Kinda disappointed (good if you want to buy z1) - Xperia Z1 General

Hello xda members, I bought this phone because i thought it would be an awesome phone. Which it kind of is but still not. And i am writing this so people who wants to buy this phone gets a some information about the phone. And yes i know there are a thread like this, but one is only positive and the other is only negative etc.
In general this phone is a beast, it look good really premium feeling. But when using it for a couple of days i fins so much in this phone that is really bad that i seriously consider changing phone.
I am not make this phone look bad or so, it is still a awesome phone but these things is not acceptable imo. And all of these things that i will write are IMO
- ´The camera is really good, it takes sharp pictures and is quite good when it is dark (but should be better), but god damn the camera app is terrible. There are no options at all! You can't do a sh*t, and when taking pictures of "landscape" the picture turns out great, but when you zoom in every single detail is blury as hell (look attachment). A phone with 20MP should have much better camera app and more features.
- The battery life isn't good, I used only GSM and no wifi, lowest brightness and the only thing i did was texting and looking at the clock. But the phone was still consuming quite a lot battery..
- The wifi performance is bad, i have a samsung galaxy s2 too and i put the phones on the table and my samsung has stronger signal (which leads to "faster" internet).
- The viewing angels are bad but it's okej i can live with that not such a big problem.
- The bezel is way to big, the phone could be smaller and still keep the display size, because the phone feels a little bit to big and doesn't feel so good in the hand.
- And last but not least there are a few things they should fix in their "ROM", that are bugging me.
But overall it really is a great phone, but these things makes me consider changing phone.
Hope those of you who want to buy this phone thinks this is useful.
The first picture is in auto mode, and the other one is in manual mode.

have to agree with you on the camera. when you take a photo it looks really nice, but when you zoom in it's a like a painting lol. no sharpness whatsoever. hopefully it'll get improve with further update. i thought the battery would be much better, but i find it the same as my old htc one and that's 2300mah.

natkaen said:
have to agree with you on the camera. when you take a photo it looks really nice, but when you zoom in it's a like a painting lol. no sharpness whatsoever. hopefully it'll get improve with further update. i thought the battery would be much better, but i find it the same as my old htc one and that's 2300mah.
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Not my experience at all. These aren't even the sharpest shots I've taken - you should see the ones I snapped of the outside of the Natural History Museum. Hell, you should see the ones I took of the ceiling inside the natural history museum.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157635983420745/
It's a cameraphone,... I'm just not sure what people were expecting. Of course it's not a DSLR but it's pulling in far more detail in every 8mp image than any 13mp phone picture I've taken.

Timaustin2000 said:
Not my experience at all. These aren't even the sharpest shots I've taken - you should see the ones I snapped of the outside of the Natural History Museum. Hell, you should see the ones I took of the ceiling inside the natural history museum.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157635983420745/
It's a cameraphone,... I'm just not sure what people were expecting. Of course it's not a DSLR but it's pulling in far more detail in every 8mp image than any 13mp phone picture I've taken.
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I didn't say that the pictures ain't sharp, they are sharp and really look good. But when you take a picture like the ones in the attachment it is very blury when you zoom in. But overall the sharpness is really good, but the camera app sucks big time, you can't change any settings, the old phones with 2MP had more options..
Btw nice pictures you captured with the z1

Timaustin2000 said:
Not my experience at all. These aren't even the sharpest shots I've taken - you should see the ones I snapped of the outside of the Natural History Museum. Hell, you should see the ones I took of the ceiling inside the natural history museum.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157635983420745/
It's a cameraphone,... I'm just not sure what people were expecting. Of course it's not a DSLR but it's pulling in far more detail in every 8mp image than any 13mp phone picture I've taken.
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Did you take this pic with Z1? Can you upload the full size of it?

gm007 said:
Did you take this pic with Z1? Can you upload the full size of it?
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I did - self selected Night Portrait mode at 8mp 4:3. The other version of this shot was actually captured using superior auto (I know!). SA decided to turn on "Spotlight Mode" as the interior of the truck was bright and the exterior was in full darkness. It became a very interesting shot!
The full samples are in the link (above). Click on the image in the gallery. This takes you into Lightbox mode. Then right click the image and select "original". This is the full resolution image. Right click again, select "Save As" and resize and inspect to your heart's content.
All of the images in the gallery above are as they were out of the phone. No post processing, no photoshopping. Many of them were taken in Manual with me selecting scene modes but if you see a 16:9 shot it was taken with Superior Auto.

Well i must say i had HTC One which was tricked out, with a modified stock rom and a custom kernel with all the bells and whistles, I use my z1 with wifi connected when im at home and 3g when im out and about, its my main media player, so i use it for mp3's and what not aswell as whatsapp and a few other apps, i got to say the battery life is about the same as my old htc one, bearing in kind, the z1 has a bigger screen and a faster processer. Ok i agree with the bezel it could be better, its still a well built phone and in terms of looks i think the htc one is the only phone which will top it for now.
I dont know whats wrong with your z1 but my pics come out great but then again i dont use superior auto mode, i have no issues with wifi, i get very good speed even when i only have 2 bars. it is known that some phones do not give an accurate read out(GIYF). How long has this phone been out? and how many updates have been made? its a brand new phone only released a few weeks back, fixes will come out, have some patience.

Timaustin2000 said:
I did - self selected Night Portrait mode at 8mp 4:3. The other version of this shot was actually captured using superior auto (I know!). SA decided to turn on "Spotlight Mode" as the interior of the truck was bright and the exterior was in full darkness. It became a very interesting shot!
The full samples are in the link (above). Click on the image in the gallery. This takes you into Lightbox mode. Then right click the image and select "original". This is the full resolution image. Right click again, select "Save As" and resize and inspect to your heart's content.
All of the images in the gallery above are as they were out of the phone. No post processing, no photoshopping. Many of them were taken in Manual with me selecting scene modes but if you see a 16:9 shot it was taken with Superior Auto.
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Click to collapse
I start to believe that there is different hardware in each batches of this phone,like sony did with the screen.
No way i can get this results with my phone.
Anyway i am going to the shop for a replacement maybe i will get lucky with one that have good hardware.
Sent from my C6903 using xda premium

sofir786 said:
Well i must say i had HTC One which was tricked out, with a modified stock rom and a custom kernel with all the bells and whistles, I use my z1 with wifi connected when im at home and 3g when im out and about, its my main media player, so i use it for mp3's and what not aswell as whatsapp and a few other apps, i got to say the battery life is about the same as my old htc one, bearing in kind, the z1 has a bigger screen and a faster processer. Ok i agree with the bezel it could be better, its still a well built phone and in terms of looks i think the htc one is the only phone which will top it for now.
I dont know whats wrong with your z1 but my pics come out great but then again i dont use superior auto mode, i have no issues with wifi, i get very good speed even when i only have 2 bars. it is known that some phones do not give an accurate read out(GIYF). How long has this phone been out? and how many updates have been made? its a brand new phone only released a few weeks back, fixes will come out, have some patience.
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There is nothing wrong like that the picture a really good it's just that the pictures taken at landscape shown in attachment. everything becomes blury when zoomed in. And that the camera app kinda suck if you compare to other phones even though this phone has a great camera and that the camera is something sony focused on.

Anyone experienced boot up failure and not being able to force reboot using power button and volume up button even after several times? coz i had this and didn't know what to do until it booted up after many trials!!
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Mmm, have you still the film on the back of your phone? The len looks awful, I did a lot of shots never got one so bad. Are we sure is a Z1? Finally on which firmware version are you?

sevoflurane said:
Anyone experienced boot up failure and not being able to force reboot using power button and volume up button even after several times? coz i had this and didn't know what to do until it booted up after many trials!!
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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Check the last page http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2474654
Sent from my C6903 using xda premium

gm007 said:
Check the last page http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2474654
Sent from my C6903 using xda premium
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So in order to stop this long pause do we have to tick the optimize backlight thing?
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

sevoflurane said:
So in order to stop this long pause do we have to tick the optimize backlight thing?
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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It seems so
Sent from my C6903 using xda premium

Actually it does, fixed right away after first reboot, what about the email not showing inbox mail.
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

sevoflurane said:
Actually it does, fixed right away after first reboot, what about the email not showing inbox mail.
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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Stock email? I never use it.
Maybe some settings.
Sent from my C6903 using xda premium

Timaustin2000 said:
Not my experience at all. These aren't even the sharpest shots I've taken - you should see the ones I snapped of the outside of the Natural History Museum. Hell, you should see the ones I took of the ceiling inside the natural history museum.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157635983420745/
It's a cameraphone,... I'm just not sure what people were expecting. Of course it's not a DSLR but it's pulling in far more detail in every 8mp image than any 13mp phone picture I've taken.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My friend i own Xperia T and Xperia Z1 and so far the Xperia T is THE BEST CAMERA PHONE EVER.
The quality when you zoom in to the pictures with Xperia T is better than my digital cameras.
The noise at Xperia Z1 pictures is worst than my Xperia arcS.
The same think happened with Xperia Z also.
After the update to 4.2 the camera quality went to [email protected]
I hope that is a software problem that can be fixed.
Last but not least.
Xperia T at superior auto captures at 12Mp and the Z1 flagship at 8Mp.

sevoflurane said:
Anyone experienced boot up failure and not being able to force reboot using power button and volume up button even after several times? coz i had this and didn't know what to do until it booted up after many trials!!
Sent from my C6903 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I had this problem and it was taking so long to boot I thought the phone was dead.
Finally after waiting as long as 10 minutes for it to boot it started up. It would get very hot during this and use as much as 5% of battery. I found it would do the same thing even when booted in safe mode or after I had removed all of my apps.
From what I can see it is some sort of software problem that happens after the installed apps are updated when you initially configure the phone. I can't tell which app is the problem. Another weird thing is that it was carrying over settings from my last phone (lock screen text etc) that are not compatible and this may have been a problem as well.
I did a factory reset and setup again and it did the same thing after a day of use. So I did a factory reset and then did not upgrade the apps or do a sync right away to my Google account and so far so good and I powered off and back on this morning with no issues. So I am not going to update the core apps for now and maybe I have it fixed.

Chekhn said:
I didn't say that the pictures ain't sharp, they are sharp and really look good. But when you take a picture like the ones in the attachment it is very blury when you zoom in. But overall the sharpness is really good, but the camera app sucks big time, you can't change any settings, the old phones with 2MP had more options..
Btw nice pictures you captured with the z1
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Click to collapse
You have tried putting it in manual mode instead of superior auto right ?
manual mode you get more options than i've seen in any other phone camera
(exposure, white balance, iso, metering mode, focus mode, resolution, hdr, steadyshot to name but a few)

keithwalton said:
You have tried putting it in manual mode instead of superior auto right ?
manual mode you get more options than i've seen in any other phone camera
(exposure, white balance, iso, metering mode, focus mode, resolution, hdr, steadyshot to name but a few)
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yea i know, but i meant when you have 20MP there are no settings you can change only when 8MP, but the biggest lack (imo) is that they don't have features like for example drama, slow motion etc that galaxy s4 has, htc one also has the slow motion thing.

Related

Bad pictures from camera

Hi.
I just received my Arc and I'm shocked by something : the camera does bad pictures, cause the codec is lame. A 8Mp photo take less than 1Mo.
Can someone fix that in a rom or a kernel or is this to hard to do ?
Thanks.
the photos from almost every other Arc are incredible.. I suspect you have a problem... maybe you're settings are wrong .. or there's a fault.
Look here for examples of how good it is.. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1035589
Look at one of mine (all are the sames).
http://sberfini.developpez.com/DSC_0005.jpg
http://sberfini.developpez.com/DSC_0010.jpg
By the way I'm using an LT15i (3.0.2.A.181) not rooted nor unlocked.
I've just rooted by arc. Is there a way to fix the jpeg compression ratio? It's way too high by default and images are losing details as a result.
Sent from my LT15i using XDA App
you can try vignette that barely compresses at all - but everyone is pretty much saying that the photo's from stock cam are still better!
im_iceman said:
you can try vignette that barely compresses at all - but everyone is pretty much saying that the photo's from stock cam are still better!
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Thanks mate. Yeah I noticed almost everyone's saying that...but if one was to put the facts together, picture size alone for a 8MP resolution image can't be less than 1MB...
Will try Vignette and see if it's better. I just hope there's some kind of tweak (like in the HTC HD2) where you could set the compression ratio to further improve the quality.
Sent from my LT15i using XDA App
You should try checking your camera setting OP.
Vignette is good, except it takes longer to preview the image in real size, and the unnecessarily 5~6x larger files with slightly worse quality than stock camera app.
ArcOnFire said:
You should try checking your camera setting OP
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What's settings are you talking about ?
What's the difference between the one's who have a good quality photos and the others ? The firmware ? They have a LT15a instead of a LT15i ?
Please help me to understand.
Did you use auto scene recognition? The picture has some heavy noise in it, so I suspect you play with exposure value or select night scene mode.
2nd picture is blurry; Did you hold your arc firmly when taking the picture ?
Yes I'm using the auto scene detection. Should I disable it ?
For the fisrt picture, the flash was activated.
And yes, I was holding it firmly.
I use auto scene detection for most of my photos and they seem much better quality than yours there. Try some outdoor shots and post them, indoor ones can have a lot of noise if the light is low anyway.
I once had similar problems with a nokia n95. Everyone was posting great shots and mine were horrible. Turns out the handset was faulty.

Camera not very good

Everyone says the camera quality is one of the best features of the galaxy s but I think its pretty terrible. All pictures took look dark and don't look clear when you zoom in. Who else thinks the camera is poor on this phone
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
can't confirm that. As long as there is a good light, the pictures will turn out great. Compared to other 5mpx shooters I really like the Galaxy S one.
Yep i also like the quality in comparison to other 5mp cams. what suxx is that there is no led flash, but i think we all knew that before bying this phone
Btw did you adjust settings to fine and perhaps enable stabilization mode?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium
and i do not recognize sgs1 5mpx camera as good - as said especialy when it is not much light pictures comes gradient - it is ok but still should perform better
i do not recal such on my goof old lost nokia n95 with its optics
same as with gps here looks like sgs1 was assembled from som low cost parts overall
that is why i am sceptic on sgs2 (tested it few times) and looking formward to 3rd revision of samsung look onsmartphone for masses =)
(sgs got gps chip not broadcom bot lirf or something like this that performs way better but camera still records/pics gradient in dark)
hofinho said:
Yep i also like the quality in comparison to other 5mp cams. what suxx is that there is no led flash, but i think we all knew that before bying this phone
Btw did you adjust settings to fine and perhaps enable stabilization mode?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
How do I enable stabilisation mode and adjust to fine?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
seeraj15 said:
How do I enable stabilisation mode and adjust to fine?
i dunno exactly cause im on cm7 and thus cannot look it up right now, but it should be somewhere in the settings of the camera app (you know where you can decide where if you want to save photos on internal or external sd etc.)
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I heard the cm7 camera quality is worse than stock, have you noticed that?
hofinho said:
seeraj15 said:
How do I enable stabilisation mode and adjust to fine?
i dunno exactly cause im on cm7 and thus cannot look it up right now, but it should be somewhere in the settings of the camera app (you know where you can decide where if you want to save photos on internal or external sd etc.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I heard the camera quality on cm7 is worse than on stock; have you noticed that?
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Are you viewing the pictures on the phone in gallery? Or in another app on your phone? Or on your computer?
The reason this is important is that when using gallery app, our phones only loads a half resolution version image (to make it easier and snappier to handle)! You can download other image viewer apps in the market that view the full resolution on phone and therefore allow better zooming in to the resulting images.
Also the pictures therefore look better on the computer too, as this also using the full resolution on the image.
So, your problem might be more the gallery app at fault rather than the camera itself. Do some tests of your own to see if this is true.
I am no expert on this topic, but I remember reading this somewhere, and my tests confirm it appears to be true! (YMMV!)
Mike
Garbled meaning induced by swype!
seeraj15 said:
Everyone says the camera quality is one of the best features of the galaxy s but I think its pretty terrible. All pictures took look dark and don't look clear when you zoom in. Who else thinks the camera is poor on this phone
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I'm sure that you must have some of the settings wrong on the camera App, because I have loaded pics to my computer, cropped the unwanted portion and printed on A4 paper. The resulting print was as good as I ever get with any 5mp camera.
I have also sent both pictures and video to my 55" TV screen from my SGS, using Allshare, and the quality is on a par with HD TV.
I agree that you get more versatility with a dedicated camera, but you've got to remember that the SGS is a phone with a camera as an accessory, not a camera that makes phone calls.
Finally, why do people complain about the lack of LED flash, at best, it's only useful up to a metre, but we all knew that the SGS did not have LED camera flash before we bought the phone.
i remember my good old nokia n95 making pictures same quality - and that was 3mpx
Geryatrix said:
I'm sure that you must have some of the settings wrong on the camera App, because I have loaded pics to my computer, cropped the unwanted portion and printed on A4 paper. The resulting print was as good as I ever get with any 5mp camera.
I have also sent both pictures and video to my 55" TV screen from my SGS, using Allshare, and the quality is on a par with HD TV.
I agree that you get more versatility with a dedicated camera, but you've got to remember that the SGS is a phone with a camera as an accessory, not a camera that makes phone calls.
Finally, why do people complain about the lack of LED flash, at best, it's only useful up to a metre, but we all knew that the SGS did not have LED camera flash before we bought the phone.
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What settings should I have then?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
restere defaults in settings =) and you might want to add picture stabilization
$omator said:
i remember my good old nokia n95 making pictures same quality - and that was 3mpx
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N95 had 5mp dude i also had this phone and pics were really good, but anyway pics taken outside while its sunny with galaxy s show even better results in my opinion
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda premium
it was 5? hehe well anyways pictures were much better, especialy while not much lights, sgs got some gradient clearly seen while n95 was just dark
View attachment 702959
View attachment 702960
View attachment 702961
It's good enough for me. Just make sure you are on 5mpx my phone likes to go back to 0.3mpx for some reason. oh and you should at least be on 2.2, heard that produces better pictures

Is THIS really all the camera is capable of?!?

Or is mine bad?!? Seriously, is no one else getting this problem with blown highlights and over-exposure, or are y'all accepting it? I bought this phone for its "superior camera" and while yes it can take pictures in low light I was not willing to give up taking good pictures in good lighting >8(
I installed Android Revolution 8, then 9, to get the "updated" camera- stock kernel, Dev. Ed.
Attached photo taken with stock camera with auto settings, no custom settings, no hdr (though that has been disappointing as well). Oh and white balance was about 5-800 Kelvin too yellow as well... (sigh)
So do I send it back to get cameras as good as everyone else's or start watching the Sony rumors again? Because my 18 month old Galaxy Note could get this picture right...
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
The camera is awesome, its just you have to play around with the settings. Cange the sharpness to -1 and contrast to +1 for day light pictures. Also focus manually before taking pics.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Premium HD app
What were u expecting from a phone camera?
If you want realy good pictures you need to buy a good standalone camera..
The time isnt still there (and will be for along time) before phone cameras can compete with good standalone cameras...
I also find the camera disappointing. I love the software features like Zoe, but I personally can't rely on this camera to quickly capture a good picture. And I don't think the low light performance is very good either.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Those pictures do not look nearly as good as pictures I have taken with mine,using stock settings. Here's a couple for example. The pictures look a lot better in original format as well in full resolution.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
I love this camera, it lacks the raw specs but it manages to capture those special moments very well, better than even a camera.
The camera has impressed me so far, especially the speed and the amazing colours.
Completely stock trickdroid settings for camera here
@jeeptrash love your cat
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
My camera is working fine too
it's not perfect but it works
john291 said:
What were u expecting from a phone camera?
If you want realy good pictures you need to buy a good standalone camera..
The time isnt still there (and will be for along time) before phone cameras can compete with good standalone cameras...
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John, my expectations are to not move BACKWARD in quality. Trust me I carry my X100 half the time, but the other half this phone was supposed to fill in and it doesn't cut it.
It's your phone also blowing highlights and having white balance problems? I'm trying to understand if this behavior is typical or not.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
The overexposure thing is a little annoying it's true. HDR mode seems to recover lost shadow detail but doesn't seem to help with blown-out highlights.
Setting contrast to +1 is definitely *not* going to help it.
When you know there will be difficult highlights, setting exposure to -1 in normal non-HDR mode seems like the only response. Not ideal I know. Especially when making such a simple, temporary adjustment requires a lot of fiddling around with menus.
Yep, been playin with my camera all day, had no work in. Found the adjustment settings werent fine enough - swung too much one way or the other on +/- 1.
And indoor pictures where theres any daylight showing (doors/windows etc) caused the images to be washed out, even when focused on the lightest part first.
I think the hardware is fine, just some software improvements are needed. So its not all bad.
davedigerati said:
John, my expectations are to not move BACKWARD in quality. Trust me I carry my X100 half the time, but the other half this phone was supposed to fill in and it doesn't cut it.
It's your phone also blowing highlights and having white balance problems? I'm trying to understand if this behavior is typical or not.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
Hello yes it have the white balance problems sometimes..
I think they need to finetune the software better..
But it can also make some nice pictures too...
But a fine tuned software would be great..
---------- Post added at 10:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:07 PM ----------
davedigerati said:
John, my expectations are to not move BACKWARD in quality. Trust me I carry my X100 half the time, but the other half this phone was supposed to fill in and it doesn't cut it.
It's your phone also blowing highlights and having white balance problems? I'm trying to understand if this behavior is typical or not.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
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By the way this was a simple picture i took out of my window..
Here i like the shadow detail and the natural look of it..
The camera does over expose yes. If you want an easy to use camera. Get the S4/iPhone 5.
Can you control, ISO, shutter speed, Exposure compensation?
Turn ISO off automatic and set it to like 50
Terrorantula said:
Can you control, ISO, shutter speed, Exposure compensation?
Turn ISO off automatic and set it to like 50
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Click to collapse
You can control iso but you cant get below 100..
The shutter speed cant be controlled manual..
The exposure can be set.
Terrorantula said:
Can you control, ISO, shutter speed, Exposure compensation?
Turn ISO off automatic and set it to like 50
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ISO & exposure yes, you can, and even better if you want to monkey with settings for every shot I recommend FV-5 which I use frequently
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...NvbS5mbGF2aW9uZXQuYW5kcm9pZC5jYW1lcmEucHJvIl0.
The point of my post though is not to find workarounds but to see if this is COMMON, or my camera chip has issues.
I'm puzzled by the lack of complaints out there and feel like the photo I posted was a good example of average sunny day conditions, done badly. Indoors, low light, we're fine, it's the sunny days that are the issue.
Everyone quiet means either
a) everyone is accepting poor quality sunny day photos
b) my camera has issues and everyone else's is fine
c) everyone is feeling a little bit bad that the camera they were promised would offer 'a great leap in the quality of point-and-shoot photos and video' (http://www.htc.com/www/zoe/) frankly isn't, and reluctant to say so, or
d) other?
So everyone shooting sunny day pics please chime, in I appreciate your input- if your pics are coming out great without clipping I'll start the RMA process, or if yours are getting blown I'll fire up the angry fan-boi machine and pester every HTC channel I can hit with requests for a camera update.
Cheers,
Dave
The latter option.
I second, go for the latter
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
davedigerati said:
ISO & exposure yes, you can, and even better if you want to monkey with settings for every shot I recommend FV-5 which I use frequently
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...NvbS5mbGF2aW9uZXQuYW5kcm9pZC5jYW1lcmEucHJvIl0.
The point of my post though is not to find workarounds but to see if this is COMMON, or my camera chip has issues.
I'm puzzled by the lack of complaints out there and feel like the photo I posted was a good example of average sunny day conditions, done badly. Indoors, low light, we're fine, it's the sunny days that are the issue.
Everyone quiet means either
a) everyone is accepting poor quality sunny day photos
b) my camera has issues and everyone else's is fine
c) everyone is feeling a little bit bad that the camera they were promised would offer 'a great leap in the quality of point-and-shoot photos and video' (http://www.htc.com/www/zoe/) frankly isn't, and reluctant to say so, or
d) other?
So everyone shooting sunny day pics please chime, in I appreciate your input- if your pics are coming out great without clipping I'll start the RMA process, or if yours are getting blown I'll fire up the angry fan-boi machine and pester every HTC channel I can hit with requests for a camera update.
Cheers,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have posted few times in this forum about disappointing camera or my expectation is too high. Maybe the next HTC software update would fix them. I like the speakers though which is undeniable to be the best.
Camera is superb.
But it's not all things to all men. If you prepared to fanny around with lighting, settings, angles etc for a photo, and expect a high res masterpiece, this isn't your bag. If you want a point and shoot camera which takes nr unbeatable pictures quickly, then this is it.
Mega bright lights will screw any photo up. Your picture is remarkable given the phone was able to cope at all.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

[Q] So about the camera...

We all know the the N4 camera is not the best, so i was just wondering if y'all have made any modifications to make the camera better? If you have can you please share. Thanks.
There are a few popular paid cameras that are supposed to be quite good. I've always been content with CM's camera (not Focal). Seems to take pictures MUCH quicker
its a camera phone, of course its not the best camera. but if you know how to use a camera, the nexus 4 does really well, using the stock camera app. check out the post your photos thread in the general section. but if you have only the basic knowledge of how to get around a camera, then i can see someone calling it inadequate. the n4 cam just needs a little more knowledge to adjust it how you need it for that certain photo, using all the settings.
simms22 said:
its a camera phone, of course its not the best camera. but if you know how to use a camera, the nexus 4 does really well, using the stock camera app. check out the post your photos thread in the general section. but if you have only the basic knowledge of how to get around a camera, then i can see someone calling it inadequate. the n4 cam just needs a little more knowledge to adjust it how you need it for that certain photo, using all the settings.
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Click to collapse
Heh, chill. I agree that if used the right way it can take good photos. All I was asking for is if there was a way to make the process faster and up to standard of the other "Camera phones"as you put it.
rockstarindian1 said:
Heh, chill.
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Click to collapse
lol
i was just saying that i like really the camera. and that it gets put down without a real reason, because its being compared it to cameras from phones that cost $600+. its actually a decent camera, especially for the price of the phone. someones got to stick up for it :angel:
ziddey said:
There are a few popular paid cameras that are supposed to be quite good. I've always been content with CM's camera (not Focal). Seems to take pictures MUCH quicker
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly I tried focal today and I was not impressed by it in its early stages. The focus is very hard to adjust and takes forever to focus correctly... The exposure bubble also has to move around to achieve maximum results. Overall it might be a good camera with a lot of options, but you have to be very professional in order to use all of them and know exactly which ones to use at certain times. The stock camera was made for an average consumer but focal was made for a photographer. Here I will show you some tests I did with stock vs focal...
First is stock then Focal.
In the first two pictures the Focal picture has a much lower resolution than stock (I didn't notice that until now) they were both taken in automatic mode with no adjustments. You can tell how much more saturation Focal has but it just can't seem to focus as good as stock.
The second two pictures were taken with flash and in night mode at the same resolution. Once again you can see how much more saturated the colors are on Focal. While stock is a much more sharper image without any blur
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
simms22 said:
lol
i was just saying that i like really the camera. and that it gets put down without a real reason, because its being compared it to cameras from phones that cost $600+. its actually a decent camera, especially for the price of the phone. someones got to stick up for it :angel:
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Click to collapse
No it definitely gets more flak than it deserves.
aanonymoushuman said:
Honestly I tried focal today and I was not impressed by it in its early stages. The focus is very hard to adjust and takes forever to focus correctly... The exposure bubble also has to move around to achieve maximum results. Overall it might be a good camera with a lot of options, but you have to be very professional in order to use all of them and know exactly which ones to use at certain times. The stock camera was made for an average consumer but focal was made for a photographer. Here I will show you some tests I did with stock vs focal...
First is stock then Focal.
In the first two pictures the Focal picture has a much lower resolution than stock (I didn't notice that until now) they were both taken in automatic mode with no adjustments. You can tell how much more saturation Focal has but it just can't seem to focus as good as stock.
The second two pictures were taken with flash and in night mode at the same resolution. Once again you can see how much more saturated the colors are on Focal. While stock is a much more sharper image without any blur
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, i've tried a few 3rd party camera apps too. Most either tend to result in very unnatural looking pics or they are pretty much stock with a different UI :I
I've never had overall success with any camera app besides stock. It does everything pretty good.
@aanonymoushuman.
Dem toes...
I bet you can hang from a tree branch by your feet with those bad boys.
simms22 said:
its a camera phone, of course its not the best camera. but if you know how to use a camera, the nexus 4 does really well, using the stock camera app. check out the post your photos thread in the general section. but if you have only the basic knowledge of how to get around a camera, then i can see someone calling it inadequate. the n4 cam just needs a little more knowledge to adjust it how you need it for that certain photo, using all the settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i am one of those people that knows next to nothing. i've tried asking in the past but never got much of a solution. it seems to me that every picture i take with it is very blue or purplish. are there any simple tips on how to easily correct this?
estallings15 said:
@aanonymoushuman.
Dem toes...
I bet you can hang from a tree branch by your feet with those bad boys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1

Poor Macro (Z vs LG viewty)

I don't expect amazing photos from a tiny sensor on a phone but I do expect progression and better image quality than ancient devices, considering that sony are the king of camera sensors.
But to my surprise the macros are ridiculously shocking on the xperia Z. Needs at least a foot of distance. Check the comparison below at equal distance.
What gives?
(left is Z, right is 4 year old viewty smart)
Turn off superior mode..
Sent from my C6603 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Yes,i'm with you.For short range photos(like macro) xperia z can't focus on item, and giving us blurry scenes.You need get back from that.
Sent from my C6603 using Tapatalk now Free
Destroyedbeauty said:
Turn off superior mode..
Sent from my C6603 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On/off makes no difference. Only having flash off and holding it still long enough to semi focus automatically will take a legible photo.
The software is just so messed up. During the photo sequence, you can see it focusing reasonably well then it instead gives up and vomits out a blurry mess.
andyukking said:
On/off makes no difference. Only having flash off and holding it still long enough to semi focus automatically will take a legible photo.
The software is just so messed up. During the photo sequence, you can see it focusing reasonably well then it instead gives up and vomits out a blurry mess.
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Click to collapse
If the camera software is messed up, then tell me how I and so many others can get awesome macro shots?
Sent from my C6603 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Destroyedbeauty said:
If the camera software is messed up, then tell me how I and so many others can get awesome macro shots?
Sent from my C6603 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
proof is in the pudding. Lets see some macro shots from around 1.5" (which the viewty does easy).
The more I mess about with this camera, the more it annoys me. My screenshot of the camera app gives me better results than the photo itself.
Left is screenshot of the macro pre focused and ready to shot. Right is the end result.
andyukking said:
The more I mess about with this camera, the more it annoys me. My screenshot of the camera app gives me better results than the photo itself.
Left is screenshot of the macro pre focused and ready to shot. Right is the end result.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
set to manual mode, EV to -2.00. and slowly adjust the EV value to your preference.
You know EV is exposure, right?
andyukking said:
proof is in the pudding. Lets see some macro shots from around 1.5" (which the viewty does easy).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check my photos (last post)..
Macro
Destroyedbeauty said:
Check my photos (last post)..
Macro
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Click to collapse
Yeah I hear you. After further experimenting, it seems to be an issue with the flash. In good lighting with flash off, decent macros are possible. With the flash on its totally hopeless. Its strange because almost all other devices produce better macros with the flash/light. I remember how my old 2mp w810 could take great macros with the flash. It definitely seems like a software issue to me.
There are also occasions when the lighting is poor and it is therefore impossible to get a decent macro result.
Left (flash off), Right (flash on)
Just play around with manual settings
Don't know why some people complain about camera of Xperia Z. It is a PHONE, first of all, not a Digital Camera.
And the other hand's, if you adjust settings properly in MANUAL MODE you can get these results:
(I shoot pictures on different zoom, iso and metering levels as you see here; i had to resize them to upload here but the macro is its stock camera's job):
I find it satisfying from a phone. If somone wants better than these, BUY A CAMERA
If you take a close look on the last one, you can see even the number graved inside of the usb port of the charger. I just saw now, never before
laceex said:
Don't know why some people complain about camera of Xperia Z. It is a PHONE, first of all, not a Digital Camera.
And the other hand's, if you adjust settings properly in MANUAL MODE you can get these results:
(I shoot pictures on different zoom, iso and metering levels as you see here; i had to resize them to upload here but the macro is its stock camera's job):
I find it satisfying from a phone. If somone wants better than these, BUY A CAMERA
If you take a close look on the last one, you can see even the number graved inside of the usb port of the charger. I just saw now, never before
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am guessing that you are using digital zoom to get the last close up shot? I only want what my other devices can do. But the focussing is incredibly temperamental.
andyukking said:
I am guessing that you are using digital zoom to get the last close up shot? I only want what my other devices can do. But the focussing is incredibly temperamental.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The last 3 pictures are yes, with digital zoom. The first had no zoom at all. I changed only settings.
I used like this:
- ISO 100 or 200 (depends of your light conditions) or 400 (this also good in twilight conditions I think) if you don't use flash at all
- metering mode SPOT (or Centre if you have less light)
- focus SINGLE or TOUCH FOCUS
- White Balance; it is according to your light enviroment (I use always Cloudy or Incandescent)
- No HDR, No Image Stabiliser, and hold it steady
The distance between the lens and the charger was about 8-10 cm (maybe less).
(But you really can do good macros if you use 1-2x digital zoom)
Try it and let us know how it is. Post examples.
And do not forget, LG had XENON-flash. We don't know what could we get from XPERIA Z with a Xenon instead of LED...
Here's my results :laugh:
Left : Flash on
Right : Flash off
andyukking said:
I am guessing that you are using digital zoom to get the last close up shot? I only want what my other devices can do. But the focussing is incredibly temperamental.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ravdo said:
Here's my results :laugh:
Left : Flash on
Right : Flash off
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Click to collapse
So now, are you satisfied with your XPERIA Z?
laceex said:
So now, are you satisfied with your XPERIA Z?
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Click to collapse
I'm satisfied from the moment I got it since March :victory:
ravdo said:
I'm satisfied from the moment I got it since March :victory:
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Click to collapse
I am glad if it is so. Enjoy it so!!
I don't use digital zoom as its pointless and Lg just uses a normal LED flash.
You guys seem to be taking your pictures from further away than the macros that I am attempting to capture.
This demonstrates it:
The LG (Left) can capture at less than half the distance of the xperia Z
andyukking said:
I don't use digital zoom as its pointless and Lg just uses a normal LED flash.
You guys seem to be taking your pictures from further away than the macros that I am attempting to capture.
This demonstrates it:
The LG (Left) can capture at less than half the distance of the xperia Z
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not understand why are you trying to take macros. But if you feel so, use the LG instead of Sony. I made what I could with it, it is macro enough for me. If I need more than this, I use my WX80 Cyber-shot. But you could sell LG and get a camera. Or get a K800 Sony but XPERIA Play has very good macro too Or you sell the XPERIA Z and buy all the above mentioned devices.
I am sorry but I don't think you should suffer with it this much.
(I still think this is software isue of Z's camera, because clearly can see sometimes it catching when focusing even from 3cm, therefor hope Sony will solve this problem soon)

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