[Q] Front camera forcing noise reduction - Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I love this phone and the cameras take phenomenal pictures, but the only thing that is really winding me up is the digital noise reduction that seems to be forced on the photos taken with the front camera if there is medium to low light. I haven't really noticed it on the back camera. What I'm wondering is that if I were to root the phone, is there some kind of mod released for the camera to turn off digital noise reduction completely? I've noticed an app called 'Silent Camera' does exactly that but it's a terrible app.
My phone model is the GT-I9505.
Thanks.

Wow, didnt think id actually find a post related to this. I have been searching for the same exact thing. I know the lower light images gets very noisy, but it still has much of the details. The noise reduction KILLS the image... I mean totally degrades the details to the point where everything looks like smudged paint work. The N/R is jacked up way too strongly. I edit most of my pics, so I can deal with the noise.... Id just love a way to disable it. My phone is rooted...

Related

Camera Fix for the HD

I searched for a camera fix for the HD camera with no success. Does anyone know if there's going to be a fix in the near future? I'm sure that ya'll have the same problem that I do. Camera takes pictures that look old & rustic. Brownish tint to them & not very sharp for a 5 MP camera. I have adjusted all the settings for light & junk but nothing fixes it. As far as I'm concerned, it should take pictures IDENTICAL to a normal 5 MP digital camera. I can promise you that it's not doing that. Any help would be great, thanks in advance.
Vampire2800 said:
I searched for a camera fix for the HD camera with no success. Does anyone know if there's going to be a fix in the near future? I'm sure that ya'll have the same problem that I do. Camera takes pictures that look old & rustic. Brownish tint to them & not very sharp for a 5 MP camera. I have adjusted all the settings for light & junk but nothing fixes it. As far as I'm concerned, it should take pictures IDENTICAL to a normal 5 MP digital camera. I can promise you that it's not doing that. Any help would be great, thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why should it take pictures identical to a 5MP camera. The lens on the front is going to be vastly different, the sensor maybe 5MP, but what is the spacing on the sensor pixels? The closer together, the noisier the image. Colour balance will be down to the sensor too.
Regards
I'm not talking about the front camera. The normal camera on the back. I understand about the pixel thing, but it still shouldn't be so brownish, right? The pictures look like an old Polaroid picture. You know, the one's that spit the picture out as soon as you took it. Old, brown & nasty looking.
My pictures come out fine...
Hmmmmmmm...................... I'll just keep playing with it.
Vampire2800 said:
I'm not talking about the front camera. The normal camera on the back. I understand about the pixel thing, but it still shouldn't be so brownish, right? The pictures look like an old Polaroid picture. You know, the one's that spit the picture out as soon as you took it. Old, brown & nasty looking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not being flippant, but is it possible you might have a dirty lens?
Lol, that was the first thing I tried. Cleaned both sides of the back cover & cleaned the lens on the camera. Good idea, though.
The "5mp" doesn't really mean much, as stated earlier, if the sensor and lens are poor quality. As far as I know, HTC haven't released a phone with a reasonable quality camera, yet.
I bounce between different smart-phones (just coming back to WM now, after a year with S60). I can say that many of the S60 devices (in particular the Nokia N95, but also the N82 with Xenon flash) have very good cameras, being similar to low-end digital cameras in daylight. They lack optical zoom and tend to over-compress images, but have good quality lenses.
imho hd camera is excelent
pictures look old & rustic only if you make them inside house without using the artificial light setting, and this is also a general rule, not specific to HD.
Never seen a good phone camera yet, including the latest 8mpixel ones. They're all terrible.
Never
This camera will NEVER take pictures anywhere near what real cameras do. The photo sites are so tiny, they are smaller then the length of waive of light. Therefore noise, lack of dynamic width, etc. No patch will ever fix that. Sorry
open back cover , clean the lens , you will see a huge difference in quality
Vampire2800 said:
Lol, that was the first thing I tried. Cleaned both sides of the back cover & cleaned the lens on the camera. Good idea, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I'm doubting you or anything but you do realize that the back cover only has a hole through to the lens?
You might try setting the brightness higher:
If you touch the small rectangle near the bottom right side of the screen (when holding landscape)
Then select the gear symbol, then select brightness from the menu and hit the "+" until it looks better that will remove most of the darkness.
The camera is a plain disappointment. In the time the camera autofocusses, I could have bought a Sony Ericsson C905's, create a good looking photo (with xenon flash) and upload it to imageshack.
If 'your object' makes the slightest move, your photo will be blurry . This is also the case when you attempt to make a photo of someone that isn't aware he or she has to be waiting for the autofocus lag. Head moves >>> blurry pic.
iPhone camera shots are way better quality, don't ask me why. Overall my Touch HD scores 8/10, where atleast 1 full point is taken up by the camera
and it's better don't speak about the very laggy video recording
mach03 said:
iPhone camera shots are way better quality, don't ask me why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too many megapixels on a tiny sensor = major noise problem = blurring from denoise.
Even 2mpixels is too much for sensors this size, but people buy on marketing numbers of megapixels, not quality. You can just imagine the whining that would occur if the Touch HD came out with 1.3mpxiels, even though it would produce better pictures.
arfster said:
Too many megapixels on a tiny sensor = major noise problem = blurring from denoise.
Even 2mpixels is too much for sensors this size, but people buy on marketing numbers of megapixels, not quality. You can just imagine the whining that would occur if the Touch HD came out with 1.3mpxiels, even though it would produce better pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hehe, thats true.
mpixels dont count as much as the general public belives. the more mpix. the higher rezolution you can print the picture in. but for ordinary photos, 1.3 mpix would be enough, as long as the optics is good.
Personally, I rarely use a phone camera.
I use either my Olympus 720SW or Canon EOS.
​
the camera sucks **** compared to the n95 and the video recording is horrid. i know it's not meant to be as good as a dedicated camera but this is pretty bad given the price of the device.
i concur with mach03, move the camera a slight bit and eveyrthing gets blurred. one way i've semi gotten aorund this is to unlock the burst functiona nd take a sequence of pics and hope one or two coems out alright, not the most economic way to do it though...
i would ahve thought that maybe there's a way to tweak the camera to stop the blurring or even affect how much light is picked up by the lens which should also help with clarity
Vampire2800 said:
I'm not talking about the front camera. The normal camera on the back. I understand about the pixel thing, but it still shouldn't be so brownish, right? The pictures look like an old Polaroid picture. You know, the one's that spit the picture out as soon as you took it. Old, brown & nasty looking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A silly idea, but seriously, did you check if maybe, just maybe, you left the "sepia" effect turned on???

Noise in pictures

I'm wanting to find out if the noise in some of the photos i've taken is normal for the HD2
I expect noise in a camera like this, it's just the nature of having such a small high mega pixel count sensor, I just wanted to find out if what im experiencing is normal. I've got a week left on my 14 days and would like to exchange it if it's not normal
This is probably the worst of them all that I did lastnight
http://twitpic.com/1cs2cl/full Look at the banding noise at the bottom of the frame.
http://twitpic.com/1cs4lj/full This one has some too, but not as bad as the other
http://twitpic.com/1cs50y/full This one looks like it may be a optics problem, look at the red halo around the sykes sign. the 1st time i took the pic i though maybe there was a smudge on the lens so i wiped it and still had the same result
Perfectly normal.
You're taking pictures at night and even standalone digital cameras would struggle to take a decent picture in those conditions.
The Camera will be ramping up the ISO which increases the noise anyway (and as you pointed out coupled to a small sensor just isnt great), the only way to take a decent picture with noise that isnt noticable is to use a tripod, a very small aperture and a very long shutter.
This, being a phone, doesn't have the luxury of that kind of control.
Just take pictures during the day and they are decent enough.
i get it too, including the exceptionally bright flash that usually washes out most photos, just have to live with it im afraid, or fiddle with camera settings, see what happens, but you'd have to constantly change them between night and day....
Thanks, Yeah i expected the noise in pics from the phone. Just the banding was concerning me a little bit.
It actually does pretty good at night in certain situations, there are more pics on my twitpic account from last night that came out ok, very little noise, though a bit more blur. im guessing it probably picked a lower ISO for those.
ieilisuk said:
Just take pictures during the day and they are decent enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree, the camera on the HD2 is outstanding in the daylight, nearly rivals the Sony T33 that ive carried around for a long time for quick snapshots. I just wish they could put a small optical zoom on the camera, even something as small as the 3x optical zoom im used to the with T33. im sure that's asking a bit much with the space constraints within a phone. Im still happy none the less.
The camera in my old Wizard was worthless, i barely ever used it. It was passable outside on a bright day, useless under normal indoor lighting conditions or darker.
Found myself in several situations where i wanted to take a pic but didn't have the T33 on me. HD2 = problem solved =)
I just noticed that there is a TMO USA HD2 specific forum. Since this is about a TMO USA HD2 could one of the mods move this thread over there? Like to see what kind of response i get from other USA version users

[Q] Camera Blur

Following the update, any picture I take with my camera is blurry. It doesn't matter if I keep the camera still and/or the subject is still.
Anyone else seeing this and/or have any ideas as to how to fix it?
Someone suggested holding down the shutter button for a sec before releasing it. I've tried it and notice when the sound is on it'll actually make a noise when it's focused. I hth you!!!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
DLarva said:
Following the update, any picture I take with my camera is blurry. It doesn't matter if I keep the camera still and/or the subject is still.
Anyone else seeing this and/or have any ideas as to how to fix it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you do ok before the update?
If not I can suggest some tips...
Don
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Yeah, my pictures were turning out well prior to the update. It could be coincidence and something else changed, but the update is the most likely culprit.
I've got the same issue. My picture quality has gone to crap in the JI6 update vs. the JFD update. They always come out blurry no matter how still I hold the camera.
On this forum others have fixed errors following the update by performing a factory reset...has anyone who had this blurry camera issue tried this? If so, did the blurriness go away?
Have you tried cleaning the plastic/glass element in front of the camera? Sometimes I get a finger smudge on it and my pictures will turn out blurry.
sj_martin said:
Have you tried cleaning the plastic/glass element in front of the camera? Sometimes I get a finger smudge on it and my pictures will turn out blurry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this heh you'd be surprised at how important this is. But I haven't noticed any problem, works fine for me.
I have tried cleaning it...but perhaps I need to use the right cleaning product. Any recommendations?
jesus. use your t shirt.
perhaps you accidentally set the focus mode to macro?
DLarva said:
Yeah, my pictures were turning out well prior to the update. It could be coincidence and something else changed, but the update is the most likely culprit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have noticed that after the update, specifically the need to get a lock with the focusing square prior to taking the shot, is critical. Just tapping the shutter button to get a shot gives me blurry pictures most of the time. Not sure if its really the update or not or just me.
I have found if I push the shutter button down and hold it down until the focusing square goes green indicating a focus lock, then I can hold the camera still and compose my shot, as long as I do not change the distance between the subject and the camera, I can trigger the shutter by pulling my finger off the screen shutter button without bumping the device, I get much sharper pictures. Camera shake equals blurry. In this new high def world we demand sharpness more then ever.
In addition with all cameras, the sensor (or film in the old days) needs a certain fixed amount of light for a proper exposure. With automatic cameras the brighter the ambient light on the subject the faster the shutter speed will be. Fast shutter equals sharper focused hand held shots. If its darker the camera compensates by opening the shutter slower (longer) and raising the ISO to get the same fixed amount of light into the camera. In low light if you move even slightly the shot will be blurry and grainy from the high ISO and slower shutter.
Sorry if this is all well known "camera 101", just trying to help. This really is an exceptional point and shoot camera and over the top for a phone. I hope the update didn't jack up your cameras and a reset and/or the above tips does the trick for you guys.
Don
Update:
After trying many different things I finally talked with TMo support and they sent me a replacement phone.
My old phone had a few additional problems that this one doesn't have, so I'm glad I did the replacement. However, the new phone also doesn't seem to be capable of taking good photos.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I used to be able to take great pictures with this phone without trying, and now I go out of my way to setup the perfect situation and the pictures are still blurry.
The only thing I can think of that changed on the phone is the OTA update.
Furthermore, taking video works just fine. So it is something about the Camera software or something I'm somehow doing differently than I did during my first few months of ownership.

[Q] Quality of Front Facing Camera

Just recently my front facing camera has gotten really bad and I do not know why. I am going to include two pictures I have taken. The first one is a perfectly normal picture and the second one is crappy as hell, blurry as can be and looks like a webcam from the 90s.
Both pictures quality is 1900x1080 just the quality is drastically different. I recently updated to 4.3 and right after that the quality of the camera was the same as the first picture... hours later I took a picture and its quality mimics that of the second one. Any ideas? It isn't focusing, obviously I'm not zooming. I don't know what the problem is.
Does anyone have the .apk for the camera i could possibly re-install??
Also here is a test i just did. I took a picture with snapchat and I saved the image, this picture is #3.
I then went into the Camera and took a picture again and this is its quality, blurry.
I am definitely starting to think that the camera is bugged.
I have noticed that noise removal kicks in on mine when taken in dim light. The ISO on the front camera is high and I find the pictures are noisy unless taken in bright light and noise removal is only applied if the light is dim enough. The 3rd picture looks quite a bit noisy and it looks like the automatic noise removal was applied to picture 2 and 4.
pic2022 said:
Just recently my front facing camera has gotten really bad and I do not know why. I am going to include two pictures I have taken. The first one is a perfectly normal picture and the second one is crappy as hell, blurry as can be and looks like a webcam from the 90s.
Both pictures quality is 1900x1080 just the quality is drastically different. I recently updated to 4.3 and right after that the quality of the camera was the same as the first picture... hours later I took a picture and its quality mimics that of the second one. Any ideas? It isn't focusing, obviously I'm not zooming. I don't know what the problem is.
Does anyone have the .apk for the camera i could possibly re-install??
Also here is a test i just did. I took a picture with snapchat and I saved the image, this picture is #3.
I then went into the Camera and took a picture again and this is its quality, blurry.
I am definitely starting to think that the camera is bugged.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have exactly the same problem with the blurred effect. Did you find the solution?

[Q] Front camera blurry?

Hi everyone,
I'm having a problem with my Samsung Galaxy S4.
The front camera is producing blurred photos, almost as if they have been automatically edited/badly Photoshoped.
Before I capture a photo, the quality looks normal.
I've made sure the lens is clean and there is no plastic covering the lens. The same happens with Instagram... quality looks fine before capturing and then the same awful result afterwards.
Any help would be great!!
Anyone?
Can you post any photos you took with the front camera?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
[email protected] said:
Can you post any photos you took with the front camera?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply!
Here is an example.
This is on the highest possible resolution but the same thing happens with every option. The quality is absolutely fine before I capture the photo and then, as you can see, it's as if a soft blur filter is added.
Any ideas?
Bump!
I think it's because the post procesing, which tries to reduce the noise for the cost of details (blury).
Try to take some photos in brighter enviroment.
ongbac said:
I think it's because the post procesing, which tries to reduce the noise for the cost of details (blury).
Try to take some photos in brighter enviroment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds about right.
I was trying out different apps and Snapchat captures what is on the screen and doesn't apply any after effect.
Have you got any ideas about how I can change some settings or something?
Bump!
Anyone?
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda app-developers app
It's the camera. There's a definite lack of sharpness, and it happens on every ROM, so it's not software related.
Having the same issue.
Under good lighting, it's decent.
But under low light, or even under normal room lighting conditions, the image becomes grainy.
Even my previous S3 takes sharper and clearer images.
andrewhahalee said:
Having the same issue.
Under good lighting, it's decent.
But under low light, or even under normal room lighting conditions, the image becomes grainy.
Even my previous S3 takes sharper and clearer images.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. I just upgraded from S2 and never had these problems. My software has just updated but with no effect.
S4 Front camera, STRANGE.
Hi,
I was having problems with my S4 trying to make an ordinarily phone call. The phone seamed sluggish and my voice did not go through once I was connected. So, I switched to hangouts. I made a video call so I was expecting to see myself in the small picture on my screen. I did see a zoomed picture in good quality? Better quality I ever had seen before! I was surprised to see a good quality zoomed picture under poor light conditions. Since I am a computer guy I realized that something is fishy so I looked for an appropriate forum to put this story in.
My question is since you are talking about a suspected software filter. Are we without our knowing it have better camera performance than we the user are allowed to use? I do not buy the ROM explanation of the problem.
/duediligence
S4 Front camera, STRANGE.
Hi.
I had an encounter with something, well, alarming.
I had some problems making an ordinary phone call, sluggish phone, so I switched to hangouts instead.
I made a video call to my friend. For some reason the phone had not stopped being funny. In the small picture, the one of me, I saw something I never had seen before. Instead of the expected streamed image of me I had a zoomed in version in surprisingly good quality! I could see holding my phone, S4, at 30 to 40 cm distance my mouth covering the with of the image.
Question: I looked for an appropriate forum and thread before posting. Since you are here talking about the poor picture quality of the front camera being manipulated by a software filter you might be intrigued like me about this observation I had by chance stumbled up on.
My question is whether the cameras on our phones have capabilities we are not aware of?
/duediligence

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