Database Users

Camera Fix for the HD

I searched for a camera fix for the HD camera with no success. Does anyone know if there's going to be a fix in the near future? I'm sure that ya'll have the same problem that I do. Camera takes pictures that look old & rustic. Brownish tint to them & not very sharp for a 5 MP camera. I have adjusted all the settings for light & junk but nothing fixes it. As far as I'm concerned, it should take pictures IDENTICAL to a normal 5 MP digital camera. I can promise you that it's not doing that. Any help would be great, thanks in advance.

Vampire2800 said:
I searched for a camera fix for the HD camera with no success. Does anyone know if there's going to be a fix in the near future? I'm sure that ya'll have the same problem that I do. Camera takes pictures that look old & rustic. Brownish tint to them & not very sharp for a 5 MP camera. I have adjusted all the settings for light & junk but nothing fixes it. As far as I'm concerned, it should take pictures IDENTICAL to a normal 5 MP digital camera. I can promise you that it's not doing that. Any help would be great, thanks in advance.
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Why should it take pictures identical to a 5MP camera. The lens on the front is going to be vastly different, the sensor maybe 5MP, but what is the spacing on the sensor pixels? The closer together, the noisier the image. Colour balance will be down to the sensor too.
Regards

I'm not talking about the front camera. The normal camera on the back. I understand about the pixel thing, but it still shouldn't be so brownish, right? The pictures look like an old Polaroid picture. You know, the one's that spit the picture out as soon as you took it. Old, brown & nasty looking.

My pictures come out fine...

Hmmmmmmm...................... I'll just keep playing with it.

Vampire2800 said:
I'm not talking about the front camera. The normal camera on the back. I understand about the pixel thing, but it still shouldn't be so brownish, right? The pictures look like an old Polaroid picture. You know, the one's that spit the picture out as soon as you took it. Old, brown & nasty looking.
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I'm not being flippant, but is it possible you might have a dirty lens?

Lol, that was the first thing I tried. Cleaned both sides of the back cover & cleaned the lens on the camera. Good idea, though.

The "5mp" doesn't really mean much, as stated earlier, if the sensor and lens are poor quality. As far as I know, HTC haven't released a phone with a reasonable quality camera, yet.
I bounce between different smart-phones (just coming back to WM now, after a year with S60). I can say that many of the S60 devices (in particular the Nokia N95, but also the N82 with Xenon flash) have very good cameras, being similar to low-end digital cameras in daylight. They lack optical zoom and tend to over-compress images, but have good quality lenses.

imho hd camera is excelent
pictures look old & rustic only if you make them inside house without using the artificial light setting, and this is also a general rule, not specific to HD.

Never seen a good phone camera yet, including the latest 8mpixel ones. They're all terrible.

Never
This camera will NEVER take pictures anywhere near what real cameras do. The photo sites are so tiny, they are smaller then the length of waive of light. Therefore noise, lack of dynamic width, etc. No patch will ever fix that. Sorry

open back cover , clean the lens , you will see a huge difference in quality

Vampire2800 said:
Lol, that was the first thing I tried. Cleaned both sides of the back cover & cleaned the lens on the camera. Good idea, though.
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Not that I'm doubting you or anything but you do realize that the back cover only has a hole through to the lens?
You might try setting the brightness higher:
If you touch the small rectangle near the bottom right side of the screen (when holding landscape)
Then select the gear symbol, then select brightness from the menu and hit the "+" until it looks better that will remove most of the darkness.

The camera is a plain disappointment. In the time the camera autofocusses, I could have bought a Sony Ericsson C905's, create a good looking photo (with xenon flash) and upload it to imageshack.
If 'your object' makes the slightest move, your photo will be blurry . This is also the case when you attempt to make a photo of someone that isn't aware he or she has to be waiting for the autofocus lag. Head moves >>> blurry pic.
iPhone camera shots are way better quality, don't ask me why. Overall my Touch HD scores 8/10, where atleast 1 full point is taken up by the camera

and it's better don't speak about the very laggy video recording

mach03 said:
iPhone camera shots are way better quality, don't ask me why.
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Too many megapixels on a tiny sensor = major noise problem = blurring from denoise.
Even 2mpixels is too much for sensors this size, but people buy on marketing numbers of megapixels, not quality. You can just imagine the whining that would occur if the Touch HD came out with 1.3mpxiels, even though it would produce better pictures.

arfster said:
Too many megapixels on a tiny sensor = major noise problem = blurring from denoise.
Even 2mpixels is too much for sensors this size, but people buy on marketing numbers of megapixels, not quality. You can just imagine the whining that would occur if the Touch HD came out with 1.3mpxiels, even though it would produce better pictures.
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hehe, thats true.
mpixels dont count as much as the general public belives. the more mpix. the higher rezolution you can print the picture in. but for ordinary photos, 1.3 mpix would be enough, as long as the optics is good.

Personally, I rarely use a phone camera.
I use either my Olympus 720SW or Canon EOS.
​

the camera sucks **** compared to the n95 and the video recording is horrid. i know it's not meant to be as good as a dedicated camera but this is pretty bad given the price of the device.
i concur with mach03, move the camera a slight bit and eveyrthing gets blurred. one way i've semi gotten aorund this is to unlock the burst functiona nd take a sequence of pics and hope one or two coems out alright, not the most economic way to do it though...
i would ahve thought that maybe there's a way to tweak the camera to stop the blurring or even affect how much light is picked up by the lens which should also help with clarity

Vampire2800 said:
I'm not talking about the front camera. The normal camera on the back. I understand about the pixel thing, but it still shouldn't be so brownish, right? The pictures look like an old Polaroid picture. You know, the one's that spit the picture out as soon as you took it. Old, brown & nasty looking.
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A silly idea, but seriously, did you check if maybe, just maybe, you left the "sepia" effect turned on???

Relpacement camera app?

Ok so its fairly obvious that the camera bites. Is there a decent app on the market which can take nicer pics?

htc camera's always been like this, even if there's an app, i think you will be better of getting to know the limitations, and get used to manually specify the settings, this way you can really get some decent shots with it. the main purpose of a camera in a phone isn't to replace camera's at all, it's a way of having a way of the ability to quickly take a snapshot when you forgot your camera.
learn to hold your hands still, the best thing to do with a HTC phone if you use the camera
and for the app, search the market in the free section, you can always try them out to see if one suite's you

dr.m0x said:
Ok so its fairly obvious that the camera bites. Is there a decent app on the market which can take nicer pics?
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I have to agree when it comes to using the flash the pics are cap all yellow and washed out. It's like the timing is off or the auto white balance is not changing to flash.
A toy camera out of a Christmas cracker could do better.
Example of flash pic
twitpic.com/34l2mp

it seems your camera didn't even focus on that event, the yellow glow can also be caused by a street light nearby? if street light was nearby it uses the flash to fill in the photo, and leaves the shutter open to receive the lighting as it is, so the faces don't shine etc. otherwise the timing and or white balance is of, or even possibly be a smudge on the flash or lens? finger near the flash unit could also cause this.

I took about 10 pics all look the same I ended up using my old n97 which took a perfect pic.
you still get the yellow from the flash indoors aswell and I tried all the white balance setting none look right with the flash.
If no one else is finding this maybe I have a bum phone.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

So dose anyone else het pics as bad as me with the flash or should I take my phone back?

dr.m0x said:
Ok so its fairly obvious that the camera bites.
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ok so its fairly obvious that this guy is rude and obnoxious and doesnt mind insulting a product we all paid a serious amount of money for.
I am a professional photographer specialising in weddings for over 12 years and the camera is perfectly adequate for a phone.

panyan said:
ok so its fairly obvious that this guy is rude and obnoxious and doesnt mind insulting a product we all paid a serious amount of money for.
I am a professional photographer specialising in weddings for over 12 years and the camera is perfectly adequate for a phone.
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I would say it depends what you are comparing it to. It rubbish compared to a good camera phone like the N86 or N97 but ok compared to the iphone. So if you have only had bad camera phones I guess that's why you may think it ok.

panyan said:
ok so its fairly obvious that this guy is rude and obnoxious and doesnt mind insulting a product we all paid a serious amount of money for.
I am a professional photographer specialising in weddings for over 12 years and the camera is perfectly adequate for a phone.
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my old nokia n95 camera thats 5 years old takes better photos, though ive found it does take nice close ups, SGS camera is perfectly adequate though

@jeffmason : have you tried setting the flash to 'on' instead of 'auto', mine takes blurry night photos too unless the flash is set to always on.

Bad Camera autofocus on Note..

as on others devices (S2),also on Note i noticed that autofocus is not perfect.
On macro it works well,but on normal photos and expecially ZOOMING....i can not get a good focus.
Try to zoom 4x ...impossible to get a correct focus..for me
a personal problem...or firmware problem....?
i have last firm ...upgraded on line 2 days ago.
Regards..

You should never use digital zoom on a phone camera the results are always terrible. Also I noticed my SGSII had a tough time auto focusing during videos. It was always freaking out trying to focus on the center object.

on HTC HD2 autofocus works well also zooming...
samsung optical software are very bad...
No solution?

Have you guys noticed a tiny piece of protective plastic over the camera lens? May or not be obvious, but have you removed that?

alcuin said:
Have you guys noticed a tiny piece of protective plastic over the camera lens? May or not be obvious, but have you removed that?
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OOPS

Mine has the plastic still on. It has a round cut out for the lens already.

indie said:
Mine has the plastic still on. It has a round cut out for the lens already.
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The lens has its own little piece of plastic covering it.

removed around ...but the lens have no plastic...
is only my Note with this problem..?
you can zoom and focus well?
boh...seems something of software related...

My lens has no other plastic on there
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

indie said:
My lens has no other plastic on there
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
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Look again. I Missed mine even with my spectales on. My nephew with young eyes spotted it.

I took the plastic off but i cant see the one you are refering too. I can see some sort of faint line around the lens but i dont think its suppose to come off
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

Yes bro
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk

enobrec said:
removed around ...but the lens have no plastic...
is only my Note with this problem..?
you can zoom and focus well?
boh...seems something of software related...
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are you on 2.3.6? On my note (2.3.6), I just tried what you described (4x zoom and focus) and it had no trouble focusing.
This was indoors, with some light coming through the window blinds and it's almost sunset outside. So not really bright inside.
Granted, digital zoom is always (and I mean always) a bad call compared to taking an unzoomed photo and cropping/enlarging yourself, but at least the phone had no trouble focusing while zoomed in.

its not just you
Its not just you. I have the same proplem now, but did not when i recieved it. The problem is just more aparent when zooming in the phone but you also see it unzoomed on the full photo on the PC. Auto focus just does not do its job and everything is really blurry. I think the problem only came up after a firmware upgrade, but i may be mistaken.
I already tried downgrading which did not work (maybe an even older version is required?) but then noticed the CSC code wrongly set to KOR. Stetting it to the for me correct DBT did not help either.
Anyone has this without having upgraded? Anyone solved it?<
Update: Looking back at made photos... If this is a software issue, it was not present in firmare KK9. I got a photo mentioning that firmware that was ok. However I have this version installed now, and focusing is not ok.
However i still see it possible that some changed from more recent firmwares like a camara firmware change made it in that was not reversed when installing the older version.
I'd appreciate if we could work together in narrowing down this problem by comparing situations.

My phone's auto-focus was working fine until I did the KKA firmware update. Now it is crap. I've been hoping for another update to fix it, bit no dice so far!

I have the same problem. I was considering sending my Note back or trying to find a camera replacement until I figured out my first few pix (pre update) were very good. I just hope an update comes soon because I'm working with a Mac at home and have failed to root or flash one of the updated roms.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App

The camera in the Galaxy Note has about 8 million photosensors. That defines the resolution you're going to get. Digital zoom only enlarges the pixels, interpolating, it's the same if you shoot without zoom and then enlarge the picture on the computer.
For me the camera on the Galaxy Note is pretty capable, better than a compact camera I had 6 years ago.

I don't know who you're responding to with the post of your image sample, but I cannot get anything close to this at the moment. Only in macro mode. The problems is auto focus, it has nothing to do with zoom.

I decided to ask for a replacement or repair from amazon.de and was in luck.
Due to an extended cristmas timeframe in which you can just send it back or get a replacement I just sent mine back and they sent me a new one right away.
The new one is fine now. The camera photos are really good.
Plus, now the screen on this new one is nicely even compared to the slightly uneven display brightness in some areas of the screen (especially on grey color) on my old one.
Also got the latest firmware on it without a problem.
So I'm really happy now

Im sure you guys know in photos you can touch the screen to set your focus point.
Digital zoom will just give you crap results, avoid this and just zoom and crop in editing which will give you a much better image.

Are there apps that take better photos and videos than the stock Camera app?

Hi, I don't know how various settings affect the results. However, I wish to be able to take excellent photos and videos under different conditions. Are there any good apps that take better photos and videos than the stock Camera App? I am using GB. Thanks

+1
Or 1up
Might be dependant on hardware cause of varying quality pics
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

what is wrong with pictures taken by the stock camera app? can you provide some example of a 'bad picture'?.
if you want an interface that is more DSLR like try https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flavionet.android.camera.lite
here are some of my pics, i dont feel that they are of bad quality for a 'phone camera'.
http://www.flugbaerchen.de/lnkimg/egypt12/20120506_164915.jpg
http://www.flugbaerchen.de/lnkimg/egypt12/20120525_151334.jpg
http://www.flugbaerchen.de/lnkimg/egypt12/20120506_191654.jpg

I am happy with the stock camera.. Many features too
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

Perhaps it is better to talk about this via samples.
Any suggestion on better camera settings is appreciated.
I guess I may need an app that stores a set of preset settings
for taking photos/videos under different environments. Thanks.
In photo 1, I do not know why the ceiling lights are like that.
I changed various settings but there was no improvement.
In some cases, the overall color of the room changed.
In photo 2, the room appeared to be dark but it was not.
I changed the flash to auto, on along with changing other
settings. The room still appeared to be dark.
In photo 3, again, that place was not dark. Setting the flash
to auto or on did not help.
In photo 4, everything including the room appears to be somewhat yellowish.
In reality, the wall is white and the pillows are gray.

madbird said:
what is wrong with pictures taken by the stock camera app? can you provide some example of a 'bad picture'?.
if you want an interface that is more DSLR like try https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.flavionet.android.camera.lite
here are some of my pics, i dont fell that the are of bad quality for a 'phone camera'.
http://www.flugbaerchen.de/lnkimg/egypt12/20120506_164915.jpg
http://www.flugbaerchen.de/lnkimg/egypt12/20120525_151334.jpg
http://www.flugbaerchen.de/lnkimg/egypt12/20120506_191654.jpg
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Thanks for the suggestion but I am not a professional. I don't know how various settings affect the results. By the time I have tested out various settings, things that I want to capture will have been gone.

ah now things are getting clearer . your pictures looks a little bit like something is wrong with the 'white balance' of your camera. so you can try different settings for the white balance, the default should be automatic (AWB). I'm not an photoexpert too, but maybe some one else can guide you further with this.

Thanks for pointing this out. I also tried white balance but it did not help. Perhaps I did not do it properly. Hoping somebody could provide some tips. Are the strong glares from the ceiling lights in photo 1 also caused by the white balance?

hajime_android said:
In photo 1, I do not know why the ceiling lights are like that.
I changed various settings but there was no improvement.
In some cases, the overall color of the room changed.
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This effect on the ceiling lights is due to a hardware fault, there are no settings within the phone that can correct this. You can try, like me, and use photoshop. For me, its no problem because I have used photoshop for many years, but others are not so fortunate. This fault is well documented. Samsung know about it, yet have done nothing to correct it. The only way is to send the unit back to the retailer for a new unit. I tried three or four brand new units and they were all the same.
In general. The camera has limitations because of its size and proximity to other circuitry that may introduce noise etc. Its 8megapix with a tiny lens, so as is, I feel it does a pretty good job (apart from that pink dot that is). To get better pictures, consider post processing with photoshop. If that's not an option, and quite frankly I would not recommend purchasing it just for pics from any camphone, try the GIMP, its free and does an awful lot to enhance your pics. You can find the GIMP here www.gimp.org it will run on linux, windows and the Mac
Hope that helps

So, getting something like Camera ZOOM FX won't help.

hajime_android said:
So, getting something like Camera ZOOM FX won't help.
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Nope. sorry about that.

bigstarrynight said:
This effect on the ceiling lights is due to a hardware fault, there are no settings within the phone that can correct this.
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Is there a name for this hardware fault? Does the S3 has this problem as well?

hajime_android said:
Is there a name for this hardware fault? Does the S3 has this problem as well?
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Good question. I know the S2 does, and we all know about the Galaxy Note. I can see evidence of the problem on a slashgear.com presentation, and its that presentation that stopped me from going over to the S3. However, there are plenty of youtube tests where it seems pretty good. The S3 has only just been released, so it might be a while more before any issues become apparent. I think its one where you try before you buy. Personally, I'm not touching either the S3 or the 'Note until I have proof that the issue has been resolved.
Edit. The fault is commonly known as "the pink dot"

In photo 1 was the lens clean? Might sound obvious but even the slightest bit of grease or diet can affect how sources of light spear in photos. Typically in any photo I take where I light bulb or something similar is in the picture if the lens was not completely clean I got a similar effect as in photo 1
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

spfraggle said:
In photo 1 was the lens clean? Might sound obvious but even the slightest bit of grease or diet can affect how sources of light spear in photos. Typically in any photo I take where I light bulb or something similar is in the picture if the lens was not completely clean I got a similar effect as in photo 1
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
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Well, there must be a lot of pink dirt around. My crappy clam phone must have pink dirt repellent, because no matter how greasy the lens gets, pics from it don't have a pink dot. Neither does my DSLR when the uv filter gets filthy, or my specs come to that. Sorry, but the dirt bit on this issue is a red herring. The camera has a defect.

I use UCam. A lot of "pro" settings and also some cool. And... you can disable shutter sound.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

i think you should send the device to service/repair, because i think this is an hardware issue. i saw a lot of pictures taken by the note (not only my own device) and they are al just fine with the standard settings.

I just noticed that there is a protective film covering the back camera. Probably Samsung put it there to protect the lens. Do you think this is the cause to all of my problems? Am I supposed to remove it? For the first few days after purchase (3 weeks ago), the Note took excellent photos. As for last week and the week before that, it depends. The thin protective film has been there right from the beginning. Let's say the protective film covering the lens caused the pink dot, how do you explain why the cafe in photos 2 and 3 appeared to be dark whereas in reality, it was not. Also, photo 4 looks yellowish overall.

Hi,
Protective film would most likely create the effect on pic one. (which would be visible when a direct light source or reflection is in the frame.)
Pic two - could be a metering issue. Try changing the (cog wheel =>) metering setting and / or exposure level.
Yellowish photo is the result of incorrect "white balance". Change the white balance setting to incandescent.
I'm using both the stock ICS camera and camera zoom fx. On my previous phone the fx produced much better photos than the stock one. On my G - Note I don't see much difference.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA

hajime_android said:
I just noticed that there is a protective film covering the back camera. Probably Samsung put it there to protect the lens.
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Click to collapse
Yes you are supposed to remove it. It does say so in the instructions that came with your phone. Check the camera after you have done this.

Disable Wide Angle Shots

Ok we all have the same phone and the same lense front and back
This is specifically for the FRONT camera ... we all know the pictures are distorted ... its squashed from the center and appears long at the edges...
owing to the fact that it has a Wide Angle Lense
Which looks very bad during selfies
We cant change the lense as its a hardware part.
But is there an app .. or can we develop an app that corrects the distortion created by the wide lense and give us a straigt propotional shot ?
Im uploading a picture from another website showing the distortion of the lense. its not my own pic.
As im into Bodybuilding and also i take a lot of selfies ... my pictures look weird on my phone compared to my friends. My body looks normal on friends phone whereas it looks out of propotion on mine.
Lets discuss this ... cause im seriously considering a iPhone 6 over this phone now. but obv im falling back cause of budget issues.

its weird No one else hates the Distortion during selfies ?

a small bump up

I doubt there will be any way to fix it if it is the lens itself, if it's firmware, custom ROMs might be able to do it, Xposed Framework etc
No idea how though, I had noticed I looked like Bruce Forsyth a while back, but never took much notice as I don't use the front camera for much more than daft pics on whatsapp anyway

Hi all,
I am also interested about the resolution of this feature: there's no way to disable the wide angle? you have found a solution?
thanks in advance