Database Users

Camera Grainy and Inaccurate (with proof and comparison)

Hey guys,
I did a comparison with my 3yr old samsung innov8, which also has a 8mpixel camera. I have taken pics and found that my new Galaxy S2 camera extremely poor indoors compared to my Innov8. My Galaxy S2 camera seems to produce very poor detail, over sharpened and grainy images, unable to capture colours and lighting accurately. Old Innov8 is at least twice as much better!
I am wondering if I got a faulty device or is this considered to be normal? Everyone seems to be praising the camera quality, so I'm beginning to get a little worried. I would also appreciate if some of you could take low-light images, preferably in a room at night.
Finally, pictures I took, for your reference:
Samsung Galaxy S2
imageshack.us/photo/my-images/810/galaxys2e.jpg
Note: I took a few pictures around the room and picked the best one.
Samsung Innov8
imageshack.us/photo/my-images/687/innov82.jpg
imageshack.us/photo/my-images/64/innov8.jpg
As you can see, my old phone takes much cleaner pictures and colour is more accurate, albeit cold/blueish. It is overall better. Just to add on, it tends to have a slight pink tone in the center also.
Camera firmware is OCED10.
Baseband - XXKDH
Kernal - XWKDD
Build - XWKDD
Thanks and Cheers!

Mine isn't great indoors too very grainy, out doors im well impressed
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

Have you tried adjusting the iso settings on the GS2?

See the metadata of your pics.
SGS is compromising on ISO to maintain better shutter speed by default. That picture is at ISO400. The Innovo 8 is at ISO 200.
Thats why there is so much noise in SGS pic.
If you prefer little under exposed pics and rather have images with less noise, just set your iso manually at 100 or 200 for indoor pics.

My camera is very grainy indoors too. Outside, it's fine.
I tried setting it at at lower ISO, but it's still very grainy.
I also have the pink blob in the middle... :S What's with that!?

Funkym0nkey said:
See the metadata of your pics.
SGS is compromising on ISO to maintain better shutter speed by default. That picture is at ISO400. The Innovo 8 is at ISO 200.
Thats why there is so much noise in SGS pic.
If you prefer little under exposed pics and rather have images with less noise, just set your iso manually at 100 or 200 for indoor pics.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i did notice that. I tried to set it on ISO 100 and ISO 200 as well. Slightly better, but no where as good as my Innov8. I have been trying all sort of test this past 2 days.

you cant compare one of the best mobile camera phones with sgs s 2...i have i8510 (im writing this post from Innov8 and i had also i8910 and what i can say is that the quality of optics,camera chip is bigger - even i8910 is noisy looser with much less detailed photos with compar. to i8510...so try to compare with nowadays smartphones not i8510 or N86 etc. Just look at my thread about sgs s 2 photos and be glad it can do such a good photos...

haha yeah i guess so.. huge difference huh. kinda heart breaking oh well. just glad to know that my device isn't a faulty one

amukilla said:
Hey guys,
I did a comparison with my 3yr old samsung innov8, which also has a 8mpixel camera. I have taken pics and found that my new Galaxy S2 camera extremely poor indoors compared to my Innov8. My Galaxy S2 camera seems to produce very poor detail, over sharpened and grainy images, unable to capture colours and lighting accurately. Old Innov8 is at least twice as much better!
I am wondering if I got a faulty device or is this considered to be normal? Everyone seems to be praising the camera quality, so I'm beginning to get a little worried. I would also appreciate if some of you could take low-light images, preferably in a room at night.
Finally, pictures I took, for your reference:
Samsung Galaxy S2
imageshack.us/photo/my-images/810/galaxys2e.jpg
Note: I took a few pictures around the room and picked the best one.
Samsung Innov8
imageshack.us/photo/my-images/687/innov82.jpg
imageshack.us/photo/my-images/64/innov8.jpg
As you can see, my old phone takes much cleaner pictures and colour is more accurate, albeit cold/blueish. It is overall better. Just to add on, it tends to have a slight pink tone in the center also.
Camera firmware is OCED10.
Baseband - XXKDH
Kernal - XWKDD
Build - XWKDD
Thanks and Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can choose night mode, the sgs2 are using ISO400, 1/17s (more faster shutter speed but with higher ISO), but the Innov8 is using ISO200, 1/8s (very slow shutter speed but lower ISO) ---> see the Innov8 is too much of noise reduction has been apply on the photo and cause the detail losed a lot + handshake due to slow shutter speed.
SGS2 also can get as Innov8 result as long as you choose night mode or manually reduce ISO to 200 but remember, you will get slower shutter speed.

I do wish people would stop chelping about the camera, if you want professional results get a professional camera, this camera is perfectly acceptable in good light conditions.

Agreed. This is not a system camera. However, it's argubly the best phone camera device on the market, so everything depends on what to compare it with. Personally, I'm pretty amazed about what it can muster.

stoolzo said:
I do wish people would stop chelping about the camera, if you want professional results get a professional camera, this camera is perfectly acceptable in good light conditions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to be honest i'd like to have a pro-like quality out of the phone, because while we're not making actual pro-pictures, its one thing less to carry around if the quality is good.
in some cases it actually is on the SGS2

stoolzo said:
I do wish people would stop chelping about the camera, if you want professional results get a professional camera, this camera is perfectly acceptable in good light conditions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not only that. I have at all times a professional photographer in my entourage.

How does it compare to the SGS? How will it compare to the Sensation? Those are probably two good benchmarks.

The fact that the phone is able to take pictures of this magnitude, especially considering how light and thin it is, is itself amazing. Its not really possible with today's technology to squeeze larger sensors and keep the thickness down.
This guy here(who is a professional photographer) says the camera is 'very good' and looking at the pictures I think so too.
So I really think you people should stop complaining and enjoy what the phone has to offer without being so uptight about every minute problem.

MrDeacon said:
Agreed. This is not a system camera. However, it's argubly the best phone camera device on the market, so everything depends on what to compare it with. Personally, I'm pretty amazed about what it can muster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is nowhere near as being the best camera phone. My gf has a Nokia N8 and you cannot believe the pictures she is able to produce with her phone. Will make this weekend a side by side comparison, with pictures of the same thing taken at the same time using both phones... I know N8 will win, just curious how much ahead it is ( and will use it at 8MP and not 12 MP to be fair ).
On another note, the indoor pics are crappy, but to be expected ( high MP count in a tiny sensor = noise ). Outdoor pics look very well indeed, even at full size they are ok. For me, not enough to replace a dedicated camera, but more than enough for the occasional picture and movie ( movies look excellent outside too ). I should mention that the N8 performs like a compact dedicated camera, so that sensor would be enough for most vacations.
Overall, given the fact that it is a phone afterall, I am more than pleased with the camera quality.

Azra2k said:
It is nowhere near as being the best camera phone. My gf has a Nokia N8 and you cannot believe the pictures she is able to produce with her phone. Will make this weekend a side by side comparison, with pictures of the same thing taken at the same time using both phones... I know N8 will win, just curious how much ahead it is ( and will use it at 8MP and not 12 MP to be fair ).
On another note, the indoor pics are crappy, but to be expected ( high MP count in a tiny sensor = noise ). Outdoor pics look very well indeed, even at full size they are ok. For me, not enough to replace a dedicated camera, but more than enough for the occasional picture and movie ( movies look excellent outside too ). I should mention that the N8 performs like a compact dedicated camera, so that sensor would be enough for most vacations.
Overall, given the fact that it is a phone afterall, I am more than pleased with the camera quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's make a comparison SGS2 vs n8

Azra2k said:
It is nowhere near as being the best camera phone. My gf has a Nokia N8 and you cannot believe the pictures she is able to produce with her phone. Will make this weekend a side by side comparison, with pictures of the same thing taken at the same time using both phones... I know N8 will win, just curious how much ahead it is ( and will use it at 8MP and not 12 MP to be fair ).
On another note, the indoor pics are crappy, but to be expected ( high MP count in a tiny sensor = noise ). Outdoor pics look very well indeed, even at full size they are ok. For me, not enough to replace a dedicated camera, but more than enough for the occasional picture and movie ( movies look excellent outside too ). I should mention that the N8 performs like a compact dedicated camera, so that sensor would be enough for most vacations.
Overall, given the fact that it is a phone afterall, I am more than pleased with the camera quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool! i wanted to see such a test. even at 12MP in fact. We all know the N8 is going to win, but i'd like to see by how much.
I had a N95 in the past and it replaced my camera. I have a SGS right now (and a SGS2 tomorrow or so lol) and it is not as good in most conditions. It's probably because the lens is really much better and bigger on the N95 (and on the N8, and on most Nokias in fact..)
I almost went for the N8 just for that, but tbh, Symbian is a pain and the browser is really bad

Looking forward to the N8 comparison as well!

to be fair the N8's camera is very good but as a an overall package its **** compared to the S2.
Yes, we would all like to get close to pro results out of it but it isnt going to happen with such a small sensor / lens
It should also be noted that a good photo, a good camera does not necessarily make.

The notes camera

I just bought a new camera to tote around mainly for my wife. I thought it was a pretty good camera, it's a fuji 14mp point and shoot. I've had one in the past which was pretty good.
Anyway, my point being my freaking camera on my note takes much better pictures than this camera does. I would think a dedicated camera would be the winner but Samsung did a good job here.
I've seen threads past complaining about the notes camera but mine takes great pics. Needless to sat wife still asks for the phone to take pics. That was a waste of money
From the big ole Note

Try comparing the two in conditions with poor lighting, particularly in any scenario that would require a flash or longer exposure.

When it comes to camera's, opposed to what alot of people think, the amount of megapixels you have isn't important at all. What's more important is the lens, and how big it is. The lighting, shutter time etc..
Just like knightnz said, the fuji would probably come out on top in "harder" to capture pictures.
Still I have to agree, the Note takes amazing pictures.

Yea I haven't tried the note much in low light or night pics so I'll have to check it out. I understand and have always read mp mean nothing so what is the point of these higher mp counts? I mean they are coming out with a friggin 41mp camera soon on a phone at that! Why the need for high mp if they don't affect quality?
From the big ole Note

It is just for marketing purpose.
Gesendet von meinem GT-N7000 mit Tapatalk

sprintuser1977 said:
Yea I haven't tried the note much in low light or night pics so I'll have to check it out. I understand and have always read mp mean nothing so what is the point of these higher mp counts? I mean they are coming out with a friggin 41mp camera soon on a phone at that! Why the need for high mp if they don't affect quality?
From the big ole Note
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not like the phone takes a 2GB 41 mp jpeg lol. It's a new type of technology that combines pixles in such a way that it creates a 5-8mp file with lossless 4x zoom and greatly reduced noise.
The *real* breakthrough is the size of the lense and the amount of light it lets in. I've seen some sample pictures and it has a mean DOF effect and almost no noise.
Back to the point. The notes camera is great and it is better than a few point and shoots that my friends have, I just wish there was image stabilisation but that's just software right?

a wise man once said:
"The best Camera to have, is the one that's is in your hand."

I havnt been too impressed with the camera.. It is pretty good for a phone but I miss how fast my iPhone snapped a pic compared to this.. Not saying it's bad though
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

James Harrison said:
Back to the point. The notes camera is great and it is better than a few point and shoots that my friends have, I just wish there was image stabilisation but that's just software right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the best image stabilisation is actually hardware. It is a prism that moves based on a gyroscope to compensate for all camera movements. Effectively it keeps the physical focus point where it was and moves it slowly to where it now is, avoiding the quick shake caused by your movements. Software can only compensate slightly by moving the physical focus around in a similar way in a larger recorded image.
The best I have ever had is in my Sony HandyCam. It was the bees knees when I bought it many years ago. Full 1080p video with a superb and huge Carl Zeiss lens. Dark shots were great and better than most other cameras, and it even does a fair IR night mode. The videos are very stable as long as you do not do any large swings. The 10x optical zoom is also fantastic.
Now my Note stands in, but it will never replace the HC because of the poorer dark videos, lack of zoom, and the complete lack of stabilisation. Having said that, it is used a hell of a lot more as a camera and video cam, because it is always with me!

jb9217a said:
I havnt been too impressed with the camera.. It is pretty good for a phone but I miss how fast my iPhone snapped a pic compared to this.. Not saying it's bad though
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once ics comes in, u will get 0 shutter lag ! much faster than iphone...

Is there anyway we can shut camera click sound ?

The camera is good enough.
But when you see your note camera taking better pictures than stand alone point and shoot snapper, you know you have crap point and shoot camera or the person taking photographs is not taking pictures properly.
Under good light conditions, these modern snappers will match the P&S sensor quality if you know what you are doing. Picture quality varies greatly by simple choice of settings by the person taking pictures on Note. Leave it at auto and you will not get the best results in tricky conditions. You also need steady hands to get good snaps from Note camera.
But overall, its good enough to be good casual snapper.
But if you start comparing Note against even older good compact cameras like Panasonic ZS7 (which is now outdated), its not even close. These point and shoot cameras will outperform Note under any condition. Leave alone more expensive and also cameras with newer better sensors available today.
The good thing about Note camera is that it takes more than decent pictures with relatively accurate colour reproduction unlike some other phone cameras.

Mobile camera run down
jeromepearce said:
..lack of zoom..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a rather crappy digital zoom that happens when you press the volume button and swipe your finger across the slider that appears.. like here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7abTRUO4WQ
(ignore the girl lol)
In other areas: I realise now that the stabilisation is hardware but you'd be SO suprised at how much software effects the video quality. I have 2 examples.
My old HD2 on windows mobile or android had TERRIBLE low light quality, frame rate dropped down to 9/10 fps, image noise was just unacceptable. -->
Updated to windows phone 7, and low light was quality is insane now. did not drop a single frame. The quality even went up to full 720p (which was not possible before)
I've even made some short movies with it because the low light was so good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZP68dAtn14 and the non "8mm style" shots in here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JQVeeZL4aQ
(sorry not trying to drop videos here but just so you get my point)
Second example is my transformer prime. Same thing. On Honeycomb terrible fps in low light and a whole heap of noise ---> ICS update and the camera was a different beast.
My point is, software is very important in mobile cameras. Once we get ICS, we can start complaining or praising properly

katyarevishal said:
Once ics comes in, u will get 0 shutter lag ! much faster than iphone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear katyarevishal,
I was hoping that till trying ICS leak but shutter lag is still same as GB... Losing my hope... Thats why i am using Fast Burst Camera app to catch the moment but limited to 1 mpx...
Kind regards...
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

PROTOCHIP said:
Dear katyarevishal,
I was hoping that till trying ICS leak but shutter lag is still same as GB... Losing my hope... Thats why i am using Fast Burst Camera app to catch the moment but limited to 1 mpx...
Kind regards...
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats because its a leak and hasnt got the fully working driverset

Low Light performance of Note 3 Camera

So I LOVE THIS PHONE, it has been everything I ever wanted in a phone except one key part; The low ligth performance.
I have taken a bunch of pics in darker settings (at work, in clubs, restaurants) and all my pics look blurry/oily (oil painting effect) and the only time I get sharp pics is on close up pics (really close up) with flash.
Is this the norm for this phone? Is samsung releasing an app update?
Do you guys have any apps that solve this issue and can you post them here/the setting you use with them. I have attached some pics below to show examples

I have the same problem.

have you tried it with the smart stabilization mode on ?

For me it turned out the smart stabilization mode was the culprit, disabling it fixed it.

yamensati said:
have you tried it with the smart stabilization mode on ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep and it only makes things more bright with no real advantage...it still looks blurred/oily and details are hard to make out; but hey I have a little bit more contrast/better colors

Updates wont' fix it - it's the hardware.

Take a look at the tiny little lens on the back of your Note 3. Then compare that with a point & shoot camera. Then realize N3's camera takes in a fraction of the light and has a miniscule sensor. Do you really expect similar performance?

You really need to play with settings, to squeeze maximum performance in low light and one setting for all won't work, but one thing is for sure, get as much light as possible from flash or elsewhere. If you ever watch pros making movies, half of their equipment is lights and light bouncing screens and they use them even in the daylight even with huge lenses costing thousands of dollars. I do agree Samsung could fine tune low light performance a little better, possibly having dedicated low light/night mode and explain "smart stabilization", which is not stabilization, but custom HDR, little better, but it's not that bad, considering small lens and sensor. I've seen that oil painting effect myself, but only in really low light where even DSLR would have hard time to cope.

pete4k said:
You really need to play with settings, to squeeze maximum performance in low light and one setting for all won't work, but one thing is for sure, get as much light as possible from flash or elsewhere. If you ever watch pros making movies, half of their equipment is lights and light bouncing screens and they use them even in the daylight even with huge lenses costing thousands of dollars. I do agree Samsung could fine tune low light performance a little better, possibly having dedicated low light/night mode and explain "smart stabilization", which is not stabilization, but custom HDR, little better, but it's not that bad, considering small lens and sensor. I've seen that oil painting effect myself, but only in really low light where even DSLR would have hard time to cope.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what setting do you use in low light?

As I already said there is no one setting for all, but just to give an example, don't use smart stabilization for close distance , because then flash won't fire and here flash will give best results. On the other hand if you were shooting sunset, don't use flash because exposure will be too dark, unless you have people right in front as main subject etc. Smart stabilization won't work for moving objects, since it stocks multiple exposures on top of each other, but it may work pretty well for some static pictures. You could also try to manually set ISO and again it all depends, higher ISO will give you shorter exposure but much more noise, so for static picture you could try lower ISO and brace the phone against some hard surface to avoid shake, or even make a tripod. But nothing beats the light, so always try to position yourself with light behind you, so let's say inside the house have window behind you, not in front of you.

Ive owned every single Android device to date.. yes you read right, every one and if theres one thing Android Devs Can NOT get right out of the box .. its the freaking cameras.
Googles own Nexus 5 needed a few updates from LG to fix it. LGs own G2.. the camera is smudgey and noisey and needs a firmware update.
The LTE version of the S4 (I9005) had shutter lag out of the box, leaving pictures burred and noisey, which was fixed.. eventually... in 4.3.
Thank you so much for this post OP, I was considering a Note 3 as a back up to my Lumia 920 (WP8), soon to be a Lumia 1020.. Its getting ridiculous the way devs are treating us buyers like ****.. "Oh dont worry we can release an OTA next month".
Seriously, take it back and send an email to Samsung "Ram it Samsung", then go buy an HTC One Max.
Stop letting Devs Q&A treat us like ****, return your phones, then send Samsung a Scanned copy of the refund reciept.. explaining it didnt work out of the box.. theyd soon kick their Q&A into gear.

NightOrchid said:
Ive owned every single Android device to date.. yes you read right, every one and if theres one thing Android Devs Can NOT get right out of the box .. its the freaking cameras.
Googles own Nexus 5 needed a few updates from LG to fix it. LGs own G2.. the camera is smudgey and noisey and needs a firmware update.
The LTE version of the S4 (I9005) had shutter lag out of the box, leaving pictures burred and noisey, which was fixed.. eventually... in 4.3.
Thank you so much for this post OP, I was considering a Note 3 as a back up to my Lumia 920 (WP8), soon to be a Lumia 1020.. Its getting ridiculous the way devs are treating us buyers like ****.. "Oh dont worry we can release an OTA next month".
Seriously, take it back and send an email to Samsung "Ram it Samsung", then go buy an HTC One Max.
Stop letting Devs Q&A treat us like ****, return your phones, then send Samsung a Scanned copy of the refund reciept.. explaining it didnt work out of the box.. theyd soon kick their Q&A into gear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would but I don't know another phone that has a pen. THe pen alone has been the one saving grace for me. I'm a very disorganized guy, ESPECIALLY PAPER and being able to have all my notes in one place has been really convenient. But I don't know, I would like to find a way to get forums to get in contact with Sammy and get them to fix cameras.
BTW does anyone know if the note 2's camera is a better camera and if it would be worth it to return the Note 3 for a Note 2
WHat makes me angry is that most reviewers swear the Note 3 camera is godly. Well not at all in low light

edo101 said:
I would but I don't know another phone that has a pen. THe pen alone has been the one saving grace for me. I'm a very disorganized guy, ESPECIALLY PAPER and being able to have all my notes in one place has been really convenient. But I don't know, I would like to find a way to get forums to get in contact with Sammy and get them to fix cameras.
BTW does anyone know if the note 2's camera is a better camera and if it would be worth it to return the Note 3 for a Note 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, It has an 8MP camera on it and its a brilliant camera, Its actually better than the S3, especially in low light. As an amateur photographer, I understand that 13MP dont mean squat.. 8MP cams are better.. less MPs for it to process.. I used to own a Note 2 and I loved it. The photos were truely amazing and Sammy have had a few years to iron out the bugs.. so it works beautifully and smooth.. nice fast shutter speeds with reasonable low light.. oh and the speaker on the back is fantastic and loud, with a rich sound from the wolfson DAC, plus the screen on the Note 2 isnt crappy Pentile either.
Its a great phone and you wont be dissapointed.
EDIT:
Yep I know, but reviewers all do that, its amazing what a new free phone will do to grease a reviewers wheels. I tend to watch independent YouTube reviewers, theres a few honest ones around if you look for them. There seems to be an obession that bigger is better, and in the terms of Camera MPx.. No its not.. trust me,. Look at the HTC One 4 Ultra Pixel.. Its fantastic, the Note 2 is a great phone and its cheap now. Go for it
Good luck

note 2 camera is I can tell for sure at least 40% better than the note 3 camera in low light... that's my personal experience

NightOrchid said:
Yes, It has an 8MP camera on it and its a brilliant camera, Its actually better than the S3, especially in low light. As an amateur photographer, I understand that 13MP dont mean squat.. 8MP cams are better.. less MPs for it to process.. I used to own a Note 2 and I loved it. The photos were truely amazing and Sammy have had a few years to iron out the bugs.. so it works beautifully and smooth.. nice fast shutter speeds with reasonable low light.. oh and the speaker on the back is fantastic and loud, with a rich sound from the wolfson DAC, plus the screen on the Note 2 isnt crappy Pentile either.
Its a great phone and you wont be dissapointed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I suppose the question now is, is it worth going back to the Note 2 for despite the other advancements in hardware?
With Note 2, do the native updates give it some of the more useful features of the Note 3?

edo101 said:
So I suppose the question now is, is it worth going back to the Note 2 for despite the other advancements in hardware?
With Note 2, do the native updates give it some of the more useful features of the Note 3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that I cant say, sorry. I know the Note 2 did get some added updates from the Note 3 OS, but due to the half-baked flaky bullsh*t OS that samsung, LG and other devs keep giving us "Out of the Box" with their bug ridden, faulty, un-tested devices from a lazy QA depatment over and over again.. I gave up on latest Android new release devices and went to Nokia WP8, but thats just me
And yet we keep buying these faulty release day Android devices.
---------- Post added at 04:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:13 AM ----------
NeoDJW said:
note 2 camera is I can tell for sure at least 40% better than the note 3 camera in low light... that's my personal experience
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed , Its a great camera.

NightOrchid said:
Now that I cant say, sorry. I know the Note 2 did get some added updates from the Note 3 OS, but due to the half-baked flaky bullsh*t OS that samsung, LG and other devs keep giving us "Out of the Box" with their bug ridden, faulty, un-tested devices from a lazy QA depatment over and over again.. I gave up on latest Android new release devices and went to Nokia WP8, but thats just me
And yet we keep buying these faulty release day Android devices.
---------- Post added at 04:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:13 AM ----------
Agreed , Its a great camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm I guess you wouldn't know which one has a wider camera view?

edo101 said:
Hmm I guess you wouldn't know which one has a wider camera view?
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Click to collapse
How do you mean by wider camera view?, are you talking about how much of the picture you take is in a single frame? or do you mean aperture?
The note 2 has an f2.6 aperture lens where as the Note 3 has a wider f2.2 aperture lens, meaning on paper, the Note 3 should let in more light, however, due to the huge number of 13Milion pixels compared to the less crowded 8Million, the aperture size may not matter here.
Also the Note 2 and Note 3 both have a digital zoom, meaning it expands the actual pixels themselves, not the image like a better Optical zoom, but they both have O.I.S and both have panorama shot for expanded images.
EDIT:
You mean as in how much you see through the viewfinder on the screen.. I think the Note 2 is the wider view, but Im not sure someone else reading this may know though
Hope that helps

edo101 said:
I would but I don't know another phone that has a pen. THe pen alone has been the one saving grace for me. I'm a very disorganized guy, ESPECIALLY PAPER and being able to have all my notes in one place has been really convenient. But I don't know, I would like to find a way to get forums to get in contact with Sammy and get them to fix cameras.
BTW does anyone know if the note 2's camera is a better camera and if it would be worth it to return the Note 3 for a Note 2
WHat makes me angry is that most reviewers swear the Note 3 camera is godly. Well not at all in low light
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AFAIK, the pen functionality in the Note 3 is better.
The camera on the note 2 sounds like a winner...
I guess you need to choose. Since it is only dark in so many situations, I would err on the better specs and forward thinking of the note 3 in terms of android trim, better specs, and future updates.
A $80 point and shoot will do even better than a note 2.

NightOrchid said:
How do you mean by wider camera view?, are you talking about how much of the picture you take is in a single frame? or do you mean aperture?
The note 2 has an f2.6 aperture lens where as the Note 3 has a wider f2.2 aperture lens, meaning on paper, the Note 3 should let in more light, however, due to the huge number of 13Milion pixels compared to the less crowded 8Million, the aperture size may not matter here.
Also the Note 2 and Note 3 both have a digital zoom, meaning it expands the actual pixels themselves, not the image like a better Optical zoom, but they both have O.I.S and both have panorama shot for expanded images.
EDIT:
You mean as in how much you see through the viewfinder on the screen.. I think the Note 2 is the wider view, but Im not sure someone else reading this may know though
Hope that helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you can get a wider picture from the Note 2. Note 3 seemed to have a narrow wide angle. (so lets say Note 2 was 16:9, Note 3 would be 16:11) thats what I mean. you can capture more area with the Note 2 camera

Buying G4 Plus for Camera

Hello,
I have read mixed reviews of the G4 Plus camera, while DxoMark gives it a score of 84. Many others consider it average in day light and worst in low light,
can anyone can post unedited/un-cropped images for sample. Is the G4 Plus a good buy as camera phone ?
Thank you.

In my experience it's a very good camera for a phone. Pictures here won't mean probably too much, since you have no reference point and the low resolution imposed by XDA.

Okay, let me tell you my experience. It's a good camera overall. Takes very vivid and sharp images in daylight ie in good conditions. But It has an average to above-average performance in low light conditions but..but..but.. certainly better than many phones that are in its price range. Another thing I wanna mention is that it struggles to snap moving objects. It's 'cause the g4 plus lacks optical image stabilization. I think for many of us It'd be a big deal. For me it's NOT.
I would certainly recommend this phone for phone photography.
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tobey_onk said:
Okay, let me tell you my experience. It's a good camera overall. Takes very vivid and sharp images in daylight ie in good conditions. But It has an average to above-average performance in low light conditions but..but..but.. certainly better than many phones that are in its price range. Another thing I wanna mention is that it struggles to snap moving objects. It's 'cause the g4 plus lacks optical image stabilization. I think for many of us It'd be a big deal. For me it's NOT.
I would certainly recommend this phone for phone photography.
Hit like if this post helped you
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Does this moving objects lag happens in manual mode as well ? when shutter is set to higher speed or only in auto mode ?
i think the fastest shutter speed is 1/5 in pro mode can you confirm this ?
Thanks

For camera, this phone is goooood.....?
But you should also pay attention to other issues like heating while camera is in use for more time and screen burn and ghosts touch..
( while screen burn and ghost touch is not common in all device, but if your luck is working wrong then you will have to face them )

tobey_onk said:
but..but..but.. certainly better than many phones that are in its price range.
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I seriously doubt that is another phone with a better camera at this price point ($300). In low level light or in daylight. You need to move up to $700 to get a better camera (like added optical zoom and stabilization).
Now, I always say that phones cannot compete with dedicated cameras, therefore they should not be used for planned photo sessions (like when you expect to have great subjects).

Well HTC desire 628 ( my last phone ) gave shutter speed of 1/8000. so i don't want to get anything lower than that. Other option i got is ZTE Nubia Z11 which has an Sony Exmor 298 but not sure if its good enough
https://youtu.be/U8PITTNu7fI?t=179
Thanks

dranzer006 said:
Does this moving objects lag happens in manual mode as well ? when shutter is set to higher speed or only in auto mode ?
i think the fastest shutter speed is 1/5 in pro mode can you confirm this ?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
will try it.

The camera is good for the phone price but it has some quirks which make me irritated.
1. Slow focus, 1 in 3 shots would not have got focused, I notice this issue in pics with people, workaround is to wait additional second after it shows as focused, not always practical. This is probably biggest flaw of this phone. DxO remarks this in their review as well.
2. My earlier phone was nexus 5, OIS made the photos 99% of the time sharp and blur free. With G4 I have to keep my hands extremely steady in poor lighting.
3. I also find the images to be bit over sharpened, not a big deal though. Dynamic range is not that great either, has tendency to blow out sky and highlights.
4. Wide angle lens, didn't like this as objects seem to get curved across the edges of pic, this can and should have been fixed via post processing but moto decided to ignore it.
5. Finally the video recording with EIS is great but heats up the phone like crazy if shooting for long time.
For the price of phone I can forgive issue 2 and 3 but 1st one makes me hate the phone camera as I need to always check if it came out alright. Had I known it before I bought I would have skipped it.
Compared to phones in this price range though it's still decent and great when it works well. Most of the phone seems to have similar issues in this price range.

Camera is quite capable, the MIUI camera is the weak link.

Here's some shots taken with a 3rd party app called Snap Camera. Enjoy!

Hmm limited file size attachments. Here are links to the originals!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx_9X4Ugo_yaUWZvek1BM1R0TUU/view?usp=drivesdk
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx_9X4Ugo_yaMkx3VnFDYkoyYXM/view?usp=drivesdk
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx_9X4Ugo_yaTGgxTVU4QXVGWjA/view?usp=drivesdk

I put Google camera and open camera on mine and while they seem better both are somewhat slow to auto focus and snap oic. For a camera on phone to me that quick snap is important. May try the one you mentioned to see if better.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T817A using XDA Free mobile app

SWBgHz said:
I put Google camera and open camera on mine and while they seem better both are somewhat slow to auto focus and snap oic. For a camera on phone to me that quick snap is important. May try the one you mentioned to see if better.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T817A using XDA Free mobile app
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It has zero shutter lag, instant photos, really recommend it. Let me know if you want my settings! I'm not 100% sure but It may be a paid app, i think i'd purchased it sometime in the past.
Edit - Tried Open Camera - not very good output, couldn't get Google Camera to work for some reason.. Snap Camera is definitely the best I've seen so far.

Paulrgod,
Thank you so much for this post. What a difference snap makes. No focus breathing and stabilization built in. Huge win as the camera is so important to me as it is my daily picture taker for my family and the biggest concern for this phone...but not any more.
Thanks again!

No problem, happy to help.
I took some photos of my son playing in the living room the other day and it was awful, unacceptable quality really.
So I decided to see if any other apps would make a difference. The quality of the photos I posted above were better quality than comparison shots I took on my Note 5!
Still struggling in low light a bit though, but I've found keeping the ISO in check, set at 400 / 800 the shots are acceptable, but can be difficult getting it to take the shot.

Those shots are extremely noisy, lacking detail and soft ... they just feature heavy post processing (by the app) to make it more attractive to the average punter - saturation, contrast and smoothing. The camera absolutely isn't capable. In fact, many phones of similar price have better selfie sensors than this phone does main camera ...

Well someone's a bit grumpy. Did you click the links to see the full versions? The attachments in the first post are poor due to size rrestrictions. I'm quite happy with them actually.
They came out better than compatible shots taken at the same time on my Note 5.

Kinda hilarious that an app can do a better job than the phone manufacturer's own software.

I tried Snap camera too, but A Better Camera does better in terms of instant focus, or just it seemed to me
3rd party cams also do better in WB and details.

The camera is absolutely horrendous.
I felt like I went back in time to 2009
I've been using the Samsung Note since it first launched.
The note 5 camera is excellent
The mi mix is profusely bad

CorruptedSanity said:
The camera is absolutely horrendous.
I felt like I went back in time to 2009
I've been using the Samsung Note since it first launched.
The note 5 camera is excellent
The mi mix is profusely bad
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It's a matter of perspective. I too ha a note 5 and yes, it's one of the best phone camera's, as well documented through the year the note 5 has been on the market. So, by that logic, nearly every other phone camera will be disappointing.
However, from my unscientific observation of the note 5, Mi Max (not Mi Mix) and Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, the Mix is better than the Max or Phab 2 Pro. Focus and processing is faster and moving targets can be captured with some resemblance to the image photographed.
Could be the SOC (Max and P2P are SD 652 while Mix is SD 821).
I am enjoying the phone, even though the camera is less than really good. I'm willing to trade the 6.4 inch screen and condensed body for the lesser camera.
Just one man's perspective.

audscott said:
It's a matter of perspective. I too ha a note 5 and yes, it's one of the best phone camera's, as well documented through the year the note 5 has been on the market. So, by that logic, nearly every other phone camera will be disappointing.
However, from my unscientific observation of the note 5, Mi Max (not Mi Mix) and Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, the Mix is better than the Max or Phab 2 Pro. Focus and processing is faster and moving targets can be captured with some resemblance to the image photographed.
Could be the SOC (Max and P2P are SD 652 while Mix is SD 821).
I am enjoying the phone, even though the camera is less than really good. I'm willing to trade the 6.4 inch screen and condensed body for the lesser camera.
Just one man's perspective.
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Couldn't agree more on the bolded part as an owner of the Note 5 and returned the Phab 2 Pro after less than a week of ownership. Phab 2 Pro could of been a nice phone if they didn't cut corners in certain areas. Then again its all subjective to ones opinion.
Regarding the camera, wished it was as good as Samsung phones but I've used the 6.4" screen more than I've taken pictures so I'm ok with the traded of.

Do you know if this 3rd parry camera is actually capturing a photo and processing it? Or just basically screenshoting the image on the screen like SnapChat does...
Also does it have HDR?

VeryCoolAlan said:
Do you know if this 3rd parry camera is actually capturing a photo and processing it? Or just basically screenshoting the image on the screen like SnapChat does...
Also does it have HDR?
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Definitely Capturing and processing the image. Yes it does HDR - of which you can customise a hell of a lot - exposure values, delays between shots etc..
I've never seen a camera app with as many settings as this actually.

I do photography as a serious hobby.
Mix camera has its strength and weakness. (Native app)
The colour balance is quite accurate most of the time but it definitely love to over saturate.
The auto focus is snappy enough.
The auto exposure is surprisingly good as well.
The low light is terrible but ALL phone sucks at it.
HDR works and they keep the effect to the lower end which I like. While pixel has super good HDR results, sometimes the effect is way over used.
I really like the sharpening level they choose. It feel just right (More on the soft side)
Overall I would say the biggest flaw is that it's unreliable. Occasionally the colours are just way over saturated, but hey that's why I have a camera

To anyone that is rooted and has enabled the Camera2 API (adding persist.camera.HAL3.enabled=1 to build.prop), give ProShot by Rise Up Games a try. Manual Camera by Geeky Devs Studio doesn't work when I mess with the shutter speed or ISO setting but ProShot does. Now both of these are paid but I'm sure you have Play Reward credit spare

I waited for MIUI 9 to see if it would bring an improvement in the camera application but now that I have it, I don't see any improvement. So I decided for now to use Snap Camera. Can someone tell me what would be the best settings to use Snap Camera in the MIX?

Is the Snap Camera app, better then the Google Camera app downloaded from the Oneplus 5 thread?