Develop Bugs

[Q] Camera quality question

Since the Nexus doesn't have a Q&A section i have a question about the camera before i get one. I am coming from an iPhone 4 and to upgrade from my contract (with 21 months left) it will cost me $300-ish hopefully. Now I have seen reviews comparing the GNEX's camera to the iPhone 4S but nothing to the 4. Now i know it's only 5Mp like the iPhone but what is the quality between the two. Is it about equal to the iPhone 4's or is it worse and such. This is my only major complaint about the device (based on what i heard) i can live with the lack on SD (i've put up with it already with my iPhone)

Dark lord me said:
Since the Nexus doesn't have a Q&A section i have a question about the camera before i get one. I am coming from an iPhone 4 and to upgrade from my contract (with 21 months left) it will cost me $300-ish hopefully. Now I have seen reviews comparing the GNEX's camera to the iPhone 4S but nothing to the 4. Now i know it's only 5Mp like the iPhone but what is the quality between the two. Is it about equal to the iPhone 4's or is it worse and such. This is my only major complaint about the device (based on what i heard) i can live with the lack on SD (i've put up with it already with my iPhone)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming from an Iphone 4 and a Galaxy S2 i'd place the nexus behind the other 2.
Its not awful but i can certainly notice the quality difference.

Like would you say it's a big difference or is more minor

The GS2 is better for sure but the Nexus is much better in low light shots.
Here is a comparison of the GS2 and Nexus, as I said it is better but the Nexus is no slouch.
http://hemorrdroids.net/samsung-galaxy-nexus-vs-samsung-galaxy-sii-s2-camera-test/

Coming form a galaxy s ii the quality of the camera in the galaxy nexus is... horrible , i'm pissed at google, why didnt they use the same camera module as the galaxy s ii? i can only think of one thing: MARKETING , they want us to upgrade and buy the galaxy s iii , they don't want to build a perfect phone

Chad_Petree said:
Coming form a galaxy s ii the quality of the camera in the galaxy nexus is... horrible , i'm pissed at google, why didnt they use the same camera module as the galaxy s ii? i can only think of one thing: MARKETING , they want us to upgrade and buy the galaxy s iii , they can't build a perfect phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.. maybe they don't want to build the perfect phone. ... hmmm

Jabbypants said:
The GS2 is better for sure but the Nexus is much better in low light shots.
Here is a comparison of the GS2 and Nexus, as I said it is better but the Nexus is no slouch.
http://hemorrdroids.net/samsung-galaxy-nexus-vs-samsung-galaxy-sii-s2-camera-test/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This guy's conclusion paragraph is hilarious. The Galaxy S2 is clearly the winner here. The daytime shots are much more vibrant and sharp, the macro shots might have a slight edge on the Galaxy Nexus, and the night shots are just a result of the software dialing the ISO way up producing a clearer but super noisy picture. If you crank up the ISO manually on the S2 you'll probably get similar results at night.
I won't even talk about the flash shots. Both were horrible like phones generally are.

the best camera is the one you have on you
it may be behind the S2 in terms of quality, but you've more chance of getting a better shot due to the zero lag, S2 users cannot guarantee when their phone will take the shot, with the nexus I've got some great shots that needed to be taken as soon as I hit the button!

A question about video recording.
When i choose 1080p over 720p i see a lot of Wavy Lines in the screen....anyone else?
As for the camera shots its just fine for me. No complaints and the heavy flash is perfect.

DJTaurus said:
A question about video recording.
When i choose 1080p over 720p i see a lot of Wavy Lines in the screen....anyone else?
As for the camera shots its just fine for me. No complaints and the heavy flash is perfect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it was my sons 2nd birthday the other day, I spent a good few hours filming in 1080p and saw nothing like I'm afraid, is it there on playback?
is it the things you're filming that look "wavy"? (rolling shutter)
btw, filming in 1080 for so long (including using the light when indoors) and my battery was still at 40% by the end of the day!

mmace said:
it was my sons 2nd birthday the other day, I spent a good few hours filming in 1080p and saw nothing like I'm afraid, is it there on playback?
is it the things you're filming that look "wavy"? (rolling shutter)
btw, filming in 1080 for so long (including using the light when indoors) and my battery was still at 40% by the end of the day!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol its just fine. The waves where when i was recording sth in my TV Screen...f stupid i am

In my opinion the galaxy nexus was more accurate with colour and the night shots were night and day difference (pun intended)
Maybe the s2 would produce better enlargements but the nexus has the better camera imo
Sent from my Xoom using xda premium

ChongoDroid said:
In my opinion the galaxy nexus was more accurate with colour and the night shots were night and day difference (pun intended)
Maybe the s2 would produce better enlargements but the nexus has the better camera imo
Sent from my Xoom using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with the night shots, but my day shots are horrible. All washed out.
My front facing camera produces better day shots, its as if they were switched around or the back one takes in too much light

Is there any particular reason why they went with a 5MP camera? I know MPs aren't everything, but I ask because a lot of reviews are pointing to the now-below-high-end-standard megapixel camera as the culprit of the average camera.
Just wondering why Samsung didn't offer at least 8. Did they make any public statement about the reasoning? Does it have something to do with the super quick shutter?

muziqman said:
.. maybe they don't want to build the perfect phone. ... hmmm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly my poin they dont WANT to, so we'll continue "upgrading"

[Q] Camera Question

I was messing with a Galaxy 2 today, and noticed that it had a 8mp camera on it. I thought the quality of the pictures were also really nice. How does the Nexus's camera compare to the one that is on the galaxy 2? Also, why would the downgrade the camera? I know that mega pixels isn't everything when it comes to pictures, but is the nexus 5mp camera better somehow that the 8mp that comes on other recent devices?
Thanks

Unfortunately there is nothing special about the 5mp camera on the nexus.

I can't speak for the galaxy s2, but coming from a Droid 1 which also has a 5mp camera I can say the nexus completely blows it away, very sharp too. Same MP, big difference. There are many discussions on what makes a 8mp camera suck and say, a 5mp be better, ill avoid that road but say it is more than just MP!
And as a second thought, its a phone! The nexus camera is more than adequate, and if you really need top quality, buy a real camera
Galaxy Nexus Bugless Beast 4.0.3 cdma

While there is more than MP the best unfortunate truth is that most high end phones have better sensors AND more MP
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

I'm not 100% sure but I believe megapixel has to do with the size of the photo?
Quality of the camera doesn't really depend on the megapixel.
Despite saying that, the galaxy nexus camera isn't that good. The software is ok but I think its worse then my 5megapixel camera that used to be on my galaxy s captivate.
Please correct me if I'm wrong. Just my thoughts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

my old htc Dinc got a 8mp camera, to compare the both, i dont see any differences beside the GNex came are godly fast.

I can coax better shots out of my Dinc...
That and stock software takes terrible shots, not even at the expense of speed, just poor decisions in noise reduction.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

I wonder if they choose to use a smaller sensor to keep the camera so fast. Maybe the larger sensors weren't performing as well speed wise. But I agree others, it isn't the best out there.

zeke1988 said:
my old htc Dinc got a 8mp camera, to compare the both, i dont see any differences beside the GNex came are godly fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
staticx57 said:
I can coax better shots out of my Dinc...
That and stock software takes terrible shots, not even at the expense of speed, just poor decisions in noise reduction.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bummer. the camera is one of the main deciding factors for me. i'll be upgrading from a Dinc, and while it served me well the past two years, I really would like to upgrade to a better phone cam, since the Dinc's cam is terrible at low light situations and can overexpose at outdoors. the flash on it is terrible also, being overly bright, which just washes out the photo. do i have another option in verizon, or is the iphone 4s my only other option? my upgrade is due now by the way. thanks.

MP is just the size of the photos. How good a camera is has a lot more to do with just the MP count. However, MP count does play an important role in phone photography. 99% of the phone camera lenses have no optical zoom. All the "zoom" are digital zoom, which just means cropping and enlarging the original picture. In this case, all else equal, the higher the MP, the better the "zoomed" result. Moreover, and very unfortunately, MP count aside, the lens and the sensor on the Galaxy Nexus are pretty poor.

The camera isn't amazing, but I would definitely not suggest anything but the GNex since it's all round just a perfect phone, you'll regret not getting it IMO.

radiohead14 said:
bummer. the camera is one of the main deciding factors for me. i'll be upgrading from a Dinc, and while it served me well the past two years, I really would like to upgrade to a better phone cam, since the Dinc's cam is terrible at low light situations and can overexpose at outdoors. the flash on it is terrible also, being overly bright, which just washes out the photo. do i have another option in verizon, or is the iphone 4s my only other option? my upgrade is due now by the way. thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I were you on verizon I would get the Rezound. It has a really nice camera compared to the Gnex and it also has a 1280x720 screen and even a more powerful GPU (but not CPU). I had it before I switched it for my gnex but I can't stand not having an AMOLED screen otherwise id still have that phone.

staticx57 said:
If I were you on verizon I would get the Rezound. It has a really nice camera compared to the Gnex and it also has a 1280x720 screen and even a more powerful GPU (but not CPU). I had it before I switched it for my gnex but I can't stand not having an AMOLED screen otherwise id still have that phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea i was trying out that phone in store. it's a bit of a brick though, and i wasn't impressed with the screen as well. any other ones coming out soon that i should wait for? will verizon get the galaxy S3?

Im impressed with the GNex cam. I do a lot of custom paint and mostly metallics so i like to take very close pics and they always come out great

Why does the One S take much better photos?

The quality difference between the one s and one x are huge. Take a look at the android central one s review for proof (I can't post links).
Any idea why?

It could be that they use two different sensor modules (which have identical specs)
No real way to tell without doing teardowns of both phones.

Perhaps it's a software issue doue to tegra3 drivers and such...? I reckon it will be better once the updates start flowing

reviews say it's the other way around...X photos are better than S

My mate in work has the s, i was doing a comparison yesterday, look much the same to me.

There is actually a YouTube x one vs sensation xe camera and the one x is way too low for quality ,after watching the video I gave xe a 10 ,the one x a 2 ,yes its that bad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdOzSKs9lO8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Sent from my Desire HD using xda premium

zerozoneice said:
reviews say it's the other way around...X photos are better than S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's probably difficult to say because we were not there where the picture was taken so we don't know which one was closer to reality.
But the S one does appear nicer, while the X one is like washed out. But this could be simply due to different exposure. Downloading both and adjusting exposure in Photoshop so the pictures would match would allow for better comparison.
Or maybe S comes with newer software that doesn't do as much postprocessing as X does. I guess camera mod will fix that for us.

I don't have an issue with the One X's photos, aside from the fact they're brutally over-sharpened.

i get an odd yellow tinge when i click photos on my htc on x..is anyone exp the same prob? im wondering if its a defect and should i get it changed..
also the yellowness seems to reduce considerably when the sharpness is reduced..
help someone..i recently bought the htc one x..thank you

drsaadk said:
i get an odd yellow tinge when i click photos on my htc on x..is anyone exp the same prob? im wondering if its a defect and should i get it changed..
also the yellowness seems to reduce considerably when the sharpness is reduced..
help someone..i recently bought the htc one x..thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found that reducing the saturation by one level solved it completely. The default camera settings are terrible. The yellow problem seems to kick in when there is low light - I found outdoor shots in full sun didn't have the yellow problem (so far - only had the phone about 4 hours!).

About camera shots compression rate

It seems that the stock camera compress the pictures a lot. Are there any ways to adjust the compression way? maybe smali the camera.apk? Thanks.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

I´d like to know it too. The compression is pretty strong and you can see artifacts even on pictures taken with good light.

I downloaded Camera 360 for this reason - adjustable compression (if I remember)

Try igcamera free version, its the best if you ask me, Camera ICS+ is also good.
Cheers.

Wow! I didn't realize how aggressive the compression was until I tested this.
Took two pictures of the same subject, one with each camera app:
Default Camera app: 1.3mb
ICS Camera app: 4.3mb.
ICS camera pic has noticeably better quality.
Why would HTC do this? What is the benefit of making the pictures so small? They did this on the Vivid, too, including video, and it kind of ruined the quality.

greyhulk said:
Wow! I didn't realize how aggressive the compression was until I tested this.
Took two pictures of the same subject, one with each camera app:
Default Camera app: 1.3mb
ICS Camera app: 4.3mb.
ICS camera pic has noticeably better quality.
Why would HTC do this? What is the benefit of making the pictures so small? They did this on the Vivid, too, including video, and it kind of ruined the quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup kinda of sucks doesn't it?
Also checkout the different in bit rate when recording with the stock camera and the igcamera or ICS+
You get like 12 mbps in bit rate with the stock and with the others you get 30 or more igcamera has the option to go to 100mbps, the difference is very noticeable.

greyhulk said:
Wow! I didn't realize how aggressive the compression was until I tested this.
Took two pictures of the same subject, one with each camera app:
Default Camera app: 1.3mb
ICS Camera app: 4.3mb.
ICS camera pic has noticeably better quality.
Why would HTC do this? What is the benefit of making the pictures so small? They did this on the Vivid, too, including video, and it kind of ruined the quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say it's probably for faster uploading to the web. Dropbox, social networks etc. Which is probably what most users are going to do with the photos they take of their mates vomiting in the gutter when pissed up.
Sent from Bindroid

I have just installed the igcamera and the quality is REALLY REALLY superior to HTC's stock camera. It really makes you wonder what was HTC thinking.

What's igcamera and where can I get it from please ?
Ohhh LG! My bad
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

aslan93 said:
What's igcamera and where can I get it from please ?
Ohhh LG! My bad
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=rubberbigpepper.lgCamera

Wow! Just installed ICS camera, what a difference! Higher bit rate etc = so much better! Glad I checked this topic, this forum just keeps on giving! Cheers all.

backudog said:
Wow! Just installed ICS camera, what a difference! Higher bit rate etc = so much better! Glad I checked this topic, this forum just keeps on giving! Cheers all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ics takes worse pictures than stock I found, grainy in low light and over exposed out side.
I took a picture of my dogs in the river by my house with both stock and ics, and ics made the water purple.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Any other alternatives aside from ics+ and igcamera.? I've found both to be extremely unstable.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Well I tried the lgcamera and ics camera.. well the lgcamera is bad in low light conditions and ics camera crops the photo.. it doesn't take advantage of the full ratio.. by the way what I did observe the phone gets heated up like crazy at 50 degrees battery temperature.. well loosing a little detail to battery drain I don't mind.. I generally take portrait or group photos in good lighting conditions.. well this is my take on this..
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39122770/htc one x.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39122770/360.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/39122770/ics.jpg
These three photos were taken one after the other in the same conditions, first one is with the stock camera, second one is with camera 360 and the third one is taken with ICS camera, I prefer the stock, more natural colours in my opinion, what does everyone think. This is the north coast of Ireland.

I'm not a pro by any means, but I think we can all agree that images shot in low light conditions with the HTC one x lack detail and are extremely grainy. The image chip was supposedly going to give us a superior camera experience but after trying the stock camera, ics + and a few others I'm still less than impressed. Not giving up hope yet though that the right software modifications could still make this a great point and shooter, as under perfect lighting it performs extremely well.
I'm currently trying procapture. In direct comparison with other alternatives mentioned here, I am finding the images to be of marginally better quality when pointing and shooting in shades and less than ideal indoor lighting. Although blacks remain too gray for my taste.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

The camera takes great pictures under good lighting as examplified by your images. My problem is that for everyday situations, where lighting is usually not ideal, the picture quality is horrendous.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

I've tried almost every camera application I can find and, honestly, I find the stock HTC camera app to be the best. Some applications are better in certain situations, but the stock camera app is the best all round. People always complain about the terrible low light pictures but with the exception of the Galaxy S 3 and some of the Xperia range, I've never owned a phone that can take such good photos.
The advert with the sky diver taking videos and photos is ridiculous and misleading though, those videos and pictures would look awful!
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

treebill said:
Ics takes worse pictures than stock I found, grainy in low light and over exposed out side.
I took a picture of my dogs in the river by my house with both stock and ics, and ics made the water purple.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you but the recording is nicer with ICS due to the bit rate which HTC SHOULD have fixed somehow...

With every app i tried video recording looses focus
refocusses every 20-25sec or so

Camera TERRIBLE indoors?

Hi all,
Quick question about the quality of images on my HOX.
They are absolutely terrible, for a HOX, especially when one of their major selling points was the apparantly, amazing camera?
The quality of images out doors, is acceptable, but again for a camera such as the HOX I think they should be better.
But indoors, they are almost un-viewable they are that bad.
Im no camera expert, and don't know much about what to do to produce a good image.
Has anyone else experienced terrible HOX images?
Is their anything I can do to improve the quality of the images?
Thanks all !

In my experience indoor performance of the One X camera is as good if not better than other well regarded smart phones out there. I have personally compared indoor performance against the Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 4S; picture quality in most cases turned out to be better than 4S and on par with S3. However, having said that, don’t expect the quality of a DSLR or even a cheap point n shoot compact camera.
What exactly is the problem with your indoor photos? Are they too dark, noisy or blurry? When taking photos indoors try to hold the phone as stable as you can, because under low light conditions the shutter stays open longer to take in more light, this causes even the slightest movement to make your photo very blurry.

PhoenixFx said:
In my experience indoor performance of the One X camera is as good if not better than other well regarded smart phones out there. I have personally compared indoor performance against the Galaxy S3 and the iPhone 4S; picture quality in most cases turned out to be better than 4S and on par with S3. However, having said that, don’t expect the quality of a DSLR or even a cheap point n shoot compact camera.
What exactly is the problem with your indoor photos? Are they too dark, noisy or blurry? When taking photos indoors try to hold the phone as stable as you can, because under low light conditions the shutter stays open longer to take in more light, this causes even the slightest movement to make your photo very blurry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for the reply.
I compared with the S3, and the HOX looked like a disposable camera compared to the S3.
Indoors they look very pixlated and blurry as you said.
I hold it as steady as my hands allow me.
Im not sure what noise etc is.
Thanks for the reply mate, is there anything I can do to improve?

Wilks3y said:
Hi, thanks for the reply.
I compared with the S3, and the HOX looked like a disposable camera compared to the S3.
Indoors they look very pixlated and blurry as you said.
I hold it as steady as my hands allow me.
Im not sure what noise etc is.
Thanks for the reply mate, is there anything I can do to improve?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same issue here on my gf's htc one x.
Blurry pictures. Setting iso to 800 manualy helps a bit but still not like my note 2.
And the low light setting I have been reading about is night setting I presume?
My note 2 has a low light setting and with it you make awesome pictures.
Doesn't work like this on one x.
Real shame because outdoor pictures are great.
If you advertise with it make it f***** work.
Focus is wierd to. Note 2 flashes long for focus then again short and adjusted during the shot.
The htc focusses in darkness then flashes and takes the shot.....no wonder they're out of focus.
Anyway we are not happy. Especially when we heard they don't take it back.
Now she's stuck with a crappy indoor phone camera for 2 years.
Htc better update on this issue quick

Nathalex27 said:
Same issue here on my gf's htc one x.
Blurry pictures. Setting iso to 800 manualy helps a bit but still not like my note 2.
And the low light setting I have been reading about is night setting I presume?
My note 2 has a low light setting and with it you make awesome pictures.
Doesn't work like this on one x.
Real shame because outdoor pictures are great.
If you advertise with it make it f***** work.
Focus is wierd to. Note 2 flashes long for focus then again short and adjusted during the shot.
The htc focusses in darkness then flashes and takes the shot.....no wonder they're out of focus.
Anyway we are not happy. Especially when we heard they don't take it back.
Now she's stuck with a crappy indoor phone camera for 2 years.
Htc better update on this issue quick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, gutted.
Can't understand how they can advertise a man jumping out of a plane with it, and getting focused stunning shots, but yet us trying to take a picture of a dog in our bedrooms is not stable enough and comes out blurry.
Yet again, HTC successfully blags its consumer base.
Anything we can do?!

Wilks3y said:
Same here, gutted.
Can't understand how they can advertise a man jumping out of a plane with it, and getting focused stunning shots, but yet us trying to take a picture of a dog in our bedrooms is not stable enough and comes out blurry.
Yet again, HTC successfully blags its consumer base.
Anything we can do?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I called with htc customer service and they said if enough complaints come in that they'll update on the issue.
So report it and hope for the best
Edit: I had mine replaced with a galaxy s3.
Better flash, more functions ( that actualy work and do what they should do. )
Very sharp indoor pictures.
With flash is perfect but without and low light mode is perfect too.
I'm just gonna stick to samsung phones from now on.
Save myself the trouble of going through countless discussions with htc and customer service to replace a phone.
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Premium HD app