Pictures taken under special light condition - Xperia Z2 General

I was in Pandora shop with my wife today, I took some pictures and notice there were some black shadow lines on the pictures, when I start the default camera app, I noticed these lines were rolling across the screen, the store has LED spot lights on the ceiling, pictures taken outside the store were fine.
I try reboot the phone but still the same. I am not sure if it is a hardware issue or software issue.
Pictures taken with my wife's M8 were fine.

Sounds like an issue with the person operating the camera not knowing about the relationship between shutter speed and the frequency of cycling lighting.
You'd need to use a camera app that lets you set shutter speed to ensure you get even exposure/color under cycling lighting(changing ISO can give some control over shutter speed if camera app doesn't support setting shutter speed-most don't).
Unfortunately LED lights usually have drivers that don't follow the frequency of the AC input power so you may not be able to pick multiples of 50/60hz(depending on your region).
Sent from my D6503 using Xparent Red Tapatalk 2

lovemyram4x4 said:
Sounds like an issue with the person operating the camera not knowing about the relationship between shutter speed and the frequency of cycling lighting.
You'd need to use a camera app that lets you set shutter speed to ensure you get even exposure/color under cycling lighting(changing ISO can give some control over shutter speed if camera app doesn't support setting shutter speed-most don't).
Unfortunately LED lights usually have drivers that don't follow the frequency of the AC input power so you may not be able to pick multiples of 50/60hz(depending on your region).
Sent from my D6503 using Xparent Red Tapatalk 2
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That is interesting, how do I know the frequency of cycling lighting? Are you saying I should set the shutter speed a bit faster ? The lines rolling in the preview screen before pictures were even taken?

With LED lighting you often won't have any idea what frequency it cycles so you'd need to use trial and error. There's a reason why photographers prefer to not shoot under light sources that cycle, especially if it's the primary light source.
Cycling lights can also cause issues with uneven wight balance as well as exposure. Choosing shutter speeds that allow the lights to have full cycles gives best results.
Slower shutter speed will usually be better(likely why the M8 did better under those LED lights-slower lens & possible set lower ISO) since lights can fully cycle possibly multiple times(depending on how slow). Really high shutter speeds can also capture an even exposure but may have issues with wight balance if the lights color temp varies while cycling(I'm not sure how LED lights are with this but florescent light color temp can vary a lot).
I usually don't bother worrying much about not getting a perfect shot under these types of lighting since it's usually just a snap shot, if a wanted to take a good photo I wouldn't be uses this type of light as primary light source(I also wouldn't be using my Z2, although that's because I have proper camera gear but I understand some peoples best camera is their camera phone or as the saying goes the best camera for the shot is the one you have with you).
Sent from my D6503 using Xparent Red Tapatalk 2

lovemyram4x4 said:
With LED lighting you often won't have any idea what frequency it cycles so you'd need to use trial and error. There's a reason why photographers prefer to not shoot under light sources that cycle, especially if it's the primary light source.
Cycling lights can also cause issues with uneven wight balance as well as exposure. Choosing shutter speeds that allow the lights to have full cycles gives best results.
Slower shutter speed will usually be better(likely why the M8 did better under those LED lights-slower lens & possible set lower ISO) since lights can fully cycle possibly multiple times(depending on how slow). Really high shutter speeds can also capture an even exposure but may have issues with wight balance if the lights color temp varies while cycling(I'm not sure how LED lights are with this but florescent light color temp can vary a lot).
I usually don't bother worrying much about not getting a perfect shot under these types of lighting since it's usually just a snap shot, if a wanted to take a good photo I wouldn't be uses this type of light as primary light source(I also wouldn't be using my Z2, although that's because I have proper camera gear but I understand some peoples best camera is their camera phone or as the saying goes the best camera for the shot is the one you have with you).
Sent from my D6503 using Xparent Red Tapatalk 2
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Thanks for the replies, I dont usually take photos under these light conditions, I just want to make sure that my z2 camera is not broken or something.

lovemyram4x4 said:
Unfortunately LED lights usually have drivers that don't follow the frequency of the AC input power so you may not be able to pick multiples of 50/60hz(depending on your region).
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Shutter speed of his photo is 1/320 s at 50 ISO so the display was adequately lit as you would expect.
No way to set shutter speed directly only indirectly.
Just have to play with exp comp to avoid it.

I noticed that too on my phone..after some seconds (10-15) it turns again into normal ..strange..

Related

Camera - "low light" shooting mode

Hi everyone! Just wanted to share what I found out recently.
"Low light" shooting mode rocks!
It just makes so much difference when shooting in bad lighting situations. I hate shooting with the flash, but I also hate the noise that goes with shooting without flash.
Enter "low light" shooting mode.
I'm not the one to exaggerate, but the noise that was usually present in shots just disappeared when shooting in this mode (vs. shooting in normal mode). My only wish is that if there was a way for the camera to recognize a scene wherein "low light" shooting mode would be suitable and actually switch to that mode automatically. Perhaps this is a feature I miss because my previous Android phone was the Xperia arc, which had terrific automatic scene recognition.
I was wondering if someone has done a closer study of what "low light" shooting mode actually does differently from normal mode. For one, it takes a bit of loading time before the shot is captured, but the shutter speed doesn't really dramatically decrease. Also, I noticed that photos shot using the "low light" shooting mode have an "_LLS" appended in the file name. So what else is different?
I'll post comparison shots when I can.
Thoughts? Comments? Post away.
AFAIK the low light mode does some noise reduction post processing directly after the shot is taken, that's why it takes a bit longer for the picture to get saved to your library. Since the picture is taken then the noise filter is applied, the picture loses some finer details and quality.
I personally love the camera under decent light conditions, not a fan of the noise it produces in low light.
I believe low light mode takes two photos and then removes the noise between them.
Hold your phone still when using that mode and you'll get some great shots.
Sent from my Galaxy Note 2 using Tapatalk 2
I'm a fan of low light mode on this phone. Usually the shutter speed has been too slow on previous phones, but is fast enough for casual use on the n2.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
I think it obvious that the low light mode is based around simply longer shutter time and some post processing, hence the message about holding the phone still while taking a pic.
The amount of light we get in the picture with this mode is simply not possible with software processing alone.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
Definitely low light rocks on our Note Beast
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda premium
Here is a shot I took with low light setting in my room under dim lighting condition.
Low shutter speed, high iso, and clean up with noise reduction. Im impressed they put a setting that does these things for ya.
Very cool.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using xda app-developers app
I just tested this a while ago and i must say low light shooting mode rocks!
On top is single shot mode and bottom is low light mode.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
Photo taken close to midnight using the low light camera feature :good:
This is actually one of my frustrations with this phone.
I thought that the low light mode is similar to the night mode I had in CM9 back in my old phone.
Under dim lighting conditions, photo taken via normal and low light mode are the same.
After reading some posts here, I just tried taking two pictures but on a good lighting condition.
I noticed that indeed, the quality of the photo taken in low light mode is better.
rom3l said:
I just tested this a while ago and i must say low light shooting mode rocks!
On top is single shot mode and bottom is low light mode.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2
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Is that Slash?
Sorry for Off Topic.
BTW can anyone tell me what the ISO setting is during Low light mode?
jon1011 said:
This is actually one of my frustrations with this phone.
I thought that the low light mode is similar to the night mode I had in CM9 back in my old phone.
Under dim lighting conditions, photo taken via normal and low light mode are the same.
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I actually like the low light mode better than "night mode" which i rarely used (in my other camera phones). Night mode would result in blurry pics all the time and it used to be slow. In addition, the low light mode results in pics with better noise reduction than conventional night mode imo .
Dpk1 said:
I actually like the low light mode better than "night mode" which i rarely used (in my other camera phones). Night mode would result in blurry pics all the time and it used to be slow. In addition, the low light mode results in pics with better noise reduction than conventional night mode imo .
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What do you mean by "noise reduction"? I've read that a lot in this thread but I do not understand what it means.
Sorry, I'm not too deep when it comes to photography.
In night mode, it may make the picture a bit blurry but the lighting of the photo will be good.
It's like taken with a controlled flash.
jon1011 said:
What do you mean by "noise reduction"? I've read that a lot in this thread but I do not understand what it means.
Sorry, I'm not too deep when it comes to photography.
In night mode, it may make the picture a bit blurry but the lighting of the photo will be good.
It's like taken with a controlled flash.
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When you zoom in a photo on a screen to 100%, then you start to notice unwanted "tiny dots" or "grain" which (kind of) distort the whole picture. This is called the photographic/ image noise. Better the image sensor, lesser is the noise. Noise reduction is/maybe a part of image "post processing", which obviously reduces the noise output (usually at the cost of some image detail).
The night mode (in general) uses higher "ISO settings" for brighter images in dark. Higher ISO levels increase the sensitivity of sensor to light, but also increases the image noise. Hence, brighter but noisy images. Whereas, low light mode provides bright enough images with least noise (wrt note 2 camera), perhaps either by prolonging the exposure/ better noise reduction. Hope it clears up your doubts. For more info, google your query, i'm sure there is a lot of info there .
Wow didn't really have faith in this feature, thought it was same thing as setting high iso. I usually prefer high iso, +1-2 stop brightness, +flash. I'll surely try this feature after this post.
Dpk1 said:
When you zoom in a photo on a screen to 100%, then you start to notice unwanted "tiny dots" or "grain" which (kind of) distort the whole picture. This is called the photographic/ image noise. Better the image sensor, lesser is the noise. Noise reduction is/maybe a part of image "post processing", which obviously reduces the noise output (usually at the cost of some image detail).
The night mode (in general) uses higher "ISO settings" for brighter images in dark. Higher ISO levels increase the sensitivity of sensor to light, but also increases the image noise. Hence, brighter but noisy images. Whereas, low light mode provides bright enough images with least noise (wrt note 2 camera), perhaps either by prolonging the exposure/ better noise reduction. Hope it clears up your doubts. For more info, google your query, i'm sure there is a lot of info there .
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Thank you for the explanation. I seem to get it now.
But still, when I take pictures in 'Low light' mode in a dim light setting, it doesn't make the photo "bright enough" as you have said.
jon1011 said:
Thank you for the explanation. I seem to get it now.
But still, when I take pictures in 'Low light' mode in a dim light setting, it doesn't make the photo "bright enough" as you have said.
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Well of course there are limitations as to how dark a setting the camera will still pick up light, but in general the low light mode should produce better pictures where the standard mode is too dark.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app
D3_ said:
Well of course there are limitations as to how dark a setting the camera will still pick up light, but in general the low light mode should produce better pictures where the standard mode is too dark.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using xda app-developers app
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Can't see much of it.
Anyway, happy new year to all!
Hello everyone!
As promised, here are the comparison shots for normal "single shot" mode and "low light" mode. I have uploaded these original picture files as attachments. I think it will be easy to distinguish which one is the normal shot and which one is shot using low light. (These are Dropbox Camera Upload sync files, so the "LLS" moniker disappears. Sorry for that.)
Cheers!

Camera slow shutter speed

I know the camera issue has been beat to death already but I've been testing it for many days and would like to relay my results. A lot of people are saying that the auto focus is bad causing blurry pictures. This is false, the focus works great but the camera always chooses a shutter speed that's to low for the lighting causing blur on subjects in motion. The only way I can get the shutter speed over 1/20 is by taking a picture in bright light. Even in above average lighting conditions the shutter will go to 1/20 or below. There is no option for metering so I wonder if LG coded something wrong in the camera drivers. I have tried every camera program out there and they all take the exact same picture using the same to low shutter speed which tells me it's not the stock camera app. I don't have the skill to dive into the programming but that is where the problem seems to be. It's the same brand (Sony) camera sensor as the SGS4 so I know that it's not the sensors fault.
Any thoughts?
Sent from my LG-D803 using xda app-developers app
Anybody else have any ideas?
I'm also seeing these ridiculous shutter speeds (1/14, 1/20) when shooting in low light indoors, even if picking Sport mode, and was looking for a discussion on the topic here. Happy to find it
I had almost given up getting the camera to do what I wanted, when I discovered that the Intelligent Auto feature actually sometimes is ... intelligent. I took 4 photos of my toddler - obviously, not a subject willing to sit still. All photos on intelligent auto.
For two of the photos, the software shot with ISO 700 and 1/15th shutter, pretty much what Normal does every time. But - the other two were taken with ISO 1400-1/30 and ISO 1500-1/30. Naturally, the latter two were a lot sharper.
This is incredibly annoying since the Normal mode only lets you manually pick max ISO 800 and gives no shutter speed control. Until I found out about this intelligent auto thing, I forced -1, -1 1/3 stops underexposure to make the camera use a faster shutter (it typically used 1/59 for some reason). Now I guess I will take 5-6 pics every time and hope the camera is indeed intelligent part of the time.
- Is there no custom camera app capable of setting shutter speed manually, and use the ISO settings available to Intelligent Auto?
- Noone's had any word from LG on this?
I will be contacting LG support about this as well, but wanted to get the XDA word on the matter first...
Cheers, Are
Just replying to say I'm having the same issue. The fastest shutter speed I've seen is 1/15 in a well lit, easy to focus shot. The vast majority of my shots are blurry as a result.
I'm running Cyanogenmod at the moment.
I'm having pretty bad shutter speeds as well. It take 2 seconds to take a well-lit picture.
Guys , Try out the Moto X camera app. I may be wrong but i think its a bit faster .
JasElS said:
I'm having pretty bad shutter speeds as well. It take 2 seconds to take a well-lit picture.
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farazafs said:
Guys , Try out the Moto X camera app. I may be wrong but i think its a bit faster .
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I'm not talking about how long it takes to take the picture, that's delay. I'm talking shutter speed, how long the shutter stays open allowing light to hit the sensor.
I have not had any big problems with this, most of my shots are pretty tack sharp, and seem to have some decent shutterspeeds.. Only in very poor light I do get 1/15 shutterspeeds but at pretty average lights I get 1/30-1/120 sometimes faster, but mostly 1/40..
My shutterdelay is almist nothing too..
I found a modified version of the stock LG G2 camera by sefnap that works with CM 10.2 M1 and produces much better results: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2522889
Some of the features don't work but overall it's vastly better than the camera included with CM.
There is also another modified version of the stock camera put up by Heatshiver that probably works even better but it doesn't currently work with CM (only works with stock and some AOSP ROMs): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2525783
I just discovered something the other day when playing with my camera... Albeit in bright light. Check out these pics taken at 60mph from my car while I was driving (ie not the most steady hand).
What I did was set it on sports mode and then old down the camera button until I heard the beep, and then released to capture the image I wanted (ie the road signs). The one out of my car window was actually more focused than I could focus with my naked eye...

[Q] Camera problem..picture quality terrible

I have a note 3 sm n900.
But in my camera if the turn image smart stabilisation off the photos sre taken are very fast but they start cracking if i zoom in.. if i take a pic of a book or something the words arent very clear,i even tried keeping my hands very steady while taking the photos.
On the other hand enbablimg smart stabilisation, camera takes around one second to take a photo and the photos arr very clear.
This shouldnt be happening, right?
Whats the point of having smart stabilisation off if the photos look like taken from a 2MP shooter.
Please help.
Please reply.
I have been hurt by the community as my last problems didnt even get a reply.
Sent from my SM-N900 using XDA Free mobile app
begimaad said:
I have a note 3 sm n900.
But in my camera if the turn image smart stabilisation off the photos sre taken are very fast but they start cracking if i zoom in.. if i take a pic of a book or something the words arent very clear,i even tried keeping my hands very steady while taking the photos.
On the other hand enbablimg smart stabilisation, camera takes around one second to take a photo and the photos arr very clear.
This shouldnt be happening, right?
Whats the point of having smart stabilisation off if the photos look like taken from a 2MP shooter.
Please help.
Please reply.
I have been hurt by the community as my last problems didnt even get a reply.
Sent from my SM-N900 using XDA Free mobile app
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Are you aware of how camera sensors work?
Smart stabilization is meant to offset the use of higher ISOs/lower shutter speeds so that your pictures turn out less noisy. Given that the Note 3's max aperture is f/2.2, let's make an example.
In the daylight, your ISO can drop and thus picture quality can improve (this is very barebones, but it's for conceptual purpose). In essence, higher ISO = more noise, especially the smaller the sensor size. You can visibly see that the Note 3 has a very small sensor. In fact, even on APS-C cameras, noise performances starts to suck around ISO 3200~6400. ISO is meant to make each pixel brighter (or something to that effect), and the smaller those pixels are, the more noise you'll generate (again, not exactly, but that's the gist of what you're experiencing). So, with 13 megapixels fit onto the small sensor, you're likely going to start seeing noise at like, ISO800 (this is a random guess, but it's probably true).
Anyways, so during the daytime, there is a lot of available light, so the ISO can be reduced and exposure can be adjusted using shutter speed (assuming aperture stays the same). This improves picture quality as lower ISOs generally equate to less noise. However, as you get later into the night, less available light means that one of two things has to happen. Either your shutter speed gets slower to let in more light, or your ISO cranks up to become more sensitive to the available light (and thus more noise). Usually a combination of the two occur to get a trade off between quality and shutter speed.
A quick browse on google gave me, 1/15, f2.2, ISO 1000, as EXIF data from an iPhone 5s taking a picture at night. As you can see, the ISO is pretty high for the small sensor, and the shutter speed is quite low. As a rule of thumb, you generally want at least an equivalent shutter speed to the focal length, but given the crop factor of this lens, I have no idea what that'd actually be. But 1/15th is very, very hard to hold without some form of IS/OS, even on full-frame cameras. What you're experiencing is this effect. The low shutter speed to let in more light means that even if you breath and shift the camera 1cm, you'll get blur. It's not out of focus, but the subjects weren't in the same place because you moved, causing them to be rendered in shift. The noise is the result of the ISO being too high; the pixel sensitivity isn't that great, and so you're getting all kinds of weird colours that the phone is trying to represent without definitive data. Again, we're assuming that the aperture stays wide open under these conditions to let in the most light.
I hope you got the answer you were looking for. Basically, what you want is pretty hard to do, even with a full-framed DSLR (although it's becoming less true with recent image processing). You can't really turn of IS/OS and expect the pictures to be great. There's a lot of other things that are taken into account behind the scenes that are usually beyond your control on your phone. Smart stabilization using image processing algorithms to help mitigate the impact of higher ISOs and lower shutter speeds by post-processing the images you take on the fly. Such is the cause of the delay.
What version you're running , do you try to use any third-party camera app results may vary , did you increase exposure value, try to reser all camera setting to default
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
msasm09 said:
What version you're running , do you try to use any third-party camera app results may vary , did you increase exposure value, try to reser all camera setting to default
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
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Got it sorted out. In not so bright conditions the pictures start breaking and by turning on smart stabilisation it gets fixed. Credit goes to the last persom who explained. Best explanation ever. Hats off to u
Sent from my SM-N900 using XDA Free mobile app

Camera: tips for manual settings or auto to use in certain circumstances

Would people care to post tips about what are best settings to use in:
low light photos
fast subjects
etc,
Don't have this phone, but I can share some common knowledge.
There's a term often called "exposure triangle". Proper exposure is achieved by combining three variables - ISO, aperture, shutter speed. High ISO, wide aperture (low f-number) and low shutter speed give you more light. Depending on what you're shooting, you'd want to sacrifice one or the other. High ISO gives you more light at the expense of image quality. Wide aperture gives you more light at the expense of lower depth of field (which is not necessarily bad - e.g. may be intentionally desired). Low shutter speed gives you more light at the expense of not being able to give you a sharp image of something that's moving. Generally you can vary one to compensate for the other two. With most phones, the aperture is fixed, so you're left with only shutter speed and ISO.
For low light, you'd want to drop the shutter speed to something like 1/10 or 1/5 - if the subject is still and your hands are steady, you can have a sharp photo this way. The lower you drop the shutter speed, the lower ISO you will need to ensure proper exposure - and the lower the ISO, the cleaner the image given the exposure is proper - but don't try to keep the ISO low if it would result in an underexposed shot. Experiment with what is the lowest speed at which you can manage a sharp shot.
For fast subjects, it depends - sometimes 1/100 is enough, sometimes 1/500 is not enough - very much depends on what you're shooting (primarily how fast it is moving). Again, try it yourself.
killchain said:
Don't have this phone, but I can share some common knowledge.
There's a term often called "exposure triangle". Proper exposure is achieved by combining three variables - ISO, aperture, shutter speed. High ISO, wide aperture (low f-number) and low shutter speed give you more light. Depending on what you're shooting, you'd want to sacrifice one or the other. High ISO gives you more light at the expense of image quality. Wide aperture gives you more light at the expense of lower depth of field (which is not necessarily bad - e.g. may be intentionally desired). Low shutter speed gives you more light at the expense of not being able to give you a sharp image of something that's moving. Generally you can vary one to compensate for the other two. With most phones, the aperture is fixed, so you're left with only shutter speed and ISO.
For low light, you'd want to drop the shutter speed to something like 1/10 or 1/5 - if the subject is still and your hands are steady, you can have a sharp photo this way. The lower you drop the shutter speed, the lower ISO you will need to ensure proper exposure - and the lower the ISO, the cleaner the image given the exposure is proper - but don't try to keep the ISO low if it would result in an underexposed shot. Experiment with what is the lowest speed at which you can manage a sharp shot.
For fast subjects, it depends - sometimes 1/100 is enough, sometimes 1/500 is not enough - very much depends on what you're shooting (primarily how fast it is moving). Again, try it yourself.
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Exactly as mentioned above pretty much, I will add a little more.
Normal cameras you can change the aperture which in turn will also affect the required shutter speed for the correct exposure in the given shot. Your phone does not have this, only a fixed aperture, how you phone regulates this is through shutter speed and adjusting your ISO. Manual with all cameras is recommend for best results, as your camera can make bad decisions for these exposures.
Perfect example I can give you is the other night I was trying to photograph christmas lights, the camera was trying to illuminate the entire scene over exposing all the lights, I had to compensate this by underexposing by one stop what the camera was trying to expose.
If you have ever photographed scenes with lots of black and or lots of white, with black your phone overexposes and you black becomes greyish the rest of the shot is bright white. With white your phone underexposes, the white has lots of details but the background is very dark of completely black. it each of these situations if you don't take control you will not get the best out of the scene.
Thank you contributors. I found out that by changing the exposure my screen darkens quite a lot but when I take the photo comes out a lot lighter. What is that about? Is it not wysiwig?
mihaid said:
Thank you contributors. I found out that by changing the exposure my screen darkens quite a lot but when I take the photo comes out a lot lighter. What is that about? Is it not wysiwig?
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The camera is trying to show you a real time image, so in low light it has to keep the shutter faster to keep up with you moving the camera, if they didn't do this and it was showing you real time in low light you would have to wait the exposure time, this would get really annoying as you have to wait for each frame to refresh
So in summary they have a minimum shutter they show in the screen preview (not sure what this is) maybe 1/15 sec so it can keep up with you panning/moving the camera
The Sony display tries to improve the look of photos, you have noticed when you view a photo that it changes while you are looking at it.
If you want a less post-processing you can use "Landscape" mode. You will get visible color noise in low light situations but also more detail in dark areas. A bit like what G4/V10 does and depeding on scene it can be passable. In good lighting it brings out the details better than other modes. It does though like to up the ISO but it can be countered with the EV.
Does people even have the phone to make comments, the only settings in manual mode is change iso value that's it, there is no shutter speed at least not in Sony stock camera app
Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk
You can change most of the settings mentioned above using the Fv-5 app, try it
babarmaqbool said:
good
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Stop with the good spam in each thread please.
Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk
Vcaddy said:
You can change most of the settings mentioned above using the Fv-5 app, try it
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It is not free (lite version is horrible) and can only shoot long exposure in 2.1 MP.
I bet it doesn't even shoot a real long exposure, I think it just shoots a video into a picture.
BTW, normal photos can only be taken in 8mp max.
This phone needs a real manual mode like the G4 because the phone really does not deal with low light well due to lack of control in the app. FV-5 is useless really as it's only 8mp and doesn't really do any better than stock on this phone or the G4
Jonathan-H said:
This phone needs a real manual mode like the G4 because the phone really does not deal with low light well due to lack of control in the app. FV-5 is useless really as it's only 8mp and doesn't really do any better than stock on this phone or the G4
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Agreed.
Long exposure in vf-5 app is only 2.1mp btw.

Low light

At the club, at the bar, or just in your mom's basement, nighttime is when you come out to play. Rate this thread to express how the Moto X4's camera performs when no or low light is present. A higher rating indicates that the camera sensor "sees" lots of light in dim conditions, and that the resulting photos have minimal noise. A higher rating also indicates that when the flash fires, the resulting photo is evenly-lit without any bright spots.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
With flash it's 5 stars. Works pretty good without. Works as good as my S8.
I took some test shots on my phone today, using 3 different camera apps:
- The Stock Moto Camera
- The Stock Google Camera from the Play Store
- Modified Google Camera found Here. MGCB_7.0H_C2API_Full_PXL2_v.1.4_60FPS_noburst_v3
I tested in a large room with the lights off, and sunlight coming in. There are lots of shadows and dark areas, as well as very bright spots. I tested with HDR Off, HDR On, and HDR Auto (if applicable). I also threw in a wide angle, for comparison. (spoiler: Ew).
Some things that surprised me, in no particular order:
- The Stock Moto HDR actually did a decent job at brightening up the dark areas, and giving the shadows a bit of color. Not a ton of extra noise, either. However, the window was still washed out.
- Stock Google Cam didn't offer anything the others didn't, and HDR On/Off didn't seem to do a thing.
- Modified Google Cam definitely helped with the bright spots, as those are the only 2 pictures that you could see out the window, but it also introduced a LOT of noise in the shadows and dark areas. This is a known side effect of HDR in low-light, as I saw the same effect on my 5x when using HDR+ in low light.
I may try a different Modified Gcam, and try to input the settings manually. Hopefully that will result in better pics, as otherwise the Stock Moto camera seems to be our best bet for now.
The stock camera app in normal picture mode is not using good ISO/shutter speed combinations in low light at all. Take some and check the info on your images. It always goes for high ISO and faster shutter speed. It stops on 1/15 A LOT, and seems to adjust ISO from there. Switch to Professional Mode and force a slower shutter speed, lower ISO and now they look much better. HDR on this app is garbage with those auto focus settings too. It works much better with higher quality images with less noise, which the auto focus is incapable of providing in any low light situations.
I did some more tests with the v4.0 AIO modified Gcam, and there wasn't a difference.
I went back to the v1.4, and took some pics at home. These were very low-light, with candles the only light source in the room. I noticed similar trends:
Stock Cam is VERY blochy when you zoom in.
Stock HDR seems to brighten the whole image, but isn't very, you know, dynamic.
Stock Cam is way less noisy/blochy when you zoom in. It preserves much more detail.
Modified Gcam using HDR+ does a MUCH better job handling the candle light in the pic, as the light source isn't overexposed.
I may do some 100% crops and share them tomorrow, but Stranger Things 2 with the wife is more important atm. #sorrynotsorry.
crazyates said:
I did some more tests with the v4.0 AIO modified Gcam, and there wasn't a difference.
I went back to the v1.4, and took some pics at home. These were very low-light, with candles the only light source in the room. I noticed similar trends:
Stock Cam is VERY blochy when you zoom in.
Stock HDR seems to brighten the whole image, but isn't very, you know, dynamic.
Stock Cam is way less noisy/blochy when you zoom in. It preserves much more detail.
Modified Gcam using HDR+ does a MUCH better job handling the candle light in the pic, as the light source isn't overexposed.
I may do some 100% crops and share them tomorrow, but Stranger Things 2 with the wife is more important atm. #sorrynotsorry.
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Click to collapse
I'm using the manual Google APK here with HDR+ and it's also using very high ISOs, even in pretty good light. I have a lamp behind me, lights on in the room and both apps are using an ISO2400. If I manually set the ISO to 1200 or lower, I can still take a good photo by manually adjusting the shutter speed to 1/15, 1/10, or even 1/8 (anything lower and it's blurred). This HW should be capable of blazing fast auto focus so there is zero reason it's setting the ISOs so high. High ISO = more noise, less detail. Fast auto focus should mean that lowering the ISO in low light will focus better, faster, with less blur from the slower shutter speed. Something ain't right here.
HDR+ will clean up the noise from the high ISO setting some.
FrozenOx said:
I'm using the manual Google APK here with HDR+ and it's also using very high ISOs, even in pretty good light. I have a lamp behind me, lights on in the room and both apps are using an ISO2400. If I manually set the ISO to 1200 or lower, I can still take a good photo by manually adjusting the shutter speed to 1/15, 1/10, or even 1/8 (anything lower and it's blurred). This HW should be capable of blazing fast auto focus so there is zero reason it's setting the ISOs so high. High ISO = more noise, less detail. Fast auto focus should mean that lowering the ISO in low light will focus better, faster, with less blur from the slower shutter speed. Something ain't right here.
HDR+ will clean up the noise from the high ISO setting some.
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Click to collapse
That's odd. Is this an issue you've been experiencing on the optimum configs (manual version) or with both modded apps?
FrozenOx said:
HDR+ will clean up the noise from the high ISO setting some.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, you're right on this. I did some more test last night, and the most consistent seems to be the modified Gcam HDR+. It preserves more detail while keeping the noise down.
Basically, I feel like these are all just playing around with settings and apks that are meant for other phones. I know the Gcam software can work wonders, and I know the sensor/ISP/DSP/CPU can support more than what the stock Moto Cam is doing, but getting a modded Gcam apk that's meant for out phones would be fantastic. Unfortunately, it'll take someone smarter than me to piece it all together.
Coming from a much older S3, the moto x4 camera is WAY ahead.
I have a small laser projector that only outputs 63 lumens.
The S3 camera could never get a photo on the highest setting.
The x4 camera does it easily.
Apples and Oranges possibly, but the camera is not nearly as "bad" as some
reviews stated.
That's Nobody said:
With flash it's 5 stars. Works pretty good without. Works as good as my S8.
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Is it really? I'm choosing between the S7 and the X4, the camera being the only thing making me lean towards the Galaxy.
gaurink said:
Is it really? I'm choosing between the S7 and the X4, the camera being the only thing making me lean towards the Galaxy.
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I had an S7 for work until recently. Hated it. Battery life is worse than X4, too much bloatware, and the fingerprint sensor on it suuuuucked. Rear camera was about the same as X4 but front was inferior. No contest. Get the X4.
Please think twice believing reviewers.
Most of them hated Moto X4's camera coz it has a sluggish and mediocre quality when it comes to depth (portrait mode).
BUT I can assure you that my Moto X4 performs on par with HTC 10 when it comes to ALL lighting conditions.
I took photos side by side and the quality is the same. I even found that the Moto X4 does NOT need to auto trigger HDR in the lowlight pic I took (HTC did auto trigger HDR).
Both HTC 10 and Moto X4 have minimal noise and really looks almost the same given that they are using a different ISP (SD 820 vs SD 630).
I'll try to upload both pics so you can check them as well.
Quick one from today.
The Galaxy S7 will definitely has a better camera quality BUT the X4 also has a pretty good camera so you won't get disappointed.
BUT I'd rather choose Moto X4 since it is a new device while S7 is already almost 2 generations older (S9 is coming).
forbidden8 said:
Quick one from today.
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Is this using the stock camera app?
varunbala said:
Is this using the stock camera app?
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Yes.
Four low light examples. They were taken in hostile lightning codtions by Gcam HDR+. No tripod. The quality and the dynamic range is at the same level as Nexus 5x, Pixel 1.
Can you share a gCam version that you use. And setting ...I try few, but for me quality of stock camera photos is better. Thx.
forbidden8 said:
Can you share a gCam version that you use. And setting ...I try few, but for me quality of stock camera photos is better. Thx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GCam5.1.018-Arnova8G2-V1.3-Front-HDR+
Nexus6p, nexus 6p, hdd+ on
tavcsor said:
Four low light examples. They were taken in hostile lightning codtions by Gcam HDR+. No tripod. The quality and the dynamic range is at the same level as Nexus 5x, Pixel 1.
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Does the portrait mode of gcam work?

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