Anyone else observing that when they take a pic with the flash on in "medium" light conditions, the photo comes out actually darker than if the flash wasn't even used?
I swear the timing of the flash is bad on my S5. When I tap the button to shoot the photo, the flash turns on and the image on the screen looks bright and good. But then I think the photo is actually taken a split second later after the flash has turned off, and the photo that gets taken is dark as hell. I think I've tried all the combination of settings in the default S5 camera app, and nothing helps.
Brent212 said:
Anyone else observing that when they take a pic with the flash on in "medium" light conditions, the photo comes out actually darker than if the flash wasn't even used?
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I haven't seen this with my S5. Unfortunately you didn't elaborate on your camera settings, camera version or other crucial details.
At a guess, and it is only speculation since we don't have your details, you are expecting the flash to act like a fill flash. When the auto mode (which is probably what you are using) probably uses the flash in a conventional manner i.e. a fixed shutter speed (or limited shutter speed range). There are good reasons for that, but the net effect if the subject is outside of the flash range is that little of the flash is reflected back and the (presumably) higher shutter speed lets less total light in resulting in a darker picture.
You can test that thesis by taking some pictures of a subject that is very close to the camera. If the problem goes away with close subjects that implies that the problem is an artifact of using flash for a subject that is too distant for the flash to work with. No flash can work at an unlimited distance which is why people using a flash in a stadium when they are 75 meters from a subject is silly. In this case, flash mode simply isn't appropriate to the situation you are using it in and you'd be farther ahead to use a slower shutter speed, without flash.
It's highly unlikely that a bug would see the shutter opening after the flash.
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It happens with literally *every* combination of the settings in the camera app (with flash set to "on"). Auto mode, beauty face mode... actually, are there any other modes that I'd use to take a picture of something 3 feet away in a darkish room? I have panorama, "shot & more", virtual tour... those wouldn't be right, correct? So both beauty face and auto, with all the combination of settings... hdr on/off, stabilization on/off, iso at auto and all four "manual" options, all three metering modes... nothing makes a difference.
The problem is the same all the times -- it's not just that the non "subject" areas are dark -- the whole image is dark, just like if you turned off the light in a room and snapped a pic at the moment when the light was still on at 50% brightness as it's turning off. It's super annoying just because of how damn good the image looks on the screen when the photo is being taken... it even seems to "snap" the shot at the right time... the shutter sound goes off and the little border animation happens when the pic is nice and bright. Then I open the actual image and it's garbage.
I was hoping someone might know of some setting in a config file somewhere for a delay between when the flash is triggered and when the camera attempts to capture the image, and that maybe mine got changed somehow to a larger than optimal value.
My wife has an s5, I'll have to test with hers and see if it suffers from the same problem.
Long story short: the camera is using a fast exposure time to keep the subject from being "blown out", i.e. overexposed, when the flash is used. That means that the foreground is going to be sharper but anything in the background will be lost in darkness if the ambient lighting is low. When you leave the flash off, the camera will use a longer exposure time (or shutter speed, if you will) to allow enough light, which also lets more of the background be seen in the picture.
Another thing to consider is that if your screen is set for auto brightness control, you will not have the same brightness when viewing the gallery pictures that you will when looking at the camera view. The camera view is full brightness at all times, but if you're viewing the pictures that you took in the gallery, screen brightness will drop down according to ambient lighting. Photos definitely look dark if you're looking at the gallery by lamp light.
Marlin29 said:
Long story short: the camera is using a fast exposure time to keep the subject from being "blown out", i.e. overexposed, when the flash is used. That means that the foreground is going to be sharper but anything in the background will be lost in darkness if the ambient lighting is low. When you leave the flash off, the camera will use a longer exposure time (or shutter speed, if you will) to allow enough light, which also lets more of the background be seen in the picture.
Another thing to consider is that if your screen is set for auto brightness control, you will not have the same brightness when viewing the gallery pictures that you will when looking at the camera view. The camera view is full brightness at all times, but if you're viewing the pictures that you took in the gallery, screen brightness will drop down according to ambient lighting. Photos definitely look dark if you're looking at the gallery by lamp light.
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That's interesting stuff, but doesn't really apply to the problem I described (at least the first part... the screen brightness setting stuff is potentially related, but isn't in my case). The exposure time is fine, it's just **when** the exposure starts that is the problem... a little too late, IMO. Really wish there was a way to adjust when it takes the photo in relation to when the flash is fired.
The foreground objects aren't lit up at all. No difference between foreground and background. Sometimes, I'm taking a picture of a t-shirt laying on a flat surface from 2 feet away. Without a flash it looks pretty good, but it's a little dark so I decide to try the flash to see if it'll lighten it up a bit. Instead, it makes it look like I turned out half the lights in the room.... way darker than no flash.
Same here, three friends of mine too.
I'm having the same problem s5 neo
I just figured out how to correct the pics from coming out dark. Go into camera-settings-exposure value-slide to the right to 2.5 or more.My pics come out fine now. Indoor light normal daylight.( with flash off.) I will know more in other settings (places ,situations )if it needs to be tweaked again.
no problems here
my settings are AUTO MODE
flash AUTO
no effets at all
and still i get good shots in night
Power/current draw issue?
Mine was doing this, and I noticed the first flash (ranging) was fine, but the second flash (to illuminate the image when taken) was much weaker. Whilst plugged into charge, repeated low light experiment, and the low light flash illuminated image was fine!! Maybe battery on its way out?
Related
Hi,
Is there any possibility to speed up the camera?
No.
Damn, why does this forum force me to make my message at least 10 characters long...?
Switch off the shutter sound.
Have you tried this,while you are in camera mode turn off the PDA wait for ten seconds and then turn it back on,you will notice that while the image is somewhat darker the framerate does not lag when you move the phone, its more noticeable when you are in a not very well lit room.
Actually what you mention works better when in camera mode you turn it off, cover the lens with your hand, then turn it on with your hand still covering the lens, wait a second or two then use the camera. while the image quality isn't as great because it's low light, frame rate is much faster. but the moment you point at some bright light, it resets again. kind of a lame hack but what are we gonna do...
if you're in a bright light situation, such as outdoors on a sunny day, frame rate is fine.
Try this from the Kaiser forum. It worked on older roms.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=2139190#post2139190
I'm having a problem in the sense that the camera seems to only take octure after the flash turns off. this is when the flash is set to auto mode. as a result my picture looks darker with the flash on then without. anyone with this problem as well or any ideas what to do
yeancheant said:
I'm having a problem in the sense that the camera seems to only take octure after the flash turns off. this is when the flash is set to auto mode. as a result my picture looks darker with the flash on then without. anyone with this problem as well or any ideas what to do
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I noticed same thing. Looks weird for me too. No idea how to fix it. The problem not always exist - photos are ok when I shot in total darkness with flash. If i take photo with some light then it looks like after flash turns off.
Anyone else noticed that?
No, this is normal. It reduces the exposure time when flash is on, so that pictures do not get overexposed. Every camera does that.
As a result, you may get darker pictures with flash than without, if you use the flash at times where it's not needed. Just turn the flash off then.
I noticed this too, as in the flash fire and the camera shoots but the image from the preview that remains on screen for a sec if for example you press delete, looks better than the actual photo.
It's like the camera needs to capture the image a few milliseconds quicker or something.
No no no. You all got it COMPLETELY wrong. I already gave you the explanation above.
It takes the picture exactly at the same time that the flash turns on. It does NOT shoot too late.
It just reduces the exposure so that the pictures don't get overexposed. ALL cameras do this!
Sometimes, however, it uses the flash when it should not. These are the times when pictures would turn out better with the flash than without because the flash cannot compensate the reduced exposure time. Just turn off the flash and everything is okay.
This happens with every camera that uses auto flash, but it happens particularly often with mobile phones that have an LED flash. This is more or less normal and you can't do anything about it, except for turning the flash off manually.
I have a hd2 tmobileUS rom version 2.13 and radio 2.10
when i take pictures at night and the flash kicks in i get this green hue in the picture..
ive seen the fix for the older version but it was for pink dot in the middle... i dont have that problem
can anyone send me to the right link to fix the green hue?
52 views and no one can reply?!?!?!?
For photography to work you need adequate illumination and a sensor medium that can capture that light at the correct level across the visible light spectrum. The medium needs to be exposed to the light for the correct duration and the light source needs to be bright enough and illuminate the scene for an adequate length of time. There are significant limitations in designing a phone camera to work this way and achieve a ballance and if you look elsewhere you will see that many phone cameras have this issue.
I don't think there is an actual "fix" and your choices boil down to trying different camera settings or downloading your photo's to a PC and tidying them up with Photoshop or similar. Try changing the camera settings from "Auto" to bright light, fluorescent etc. and take a picture of the same scene with each setting and determine which one you like best. Aslo, ensure you have explored the obvious and that there is no obstruction (case, plastic film, dirt) to either the flash or the lens.
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Anyone notice this strange problem:
After updating to Froyo, about 1/4 of the time when using the camera flash, I get a dark picture. The flash goes off every time it is supposed to, but the camera sensor takes the picture after the flash goes off, resulting in a very dark picture as if the flash was disabled. Take another picture and it usually works.
Happens in stock camera app and 3rd party apps too.
2.2 rooted, stock rom, etc. (Happened before I rooted 2.2)
I've noticed this. What else I've noticed is that the photo may be dark, but it's still very high quality. It isn't grainy and rough like a photo taken without a flash. It leads me to believe that the camera is adjusting the settings to take more of a "true" lighting with high quality.
It's not -- I often take pictures inside a dark bar at night and you care barely see anything on then and it's a noisy mess. I did some more test shots yesterday and it really is really is funny the EXIF data shows the flash being used, even though clearly it wasn't synced up properly.
I also notice that it is usually the first pictures or so when you start the camera. If you take many successive shots, it doesn't happen........
I tried switching from 3mp to 2mp to see if that helps. I find the lens to be pretty low resolution that even 3mp is pushing things.
I noticed when photographing clothes to sell on FB that black shirts and hoodies look navy blue and orange looks reddish orange and light grey looks bluish. the outside blue sky was shining in the window and the overhead light is warmer. if i hold the camera facing the window it's fine. but as soon as i point it anywhere else then the color balance goes to hell. i tried the stock and Gcam. Also noticed in the living room the green and orange blanket looked like a funny shade of orange instead of green and a yellowish orange on the orange. It seems impossible to get the colors right indoors with some things. anyone else notice this?
Do you have it in manual mode or auto ?
This is quite common. Digital cameras can either automatically or manually decide what is white. It can be hard to get this right in all situations - usually there are some assumptions made in auto mode, but "white" obviously varies based on lighting.
In manual mode, you can additionally turn on RAW saving (it will save jpegs too in this mode). The white balance can easily be adjusted after-the-fact on the raw images (but then you need to use something to convert them from raw to jpeg).
If you want accurate color rendition and you need to use your phone for the pictures, use manual mode. Put a white sheet of paper in the lighting conditions you are photographing in and adjust the color temperature until it looks white. Take a test shot and look at it on another device since everyone's display can vary. Once you get that right, see if your colored objects look right as well (and then maintain the same lighting for everything!).
Oh, and this actually is a problem with film too - only the color balance is a permanent part of the film There used to be tungsten and daylight films or you could use a filter to compensate.
Although automatic white balance works reasonably well most of the time, certain scenarios can confuse the algorithm. The mixed lighting scene you describe is one of them. The camera detects your indoor lighting but most of the ambient light is cool , from the outside. Use manual mode in these situations, and adjust the white balance yourself. If you're going to be taking a lot of photos in the same sitting with the same lighting, it is probably worthwhile to use a neutral or white card to set it. If its just a one time casual photo, just adjust the WB by eye until the look of the preview looks right.
railfan-eric said:
I noticed when photographing clothes to sell on FB that black shirts and hoodies look navy blue and orange looks reddish orange and light grey looks bluish. the outside blue sky was shining in the window and the overhead light is warmer. if i hold the camera facing the window it's fine. but as soon as i point it anywhere else then the color balance goes to hell. i tried the stock and Gcam. Also noticed in the living room the green and orange blanket looked like a funny shade of orange instead of green and a yellowish orange on the orange. It seems impossible to get the colors right indoors with some things. anyone else notice this?
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jshames said:
Although automatic white balance works reasonably well most of the time, certain scenarios can confuse the algorithm. The mixed lighting scene you describe is one of them. The camera detects your indoor lighting but most of the ambient light is cool , from the outside. Use manual mode in these situations, and adjust the white balance yourself. If you're going to be taking a lot of photos in the same sitting with the same lighting, it is probably worthwhile to use a neutral or white card to set it. If its just a one time casual photo, just adjust the WB by eye until the look of the preview looks right.
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Thanks, the mixed lighting and all what you said is what i figured. I didn't take the time to use manual. i just wanted to get the pictures done and posted to the FB groups before i got lazy and put it off.