Database Users

Camera settings for best quality

Guys okay i can see all of you likes the camera quality and i think then is just me i cant do the right settings to it to get good quality pictures ... i read in this forum to get rid of task killers and use only System Panel and to disable the image stabilizer to get more focused and non blurry pictures but still i don`t think the quality is that great because the sharpness is big fail ...(or it is me not using the right settings) if i have to compare it with camera of nokia 6700 the nokia is taking better quality pictures ... if somebody can tell me what is the right settings to use i`ll be more than happy ty! atm i at as it fallows Normal capturing mode, 8mpx or 6mpx it depends scenes more often are in normal and using multi autofocus as common taking picture method

i agree, id be very interested in the replies, i put most of mine down to poor light but to be fair it should be able to deal with indoor lighting

Ive used 8mp and 6mp wide. I switch on screen touch to take photo. Image stabiliser off.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

well its looking good John but anyways in full size picture the quality is not so good... when i`m looking my pictures in my phone they look great but when i download them at my pc they are very different ...i red about switching stabilizer off and its a bit better y but still is more to want from that camera

Lakata said:
well its looking good John but anyways in full size picture the quality is not so good... when i`m looking my pictures in my phone they look great but when i download them at my pc they are very different ...i red about switching stabilizer off and its a bit better y but still is more to want from that camera
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I use Vignette since I think the default camera app messes with the picture.. it compresses it or something
Plus with Vignette you can take 16:9 8 mp shots, not just 4:3 8 mp. and they look great. Look at my timelapse for proof

yeah with vignette is much better i think but it is only me again how to shoot video with vignette ... because i can only take pictures with this widget

Vignette has a widget?
Anyway Vignette is only for taking pictures, not videos

I think the pics are compressed when uploaded. Zoom is hopeless though.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

X10 snapshots: http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=195111

pngface said:
Vignette has a widget?
Anyway Vignette is only for taking pictures, not videos
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i meant vigentte is a widget it self ...or program anyway
Mano1982 said:
X10 snapshots: http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=195111
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This is looking good so you take them with Macro on and stabilizer off ? is this right? and for the second picture ? what settings

johndub71 said:
I think the pics are compressed when uploaded. Zoom is hopeless though.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App
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Yeah... it's a crap digital zoom. Not gonna get anything more out of a lens that small. I don't think I've seen a cameraphone with an optical zoom, and we have some insane cameraphones in Japan. (12 MP CCD with 1080p video, ect)

Lakata said:
This is looking good so you take them with Macro on and stabilizer off ? is this right? and for the second picture ? what settings
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Heia, if you see next pages also in the link i gave, you'll find many great shots taken with X10 (Stock camera)... Yeah, mainly in day light. I've stabilizer off alwayz & macro sometimes on, sometimes off

pngface said:
I use Vignette since I think the default camera app messes with the picture.. it compresses it or something
Plus with Vignette you can take 16:9 8 mp shots, not just 4:3 8 mp. and they look great. Look at my timelapse for proof
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How do you take 16:9 8mp shots with vignette? When i select 8mp superfine, the pictures are always 4:3. Can't find an option to change that

how much do i have to pay for vignette? and can i get it somewhere for free? maybe somebody could send it to me? PM plz

Astral07 said:
how much do i have to pay for vignette? and can i get it somewhere for free? maybe somebody could send it to me? PM plz
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I did send you a PM see your inbox

tgoalves said:
How do you take 16:9 8mp shots with vignette? When i select 8mp superfine, the pictures are always 4:3. Can't find an option to change that
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Tap on the Star button - effects and frames
And then go to frame and choose 16:9

always try to play with EV. It kinda seems that on 0 EV images are bit over exposed. Same as taking well lit night images, lowering EV do -0.7 -1 also lowers ISO values, so you ll get less noise

hibiskus said:
always try to play with EV. It kinda seems that on 0 EV images are bit over exposed. Same as taking well lit night images, lowering EV do -0.7 -1 also lowers ISO values, so you ll get less noise
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sry for the stupid question but what is EV ? ) and how to lower it

Astral07 said:
how much do i have to pay for vignette? and can i get it somewhere for free? maybe somebody could send it to me? PM plz
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Bad idea to ask for pirated software on these boards...

hibiskus said:
always try to play with EV. It kinda seems that on 0 EV images are bit over exposed. Same as taking well lit night images, lowering EV do -0.7 -1 also lowers ISO values, so you ll get less noise
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Well, thing is, Vignette can't do that
And the stock camera app is compressing the files too much.
Why the hell SE doesn't give us the option to set compression level?

Using the camera: best practices

Would be great if we had a thread with some tips how to get the best photos with the Z1.
Any tips? Please share. I for one would love to dive in the magical world of digital photography. Think the Z1 is a great starting point.
Maybe we could even use this knowledge to create an awesome camera app for our z1.

I dont have a Z1 yet (planning to get one soon as my contract expires) but from what I have reading, Manual mode + Iso 50-200 seems to get the best result.

appelflap said:
Would be great if we had a thread with some tips how to get the best photos with the Z1.
Any tips? Please share. I for one would love to dive in the magical world of digital photography. Think the Z1 is a great starting point.
Maybe we could even use this knowledge to create an awesome camera app for our z1.
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Click to collapse
Well, here's a couple of tips to start you off:-
1. Noise is an issue with the current camera firmware.
The best way to address this is to shoot in Manual mode where you will have a greater control over the shot.
Look at the ISO value and where possible change it to ISO 50. This will give the clearest noise free image possible.
2. Don't use Digital Zoom. Frame correctly and crop your images.
Often I hear of owners looking to zoom in as much as possible before taking the shot.
Whilst that is fine and dandy on cameras which have lens that support optical zoom, never ever use digital zoom.
Instead, take the shot using the full coverage of the shot (no zoom). This will then allow you to 'crop' the image to whatever zoom you wish and you can perform as many crops as you wish from one shot (top, bottom, left, right, centre of a shot)
---------- Post added at 09:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:10 AM ----------
Morlock O said:
I dont have a Z1 yet (planning to get one soon as my contract expires) but from what I have reading, Manual mode + Iso 50-200 seems to get the best result.
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Apologies..... You posted this whilst I was compiling my post above.

Morlock O said:
I dont have a Z1 yet (planning to get one soon as my contract expires) but from what I have reading, Manual mode + Iso 50-200 seems to get the best result.
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Beards said:
Well, here's a couple of tips to start you off:-
1. Noise is an issue with the current camera firmware.
The best way to address this is to shoot in Manual mode where you will have a greater control over the shot.
Look at the ISO value and where possible change it to ISO 50. This will give the clearest noise free image possible.
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Click to collapse
Aha! And which resolution do you advice in this mode? The full 20 MP resolution?
Beards said:
2. Don't use Digital Zoom. Frame correctly and crop your images.
Often I hear of owners looking to zoom in as much as possible before taking the shot.
Whilst that is fine and dandy on cameras which have lens that support optical zoom, never ever use digital zoom.
Instead, take the shot using the full coverage of the shot (no zoom). This will then allow you to 'crop' the image to whatever zoom you wish and you can perform as many crops as you wish from one shot (top, bottom, left, right, centre of a shot)
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I saw an ad off Sony in which they suggested that one could do a 3x digital zoom without a compromise in quality. But I agree, why not take a full frame shot and zoom afterwards.
Btw nice to see you here Beards. How is your HD2

appelflap said:
Aha! And which resolution do you advice in this mode? The full 20 MP resolution?
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Depends on the shot...
If I still want to use Image Stabiizer or HDR I will change from 20MP to 8MP as 20MP does not support either of these features.
Further, for night shots the camera lens is not looking for stacks of detail. As such often for night shooting you can get away with a lower pixel shot.
I saw an ad off Sony in which they suggested that one could do a 3x digital zoom without a compromise in quality. But I agree, why not take a full frame shot and zoom afterwards.
Btw nice to see you here Beards. How is your HD2
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Yes, you can do the 3x digital but once you have done it this can lead to the next shot being over zoomed, that and it's always better to crop as you know.
P.S. Yes mate..... Nice to see you too.
And yes, I still have the HD2. Kept it for sentimental reasons

If Sony fixes the camera software, we'll all see a enormous difference in quality! Setting everything to manual will give you much better results. Now I tried the "Focal" camera app from the Playstore, and the low light shots are really, really awesome! The app itself is very minimalistic, but produces stunning results with the Z1! Give it a go, I'll try to upload some shots I took when I'm home!

Beards said:
And yes, I still have the HD2. Kept it for sentimental reasons
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kept and still using mine hehe, anyway shouldnt we zoom in 3x losless(?) first then crop the photo? any further zoom than 3x is going to substantially lose the quality then?
im hoping to get my Z1 tmorrow so i can try out my theory hehe

Anadinolin said:
kept and still using mine hehe, anyway shouldnt we zoom in 3x losless(?) first then crop the photo? any further zoom than 3x is going to substantially lose the quality then?
im hoping to get my Z1 tmorrow so i can try out my theory hehe
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Ahh a fellow HD2 user. We are but a dying breed...
Re the 3x lossless digital zoom.
There are two issues here:-
1. All the 3x lossless zoom does is do what cropping does . It just restricts it to 3x to avoid over zooming where the shot would then look too pixelated.
2. Once you apply 3x zoom on any image that is it, you can't go back and say "blast! I should have zoomed in a bit less".
At least with the full frame you can make as many different crops as you like and apply it to any part of the image.
In other words where digital shooting is concerned shoot full then crop. 9 times out of 10 the software PP will handle it better anyway.

I would advice to download a more capable camera app for the moment until Sony fixes the severa problems they are having.
Otherwise I would NOT recommend using the Auto mode because right now it's seriously underperforming choosing the Manual setting would allow you for more options of course.
Turn off stabilization when capturing videos if you value the field of view because it's not OIS, this is Digital meaning it is cropping the picture instead otherwise the Steayshot feature is pretty solid

New Lollipop camera features

... not the features we all want like manual exposure, focus and RAW shooting, not even 4K or 120fps video, but:
We can now record Full HD video at 60fps
Real-time ISO: The viewfinder may seem less smooth but the image is more accurate to what you get: at ISO-50 you immediately see if the image will turn out too dark!
New metering setting: "face"!
Touch Block integrated in the settings menu!
Front facing camera now seems to expose on yo face (also, the timer seems added, and did this mode always come with software image stabilisation..?)
Pause while shooting video (thanks HSNalfar3)
Last but not least: a fancier design, obviously :angel:
EDIT: I believe the camera algorithms themselves were updated too. Remember you used to see oversharpening so clearly? Even at ISO-50 you could see these two dark pixel lines everywhere over your photo - well, I can't see those now, and images seem a bit softer anyway. Me likey!
EDIT 2: The option for 60fps Full HD video isn't working for some reason, as confirmed by Hanafubuki. Might be a remnant of newer Lollipop devices...
Mainly the first two points are is very interesting. I've always found it annoying that I couldn't see in the viewfinder how photos at ISO-50 would turn out. That is, if it's dark, then images would turn pitch black but you would only see when you took the photo. Now it's already visible in the viewfinder, so it's easier to change ISO (although the setting is still buried in the menu and having to scroll down in landscape... (c'mon Sony you could've easily done better here as well) ). Also, the 60fps Full HD video is a very welcome addition in my opinion.

Another feature
In the superior auto application, in camera options appears the option Burst with longpress that allows you to keep several pictures while holding the camera button. I think that this is new on lollipop.

somereta said:
In the superior auto application, in camera options appears the option Burst with longpress that allows you to keep several pictures while holding the camera button. I think that this is new on lollipop.
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Actually not......

Hermantje said:
... not the features we all want like manual exposure, focus and RAW shooting, not even 4K or 120fps video, but:
We can now record Full HD video at 60fps!
[*]The viewfinder may seem less smooth but the image is more accurate to what you get: at ISO-50 you immediately see if the image will turn out too dark!
New metering setting: "face"!
Touch Block integrated in the settings menu!
Front facing camera now seems to expose on yo face (also, the timer seems added, and did this mode always come with software image stabilisation..?)
Last but not least: a fancier design, obviously :angel:
Mainly the first two points are very interesting. I've always found it annoying that I couldn't see in the viewfinder how photos at ISO-50 would turn out. That is, if it's dark, then images would turn pitch black but you would only see when you took the photo. Now it's already visible in the viewfinder, so it's easier to change ISO (although the setting is still buried in the menu and having to scroll down in landscape... (c'mon Sony you could've easily done better here as well) ). Also, the 60fps Full HD video is a very welcome addition in my opinion
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is REAL TIME ISO

I was wondering about the DRM: if I have unlocked bootloader and lost the TA partition, will the camera miss noise reduction after update to Lollipop? Also, there's a DRM fix for KitKat UB, will it work on Lollipop?
Thanks.

Yeah, I saw on the videos that now we have 60FPS recording. That will allow us to do timeshift videos without the app, instead in the actual movie editor. I am still waiting on my T-Mobile Macedonia Europe firmware... :/

I think our device can shoot 4k and timeshift video,perhap sony will get that on the next update. For this update I think it's less smooth than last firmware but less focus time too. :good:

no 60fps!!!
if you dont believe, make a video, open on windows and there it is 29 fps....

Another surprise for lollipop camera https://youtu.be/7EGqasXDHUU ps: it is on z1

mo120697 said:
no 60fps!!!
if you dont believe, make a video, open on windows and there it is 29 fps....
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Are you sure you selected the right shooting mode? I took this screenshot from my Xperia Z1 with the HK Firmware.

mo120697 said:
no 60fps!!!
if you dont believe, make a video, open on windows and there it is 29 fps....
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Actually, I may have spoken too soon indeed. I posted right before I went to bed and when I tried the 60fps mode afterwards and slowed it down by half in the phone's video editor, it did indeed seem as choppy as 15fps video...
Either Sony forgot to implement it or, which I think is more likely, it was a remnant of Lollipop for newer Sony phones. Either way, it's a shame it isn't working.

New feature : you can pause and resume video recording

HSNalfar3 said:
New feature : you can pause and resume video recording
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Wasn't this possible before? My Sony Ericsson Satio and Nokia N8 could both do this already.
I'll add it to the list

Same here with the FHD 60FPS . It olny records at 30 FPS . I smell a new update prety soon from Sony to fix the bugs .
Overall the z1 takes better pictures than before and the camera is fast now

Real time ISO is not a excuse for a laggy view finder... Even My Tablet Z with and old SoC and lower ISP running 4.4.4 has also Real time ISO and doesn't lag as the Z1/C.

NexusGTS said:
Same here with the FHD 60FPS . It olny records at 30 FPS . I smell a new update prety soon from Sony to fix the bugs .
Overall the z1 takes better pictures than before and the camera is fast now
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i think 4.4 take better pictures than 5.0.i only use auto mode

anyone tried on unlocked bootloader?
does bionz work?
on cm12 UB it worked fine

I think the pictures quality got very better than before. especially on 20MP it takes very good images with good details. on the kitkat 20MP took blurry images for me. also the images size got bigger. on kitkat with 20MP was around 5MB and now it's around 9MB :good:

vr2008 said:
I think the pictures quality got very better than before. especially on 20MP it takes very good images with good details. on the kitkat 20MP took blurry images for me. also the images size got bigger. on kitkat with 20MP was around 5MB and now it's around 9MB :good:
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My 20Mp photos are at least 7.5 mb. Sometimes it increases up to 10 mb. How it can be 5mb? And, I think lollipop has many bugs to be used

--N7-- said:
anyone tried on unlocked bootloader?
does bionz work?
on cm12 UB it worked fine
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Click to collapse
Unlocking bootloader doesn't affects on bionZ for z1 ( if you could get 6400 iso)

Fixing blure on the left side. (no manual iso at 20-23 mp)

I have sony xperia z5 dual E6633 rev.3
Some pictures are blurry on the left side and lose detail. Today my phone fell to the ground on the camera side. After testing camera i show all picuture are great and if i turn the phone 180 degre all pictures are the same.
I have a point for sony.
Why iso settings are blocked for 20-23 mp , people want iso settings back to have manual mode work perfect and takes perfect pictures in low light and outdoor,
When iso at 23 mp is 40 outdoor z5 can take perfect pictures with better detail and no noise. When iso is higher than 200 pictures are noisy and lose detail.
Before my phone fell the groung when taking phone with multi focus the right side focus or the 3 in the middle, when the right aide focus i have blurre on the left side when middle focus left and right have the same quality but less blurred. Some pic at single autofocus are good without blure and some are blurres on left.
Please and update sony, or anyone can mod the camera to can change iso at 20-23 mp.
Some say that camera software is not final , we are waiting for the news at the end of this month maybe sony do update and chane the camera ui.
Thank you

karrouma said:
I have sony xperia z5 dual E6633 rev.3
Some pictures are blurry on the left side and lose detail. Today my phone fell to the ground on the camera side. After testing camera i show all picuture are great and if i turn the phone 180 degre all pictures are the same.
I have a point for sony.
Why iso settings are blocked for 20-23 mp , people want iso settings back to have manual mode work perfect and takes perfect pictures in low light and outdoor,
When iso at 23 mp is 40 outdoor z5 can take perfect pictures with better detail and no noise. When iso is higher than 200 pictures are noisy and lose detail.
Before my phone fell the groung when taking phone with multi focus the right side focus or the 3 in the middle, when the right aide focus i have blurre on the left side when middle focus left and right have the same quality but less blurred. Some pic at single autofocus are good without blure and some are blurres on left.
Please and update sony, or anyone can mod the camera to can change iso at 20-23 mp.
Some say that camera software is not final , we are waiting for the news at the end of this month maybe sony do update and chane the camera ui.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have shots you took before with the blur? And then shots you have after the drop without the blur? Mind sharing with us? Thanks!

bloodfire1004 said:
Do you have shots you took before with the blur? And then shots you have after the drop without the blur? Mind sharing with us? Thanks!
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1st pic 180 degre,
2nd blurr on left no rotation

after blure reduced
bloodfire1004 said:
Do you have shots you took before with the blur? And then shots you have after the drop without the blur? Mind sharing with us? Thanks!
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Click to collapse
after blure reduced

karrouma said:
after blure reduced
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing! Looks like it did get reduced a bit

Video no blure
bloodfire1004 said:
Thanks for sharing! Looks like it did get reduced a bit
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Click to collapse
Taking some videos in fullhd and 4k no blure at all , also when taking caputre feom video no blure on pic (4k equal 8mp without any blure)
Sony pls give us an update and manual iso mode on manual mode that all we want

Sorry, I missed the whole point. Your phone fell & blur went away? So you had an alignment issue with the camera module & lens cover? I'm just trying to figure out how the fall helped you get rid of the blur.

karrouma said:
I have sony xperia z5 dual E6633 rev.3
Some pictures are blurry on the left side and lose detail. Today my phone fell to the ground on the camera side. After testing camera i show all picuture are great and if i turn the phone 180 degre all pictures are the same.
I have a point for sony.
Why iso settings are blocked for 20-23 mp , people want iso settings back to have manual mode work perfect and takes perfect pictures in low light and outdoor,
When iso at 23 mp is 40 outdoor z5 can take perfect pictures with better detail and no noise. When iso is higher than 200 pictures are noisy and lose detail.
Before my phone fell the groung when taking phone with multi focus the right side focus or the 3 in the middle, when the right aide focus i have blurre on the left side when middle focus left and right have the same quality but less blurred. Some pic at single autofocus are good without blure and some are blurres on left.
Please and update sony, or anyone can mod the camera to can change iso at 20-23 mp.
Some say that camera software is not final , we are waiting for the news at the end of this month maybe sony do update and chane the camera ui.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait... what? You dropped the phone to fix the camera?!

Looking forward to the dropping tutorial.

Weird Camera question?

So try this, find a place where the lighting aint great, indoors, under your desk etc, where iso would be about 1600 or even higher, take a shot in Manual mode but without adjusting anything, then change to auto mode and take exactly the same shot, then go to gallery, open each photo and check the iso using the 3 dot menu and select details, you'll see for the Manual shot the iso will read 1600 iso or 2000 iso or whatever and the photo will have some noise (obviously).
Now go to the photo you took in Auto mode and select 3 dot menu and select details, you'll see the iso is 0 and the shot is much less noisy (very clean), What the hell is going on here?? you can even check the F stop and shutter speed, they'll be the same but the Manual mode has high iso (like it should for a low light scene) but the auto mode will be much cleaner and have 0 as iso, and thus much cleaner photo, any idea's???

any ideas anyone?

I've also noticed this. could this be because of HDR?

aaaaleon said:
I've also noticed this. could this be because of HDR?
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Ah, yes, maybe thats it, will check, many thanks, appreciated

Nope not HDR, put HDR off and still get 0 iso in some shots (bright and low light), ok am stumped, have no idea what is happening...
Sent from my LG-H870 using Tapatalk

I saw a clue in the dpreview review for the G6. The reviewer thinks that a multi-frame technique is being used in very low light. This would combine sequential exposures kind of in an analogue to how HDR works. So while it would not be related to the HDR setting, it would use a similar technique. The sample image he posts as an example of this has no iso reported, possibly because there were multiple iso settings combined or else there's not a logical way to come up with the equivalent iso (or they were just too lazy to do so).

Jostian said:
So try this, find a place where the lighting aint great, indoors, under your desk etc, where iso would be about 1600 or even higher, take a shot in Manual mode but without adjusting anything, then change to auto mode and take exactly the same shot, then go to gallery, open each photo and check the iso using the 3 dot menu and select details, you'll see for the Manual shot the iso will read 1600 iso or 2000 iso or whatever and the photo will have some noise (obviously).
Now go to the photo you took in Auto mode and select 3 dot menu and select details, you'll see the iso is 0 and the shot is much less noisy (very clean), What the hell is going on here?? you can even check the F stop and shutter speed, they'll be the same but the Manual mode has high iso (like it should for a low light scene) but the auto mode will be much cleaner and have 0 as iso, and thus much cleaner photo, any idea's???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the test and on manual iso was 1750 and exposure 1/15. then on auto mode iso was on 1600 and exposure at 1/15, but on AUTO there is almost not noise...

jdock said:
I saw a clue in the dpreview review for the G6. The reviewer thinks that a multi-frame technique is being used in very low light. This would combine sequential exposures kind of in an analogue to how HDR works. So while it would not be related to the HDR setting, it would use a similar technique. The sample image he posts as an example of this has no iso reported, possibly because there were multiple iso settings combined or else there's not a logical way to come up with the equivalent iso (or they were just too lazy to do so).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah ok, makes sense, many thanks jdock, appreciated. Stupid thing is that one has no idea when it will do what you mention, i took 8 photos (in auto mode) of exactly the same scene and had 3 with no iso and 2 hdr shots and 3 with normal iso readings.
Sent from my LG-H870 using Tapatalk

It will mostly have zero ISO in low light condition. Which is amazing. That is why picture are less noisy. I don't have G6 but same thing happens on LG V20. I love the camera of V20 as I mostly take pictures indoor. I used to hate HTC 10 camera. All the pictures were extremely blurry and full of noise whether I keep HDR on, use manual mode(pro mode lowest ISO was 100) or flash.
Sent from my LG V20 using XDA Labs

Below two picture taken from HTC 10. This phone was so expensive (750$) and look at the quality of camera. One picture i have taken on afternoon and other evening time. I hope none of the HTC fan come and start giving explanation.
Sent from my LG V20 using XDA Labs