't mean too much. They need to do another test just between camera phones.

I expected this anyway. The saturation, white balance, etc are not that satisfactory. My previous phone Nokia N80 produced much better images.
Well, for me this is the one of the weaknesses on SGS2. I hope Samsung will improve it on the next Samsung Galaxy S series. Other than that, this phone is really spectacular.

benjatt said:
I didn't spend too long looking but in the outdoor tests doesn't the S2 photos look most like the canon photos?
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Exactly ... in the outdoor tests the S2 even outperformed the Canon, because it shows more shadow detail.
This review only shows one thing ... not the best cam, but that the voters have been idiots, who don't know nothing about photography
What I find strange is, that my S2 shows a much better indoor white balance, as shown in these test shots. It seems Samsung fixed it in the latest updates?

looking at the pics, the canon is the best overall, and the SII comes very, very close (sometimes better outdoor, and slightly worse indoors).
the other 2 phones are far from their level of detail, balance and overall quality.
that's what I expected, too, and i checked the device names only after looking. the iphone level of detail is very disappointing.
one difference however is that the htc and the iphone both do heavy color correction (thats also a reason why they lose a lot of detail) while the SII and the canon do much lighter correction.
lastly if they're using HDR on the iphone and take front light pics it would be logical to use the free HDR apps on android and do offline HDR rendering on the canon, but that's not the case here
from that pic its easy to determine which phone is the iphone4 and thats probably why it has most of the vote there, since every iphone owner knew which one was the iphone ;-)

bilboa1 said:
looking at the pics, the canon is the best overall, and the SII comes very, very close (sometimes better outdoor, and slightly worse indoors).
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But the Sensation is the only one where you can see the guys pores in the outside pictures, all the other ones his skin just looks even

I'm starting to doubt the credibility of the comparison. Allaboutsymbian done a comparison between the Arc and the Galaxy S2 and the S2 came out on top.
wwwdallaboutsymbian.com/features/item/13021_5_Top_Smartphone_Cameras_pitch.php
Now I look at the photos again, I think the results are chosen from what initially appears the best image (from untrained eyes) and what appears the best to a technical photographer. The Galaxy S2 are noisy, outdoors but do contain more detail. Whereas other phones have more noise reduction at the expense of details but at first look most people would choose the less noisy photo.

danman7200 said:
I'm starting to doubt the credibility of the comparison. Allaboutsymbian done a comparison between the Arc and the Galaxy S2 and the S2 came out on top.
wwwdallaboutsymbian.com/features/item/13021_5_Top_Smartphone_Cameras_pitch.php
Now I look at the photos again, I think the results are chosen from what initially appears the best image (from untrained eyes) and what appears the best to a technical photographer. The Galaxy S2 are noisy, outdoors but do contain more detail. Whereas other phones have more noise reduction at the expense of details but at first look most people would choose the less noisy photo.
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I can see a lot more detail in the sensations pic, like I said I can see the guys pores in the pics taken with the sensation but the other sensation pics are better too

godutch said:
I can see a lot more detail in the sensations pic, like I said I can see the guys pores in the pics taken with the sensation but the other sensation pics are better too
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But at the expense of the detail on the tree at the right of him.
HTC Sensation captures what seems to be a smudge of green, while in the GS2, you can make out the leaves. And his skin looks unnaturally red.

So the SGS2 decided to focus on the tree instead of the subject and instead of the subject looking slightly more tanned he looks like a shining ghost

The fun thing with this test:
If a voter would be good in recognizing quality pictures, they would most likely choose the real (Canon) camera 1st. The mobile camera that is the best, right after the Canon, would then have reasonably less chances of being picked as 'best', since the voters nót picking the Canon as best have proven to be bad quality-recognizers.
Thus the best camera-phone will have the highest chance of ending with the least of all votes
(as pointed out by several commenters already)
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Interesting article....
I have both devices, I'll take a pic with each and post to see which one you all think is better. I would post an iPhone as well but my wife is out and about.

Here's unbiased review, including the camera.
http://www.mobile-review.com/review/samsung-galaxy-s2-en.shtml

Troubles with Phonearena's Camera Analysis

I'm brand new here but felt that I had to comment as some here seem to be close to hari kiri (sic) over some reviews.
I do feel that the screen will be a little low on colour saturation but it's by no means terrible - and the adjustment options included in the final software should fix this. But what I really want to talk about is the camera.
Phonearena have been especially vocal about how the camera doesn't match up to the competition but I'm absolutely amazed that they've missed a glaring error in their analysis! Because of the boost in mp's and the different focal lengths of each phone, when they're doing a 100% crop comparison, they're clearly zooming in much, much further on the XZ. I don't think it's intentional but if you look at the crops they give, the difference is clear. The XZ i
Now I'm not saying that Sony haven't been a little heavy handed in their compression - they have. BUT if you zoom in comparison shots to the SAME CROP the difference is far less pronounced than some would have you believe. Indeed, if you zoomed in the other shots to the same depth as the XZ zoom they would become a mess of pixels - better defined pixels, sure, but no more usable for it.
Is the camera on the XZ blowing me away? I dunno, I'll put it to the test when I get it. But don't write it off based on comparissons with other phones unless you do the tests yourselves because phonearena have done a half-assed job, frankly.
Your thoughts below, please.

Great observation. I do see the compression as a necessary, temporary downside to putting a 13mp camera on a smartphone. They're probably working on keeping the responsiveness up first; hopefully the compression will get better through software updates.

That Phonearena review was biased.... i tell u why....:
1. They ranked devices on every domain and listed lumia 920 and XZ with least ranking however ... where these two stood out to be better than others ... they skipped raking quite cleverly.
2. They even ranked Lumia 920 and XZ in night mode as bad shooters LOL at them... everybody knows the truth.
3. They even placed 1-2 cheeky discouraging lines in low light mode review about XZ.
4. In Detail they ranked XZ last. that was a big fail even their own pics that were taken... small boards really far away were much readable on XZ than others.
5. They always used superior auto mode in XZ but used manual settings in others..... obviously XZ will be confused in special conditions like a well lit building at night and surrounding trees which are not much in light... use manual settings there and i m sure XZ will tear others apart.

nikhiltanwar said:
That Phonearena review was biased.... i tell u why....:
1. They ranked devices on every domain and listed lumia 920 and XZ with least ranking however ... where these two stood out to be better than others ... they skipped raking quite cleverly.
2. They even ranked Lumia 920 and XZ in night mode as bad shooters LOL at them... everybody knows the truth.
3. They even placed 1-2 cheeky discouraging lines in low light mode review about XZ.
4. In Detail they ranked XZ last. that was a big fail even their own pics that were taken... small boards really far away were much readable on XZ than others.
5. They always used superior auto mode in XZ but used manual settings in others..... obviously XZ will be confused in special conditions like a well lit building at night and surrounding trees which are not much in light... use manual settings there and i m sure XZ will tear others apart.
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I'm not sure but I think they would get better results with superior auto. I think PA did not use superior auto.

I think we shoul wait for more precise reviews like the GSMarena one which is by far, one of the best out there.
But I won't be surprise if the XZ's camera won't match nowadays' best 8 MP standards, Sony has been trailing behind for quite some time now in the Photo department.

yeah that comparison doesn't make any sense both Samsungs where over exposed for most of the photos, big difference in iso use etc etc. clearly done by someone who doesn't know anything about photography

I don't take PA reviews very seriously - specially when it comes to cameras. Somehow they find samsung cameras pretty good which is very questionable - I think. I've owned all three samsung galaxy phones. GS1 camera was horrible, GS2 was average and GS3 is also average. HOX has a better camera, Xperia T is better than both.Xperia Z should be even better. And I don't take pictures with lousy auto mode.
PA reviews are usually good except for the camera part - they simply don't understand photography. If you read their comparison, you can just tell that it was written by a noob.

What i don't understand is the photos posted by someone here on Google+ definitely looks good.
check these out:
plus.google.com/
photos/110267829736715997848/
albums/5843542135386591041/5843542150197706866?banner=pwa
At first, I thought the photos above are not from XZ. They are really clear, sharp, and vibrant. I don't see noise in them.
They are miles better than what PA and other sites are posting. How could this happen? Different software or versions?

Humandroidz said:
What i don't understand is the photos posted by someone here on Google+ definitely looks good.
check these out:
plus.google.com/
photos/110267829736715997848/
albums/5843542135386591041/5843542150197706866?banner=pwa
At first, I thought the photos above are not from XZ. They are really clear, sharp, and vibrant. I don't see noise in them.
They are miles better than what PA and other sites are posting. How could this happen? Different software or versions?
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I have analysed these images... On a bigger screen ..with zoomed in depth... They look good surely... That is why PA have lost it....
---------- Post added at 10:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:46 PM ----------
Humandroidz said:
I'm not sure but I think they would get better results with superior auto. I think PA did not use superior auto.
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They used superior auto... In some domains they even wrote it... Never used HDR .... I think superior auto was in most situations... So.many times this superior auto mode gets things wrong... It should be used when u r super noob in photography.... Not in a picture comparison

seen that review and i can say it is a total bias.

rufaz said:
seen that review and i can say it is a total bias.
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That's a common opinion about Phonearena's reviews. Many reviews were considered biased, with results that nobody is able to replicate etc. I wouldn't pay much attention to it - no matter if it's positive or negative.

schecter7 said:
I don't take PA reviews very seriously - specially when it comes to cameras. Somehow they find samsung cameras pretty good which is very questionable - I think. I've owned all three samsung galaxy phones. GS1 camera was horrible, GS2 was average and GS3 is also average. HOX has a better camera, Xperia T is better than both.Xperia Z should be even better. And I don't take pictures with lousy auto mode.
PA reviews are usually good except for the camera part - they simply don't understand photography. If you read their comparison, you can just tell that it was written by a noob.
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I thought I was the only one who shared this view seeing as last year I had the Xperia S & T, S3 & N2 and HOX and for starters I believe Iphone arena claimed the camera on the HOX and Xperia T were mediocre compared with S3 (N2 has same camera as S3 anyway). That was total B.S The camera on the T and HOX and even Xperia S were far better than the samsung cameras both outdoors and indoors and at night, especially indoors with lighting where the S3/N2 cameras became washed out and I tested the camera's vs eachother same angles etc and the samsung cameras were the worst.
I have also compared the camera on the lumia 920 vs s3/N2 in shops and the lumia 920 looks better.
Even looking at the images IPA have done with the Z the images look great.

Its hard to believe all those reviews... Who even knows whether they are giving us true/genuine pictures- its upto the eidtor/reviewer to give us genuine review. Not even their webmaster will know it whether they are genuine.. There were plenty of crtitcism from reader about engagdet's news articles of apple products once... Some times its very clear in the writing the bias towards non-apple news. Who knows they have been receiving goodies and bucks... I was in straight fire @ one ZNet writer after reading his apple article- he wrote like not even a hardcore apple fan wont writer against android phones- blindly.... They all in US... we donno the truth...
I donno much about phonearena... Also i'm not going to expect much from a tiny smartphone sensor whether its 13mp or 44mp... You have to understand the camera sensors first... As the sensor becomes small in size the light goes thru it also less , hence the picture qaulity... Still the best quality sensor gives best results... In smartphone case the photographer has to be very careful and still as much as the object to get nice photos... Image stabilization is there , but its nowhere near of DSLR or other proper cameras.... So each time you take a picture its different although same object , same angle or whatever you can imagine there.... Competition in smartphone arena is to make thinnest phone... as the phone goes thinner camera sensor goes smaller(thinner) too.. otherwise you will see a bump where camera sits (like in pureview).....

gd

HTC risked itself unnecessarily with the 4 ultrapixels camera

I think HTC could have been a big contender to the galaxy S IV but will be dismissed by the average consumer because of the "poor" 4 ultrapixel camera, i dont get how a company struggling to sell would do such a thing , i love that they took a risk but maybe they should have waited until they had profits again, what do you think people is going to do when they go to buy a phone and see that the camera on the one is "just" 4 megapixels vs 13 megapixels on the galaxy S IV?
8 ultrapixels would have been great, also the daylight pictures are less than spectacular, the one x/xl takes better pictures at daylight ,lets see how turns out for HTC, i fear it wont be the best outcome :crying: , such a shame that "the best" will lose

So far seeing pictures taken against the iPhone 5, Galaxy S4, etc... I think they made the right choice. It takes some really nice pictures.

You are ignorant, HTC One along with Lumia taking the best photos in market at the moment. before coming up with a topic like that learn to check to results please.
But yeah, one thing is clear, people like you will think "hmm, 4 mp is bad i should get S4 because of that" and get S4. That is the only downside of the idea. Which I'm hoping wouldn't be a problem because noone is telling that it is 4 mp, they are marketting it as Ultrapixel Camera as a whole phrase, which is working relatively well.

You are right. While the tests seem to show, that the camera is really awesome and isn't worser than the 13 MP one the majority of people are still getting their phones direct from the store and deciding basically from the specs and the general appearance. I hope HTC will profit at least from their design and aluminium body this year.

Only ignorant consumers purchase items based on just numbers...
Education is key.

Many reviews show that its the second best on the market, after 808 and just beating the N95. Lesser pixels are also needed to process in the Zoe mode. So my conclusion will be it isn't a "poor" or "unnecessary" change. In fact, it's proving to be one of the best cameras (obviously if you don't print your photographs in full size)
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2

Dharkan said:
You are ignorant, HTC One along with Lumia taking the best photos in market at the moment. before coming up with a topic like that learn to check to results please.
But yeah, one thing is clear, people like you will think "hmm, 4 mp is bad i should get S4 because of that" and get S4. That is the only downside of the idea. Which I'm hoping wouldn't be a problem because noone is telling that it is 4 mp, they are marketting it as Ultrapixel Camera as a whole phrase, which is working relatively well.
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That true no one has told me its a 4mp camera in shops, they say 4 ultra pixel.
Also when I played with the phone and compared pics to the xz and and s3 etc it blew them away which is one of the reasons there is a lovely silver HTC One sitting on my desk charging right now.
Also regarding charging, battery life for me so far is great: seeing as I had to send stuff to the phone yesterday it got charged to 61% before I took if off the usb at aprrox 1.30pm yesterday and started using it: screen 30% bright, power saver on, all connections off unless I need them, playing some music, generally looking at the phone, a bit of internet browsing, mostly phone calls and texts and the battery was on 6% at about 10 am this morning and I went to bed at 2am.
Btw the this is the same pattern i do for all phones I have 30% brightness and power saver. I will be able to properly judge when its actually charged to 100% though and compare it to my others phones bar the note 2 where it will clearly lose.

Actually there is still noise in the images on the 4MP sensor, but less than a 13MP for sure in low light.
HTC made a deliberate decision that a phone camera is more utilized to pictures of family, friends when you go out somewhere like a restaurant, bar etc. In those circumstances good low light performance is essential and you don't need (in fact you don't want) to see the highest resolution possible on people's faces etc
You only really need 13MP when you are shooting landscape. In the case of Sony, they try and incorporate a camera that is more aimed towards tourist pictures. During the daylight, the resolution advantage will be clear to see on detailed scenes.
Personally, I do not use my phone as a replacement for a good camera. I use it exactly as HTC considered, incidental photos when out with friends and to keep memories of those occasions.
Having said that, it is not the best 4MP sensor...it should really have been even better (less noise). So while I think HTC did play a gamble here, and to some extent, there is a good amount of logic behind their decision...the implementation is still not as good as I would have hoped. It is just possible that software updates will improve its performance further.

R89SONY said:
which is one of the reasons there is a lovely silver HTC One sitting on my desk charging right now.
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Amen!

jonstatt said:
Actually there is still noise in the images on the 4MP sensor, but less than a 13MP for sure in low light.
HTC made a deliberate decision that a phone camera is more utilized to pictures of family, friends when you go out somewhere like a restaurant, bar etc. In those circumstances good low light performance is essential and you don't need (in fact you don't want) to see the highest resolution possible on people's faces etc
You only really need 13MP when you are shooting landscape. In the case of Sony, they try and incorporate a camera that is more aimed towards tourist pictures. During the daylight, the resolution advantage will be clear to see on detailed scenes.
Personally, I do not use my phone as a replacement for a good camera. I use it exactly as HTC considered, incidental photos when out with friends and to keep memories of those occasions.
Having said that, it is not the best 4MP sensor...it should really have been even better (less noise). So while I think HTC did play a gamble here, and to some extent, there is a good amount of logic behind their decision...the implementation is still not as good as I would have hoped. It is just possible that software updates will improve its performance further.
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The noise problem was with prerelease software, if you see the photos now, there's way much less noise
From USA Gizmodo:
Another pleasant surprise: the camera's UltraPixels actually live up to the hype. In our testing the One performed as well as if not better than the top smartphone shooters out there (check out our comparison). It also took better low-light (read: in bars) photos than any phone I've used, and I was extremely impressed by how accurate the color rendering was. Now, if you're planning on printing your photos on 8x10s, maybe you'll miss the extra megapixels, but who really does that with their phone cam? For the web, you won't be able to tell the difference in resolution, and you will be able to tell the difference in low-light.
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Check out the photo thread

NiCk.JaY said:
The noise problem was with prerelease software, if you see the photos now, there's way much less noise
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have one...I still see some noise. I am not saying it is bad. Just I guess I had such high expectations that it would take super clean images.

jonstatt said:
I have one...I still see some noise. I am not saying it is bad. Just I guess I had such high expectations that it would take super clean images.
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Have you updated it to the latest version? Because the pics from Gizmodo, Engadget, Verge are superb

SteelH said:
Only ignorant consumers purchase items based on just numbers...
Education is key.
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This. Also quality beats quantity!
Sent from my HTC One V using Tapatalk 2

NiCk.JaY said:
Have you updated it to the latest version? Because the pics from Gizmodo, Engadget, Verge are superb
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Click to collapse
There is no update. I definitely have the most current release on the phone. I think it was just my expectations were too high. Don't get me wrong, it takes great pics.

I think that it will be very important for in-store signage of the HTC One show the comparison of the HTCs photo quality against "the others". They can't leave it to the uninformed general public or the uninformed sales staff to simply look at point form notes on the phone spec

AW: HTC risked itself unnecessarily with the 4 ultrapixels camera
And... Megapixels are nothing. It is all about the sensor and the lense. It is time to stop that Megapixel hype... Just look at the S4... 13mp on a damn small sensor, I guess you will not see a difference between my 1S and the S4...
Sent from my HTC One S using xda app-developers app

4mp should of NEVER been banded about because in work people were going 'Omg the HTC ONE only has a 4mp camera.... who would want that' and then you have to explain it to them etc....
It was a risk but it should of just been left at 'Ultrapixel' and not compared to a megapixel count.

x3
I personally as a Photographer like their decission.
Remember the Foveon X3 Chip. If HTC manages to get something more out of that technique, they will get much better results.

At first saw no difference with the quality from the x. Now after a few dozen photos. There is a difference.close up shots capture loads of detail
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

First of all, I think that HTC from the quality point of view made the right decision. The camera appears better than sufficient - for the ordinary smartphone user that is. HTC's approach is different, I think: Remember "Friend Stream" in Sense? Now it is "Blinkfeed". My impression is that HTC bets on that users will shoot more photos if the photos can be uploaded to FB and other social networks quicker and thus in bigger numbers thanks to their smaller size. Photos go up easier to the Dropbox storage, too. The camera with 4 megapixels only is really more usable.
In the end the photo quality debate is a "luxury issue", the "ordinary" customer will not see a quality issue in the images. But the fact that he/she can really easily share their photos shot with the One - which they in real life can't with photos from their Samsung and other phones due to the sheer size of the images - this must be communicated to the customer. In addition, 32 GB built in storage on the One due to the difference in size of the camera's images in real life equal 50 GB storage on the Samsung.
To my opinion, therefore the success of the HTC One is not so dependent on the question whether 13 megapixels are better than 4 (or vice versa), but on the question whether they succeed in explaining the potential of smaller image files to the masses. My serious concern is, that even HTC and their marketing people are not aware really, what HTC's development department had in mind.

[Discussion] Camera firmware

I've came across Note2, S4, G2 and now I'm on Z1. And I've expected for camera to be top out of those, but left disappointed. I feel like hardware could do so much more, but that camera firmware is so.. so... Nah, don't even have word for it. It's like Krait 400 clocked at 0.5 GHz.
What was Sony thinking?
Colors are off, there's too much noise, no option for wide 16MP, or something like that, white balance is off... It's mess!
If Samsung had this sensor, I feel like it would rock 1020 with it's firmware.. Do you feel same?

Yes,I guess so.
Did you try the manual mode and playing with the ISO?
Sent from my C6603 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

The Developers will improve the software soon. Anyway I still one from many disappointed. The hardware is ok, software from Sony sucks.

Eclyptos : The camera software from Sony DOESN'T SUCK! It just needs improvement. If it would suck, you wouldn't be able to take such good pictures in manual mode (check the forum in the Z1 camera tests).
But that requires some knoledge ...
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

bogdan wst said:
Eclyptos : The camera software from Sony DOESN'T SUCK! It just needs improvement. If it would suck, you wouldn't be able to take such good pictures in manual mode (check the forum in the Z1 camera tests).
But that requires some knoledge ...
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HElp me with this what settings do you use in manual to get good pics??

very disappointed
im very disappointed with cam of my Z1, very very noise specialy in colors more dark, im waiting a lot of updates for cam.... noise, wide 16 for example.. and others

,,,,,,

cooldude9119 said:
HElp me with this what settings do you use in manual to get good pics??
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Lol, go read photographing forums, same rules apply for all cameras, here is not the place to learn how to shoot.
Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk

It really.isn't.that bad. Sure, the 1020 is better but it's probably the best Android camera (Sony was with the Xperia S too).
It.does have issues.in auto mode.when.in iffy conditions but you.can get amazing results with this phone!
Sent from my C6903 using xda app-developers app

highly disappointed, the camera is designed by the cybershot team man, how can it be so crappy. imagine processing is one thing, the functionality is a complete joke, 20 MP only then 8MP? Not even a 16MP 16:9 or 16MP 4:3. The sensor size would probably be great for 16MP photos, but 20MP is probably a bit too much. The auto mode is complete trash too, only time I ever get good shot is only under perfect light condition. Unless they are still trying to iron out a few things, or the cybershot team lacks experience writing software for ARM processor or something. There is no excuse of it being as what it is now. And it was out for a while and we still don't see any major improvement what so ever, they should be ashame of themselves.

Looks like not everyone disagrees with me like they did on my post here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2562211
Oh well, maybe the will improve it on the upcoming 14.2.A.1.114 firmware update.

Man I don't know why people complain so much about the camera! Maybe I'm just lucky but my phone takes absolutely brilliant pics! I threw a few pics onto a massive Samsung smart TV not so long ago and I was blown away by the quality! Sure it struggles a bit in low ligting conditions but honestly it's still good for a phone, I think people were expecting DSLR quality pics when they bought this phone or expecting it to be the same as a Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera? By comparison to the two cameras I mentioned, it will never be on par with those because it has a much smaller sensor. For what it is (a phone camera) it is brilliant.
I'm not denying that there is definite room for improvement on the software side but honestly currently it's still a killer camera (if you know how to use it properly)
I don't understand why people are so nit picky about this phone, people have ripped it to shreds over small details but at the end of the day it's a killer android phone worthy to be a flagship device. I know other's have had issues with displays... blah blah blah. Infact I did too, I had a tiny dead pixel on mine the first time I turned it on, sent it back and they gave me a replacement no questions asked! My point is, if you're so unhappy about the device then just sell it and buy another phone or if there's a fault with it then get it fixed or replaced under warranty instead of ripping the phone to shreds

NanoSurfer said:
Man I don't know why people complain so much about the camera! Maybe I'm just lucky but my phone takes absolutely brilliant pics! I threw a few pics onto a massive Samsung smart TV not so long ago and I was blown away by the quality! Sure it struggles a bit in low ligting conditions but honestly it's still good for a phone, I think people were expecting DSLR quality pics when they bought this phone or expecting it to be the same as a Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera? By comparison to the two cameras I mentioned, it will never be on par with those because it has a much smaller sensor. For what it is (a phone camera) it is brilliant.
I'm not denying that there is definite room for improvement on the software side but honestly currently it's still a killer camera (if you know how to use it properly)
I don't understand why people are so nit picky about this phone, people have ripped it to shreds over small details but at the end of the day it's a killer android phone worthy to be a flagship device. I know other's have had issues with displays... blah blah blah. Infact I did too, I had a tiny dead pixel on mine the first time I turned it on, sent it back and they gave me a replacement no questions asked! My point is, if you're so unhappy about the device then just sell it and buy another phone or if there's a fault with it then get it fixed or replaced under warranty instead of ripping the phone to shreds
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It's not the camera that itself that people are complaining about. It's the auto mode. I think some of us know that it takes great photos with the right manual settings but what is the point of having the Auto mode if it doesn't work properly?
I really want to love this phone as it is probably the most elegant device out there, has excellent battery life, and the performance is one of the best but it's the unpredictable auto mode on the camera that bugs the crap out of me and most of the people who are not happy about the camera.

soulreaver99 said:
It's not the camera that itself that people are complaining about. It's the auto mode. I think some of us know that it takes great photos with the right manual settings but what is the point of having the Auto mode if it doesn't work properly?
I really want to love this phone as it is probably the most elegant device out there, has excellent battery life, and the performance is one of the best but it's the unpredictable auto mode on the camera that bugs the crap out of me and most of the people who are not happy about the camera.
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Ok yes, on that point I agree with you. Auto mode could be better. Im 100% sure that Sony keeps an eye on this forum as we are the most critical users out there, the average Joe probably doesn't care much about the camera and uses the phone for texting and calls so my point is they are aware of it and they will address it, give them time. They heard our screams with the bootloader fiasco! Btw Samsung wouldn't have even cared less about the issue but Sony does, so just wait for them to sort the software issues out.

First of all, Merry Christmas everyone
I've been shooting some photos yesterday and conclusion is this. Night or low light photos (indoors) looks awful, but daylight photos looks fantastic even on front facing camera. But, it's not proportional how awesome day photos looks like. I mean, there's so much detail, colors are good, and wb is just fine, but at night, there is so much noise, artifacts on front camera.. It's impossible that hardware is one to blame..
I sure hope Sony will fix it in new firmware update..

cooldude9119 said:
HElp me with this what settings do you use in manual to get good pics??
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It's not the camera, it's the photographer.... Seriously, how do you expect us to give you the right settings we don't even know what the subject is, the lighting you have, etc... Before complaining, learn about photography and what each setting does and maybe you will take better pictures.
Sent from my C6903 using xda premium

I agree with u all… its just the SA that needs tunning. The manual mode is great for people who knows how to treat it
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Noise, noise, noise.....
My xperia T takes way far better pictures....
When they ask your money for "the best camera phone" (lol) they should give you at least something a little better than the previous flagship, not worse....
I agree that the camera takes some good pictures here and there but when you zoom in the quality goes to.....

NanoSurfer said:
Man I don't know why people complain so much about the camera!
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They don't want to take the effort to get better shots. One decent shot in the photo thread is all it takes to debunk them. Hardest thing to figure out is lighting. Get that right and the shots are fantastic. Same applies to any camera.
NanoSurfer said:
I think people were expecting DSLR quality pics when they bought this phone or expecting it to be the same as a Sony Cybershot point and shoot camera? By comparison to the two cameras I mentioned, it will never be on par with those because it has a much smaller sensor. For what it is (a phone camera) it is brilliant.
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Was looking at the cybershot line and the bulk of them come with 1/2.3" sensors only the RX100 uses a 1 inch sensor. Meaning its around 4x bigger with carl zeiss glass.
The advantage these PS have is the optical zoom. But do they work well in auto in the hands of some one that cannot take a photo. No. Was just looking at vacation pics a friend took and so many of them were out of focus. Her compact has the same sensor size but only the outdoors photos come out ok. There is quite some noise in a double tap on the tab. Again using auto, indoors it uses a lower shutter speed and i was apalled to see 5/10 shots coming out blurred. The flash blows everybody away. When it does not you get a decent shot.
Indoors in artificial lighting in sub par lighting any compact size sensor is going to struggle. The hardest are indoors subpar lighting where you're forced to use the flash to avoid blur. Have to use higher ISOs in this case, no you won't be able to avoid noise but you will get better shots ie more natural than with a flash.
NanoSurfer said:
I don't understand why people are so nit picky about this phone, people have ripped it to shreds over small details but at the end of the day it's a killer android phone worthy to be a flagship device. I know other's have had issues with displays... blah blah blah. Infact I did too, I had a tiny dead pixel on mine the first time I turned it on, sent it back and they gave me a replacement no questions asked! My point is, if you're so unhappy about the device then just sell it and buy another phone or if there's a fault with it then get it fixed or replaced under warranty instead of ripping the phone to shreds
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yeah and then when they get the next device, they'll go spam the respective forum with more *****ing & whining. Take a look around the board and every camera gets bashed. This is normal. Expect it and ignore it.
Bandwidth bandits the lot of 'em

The reason we all expected this to be a great camera, is because Sony told us it was with all their marketing. I was so excited by the phone. But the camera was the reason I returned it. Otherwise, it is a splendid piece of kit.

There is no denying it, Xperia Cameras suck :(

Let me just first put it out there that I'm a loyal Sony guy. I've owned the Xperia TL, Xperia ZL, Xperia Z1 and now the Xperia Z3C.
With that said, I knew the Sony cameras took subpar pics, whether in full auto or manual mode, they just look bad. Add low light or indoor to the mix, and you've got what looks like a pic from a 2005 Nokia phone. Sorry, I know we all love our Xperias, but Sony should be ashamed of themselves for doing this, considering that they make awesome DSLRs and point and shoots.
So why am I being a rabble rouser all of a sudden? Well, I just got a Note 4 as my work phone and needless to say, I was blown away by the camera results. The differences are night and day between the two. Sadly, I'm supposed to be carrying my work phone just during work days, but I found myself leaving my Z3C at home and going out with the Note 4 this weekend, and you should see the pics I took.
I don't know if the lens is good but the software is bad on the Sony, but if there is any hope that Lollipop will make it better with RAW, I sure hope Sony takes advantage of it.

I agree. The camera of the Lumia 925 that I had, was much better than the camera's compact Z3.
To be honest, this camera does not please me one bit, outside the fact that it does not have optical image stabilizer.

Check the "post pictures that you have taken with your z3c" or something thread. Also, photos will naturally look better on amoled. Transfer your z3c pictures to Note 4 and then look at them again. Might seem better. I find both cameras great by the way
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I wouldn't say suck. I'd just say average.
If you buy this phone for the camera, you're doing it from the wrong direction.
It'd be like buying this phone for the 'best speakers on the market', when HTC One's are those.
The Z3C phone is the best for compact and power; it's a pocket rocket and that's what it specializes at first and foremost, second being its water proof-dust proof without being some rugged phone.
So why am I being a rabble rouser all of a sudden? Well, I just got a Note 4 as my work phone and needless to say, I was blown away by the camera results. The differences are night and day between the two. Sadly, I'm supposed to be carrying my work phone just during work days, but I found myself leaving my Z3C at home and going out with the Note 4 this weekend, and you should see the pics I took.
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If you're taking around a Note 4, then you're clearly weren't in for the Z3C's compact and pocket rocket in the first place, and you're now choosing the best camera in stead.

Please just tell me that you're comparing pictures on a PC.

Moist said:
Please just tell me that you're comparing pictures on a PC.
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EXACTLY.
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You are comparing a quad HD display to a 720p. You're not comparing the camera performance. Just the display. I'd do the comparison again on a PC

I still don't understand what is wrong with Sony's compact camera ... my compact camera is taking great pictures :laugh:

No, I've been comparing the photos on my thunderbolt display, so no bias toward the Note 4's screen in any way.
And no, I'm not all sold on the Note 4, I still can't live without the compactness of my Z3C.
I will take identical photos from both phones today and post here.

Z3c camera doesn't suck, it's "just" above average.
The only other phone with superior camera that rivals Z3C's performance, size and specs is the iPhone 5s to be honest.
Samsung phones have the best cameras overall, but their devices aren't one-hand friendly.

If you want top notch pictures then you need to buy a decent camera.. For a mobile phone camera it does its job, I have no issues with it.
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pricey2009 said:
If you want top notch pictures then you need to buy a decent camera.. For a mobile phone camera it does its job, I have no issues with it.
Sent from my D5803 using XDA Premium HD app
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Try Lumia920. I still prefer it.

Compare any Nokia you want against an alpha 6000 (or any dslr or mirrorless camera).
Once you go big lenses and big sensors, you never go back.

ro_explorer said:
I still don't understand what is wrong with Sony's compact camera ... my compact camera is taking great pictures :laugh:
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I'm curious what's settings are you using?(mode, iso, etc)
Any tip to improve my photos?

XQC said:
Z3c camera doesn't suck, it's "just" above average.
The only other phone with superior camera that rivals Z3C's performance, size and specs is the iPhone 5s to be honest.
Samsung phones have the best cameras overall, but their devices aren't one-hand friendly.
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Pretty much this.
I see nothing but good things about Samsung's phones, but when they get smaller and remove those physical buttons, I'll consider grabbing one... which may be never since it's their signature.

cerberustri said:
I'm curious what's settings are you using?(mode, iso, etc)
Any tip to improve my photos?
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There is no universal recipe for taking good photos. All parameters are heavily dependant on the camera specs.
In my case, I'm taking usable photos even at ISO6400 and, with a size reduction afterwards, I can even go higher (12800).
The aperture is dependant on the lens you are using. A too large aperture will lead to blurry edges and soft images on cheap lenses. A too closed one will generate light fringing leading to artefacts. Then there is the focal length .... again, the lenses are behaving totally different.
It's all coming down to trial and error and understanding the limitations of your equipment.
And coming back on-topic, I would love to have full manual controls over the Z3C's camera (including long exposure and RAW data). That will allow for truly great photos with this tiny camera.

The most terrible thing I am concerned about is "soft skin" effect that seems to be always turned on.
See the discussion here: https://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperia-Z3-Compact/Soft-Skin-effect/td-p/838361/highlight/false/page/4

ro_explorer said:
There is no universal recipe for taking good photos. All parameters are heavily dependant on the camera specs.
In my case, I'm taking usable photos even at ISO6400 and, with a size reduction afterwards, I can even go higher (12800).
The aperture is dependant on the lens you are using. A too large aperture will lead to blurry edges and soft images on cheap lenses. A too closed one will generate light fringing leading to artefacts. Then there is the focal length .... again, the lenses are behaving totally different.
It's all coming down to trial and error and understanding the limitations of your equipment.
And coming back on-topic, I would love to have full manual controls over the Z3C's camera (including long exposure and RAW data). That will allow for truly great photos with this tiny camera.
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I think, he thought you took the picture of the camera, with your Z3C. And so, was asking what settings you had on your phone to make the picture of the camera look so good compared to his.

ogyct said:
The most terrible thing I am concerned about is "soft skin" effect that seems to be always turned on.
See the discussion here: https://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xperia-Z3-Compact/Soft-Skin-effect/td-p/838361/highlight/false/page/4
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Yeah. It's still not fixed in lollipop update.
I just don't understand why they don't fix this bug. It's a simple thing to fix i think, and because of that, front camera isn't useable at all!!

Calvat said:
I think, he thought you took the picture of the camera, with your Z3C. And so, was asking what settings you had on your phone to make the picture of the camera look so good compared to his.
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Actually I took that picture with the z3c just to show what I'm actually using to take photos . The phones camera was on auto but, the camera itself is only part of the picture. There is also framing and there is also light.
BTW, these are a bunch of samples captured today, on manual mode, with z3c running lollipop (for who is interested). In my opinion the quality of the camera is pretty low but still, usable in case of emergency.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B08eVSlv8mIUNnBTcTc5YmlHcVk/view?usp=sharing
// sent from my phone //