I'm sure everyone is tired of people parroting that CM camera is not as good as stock and blah blah blah. Since I am a constant tester of my phones, here is what I have personally found. Feel free to share your results as well.
4.3 stock camera: I could not believe Sony released such bad software. Focus was a disaster and at least 50% of my pictures and videos were out of focus. Videos were especially affected by the lack of focus control. A significant number of my videos ended up being pure crap. Lighting conditions did not matter. Focus was horrible outdoors in plain daylight, indoors during day and night, everywhere. The camera was unreliable for one-time opportunities.
4.4.2 stock camera: The camera became much better than the 4.3 version, but still not the best. Pictures don't seem to be affected as much by the focus problem, but videos still have issues. Outdoors, videos seem to be mostly OK now, but indoors, I've noticed that the camera tries to focus constantly whenever I move the phone one tiny bit, even if the subject hasn't moved at all. That created a ghost on most of my videos because focus was never constant, although both the camera and subject moved very little.
CM 11 camera: Although definitely not perfect, my experience has been the best with CM. My pictures are hardly ever out of focus, and my videos are nearly always good. However, there are exceptions. I've noticed that the camera doesn't get and hold focus in certain situations. I've recorded a video inside a gym, at night with lights on from the middle of the court to the back wall. Without any zoom or flash, the focus was just shy of perfect, but was clearly off. This less-than-perfect focus issue has appeared in several of my videos. I've also noticed that when the camera is trying to acquire focus in macro pictures, it passes through the perfect focus point, but often settles in a less focused state.
My verdict
Out of all cameras, CM has given me the best results overall. It is far from perfect, but it has been the best for me. Also, after all the hype about the "amazing" Sony camera, I can honestly say I am disappointed. The cameras on my previous phones (AT&T Note 2 and S4) generated better pictures and videos. I expected it to be at least comparable in quality to Samsung cameras, but that is not the case when comparing all the pictures and videos I've taken, several of which at the same locations/events for better comparison. I absolutely love my Z1C and it was the first phone to break me free from the Samsung curse, but the camera does not meet my expectations.
What has YOUR OWN experience been? What problems have you found in each rom? How do you get the best pictures/videos?
hi,
nice post. I did quick test of RRrom vs KK camera few days back, keeping it short, CM camera gaveme too few settings to choose from. what is more, not like it matters much, CM11 front facing camera gives much worse output compared to stock. I have seen the new version of CM has rolled out recently, I hope for new CM based roms to come out soon. I will have some camera heavy days this week so I can do some more tests.
BTW, having the weekend free, I did 4.4 vs 4.3. Like the 4.3 camera better :]
Related
Hi all,
I have a touch pro 2, have upgraded from a touch pro, and its an all round better phone than its older brother.
However, the Camera on my old TP is so much better than mine on my TP2. On both the stock Rom, and my Energy rom the picture is total rubbish at all resolutions that its taken from. all the images seem very grainy and distorted compared to my TP.
I have tried cleaning the lens, and that hasnt seemed to make any difference either.
Has anyone else found this?
I completely agree with you on this. I remembered I was watching a video review on this device and they noted that the severity of the camera graininess is carrier specific due to the different battery covers. The other day I took a Pic with the battery cover off just to see if their was a difference and the pic was definitely a little bit sharper.
The clear window on battery cover can severely degrade image quality if scratched or greasy. The TP2 camera takes very nice pictures set at highest resolution and with good/bright light. Not so good in dim/poor light situations.
I've seen the same thing. Detail is all mushy. It reminds me a bit of some noise reduction software set too high. Since the tiny sensor in this phone would be prone to noise (small sensors have small pixels, so their light gathering capability is boosted by amplification, adding noise), so the Tilt2/Touchpro2 may have excessive noise reduction running.
Just a thought.
Images taken w/TP2
I am surprised to hear these comments! I have had a couple people mention how good images look that I have taken (using default settings). I have the T-Mobile version TP2 and am using b16b's AthineOS 21914 (superb) and am OC'd @729mhz. I have attached a couple photos taken recently that show what my device produces with it's camera. I am not a photographer by any means, and the image quality isn't amazing compared to a high-end digital camera, however, for my everyday usage which is somewhat limited to impulsive shooting of animals or car-wrecks & bum-fights, it seems to take fairly decent pictures. I do want to also mention that I take great pains to keep my device clean and use microfibre cleansing material frequently. Also, most of my use is outdoors, I have noticed that indoor usage doesn't give great results unless there is PLENTY of light available. Lack of a flash really disappoints me, however, overall I am very satisfied with my TP2!
Hey guys/gals,
Just wondering on how the quality of the pictures are with this phone. I've seen pics taken by reviewers, but it's always better to look at it from a user's perspective. Has anybody tried playing around with the camera?
Also, can someone be kind enough to upload some sample pictures of random shots, like daylight shots, night time, and macro shots? I know the camera is supposedly very good, but it'll be nice to actually see a few real samples, especially the night time shots.
bump, anybody? hehe
Actual pics to come, but from my own experience as both a previous user of the Nexus One AND a hobby digital photographer are;
All of this is using the default Camera, default settings (except for turning OFF the shutter sound).
1. The Nitro does a rather good job in low light situations. Opting to raise the ISO more than use Flash. On more than a few occasions where I expected to see flash, it didn't. When blown-up you certainly can see the picture is grainier without the flash, but for web/facebook viewing the results are quite good and a LOT LESS harsh from not using flash.
2. LONG shot-to-shot time! I wonder what the buffer size with the camera is, IF there's even a buffer that comes with it! Because it takes me about 6 seconds between taking one picture before I'm able to take the next. Even when I try using a 3rd party app (Camera Zoom FX) I only got the time down to 3 seconds. Do NOT plan on using this phone's camera for any kid's birthday parties!!
That's all I've got for the moment, will add more when I've done more playing/testing.
Guess I can upload a bunch I took.
A note, some are taken with HDR + and others with Camera Zoom FX.
http://thewisedumbass.tumblr.com/post/14540968432 (Had to make it a post on Tumblr, pics kept messing up here)
The photos looks decent for a phone, nothing spectacular, at low light is more like "meh" - an average or slightly above, but when it comes to movies at low light I'd prefer have grain (Atrix 4G / Nitro) rather then ghosting (any other phones). On Nitro and Atrix 4G regardless of the light the picture is smooth 30fps, as opposite to Skyrocket or ANY HTC phone with 5fps and all smugged.
Here are some shots to compare:
Nitro with flash (left), no flash (right):
Atrix 4G with flash (left), no flash (right):
Also note Nitro has much lower lens focal length, which makes it capture wider surroundings. The photos were taking from 4 feet away and Nitro's photos captured much more surroundings then Atrix. Even when you hold both phones side by side the image at Nitro looks at pretty much correct distance, rather then on Atrix it looks like zoomed in. Yet, in low light Atrix's ISO captures much more light.
This is first phone camera that beat Atrix's (IMO). /me very happy with it.
Nice!! thanks guys for the details comparisons. I am liking wat i see with the Nitro. Do any of u guys find the auto focus annoying, or is there an option to do manual focus, like the atrix??
Not sure what manual focus you are talking about, but the camera does allow you to touch to pick the area to focus. Still auto-focus to the region, but better than the normal.
aquariuz23 said:
Nice!! thanks guys for the details comparisons. I am liking wat i see with the Nitro. Do any of u guys find the auto focus annoying, or is there an option to do manual focus, like the atrix??
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Neither stock nor MIUI camera has manual focus on Atrix...In fact Atrix doesn't allow you pick which part on the picture you want it focus to, it's always at the center.
Hello all,
Do you think the issues with the Galaxy Nexus camera are due to software issues or is the camera sensor just really that bad? It seems that the low light capability of this camera is even worse than that of the Nexus S. I've never had any issues with my camera phones in the past producing such crap photos as the one this phone produces(HTC Sensation, Nexus S and original Nexus). I'm thinking about just going back to my Nexus S and selling this one.
I've attached two photos that someone posted on Google+ illustrating how bad the Galaxy Nexus compares to the Asus Transformer Prime's camera. This is really frustrating and if I were Google and/or Samsung, I'd be embarrassed.
Not the same angle, not the same focus point which impacts the validity of this comparison.
Also note that there is a little bit more detail in the more grainy shot. This is something that actually could be improved with a software update.
Valynor said:
Not the same angle, not the same focus point which impacts the validity of this comparison.
Also note that there is a little bit more detail in the more grainy shot. This is something that actually could be improved with a software update.
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Hmm...each picture look pretty close to the same angle. I'm more concerned with the graininess of the Galaxy Nexus photo. It seems that the camera's ISO is too high which is why it's producing a grainy picture.
oracleicom said:
Hmm...each picture look pretty close to the same angle. I'm more concerned with the graininess of the Galaxy Nexus photo. It seems that the camera's ISO is too high which is why it's producing a grainy picture.
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It mainly comes down to a balance of exposure time, ISO, picture quality level of the sensor at that ISO and noise reduction algorithms/general software post-processing of the image.
I agree that there is quite some room for improvement in this area on the GN camera. I hope Google/Samsung will address this in an update someday.
Apart from this, any phone camera sucks at low light.
I find the camera really good. The only thing I find kind of strange is how photo's look in a dim room with flash on close up.
Videos look godly
Coming from the SG2 the Nexus certainly is a step backwards. What has impressed me about the Nexus camera is the ability to focus and stay focused, and snap shots almost instantly. The SG2 has issues with focus and delays. In movie mode the SG2 would come in and out of focus even when I have not moved the phone at all. Taking photos of moving objects on the SG2 is a real challenge because of its inability to focus, but having said that the photos that are taken properly do come out very sharp and vibrant, especially given enough daylight.
So where the Nexus improved vastly on focus speed, it fails in image quality. Even in moderate light I see more than usual noise from photos taken with the Nexus.
I look forward to the SGIII.
I just remind myself that I'm taking pictures with a phone. So I don't care. I also have not had issues with photos. Especially when I remind myself, again, that I am using a phone to take pictures with.
mzrdisi said:
I just remind myself that I'm taking pictures with a phone. So I don't care. I also have not had issues with photos. Especially when I remind myself, again, that I am using a phone to take pictures with.
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Yeah dude, I agree. If I want yo take sick photo's, I'd use a camera anyway, even if the phone is the best "camera" phone on the market. Its for quick shots. I agree aswell that the Gnex could be better... But I've seen/used worse. = )
mzrdisi said:
I just remind myself that I'm taking pictures with a phone. So I don't care. I also have not had issues with photos. Especially when I remind myself, again, that I am using a phone to take pictures with.
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Click to collapse
Amen!
That's why I lug a DSLR around with me when I go away for work.
REAL camera = photography, cell phone = phone with a point & shoot camera built into it.
For indoor pics just set your phone to Party preset. Works best.
You can get similar / better results by manually choosing the white balance and exposure settings depending on your light conditions. But for quick snaps, just select party mode and see the difference.
Camera is more than decent.
Personally I am using Camera Zoom FX for most of the time. But in certain low light conditions, stock camera app with party preset actually does much better job.
This is one of the worst camera I seen in years.
This is what really holds me back from buying a GN these days...I would be interested in your guys thoughts: Do you think that there will be some software based improvements within the next weeks? Or is it just the lense (or some hardware stuff like that, not my terrain here^^), which can´t be improved?
brooon said:
This is what really holds me back from buying a GN these days...I would be interested in your guys thoughts: Do you think that there will be some software based improvements within the next weeks? Or is it just the lense (or some hardware stuff like that, not my terrain here^^), which can´t be improved?
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Hardware is always limiting. No amount of software can make something better than it physically can be. I'm not saying that updates cant fix the issues we're seeing, I actually believe the contrary. There is a lot you can do with software to really tweak things. But you can't compare a phone camera to a DSLR or something like it.
I personally believe google will update the camera but the question is when. Personally I think the camera is great. I think it depends on what you're used to taking pictures with, and how ocd/picky you are about quality. The SGS2 has better camera hardware, but do try to remember the issues it had when it first came out. The camera quality issues of it were patched up really nice with a software update so don't give your hopes up.
EddieN said:
Hardware is always limiting. No amount of software can make something better than it physically can be. I'm not saying that updates cant fix the issues we're seeing, I actually believe the contrary. There is a lot you can do with software to really tweak things. But you can't compare a phone camera to a DSLR or something like it.
I personally believe google will update the camera but the question is when. Personally I think the camera is great. I think it depends on what you're used to taking pictures with, and how ocd/picky you are about quality. The SGS2 has better camera hardware, but do try to remember the issues it had when it first came out. The camera quality issues of it were patched up really nice with a software update so don't give your hopes up.
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Thanks for your input! Yeah I´m coming from an SGSII, atm I´m on a Galaxy Note...so both of my current devices do have better hardware...in the past there was the HD2, which had some terrible software bugs, that have been worked out within months. The last roms I used with the HD2 really pushed the photoquality...
I came from the sgs2 and they are almost identical, I do find the nexus a bit sharper. Great macro
Sent from my francoPhone using xda premium
I started using Shot Control over the stock camera app. It seems to do a better job of with the settings and does give a higher degree of fine tuning them. Give up the panorama mode though, which I love!
People want the highest quality, buy a freaking camera. Or get over it already, stop making this kind of threads.
i am completely dissatisfied with the camera on this phone. I came from a Nexus One to the Gnex. The Nexus one has an AMAAAZING camera on it. Of course HTC uses better hardware. Ill post comparison pics later... damn samsung!
how can i reduce the noise (or grain... i dont know the exact english term) in the pic??
the pics on first posts explain very good the problem.
thx a lot.
daffyno said:
how can i reduce the noise (or grain... i dont know the exact english term) in the pic??
the pics on first posts explain very good the problem.
thx a lot.
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Click to collapse
In short...you can't. The hardware in a device this small can't do much more than that.
Hi,
I have/had many Smartphones apart from the P930. Somehow the picture quality of the P930 is the worst. Both picture and video capturing. Is this normal or some problem with my P930?
Cheers,
sb
As i know the camera module was produced by sony and it has good quality. Quality depends from which rom are you using. My point of view is that camera on stock rom (2,3; 4.0; and miui v4) is much better than on custom (i mean CM and Other)
the pictures from the rom in my sig are great, it's based off stock ics but custom kernel etc
warning you need to be unbricked and rooted etc, which isn't easy if you are new at moding phones
I tested all ROMs, also Mattman's and the Stock ROMs. The picture quality is quite bad in my opinion. Also the autofocus is not very good. Do you think this is a bug in my smartphone?
Mine is actually quite nice. In fact, I've submitted a few pictures to a couple contests and placed.
mattman86 said:
Mine is actually quite nice. In fact, I've submitted a few pictures to a couple contests and placed.
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How is your autofocus?
Can you post the samples?
I've got 'prosumer' level photography equipment, so my opinions are jaded. That said, when I first got my Nitro I HATED the camera! It was extremely slow to take a picture and the amount of time it took between taking 1 picture until it could take another seemed like FOREVER. Blur, subpar color rendition...So yeah, I wasn't happy with the camera.
But since putting CM10.1 on, the camera software is LEAPS and BOUNDS better. Shooting speed is MUCH faster, the time between shots is MUCH shorter. The color rendition is much better, the auto-focus works better (click on area to focus)...Even in lower light conditions I get decent shots now. I can easily and wholeheartedly recommend using the CM10.1 camera vs. stock (Well, Stock OS when it first came out, ICS Stock might be worlds better too).
...All of this is at 1.0x zoom. Start using the digital zoom and all bets are off. Grain and blur run rampant the more you zoom.
Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Google Pixel come out. A higher rating indicates that photos offer rich color (without over-saturating), sharp detail (with all subjects in-focus), and appropriate exposure (with even lighting).
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
I'm personally really liking the camera. Camera is always my top priority and I've gone through five phones in the past year trying to find the complete package. I'm coming directly from a S7. While I wish the main camera has a few more trucks up its sleeve it is quick and I love how it animates and names collages etc from the app instead of having to upload the photos to google photos and do the processing there.
I'll be putting up random shots over the next few days in my Google Photos folder: https://goo.gl/photos/vYAoiyxMw5VGSGPHA I tried attaching many of the shots but XDA yells at me for going over the size limit!
It's good. On par with my s7 edge other than maybe having better dynamic range.
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
I'm really torn between my S7 and my Pixel for image quality tbh, I did quite a few comparisons on a blog this afternoon, results are here
https://carljones.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/pixel-vs-galaxys7/
Attached a few thumbnail images, full-size ones on blog post.
In some instances I prefer the pixel, in others the galaxy, I wish the built-in camera app on pixel had a pro/manual mode.
The low light performance is night and day (if you'll pardon the pun) coming from a Moto X 2014. Fast and sharp, which comes in handy when trying to grab shots of my hamster. Resolution not original but this is in VERY low light.
I have had the S7 Edge, S7, Note 7 and now the Pixel. Had the S6 Edge before that as well as an Honor 8 with its dual camera. Basically, I too have tried nearly every phone that's been out this year looking for the best camera as that's the most important thing to me too.
I never quite liked the S7 camera despite the reviews and ratings. What the reviews don't tell you is that the f 1.7 aperture means a very very narrow 'field of focus'. i.e., large parts of the same photo will be blurry / out of focus. I am not talking about depth of field, I am well aware of what that is and the implication of the f 1.7. Depth of field applies to macro shots. What I am talking about is different parts of photos being out of focus even for landscape shots or general everyday shots where the entire photo is expected to be in focus.
I got around this with my S7 era cameras by using pro mode and multi-AF with matrix metering. But pro mode cannot be set as default, so you had to launch the app and manually switch to pro mode each time.
Anyway, I like the Pixel camera a lot. I think an f 2.0 is a good spec for a camera phone. Anything higher than that comes with too many compromises. There has been a lot of advancement in 2016 in smartphone camers, but they are all around the 12 mp resolution. I'd like to see the same advancements (PDAF, LAF, dual pixel etc.) be made with higher resolution. You can only get so much detail from a 12 mp sensor...
Come on guys dont be cheap, lets see it!
Snapped these last night downtown.
Sorry, wrong forum/post.
Took these just for the ****s of it
I've been mostly pleased with the Pixel's camera. It's very *good*. But after a week using it alongside my S7 and iPhone 7, I'd still rather have either of those in my pocket as my day to day shooter. The Pixel tends to take dimmer/darker shots because it's trying so hard to balance out dynamic range. This can make for some really great shots, but it can also really underexpose if there's a focal point (like, I don't know, a person?) in the shot you're taking. The Pixel also struggles with auto-focus, or its auto-focus simply isn't very intelligent.
Example, kids within a couple of feet of me... 5 shots with the Pixel, each one of them came out underexposed and with their faces blurry, even when I tried to get it to re-focus. My iPhone 7 got them in one shot and properly exposed their faces. In those shots, the Pixel's shots looked great in the background of the photo, but the focus of the pictures were not well-handled. The iPhone 7's shot overexposed the background a bit, but it nailed the focus of the pictures the first time.
It's a very good camera, but I think it's still a step below the top flagships from Samsung and Apple right now, when taking into account all aspects of the cameras.
Examples?
Okay so I'm gonna put it out there. I found my Nexus 6P camera perform better than the Pixel. In fact, I'm gonna say that in some low light conditions, my wife's iPhone 6 Plus performed better, which hasn't been true for me in the last 2 years.
Regarding autofocus in VIDEO, it absolutely nails it and I could not get it to fault. I was able to get it very close to the subject too. I find in shooting PICTURES only, the autofocus is not as reliable. Besides, the HDRa is actually not as good as HDR+. I thought they made HDR ALWAYS ON but it seems this isn't the case. I also found the frame rate switching to be a pain in video. You have to back out of the viewfinder to settings of the app and choose the resolution for the right FPS options to show.
I will share some comparisons with the Pixel v the 6Plus later tonight.
Sent from my Pixel using XDA-Developers mobile app
Has anyone had issues with bad stitching for panorama shots? Everyone I've taken has had some pretty bad misalignment. I understand you want to keep the phone in relatively the same spot the whole time and that the closer things are the harder it is to get it right, but even my co workers S5 takes better panorama shots than this...
Edit: I should also note I'm using the stock Google camera panorama option and set the quality to "high". App looks like it's up to date.
*Attached a sample image*
Sent from my Google Pixel
rickyg946 said:
Has anyone had issues with bad stitching for panorama shots? Everyone I've taken has had some pretty bad misalignment. I understand you want to keep the phone in relatively the same spot the whole time and that the closer things are the harder it is to get it right, but even my co workers S5 takes better panorama shots than this...
Edit: I should also note I'm using the stock Google camera panorama option and set the quality to "high". App looks like it's up to date.
*Attached a sample image*
Sent from my Google Pixel
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Click to collapse
yes, but this is not new to the pixel. my nexus 5X (and i understand the 6P, and even previous nexus/google phones) had the same issue. no matter how well i align, it seems to always stitch poorly. What's odd is that if you use the Photosphere mode to take the same "panoramic" shot, the stitching is vastly improved. I'm still very surprised this doesn't surface in the reviews. maybe no one takes panoramas anymore? maybe you and I are just really bad at it?!
fitchpuckman said:
yes, but this is not new to the pixel. my nexus 5X (and i understand the 6P, and even previous nexus/google phones) had the same issue. no matter how well i align, it seems to always stitch poorly. What's odd is that if you use the Photosphere mode to take the same "panoramic" shot, the stitching is vastly improved. I'm still very surprised this doesn't surface in the reviews. maybe no one takes panoramas anymore? maybe you and I are just really bad at it?!
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Click to collapse
Ah, ok, I'll give photosphere a shot. Yea I'm surprised I haven't seen more people complain about it. Or maybe it really is just us ?
Sent from my Google Pixel
rickyg946 said:
Ah, ok, I'll give photosphere a shot. Yea I'm surprised I haven't seen more people complain about it.
Sent from my Moto X+2
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Click to collapse
agreed. even trying/having luck with photosphere isn't the solution, this should just work. I was definitely disappointed after my initial use of the camera being so positive, then a few days later realizing the basic panorama stitching was still crappy. good thing is these things are typically almost completely software related, bad thing is there's strangely no push for google to improve it.
rickyg946 said:
Has anyone had issues with bad stitching for panorama shots? Everyone I've taken has had some pretty bad misalignment. I understand you want to keep the phone in relatively the same spot the whole time and that the closer things are the harder it is to get it right, but even my co workers S5 takes better panorama shots than this...
Edit: I should also note I'm using the stock Google camera panorama option and set the quality to "high". App looks like it's up to date.
*Attached a sample image*
Sent from my Google Pixel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I have this issue too
Sent from my Pixel using XDA-Developers mobile app