Database Users

camera image quality

I was curious about the camera image quality of the shift. My pictures always turn out very noisy and washed out. I have read around and found the same complaints but no answers on improvement. My 1.5mp first gen Sony camera takes a better picture. I have the exact same issues on the stock HTC, other sense roms and CM7 nightly. The quality of the image changes very little. I am looking to get a decently clear picture. I do not expect perfection from a cell phone but when I see the 100% full size picture it's really bad even in on a perfect sunny day. I see the improve image patch that I have not downloaded yet. Is there a camera app that will take a better image ? Is the kernel code for the camera a possibly culprit ?
I know there are a lot of programs like camera 360 but that's not exactly want I am looking for.
It's a little disappointing to have a 5mp camera that is not very good. I could deal with a little washed out color but all the pixelation is what I don't like at the full 5mp resolution when on my computer. Thanks for any responses and help in advance
Richard

Improved image patch?
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App

Ya, saw it as a suggested thread when I started to type my subject. I have not tried it. I believe it was for the shift
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i was wrong for motorola phone boo !

Are you sure you set the image quality to 5 mp first? I own a really nice 16 mp canon camera, and the shift with 5 mp takes far better pictures, even in bad lighting.
Then again, I rarely take photos, I take videos then remove the frames I want as photos, ensures I always get the picture I want.

yes, it is set at 5mp. I have tried lower ISO and all the tricks but it isn't still blurry and lots of pixelation.
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riche1 said:
I was curious about the camera image quality of the shift. My pictures always turn out very noisy and washed out. I have read around and found the same complaints but no answers on improvement. My 1.5mp first gen Sony camera takes a better picture. I have the exact same issues on the stock HTC, other sense roms and CM7 nightly. The quality of the image changes very little. I am looking to get a decently clear picture. I do not expect perfection from a cell phone but when I see the 100% full size picture it's really bad even in on a perfect sunny day. I see the improve image patch that I have not downloaded yet. Is there a camera app that will take a better image ? Is the kernel code for the camera a possibly culprit ?
I know there are a lot of programs like camera 360 but that's not exactly want I am looking for.
It's a little disappointing to have a 5mp camera that is not very good. I could deal with a little washed out color but all the pixelation is what I don't like at the full 5mp resolution when on my computer. Thanks for any responses and help in advance
Richard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well THIS article helped me .

Just a login screen
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My shift takes pretty good images...in the right conditions.
Low light conditions almost always produce ruinous pictures. The picture displays huge amounts of noise in these cases. Flash is generally not helpful.
Choosing the ISO manually shows improvement, and I personally prefer the Touch focus mode. When shooting outdoors in daylight, I usually get very nice pictures, particularly if I shoot in 5MP and then downsize them.

riche1 said:
Just a login screen
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the link below instead . Same link only posted different.
http://www.tested.com/news/how-to-take-better-photos-on-your-android-phone/430/

Same thing. Can cut n paste the article? I think I might seen this on androidfourms.com
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I'll try and get it on here for you later
TEAM MiK
Mik Roms Since 3/13/11

Thanks
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Here's the article, sorry it took so long
Tested NewsRSS Email Us a Story
How To Take Better Photos on Your Android Phone
The cameras keep getting higher in resolution, but there's more to getting good shots than the hardware.
By Ryan Whitwam
| June 14, 2010
.It's become common for even mid-range Android phones to come with some impressive cameras. A five megapixel sensor is usually present in most smartphones, and that means you can get some pretty reasonable point-and-shoot type images. A phone's camera may not be replacing your dedicated camera anytime soon, but you have to work with what you have. If all you have with you is a phone, you might as well maximize the image quality. Android has made some strides in the image capture department in the 2.1 and upcoming 2.2 updates.
Read on as we tell you how to get the most out of your Android phone's camera. The app that comes with the phone is the one most people will inevitably use, but we'll also tell you which third-party apps can add useful functionality.
Zooming[/B
]Zooming is something we've all become accustomed to on real cameras. A standalone camera most likely has optical zoom. This enlarges an image by using movable lens elements to vary the focal length. With optical zoom, quality is not lost. With the digital zoom used in phones, you are basically cropping out pixels at the edge and blowing up what's left. The result is a poorer quality image. We recommend not zooming in if at all possible, since you can always crop an image after the fact using desktop software. The only time you should use your camera's zoom is when you have to send that photo off on the phone without any post-cropping.
Stock Android phones running on 2.1 and earlier have access to zoom controls in the form of plus/minus buttons on the screen, but it only moves in steps. In 2.2 Google is adding a zoom slider to the on-screen controls. Camera Pro and Camera Zoom FX can add that functionality now for a few bucks. Sense UI phones have long had access to digital zoom in the camera app. The ease of use depends on the underlying Android software version. On Android 2.1 builds of Sense, users are presented with a large friendly scroll wheel to adjust the zoom.
The zoom option is there if you need it, but we suggest only using it when you have to. Even then, zoom only as much as you have to. Each step you zoom means fewer pixels in the final image. The small images sensors on these phones tend to have more noise than standard cameras, and the more you zoom, the more noticeable that will be.
Flash
Next, you need to keep track of your flash settings. Cell phones use LED flashes, which are nice as they don't use very much power. However, they tend to light a subject more harshly than a more natural-looking Xenon flash on a real camera might (this happens even at a distance).
It's always a good idea to turn the flash off when you don't need it. The stock Android camera app has a tendency to overuse the flash when it is set on auto. If you take a picture in medium light and the flash goes off unexpectedly, try it again with the flash off. We often find the resulting image to be preferable to the one with the flash.
Focusing
What's the good of taking a photo if it isn't going to be in focus? Android phones made early use of autofocus cameras and that means better images. Phones with hardware camera buttons sometimes employ a two-step mechanism like a real camera. That means you can depress the button halfway to focus, then recompose and press it the rest of the way to capture the image. This is helpful in that it can allow you to change up the framing without capturing an image if the focus doesn't look right.
On a phone like the Nexus One without a hardware shutter button, you can get similar functionality. When you press the on-screen shutter button, you can hold your finger there to inspect the focus. If you don't like it, just slide your finger off without removing it from the screen. This will let you try again without taking the image. Similarly, if using a trackball/trackpad as the shutter, depress to focus, and if you wish to abandon the image you can tap the screen.
Sense UI phones have a different trick up their sleeve when it comes to focusing. These phones have tap to focus, a feature we originally saw in the iPhone 3GS. You can tap anywhere in the frame to have the camera autofocus for that spot. This is functionality we have not yet been able to replicate on stock Android phones through apps.
Image size
The next thing to be aware of is what type of image quality you need. The default setting on most phones is maximum quality. That's fine if you intend to take important images to keep. But if you're just taking a snapshot to email to a friend, or send in an MMS, you don't need the highest resolution image.
A full resolution image from an 8MP camera like that in the Incredible or EVO 4G could be well over 1MB. If you're on a non-unlimited data plan, sending a large image via MMS may not be a viable option at all. All the stock apps, as well as third-party camera apps will allow you to change the resolution of the image being captured.
This is also a good idea if you need to take several photos in quick succession. Android can be a little slow to write images to the SD card and prepare for the next shot. By reducing the overall image size, you can get more shots in. This functionality is available from the onscreen controls of all the stock apps. Some third party apps hide this functionality in the settings menu.
Fine tuning
These camera phones are getting closer and closer to being the real thing, as evidenced by the plethora of image effects they can use. Stock Android 2.2 (and Sense UI) and higher phones can take advantage of different exposure settings. The exposure is just the amount of light allowed to hit the image sensor. This can be used to compensate for conditions that are too light or dark, bringing out detail. If you need a flash, but it makes the image a little too bright (common with LED flashes), you can try again with a lower exposure. Change the exposure around while composing a shot. The Android camera will change the preview to approximate chosen exposure. Stock Android 2.1 is unable to alter these values, so you'll have to wait for the 2.2 update.
You can also get better color representation by changing the white balance. The auto setting is usually fine, but we've found Android phones can get confused, especially in low light. This often leaves us with warm, almost orange pictures. If your phone is taking images that look to warm or cold, try setting the white balance to the type of light you're shooting under. You have options like incandescent, daylight, fluorescent, and cloudy.
Sense UI phones (even on 2.1) have all these tweaks and more. HTC has added a number of options to their Android interface that doesn't exist for stock phones. There is an option to change metering mode to spot, center, or average. This controls how the phone samples to determine how to expose the shot. This can be helpful if your subject is lighted differently from the rest of the shot. We find this useful for times when we're taking a backlit shot.
Sense UI also builds in ISO settings. ISO is basically how sensitive the image sensor is to light. A higher ISO will allow you to capture motion better, but the image will be grainier. The sensors on phones tend to handle motion pretty poorly, so this is a nice addition on HTC's part. We haven't found any apps that allow stock Android to do any of this either. Camera 360 is a new app with some fun filters, and it offers an ISO option, but we found it did not work on stock Android 2.1 or 2.2. It seems HTC rolled their own code for this.
With a little thought, you can capture completely respectable images with your Android phone. We feel that the most important first step is setting up the shot correctly. You have to evaluate if you need the flash on or not, and if you can avoid zooming. Make sure to examine the preview after your handset focuses before you take the image. In our experience, the stock apps that come with your phone will do nearly everything you need.
Most of the third party apps don't add much functionality beyond some effect filters. The only exception may be timer and timer and burst mode, which you can get from an app like Camera Zoom FX. Sense phones, of course, have this built in. Do you have any camera tips for Android? Any apps you've found that bring something meaningful to the experience?

Thanks this helps
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Here to help
TEAM MiK
Mik Roms Since 3/13/11

I don't get it, every single picture I take is blurry and very noisy no matter what. You can not tell until you see the full resolution size 2592x1936. I don't need to save all pictures this size but I do a lot of cycling events that I would like to take good pictures at. My hope was to be able to have some nice larger photos to print . It would save me from buying a DC. I have noticed that older pictures before my rom flash are the same way.
The camera on my 3yr old crappy ATT samsung took clear pictures.Some were a little noisy because of lighting but not near as bad as this .
I am starting to wonder if my sensor is defective or my lens is scratched . I would attach a picture but the restrictions here would not allow it. Thanks for the help again. I guess I am SOL

What Rom are you on?

I have another camera related question. I have the CM7 nightly, my camera always freezed when I am waiting for a next shoot for too long, I have to take out the battery to reboot. Can anyone give some advices.

I am using cm7 nightlies. I have tried all roms with the sane results . As for the other question, did u format data,system, cache and dalvik cache( spelling) ?
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[Q] Autofocus must be bugged, right? It refuses to focus except with direct light

I love everything about the Nexus 4 except the camera. The autofocus is having serious trouble unless you have a LOT of light. Compared to other smartphones, it seems to be broken. Does anyone else have this problem? Also, I've used 2 Nexus 4's, so I'm sure this is a software issue. Have any past Nexus devices had similar issues and been fixed?
Thanks!

I don't have that problem. Both with normal and HDR mode. In HDR mode it can be blurry, but not because out-of-focus but rather because my hands move while the phone still taking the picture (it takes more than one picture to create a HDR picture)
Also, I do notice that even in normal mode the camera actually takes longer to take the picture than one would expect, so usually holds your hand steady for a few extra seconds do the trick.
I hope that helps.

whittikins said:
I love everything about the Nexus 4 except the camera. The autofocus is having serious trouble unless you have a LOT of light. Compared to other smartphones, it seems to be broken. Does anyone else have this problem? Also, I've used 2 Nexus 4's, so I'm sure this is a software issue. Have any past Nexus devices had similar issues and been fixed?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I have the same exact problem. It's very annoying and makes me feel like my phone is defective.

Stretch3000 said:
Yes, I have the same exact problem. It's very annoying and makes me feel like my phone is defective.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1. My N4 16GB refuses to take any macro shots. The auto focus keeps engaging and is extremely annoying. The video recording seems ok, but the picture taking is atrocious.

I think I'm getting the same thing... but then, I started to think maybe it was psychological. You know, the circle showing you constant auto focusing? It moves so much, it makes you feel the "focus bouncing" much more than it would do if all you saw was the picture being focused only.
Well, that's my theory, anyways.

Any 'fix' for this?
Ivan Fuentes Hagar said:
I think I'm getting the same thing... but then, I started to think maybe it was psychological. You know, the circle showing you constant auto focusing? It moves so much, it makes you feel the "focus bouncing" much more than it would do if all you saw was the picture being focused only.
Well, that's my theory, anyways.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was trying to take a picture of my old Sensation XE to put on ebay but the N4 just wont focus well enough, it constantly focuses and refocuses. Its hugely frustrating and disappointing for a phone this powerful. Has anybody had any success perhaps with different software? There doesnt seem to be any kind of 'macro mode' built into the JB app?

Yes, I find the camera to be bad too, especially the autofocus that fails to focus on objects that are further away.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Unless you are using tap to focus... if the camera is refocusing it is because your hands are not steady, which most likely is also the reason your shots are blurry.
I have noticed that the default program tends to set shutter speeds low to get the ISO down, but anything under 1/60th is going to take steady hands or a tripod. Consider using action mode to tell the camera you want it to use higher shutter speeds (but be aware this will cause more noise in low light due to higher ISO settings).

I've noticed this alot, when I try and take a close up photo, say of a phone, with the flash on, I use touch to focus and the flash turns on for a split second, and the green circle comes up saying it's focused, when it's badly out of focus, it seems to be a bit better with the flash off, but I've noticed the best improvement, whilst still not great, is pressing the shutter button before it focuses, so no ring on the screen, then it seems to have more luck focusing.

I honestly haven't had any problem with this. I have noticed the flash turning on briefly when focusing in low-light conditions, but the resulting pictures turn out fine.
Dunno if this will help, but someone on another thread suggested holding down (basically long-pressing) the capture button, waiting for the camera to focus, then releasing when you actually want to take the picture.

I don't have this issue either. Sorry to go a little off-topic but what is 'HDR'?

309041291a said:
what is 'HDR'?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
High dynamic range. The camera uses multiple exposures of the same image to generate more levels from shadows to hilights.

I think the problem lies in the new Camera app in 4.2. I had this same problem with my Galaxy Nexus when I updated to 4.2 so I reverted back to 4.1.
Now with Nexus 4 the problem seems to presist, but only when trying to focus very close.

the issue I have is with PA (so maybe not hardware related), but videos don't focus, only the camera function (unless I've not worked out how).
---------- Post added at 05:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:59 PM ----------
Very helpful, was having same issue (no autofocus) with the wonderful PA ROM on the (so far) fun Nexus 4.
Only real issue I've had with it so far, good to be past it (hard to know where to look).
Clearly I have no idea what radio even means, time to read.

Same problem here
nellisere said:
I've noticed this alot, when I try and take a close up photo, say of a phone, with the flash on, I use touch to focus and the flash turns on for a split second, and the green circle comes up saying it's focused, when it's badly out of focus, it seems to be a bit better with the flash off, but I've noticed the best improvement, whilst still not great, is pressing the shutter button before it focuses, so no ring on the screen, then it seems to have more luck focusing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I subscribe to you + it makes a noise at focus
---Lg nexus 4 - Android 4.4---

Same Issue w/ my Nexus 3
Must be software related...I have the same issue with my nexus 3. Completely unable to take photos at certain distances...

[Q] Camera issues?

Hi guys,
I have just got an GT-i9506 and I'm loving the size, speed and how smooth everything feels, compared to the S3 I had previously.
BUT I think I am having an issue with the camera.
I can take great photos, but the focus when close up or macro is horrible.
On my S3 if I got a little too close, I would hold the phone further back, focus on my subject, move a bit closer and focus again and so on until I was as close as I wanted to be and I was able to take the shot.
I can't seem to get this technique to work on this phone.
I find, even taking shots from a far (which the camera focuses fine with), when I zoom in after the photo is taken, the quality is horrible.
For once, heavily sharpening my images in post-production in apps like VSCO is actually helping!
Is anyone else seeing a drop in camera quality compared to older devices like the S3?
Any recommended settings in the stock camera, flashable fixes or apps people would recommend over the stock camera for this device?
Thanks

Is there ANYTHING that ACTUALLY fixes the garbage camera in CM12?

I've searched XDA, I've searched Reddit, I've searched countless forums with ZERO success. I've tried Lenovo Super Cam, I've tried installing the LG Cam, I've tried flashing in the HTC cam. Nothing fixes the smeary, awful framerate and as a result I've taken exactly zero good photo or video on this phone in CM12. Is there any hope for CM or AOSP ROMs? I'll sell this phone before I end up putting an LG-Stock ROM on this thing.
I'm looking for stable framerate in photo preview and video preview, regardless of light on CM12. Does this holiest of G2nicorns actually exist?

level5music said:
I've searched XDA, I've searched Reddit, I've searched countless forums with ZERO success. I've tried Lenovo Super Cam, I've tried installing the LG Cam, I've tried flashing in the HTC cam. Nothing fixes the smeary, awful framerate and as a result I've taken exactly zero good photo or video on this phone in CM12. Is there any hope for CM or AOSP ROMs? I'll sell this phone before I end up putting an LG-Stock ROM on this thing.
I'm looking for stable framerate in photo preview and video preview, regardless of light on CM12. Does this holiest of G2nicorns actually exist?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM12 is pretty old. I personally don't have that much issue with the camera anyway. It's a driver issue, which could explain the framerate, but the quality is pretty similar. Could you maybe take a couple of pictures and show us what the difference is?

Not sure how a photo would illustrate a low frame rate but this video shows the sneariness and frame drops. This isn't my video but the performance is similar or worse. It's the same for the photo viewfinder and that makes it impossible to take a photo or video in anything but glaring sunlight.
https://youtu.be/r3ZDplkl984

level5music said:
Not sure how a photo would illustrate a low frame rate but this video shows the sneariness and frame drops. This isn't my video but the performance is similar or worse. It's the same for the photo viewfinder and that makes it impossible to take a photo or video in anything but glaring sunlight.
https://youtu.be/r3ZDplkl984
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's how it works though, the aperture remains open longer to capture more light, which causes less frames per second. Try recording the same thing on a stock rom and let us know how it goes. But then if it's a driver thing you can't do anything about it.

Choristav said:
But then if it's a driver thing you can't do anything about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All I needed to know. That LG Stock ROM is a flaming trainwreck, and if there's no fix for AOSP or CM I literally am better off getting a new phone.

level5music said:
All I needed to know. That LG Stock ROM is a flaming trainwreck, and if there's no fix for AOSP or CM I literally am better off getting a new phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the video you linked IS a stock rom. There's no fix because it's not an issue, it's a camera characteristic. It's like saying a monitor doesn't display 120hz being a 60hz monitor. It doesn't, and if it did, it'd have some drawbacks. If you want steady framerate lower the iso.
It's still a phone camera, and a pretty good one at it. I'm not sure how people sometimes forget that. If you find a smartphone that matches a DSLR in the camera department and is around 200$ let me know.

Choristav said:
Well the video you linked IS a stock rom. There's no fix because it's not an issue, it's a camera characteristic. It's like saying a monitor doesn't display 120hz being a 60hz monitor. It doesn't, and if it did, it'd have some drawbacks. If you want steady framerate lower the iso.
It's still a phone camera, and a pretty good one at it. I'm not sure how people sometimes forget that. If you find a smartphone that matches a DSLR in the camera department and is around 200$ let me know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stock ROMs used to have the issue as shown in the video above, but they don't anymore. I don't know where but when I bought the phone and used 4.2 the camera was busted, and when I upgraded to 4.4 stock it was super smooth. And that's what I'm looking for, but only on AOSP or CM. No frame drops and a smooth, consistent 30fps or 60fps just like the stock ROM currently does. The stock ROM is an awful way to use this phone. I bought this phone when it was one of the cheap $180 unlocked devices posted on Phandroid with the strict intention of not using LG's C- effort. If it can't be done, it can't be done. No big deal.
There's a million threads from 2013 and 2014 that list "Oh use this, use that! Try Lenovo's camera! Flash so and so's fix even though the files are literally nowhere on the internet!" and literally nothing solves this issue in the slightest. I figured in 2015, maybe someone would know of a definite fix.

All 5.0 AOSP roms have a crap camera, including 4.4 AOSP.
Flash any 5.1 AOSP ROM for the G2 like BlissPop or Euphoria, it looks like Google got their **** together in 5.1. The camera IS better than CM12, but still not as good as LG rom.

level5music said:
Not sure how a photo would illustrate a low frame rate but this video shows the sneariness and frame drops. This isn't my video but the performance is similar or worse. It's the same for the photo viewfinder and that makes it impossible to take a photo or video in anything but glaring sunlight.
https://youtu.be/r3ZDplkl984
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, this doesn't look like g2 at all. At least not compared to mine. The main reason I am not running aosp is the camera. Running aosp g2 turns into bad nexus 5 pretty much (imo). Not just the camera, there are tons of bugs there. If you want good camera - go with stock, as simple as that. LG camera drivers and ois makes videos very smooth. Grab a Rom with advanced camera drivers and install xcam. Fhd 60fps at night as good as in daylight. I will send you a video of mine if you want so you can see what I am talking about.
But yeah, aosp = ****ty camera, and there's nothing to do about it. Sorry

Help, why I can't get quality image files with S4.

Hi.
My previous phone was a huawei p1. I bought the camera fv5 app and the images were great. The phone started to behave strange and I started to look for a better phone. Decided on the s4. I read that it's camera was great and I thought that the fv5 app will remove the plastic of the images as it did on my p1. But it didn't. I'm so disappointed.
Here are the examples:
huawei
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kmedFmWBvwSHp6TTBpQjllcHMyejJ3eldYMm45X2VoSmpR/view?usp=sharing
samsung
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8kmedFmWBvwcUg5dXhTX0M2ZnppeEFCU2dMR1lNem5weFBn/view?usp=sharing
Why can't s4 shoot the same and how to fix it?
It looks like the p1 shoots raw which is impossible.
Thanks.

You might want to explain with some added information, because based upon what I've seen in the two pictures I'm having a difficult time understanding what the problem actually is. Claiming the P1 picture is better than the S4 is a major stretch. It doesn't help when your Huawei's image is blurry and indistinct, while the S4 image is razor sharp.
P. S. Unless you use Androslide's Camera Zoom FX Pro you're not shooting in RAW.

But the p1 is better, there s more detail if you pay attention (look at the tree needles), there s more highlight detail with better color and no overexposure, the shadows are smooth and there s no huge contrast, there s no oversharpning and overprocessing of the details (no plastic look), there s actually nice noise that makes for a real image, it looks as a raw image.
Both images were made with camera fv5 app on andr 6 and andr 4.4.1
It is strange why can't the s4 take the same quality picture, why is there that layer of postprocessing on s4 that an old phone like p1 misses?

Have you tried taking pictures with the s4 running stock 5.01 with the stock Samsung camera app?

No, i haven t. Have you? Is it any different?
Is it possible to see a 100% crop?

I don't have the phone at the moment but people I know that habe the phone the pictures are pretty good. These are people that run everything stock.

I have, and the picture quality is excellent. I didn't notice any sharpening issues using the S4 camera and stock firmware. In fact, the pictures it took are comparable to the ones coming from my Nexus 6, and this is despite not having OIS or exposure bracketing HDR; the stock Samsung firmware uses software filters to emulate HDR.
I can't test the stock firmware now because I'm running Android 7.0 on the device and have Camera Zoom FX Pro installed, but I'm still not seeing the OP's issues he claims are in the S4 image. I have a good eye for composition and a decent eye for picture quality, and to me that S4 image is perfectly fine. It could have been improved using HDR, but for a sample shot it's well framed and the colors accurate compared to the P1.