Database Users

The notes camera

I just bought a new camera to tote around mainly for my wife. I thought it was a pretty good camera, it's a fuji 14mp point and shoot. I've had one in the past which was pretty good.
Anyway, my point being my freaking camera on my note takes much better pictures than this camera does. I would think a dedicated camera would be the winner but Samsung did a good job here.
I've seen threads past complaining about the notes camera but mine takes great pics. Needless to sat wife still asks for the phone to take pics. That was a waste of money
From the big ole Note

Try comparing the two in conditions with poor lighting, particularly in any scenario that would require a flash or longer exposure.

When it comes to camera's, opposed to what alot of people think, the amount of megapixels you have isn't important at all. What's more important is the lens, and how big it is. The lighting, shutter time etc..
Just like knightnz said, the fuji would probably come out on top in "harder" to capture pictures.
Still I have to agree, the Note takes amazing pictures.

Yea I haven't tried the note much in low light or night pics so I'll have to check it out. I understand and have always read mp mean nothing so what is the point of these higher mp counts? I mean they are coming out with a friggin 41mp camera soon on a phone at that! Why the need for high mp if they don't affect quality?
From the big ole Note

It is just for marketing purpose.
Gesendet von meinem GT-N7000 mit Tapatalk

sprintuser1977 said:
Yea I haven't tried the note much in low light or night pics so I'll have to check it out. I understand and have always read mp mean nothing so what is the point of these higher mp counts? I mean they are coming out with a friggin 41mp camera soon on a phone at that! Why the need for high mp if they don't affect quality?
From the big ole Note
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Click to collapse
It's not like the phone takes a 2GB 41 mp jpeg lol. It's a new type of technology that combines pixles in such a way that it creates a 5-8mp file with lossless 4x zoom and greatly reduced noise.
The *real* breakthrough is the size of the lense and the amount of light it lets in. I've seen some sample pictures and it has a mean DOF effect and almost no noise.
Back to the point. The notes camera is great and it is better than a few point and shoots that my friends have, I just wish there was image stabilisation but that's just software right?

a wise man once said:
"The best Camera to have, is the one that's is in your hand."

I havnt been too impressed with the camera.. It is pretty good for a phone but I miss how fast my iPhone snapped a pic compared to this.. Not saying it's bad though
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

James Harrison said:
Back to the point. The notes camera is great and it is better than a few point and shoots that my friends have, I just wish there was image stabilisation but that's just software right?
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Click to collapse
Well, the best image stabilisation is actually hardware. It is a prism that moves based on a gyroscope to compensate for all camera movements. Effectively it keeps the physical focus point where it was and moves it slowly to where it now is, avoiding the quick shake caused by your movements. Software can only compensate slightly by moving the physical focus around in a similar way in a larger recorded image.
The best I have ever had is in my Sony HandyCam. It was the bees knees when I bought it many years ago. Full 1080p video with a superb and huge Carl Zeiss lens. Dark shots were great and better than most other cameras, and it even does a fair IR night mode. The videos are very stable as long as you do not do any large swings. The 10x optical zoom is also fantastic.
Now my Note stands in, but it will never replace the HC because of the poorer dark videos, lack of zoom, and the complete lack of stabilisation. Having said that, it is used a hell of a lot more as a camera and video cam, because it is always with me!

jb9217a said:
I havnt been too impressed with the camera.. It is pretty good for a phone but I miss how fast my iPhone snapped a pic compared to this.. Not saying it's bad though
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Once ics comes in, u will get 0 shutter lag ! much faster than iphone...

Is there anyway we can shut camera click sound ?

The camera is good enough.
But when you see your note camera taking better pictures than stand alone point and shoot snapper, you know you have crap point and shoot camera or the person taking photographs is not taking pictures properly.
Under good light conditions, these modern snappers will match the P&S sensor quality if you know what you are doing. Picture quality varies greatly by simple choice of settings by the person taking pictures on Note. Leave it at auto and you will not get the best results in tricky conditions. You also need steady hands to get good snaps from Note camera.
But overall, its good enough to be good casual snapper.
But if you start comparing Note against even older good compact cameras like Panasonic ZS7 (which is now outdated), its not even close. These point and shoot cameras will outperform Note under any condition. Leave alone more expensive and also cameras with newer better sensors available today.
The good thing about Note camera is that it takes more than decent pictures with relatively accurate colour reproduction unlike some other phone cameras.

Mobile camera run down
jeromepearce said:
..lack of zoom..
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Click to collapse
There is a rather crappy digital zoom that happens when you press the volume button and swipe your finger across the slider that appears.. like here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7abTRUO4WQ
(ignore the girl lol)
In other areas: I realise now that the stabilisation is hardware but you'd be SO suprised at how much software effects the video quality. I have 2 examples.
My old HD2 on windows mobile or android had TERRIBLE low light quality, frame rate dropped down to 9/10 fps, image noise was just unacceptable. -->
Updated to windows phone 7, and low light was quality is insane now. did not drop a single frame. The quality even went up to full 720p (which was not possible before)
I've even made some short movies with it because the low light was so good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZP68dAtn14 and the non "8mm style" shots in here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JQVeeZL4aQ
(sorry not trying to drop videos here but just so you get my point)
Second example is my transformer prime. Same thing. On Honeycomb terrible fps in low light and a whole heap of noise ---> ICS update and the camera was a different beast.
My point is, software is very important in mobile cameras. Once we get ICS, we can start complaining or praising properly

katyarevishal said:
Once ics comes in, u will get 0 shutter lag ! much faster than iphone...
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Click to collapse
Dear katyarevishal,
I was hoping that till trying ICS leak but shutter lag is still same as GB... Losing my hope... Thats why i am using Fast Burst Camera app to catch the moment but limited to 1 mpx...
Kind regards...
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

PROTOCHIP said:
Dear katyarevishal,
I was hoping that till trying ICS leak but shutter lag is still same as GB... Losing my hope... Thats why i am using Fast Burst Camera app to catch the moment but limited to 1 mpx...
Kind regards...
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats because its a leak and hasnt got the fully working driverset

HTC One - Some Impressive Photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lng0004/sets/72157633487686583/
Very good looking photos, taken with the HTC One. Impressive what can be done with a little knowledge of lighting, and a bit of post editing.
Apparently all the editing was done with stock features or Avairy.

Great shot!:good:

Those are some awesome shots indeed. But I think there are a couple of these threads already that this could be merged with.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

sly101s said:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lng0004/sets/72157633487686583/
Very good looking photos, taken with the HTC One. Impressive what can be done with a little knowledge of lighting, and a bit of post editing.
Apparently all the editing was done with stock features or Avairy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stunning!
Downloading Aviary now

The content and artistic value is impressive. The quality of the images are not really that mpressive though. You can tell its been taken on a mobile phone.

Rubbish
mwatson said:
The content and artistic value is impressive. The quality of the images are not really that mpressive though. You can tell its been taken on a mobile phone.
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The only way to tell that these are taken on a mobile is if you knew before hand!
Great shots, that could have been taken with the majority of compact cameras
No shame in any of them!
Great shooting

Dal1970 said:
The only way to tell that these are taken on a mobile is if you knew before hand!
Great shots, that could have been taken with the majority of compact cameras
No shame in any of them!
Great shooting
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Click to collapse
They way to tell is view them at their full size (in other words at 100%), its then VERY clear they were taken with a low MP phone cam. They aren't very sharp. Remember your monitor is lower resolution than the images, if you view them even full screen the reduction gives a sharpening effect, hides aliasing on lines, masks artefacts. The 'effects' applied also hide the Ones poor dynamic range.
They are very very well composed shots, and are great looking scenes, which is something the One does very well because it has a fast shutter and therefore little blur, but no they arent quality images from a technical standpoint. The problems with the One camera are still quite clear.

If you zoom in close on any shot you see the pixels - it is digital
I use a D7000 as my main camera and if you zoom in close enough is is pixelated
When you view these shots at a sensible size, there is nothing wrong with them. They will never blow up as large as my dSLR, but that is a different animal entirely.
the low light shots and indoor shot I took on my iPhone 4 are attrocious in comparison - took me ages to correct the colour casts and reduce the HUGE amount of noise

100% is not zoomed, its native. Its shortcomings are very evident at native resolution. I suspect those that don't notice are viewing on the phone or on a fairly small monitor. If thats the case, and you're happy, then fine.
Yes its great in low light, although some other phones manage quite well with HDR mode in low light, however in daylight the One is just a poor quality 4MP camera. Those images have done their best to hide it with great composition and effects, but its still evident.
One way to hide it a bit is to enlarge the picture in Photoshop, maybe to 16MP or more, then apply a smart sharpen of maybe 2.5 pixels and 75%, then drop back to 8MP. It cleans up a lot of the aliasing, artefacting and in effect interpolates a higher resolution.

Awesome shots welldone!
It always amazes me that some people expect a phone camera to match a DSLR.. i have both and yes the One isnt as good as my DSLR but it takes brilliant shots and is a whole lot easier to carry around in my pocket

sharpey said:
Awesome shots welldone!
It always amazes me that some people expect a phone camera to match a DSLR.. i have both and yes the One isnt as good as my DSLR but it takes brilliant shots and is a whole lot easier to carry around in my pocket
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No one expects it to match a DSLR, but to approach a 5 year old 5MP phone in daylight would be nice, and it just doesnt. This is why people are upset by the Ones camera. Its low light abilities are great, but its daylight abilities, especially moderate to long distance shots are very poor, even for 4 MP.

mwatson said:
The content and artistic value is impressive. The quality of the images are not really that mpressive though. You can tell its been taken on a mobile phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
The same photographer could have made equally amazing photos with any other smartphone or crappy point and shoot.
The value of those photos come from their composition and lighting, not the image quality. Its the old argument of photographer vs camera.
But yes, very nice photos

Those are some great photos, is that Chinatown in Manhattan?

rovex said:
No one expects it to match a DSLR, but to approach a 5 year old 5MP phone in daylight would be nice, and it just doesnt. This is why people are upset by the Ones camera. Its low light abilities are great, but its daylight abilities, especially moderate to long distance shots are very poor, even for 4 MP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, see... this is where I have a problem: I think the daylight abilities are quite good, but that it really sucks in low light.... For me, all the photos I take in low light (ex. a street corner at night, with lamp posts around) it turns the black into blue noise and it takes some time and a few shots to get a focused photot, even with all the blue in the picture...

Impressive pics imo
Sent from my HTC One using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

We have a photo sharing thread already. The OP in this thread put up some specific shots and claimed they were "impressive". There's plenty to discuss there without opening it up to random new shots with generic captions
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

NxNW said:
We have a photo sharing thread already. The OP in this thread put up some specific shots and claimed they were "impressive". There's plenty to discuss there without opening it up to random new shots with generic captions
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry wrong thread... Will delete.
Sent from my HTC One using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2

Yeah if you just want to share you can always go to
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2169626
Plenty of good shots in there..
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

Incredible quality. One of the main reason why I choose One. I can probably say goodbye to my digital camera now.

Flattered you think my shots are impressive. Sure, I agree that the photographer makes the difference (;p) but the HTC one camera tech really helps. I've yet to take a photo in low light only to find it shaky later. Never. Of course, sometimes sharpness comes with higher noise level but better than a shaky image.
I feel like I'm using an old camera with fixed wide angle lens when shooting with the HTC One. HDR what? ;p

Photos taken with HTC One from the top of Mount Elbrus

Hi guys, I would like to share some photos I took with my HTC One from the summit of Mount Elbrus.
Just a note tho, i was wearing ski goggles and the sun was extreme bright. So i couldn't really see the screen. It was mostly 'point and shoot' without the focusing part.
It was roughly -20 degrees at the summit, I was genuinely surprised when my beloved One was still functioning (my brother's iPhone died at the summit).
I did experience some difficulties taking some pictures while near the peak, I don't know if its from the cold (the battery was around 3 degrees Celsius) or everything was too white for the autofocus to work properly. sometimes it took roughly 10 seconds (from pressing the shutter to picture being saved) for the picture to be taken.
I would love to hear your guys opinion regarding the photos!
Another thing, The battery on the One is EXTREMELY resilient, I was able to run the GPS chip to do Geo-logging for over 12 hours and the battery was only down the 30% even in the extreme temperature!
General information about Mount Elbrus:
Highest mountain in the continental Europe, standing at 5642m above sea level.

nice!!

Wow. Nice pictures from a nice adventure. Thank you.
Skickat från min HTC One via Tapatalk 2

That's incredible! Thanks for sharing, and congrats on your climb!

Those look like some great pics to me..
Thanks for sharing them and the story behind it..

Very nice indeed the camera on this phone despite what some so call experts say is one of the best on a smartphone
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

These are really great pictures.
They remind me that the One has very coarse granulation of image adjustments. ie, trying to increase the exposure of a scene by the minimum increment will *drastically* increase the exposure.
In scenes like the ones in these pictures where there is a lot of snow, you generally want the snow to be a little whiter, less gray, so that the distant sky and forest will have a normal exposure. If the One allowed you to increase exposure *a little bit* , you could probably get the perfect balance of detail and realism. But I imagine if you set the camera to the smallest possible increase, ie " + 1 " , it would completely blow out all the lighter areas of the picture.
..at least with the initial versions of the camera software (ie system software 1.2x). They may improve this later I realize.
Of course at 5000+ meters you probably don't want to be playing around with the "image adjustments" menu anyway. So the default settings produced perfectly acceptable shots considering the conditions.

Gorgeous pictures. Congrats as well, amazing milestone.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

Someone should spread this story. A feel good story for the One.
-Sent from Marino's One-

Great story and great pics mate :thumbup:
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Amazing pictures man.....great adventure...
The only thing is... its a pitty that there is so much noise in the bluesky in the pictures..
I hope htc will fix this...other wise great

Here's some more photo near the summit.
I don't understand why there is so much noise...

john291 said:
Amazing pictures man.....great adventure...
The only thing is... its a pitty that there is so much noise in the bluesky in the pictures..
I hope htc will fix this...other wise great
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Click to collapse
I was about to say, am I the only one that doesn't agree that theses are great pictures? It seems many judge pictures by the scenery but not the quality of the image.
Sure the subject matter and location are stunning, but the quality of the image is not really that good. My old sgs2 would have taken a better picture with more clarity and less noise. That phone is over two years old!
If I took a grainy, noisy picture of Kim karsashian in bed with Cheryl Cole people,would still be saying wow! Great image! What a great camera! The One sure has a good sensor!
No offence, I have the One, like the one, keeping the one, but I sure hope some image improvements are on the way.

I think it's certainly possible to find fault with the images.
But we have lots of other threads for stuff like that.
I'm willing to just accept this thread at face value: a guy took this phone to the top of a very high mountain and the phone's camera performed ably in this unusual environment. Nothing more nothing less.
I commend him for the report (as well as the journey itself!).
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

NxNW said:
I think it's certainly possible to find fault with the images.
But we have lots of other threads for stuff like that.
I'm willing to just accept this thread at face value: a guy took this phone to the top of a very high mountain and the phone's camera performed ably in this unusual environment. Nothing more nothing less.
I commend him for the report (as well as the journey itself!).
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly.... I've taken a number on top of mountains myself and whilst the One shoots ably, the fact is the photos once you actually zoom in lack detail. The grave stone in first pictures for example lacks detail, the text can not be read. Everything beyond normal focal range is overly soft and lacking details and suffer noise and artefacts. Or the fact in one of the photos of your climbing partners, if you zoom in you can't even make out details on their clothing or faces sadly.
As much as I love my One, the reality is for landscapes where much of clarity is in distant objects the 4mp on the one just isn't enough to capture the fine details.
Yes they look great on Facebook, twitter and posted on forums when viewed quickly, but when you load up the full image and actually examine it the faults are all to easy find.
In the scenario the OP took the picture, blue clear day - ultrapixel actually provided NO benefit as there was always enough light for the image to capture, but the lack of megapixels does hurt because with greater MP we would have been able to see so much more clarity in the photo, a clarity that would have done so much more justice to the breathtaking view on the summit than sadly the camera does capture.
Congrats OP on your climb / achievement - its great. But I think some folks are mixing up your 'great' achievement with 'great' photo. Sadly the photos are just fine.

g2525 said:
Hi guys, I would like to share some photos I took with my HTC One from the summit of Mount Elbrus.
Just a note tho, i was wearing ski goggles and the sun was extreme bright. So i couldn't really see the screen. It was mostly 'point and shoot' without the focusing part.
It was roughly -20 degrees at the summit, I was genuinely surprised when my beloved One was still functioning (my brother's iPhone died at the summit).
I did experience some difficulties taking some pictures while near the peak, I don't know if its from the cold (the battery was around 3 degrees Celsius) or everything was too white for the autofocus to work properly. sometimes it took roughly 10 seconds (from pressing the shutter to picture being saved) for the picture to be taken.
I would love to hear your guys opinion regarding the photos!
Another thing, The battery on the One is EXTREMELY resilient, I was able to run the GPS chip to do Geo-logging for over 12 hours and the battery was only down the 30% even in the extreme temperature!
General information about Mount Elbrus:
Highest mountain in the continental Europe, standing at 5642m above sea level.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome pics buddy! Beautiful view! Congrats on the climb
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium

nookcoloruser said:
Exactly.... I've taken a number on top of mountains myself and whilst the One shoots ably, the fact is the photos once you actually zoom in lack detail. The grave stone in first pictures for example lacks detail, the text can not be read. Everything beyond normal focal range is overly soft and lacking details and suffer noise and artefacts. Or the fact in one of the photos of your climbing partners, if you zoom in you can't even make out details on their clothing or faces sadly.
As much as I love my One, the reality is for landscapes where much of clarity is in distant objects the 4mp on the one just isn't enough to capture the fine details.
Yes they look great on Facebook, twitter and posted on forums when viewed quickly, but when you load up the full image and actually examine it the faults are all to easy find.
In the scenario the OP took the picture, blue clear day - ultrapixel actually provided NO benefit as there was always enough light for the image to capture, but the lack of megapixels does hurt because with greater MP we would have been able to see so much more clarity in the photo, a clarity that would have done so much more justice to the breathtaking view on the summit than sadly the camera does capture.
Congrats OP on your climb / achievement - its great. But I think some folks are mixing up your 'great' achievement with 'great' photo. Sadly the photos are just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes it's a basic fact the ultrapixel camera will never be useful if zoomed, for that get another device
otherwise its one of the best all rounder phone cameras, especially in low light
the only thing weird in these photos, considering how much sun is that the images are little under exposed, guess the phone was trying to counter the extreme light in auto mode
as for the battery looks like heat is a good contributor to drain in ordinary use

hamdir said:
the only thing weird in these photos, considering how much sun is that the images are little under exposed, guess the phone was trying to counter the extreme light in auto mode
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was actually thinking the same thing. Setting must have been changed in camera for contrast / exposure because I've shot in similar circumstances and the HTC One will tend to over expose. It could also explain 'additional' noise in the image if settings like that have been changed in image adjustments.
I think HDR would have likely done a better job at balancing it out (which is what I tend to do myself) rather than leaving it on standard setting albeit with image settings adjusted....

Absolutely amazing! First of all congratulations on your milestone...a fantastic achievement!
Secondly...I would like to propose your post + pics for HTC One's top-achievement...ever (so far). Ridiculous really for a mobile phone to function at all at nearly 6 km height...plus taking some real quailty pics to boot :highfive:

mwatson said:
I was about to say, am I the only one that doesn't agree that theses are great pictures? It seems many judge pictures by the scenery but not the quality of the image.
Sure the subject matter and location are stunning, but the quality of the image is not really that good. My old sgs2 would have taken a better picture with more clarity and less noise. That phone is over two years old!
If I took a grainy, noisy picture of Kim karsashian in bed with Cheryl Cole people,would still be saying wow! Great image! What a great camera! The One sure has a good sensor!
No offence, I have the One, like the one, keeping the one, but I sure hope some image improvements are on the way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would the SGS2 have taken better pictures in that extreme environment though?
Yes they are a bit noisy, yes the scenery is great, there is a tradeoff there but the real issue is the environment.

Dealbreaker?

Hey guys, I've had my Moto X for a week now and I might return to my Note 3. I really like this phone overall, but man the camera really is that bad. I read all the stories but hoped the update would be good enough for me. Unfortunately it hasn't been.
I can't even imagine how bad the camera must have been before the update. The camera is simply dreadful. Do I have a defective Moto X or is it really this bad?
If I'm not outside on a sunny day or in a really well lit room, it's the worst camera I've ever had on any smartphone that I've ever owned. And that includes phones from over 4 years ago. Is it really this bad?
Here are some sample shots. I took these same shots with my Note 3, and those shots blew these away. I will try to post those later.
Sent from my XT1058 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Yes, It is that bad. Coming from a S4 and I know what you mean. But I still love being free with a unlocked bootlaoder and would not go back.

Ughh, I was afraid of that. I really like the phone, but not sure I can deal with this. Thanks bro.
Sent from my XT1058 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I don't think the camera is bad at all. I didn't get to experience how it was before any of the updates though.
So far color representation looks to be spot on. I was even impressed by the low light quality. I took a picture last night in a dimly lit room and was astounded at how good the picture came out. It's way better than my last phone (EVO 3D).

ahhh ya i came from an iPhone 4 which is 3.5 yrs old and the camera on that was better in every category except low light performance.

Are you using HDR?
I also see that your flash seems to be firing. I have Auto Flash OFF because the pictures to look very washed out with the bright white flash. I find that the camera works much better and has much better saturation in lower light with the flash off.
If I'm just taking a picture of a list or piece of paper and I only need to be able to see/read it, I use the flash, otherwise I keep the flash off for "nice" photos.

Have you tried using any camera apps. I would recommend the following two apps :"a Better Camera "almost fully functional in the free version and FV-5, a paid app and I don't believe there is a trial version. I have been experimenting with both apps and have been quiet successful getting some really decent low light shots. Both apps allow you to set the ISO level and "a Better Camera" allows you to set the amount of noise reduction for low light shots (the options are None, Minor & Hard). Worth trying out either app in my opinion.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I've got pics of the kids inside at night, with flash on... And the pics are easy better than my s2 was. I find background light can make the pic taking tricky tho. I have to move slightly one easy or the other and when I get it right the pics are just fine. Maybe other phones handle background light easier.... But with a little practise, I find this camera pretty good.
That's just me.
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 12:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:08 PM ----------
And yes... Sometimes you think you need a flash inside... When you don't. And the pics are easy better with no flash. Again... I had to play around and get to know how and where the best pics turn out.
But again.... I'm one of those, it's just a phone camera guys... I'm maybe not as picky. I'm not trying to sell my pics, so I'm happy. If I know I want to take very good pics somewhere... In advance... I bring my camera.
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

Right about now it would be nice to see 4.4.2 with camera update. Noise/quality are un-exeptable for a $500+ phone. Yes S4 is night and day difference with Moto X in camera.
S4 was the FIRST camera in phone that I used and I took many pictures, most came out usable and some pretty impressive. With MX, most pictures indoors I cant even look at.....I delete all of them right away.

The only place I find camera quality to be bad is in low light, but it's not the hardware, it's the software. The camera software just sets the ISO higher than it should and overexposes everything in low light. I use FV-5 to manually set a lower ISO and manually set the metering point so that it doesn't overexpose the shot, and then I can get great shots in low light. If you don't know a little about cameras or aren't willing to take the time to manually adjust low light shots though, you'll be disappointed. In decent lighting I can get some great shots even with the stock camera app though, especially with HDR.

gtg465x said:
The only place I find camera quality to be bad is in low light, but it's not the hardware, it's the software. The camera software just sets the ISO higher than it should and overexposes everything in low light. I use FV-5 to manually set a lower ISO and manually set the metering point so that it doesn't overexpose the shot, and then I can get great shots in low light. If you don't know a little about cameras or aren't willing to take the time to manually adjust low light shots though, you'll be disappointed. In decent lighting I can get some great shots even with the stock camera app though, especially with HDR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps you are right. But how hard is it for a TEAM of developers at Motorola/Google to figure this out ? We are on 2nd camera update here its still ****
PS. on S4 I used only 2 modes and didnt even touch settings, Auto and Night Mode......thats all I needed to take excellent photos.
few night/low light shots from S4, last one was taken in almost complete darkness, camera just picked up light from night club flashing lights

I agree. I love this phone but the camera sucks. Snoop Dogg came to my Christmas party and I was so excited to get some shots.
They all came out blurry all my buddies with S4s got killer shots. I don't know, maybe I'll blame it on the alcohol....
That ticked me off a bit.
Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

gtg465x said:
The only place I find camera quality to be bad is in low light, but it's not the hardware, it's the software. The camera software just sets the ISO higher than it should and overexposes everything in low light. I use FV-5 to manually set a lower ISO and manually set the metering point so that it doesn't overexpose the shot, and then I can get great shots in low light. If you don't know a little about cameras or aren't willing to take the time to manually adjust low light shots though, you'll be disappointed. In decent lighting I can get some great shots even with the stock camera app though, especially with HDR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. For low light shots, I either use fv5 or take the photos with the stock camera and run them through Perfectly clear. I've gotten a lot of fantastic shots with my X. Low-light is the only setting in which I need to kind of finagle anything.

WizeGuyDezignz said:
Hey guys, I've had my Moto X for a week now and I might return to my Note 3. I really like this phone overall, but man the camera really is that bad. I read all the stories but hoped the update would be good enough for me. Unfortunately it hasn't been.
I can't even imagine how bad the camera must have been before the update. The camera is simply dreadful. Do I have a defective Moto X or is it really this bad?
If I'm not outside on a sunny day or in a really well lit room, it's the worst camera I've ever had on any smartphone that I've ever owned. And that includes phones from over 4 years ago. Is it really this bad?
Here are some sample shots. I took these same shots with my Note 3, and those shots blew these away. I will try to post those later.
Sent from my XT1058 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you take a pic of your tree with an SLR with the same exposure settings and you'll get an equally awful pic.
honestly i think the camera on the X is fine. i think it could be better but i think overall its a pretty good camera, on par with some point and shoots i've used. it all comes down to lighting, plus the HDR mode really helps.

Been using Camera FV-5 for whenever I need low light shots. First one is the stock camera app and the second shot is via Camera FV-5. These were shot in very low light conditions.

il buono said:
Been using Camera FV-5 for whenever I need low light shots. First one is the stock camera app and the second shot is via Camera FV-5. These were shot in very low light conditions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gonna give it a try. Big difference there

kolyan said:
Gonna give it a try. Big difference there
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Click to collapse
CameraZoomFX lets you pick the ISO setting too, which could increase the exposure.

640k said:
if you take a pic of your tree with an SLR with the same exposure settings and you'll get an equally awful pic.
honestly i think the camera on the X is fine. i think it could be better but i think overall its a pretty good camera, on par with some point and shoots i've used. it all comes down to lighting, plus the HDR mode really helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am curious if these photos were taken with the stock camera app or a 3rd party app?
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

telefoner said:
I am curious if these photos were taken with the stock camera app or a 3rd party app?
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock. You can tell from the image properties.
EDIT: I take it back. There's no specific information that says what app took the pic, only what device. Technically we're talking about the inability of the Moto X's sensor to perform adequately. Different apps can force different settings/processing techniques, but you're still limited to the sensor/lens capability of the device.
Here's a CameraZoomFX photo taken with a DROID4:
It's all about lighting.

I'm with you on this one WizeGuy. At first I didn't think the camera was as bad as people said it was. But after using it in the wild and over the course of a week, it really is disappointing. The biggest issue for me is consistency. I CAN get a decent shot if I try to. Low light performance is terrible however and it's really tough to get a good shot most of the time. I was also coming from an S4 and didn't expect it to be on the same level obviously, but now that I've played with it enough, I'm positive even my S3 was better overall. In fact, I've been comparing it with an old iPhone 4S and I couldn't say it's better than that camera (except when there is ample lighting). I take a lot of pictures and it is important to me. Yes it is a camera phone, but downgrading is harder to accept than I thought it would be. I guess I value something that is consistent and easy in auto mode when it comes to my phone. Much sadder is the fact that I really like everything else about this phone, much more than the s4. I prefer the size the moto x by far to anything out there, but the nexus 5 is tempting me right now.

Photographer's perspective on the LG G3

These topics have been widely discussed, I just find this funny. I do professional photography, and I thought this phone would be great for me. Not only could I show off my photos on a glorious 2k screen, but it was supposed to have a great off-duty camera as well. Ironically, it's instead hitting some photographer pet peeves real bad.
1) The screen sharpening is bad. I see amateur photographers get over enthusiastic on sharpening, cause the sharper the better, right? No, you make ugly artifacts like halos. Now my entire phone does it nonstop. It hurts! This goes beyond the font issue that's widely been talked about. I love viewing photos through my Nexus 7 or HTC M7 because it's like looking through a window. Photos on the G3 just look artifical.
2) Another is the camera noise reduction. Noise is bad, so let's crank the noise reduction. No, some grain and more detail is much preferable to pics that look like watercolors.
3) I knew this one going in, but as the Andantech review pointed out, the color accuracy is bad. I can spend time editing a photo on my phone and paste it to Facebook, just to realize once I'm viewing on a pc that the pic looks nothing like my meticulous edit. Great.
I know I'm hypersensitive to these issues because of my profession. My wife didn't notice the sharpening. But it's funny that what I thought would be my ideal phone is such the opposite.

supposedmonster said:
3) I knew this one going in, but as the Andantech review pointed out, the color accuracy is bad. I can spend time editing a photo on my phone and paste it to Facebook, just to realize once I'm viewing on a pc that the pic looks nothing like my meticulously edit. Great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How long ago was last time you calibrated your PC monitor? Does your monitor have sRGB mode? And, BTW, maybe you even use some notebook with cheap junky TN panel in the first place? :laugh:

I use an ASUS PA246 wide gamut monitor regularly calibrated with a Colormunki Display, so yes, I have a good benchmark.
Sent from my LG-D851 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

supposedmonster said:
so yes, I have a good benchmark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad for you, well then did you try to compare pix from the net to view both on monitor and on G3 and compare colors? Like I did
Check that topic also, maybe you bought G3 with blueish panel

Man this was not an easy shot to pull off. It's hard to tell from the pic, but LG is on the left and Nexus 7 is on the bottom. The LG would equate to quite a few notches of saturation boost in Lightroom.
This photo doesn't quite show it well, but the Nexus is actually slightly less saturated than the calibrated monitor.
The colors aren't that bad in either devices (I mean you can only expect so much, I get these aren't meant to be crazy calibrated panels), but I'd rather edit on the Nexus and find them slightly more vibrant on other devices than on the LG and find it decidedly dull.
Sent from my LG-D851 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

supposedmonster said:
These topics have been widely discussed, I just find this funny. I do professional photography, and I thought this phone would be great for me. Not only could I show off my photos on a glorious 2k screen, but it was supposed to have a great off-duty camera as well. Ironically, it's instead hitting some photographer pet peeves real bad.
1) The screen sharpening is bad. I see amateur photographers get over enthusiastic on sharpening, cause the sharper the better, right? No, you make ugly artifacts like halos. Now my entire phone does it nonstop. It hurts! This goes beyond the font issue that's widely been talked about. I love viewing photos through my Nexus 7 or HTC M7 because it's like looking through a window. Photos on the G3 just look artifical.
2) Another is the camera noise reduction. Noise is bad, so let's crank the noise reduction. No, some grain and more detail is much preferable to pics that look like watercolors.
3) I knew this one going in, but as the Andantech review pointed out, the color accuracy is bad. I can spend time editing a photo on my phone and paste it to Facebook, just to realize once I'm viewing on a pc that the pic looks nothing like my meticulous edit. Great.
I know I'm hypersensitive to these issues because of my profession. My wife didn't notice the sharpening. But it's funny that what I thought would be my ideal phone is such the opposite.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just curious about number 3 up there, and I'm not trying to be an ass, but why would any professional photographer spend time editing a photo on a phone meticulously, instead of putting the photo on the PC and editing it with PS? I mean, if you edit it with the PC, its a lot easier, and you also get a WYSIWYG.

Haha, well my camera has WiFi. When in on vacation it's fun being able to post professional quality pics to social media from my phone.
Sent from my LG-D851 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

The G3 display can be somewhat manually adjusted in color contrast, did you tweak it a bit? Maybe it'll improve.

Thanks, I have read about that. Without being able to use a preview image to calibrate I think it'd drive me crazy. Plus I doubt it'll help because it seems to only adjust color and contrast, not saturation, which is the bigger issue.
What bugs me more though is the sharpening, but I have faith that'll be fixed either by LG or the community since enough people have raised a hallaboo.
Sent from my LG-D851 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I can live with the screen sharpening (since it's all software and don't affect the photos themselves). I can also live with so-so color reproduction. But gawd, that NR pisses me off. What's the point of having a good sensor when you're gonna mess up the photos with mediocre processing. That being said... photos still look pretty decent in good lighting ;P

supposedmonster said:
These topics have been widely discussed, I just find this funny. I do professional photography, and I thought this phone would be great for me. Not only could I show off my photos on a glorious 2k screen, but it was supposed to have a great off-duty camera as well. Ironically, it's instead hitting some photographer pet peeves real bad.
1) The screen sharpening is bad. I see amateur photographers get over enthusiastic on sharpening, cause the sharper the better, right? No, you make ugly artifacts like halos. Now my entire phone does it nonstop. It hurts! This goes beyond the font issue that's widely been talked about. I love viewing photos through my Nexus 7 or HTC M7 because it's like looking through a window. Photos on the G3 just look artifical.
2) Another is the camera noise reduction. Noise is bad, so let's crank the noise reduction. No, some grain and more detail is much preferable to pics that look like watercolors.
3) I knew this one going in, but as the Andantech review pointed out, the color accuracy is bad. I can spend time editing a photo on my phone and paste it to Facebook, just to realize once I'm viewing on a pc that the pic looks nothing like my meticulous edit. Great.
I know I'm hypersensitive to these issues because of my profession. My wife didn't notice the sharpening. But it's funny that what I thought would be my ideal phone is such the opposite.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sorry but you have me totally confused.......
I agree the G3 does have over sharpening which depending on how and what you shoot can have detrimental effects on the scene shot.
However, why on earth are you getting so annoyed with what is in effect simply a smartphone camera sensor?
Although I do not take photos as a profession I have however owned a camera since... Hang on a second......1963. Throughout time I learned many various methods and art in photography, travelling the world shooting all manner of photos with compacts and SLR's to the more recent DSLR and smartphone.
Yet, there is no way on earth would I take a professional shot with a smartphone nor would I expect it to achieve something which could be of use in a professional manner.
I do apologies but it does annoy me when I hear from someone first stating they are a 'professional' and use this word as their basis for a debate.
If you have an issue with the G3, fine I can live with that as you are very much correct, certain aspects of the software could be improved but let us not forget.
1. It is a smartphone.
2. It is software which means if you do not like the camera app that controls the shooting then use a different camera app.
I personally use the app 'A Better Camera' which is excellent.
I am sure as a professional photographer you must have heard of this app and learned the author is not just another coder but does have an understanding of photography.
With 'A Better Camera' as your tool you will find first it gives you back the manual controls and second it then allows you to be as creative as a smartphone will allow you.
Having said all this I have never ever ever been happy letting the camera dictate the shot but the G3 is the first type of camera that I am happy shooting 'casual photography' in auto mode.

Beards said:
I am sorry but you have me totally confused.......
I agree the G3 does have over sharpening which depending on how and what you shoot can have detrimental effects on the scene shot.
However, why on earth are you getting so annoyed with what is in effect simply a smartphone camera sensor?
Although I do not take photos as a profession I have however owned a camera since... Hang on a second......1963. Throughout time I learned many various methods and art in photography, travelling the world shooting all manner of photos with compacts and SLR's to the more recent DSLR and smartphone.
Yet, there is no way on earth would I take a professional shot with a smartphone nor would I expect it to achieve something which could be of use in a professional manner.
I do apologies but it does annoy me when I hear from someone first stating they are a 'professional' and use this word as their basis for a debate.
If you have an issue with the G3, fine I can live with that as you are very much correct, certain aspects of the software could be improved but let us not forget.
1. It is a smartphone.
2. It is software which means if you do not like the camera app that controls the shooting then use a different camera app.
I personally use the app 'A Better Camera' which is excellent.
I am sure as a professional photographer you must have heard of this app and learned the author is not just another coder but does have an understanding of photography.
With 'A Better Camera' as your tool you will find first it gives you back the manual controls and second it then allows you to be as creative as a smartphone will allow you.
Having said all this I have never ever ever been happy letting the camera dictate the shot but the G3 is the first type of camera that I am happy shooting 'casual photography' in auto mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speaking of which, is it possible to set long exposure (for night shots with a tripod, for example) with A Better Camera? Other than the automatic "Night Shot"...

fabripav said:
Speaking of which, is it possible to set long exposure (for night shots with a tripod, for example) with A Better Camera? Other than the automatic "Night Shot"...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not presently...... But note, this is not the problem with the G3 or A Better Camera.
It is Android or should I say Google who limited the speed to just under 1sec.
However, under Android L all will change as among the 400+ camera api's introduced camera speed is one of them. So 'hopefully' developers will raise to the challenge and add this vital missing setting.

Beards said:
Not presently...... But note, this is not the problem with the G3 or A Better Camera.
It is Android or should I say Google who limited the speed to just under 1sec.
However, under Android L all will change as among the 400+ camera api's introduced camera speed is one of them. So 'hopefully' developers will raise to the challenge and add this vital missing setting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, can't wait for that update for many reasons, camera included.
It's weird though that the Oppo Find 7 camera (for example) has a shutter speed that goes up to 32 seconds. How did they manage to make it avalaible? The sensor is a simple Sony IMX214.
I wonder if all the features of Camera FV-5 work on the G3, anyone tried it yet? (my G3 has yet to arrive)

fabripav said:
Yeah, can't wait for that update for many reasons, camera included.
It's weird though that the Oppo Find 7 camera (for example) has a shutter speed that goes up to 32 seconds. How did they manage to make it avalaible? The sensor is a simple Sony IMX214.
I wonder if all the features of Camera FV-5 work on the G3, anyone tried it yet? (my G3 has yet to arrive)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Oppo Find 7's camera doesn't actually keep the lens open for 32 seconds, it does a trick similar to what Camera FV-5 does in that it takes a series of shots from a thumbnail (hence why it's small and lacks any detail).
Re your query on Camera FV-5 ~ everything with the exception of ISO works. With ISO the dials say it has altered ISO but when you take the shot you find it has altered nothing.
A Better Camera on the other hand does alter the settings and does apply them to the shot.
It's the only app out there which utilises all the manual controls that are open to write permission, this also includes AE and WB Lock which again no other camera app uses.

[/COLOR]
fabripav said:
Yeah, can't wait for that update for many reasons, camera included.
It's weird though that the Oppo Find 7 camera (for example) has a shutter speed that goes up to 32 seconds. How did they manage to make it avalaible? The sensor is a simple Sony IMX214.
I wonder if all the features of Camera FV-5 work on the G3, anyone tried it yet? (my G3 has yet to arrive)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it does. I haven't tried the long exposure in FV-5 though.
Beards said:
Re your query on Camera FV-5 ~ everything with the exception of ISO works. With ISO the dials say it has altered ISO but when you take the shot you find it has altered nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera FV-5's ISO setting works fine for me.
ISO 100 1/60 F/2.4
http://i1.minus.com/iMbhMmPuhI3Es.JPG
ISO 1600 1/680 F/2.4
http://i7.minus.com/iNJO0u9CN5xvf.JPG
I'm a photographer (;P). I know what I'm talking about.

You have the D851 which is Tmob.. which doesnt have the sharpening effect.. at least anecdotally. same model i have and theres zero sharpening going on. the colors mind you are off, but its no galaxy S4 or G2.. but as was stated dont plan to edit on your phone and you wont be frustrated by using the wrong tool for the job.
dont bring a 400mm telephoto zoom to a job that requires a 35mm prime or vice versa.

Itaintrite said:
[/COLOR]
Yes it does. I haven't tried the long exposure in FV-5 though.
Camera FV-5's ISO setting works fine for me.
ISO 100 1/60 F/2.4
http://i1.minus.com/iMbhMmPuhI3Es.JPG
ISO 1600 1/680 F/2.4
http://i7.minus.com/iNJO0u9CN5xvf.JPG
I'm a photographer (;P). I know what I'm talking about.
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Click to collapse
Really...... Thank you.
When was the App last updated?

Beards said:
Really...... Thank you.
When was the App last updated?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using v1.7.3. Updated June 27th.

Itaintrite said:
I'm using v1.7.3. Updated June 27th.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great... I'll give it another go against A Better Camera; although ABC does have many more controls.