Database Users

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
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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.
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auto contrast I find helps take better indoors

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

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

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

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

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

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

Camera sucks without flash.

Why does my s5's camera suck without flash? It gets so grainy! And the front camera is also ****, my S3 takes way better pictures! Anyone else have this problem?

The S5 flash seems close to half the power of the S3 so obviously that makes a huge difference in low light, So this more than cancels out the S5s improved low light ability in the sensor.

Your camera has a problem. Clean the lens carefully and if it does not help, try to compare with another S5.

Cleaned it, Still same.. It doesn't focus as much too..

Low light shots without flash are terrible, well lit shots are very good though. I think your camera is normal.

homer285 said:
Low light shots without flash are terrible, well lit shots are very good though. I think your camera is normal.
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I think so too. But what really annoys me is when the camera is on auto mode, you snap a picture in "sort of" low light, and the freakin "hold the camera stable until picture is takenÉ message stays on screen for like 15-20 seconds, How annoying is that? Other S phones never had that.

That second pic is normal for the S5 camera unfortunately in low light it not very good, you need to have a very steady hand and turn on image stabilization to get any kind of decent shot, or just use the flash if you intend to do any close up shots in low light.
As for the front camera I've seen worst, the best I've seen to date is from the iPhone 5S, no matter what lighting conditions are like it always gives a great image from the front camera.
Tbh i do find the S5 camera abit hit & miss in both picture and video, if the conditions are right then images are some of the best you see from a smartphone, with only the Nokia 1020 being the exception , but as soon as the light becomes slightly less than ideal it's starts to struggle, where the other's will do a better job.
I think Samsung have finally realized this, so when the Note 4 arrives it will come with a now rumoured new 12mp Sony Sensor with OIS & a F2.0 lens which should in theory give it much better performance in low light, and that being the case I will buy the Note 4 on launch come September.

try to turn on stabilization and hdr

After having used a Lumia Icon for two weeks, and having returned it during my "upgrade" window, it's hard to not compare the camera quality. My S5 performs very well outside in well lit scenarios, but most cameras do. I too have noticed the low light/indoor lightning suckage, especially compared to the Icon. I don't mind a photo being a little dark (that can be auto fixed with image software), but it's incredibly frustrating getting out of focus shots more often than not just because of a little less than optimal lighting situation (not talking about night shots). I leave HDR mode on full time now, and it has improved the quality/consistency some. I only use image stabilization in low light situations when I know there won't be a lot of movement involved. All of the pictures I take are through the built in camera app. I haven't ventured to other camera apps yet, but I figure it wouldn't make a huge difference.
Ultimately, I decided on functionality (android) over camera quality as I don't take pictures on a day to day basis to justify the lack of apps on the 8 ecosystem. I still enjoy my phone's use in my day to day though.

The camera is not the best, it takes several seconds to take a pic sometimes, which easily becomes blurry and out of focus... I wanna take pic not a movie, this hold still thing really annoy you after a while..

polish_pat said:
I think so too. But what really annoys me is when the camera is on auto mode, you snap a picture in "sort of" low light, and the freakin "hold the camera stable until picture is takenÉ message stays on screen for like 15-20 seconds, How annoying is that? Other S phones never had that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turn off image stabilisation if you don't need it and that problem will be fixed. It's the image stabilisation waiting for you to stop moving the phone that is causing the delays.
Also, back on main topic... try manually changing the
ISO settings to see if high value is causing your issues. High ISO = noisy low light pic.
kgyirhj said:
The camera is not the best, it takes several seconds to take a pic sometimes, which easily becomes blurry and out of focus... I wanna take pic not a movie, this hold still thing really annoy you after a while..
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Click to collapse

Alternative App that makes best quality photos

Hi there,
As everyone knows, default camera app of sony sucks. I have tried a lot of alternative applications. For me the best results is from Snap Camera with settings 20mpx, camera api2, jpeg quality Best, opengl2, auto scene auto whitebalance, auto flash. These settings allows me to take much sharper images tested on my small facial hair. BUT! Camera is very overheating, after few minutes (5-6 shots) i have started sony camera and it alerted that camera is too hot, so it shuts down.
Snap camera allows HDR in 20mpx also any scene, its not limited as sony-s camera
Also snap camera produced the best images on my old low quality mtk based phone. So i recommend it, its paid but as far i know it have trial version.
I will be happy if someone will tell how is satisfied with this app.
PS.: FV-5 is worse, for my eyes.

in the play store info, there is setting for ISO. but why is there non when i check in setting...?

ive taken some kick ass photos in good light/ low light / bad light with the stock app. IDK what everyone is on about. but to each their own =)

`Ghost` said:
ive taken some kick ass photos in good light/ low light / bad light with the stock app. IDK what everyone is on about. but to each their own =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In Auto mode or Manual?

Both.

Basically, when you unlock your boot loader, the great photo quality will be gone. If you have backed up your "TRIMM area" before unlocking it (where the DRM keys are stored), then you'll be able to get it back, by re-locking the BL, but this means you'll lose your ability to use costom ROMs, only modified stock ROMs are possible after that.
The reason for this is that Sony uses some pretty amazing software magic to get great pictures in low light (noise reduction algorithms) which aren't meant to be accessible for others to reverse engineer, so they lock them away with the DRM keys. So with a locked boot loader, the camera makes awesome pictures even in low light, with an unlocked BL, meh... (not so much any more)
Of course, these algorithms are only available to the Sony default camera app for the same reasons...

Have you tried this
It will let you have scene's and HDR in 20mp, also it has more ISO options.

I've used FV-5 from the start and imo it's a lot better for me then the stock app. I can't work with the stock app that has limited control
Sent from my D5803 using XDA Free mobile app

stock camera is the only one...'cause of manual iso... fv-5 has good auto but you can't force iso 100, 200 and so on

Recently I have the Z3 Compact therefore not yet tried everything, but the camera does not seem anywhere near what they sold me in reviews. The original camera seems poor choices, the automatic mode leaves much to be desired, especially in low light because when you have a lighthouse in front can not interpret well and properly handle white balance and contrast.
I was testing the Open Camera app and gives me better results than stock. The only thing I use it now for the stock camera is for timeshift and sometimes for panoramic shots.

I have almost forgot about this post, thanks for cleaning my bookmarks.
Thanks for everyone’s reply, I have figured out that another phones also uses that sensor and they make better pics, so probably problem is with sony's software developers who are doing a weak job. I am very addicted to zooming pictures and when I compare zoomed 5mpx downscale shot of lumia 1020 and 8 or 20mpx shot of Z3C, then shot of lumia is sharp and clear, full of details.... the shot of sony is like blurred and without details. So i think that they algorithm is wrong somewhere or they are compressing raw to too low quality and when jpeg is created then its final quality will be even worse regardless of 97% or 100% jpeg quality. Need to note that nokia's sensor is three times bigger in its physical size that captures the light.
But the video quality is epic i have never seen so good video quality from phone.
Currently i am waiting for availability of 5.1.1 in slovakia

Poor Image Quality in Manual Mode.. Try This

Hey Folks
I just wanted to share this with everyone...
I'm running OS. v. 4.101.. (Aug 2017)
I love this phone, its awesome, great Audio.. really fast, no stutter or lag.... 32Gb Internal w/SDCard, although I think the screen on the original XAU was a LITTLE brighter and more vivid..
Like some folk here.. I started out having Camera Shake / Blurry Images when taking a shot in Manual Mode and Ive been having the same red, purple noisy tint in very Low Light in Manual Mode that some have also posted about, but it can be a struggle to take steady shots in Manual Mode in daylight as well.. However, thanks to the Newer updated imaging algorithm found in the XZ1 and XZP which from what Ive read, SONY have used in our XA1U... it functions really great in Auto Mode, so SONY phones can now be used as great Point and Shoots.. and we no longer have to struggle anymore with ISO 50 or 100, WB and Metering.
But in Manual Mode, Ive found that by permanently keeping the camera at 12MPX (both Auto and Manual Modes)... gives great steadier shots... 20 and 23MPx modes, for me, give Blurred and poor image quality, kinda like camera shake. .. But as everyone knows MPx don't mean squat in "true" photography, only on YouTube and less MPx means less processing, so steadier image. Used to be the same in the older "Z" series where 8MPx was the magic number..
Also, in Manual Mode.. goto settings and set the Metering to "Centre" weighted, so your light metre is set to your point of focus and when you half-press the shutter to focus.. don't hold the focus for too long as it can shift, like most cameras will.
Give it a try and Lets know if it works for you.

Thanks for the suggestion. While I didn’t change all the settings you recommended, simply bumping the resolution down to 12 megapixels has improved many things, including shutter lag and processing speed. I noticed when using manual, taking photos from a moving car resulted in unusable images with ghosting or extreme shutter lag. It was very frustrating for a while there. 12 mp is slightly less sharp but also less noisy... I can live with it.
I’ve been a Sony Xperia user for a while now and I’ve always had mixed feelings about their smart phone Cameras. Megapixels are always high, with several innovative camera features and ‘firsts’, but image quality has never lived up to other brands.
I have taken amazing shots with these, but those are almost always outdoors and in sunlight.
The camera on results on the XA1 are essentially the same as I’ve gotten on all the Z series phones (Go figure, since it’s the Z5 camera sensor).

NightOrchid said:
Hey Folks
I just wanted to share this with everyone...
I'm running OS. v. 4.101.. (Aug 2017)
I love this phone, its awesome, great Audio.. really fast, no stutter or lag.... 32Gb Internal w/SDCard, although I think the screen on the original XAU was a LITTLE brighter and more vivid..
Like some folk here.. I started out having Camera Shake / Blurry Images when taking a shot in Manual Mode and Ive been having the same red, purple noisy tint in very Low Light in Manual Mode that some have also posted about, but it can be a struggle to take steady shots in Manual Mode in daylight as well.. However, thanks to the Newer updated imaging algorithm found in the XZ1 and XZP which from what Ive read, SONY have used in our XA1U... it functions really great in Auto Mode, so SONY phones can now be used as great Point and Shoots.. and we no longer have to struggle anymore with ISO 50 or 100, WB and Metering.
But in Manual Mode, Ive found that by permanently keeping the camera at 12MPX (both Auto and Manual Modes)... gives great steadier shots... 20 and 23MPx modes, for me, give Blurred and poor image quality, kinda like camera shake. .. But as everyone knows MPx don't mean squat in "true" photography, only on YouTube and less MPx means less processing, so steadier image. Used to be the same in the older "Z" series where 8MPx was the magic number..
Also, in Manual Mode.. goto settings and set the Metering to "Centre" weighted, so your light metre is set to your point of focus and when you half-press the shutter to focus.. don't hold the focus for too long as it can shift, like most cameras will.
Give it a try and Lets know if it works for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this, I definitely see some improvements as you mentioned yourself...

Hi there,
I would like to install a AOSP ROM zip file, but whenever I look for it I never find it
Can someone help me please and give me some page or even a link?
Thank you

Camera Portrait mode issues

Hi
Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but after reading everywhere how great the 8 Pro is and how good the camera is, I expected something more. Don't get me wrong the camera can take great pictures, but not in Portrait mode indoors.
I've tried a lot of indoor shots and was shocked that a lot of them are just not really sharp. Hair is not sharp or even blurred out for the background. I've also noticed that the camera tends to use a much slower shutter speed than my Pixel 2 XL. Sharp photos taken with the Pixel 2 XL had a shutter speed of 1/289, where the OnePlus took the photo with 1/50. Which is then understandable if the subject is moving.
Sure, I could go into Pro mode and set the shutter speed myself, but this would require more time and also I'm loosing the blurry background. And in Pro mode I cannot switch to wide angle or telephoto lens.
And last but not least, the camera tends to be not as snappy. It takes a split second until it takes the photo. And indoors the portrait mode on the display seems to be stuttering. I guess because it tries to analyse the picture and show a "faked" live blurred background.
All in all, I'm very disappointed as I didn't think that my almost three year old Pixel can take better pictures and I hope that's my fault and some setting that I'm missing. E.g. is there a way to override the shutter speed in portrait mode?
And yes, I've also tried the GCam (7.3.018_Urnyx05-v2.1) with the config https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/p/f/2020/07/nrG-📸-Urnyx05-7.3.018_v2.0.xml. Although this is a lot snappier, it still produces subpar results compared to the Pixel in Portrait mode. Same shutter speed issues and colors are better on the Pixel.
Any ideas? Do you have the same issues?
Thanks