Database Users

Camera focus troubles in macro mode

I was trying to shoot some macro pics but I'm having troubles to get objects in focus. It looks like a software bug because whilst focusing I can see the object becomes sharp at a certain point but the camera keeps on going deeper so that the object is out of focus again. Then it stops and the marker turns red.
I'm running on the latest KE2 FW. Cam FW is TBEC28.
Anybody else experienced the same?

Same here. When taking a shot i can see it go into focus, but then goes out of focus and shows the red markers

same here. I just try a slightly different area to focus on, until the camera succeeds focusing. Not a big deal to me really.

up to what distance can you approach the object till you get focus problems?

El Salvador said:
up to what distance can you approach the object till you get focus problems?
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Click to collapse
i think i am getting easy focus at 7-8 inches, difficult (or no) focus closer than that. but it may depend on the subject.

kreoXDA said:
i think i am getting easy focus at 7-8 inches, difficult (or no) focus closer than that. but it may depend on the subject.
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If you make a picture that far away, I don't think you can call it a macro shot anymore.
I can get a decent focus in macro mode up to 4 inch or so. If I go closer, I can't get a decent focus anymore, though I'm used to go closer at around 2 inch. But that aint gonna work in my case.
Besides, at 4 inch normal auto focus works nice as well. So there's not really a purpose for a macro mode if you can't shoot pictures closer than that.

El Salvador said:
If you make a picture that far away, I don't think you can call it a macro shot anymore.
I can get a decent focus in macro mode up to 4 inch or so. If I go closer, I can't get a decent focus anymore, though I'm used to go closer at around 2 inch. But that aint gonna work in my case.
Besides, at 4 inch normal auto focus works nice as well. So there's not really a purpose for a macro mode if you can't shoot pictures closer than that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah agree.
i just played with lighting and achieved focusing at about 5 inches.

kreoXDA said:
yeah agree.
i just played with lighting and achieved focusing at about 5 inches.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup that's about the closest distance I can achieve as well. But if you compare a macro shot and an auto focus shot at this distance, there's not really much of a difference between the pics. So again, if you can't get a focus at a closer distance in macro modus, then what's the purpose of macro modus?

El Salvador said:
I was trying to shoot some macro pics but I'm having troubles to get objects in focus. It looks like a software bug because whilst focusing I can see the object becomes sharp at a certain point but the camera keeps on going deeper so that the object is out of focus again. Then it stops and the marker turns red.
I'm running on the latest KE2 FW. Cam FW is TBEC28.
Anybody else experienced the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In low-light conditions?

hazart said:
In low-light conditions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In artificial light conditions, right under my halogen lamp

I've found if you tap to focus once when in Macro mode, it'll then let you focus with the shutter button. But until I tap to focus, I get the red crosshairs all the time and it can't get focus properly.

i use vignette cause it focus properly at lower distances
macro/non macro doesnt seems to make any diff

Hm maybe I should give vignette a try then. But the question still remains.. why are you putting a macro shot option in there when the autofocus modus gives you the same results, if not better.
I'm surprised that this subject doesn't get much attention. Where are the photographers?

I think it's due to software, or just a bug i don't know because i use camera360 it takes better marco shot.

El Salvador said:
Hm maybe I should give vignette a try then. But the question still remains.. why are you putting a macro shot option in there when the autofocus modus gives you the same results, if not better.
I'm surprised that this subject doesn't get much attention. Where are the photographers?
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Click to collapse
i sort of agree
i didnt see much diff in macro on the sgs either. dunno what its really supposed to do xD
I often would like to have closer shots and the camera seems to be able to focus - but the software refuses the result and you've to be slightly further away from the object (even on vignette, albeit its better)

Yup it's really strange. I hope Sammy will fix this in the next update. It definately seems like a flaw in the software.

btw the sgs1 has the same behavior but not nearly as pronounced

Yes, same problem here. Impossible to scan barcodes or use Goggles.

Just encountered that focus problem too. Wasn't able to scan barcodes with two different apps
I'm on KE2. Can someone confirm this is a software error or a hardware defect?

I'm running on the latest KE2 FW , same here ..

Camera quality is bad

So I've been taking a few pictures on my phone, and I have noticed that the Galaxy S2 is very very inconsistent in taking quality photos. I can have a great clear shot of some mid-ranged photos, but far distanced photos have horrible quality. I understand if you take pictures of something really far, obviously it won't be that good, but when I compared to my friends iPhone 4, the 8MP is barely on par with it. Do any of you know what might be the problem? I've tried using auto focus and manual focus, but it is always blurry.

It seems to be an hardware problem. I find the sgsw camera pretty good, especially the dynamic range. My only concern is with indoor pictures, a bit noisy and cold.

Can you upload and provide some shots samples?
Everything on auto? It might help to know which ROM/mod you are using.
I'm not an expert in mobile digital photography but if I can see your blurry distant shots it might be able to tell if I get better result with my device.

The S2 tends to like low shutter speeds (1/4s - 1/20s) ALL the frigging time.
It will select this slow shutter speed even when it should raise the ISO and get a faster shutter speed.
This is why the S2 often takes blurry photos, because even 1/15 or 1/19sec is not fast enough to take a photo sharply with a 28mm lens (effectively what the S2 is).
The slowest shutter speed the S2 should use is 1/30sec to ensure the photos aren't blurred by *camera* vibration/shake. (But, if the *subject* is moving, like a child, then 1/60s or 1/80s are the minimum that are needed to freeze the subject).
This is why the photos are so often blurry as soon as the light gets slightly low - cloud day, in shade, etc. I don't have a solution sorry!
Proof: check the EXIF data of the blurry photos you take. Most will have a stupidly low ISO (like ISO25, ISO50) and a stupid low shutter speed.

Yes I have noticed that the shutter speeds are quite low...now I'm assured that its not just me
I can take SOME really good photos, but almost every other pictures are very blurry even at a close distance.
Everything is on default, except I have enabled Anti-Shake or something like that, and I am using CheckROM 3.1.1 (KJ3)
The first 2 are taken at a considerably good range, with no zoom or any effects, just a normal shot, but then the outcome was very weird.
The last one was a closer shot, but in a darker area, and that one was a little bit more clear

I don't want to be captain obvious, and I am sure you are a better photographer than me but can you check if the focus mode is set to macro if it is then change to auto focus.
Since this happened to me once i set to macro and forgot and all the photos were blurry.
I just felt that might be the reason.

I am guessing that what you're doing is pressing on the "Capture" button without focusing on the subject yet?
I do find that it's best to press to focus on the area you want to take and then press the main capture button to capture it. It seems like the focus hasn't focused on what you want to take.
It's quite annoying because then that means I have to press in the middle and then press the capture button to take a decent shot. I wish I could just hold down the capture button to focus, then release to shoot.. which works sometimes but not as good as what I said above.

Here you have 2 images, far and close focus. You can see the great quality of the camera. Take a look at the focus settings: better in auto mode if you don't want to manage it in all photos. Maybe you have some problem in the camera hardware... so warranty is the best option here.

There are at least 2 types of camera modules in SGS II.
Check this:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1098834
Mine also had this problem (blury at far objects), the soultion is set the metering to matrix in camera menu.It works for me.

iocar said:
Yes I have noticed that the shutter speeds are quite low...now I'm assured that its not just me
I can take SOME really good photos, but almost every other pictures are very blurry even at a close distance.
Everything is on default, except I have enabled Anti-Shake or something like that, and I am using CheckROM 3.1.1 (KJ3)
The first 2 are taken at a considerably good range, with no zoom or any effects, just a normal shot, but then the outcome was very weird.
The last one was a closer shot, but in a darker area, and that one was a little bit more clear
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you using macro mode to take farer objects ?
thats why it is more clear when you are taking photo of the specimen (3rd one)
or the camera firmware is broken , if not ,it may be the hardware issue

I always touch the place where I want to focus, and that is why I am confused
Yes I was using Macro, but only because it had the best quality...Auto-Focus doesn't really help as it never focus properly, as in when I press the "Capture" button, most of the time it goes to red and doesn't turn green. I am holding the phone still and don't know why
The camera firmware is also up to date
What I don't get is that my old HTC Desire can take photos that are much more crisp than my Galaxy S2

Try resetting the camera settings see if that works,try a third party HDR camera app or Camera 360,if quility is still bad in the 3rd party app then it could be a hardware fault
Sichroteph said:
My only concern is with indoor pictures, a bit noisy and cold.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
auto contrast I find helps take better indoors

Cant say I've had any problems with the camera. Love the macro focussing.

It seems obvious that your device doesn't behave like it should and have focus problems. I can have the exact same results with macro mode activated (and not shooting close objects)
I would suggest :
- trying another camera app (like TheiPhoneKiller suggested)
- trying a totally stock rom
- trying a rom like CM7 or MIUI
If you still got totally unfocused shots, you may very well have an faulty device. Try to get a replacement unit if you can.
(And did you try the fix kisstom suggested?)

Well... my shots is certainly much more grainy, since i upgraded to 2.3.5 - even if shot outside in bright sunshine. And many of the pictures is becoming more yellow than before - especially when using the flash-LED, so something has happened when i upgraded... this is one of my big complaints about the new upgrade. My old W800i 2Mpx beats the SGS2 in pure quality of the pictures now (but that was also, and still is, a VERY good camera for a phone)...
When comparing the newest pictures to some of the old pictures i have shot in the past, it's clear to me that i have a loss of quality since upgrading. How do i check manually, if there's a new camera-software version available - as i can't seem to find any in the Samsung apps, even if i have read somewhere that there's a newer one, comparing to my version of the camera-software???
But a least it's still not as crappy as my old HTC's camera - THAT was lousy...

Frankly speaking, 'Camera quality is bad' makes no sense. If you've said it's bad than this or that then I'd take it. Have used all the SE phones as I loved their image quality and I'll say after playing with the Satio, C905 I don't think this one would beat them. We are talking about a small image sensor here. So the main job is how good the post image processing is, some part still depends on the lens though.
The thing is I didn't buy this one for camera, believe me or not, after purchase, that is almost six months now, I've shot barely 10 pics with it. For normal usage and as a professional can't go without 350D, and for short tours and holidays I still shoot with my C905 , but not GSII.
But still this Camera is capable of taking some great pics, posting some of them here, after seeing them you certainly can't say Camera quality is bad.
The very bests I've found,

-> ithehappy
Well - i used to have that image quality too, but it has become somewhat impossible to shot such good pictures, since upgrading... i suspect that it's because my camera firmware still is TBEC28 (but of course not sure of it)

iocar said:
I always touch the place where I want to focus, and that is why I am confused
Yes I was using Macro, but only because it had the best quality...Auto-Focus doesn't really help as it never focus properly, as in when I press the "Capture" button, most of the time it goes to red and doesn't turn green. I am holding the phone still and don't know why
The camera firmware is also up to date
What I don't get is that my old HTC Desire can take photos that are much more crisp than my Galaxy S2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confused!!! Are you saying that you always have macro focus on?
If so then turn it off. My cousin complained about the exact same thing, blurry and red box when trying to focus. Went through his settings, turned macro off and everything was good again.
Also auto focus will not work correctly if macro is on, unless your taking really close range pics, which is what macro focus is for.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

well i am on 2.3.5 Images are really Perfect for me am seriously impressed the Quality iam on kI8 here is one example
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/708/20111118205552.jpg

iocar said:
Yes I was using Macro, but only because it had the best quality
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Click to collapse
That's exactly why your pictures are blurry at a distance.
Macro focus is for close-up pictures, use auto focus for longer distances

[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'?
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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...

[PHOTOS] Trip to Japan with the HTC One Camera - Pushing the Limits of the Camera

Hi all,
TL;DR - Pretty pictures taken with the HTC One here: Click
I've been very interested in the HTC One's camera ever since it was announced, as I believe that the philosophy behind the trade-offs made in its design are a step forward for the mobile phone camera industry.
I've recently returned from a trip to Japan and as an experiment, used the HTC One as my only camera (clearly not because my P&S was stolen two years ago!). I have taken nearly 8,000 shots over the 14 days I was in Japan and after nearly a hundred (if not more) hours spent in post-processing, I think I have a decent set of pictures.
I have annotated some of the pictures in a travel-journalistic manner. If you are a experienced traveller, I am probably not saying anything you do not already know. If you have never been to Japan, I hope they provide you with some insights.
A few observations I've made in the process of shooting said pictures:
The wide angle lens on the HTC One is wonderfully versatile, especially for landscape and architecture shots. Framing the shot is effortless and as it turns out, of utmost importance.
The most controversial aspect of the One's camera, the 4MP resolution does come with a very real drawback. You have little room in post-production to recover a badly framed shot. Cropping in post-production is often an unhappy compromise as you are left with less room to compensate for noise and blur. I would hazard to say that shooting with only the One for an extended period of time may be a great way to improve your composition skills.
The HTC One's camera software and auto-focus is fast and responsive, you can compose, re-focus/expose and shoot in a blink of an eye, which is something I took advantage of to take the multiple exposures required for the HDR pictures.
While no aspect of the HTC One's camera is exceptional, the package of a very fast f2.0 lens, optical image stabilization and above average sensor sensitivity means that vis-a-vis other mobile phone cameras, you will nail shot after shot in daylight and have a decent chance of grabbing something usable in low-light.
Will I do something like this again? Unlikely. The next time I can afford to travel, I will almost certainly be packing a decent camera. Do I regret the experience? Definitely not. Shooting with a camera like the One forces you to learn to frame your shots well. I like to think that technically, I am a decent photographer, but as far as composing a picture well, I have a long way to go.
Links to the various albums below. Sorry if you dislike Google+, but its easy to upload and annotate and it has a really clean interface. The albums are all public, so there is technically no need to sign in, but Google+ prompts you to login if you happen to be signed into another Google service. If you really want to avoid signing in, simply open the links in a incognito window.
If you are impatient, Kyoto and the Highlight albums are probably the best.
Comments, feedback and questions welcome. Wasn't sure if I should have created a new thread, if not, please merge into the photograph thread, thanks moderators.
Highlights
Tokyo (東京)
Odaiba (お台場)
Sensoji Shrine (浅草寺)
Meiji Shrine (明治神宮)
Tsukiji Fish Market (築地市場)
Hama-Rikyu Gardens (浜離宮恩賜庭園)
Osaka (大阪)
Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan (海遊館)
Nara (奈良市)
Himeji (姫路市)
Kyoto (京都)
Kanazawa (金沢)
Shibuya Scramble Crossing (Youtube Video)
---
Photomatix Presets
edit: converted text to links
edit2: added link to timelapse of Shibuya scramble crossing
edit3: link to the photomatix presets I've used

Wow! Those are some very nice photos! Just goes to show how much power is behind our phone. It makes me want to go out and use my camera now.

Excellent shots! You clearly have a lot of talent! And that is some good post-processing too.
It would be great to know if you touched up the HDRs in post-production in anyway or are they mostly untouched?

ankanb said:
Excellent shots! You clearly have a lot of talent! And that is some good post-processing too.
It would be great to know if you touched up the HDRs in post-production in anyway or are they mostly untouched?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the HDR shots are not in-camera HDR shots, they are multiple pictures of the same shot combined in post.
Every picture has been touched up in post. The natural looking ones are probably just simple lighting/contrast adjustments, the surreal looking ones took more effort.

Love Japan. Absolutely love Kyoto. You took some really good shots
One thing I am a bit disappointed with is the amount of noise the camera has. (still love it hough)
Some of your shots (especially the HDR) are way too noisy for my liking, but that's a matter of taste or sometimes plain nitpicking.
Which settings did you mainly use?
Did you leave the phone in charge of most of the settings or did you do it manually?

I agree, you took some beautiful shots!
Makes me want to travel. Lol.

MartinS13X said:
Love Japan. Absolutely love Kyoto. You took some really good shots
One thing I am a bit disappointed with is the amount of noise the camera has. (still love it hough)
Some of your shots (especially the HDR) are way too noisy for my liking, but that's a matter of taste or sometimes plain nitpicking.
Which settings did you mainly use?
Did you leave the phone in charge of most of the settings or did you do it manually?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With respect to the noise, agreed. In most cases, with some work, as its only really bad for the uniform areas of the picture, the noise is entirely cleanable in post. But in most cases, I've chosen not to for effect. And the HDR process does tend to accentuate the noise and would typically not be visible if I had processed it for a natural look.
Still, it doesn't surprise me that much. I picked up a Fujifilm f100fd, a P&S as my last camera. It was supposed to be really good with low-light photography due to its excellent noise control. While clearly better then the HTC One, I found myself running into the same problems when post-processing the f100fd's shots vis the HTC One's shots. I think if you really want clean, low light shot, a DSLR/interchangeable lens camera with a fast prime lens is the only way to go, that or a tripod, depending on the picture you want.
Sharpness at -2 for virtually all the shots. Occasionally exposure at -1 is very useful, when you are sure that you can capture enough detail in a darker picture. You're essentially telling the camera, hey, I'm OK with a dark picture, take the next shot as fast as a shutter speed as you can. For that reason, almost all the aquarium shots are with exposure -1, as you don't really care about the walls of aquarium being properly exposed, you just want the fish exposed.
For the multiple shots needed for the HDR pictures, tapping at a bright spot, taking a picture, then quickly tapping at a dark spot, then taking another picture... The problem is that sometimes having the camera focus at a bright/dark spot means you screw up focus entirely.
The HTC One's backlight mode is incredibly useful when you want to take portrait shots with something bright in the background. I've used the landscape and HDR modes a few times, but I'm still not entirely sure what landscape mode gets me.
So... Long story short, normal mode, with sharpness at -2, with lots of tapping on the screen.
edit: oh, also, I manually flashed to 4.2.2, which meant that I had access to AF/AE lock. That came useful for the epic panorama of Himeji castle's surroundings.

Exposure -1 is indeed good in some cases. I've used that too.
I also want to try setting the ISO manually in dark photos as I believe there is room for lower ISO in some cases and the camera just increases it a lot.
I'm also not a fan of noisy, instagram-y photos like some of yours but you have some very nice shots.
I saw a link with a timelapse video. What's the deal with that? Is it yours?

Ooops, error.

Corduroy-21 said:
Exposure -1 is indeed good in some cases. I've used that too.
I also want to try setting the ISO manually in dark photos as I believe there is room for lower ISO in some cases and the camera just increases it a lot.
I'm also not a fan of noisy, instagram-y photos like some of yours but you have some very nice shots.
I saw a link with a timelapse video. What's the deal with that? Is it yours?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The timelapse video is mine yes. If it helps, the noise is inherent in the picture, and not added for "authenticity"
edit: I think the One generally makes good decisions when it comes to ISO, it priorities shutter speed over anything else, which I think, given the fact that in any low-light shot, you are going to get unhappy amounts of noise, is a good choice. A blurred shot is usually totally unusable.

shasderias said:
The timelapse video is mine yes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you do it?
Did you use the One?

Corduroy-21 said:
How did you do it?
Did you use the One?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. Sideloaded the stock android camera, used the timelapse function. Waited...

The pictures you have posted are just amazing.
Although I have a HTC One but I don't take much pictures. You have motivated me to take more pictures from this phone now.
The filters you have used in this are given ones or some other application for that?

Wow. I just went through every album. Those all turned out amazing.

Great pics! :good:

rahulwadhwani said:
The pictures you have posted are just amazing.
Although I have a HTC One but I don't take much pictures. You have motivated me to take more pictures from this phone now.
The filters you have used in this are given ones or some other application for that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No filters used, photos are all taken normally and edited in post. Photoshop for all editing, Photomatix for most of the HDR pictures.

shasderias said:
Yup. Sideloaded the stock android camera, used the timelapse function. Waited...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
which timelapse function did you use? How come my phone doesnt have it?

aceonetwothree said:
which timelapse function did you use? How come my phone doesnt have it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't use the HTC One's camera app, I sideloaded the camera app from stock android (the one with photosphere) to do the timelapse.
Incidentally, the photospheres for some reason, turned out super low-res.

How do you manage to take photos with the phone using 3 exposure values, going into the menu and changing the value after each photo while keeping the phone perfectly still?

Love these! The Shibuya Scramble pictures gave me to flashbacks to The World Ends With You.

Use this setting for Noise-free images!

I've come across a lot of people complaining about the camera not giving out noise-free images like it's supposed to. The trick is to use manual mode. I agree, if you use Superior Auto mode, it's a miss most of the times, and when it does work, it gives a purple-ish tint at the corners.
However, If you use manual mode and select the SCENE to NIGHT, the images come out amazing and noise-free!
[DO NOT JUDGE THE IMAGE BY WHAT THE VIEWFINDER SHOWS YOU. A lot of things happen when you press the shutter button. The viewfinder simply goes red for making it easy to focus. The final image in the gallery is a hundred times better]
The Scene modes are one of the most commonly ignored settings.
I hope this helps!

Thanks for this but i just tried it and even though it pretty light where i am taking the picture, the picture turns us a little blurry.
Possibly because night mode uses a longer shutter time which makes it more sensitive to motion blur?

Schadowx277 said:
I've come across a lot of people complaining about the camera not giving out noise-free images like it's supposed to. The trick is to use manual mode. I agree, if you use Superior Auto mode, it's a miss most of the times, and when it does work, it gives a purple-ish tint at the corners.
However, If you use manual mode and select the SCENE to NIGHT, the images come out amazing and noise-free!
[DO NOT JUDGE THE IMAGE BY WHAT THE VIEWFINDER SHOWS YOU. A lot of things happen when you press the shutter button. The viewfinder simply goes red for making it easy to focus. The final image in the gallery is a hundred times better]
The Scene modes are one of the most commonly ignored settings.
I hope this helps!
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USe night SCENE even if we are with light ? i mean DAY light

DjTony90 said:
USe night SCENE even if we are with light ? i mean DAY light
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Click to collapse
How do you select a SCENE mode? I don't have any such option.
Never mind, I had it at 20MP.

Havent got around to really check out every setting in manual mode, bu I will for certain try this on oute tomorrow.

don't know why but right now scene mode shows up only on 8 megapixel and lower shots , so change your camera settings to access it.

I Use Manual mode, 20 Mp, ISO 50!!! Very important for controlling noise - still at pixel level picture is a mess but that is true for Every camera with such pixel density! And overall picture quality as seen on my sample is OK!

Isn't ISO50 only workable with very good lighting? I mean, indoors it's very tricky already...

dagrim1 said:
Isn't ISO50 only workable with very good lighting? I mean, indoors it's very tricky already...
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Photography is painting with Light, when light is not available there no much "painting" - Agree indoors when it's dark You should up ISO otherwise camera will go to very long exposures and You'll get blurry pictures.
What i was giving was setting for lower possible noise in pictures, settings will vary according to current lighting condition

pesho00 said:
Photography is painting with Light, when light is not available there no much "painting" - Agree indoors when it's dark You should up ISO otherwise camera will go to very long exposures and You'll get blurry pictures.
What i was giving was setting for lower possible noise in pictures, settings will vary according to current lighting condition
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Sure, but it's logical that a lower ISO will generate less noise, unfortunately then shutter times increase quickly resulting in moved shots. But it does seem an issue with auto mode that it increases the ISO values very quickly...
Ah well, hoping future firmware updates will improve things (if only had sony included OIS in this thing).

when i select Iso50 the whole of the viewfinder becomes VERY laggy. doesnt anyone else find this? (happens with both mine and my old z1 which was replaced)
very disappointed with the camera on this phone given that the camera is supposed to be the main selling point of the phone.

thefunkygibbon said:
when i select Iso50 the whole of the viewfinder becomes VERY laggy. doesnt anyone else find this? (happens with both mine and my old z1 which was replaced)
very disappointed with the camera on this phone given that the camera is supposed to be the main selling point of the phone.
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I have No such problem.

thefunkygibbon said:
when i select Iso50 the whole of the viewfinder becomes VERY laggy. doesnt anyone else find this? (happens with both mine and my old z1 which was replaced)
very disappointed with the camera on this phone given that the camera is supposed to be the main selling point of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same lagginess here, but only when the lighting is low/lower... Not as much as an issue for me.
Camera doesn't live up to it's expectations unfortunately, especially in lower light. (No, I don't expect awesome pics in lower light but coming from a Lumia920, which performed a whole lot better, yay for OIS, in that area it is kinda disappointing)

dagrim1 said:
Same lagginess here, but only when the lighting is low/lower... Not as much as an issue for me.
Camera doesn't live up to it's expectations unfortunately, especially in lower light. (No, I don't expect awesome pics in lower light but coming from a Lumia920, which performed a whole lot better, yay for OIS, in that area it is kinda disappointing)
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not tested it in "good light" to be honest since the whole point in changing the ISO is to compensate for the low light conditions you are trying to take the photo in.
its a little confusing since "Auto" iso setting is the only one which is not laggy. you can select iso50 or the top iso level (Can't remember what number it is) and its all just as laggy. you would have thought that Auto would imply that you would be using an automatically determined iso level, which would be more intensive on the phone than selecting an iso level manually (especially iso 50 which should be really less processing than"auto" would be.
---------- Post added at 09:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 AM ----------
ilovemyZ1 said:
After doing some more research I found the answer to our low-light camera problems! This trick works with all Sony phones and is easy to do.
What we need is this and this and image quality improves SIGNIFICANTLY!
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well, i have one of those and i can tell you that low light pictures on that are just as bad. a) it doesnt use the nice sony camera app. it uses the frankly rubbish Sony memories camera app which has next to nothing in terms of manual setting and b) you can't use a flash.
so no. it isnt the answer. at all.

ilovemyZ1 said:
haha maybe you should have got the QX100 instead
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maybe, but it was a freebie with my phone. i've used it a handful of times and its frankly crap.
might stick it on ebay later actually. i doubt the qx100 would be much better tbh as it'd still be using the same app. it'll still take about 30 seconds to connect the device to the phone and it'll still have the same crap wifi distance (about an arms length) before the phones viewfinder lags out badly.

thefunkygibbon said:
maybe, but it was a freebie with my phone. i've used it a handful of times and its frankly crap.
might stick it on ebay later actually. i doubt the qx100 would be much better tbh as it'd still be using the same app. it'll still take about 30 seconds to connect the device to the phone and it'll still have the same crap wifi distance (about an arms length) before the phones viewfinder lags out badly.
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The QX10 is pretty good in low light, the QX100 will be better with the large sensor and 1.8 aperture at the wide end.
Nothing can help the lack of flash for certain situations, but a lot of it comes from learning the camera.
Wifi isn't amazing, but it works further than that for me, and through walls. I'm trying to think of new ways to use that style of camera and have been experimenting.
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