So I've been taking a few pictures on my phone, and I have noticed that the Galaxy S2 is very very inconsistent in taking quality photos. I can have a great clear shot of some mid-ranged photos, but far distanced photos have horrible quality. I understand if you take pictures of something really far, obviously it won't be that good, but when I compared to my friends iPhone 4, the 8MP is barely on par with it. Do any of you know what might be the problem? I've tried using auto focus and manual focus, but it is always blurry.
It seems to be an hardware problem. I find the sgsw camera pretty good, especially the dynamic range. My only concern is with indoor pictures, a bit noisy and cold.
Can you upload and provide some shots samples?
Everything on auto? It might help to know which ROM/mod you are using.
I'm not an expert in mobile digital photography but if I can see your blurry distant shots it might be able to tell if I get better result with my device.
The S2 tends to like low shutter speeds (1/4s - 1/20s) ALL the frigging time.
It will select this slow shutter speed even when it should raise the ISO and get a faster shutter speed.
This is why the S2 often takes blurry photos, because even 1/15 or 1/19sec is not fast enough to take a photo sharply with a 28mm lens (effectively what the S2 is).
The slowest shutter speed the S2 should use is 1/30sec to ensure the photos aren't blurred by *camera* vibration/shake. (But, if the *subject* is moving, like a child, then 1/60s or 1/80s are the minimum that are needed to freeze the subject).
This is why the photos are so often blurry as soon as the light gets slightly low - cloud day, in shade, etc. I don't have a solution sorry!
Proof: check the EXIF data of the blurry photos you take. Most will have a stupidly low ISO (like ISO25, ISO50) and a stupid low shutter speed.
Yes I have noticed that the shutter speeds are quite low...now I'm assured that its not just me
I can take SOME really good photos, but almost every other pictures are very blurry even at a close distance.
Everything is on default, except I have enabled Anti-Shake or something like that, and I am using CheckROM 3.1.1 (KJ3)
The first 2 are taken at a considerably good range, with no zoom or any effects, just a normal shot, but then the outcome was very weird.
The last one was a closer shot, but in a darker area, and that one was a little bit more clear
I don't want to be captain obvious, and I am sure you are a better photographer than me but can you check if the focus mode is set to macro if it is then change to auto focus.
Since this happened to me once i set to macro and forgot and all the photos were blurry.
I just felt that might be the reason.
I am guessing that what you're doing is pressing on the "Capture" button without focusing on the subject yet?
I do find that it's best to press to focus on the area you want to take and then press the main capture button to capture it. It seems like the focus hasn't focused on what you want to take.
It's quite annoying because then that means I have to press in the middle and then press the capture button to take a decent shot. I wish I could just hold down the capture button to focus, then release to shoot.. which works sometimes but not as good as what I said above.
Here you have 2 images, far and close focus. You can see the great quality of the camera. Take a look at the focus settings: better in auto mode if you don't want to manage it in all photos. Maybe you have some problem in the camera hardware... so warranty is the best option here.
There are at least 2 types of camera modules in SGS II.
Check this:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1098834
Mine also had this problem (blury at far objects), the soultion is set the metering to matrix in camera menu.It works for me.
iocar said:
Yes I have noticed that the shutter speeds are quite low...now I'm assured that its not just me
I can take SOME really good photos, but almost every other pictures are very blurry even at a close distance.
Everything is on default, except I have enabled Anti-Shake or something like that, and I am using CheckROM 3.1.1 (KJ3)
The first 2 are taken at a considerably good range, with no zoom or any effects, just a normal shot, but then the outcome was very weird.
The last one was a closer shot, but in a darker area, and that one was a little bit more clear
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are you using macro mode to take farer objects ?
thats why it is more clear when you are taking photo of the specimen (3rd one)
or the camera firmware is broken , if not ,it may be the hardware issue
I always touch the place where I want to focus, and that is why I am confused
Yes I was using Macro, but only because it had the best quality...Auto-Focus doesn't really help as it never focus properly, as in when I press the "Capture" button, most of the time it goes to red and doesn't turn green. I am holding the phone still and don't know why
The camera firmware is also up to date
What I don't get is that my old HTC Desire can take photos that are much more crisp than my Galaxy S2
Try resetting the camera settings see if that works,try a third party HDR camera app or Camera 360,if quility is still bad in the 3rd party app then it could be a hardware fault
Sichroteph said:
My only concern is with indoor pictures, a bit noisy and cold.
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auto contrast I find helps take better indoors
Cant say I've had any problems with the camera. Love the macro focussing.
It seems obvious that your device doesn't behave like it should and have focus problems. I can have the exact same results with macro mode activated (and not shooting close objects)
I would suggest :
- trying another camera app (like TheiPhoneKiller suggested)
- trying a totally stock rom
- trying a rom like CM7 or MIUI
If you still got totally unfocused shots, you may very well have an faulty device. Try to get a replacement unit if you can.
(And did you try the fix kisstom suggested?)
Well... my shots is certainly much more grainy, since i upgraded to 2.3.5 - even if shot outside in bright sunshine. And many of the pictures is becoming more yellow than before - especially when using the flash-LED, so something has happened when i upgraded... this is one of my big complaints about the new upgrade. My old W800i 2Mpx beats the SGS2 in pure quality of the pictures now (but that was also, and still is, a VERY good camera for a phone)...
When comparing the newest pictures to some of the old pictures i have shot in the past, it's clear to me that i have a loss of quality since upgrading. How do i check manually, if there's a new camera-software version available - as i can't seem to find any in the Samsung apps, even if i have read somewhere that there's a newer one, comparing to my version of the camera-software???
But a least it's still not as crappy as my old HTC's camera - THAT was lousy...
Frankly speaking, 'Camera quality is bad' makes no sense. If you've said it's bad than this or that then I'd take it. Have used all the SE phones as I loved their image quality and I'll say after playing with the Satio, C905 I don't think this one would beat them. We are talking about a small image sensor here. So the main job is how good the post image processing is, some part still depends on the lens though.
The thing is I didn't buy this one for camera, believe me or not, after purchase, that is almost six months now, I've shot barely 10 pics with it. For normal usage and as a professional can't go without 350D, and for short tours and holidays I still shoot with my C905 , but not GSII.
But still this Camera is capable of taking some great pics, posting some of them here, after seeing them you certainly can't say Camera quality is bad.
The very bests I've found,
-> ithehappy
Well - i used to have that image quality too, but it has become somewhat impossible to shot such good pictures, since upgrading... i suspect that it's because my camera firmware still is TBEC28 (but of course not sure of it)
iocar said:
I always touch the place where I want to focus, and that is why I am confused
Yes I was using Macro, but only because it had the best quality...Auto-Focus doesn't really help as it never focus properly, as in when I press the "Capture" button, most of the time it goes to red and doesn't turn green. I am holding the phone still and don't know why
The camera firmware is also up to date
What I don't get is that my old HTC Desire can take photos that are much more crisp than my Galaxy S2
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Confused!!! Are you saying that you always have macro focus on?
If so then turn it off. My cousin complained about the exact same thing, blurry and red box when trying to focus. Went through his settings, turned macro off and everything was good again.
Also auto focus will not work correctly if macro is on, unless your taking really close range pics, which is what macro focus is for.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
well i am on 2.3.5 Images are really Perfect for me am seriously impressed the Quality iam on kI8 here is one example
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/708/20111118205552.jpg
iocar said:
Yes I was using Macro, but only because it had the best quality
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That's exactly why your pictures are blurry at a distance.
Macro focus is for close-up pictures, use auto focus for longer distances
Hey all,
I've had my N4 for a week now and a couple of days ago I gave the camera a go. I have to say that I'm not impressed at all. Most all pics came out grainy. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm thinking of returning it. Now I don't use the camera a whole lot, but sometimes when a picture presents its self and I don't have my DSLR the cell camera is what I have. I would like the pics to look descent. I'm coming from a Samsung Galaxy S and with a 5MP camera and no LED flash it takes better pics than the N4. Is it the stock JB software for the camera and using another camera app would fix it?
Thanks,
Chevy
chevy2410 said:
Hey all,
I've had my N4 for a week now and a couple of days ago I gave the camera a go. I have to say that I'm not impressed at all. Most all pics came out grainy. Has anyone else experienced this? I'm thinking of returning it. Now I don't use the camera a whole lot, but sometimes when a picture presents its self and I don't have my DSLR the cell camera is what I have. I would like the pics to look descent. I'm coming from a Samsung Galaxy S and with a 5MP camera and no LED flash it takes better pics than the N4. Is it the stock JB software for the camera and using another camera app would fix it?
Thanks,
Chevy
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there will be grain in low-light but it's not too bad to my eyes.
if it bothers you, you could use flash; try another camera app, like camera zoom fx, that lets you control iso; or clean up the grain in post with noise-ninja or similar.
i never expect too much from phone cameras but they can produce decent results if you work within their limitations.
EDIT: i downloaded camera zoom fx yesterday and would highly recommend it over the stock camera app.
I'm having trouble taking non-blurry pictures on with default camera app. Is there a setting I can change to make it better? Is the auto-focus on the Galaxy S4 really that poor? It seems like even the slightest movement or hand tremble results in blur. By contrast, I downloaded Camera Zoom and the pictures with that app are much clearer. I also never had this much trouble on my Nexus S.
I'd rather use the Samsung camera with the better layout and additional features, but it's practically impossible for me to take a non-blurry picture. Anyone having this issue or have any tips?
(I took the plastic off of the back camera already)
Double check and make sure anti shake is turned on. With it on it helps prevents blurring.
I love the 90s. Good times.
Not currently having any issues with the camera. I'm able to take perfect shots almost every time unless I'm extremely close to the subject. Are you using camera auto mode? What are you trying to take a picture of? Light conditions? How close are you? Try backing up from subject a bit and using the zoom feature.
Hi. I have been very impressed by my former Note2 LTE. I can focus and snap any picture I want, especially of human faces and moving animals. However, my S4 LTE seems to take a second to focus and shutter to snap, resulting in missing the person's expression i want to take and results also in some blurry images. I tried other apps like Fx camera, but no improvement. Only Fast camera app can solve it except the maximum resolution is 2.1 mp. Even my lousy iphone 5 camera is faster and takes nicer pictures. On the whole, taking still shots of sceneries result in nice pictures but it is just too slow. Is it software issue? Flashed newer firmwares but still the same. I find it distressing as i take pictures of my kids alot. Thank you
sadly that's pretty common case for all S4 variants, including my i9500 and samsung really needs to do something about it. Custom roms or rooting your phone and removing some bloatware might help, but i haven't rooted my phone yet so i am not too sure.
Mine's rooted. On stock debloated slim rom xxuame2. No camera improvements at all
I'm debating between the G2 and the Note 3 and while I like both, I prefer the G2 overall, but the camera has me worried.
Note 3 so far seems to handle video fine and takes quick enough shots to capture pets/children scampering around. Low-Light isn't so good and might actually be worse then GS4 and N2 due to software changes which is annoying but hopefully fixable down the road. Overall, seems Note 3 doing well, but I'm not sure if it is worth forking over another $100 and dealing with the larger size when I prefer the smaller G2 just for the "chance" it has a better camera.
From the various reviews I've read and user reports on here, the G2 does very well in well lit situations, but may or may not be having issues in low-light and video.
I'm not big on video, but the audio and focusing problems do concern me a bit. I've read little to no feedback on taking quick photos capturing children/pets running around and am having my doubts with how the focus works (or doesn't).
While obviously low-light isn't a real strength for any phone, it's hard to get a real grasp on the G2 when review sites say it is great and does better then the rest (maybe due to office/studio perfect set ups?) and then users say it is down-right terrible without proper lighting (real world use).
Just looking for any feedback or samples of G2 users taking photos in low-light and of quick moving subjects. Search isn't working for me atm, but haven't seen any threads going into these too much. I really want the G2, but the Note 3's positive feedback is pulling me away.
Allein8 said:
While obviously low-light isn't a real strength for any phone, it's hard to get a real grasp on the G2 when review sites say it is great and does better then the rest (maybe due to office/studio perfect set ups?) and then users say it is down-right terrible without proper lighting (real world use).
Just looking for any feedback or samples of G2 users taking photos in low-light and of quick moving subjects. Search isn't working for me atm, but haven't seen any threads going into these too much. I really want the G2, but the Note 3's positive feedback is pulling me away.
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So what I'm experiencing is that the stock camera app wants to lock focus before it takes a picture. If you're ever used a DSLR that spends awhile hunting before shooting in low light, that's what it feels like. Some other non-stock apps are a little more free with the shutter and take a picture without confirming focus (like a lot of P&S camera where you get blurry out of focus shots). So you can trade a quick shutter for worse focus depending on the app you use. The flash does a weird step down thing if you're really close to a subject (focal and stock) Super Camera does a more standard flash, but its still substantial shutter delay when using flash. You might be able to find other apps that have different flash behavior. So if you're shooting things that aren't going to run off in low light you might be fine. If they're moving you might try turning off the flash. The shutter is much quicker that way and maybe OIS can help make them sharp enough for you.
While this camera is really good in lit situations low light it's just plain bad and no other apps can fully comensate.
I bought ProCapture, already had FV-5 and numerous others from back in the day, (camera zoom, camera 360), tried focal. on and on.
Photos of children and pets even in "normal" lite rooms at night come out looking like watercolor abstracts and it has to be at a ROM or firmware level since all the apps do it to some degree.
If photos are you thing then the Droid DNA with a Sense5 ROM will produce fantastic results easily.