Develop Bugs

Camera question

Maybe this is an ignorant question. Maybe my search skills have failed me. When I had my Fuze I had the camera set up to take excellent pictures for being taken by a cell phone. ill include a couple pictures taken from both phones for comparison. what im looking for is some advice on settings to use to get better pictures. im running energy rom (built nov 27 09 on OS 5.2.21877) if it matters any. Thanks guys.
From my Fuze:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
And from the Touch Pro 2

The two photos were taken in very different light. To make a valid comparison, get two photos with similar lighting.
A photo taken in low light makes the photo sensor "work harder" - slower shutter speeds, boosting the signal gain, etc - that's what's going on in your TP2 photo. You can see it in the smeared headlights (indicates long exposure) and the signal noise (colored blotches) in the sky.
(This is true of even high-end digital SLR cameras. I'm a semi-pro photographer, and have been dealing with such issues for years now.)
Using a tool called Opanda IEXIF, I can see the EXIF data for the TP2 photo indicates 1/21 of a second exposure (pretty long) and sensitivity setting of ISO 600 (pretty high). There is no valid exposure data in the EXIF for the Fuze photo. Judging from the lighting conditions, I'd guess that it might have been around 1/500 of a second at ISO 200.
HTH,
Mike

Ok I guess what i need help with is some general explanation of the settings. obviously a evening picture and midafternoon day will always come out different even on the same camera. basically on the TP2 they are always grainy regardless of whether its set on basic, fine, ultra fine etc. what are the different ISO options? im assuming that would have to do with shutter speed? i have it set to auto on TP2 so maybe thats where I need to look into making adjustments?

Well ... ISO and shutter speed are separate settings that work together to determine the exposure.
ISO is a setting that deals with the photo sensor's (CCD's) sensitivity to light. Higher ISO numbers make the CCD more sensitive by amplifying the electronic signal from each pixel. Unfortunately, it also boosts the electronic noise, so you'll get more of those colored blotches (digital noise) as you increase ISO.
For the best quality (ie - lowest digital noise) photos, keep the ISO as low as possible. But also understand the trade-off (longer shutter speed).
Lower ISO sensitivity means longer shutter speeds to make up for a less sensitive CCD, and vice versa.
I don't see a way with the TP2 to set the shutter speed. So what's happening is that the camera circuitry is trying to find the best balance it can between low ISO and fast shutter speed. The only way you can really influence it is to take ISO off the Auto setting - your choices are 100, 200, 400, 800. (in photography terms, each doubling of ISO is equivalent to one f/stop of exposure sensitivity. ISO 800 is 3 f/stops more sensitive than ISO 100).
I almost never use my phone for photos, but I'd leave mine on Auto ISO, Quality Fine, Image Properties (Contrast/Saturation/Sharpness) to taste, Metering Mode: Center Area.
I'm not familiar with the image processing logic in the TP2, but I think the Superfine Quality might introduce "JPEG artifacts" into your photos - funny looking "squiggles" in a clear blue sky, for example. Try it and see. You can always dial it back to Fine.
I find that Auto White Balance pretty much sucks with cell phone cameras. If you can manually set your white balance to match the light you're shooting in (daylight, tungsten, flourescent, etc), your colors will be better.

ISO is sensor sensitivity, so the lower the ISO the better quality pic, but requires more light, higher ISOs will work better in low light, but more noise will ensue, such as in your 2nd pic

ok most pictures i take are either in sunlight or indoors. obviously i also like to get some sunsets if im in a good location. any suggestions? both of you have been helpful so far so THANKS!!

bmc357374 said:
ok most pictures i take are either in sunlight or indoors. obviously i also like to get some sunsets if im in a good location. any suggestions? both of you have been helpful so far so THANKS!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sunsets. Hoo boy, now you're getting into dynamic range of the CCD. The difference between the lightest and darkest parts of the photo.
I'd go for lowest ISO possible (100), daylight white balance, try to get a good exposure for the sky and just understand that you won't get any detail in the foreground - just black silhouettes. Usually when you see a sunset photo with good exposure in the sky and the foreground, the photographer used Photoshop to combine two photos.
Try to brace the phone/camera as you shoot, to reduce camera shake with slow shutter speeds. Set the bottom edge of the phone on a flat surface or something like that.

yeah generally i have it braced on a flat surface that will keep it good and steady. given that it is in fact still a phone, im not looking for perfect pictures just something decent. I dont like keeping a high dollar digital camera with me at all times for those shots that just have to be captured due to crime in the area.again i thank you guys.

leave the settings alone if you dont understand them. just knock the plastic cover off the camera. take a pic with your battery cover on and off. you ll see a huge difference. that damn plastic gets dirty easily.

xcesivemastub8ah said:
leave the settings alone if you dont understand them. just knock the plastic cover off the camera. take a pic with your battery cover on and off. you ll see a huge difference. that damn plastic gets dirty easily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah except the thing is...im trying to LEARN the settings. huge difference between just taking pictures and wanting to learn what things mean and do.

[Q] Camera guide?

Where can I find a guide or tips for taking best pictures with our Z ?
I especially care about macro photos.
My old sony ericsson c702 with 3mp did way better photos

More light, no flash, and do not zoom. Just my experience.

I don't know of a guide, and I don't do a lot macro photography in particular, but I can give some general tips. I don't even consider myself much of an amateur photographer, much less any kind of expert. But I know a thing or two about general photography, that IMO make a big difference, and a couple tips useful for the G2/Vision in particular.
1) First and foremost, get some basic understanding of how cameras work. IMO this is the number one reason for crappy pictures perpetrated by the huge majority of people with digital cameras. In particular, learn about the exposure triangle. http://www.digital-photography-school.com/learning-exposure-in-digital-photography. You don't have control over aperture and shutter speed on this phone, but knowing what they are, and how they affect your photo is essential to knowing why a photo turns out good or bad (and how to make more of them "good"). You do have control over ISO, so get some understanding of what ISO means (which leads to the tip 2).
2) Set ISO and White Balance manually, if you have time. I know its an inconvenience to change these for each different environment. But if you have time to do it, it really helps. Keeping these on "auto" seems to extend the amount of time it takes for the image to be captured and leads to more motion blur (presumably, since the AI is taking time to do light readings and calculating the "best" settings). Also the settings it comes up with are not always very good, for instance the phone misreads the light type sometimes, and comes up with funky white balance settings.
Use as low an ISO as possible but still controlling motion blur. Higher ISO leads to more noise (analogous to grainier photos with film). But using too low an ISO forces the shutter to be open longer (to let enough light in to capture the image), which increases the chance of motion blur from either the subject moving, or camera shake. Its a matter of finding a balance between the two.
With lots of sunlight, or even partial sunlight, use a low ISO. 100 or 200 is often more than sufficient for daytime photos outside, even on a cloudy day. Indoors, you will have to increase the ISO much higher. Obviously depends on how many lamps are around, and how bright they are. But artificial lighting is much less bright than sunlight than you think. I often go to ISO 800 inside my house (when no sunlight is coming through the windows).
3) As mentioned in the previous reply, avoid flash. Flash is ok for the moments where you absolutely need to capture the shot in a low light "spur of the moment" situation. But for most situations, no flash with high ISO looks vastly better. The flash bathes the subject in a ghastly artificial LED light, overexposes the foreground, and causes the whole background to be underexposed. Just horrible. No flash and high ISO means the shutter will be open longer. But as long as the subject is not moving too much, and you keep the camera still enough, you will get a much nicer photo.
You'll notice that professional photographers will almost always use separate sources of light, or an off-camera flash, and seldom the on-camera flash. The on-camera flash on most all cameras are bad, and in particular the tiny flash units on camera phones are awful.
I heard of a study, where people were polled after viewing a set of Match.com type profile photos. Overwhelmingly, people indicated that the pics taken without flash looked younger and more attractive than the ones taken with flash. Despite the fact that some of the photos were of the same person!
4) Also as mentioned in the previous reply, the more light the better. From the last 2 tips, this would seem obvious. But there is a lot more subtlety to this than most people realize. Simply shifting the angle of the camera, or changing your position by a few feet can greatly influence how much light is entering the lens. One good example is light sources behind the subject, especially windows during daytime. Too much bright light from the background will make the subject underexposed and dark. Getting windows out of the frame of the photo can turn a throw-away shot into a real keeper.
Don't take for granted that cameras work the same way your eyes do, because they don't. Remember the exposure triangle, and use it to your advantage.
5) Brace your camera when possible, to reduce camera shake (especially in low light). In absence of a tripod, be inventive. Prop your elbows on a table, or even put the camera on the table, if you can do so without the table being in the shot. If there is a wall or column nearby, put the side of the camera against it as a brace.
6) Tap the screen to focus. Most of us with Sense know about this feature, but don't use it as much as we should. Aside from portraits, the rule of thirds (http://fixaphoto.homestead.com/digitalcameratips.html) says the best composition often results from the subject not being in the center of the shot. Therefore, since the "normal" auto-focus of pressing the shutter button halfway is center weighted, its sometimes not going to focus on the subject. So tap the screen on the subject before you take the shot. You often won't need to do this, but it can help sometimes.
7) You can force the exposure darker or brighter in Menu>Image adjustments, if you just can't seem to get the exposure right for a given ISO. One example is taking night photos, where you want to focus on streetlights or headlights. The shutter will stay open a long time, and the image will often look much brighter than you intend (and brighter than how you see it with your eyes). You can force it darker by changing the exposure. Again, not something you will often need, but once in a while can make a huge difference.
8) Practice practice practice. Every one of the tips above requires lots of practice and experimentation. With digital cameras, you really can take as many pictures as you like. You're going to end up with a ton of photos to delete. But this is really the only way to learn.
The camera on our phone certainly is not the best. The largest complaint seems to be that HTC phones over-process and create too much noise in the photo. But with the proper technique, it can take decent photos. Hopefully my tips are helpful.

Thanks !!!
Thats a very good guide
My pics are already looking better and I am still testing some options!
here: Maybe I will post some quick resoults
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

HiCZoK said:
Thanks !!!
Thats a very good guide
My pics are already looking better and I am still testing some options!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool. Glad it helped.
Which tips are you finding most useful so far?

I am not using flash too much or at all.
Iso at auto - it seems to do a good job
Expousure -1 or even -2 in some situations
contrast and saturation defauly
Sharpness -2 and only sometimes -1
Touch focus
Also sense camera filters are really good! i like depth of field filter with circe which You can use for showing where image point of view should be centering. Kinda artificial focus.

Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the OnePlus 3 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!

XDA_RealLifeReview said:
Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the OnePlus 3 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!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you post some sample screenshots of camera here?

So far medium to high brightness takes excellent photos. I am finding HD much more appealing than HDR in most situations. In low light HD or manual mode must be used to get an acceptable photo. HD works very well in a single 13w(cfl) light illuminates room (low bedroom light level).
Soft fine grain present in photo, but it is not distracting and plenty of detail left.

So I opened the hidden service menu *#808# and went through al the test and when I came at the "optical image stabilizer" it says failed...anyone else has this? Could it be software disabled or is my camera faulty?
here is a picture for comparison
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

nice but doesnt quite compare with nexus 6 p

I dont use the camera much but i do know it seems better than my wifes s6.

vacs03 said:
So I opened the hidden service menu *#808# and went through al the test and when I came at the "optical image stabilizer" it says failed...anyone else has this? Could it be software disabled or is my camera faulty?
here is a picture for comparison
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this phone has super hd camera the best thing i like on it

Camera seems to be very compareable to my 6S Plus. In low light the iPhone does a slightly better job, in good lighting the 1+3.
The stabilisation for video is much better in the iPhone.

I got my 3 Saturday morning these photos were taken in the afternoon all default settings

https://goo.gl/photos/eq6HSWoTwRVLCykY7

Important tip for making the most out of the 1+3 camera...if you want to take a good macro, you cannot rely on automatic mode. Switch to manual focus, dial it all the way down, and you'll get insane macros like this:

Here's a few shots I took a couple of days ago.

B1nny said:
Here's a few shots I took a couple of days ago.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That pavement picture is my new wallpaper xD

I have both the 6p and the HTC 10 and while the 10 sucks and the 6p is hard to beat I am pleasantly surprised with the op3. It's really good actually. https://goo.gl/photos/RgwFUT3Rwhyt6XJL6

I am using Camera FV-5 and Cinema FV-5. So far no problems with them. Also to my eyes they seem to have better image quality.

I am uploading 2 photos: Direct jpg from camera app, another is edit of the same image in snapseed app(edited jgp, not raw file).
I am happy with the camera quality

When looking at photos other people have taken with the OP3 it often looks like they have a watercolour filter on them when you zoom in due to the image processing, but some other images don't. Is anyone who has the device able to explain this?
Thanks

edie209 said:
I got my 3 Saturday morning these photos were taken in the afternoon all default settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really great pics!! ?

my pics

After testing the OP3 and my 6P, the SD820 could be a beast, but man the pics on the 6P are much much better, specially in a low light environment AKA where most pictures happen AKA in your house. I cant say i am dissapointed, its pics are good in daytime and average in low light for a "$400 phone". But not sure I am going to keep it. So if you are planning on dumping your Galaxy, 6P or iphone for this phone, you might want to wait for another one if the camera is that important to you.
Hope this helps someone.

Low light

At the club, at the bar, or just in your mom's basement, nighttime is when you come out to play. Rate this thread to express how the ZTE Axon 7's camera performs when no or low light is present. A higher rating indicates that the camera sensor "sees" lots of light in dim conditions, and that the resulting photos have minimal noise. A higher rating also indicates that when the flash fires, the resulting photo is evenly-lit without any bright spots.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Low-light is horrible picture
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Second is made with s7 edge
Sent from my SM-G935W8 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Disappointed here, but I knew this was an issue going in. Not as bad as some phones I've had though, but should be better.

I wonder what the chances are that this can be fixed with software updates... as everyone says, the low-light pics are the only real camera problem

question are you doing full auto or using manual mode to capture this low light pics ? Have you tried other apps to see if it makes it any better low light pics ?

After some testing, i found that the lens is capable for decent low light shots if you use the manual mode...unfortunately seems that the auto mode has some problems..also i found that is better to take shots in 12mp mode instead of 20mp (even if you resize the 20mp to 12mp)...i attach some 100% crops from 12mp photos..the pillow shot is really low light and the moon shot is with zoom. Of course with minimum Photoshop work the photos can be really good for smartphone.

They should had stick with a smaller MP.
The reason low light sucks because the sensor size is too small for 20 MP.
There's a reason all Nexus 6P/5X and Samsung went to smaller MP to achieve better low light camera.
The opposite is true for iPhone. 6s takes worse low light picture than 6 because they went to higher MP without increasing sensor size.

Lowlight pic I snapped. Tried to expose for general scene which ended up blowing out the highlights on the sign (unrecoverable jpg). If you shoot with a steady hand and drop the shutter speed in favor of a lower iso it doesn't end up too mushy.

My first lowlights pic with this phone. ISO 100 3.5 sec. Super soft corners, I didn't expect it to be sharp but boy this lens module is soft.
Sent from my ZTE A2017U using XDA Free mobile app

I've also found low-light is a lot better with manual mode, but sometimes we don't always have time to adjust. This brings hope for better software updates, however even when you go manual there's a decent amount of noise. Not sure the way around that but you do get brighter pictures.

What about using a different camera app?
Sent from my ZTE A2017U using XDA-Developers mobile app

ekerbuddyeker said:
What about using a different camera app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try snap camera. People seemed to be pretty happy with this app.
Sent from my ZTE A2017G using XDA Labs

I'm posting some pictures because it seems this part of the forum is kind of dead.
Taken with A2017G, I find them pretty decent and overall they are better that what I expected. If you don't need the absolute best camera among smartphones, this is the device to get.

Galaxo60 said:
I'm posting some pictures because it seems this part of the forum is kind of dead.
Taken with A2017G, I find them pretty decent and overall they are better that what I expected. If you don't need the absolute best camera among smartphones, this is the device to get.
View attachment 4013056View attachment 4013057View attachment 4013058View attachment 4013064View attachment 4013063
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
were those taken with the stock camera in auto mode?

wuziq said:
were those taken with the stock camera in auto mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1 and 3 with the "Night Mode", the other 3 were on auto. All with the stock camera, the optical stabilization helps a lot in low light conditions.

Galaxo60 said:
1 and 3 with the "Night Mode", the other 3 were on auto. All with the stock camera, the optical stabilization helps a lot in low light conditions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The low light performance seems better to me than I was expecting from the reviews. I got mine yesterday and it had an update waiting as soon as I turned it on. Perhaps the newer build has better camera software? Let's face it, low light performance is mainly software these days. Probably with expensive licensing attached.
My build is A2017GV1.0.0B08.

mitchelln said:
The low light performance seems better to me than I was expecting from the reviews. I got mine yesterday and it had an update waiting as soon as I turned it on. Perhaps the newer build has better camera software? Let's face it, low light performance is mainly software these days. Probably with expensive licensing attached.
My build is A2017GV1.0.0B08.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly the same phone and same version.
As I have seen, ZTE has improved a lot the camera on this device, because from all the reviews I saw that were made last year, I was just disappointed and wondering if I should get this one or not. It seems ZTE is focusing a lot in camera performance and it's improving everything with the updates, and I'm pretty much happy with how their acting with the Axon 7.

More pictures on auto mode with stock camera:

Galaxo60 said:
More pictures on auto mode with stock camera:
View attachment 4015564View attachment 4015565View attachment 4015570
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please take more after the nougat update which will be released this week
could you please shoot these after the update: one indoor during the day and night, 1 out door during the day and night, and one selfie during the day and night it would finalize my purchasing decision on this phone as im a youtuber and need a good camera with great battery life & audio recording which this phone almost has rn

CampfireVibés said:
please take more after the nougat update which will be released this week
could you please shoot these after the update: one indoor during the day and night, 1 out door during the day and night, and one selfie during the day and night it would finalize my purchasing decision on this phone as im a youtuber and need a good camera with great battery life & audio recording which this phone almost has rn
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nougat was delayed until February, because of the new Chinese year, but it seems we will have an update this week.
Regarding the pictures, you can find them in the other threads where I have posted some, because this is only for low light. I tried to put as many pictures as I can because no one does, and the camera was also important for me. I was between this one and the Mate 9, and even when probably Mate 9 has a better camera, I have seen that is just slightly better but it lacks of some other important things to me like sound and display quality.
As for the camera, I don't think you need to worry at all as long as you are looking for a decent and nice camera. If you want absolutely the best one, then go with another phone because this is slightly below, but manual mode is really useful and can get really nice and sharp pictures as well.
For the price and the specs, I highly doubt you would get anything better.

Low light

At the club, at the bar, or just in your mom's basement, nighttime is when you come out to play. Rate this thread to express how the Sony Xperia XZ Premium's camera performs when no or low light is present. A higher rating indicates that the camera sensor "sees" lots of light in dim conditions, and that the resulting photos have minimal noise. A higher rating also indicates that when the flash fires, the resulting photo is evenly-lit without any bright spots.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

The low light camera performance is good. The post processing noise reduction is excellent. I must say that the camera needs to be still though.

The low light performance, as basically all reviews show, is horrible. My old G4 outperforms the XZP easily. The XZP features no OIS, the noise reduction causes blurr. If you want a phone for low light shooting, do not (!) go with the XZP.

Low light of this phone is horrible,, even video is very grainy. Hope sony update this
Sent from my G8142 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

Low light is excellent using manual mode and my little tripod. Without the tripod, it's just similar to most other high end smartphones without good or completely lacking OIS... The slightest shake and you're left with a mess [emoji17]
Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk

Combonary said:
Low light is excellent using manual mode and my little tripod. Without the tripod, it's just similar to most other high end smartphones without good or completely lacking OIS... The slightest shake and you're left with a mess [emoji17]
Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You name it - a tripod. I'm not running around with a tripod - other phones managed excellent night photography without one! Just so we understand each other - that picture was taken with my 3 years old LG G4, no tripod, auto mode. See the fine details? And that one is already rescaled by Facebook (!) to 2 MP(!), the original has 12 MP.
The XZP can't even get somewhere close to that in quality.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

Very true,, i dont know why samsung uses sony's camera sensor but can get a very good low light shots.. And sony the maker of the camera cannot even match samsungs camera shot. I hope sony will look into this and give a software update to fix this issue.
Sent from my G8142 using XDA-Developers Legacy app

Mangtas_666 said:
Very true,, i dont know why samsung uses sony's camera sensor but can get a very good low light shots.. And sony the maker of the camera cannot even match samsungs camera shot. I hope sony will look into this and give a software update to fix this issue.
Sent from my G8142 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's all because the market of SONY's camera ....

It's not great, but it definitely isn't terrible. Hopefully Sony will add OIS in their next flagship.

I don't find the low light quality that bad. Here is a couple of shots i took all hand held at a festival this weekend, it was a bit foggy but all the below are unedited.

With tripod in manual mode low light pictures are great. Without tripod you easily can get bad pictures in low light. But despite all the marketing hype trains: the pictures of S8 and U11 are also only mediocre. Sony should add OIS or EIS for stills. I also suspect their business with cameras and image sensors behind those disadvantages.

jms.flynn said:
I don't find the low light quality that bad. Here is a couple of shots i took all hand held at a festival this weekend, it was a bit foggy but all the below are unedited.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great shots. I too find the camera to be good in lowlight. A clean lens, tap to focus and steady hands do the trick.

Guys just use the shutter speed ctrl.
At 1/15 you can already control the handshake etc.
It's just the full auto which is messy, once you use the manual it's amazing.

Can someone who know how to use well manual mode explain how to change settings in any night/low-light situation? A sort of mini-guide... At night I switch in manual mode and put ISO on 800 or 1600 and photos are better, but maybe there are better solutions in manual for a perfect shot. I think that xz premium camera is one of the best, but on low light automatic mode is not as good as has to.

obicco said:
Can someone who know how to use well manual mode explain how to change settings in any night/low-light situation? A sort of mini-guide... At night I switch in manual mode and put ISO on 800 or 1600 and photos are better, but maybe there are better solutions in manual for a perfect shot. I think that xz premium camera is one of the best, but on low light automatic mode is not as good as has to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should just preface this with the fact I don't have this phone yet, so I can't give perfect advice but I'll tell you what I know from experience.
Your goal should be to figure out the shortest shutter speed you can do and use that to set the ISO. The lower the ISO the better, but not too low that you can't get a sharp image because of the shutter speed.
The easiest way to find the slowest shutter speed is to find something with fine lines and take pictures of it, progressively decreasing the shutter speed until it becomes blurry. Probably start at 1/200 and see how you go. That number is then the slowest you can go. Then go a stop or two faster, which should make for a solid baseline shutter speed that you can use. By doing this, you get more flexibility in choosing a lower ISO and therefore get better image quality.
Your ISO choice will depends on the brightness and detail of the scene, the larger the number, the less detail and more artifacting you'll end up with. Try to keep it as low as you can get away with without going below your minimum shutter speed.
But yeah in general, experiment and see what you can get.
Edit: Just got the phone and found you can't choose both ISO and Shutter Speed. I've been shooting at 1/60 shutter speed pretty comfortably with decent results but your results may vary.

I dont understand the reason why we cant change ISO while we finally got shutter speed settings. Sometimes Sony makes stupid decisons...
Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk

smitrovic said:
I dont understand the reason why we cant change ISO while we finally got shutter speed settings. Sometimes Sony makes stupid decisons...
Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems that with the XZ1, in manual settings, in the control for Focus, SS, EV. They added ISO as well. So maybe we could also now control ISO and ss St the same time.

Lazaros_K said:
It seems that with the XZ1, in manual settings, in the control for Focus, SS, EV. They added ISO as well. So maybe we could also now control ISO and ss St the same time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where u saw that? Like there is no manual camera deep review on internet atm. Can u provide source?
Sent from my G8141 using Tapatalk

Mangtas_666 said:
Very true,, i dont know why samsung uses sony's camera sensor but can get a very good low light shots.. And sony the maker of the camera cannot even match samsungs camera shot. I hope sony will look into this and give a software update to fix this issue.
Sent from my G8142 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is because of Sony's so called G lens. lot of pro cameras also use Sony sensors (e.g. Nikon). It's not just the sensor that give you great pictures. Sony needs to put a better lens in phones. you know what would be bonkers, putting a lens with an aperture of 1.4 or something. that will blow the competition out of the water.

I don't know this will raise the XZP's point for low light but its so great (at least for me)
Shoot with barely hand (seriously) and using manual mode. You can check the EXIF in here