Develop Bugs

Camera comparison: One X vs Galaxy S II vs Nexus vs N8 vs iPhone 4S

When HTC was announcing the One X, it made it sound as if the new ImageSense camera is the best camera on a phone you may get. Well, since we now have the One X in our hands and have been using it for a while, we decided to put his new camera to the test. Winning this comparison, though, won't be easy, as we've chosen some of the best camera phones out there to be its competition: the Samsung Galaxy S II, Galaxy Nexus, Nokia N8 and Apple iPhone 4S. Let the games begin!
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Details:
The devil is in the details, and when it comes to taking photos, having great level of details is indeed one of the most important elements. Interestingly, the new ImageSense camera of the One X performed terribly in this area, presenting us to muddier-looking images compared to all of the other contestants here. Here's how all five handsets rank in this category:
1. Apple iPhone 4S
2. Nokia N8
3. Samsung Galaxy S II
4. Samsung Galaxy Nexus
5. HTC One X
Color reproduction:
This was a very close one, at least for the first 3 positions. The N8, Galaxy S II and Nexus manages to produce very natural colors, with the N8 excelling slightly overall. The iPhone 4S snatched the 4th position here since it's images are quite warm, but still closer to reality (and more appealing) compared to the pics from the One X, which were too cold.
1. Nokia N8
2. Samsung Galaxy S II
3. Samsung Galaxy Nexus
4. Apple iPhone 4S
5. HTC One X
Exposure:
We're once again seeing some pretty equal performance here, although there are still some anomalies observed. While most of the smartphones tend to deviate from the natural exposure by overexposing the image at times, the One X is the only one that underexposes it, and thus comes up with an overall dark photo. Interestingly, this also happens with normal daylight shots, which aren't taken in some more specific lighting situations that would make it difficult for the phone's camera to do its thing properly. Nope, the One X's camera simply underexposes the pictures, making them somewhat less pleasant to look at, compared to what we get from the other contenders here.
1. Nokia N8
2. Samsung Galaxy Nexus
3. Apple iPhone 4S
4. Samsung Galaxy S II
5. HTC One X
Indoor shots:
Ranking our five handsets in the Indoor shots category wasn't very easy, because they achieved different results when shooting in different light conditions. The ranking you see below represents their overall score. The Nokia N8 is our favorite here, since it manages to retain a pretty good detail and overall quality level throughout all lighting variations, whereas the shots from all the other handsets become much worse when the lights get weaker. We think the One X performs equally to the iPhone 4S and Galaxy Nexus in this respect, since all three are good in a different respect – the Nexus has the most natural colors, the iPhone 4S capture more detail than the Nexus, but its exposure is a bit off, while the One X has an OK exposure, good details and colors that are a bit off. The Galaxy S II is last here because its colors were too yellowish, save for those pics taken in very dark conditions.
1.Nokia N8
2.Apple iPhone 4S, HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy Nexus
3.Samsung Galaxy S II
Night shots:
Choosing the best handsets for taking night photos wasn't that hard. It's clear that the One X is a top performer in this category, along with the iPhone 4S, which produces similar results. They excelled in color reproduction and details, plus both of them offer easy exposure setting when doing touch-to-focus, which helps them in various situations. In the samples below, we've used touch-to-focus on the cathedral, which made the handsets set the exposure in such a way that would have the cathedral properly exposed. Both phones may produce varying results when using this function, so it's best to experiment in order to get to know your handset's behavior. The Nokia N8 couldn't top this category, since its photos are somewhat greenish and not as sharp.
1.HTC One X, Apple iPhone 4S
2.Samsung Galaxy S II, Nokia N8
3.Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Macro:
When it comes to macro, we managed to achieve best results with the N8 and Galaxy S II, where both devices captured some wonderfully-details shots, but the N8 had the upper hand thanks to its higher resolution. The One X wasn't too far behind, although its somewhat smoother images couldn't compete with the first two.
1.Nokia N8
2.Samsung Galaxy S II
3.HTC One X
4.Samsung Galaxy Nexus
5.Apple iPhone 4S
Video:
Of all five smartphones, the iPhone 4S has the best video-recording capabilities. Its 1080p video simply looks great and is very smooth. The second place is shared by the Galaxy S II and N8. Although the N8 is limited to producing 720p video, its clips are incredibly smooth, and of very high quality overall, whereas the Galaxy S II is competitive, but a bit choppier and inconsistent. The third place is shared by the One X and Galaxy Nexus, which produce pretty much the same results – mediocre.
1.Apple iPhone 4S
2.Samsung Galaxy S II, Nokia N8
3.HTC One X, Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Ease of use and speed:
In terms of ease of use, speed, and overall greatness of the camera UIs, our favorite one is the HTC One X, as it is very comfortable and features some cool additional stuff like filters and various settings. Then comes the iPhone 4S with its ultra-fast and ultra-simple design. We'd place the Nokia N8 third here, because of its dedicated camera shutter, which makes the process of taking photos feel a bit more natural and straightforward.
1.HTC One X
2.Apple iPhone 4S
3.Nokia N8
4.Samsung Galaxy S II
5.Samsung Galaxy Nexus
Conclusion:
This was it, shutterbugs. Apparently we don't have an ultimate camera phone here, but even if we had one, it wouldn't have been the new HTC One X. The handset did arrive with a very fast ImageSense camera, which made photo-taking very intuitive and fast, but it's not up to snuff when it comes to the quality of the actual photos and video. You'll be able to achieve much better results with the iPhone 4S and even with the oldie-but-goodie Galaxy S II. The real shock actually came when we saw the Galaxy Nexus beat the One X in many of the categories, which wasn't really expected. If you are taking a lot of photos and video with your cell phone and hoped that the One X's ImageSense camera will raise the bar in this respect, better look elsewhere.
Phonearena

Quality of Nokia N8 images still can't be beaten by the others in this test.
But i am really surprised by these results,what the hell is wrong,is the camera that bad on htc one x or phonearena is doing bull****

Wow interesting. I was looking to perhaps sell my Galaxy Nexus for a One X. I was hoping for a better camera and originally thought the one X was superior in that section. This was my excuse and buttering up to the GF letting me lay down the extra cash lol. As she's uses my camera phone a lot when we are out and about and snap pictures of the dog. Damn
I know our cell phones aren't appose to replace point and shoots but they say the best camera is the one that always with you. And most of the photos I take are spur of the moment when I'm out and about.

The pictures that I saw in the "Post your best picture" thread were very good imo. I wonder if the reviewer knew what he was doing.
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

Vcolassi said:
Wow interesting. I was looking to perhaps sell my Galaxy Nexus for a One X. I was hoping for a better camera and originally thought the one X was superior in that section. This was my excuse and buttering up to the GF letting me lay down the extra cash lol. As she's uses my camera phone a lot when we are out and about and snap pictures of the dog. Damn
I know our cell phones aren't appose to replace point and shoots but they say the best camera is the one that always with you. And most of the photos I take are spur of the moment when I'm out and about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
really its a pain to see it performing like this

Phonearena have had a massive negative attitude about this phone from day one - wouldn't trust a word they say.
The camera in my experience is fantastic and considerably better than the Galaxy Nexus that I had!
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

WhiteHartMart said:
Phonearena have had a massive negative attitude about this phone from day one - wouldn't trust a word they say.
The camera in my experience is fantastic and considerably better than the Galaxy Nexus that I had!
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Guess its based on user opinion. You said you had a Nexus and the One X performs better. As long as it looks good and the colors are good works for me. In reality I'm not going to be zooming in and having 4 phones next to me to compare lol.

Damn, and I sold my N8 for this. Haven't had time to test the camera so much, but it's sad that a phone 1.5 years old still isn't beaten.
Wanted all the popular apps which Android offers and a decent camera, but I'm already bored of the apps. Guess I'll go for the next Nokia with Windows and a good camera.

finduz said:
Damn, and I sold my N8 for this. Haven't had time to test the camera so much, but it's sad that a phone 1.5 years old still isn't beaten.
Wanted all the popular apps which Android offers and a decent camera, but I'm already bored of the apps. Guess I'll go for the next Nokia with Windows and a good camera.
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Click to collapse
If you want the best apps/ camera combo the iPhone is gonna be the way to go, even though I hate to say it. I use a Android phone daily but have a 4s laying around. And as far as games and app support it's clearly dominant.
Not saying the Play store doesn't have a lot of Apps. But you can literally sit around for days and download different iOS apps that the Play store does not have and there good ones too. The play store has the apps for my needs though.
I'd trade ya a new Samsung Galaxy Nexus for you One X hahaha.

Pls read this thread in this forum to see how amazing One X camera.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1585398

Even if you think that PhoneArena comparisons are utter BS, I doubt they would doctor the photos themselves, and they are perfectly lined up for direct comparison. You can clearly see how dark and unnatural looking colorwise the One X photos are, and how bad it performs in low light. It's also hard to blame shaky hands and such when the shutter lag is so low. It's really sad when people in these forums will jump for joy when PhoneArena does a very positive review of the phone they love, and then quickly turn a 180 when they give a negative review. They don't change staff on a weekly basis. There many more negative reviews of the camera elsewhere on popular sites. It's not some anomaly. Just abrasive fanboys who can't take criticism of their baby. HTC is known for their bad cameras. Why would a 9mm phone suddenly change all that?
The Nokia N8 is a real camera-phone, meaning it doesn't care about your tight jeans. The bigger the sensor, the better the camera, no duh. That's why it's 13mm. No 8-9mm phone is gonna be able to compete. Physics. The PureView is also very chunky.
If you think the pictures from the picture thread are good enough, well good for you! But this is about comparing cameras on high-end phones, and making expensive buying decisions based on these comparisons, so the minutiae is what matters. For people who prioritize the camera, the One X is probably the worst choice among the bunch tested.

The Cam on the One X is certainly not the best among the tested Devices.
I had the SGS2 before I switched to the One X, but to be honest, I am more pleased with the One X Camera than with the Galaxy S2 Camera.
The SGS2 Cam takes better photos in bright daylight. Its a "great weather" camera, because it needs some time to focus and shoot. Only in good light conditions it outperforms the One X Camera noticably and only if you got a few seconds to spare to take a shot.
With the One X on the other hand, its actually made for quick snapshots while you're on the go. It works quite well, and if you take some time, it even produces some great quality photos. You just need to adjust focus settings and quality settings. In bad day conditions or light conditions, it easily outperforms the SGS2 Camera, hands down. I was able to shoot some impressive indoor photos whereas the Galaxy S2 would've had a hard time.
The N8 still seems unbeaten, true. But its chunky. Thats the downside of a good camera phone, like katamari201 said, its all about physics here. I dont like the N8 in general, and if I was out to take some serious shots, I would grab my digital camera instead of my Smartphone.
Quality-Wise and even maybe Color-Wise, the One X Camera isnt the best of the best - But it still fits perfectly my needs for things "On the go". Its a good balance of being mobile and take some good shots. Macro shots with the One X Cam are still impressive, and detail sharpness even beat the photos I took with other Smartphone Cameras.
But to be honest here: I certainly, and honestly think, that the quality of photos and recorded videos will improve later on. As far as I understand, the photos are currently compressed pretty badly. You take a photo in RAW, then it's being sent to the PureView Chipset where its compressed and processed. HTC stated that with the next Update, Camera Quality and Performance is meant to improve.
With kernel sources I am pretty sure quality can be significantly improved as well, maybe even as far as getting RAW output files. Other phones already got patches from the community to dramatically improve photo and video recording quality, I think its also possible with the One X Camera, as the Hardware isnt bad at all.
I am completely okay with the One X Camera. I dont need a fancy pants cam in a smartphone to outperform my digital camera. A Smartphone is not meant for high quality photographs, its made for awesome mobility and performance.

Regardless we all have different eyes so what one sees the next won't - not defending the One X as I'm always changing phones anyway but still think PA coverage has been negative - some of the comments they make in their YouTube videos are laughable.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Phone just got launched. If you want a camera that is going to take picture perfect shots then go for an actual camera and not take pictures on your phone. second. updates i am sure will come thick and fast. and once the development starts picking up and kernels start dropping i am pretty sure that will shall see a lot of improvements.
i still say the camera on my galaxy s2 outperforms the HTC one but there are more features to the phone than just the camera. But phonearena are known not to like HTC phones so i would not worry about what they say....90% of reviews out there are praising this phone as the king of android. until the next one that comes out that is..but anyway regarding pictures it is down to choice really. if this performs well for you then great. if not then maybe exchange it.
but most important phone just got launched so maybe in the future with future software updates maybe we shall see an improvement to the camera app..i still say it takes great pics and videos though

android_master said:
The real shock actually came when we saw the Galaxy Nexus beat the One X in many of the categories, which wasn't really expected.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im coming from a Galaxy Nexus, and it literally has the WORST camera ever build on a phone ... My nokia 6303 takes better pictures

Shu. said:
Im coming from a Galaxy Nexus, and it literally has the WORST camera ever build on a phone ... My nokia 6303 takes better pictures
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Click to collapse
Well, I personally think that there is a image processor running over the taken photos on the Galaxy Nexus to brighten things up.
I can do the same with Photoshop on my One X captures. Auto Brightness and Auto Contrasts already do alot of things.
IMO, the One X Photos do look more natural, even the ones I shot with my Galaxy S2 mainly looked a little oversaturated / overbright (but not too much, Quality still is great!) compared to what I saw when I shot the image (the real world motive).

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

Another review here:
ht tp://bit.ly/HTp9Su
BTWm I don't trust PArena.

I have to say that the camera quality isn't as good as I thought it would be from the reviews and when compared with my iPhone 4 the images seem much more grainy/noisy. The One X lens is great though, very bright indoors, much brighter than the iPhone lens and the camera app is much better than the iPhone camera app.

Nos0x said:
I have to say that the camera quality isn't as good as I thought it would be from the reviews and when compared with my iPhone 4 the images seem much more grainy/noisy. The One X lens is great though, very bright indoors, much brighter than the iPhone lens and the camera app is much better than the iPhone camera app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As already stated by multible users and even HTC themselves, PureView is compressing the RAW captures of the camera pretty bad, maybe because of filesize and speed of photo saving (NOT capturing since the cam already captures images in RAW format). That's the cause of the "grain" in our photographs, tho its not as bad as some ppl say it is.
nVidia / HTC stated also, that the next firmware upgrade is supposed to improve both image quality and camera performance.
I sure hope that HTC keeps their word and they really improve those 2 mentioned points. Remember: With a rooted phone and kernel sources almost every phone got increased photo/video recording quality due some devs always figured out how to increase bitrates and reduce compression levels.
Latest example for me was the Galaxy S2: Video Recording bitrate was awful with stock Gingerbread ROM and recorded sound in videos was @ 96kbit with Mono. A patched camera application increased video bitrate, as well as audio bitrate from 96kbit mono to 128kbit stereo. It was really noticeable.

My new findings about the HTC Camera App!

Hey guys!
Seems like the original HTC Camera App is quite a bugger. Sure, it's interface is fancy and intuitive with quite the features, but hear me out.
I bought Camera Zoom FX back in the days and loved to use it with my Galaxy S2 since it produced some wonderful shots for me.
I tried it out now on my One X device, and there I made quite a discovery.
First of all, I did 2 test shots for each camera, so in total 4.
The first one I did outside, cloudy sky, slight rain -> white concrete wall. Makro shot. The second on I did indoors, closed room, artificial light (bad light condition).
Second is: I'll also write down the filesize of the photos. The difference is, least to say, overwhelming.
Another point is: As soon as I took a shot with the HTC camera app, I simply can't take any photos anymore with Camera Zoom FX. Camera screen stays black after a shot, photo doesnt get saved, app needs to be killed. It will only work again after a reboot. Seems like the HTC camera app not only applies heavy compression and somewhat dark lighting, but also causes glitches and issues within the system regarding the camera api.
Enough talk, see for yourself:
Keep in mind, I didnt use LED flash, nor HDR. Simple setup, no color corrections or post processing. Those are raw, untouched images down there!
Macro - Cloudy Sky, Slight Rain, White concrete wall
HTC camera (Original: 2,14 MB)
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Camera Zoom FX (Original: 4,48 MB)
Autofocus - Indoor, closed room, poor light condition, artificial light
HTC camera (Original: 1,50 MB)
Camera Zoom FX (Original: 4,80 MB)
Okay, guys. Now that you've seen those shots, what are your thoughts and impressions? To me, the color, brightness and sharpness looks ALOT better with Camera Zoom FX. PLUS - focusing seems to be much more stable on Camera Zoom FX, and its still FAST. Maybe its a little too bright with CZFX, but still, that just shows that the HTC One X Camera is capeable of much more!
HTC, fix your camera application!!

in my opinion, the 2nd shot seem way better for both cases u uploaded..

WOW... incredible difference...can you take a few more samples outside with decent lighting?
that is really amazing how much better the FX shots look...
so you are saying that you can only take one FX shot at a time- and then you have to reboot??

I found the HTC camera to produce a lot of noise even in well lit environment.
The camera is one of their big selling points it seems odd they would use so much JPEG compression in the software. Personally I'd like to output images as actual RAW files.
Also the brightness and colour contrast of the HTC one X screen seems to have given them a bit of a dilemma with the colour of photo's, when you take a shot and view it on the phone screen the colour looks good but when you then view it on a monitor the colour looks washed out and dull, Problem is if the camera reproduced the colour correctly it would look way over saturated on that bright screen of the phone.
EDIT
Try4Ce said:
Another point is: As soon as I took a shot with the HTC camera app, I simply can't take any photos anymore with Camera Zoom FX. Camera screen stays black after a shot, photo doesnt get saved, app needs to be killed. It will only work again after a reboot. Seems like the HTC camera app not only applies heavy compression and somewhat dark lighting, but also causes glitches and issues within the system regarding the camera api.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just had this same issue after taking some shots in the garden, not with camera zoom fx though, I dont have that installed, took half a dozen shots then the camera appeared not to take photos, it would focus, make the shutter sound and seemingly take a picture but on viewing i just got a black screen with a triangle and exclamation. reboot was needed. this was using only the htc camera app.

OMG! There's a HUGE difference between those pictures!!! I was a little disappointed with one x's camera quality but now it's clear that it is software related, the camera itself is capable of taking better pictures. I really hope HTC fixes this soon, because I think this is a major problem that has to resolved.

Definitely needs to be resolved, been out taking some more and it only seems to successfully shoot a picture half the time, seems it doesnt need a reboot to get it working again, it just randomly decides when it wants to take a picture or not, seems to mostly fail in very well lit sunny conditions. also had some freezes using the camera needing a hard reboot.

Also downloaded - Different results
I also downloaded camera zoom fx - both stock app and camera zoom are set to auto. in my opinion the camera zoom picture looks over exposed
Camera Zoom Fx may peform better on a sunny day???
both very similar sizes Camera Zoom was 0.2 Mb bigger
first image is Camera Zoom

guys all you need to do is increase the exposure in the htc camera app for similar results
i love the camera guys every pic you post i see amazing colors, actually Camera FX images are over exposed

hamdir said:
guys all you need to do is increase the exposure in the htc camera app for similar results
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Click to collapse
Doesnt make a difference for me, tried on manual ISO with same result, it cant take a picture in well lit conditions, tried a few again, if i point the camera to the garden (sun behind me) it cant take a picture, if i point the camera down to the floor standing in the same position so there is less light on the sensor it will take a picture, point it back up again, fails to take a picture.
been trying in different areas too, in shadowed areas or indoors its fine, something that is well lit by the sun it fails to take a picture at all.
Gonna try Camera FX now
actually no im not, it's not free lol

I dont think the camera is at total fault... If you play around with the camera settings you can adjust the amount of exposure and sharpness of the photo... I personally feel that this setting is quite good under normal conditions:
Exposure -1
Saturation -1
Sharpness -1
Contrast -1 (play around with different light ambience)
These settings actually gave quite good results for me... although undeniably raw uncompressed pictures are better... just my 2 cents...

shangostar said:
Gonna try Camera FX now
actually no im not, it's not free lol
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Click to collapse
Dunno what it costs now, but it was on sale for something like 50c a couple of weeks ago.....not that that helps you at all!
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

Basil3 said:
Dunno what it costs now, but it was on sale for something like 50c a couple of weeks ago.....not that that helps you at all!
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
It's on sale now in the uk too at just under £2, I know that's not a lot but I'm not paying for an alternative app just because the one on my brand new £500 phone doesn't work properly. Hopefully software updates or custom roms should fix the issues and realistically I'll rarely use the camera anyway, I have a DSLR I will use when I know I want to photograph stuff but was just hoping the HTC camera might be good to use on the occasion I don't have the DSLR with me.
And it probably will be if i can just get it to take pictures in the sun.

Well, after some further testing I can confirm that in regular daylight conditions, Camera Zoom FX as well as ICS Camera (Market) both produce over exposed photos.
That is kinda weird. I also experience intense flickering on the capture frame while using the mentioned apps.
Sometimes, both apps dont even shoot a photo. Camera Zoom FX just stays at a black capture frame, and ICS Camera just FC.
What's up with that cam, seriously? Thats kinda weird... Tho, sharpness still looks a litttle better with third party camera apps. File size is always way bigger, too.
I think the camera is capeable of doing much more. I guess the drivers are still not really final yet.

Try4Ce said:
Sometimes, both apps dont even shoot a photo. Camera Zoom FX just stays at a black capture frame, and ICS Camera just FC.
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Click to collapse
How bright and sunny is it where you are today?
it's very bright here and I cannot get it to take images in the sun at all, just getting black screens like you mentioned.

Camera compression is better inOne X. I had Xperia Arc and camera compression was horrible, Same 8 MP cam it used to be below 1 MB but it does produced awesome pictures.

shangostar said:
How bright and sunny is it where you are today?
it's very bright here and I cannot get it to take images in the sun at all, just getting black screens like you mentioned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, pretty bright. Seems like the apps have issues with bright environments and therefore bright captures ... bugger

I'm wondering if the fixed f2.0 aperture is just too wide for sunny conditions, great for low light yes but I wouldn't use f2.0 on a DSLR in very bright conditions unless I was using a fast shutter speed and since there is no shutter speed adjustment on the One X, 2.0 I think is just too wide for those conditions, even on 100 ISO
Just popped back out into the garden now the sun has gone down some and the same pictures that wouldn't take earlier are now taking ok.

Okay guys, I don't know if any of you here are photographers - but I am...
It doesn't matter what app you use for your phone-photography - it's all using the same lens! What matters is the settings you use. Given, the 3rd party apps may implement their settings better, but nothing that the stock camera app isn't capable of. Know how to adjust your shutter speed and ISO settings accoridngly and you'll come out with some cracking pictures (considering the size of the lens and sensor). At the end of the day, it's a PHONE CAMERA. It ain't never going to be perfect. If you want great image quality, go out and a buy a dSLR or compacts / micro 4/3s camera.

Eddzz!! said:
Okay guys, I don't know if any of you here are photographers - but I am...
It doesn't matter what app you use for your phone-photography - it's all using the same lens! What matters is the settings you use. Given, the 3rd party apps may implement their settings better, but nothing that the stock camera app isn't capable of. Know how to adjust your shutter speed and ISO settings accoridngly and you'll come out with some cracking pictures (considering the size of the lens and sensor). At the end of the day, it's a PHONE CAMERA. It ain't never going to be perfect. If you want great image quality, go out and a buy a dSLR or compacts / micro 4/3s camera.
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Click to collapse
Photographer here too
I do wish there was an option for less compression on the stock app though /: As it is there's still too much compression going on. Just play with the ISO and image settings and it's still pretty good

They really need to improve the software and encoding for both image and video capture. They are both worse than the competition. Their hardware seems capable enough, and this certainly has enough firepower, but it ain't being used right.
I'm not a photographer but I can tell a ****ty photo from a good one. I don't think they are very pleasing on this device. Older phones I've owned take much better photos. It's really sad that photo snobs come into a cellphone forum and riddle every post about the camera with IT"S NOT A DSLR IT"S A CAMERA-PHONE GO BUY A REAL CAMERA. Set the bar high much? We're comparing cellphone cameras. I don't see PC people coming in and crapping on browser and benchmark threads, saying IT"S NOT A PC BUY A REAL COMPUTER LULZ.
These cellphones are replacing point-and-shoot cameras. Those are REAL cameras BTW, and they are good enough. How many people actually own DSLRS? I don't even know any, nor know of anyone who would be caught dead with one, or pay the $500+ for a good one.
Downplaying the camera is also a good line for HTC apologists/fanboys.

[Q] Possible fix for galaxy nexus camera problem?

I read reviews that says the Galaxy Nexus camera is worse compared to s2 and the details of the picture taken is lesser compared to GS2 and also the video How true is that? I mean does the GN's camera can't compete w/ the gs2's camera and there difference in quality is really huge?
So does this issue can be fixed by only an OS update w/ camera improvements? or really this issue is really on the hardware and can't be fixed w/ os update?
If you can also can you please post picture taken by your galaxy nexus's camera? thank you

There are plenty of picture threads on here if you'd like to browse in the general forum, but I'll try to post a pic for you in a few. As far as quality I find the camera pretty impressive compared to my old droid bionic camera. Yes it's a lower mp but at the same time it's a matter of lens quality that really makes the difference. As for what you were saying about the upgraded os and whatnot, there is a thread in the development forums for the Gnex toolkit by mskips. He's compiled a modified "media_profiles.xml" file. That xml controls the cameras properties on the phone. He has them changed to improve video, audio, and picture quality. I've noticed a pretty decent improvement over the stock settings especially in video recording. Hope that helps you out a bit.
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Taken from a quickly moving car.
Some local graffiti.
Turtle I found outside my shop today.

utcu said:
There are plenty of picture threads on here if you'd like to browse in the general forum, but I'll try to post a pic for you in a few. As far as quality I find the camera pretty impressive compared to my old droid bionic camera. Yes it's a lower mp but at the same time it's a matter of lens quality that really makes the difference. As for what you were saying about the upgraded os and whatnot, there is a thread in the development forums for the Gnex toolkit by mskips. He's compiled a modified "media_profiles.xml" file. That xml controls the cameras properties on the phone. He has them changed to improve video, audio, and picture quality. I've noticed a pretty decent improvement over the stock settings especially in video recording. Hope that helps you out a bit.
View attachment 1018133
Taken from a quickly moving car.
View attachment 1018134
Some local graffiti.
View attachment 1018135
Turtle I found outside my shop today.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, those are some great pics. Could you be so kind as to provide a link to said file?
Thanks .

Yes the camera is not as good as the SGSII, but very few cameras are. The camera is not terrible, people just like to complain about things because they're terrible photographers lol.
There are tons of threads on photography with the GNex, you should see them. Here are a couple of mine:
I could go on for pages... As you can see the camera is completely capable of taking good shots.

ichilouch said:
I read reviews that says the Galaxy Nexus camera is worse compared to s2 and the details of the picture taken is lesser compared to GS2 and also the video How true is that? I mean does the GN's camera can't compete w/ the gs2's camera and there difference in quality is really huge?
So does this issue can be fixed by only an OS update w/ camera improvements? or really this issue is really on the hardware and can't be fixed w/ os update?
If you can also can you please post picture taken by your galaxy nexus's camera? thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The latest update greatly improved the camera. All the original reviews used the crappy camera software during first release. I'd look at newer pic threads.

T4rd said:
Wow, those are some great pics. Could you be so kind as to provide a link to said file?
Thanks .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here ya go
http://www.mediafire.com/?cr3tsecfbsacj3n

utcu said:
There are plenty of picture threads on here if you'd like to browse in the general forum, but I'll try to post a pic for you in a few. As far as quality I find the camera pretty impressive compared to my old droid bionic camera. Yes it's a lower mp but at the same time it's a matter of lens quality that really makes the difference. As for what you were saying about the upgraded os and whatnot, there is a thread in the development forums for the Gnex toolkit by mskips. He's compiled a modified "media_profiles.xml" file. That xml controls the cameras properties on the phone. He has them changed to improve video, audio, and picture quality. I've noticed a pretty decent improvement over the stock settings especially in video recording. Hope that helps you out a bit.
View attachment 1018133
Taken from a quickly moving car.
View attachment 1018134
Some local graffiti.
View attachment 1018135
Turtle I found outside my shop today.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you Wash your hands and clean ur nails from time to time? xD.... Hope you dont own a restaurant... Haha
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

martonikaj said:
Yes the camera is not as good as the SGSII, but very few cameras are. The camera is not terrible, people just like to complain about things because they're terrible photographers lol.
There are tons of threads on photography with the GNex, you should see them. Here are a couple of mine:
I could go on for pages... As you can see the camera is completely capable of taking good shots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe It depends on the skill?
I can't do like this, and all the quality of photo took by my GN is so terrible...
I think that maybe is caused by the camera, because my Sony X10i doesn't have this problem.
So what do you think?

johnnyaqwer said:
Maybe It depends on the skill?
I can't do like this, and all the quality of photo took by my GN is so terrible...
I think that maybe is caused by the camera, because my Sony X10i doesn't have this problem.
So what do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. Some devices simply are more forgivable in this department.

​
msedek said:
Do you Wash your hands and clean ur nails from time to time? xD.... Hope you dont own a restaurant... Haha
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol. I wash them about 20 times a day. I'm an automotive technician though so they get pretty dirty throughout the day. Oil, grease, dirt, all the fun stuff I get paid to play in. haha
As far as the cameras quality being a skill issue... It is not necessarily a skill issue on the user's part, but at the same time a dslr camera's auto settings, and other settings allow for a lot more error on the user's part. My pictures from my d40 will always look cleaner than my gnex. This falls back to lens quality as well. My nicer lenses were more expensive than my phone by far and there's a reason high end lenses cost so much. Using cell phones to take pictures doesn't require any special talents but knowing what conditions will help you produce better quality photos can help a lot. Having the right lighting alone can make a huge difference. Also you need to remember it is a phone and not a camera. Yes it has a camera, but it's main purpose and intent is to be a communications device which it does well. lol. I also feel that for a phone it has a more than adequate camera. It's not the best on the market, but I got this phone for development purposes and my love of android software. As for pictures I've got my old minolta 35mm and my Nikon DSLR.

I will never understand why people say the s2 has a better camera. I had the s2 before the GN and I hated the camera tit would always take a picture I millisecond too short when focusing causing blurry photos. Hated that damn camera. I'm very happy with this. I truly believe anything over 5mp on a phone is pure overkill is just a game of who has the greater Number. All of this only differs if they actually put a damn great sensor of course but I'm loving my nexus camera. Oh and I loved the nexus one camera too. That was sharp and so reliable.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA

nexicon said:
I will never understand why people say the s2 has a better camera. I had the s2 before the GN and I hated the camera tit would always take a picture I millisecond too short when focusing causing blurry photos. Hated that damn camera. I'm very happy with this. I truly believe anything over 5mp on a phone is pure overkill is just a game of who has the greater Number. All of this only differs if they actually put a damn great sensor of course but I'm loving my nexus camera. Oh and I loved the nexus one camera too. That was sharp and so reliable.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are exactly right about the >5mp being overkill for a phone. Mp has nothing to do with photo quality when taken it is mainly a unit used to measure the depth of the image and how large you can increase it before you see pixels. I've never taken a picture with my phone that I've wanted to blow up bigger than 3x5 at the most. lol.

Camera

So I took some test shots between the ZL and my iPhone 5, wow is all I can say.
And NOT a good wow either.
The ZL is pretty bad compared to the iP5.
The pic's look very washed out on the ZL, I tested the shots in Auto mode and normal mode as well as HDR.
In all cases the iP5 in just normal shooting mode blew the ZL out of the water.
Now looking at the pic's on the ZL screen they look better because of that Bravia color thing, but on my iMac side by side the iP5 kill it.
Weird.
Is there any setting's to help this??

Noticed that too... Weird. with 13 mega and so called camera wow factor in their adds, it just cant beat ip5 and note 1.
Sent from my C6502 using xda app-developers app

safuan7822 said:
Noticed that too... Weird. with 13 mega and so called camera wow factor in their adds, it just cant beat ip5 and note 1.
Sent from my C6502 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's also strange is to use the 13MP you have to take a picture in 4X3 mode, all normal auto mode pic's are a 9MP shot.
I also tested the dif between a 13mp shot and a 9mp and saw no difference except that the iPhone 5 was still better in both still and video.

Meh, you guys should know camera is not the strong point of this phone and megapixel don't tell the whole story. If you wanted a phone for camera it's better to buy Nokia N8, it's cheap and still way better than most cameraphones of today. I still kept Nokia N8 as second phone so when I going places I got good camera to take pictures and videos

I think one of the main reasons to look at camera phones is the fact that you don't need to carry a second device and that you always carry it with you.
I am surprised that the ZL has such a lousy camera - thought Sony's expertise with cameras should have helped. I hope it's not a sensor issue and that maybe a firmware/software update would help with the images.

bothfly said:
So I took some test shots between the ZL and my iPhone 5, wow is all I can say.
And NOT a good wow either.
The ZL is pretty bad compared to the iP5.
The pic's look very washed out on the ZL, I tested the shots in Auto mode and normal mode as well as HDR.
In all cases the iP5 in just normal shooting mode blew the ZL out of the water.
Now looking at the pic's on the ZL screen they look better because of that Bravia color thing, but on my iMac side by side the iP5 kill it.
Weird.
Is there any setting's to help this??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No settings at all may be some firmware or software
upgrade might help

Didn't buy because of camera
I am travelling in Chicago, went to the Sony store, had the ZL in my hand and was going to buy it and took a picture.
I have a Galaxy SII now, a bit handicapped I think by the CM10.1 camera software, and took the same picture with it.
There was a HUGE difference. The ZL was brighter, but the detail was awful on the ZL -- there are what appear to be JPG compression artifacts or sharpening artifacts everywhere. Text in the image had pixel artifacts extending out from corners so that everything was jagged and looked like it was done with a 1-2mpx camera instead (and yes I had it set at max).
I'm a photographer, and I am not buying a phone to replace real cameras, but I also don't want to buy the latest and greatest phone and take a step 3 years back in cameras.
This all looks like software (in a very "gut reaction to a few images"). It looks and feels like poor image processing from the raw data, either over-compression or bad sharpening.
I've done a bit of searching and found a few "bad camera" comments, but has there been any reaction from Sony, any indication of improved settings coming? Are any of the mods available capable of addressing this sort of thing, or is that lost in proprietary code space?
I left without a phone, sadly. My GS2 with CM10.1 does almost everything I need, I was just looking for a fresh face. And I LOVED the form factor and feel. But the camera was a deal killer. Will lurk around here in case there may be forthcoming software fixes (as I am almost certain it is a software issue).

Nice, a thread about the camera and comparisons without pics

CLB-NL said:
Nice, a thread about the camera and comparisons without pics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, my bad in this case; I had assumed they would have it mail enabled and I could send myself a photo when I tested it, but they didn't have it set up. I may go back (it's not far) and take a microSD card with me, and see if it's set up so I can write to it and take the photo away. I'd love to have one where I could compare the two on a computer screen.
The image it rendered had good color (better than my SII) and was nicely focused. Just badly processed. I was hoping someone would say "you forgot to set the 'good image or small image'" option to "good".
I REALLY liked the feel of the back cover, they did a nice job there. Easy to hold, didn't feel like it was continually going to slide out of my hand.

CLB-NL said:
Nice, a thread about the camera and comparisons without pics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice one,btw I jus saw a thread about this camera comparison and I didn't see that the camera to be that bad like u guys say it is
Sent from my C6506 using xda app-developers app

Linwood.Ferguson said:
The image it rendered had good color (better than my SII) and was nicely focused. Just badly processed. I was hoping someone would say "you forgot to set the 'good image or small image'" option to "good".
I REALLY liked the feel of the back cover, they did a nice job there. Easy to hold, didn't feel like it was continually going to slide out of my hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See this. There is a lot of discussion going on (at xda & sony support forums) about the sony's image "post processing" used in the XZ/ZL. I've read somewhere that this matter has been acknowledged by sony support. You may have a look at the XZ general section for threads (like this) regarding camera (same camera hardware used in ZL). Btw, I think that camera on ZL is not bad at all (it bests my previous note2 camera in almost all aspects)! Some software updates might fix the existing issues (noise blur) especially in the auto mode. Do try the normal mode (13mp size) with hdr & flash off, in case you revisit the store.

Dpk1 said:
See this Do try the normal mode (13mp size) with hdr & flash off, in case you revisit the store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, will look at the other links, and I did call the store and they sold the demo and no new ones in. I'm here for a couple weeks so I may get another chance.

to look at pics on the phone it works fine (probably coz of bravia engine) .. but on a larger screen u can see the problem .. hopefully we see a fix :fingers-crossed:
does the camera mod in the apps & themes work any better than the stock one ? cybershot ....

Does this mod help?
I ran across this. It sounds like it got mixed results, so I suspect it is only touching around the edges of the camera processing and not changing how the engine does the jpg compression. But maybe it is. I offer it for reference; discussion may be better in that thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2221351&page=11
---------- Post added at 02:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:54 PM ----------
demonicjas said:
does the camera mod in the apps & themes work any better than the stock one ? cybershot ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My apologies, I didn't see this note until I posted my last one. Thank you.

With pictures
CLB-NL said:
Nice, a thread about the camera and comparisons without pics
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I decided I could live with a less poor camera and bought one because I liked everything else. So here are some comparisons. These are done from the perspective of looking at fine detail, not overall appearance at a small size. I.e. I think a lot of what Sony has done is aimed at highly compressed JPG's suitable for facebook-like postings. I don't do that, I use it in lieu of a real camera and so would actually prefer raw images, but as a substitute I hope for good detail and suitable dynamic range despite the JPG conversion. Anyway.
So while I've seen a lot of just full images and "see how pretty" I thought i would try to see the fine detail, not how it did as a snapshot (while admitting that it's a cell phone and a "snapshot" is exactly what it's intended for, it is not a DSLR).
attached is a composite image taken with the Galaxy S2 running CM10.1, and a ZL running stock with three different modes as indicated. all were at max resolution. All were interior shots with good light (large windows beside the scene), at the same distance from a jar of jelly beans. I then extracted two components, one for fine detail (a bar code) and one for some color and detail (an edge of the plastic jar). These were all taken from about 4' away, handheld but shooting several shots and picking the best to reduce the impact of any motion blur.
First, I must say the ZL did not have the artifacts I noticed in the store; I must have had a different setting there.
The images are over-processed, whether for noise or (my theory) compression not sure, but there are a LOT of JPG artifacts in them.
But there are better than I expected. They are not better in a processing sense than the S2, but what you get is better resolution then poorer processing (look at the smoothness around high contrast borers, e.g. the top of the 9 -- there's a lot more pixel raggedness in the S2 from less resolution, but the ZL is just ragged despite having more pixels -- kind of a random jaggedness from compression artifacts). But the net result of added resolution and poor processing is a better image.
But not nearly as "better" as it should be with a lot more resolution!
Sony really owes a "leave the darn image alone" setting.
The burst mode is interesting -- I'm not sure what they are doing there, but it looks like yet even more aggressive sharpening and processing. The bar code at first looks like it is a much clearer shot -- but it is not. It's excessively sharpened and detail is lost even though it fools the eye with more contrast on edge transitions. Look especially at the colors in the jelly beans through the glare, how poor and splotchy they became).
Surprisingly the Superior vs. Normal, despite all I've read, did not have a lot of difference. Not sure if the conditions were such the difference didn't kick in, or... ?
Anyway, to the original point -- here are pictures.
On a related note, been playing with it for low light, and tried in store a HTC one, and there is a marked difference there, with the bigger pixels doing a much better job at low light, but they just didn't add QUITE enough of them for me. The ZL is much better than the older GS2 at low light, but even with the relatively faster lens and newer sensor, it's only OK. Oh... for an F1.4 lens one day. :fingers-crossed:
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Linwood.Ferguson said:
OK, I decided I could live with a less poor camera and bought one because I liked everything else. So here are some comparisons. These are done from the perspective of looking at fine detail, not overall appearance at a small size. I.e. I think a lot of what Sony has done is aimed at highly compressed JPG's suitable for facebook-like postings. I don't do that, I use it in lieu of a real camera and so would actually prefer raw images, but as a substitute I hope for good detail and suitable dynamic range despite the JPG conversion. Anyway.
So while I've seen a lot of just full images and "see how pretty" I thought i would try to see the fine detail, not how it did as a snapshot (while admitting that it's a cell phone and a "snapshot" is exactly what it's intended for, it is not a DSLR).
attached is a composite image taken with the Galaxy S2 running CM10.1, and a ZL running stock with three different modes as indicated. all were at max resolution. All were interior shots with good light (large windows beside the scene), at the same distance from a jar of jelly beans. I then extracted two components, one for fine detail (a bar code) and one for some color and detail (an edge of the plastic jar). These were all taken from about 4' away, handheld but shooting several shots and picking the best to reduce the impact of any motion blur.
First, I must say the ZL did not have the artifacts I noticed in the store; I must have had a different setting there.
The images are over-processed, whether for noise or (my theory) compression not sure, but there are a LOT of JPG artifacts in them.
But there are better than I expected. They are not better in a processing sense than the S2, but what you get is better resolution then poorer processing (look at the smoothness around high contrast borers, e.g. the top of the 9 -- there's a lot more pixel raggedness in the S2 from less resolution, but the ZL is just ragged despite having more pixels -- kind of a random jaggedness from compression artifacts). But the net result of added resolution and poor processing is a better image.
But not nearly as "better" as it should be with a lot more resolution!
Sony really owes a "leave the darn image alone" setting.
The burst mode is interesting -- I'm not sure what they are doing there, but it looks like yet even more aggressive sharpening and processing. The bar code at first looks like it is a much clearer shot -- but it is not. It's excessively sharpened and detail is lost even though it fools the eye with more contrast on edge transitions. Look especially at the colors in the jelly beans through the glare, how poor and splotchy they became).
Surprisingly the Superior vs. Normal, despite all I've read, did not have a lot of difference. Not sure if the conditions were such the difference didn't kick in, or... ?
Anyway, to the original point -- here are pictures.
On a related note, been playing with it for low light, and tried in store a HTC one, and there is a marked difference there, with the bigger pixels doing a much better job at low light, but they just didn't add QUITE enough of them for me. The ZL is much better than the older GS2 at low light, but even with the relatively faster lens and newer sensor, it's only OK. Oh... for an F1.4 lens one day. :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there! Congrats on your new device n welcome aboard! I appreciate your feedback regarding the camera performance on the ZL. I tend to agree with most of what you've said! I only hope sony gives us a patch for camera software soon!

How is the camera really?

I am thinking about moving from my Nexus 5 to the Z Play. Mainly for the battery. I would also like a much improved camera. The battery is the only reason I am not getting a Nexus 5x. The size of the phone is also slowing my decision.
I have seen lots of comments about the camera being subpar for a modern phone. Mainly when compared to the OnePlus 3T. My question is this...
Is the camera that much better than the N5 that I won't care or is the camera really the Achilles heal to near perfect (size is debatable) phone.
Thanks for your input and possibly even photo samples.
Sent from my Nexus 5 CAF using Tapatalk

Well, in my experience using this phone for 4 months as my daily driver. The camera could be better, i don't know if it's my phone or all the Moto Z Plays, but i have this issue when i try to focus, you have to tap the screen multiple times in order for the phone to focus properly.
If you are looking this phone mainly for pictures, i wouldn't recommend it.
But for battery life, is crazy, i can easily get 2 days without charging it. This is the reason im keeping it.

Camera is above average in my opinion. It is foolish to compare it with phones which costs almost twice as much as mzp. If camera is the reason you want to to buy a phone, you can look for other options but you want a decent camera which will click god shots when needed in a budget smartphone, you can go for it. I have used note series starting from 1, Xperia Z1 (20.7mp camera with Xmor sensor), and LG g4 so I know what I am talking about. Night shots aren't very good but it's the same with every phone I have seen except for Sony phones. Battery backup is insane and for a budget phone, performance is also quite good. Of course mzp cannot be compared to op3 but if battery backup and ui smoothness concerns you in any way mzp should be you choice.
Else for raw power, you can go for one plus 3.
Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 07:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:08 AM ----------
I will post some shots as well in differnt lighting conditions so you can judge yourself.
Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk

My Moto X Pure destroyed my Moto Z Play in both pictures and video. So let's not say that whole midrange blah blah blah argument here. The camera is definitely sub par. I don't know what Moto did, but they messed up somewhere. What kills me is that when taking videos via Snapchat, recording is perfect, but using any camera software, can't focus, despite tapping the screen or repositioning the focus ring. Picture wise, camera isn't bad, but I had better clarity and less noise in my X Pure. At this point I'm debating buying the Hasselbad camera Moto Mod just to try, in hopes that I'll see an improvement.

PhilD41 said:
I am thinking about moving from my Nexus 5 to the Z Play. Mainly for the battery. I would also like a much improved camera. The battery is the only reason I am not getting a Nexus 5x. The size of the phone is also slowing my decision.
I have seen lots of comments about the camera being subpar for a modern phone. Mainly when compared to the OnePlus 3T. My question is this...
Is the camera that much better than the N5 that I won't care or is the camera really the Achilles heal to near perfect (size is debatable) phone.
Thanks for your input and possibly even photo samples.
Sent from my Nexus 5 CAF using Tapatalk
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siralsmooth said:
My Moto X Pure destroyed my Moto Z Play in both pictures and video. So let's not say that whole midrange blah blah blah argument here. The camera is definitely sub par. I don't know what Moto did, but they messed up somewhere. What kills me is that when taking videos via Snapchat, recording is perfect, but using any camera software, can't focus, despite tapping the screen or repositioning the focus ring. Picture wise, camera isn't bad, but I had better clarity and less noise in my X Pure. At this point I'm debating buying the Hasselbad camera Moto Mod just to try, in hopes that I'll see an improvement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think your unit is kinda defective. I have always used flagship devices and this is my first mid rang phone. Camera quality is definitely above average in good lighting Conditons.
Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:21 AM ----------
Pics that I have uploaded are in 11.9mp mode. I am sure tapatalk has reduced the quality to a large extent but you will get an idea.
Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk

Defective, not at all. Photos are fine, but in comparison to my X Pure, definitely not as good, and that too, was a midrange device. Videos, as I attend a lot of shows and festivals, usually at night, are horrific, even using a modified camera API, alternative apps, it's the same BS, can't focus no matter how many tries. I've lost so many good videos because they're blurry the whole way through. But again, Snapchat video is flawless and focuses perfectly. Fairly certain the issue is related to the camera API, as Snapchat uses its own, thus the distorted audio 95% of the time, Motos wind rejection/noise cancellation is amazing. Front rows,50k-150k Watts of sound and waves of bass and it's perfect.
As I said, camera isn't bad, for picture taking, and in decent light, as your examples look like what mine takes, but low light or any usage of zoom, pfft, garbage photos. My Nexus 6 was amazing, X Pure was a step down, but this I feel shouldn't​ be this bad. The G4 probably has a better camera, and that's sad.
---------- Post added at 06:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:10 AM ----------
And worth noting, I used to buy my phone's based on the camera alone. Still have my Nokia N82 with the Carl Zeiss optics and a true xenon flash. That 8yr old phone at 5MP took better pictures than my Moto Z Play.

I don't find the camera bad. Compared to my previous Sony Xperia Z1C and the Note 4 I find it better. But it alway also depends on what you want to do. I use it a lot for outdoor Pictures.
I copy my post from another thread with some Pictures here:
Coming from a Samsung Note 4 the Z Play camera quality was a big concern for me. But actually it's better than the Note 4. Samsung applies way too much denoise and sharpening filters which you could see a lot in outdoor images with trees and so on. (Giving everything a "watercolor effect".) Of course they do not have so much noise on the other hand but images clearly lack of detail with Samsung software.
The Moto Z Play gave me more details compared to the Note 4 (which is the same module than Galaxy S5). Also low light is better. Overall for me quality was on par for example with the OnePlus3T of my son.
The only thing I agree which is missing is the OIS. You really have to concentrate to hold the phone steady when taking HDR images. Without HDR I don't have issues though. On the other hand HDR images are really good to increase the images dynamic range.
I also switched to Snap Camera app (not to be confused with Snap from Lineage) which gives me a lot more options compared to the stock camera. There I completely disabled the denoise filter and lowered the sharpening filter to -2. This gave me even more details without sacrificing the Quality with to much noise. Beside this it has 4K Super Slowmotion and an enhanced HDR mode for really hard conditions.
I noticed that a lot of people judge the images only on the small phone screen and don't zoom in an look at the details. Also they expect images to perfectly come out with auto mode and not trying to play with the settings and optimize them.
Some images at full resolution. Most of them were shot under not so ideal conditions but I think they are good espacially with the given conditions. All were done with Snap Camera and denoise filter disabled to get more details. Just click on the links below:
A lot of small details in this image which come out really well. Also the dynamic range and the colors are great I think.
Denoise disabled too, maybe a little to much sharpening. Therefore noise came out a little to much but nice details if you look at the meadow, trees and roof.
Optimized the sharpening filter a little.
A shot against the rising sun. You could still see details of the plants in the foreground.
Very dark - actually it was darker than it appears on the image:

Auto focus isn't working at all on my MZP. I'd say it is the worst camera I ever had in any smartphone, which isn't really an issue though.
Edit: If the focussing would work, it might be a decent cam. However, it seems to be a wide-spread issue.
Edit2: According to this thread Lenovo confirmed that the faulty auto focus is a hardware issue. So, the camera shouldn't be an obstacle after all.

Auto focus searches all the time on my phone also! If it's a hardware issue, it can't be fixed by software update. That's bad.
So why is camera no issue? Are you sure the hardware fault is fixed in newer devices? Does there exist a reliable test to find out if your device is concerned?

Thank you to everyone's input so far. The information has been been very helpful! I appreciate the thoughts, information and images greatly!
cesgz said:
If you are looking this phone mainly for pictures, i wouldn't recommend it.
But for battery life, is crazy, i can easily get 2 days without charging it. This is the reason im keeping it.
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I am mainly looking at it for battery, but I would like a better camera than my N5. To be fair, it is REALLY bad so that isn't saying much. For the photos that "matter" I use my Nikon DLSR.
leoavi94 said:
you want a decent camera which will click good shots when needed in a budget smartphone, you can go for it. I will post some shots as well in differnt lighting conditions so you can judge yourself.
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That is exactly what I am looking for. I would like something with a good dev community to keep the device current (first non Nexus for me) but the MZP looks to have that as well. The N5's photos aren't hardly worth putting on Facebook, so I was hoping to get something a little better. Thank you for the pictures!! those are simple (which is good), and worlds better than what I would get with the N5.
siralsmooth said:
My Moto X Pure destroyed my Moto Z Play in both pictures and video. So let's not say that whole midrange blah blah blah argument here. The camera is definitely sub par.
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I don't have much to compare it to outside of the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 5 and my wife's first gen Moto X (sprint). I take your input seriously and will look to evaluate images. I am a little concerned about you stating it is more the focus than the IQ. That could make even a good camera unusable.
noisyriver said:
I don't find the camera bad. Compared to my previous Sony Xperia Z1C and the Note 4 I find it better. But it alway also depends on what you want to do. I use it a lot for outdoor Pictures.
I copy my post from another thread with some Pictures here:
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Thank you so much for these examples. Let me say you have a beautiful place to take photos. I would consider these really good for a mid range phone. I wouldn't even attempt them with my N5 knowing they wouldn't be usable. Assuming the focus issue isn't a show stopper this lets me know I would be moving up a class or two in camera.
hypoPLAsm said:
Auto focus isn't working at all on my MZP. I'd say it is the worst camera I ever had in any smartphone, which isn't really an issue though.
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Thank you for the link. That is unfortunate. This provides valuable information though and will help me make a decision - at least to know if the camera is working correctly. I am curious if they have fixed it now.
Thanks again to everyone. If others are reading this, I would always appreciate more input.

I think the camera is pretty good. of course i'm not a photographer. i dont understand the camera debate. buy a camera if you need a camera ?!

Hi.
It's simple, if the camera get focus , takes good pictures ... but you have to try almost 3 times to do it right ... sensor it's good ... the problem it's autofocus. I use bacon camera with continuos focus ... helps a little.
Sorry for my english.

I'm actually gonna give snap camera a go as mentioned. And to the previous poster as to why buy a camera, maybe if I carried a purse or a backpack with me every where I went, but my pocket is only so big, and the convenience of having a decent shooter on my phone is more than enough for my needs.

Camera is not bad, need some practice.
http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/58e91bafcb906/IMG_20170408_185534009.jpg?
http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/58e91b9311e1e/IMG_20170408_191249547_HDR.jpg?
Wysłane z mojego XT1635-02 przy użyciu Tapatalka

You all talked me into it. Hopefully I will have my "new to me" Moto Z Play next week. From what I have seen here, I should be happy with the phone as a significant improvement in battery and camera over my Nexus 5. Thanks!!

The mzp has a camera about as good as the nexus 5x. Nowhere near the LG G4 or nexus XL.

Compared to my best friends G5 I'm content with the picture quality and often impressed. The Z play camera is underrated.

The image quality is ok, but the auto focus REALLY sucks. There's no way to take a quick snapshot because the focus is very slow and almost always focusses on the background instead of the object you are trying to capture. As much as I love the Z Play, I just hate the camera, even compared to the one from my previous Nexus 5.

beatschubser said:
The image quality is ok, but the auto focus REALLY sucks. There's no way to take a quick snapshot because the focus is very slow and almost always focusses on the background instead of the object you are trying to capture. As much as I love the Z Play, I just hate the camera, even compared to the one from my previous Nexus 5.
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After reading you comment, I minimized Tapatalk, opened my camera and gave less than a second to focus and snapped a shot. To minimise the luck factor, I did it it 3more times and absolutely no blurriness..
Couple of more people have reported that issue on this post but I have never faced any such problem.. Lucky may be [emoji14]
Sent from my XT1635-02 using Tapatalk