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
Click to expand...
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?!
Click to expand...
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
Click to expand...
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
Related
I made a thread the other day saying how 4.0.3 seemed to fix the focus issues. Well that's great, now maybe an update needs to fix the actual quality? I mean, this is TERRIBLE. Look how dull/dark the picture is on a perfectly sunny day.
After seeing this I took a look at the exif data and it shows a shutter speed of 1/3000? SERIOUSLY?????????? It needs to be around 1/600 to look bright and not so damn dull.
We seriously need manual controls on this camera phone. I'm usually one of the first ones to say, "it's just a phone, get a real camera if you want good pictures," but this is just damn ridiculous now. Pictures look like they came from a flip phone.
What's funny is it looks bright and excellent on the phone. When I first saw it on the phone, I thought, "wow that's a nice picture." Until I looked at it on the computer...
http://i.imgur.com/HiYS6.jpg
What's wrong with the EV controls? Or even the scene settings? I feel I have pretty much control over my pictures from my GN by trying different settings or even another camera app.
I tend to take mobile shots not to seriously as I use a DSLR on a daily basis.
Mobile cameras aren't "there" yet. Period. The older nokias took great mobile pictures, but somehow the necessity for high en cameras got lost in the transitions to smartphones. I've heard the (the name we won't speak) 4S camera is one of the better ones on the market? Tried that?
brian85 said:
I made a thread the other day saying how 4.0.3 seemed to fix the focus issues. Well that's great, now maybe an update needs to fix the actual quality? I mean, this is TERRIBLE. Look how dull/dark the picture is on a perfectly sunny day.
After seeing this I took a look at the exif data and it shows a shutter speed of 1/3000? SERIOUSLY?????????? It needs to be around 1/600 to look bright and not so damn dull.
We seriously need manual controls on this camera phone. I'm usually one of the first ones to say, "it's just a phone, get a real camera if you want good pictures," but this is just damn ridiculous now. Pictures look like they came from a flip phone.
What's funny is it looks bright and excellent on the phone. When I first saw it on the phone, I thought, "wow that's a nice picture." Until I looked at it on the computer...
http://i.imgur.com/HiYS6.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe your monitor isn't set correctly. There's nothing terrible about that picture for a camera phone. It's underexposed by about 1/2 to 1 EV, but not terribly. Automatic metering is often off by that much; you can easily add an EV or 2 of compensation if you're not pleased with the results. Or just run it through Auto-Fix in the built-in editor, the results are actually very good in my experience.
/spectrometer-calibrated monitor here
copkay said:
Maybe your monitor isn't set correctly. There's nothing terrible about that picture for a camera phone. It's underexposed by about 1/2 to 1 EV, but not terribly. Automatic metering is often off by that much; you can easily add an EV or 2 of compensation if you're not pleased with the results. Or just run it through Auto-Fix in the built-in editor, the results are actually very good in my experience.
/spectrometer-calibrated monitor here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My monitor is fine. It's not like this is the only picture I've ever seen on my computer.
fregor said:
What's wrong with the EV controls? Or even the scene settings? I feel I have pretty much control over my pictures from my GN by trying different settings or even another camera app.
I tend to take mobile shots not to seriously as I use a DSLR on a daily basis.
Mobile cameras aren't "there" yet. Period. The older nokias took great mobile pictures, but somehow the necessity for high en cameras got lost in the transitions to smartphones. I've heard the (the name we won't speak) 4S camera is one of the better ones on the market? Tried that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No more excuses. Yes, mobile cameras are "there" now. Look at the galaxy s2. That phone takes excellent pictures, even better than the iphone 4s.
I don't usually take mobile shots seriously either unless they look absolutely terrible.
If this thing can shoot 1080p widescreen it should be able to take widescreen photos.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
brian85 said:
My monitor is fine. It's not like this is the only picture I've ever seen on my computer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't mean you've seen them correctly.
Explain what you think is wrong with this photo, because I'm not seeing it.
EDIT: Histogram of your image attached. As I said, 1/2 to 1 EV underexposed, but there's no clipping in the shadows or highlights.
Just use another camera...I'm using miui v17 and it shoots widescreen and takes decent pictures with control over autofocus
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Looks fine to me, but then again it is a phone
So many excuses.
I love my nexus, but it takes terrible photos. Simple as that.
brian85 said:
I made a thread the other day saying how 4.0.3 seemed to fix the focus issues. Well that's great, now maybe an update needs to fix the actual quality? I mean, this is TERRIBLE. Look how dull/dark the picture is on a perfectly sunny day.
After seeing this I took a look at the exif data and it shows a shutter speed of 1/3000? SERIOUSLY?????????? It needs to be around 1/600 to look bright and not so damn dull.
We seriously need manual controls on this camera phone. I'm usually one of the first ones to say, "it's just a phone, get a real camera if you want good pictures," but this is just damn ridiculous now. Pictures look like they came from a flip phone.
What's funny is it looks bright and excellent on the phone. When I first saw it on the phone, I thought, "wow that's a nice picture." Until I looked at it on the computer...
http://i.imgur.com/HiYS6.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, that's not a bad pic at all. Yes, the GSII takes better pics, but that one isn't bad. If you need the best quality pics grab a DSLR or something.
You keep saying everyone is making excuses but you aren't answering any questions. I have taken great pictures with my camera. Would love to post some but I'm at work right now.
What questions?
If you guys don't think that picture looks bad, then you aren't someone who is really into photography.
Dull colors, dark, noisy as hell, grainy, etc.
Just did VERY QUICK adjustment for you. Is this more of what you're looking for??
Much better.
I think the issue here was the shutter speed. I have NO IDEA why it used a shutter speed of around 1/3000. That is WAY too fast to gather any decent amount of light on a cell phone camera.
I've been looking at other pictures I've taken with slower shutter speeds, and they look fine.
Sorry for freaking out guys. I think my issue here was I took a picture in an area with plenty of light, where the nexus camera is supposed to shine, and I was shocked when I actually saw the picture on the computer. Just wish we had manual controls on this thing (shutter speed, iso, etc).
brian85 said:
What questions?
If you guys don't think that picture looks bad, then you aren't someone who is really into photography.
Dull colors, dark, noisy as hell, grainy, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah your right, this is a phone forum not a camera forum...plus people who are really into photography dont do it on their phones...trust me I am married to a photographer...while she snaps pictures of the kids all day on her phone she would NEVER take it out to do a wedding or photo shoot.
madisonjar said:
yeah your right, this is a phone forum not a camera forum...plus people who are really into photography dont do it on their phones...trust me I am married to a photographer...while she snaps pictures of the kids all day on her phone she would NEVER take it out to do a wedding or photo shoot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats not what I mean.
I'm saying if people are happy with flip phone quality photos on a smartphone in 2012, then they don't really know photography at all.
Anyways, see my post above. I'm a little calmer now lol.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
I'm no expert but it looks pretty good to me. Maybe the abundant lighter colored walls reflect too much light and require a faster shutter speed?
Interesting house. I assume the garage doors are hidden in the back.
Electronic rolling shutter vs mechanical shutter
brian85 said:
Much better.
I think the issue here was the shutter speed. I have NO IDEA why it used a shutter speed of around 1/3000. That is WAY too fast to gather any decent amount of light on a cell phone camera.
I've been looking at other pictures I've taken with slower shutter speeds, and they look fine.
Sorry for freaking out guys. I think my issue here was I took a picture in an area with plenty of light, where the nexus camera is supposed to shine, and I was shocked when I actually saw the picture on the computer. Just wish we had manual controls on this thing (shutter speed, iso, etc).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera phones have shutters? This is news to me. They have electronic rolling shutters, but no mechanical shutter. It seems like the shutter speed you're relating to DSLRs is mechanical shutter speed. In this sense, 1/3000 doesn't really mean a whole lot.
In my opinion the camera takes great photos! I have taken a number of photos that are all brilliant quality. I have had the photos printed out on photo paper in a number of sizes and recently had a photo printed on a 16x16 canvas and it looks stunning! There has been no loss in quality with the photo on the canvas and I know that there will be no loss in quality if I have 46x46 canvases made!
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In short...you can't. The hardware in a device this small can't do much more than that.
I currently have a Galaxy S3 and my contract is up soon, so I'll be looking for a new device. I've had Samsung for the last 2 contract periods and am looking for something different. The HTC One M8 impresses me, but many reviews say the camera is lackluster. I'm not looking for the best camera on the market or anything like that. I am quite happy with the camera on my S3 and would like to know if anyone has had both devices and can tell me if the M8's camera is in the same ballpark. I don't really crop pictures and the most I'd do is print out an 8x10 photo, which the S3 gives perfectly good resolution for. I've seen sample pictures taken with the M8 and they seem perfectly fine to me, but maybe there are issues that I don't see. Anyone have any thoughts?
Thanks for your time.
Just buy it
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk
Guys just. A note of caution. This type of question is allowed, but remember to keep responses on topic regarding the cameras only.
Ghost
ajt167 said:
I currently have a Galaxy S3 and my contract is up soon, so I'll be looking for a new device. I've had Samsung for the last 2 contract periods and am looking for something different. The HTC One M8 impresses me, but many reviews say the camera is lackluster. I'm not looking for the best camera on the market or anything like that. I am quite happy with the camera on my S3 and would like to know if anyone has had both devices and can tell me if the M8's camera is in the same ballpark. I don't really crop pictures and the most I'd do is print out an 8x10 photo, which the S3 gives perfectly good resolution for. I've seen sample pictures taken with the M8 and they seem perfectly fine to me, but maybe there are issues that I don't see. Anyone have any thoughts?
Thanks for your time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reviews have also stated that the battery life on the M8 is awful when that's not the case at all. Are there better cameras out there? I'm sure, but the M8's camera does really well in most situations. I don't use the flash on any camera, I tinker mostly with the ISO. The dual sensor provides some nifty editing features later on too. And let's face it, if you were going to do full-time professional photography, no phone's camera can substitute a real camera or DSLR. I think you'll be happy with the results.
Oviously M8
XNine said:
Reviews have also stated that the battery life on the M8 is awful when that's not the case at all. Are there better cameras out there? I'm sure, but the M8's camera does really well in most situations. I don't use the flash on any camera, I tinker mostly with the ISO. The dual sensor provides some nifty editing features later on too. And let's face it, if you were going to do full-time professional photography, no phone's camera can substitute a real camera or DSLR. I think you'll be happy with the results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. Do you think I'd be able to get decent 8x10 prints of photos I take with it, or is the resolution not quite there?
I'd personally have a look on the thread pictures taken with M8 . . . I have posted some but some amazing photos coming from this phone
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
ILS_SuperNova said:
I'd personally have a look on the thread pictures taken with M8 . . . I have posted some but some amazing photos coming from this phone
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's funny you should say that because I did check out that thread before I posted this thread - I was trying to see if someone else had posted the question. There are a lot of great pictures there. Am I missing something? Hell, have the cameras on these phones become so good in the last 2-3 years that the photos there are considered sub-par? The fanciest thing I do with photos is some basic editing (I tend to just take pictures closer rather than crop) and then print out an 8x10. Will these photos be good enough for that? What do you think the size limit of the photos would be until they started looking poor due to the relatively low resolution?
Sorry I'm all over the place here, just trying to figure out if I'm missing something or the "standards" are way beyond what I consider good.
ajt167 said:
It's funny you should say that because I did check out that thread before I posted this thread - I was trying to see if someone else had posted the question. There are a lot of great pictures there. Am I missing something? Hell, have the cameras on these phones become so good in the last 2-3 years that the photos there are considered sub-par? The fanciest thing I do with photos is some basic editing (I tend to just take pictures closer rather than crop) and then print out an 8x10. Will these photos be good enough for that? What do you think the size limit of the photos would be until they started looking poor due to the relatively low resolution?
Sorry I'm all over the place here, just trying to figure out if I'm missing something or the "standards" are way beyond what I consider good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still pretty amazed how a 4mp camera can produce these images . .I can from a Z1 with a 20mp camera then a note 3 with a 13mp . . .I will be honest some details are lost but that's just the limit of a 4mp camera. .
As for printing I really can't help but maybe some of the guys over on that thread have printed out ?
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Here's my opinion and it's not worth much...
The M8 camera is great for social networks etc. And possibly could do decent 8x10 prints.
The front camera craps on anything out there right now. If selfies are your thing.
Do not dwell on the camera aspect of the M8.
Instead recognize it for its other great features.
Aluminum chassis. Internals. Screen. Speakers. Etc etc.
If you are really concerned about great photos I'd suggest the S5.
My wife has one and I would say it has better detail in SOME situations.
But the Camera software on the M8 is so fun to use.
HTC UltimEight ?
It really depends on what kind of images you want to capture. Do you want to take spur of the moment shots of friends, family and kids in an indoor setting?
Or do you want to take highly detailed landscape photos which you have the ability to crop later.
Its a simple choice yet still very hard, the M8 will do great for indoor/night time shots and reasonably well in outdoor shots assuming you adjust the setting accordingly to prevent highlights from being blown out.
On the other hand, a device like the S5 will take really great outdoor photos with plenty of extra detail but in an indoor/low light situation it will be just average.
I'm in a similar situation to you as im upgrading from an S4 to either the M8 and S5 and the camera is fairly important to me thus all I can really say is is.
Pick your poison, both will do an adequate job in all scenarios but they each have there respective benefits in specific scenarios.
Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
Jooosty said:
Here's my opinion and it's not worth much...
The M8 camera is great for social networks etc. And possibly could do decent 8x10 prints.
The front camera craps on anything out there right now. If selfies are your thing.
Do not dwell on the camera aspect of the M8.
Instead recognize it for its other great features.
Aluminum chassis. Internals. Screen. Speakers. Etc etc.
If you are really concerned about great photos I'd suggest the S5.
My wife has one and I would say it has better detail in SOME situations.
But the Camera software on the M8 is so fun to use.
HTC UltimEight ?
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Click to collapse
I have owned the S2, S3, S4 and now the M8. Photos are great on the galaxy phones and I have always had better luck with photos than reviews say. For instance, my wife has an iphone 5S and was always grabbing my S4 because she perceived the photos to be better.
so far with my M8 the photos have been "OK"...very inconsistent...some are great and some are "OK". Outdoors the Galaxy blows the M8 away (M8 tends to be a little washed out), indoors I would say it is a toss up (on a day to day basis with auto settings or flash). However, I have taken good outdoor photos with my M8, it just tends to be inconsistent. Also, if there is any type of backlight behind the subject the photo tends to be washed out some. I did not think it was enough for me not to buy a M8. I have a canon SLR for important photos. I think the responsiveness of the day to day operations far outweigh the camera lacking a little quality.
bitwiser said:
I have owned the S2, S3, S4 and now the M8.
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I agree with every point you touched on.
HTC UltimEight ?
The M8 outdoor shots are incredible on full he 1080p, decent tv's when showing off or viewing the pics and they come out great on 8x10 shots because I got some done recently.
You won't be too disappointed unless you are trying to zoom.
The quality of the pics are normal viewing is in my humble opinion better than s3 or s4 and in low light the s3 and s4 even the s5 cannot compete.
Try it, get it online, send it back if it doesn't stand up.
HtcOneJon said:
The M8 outdoor shots are incredible on full he 1080p, decent tv's when showing off or viewing the pics and they come out great on 8x10 shots because I got some done recently.
You won't be too disappointed unless you are trying to zoom.
The quality of the pics are normal viewing is in my humble opinion better than s3 or s4 and in low light the s3 and s4 even the s5 cannot compete.
Try it, get it online, send it back if it doesn't stand up.
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Click to collapse
Awesome, that's what I was looking for - something at least on par with my S3 as far as pics and videos go.
HtcOneJon said:
The M8 outdoor shots are incredible on full he 1080p, decent tv's when showing off or viewing the pics and they come out great on 8x10 shots because I got some done recently.
You won't be too disappointed unless you are trying to zoom.
The quality of the pics are normal viewing is in my humble opinion better than s3 or s4 and in low light the s3 and s4 even the s5 cannot compete.
Try it, get it online, send it back if it doesn't stand up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you have used one in real life (which by this comment I can't see how) but my S4 camera is better than my M8, so I can't imagine the S5. The S4 is not that bad in low light. And if you use a flash the pics are very passable. Again better than my M8 in real world usage...not reviewer and photo buff critics..Not to say I don't like my M8, just, to me, this is very overloaded option and a person would be disappointed making a decision on a camera based on this description of the M8. I'm hoping for some firmware fix that will adjust camera quality, especially in sunlight.
bitwiser said:
Unless you have used one in real life (which by this comment I can't see how) but my S4 camera is better than my M8, so I can't imagine the S5. The S4 is not that bad in low light. And if you use a flash the pics are very passable. Again better than my M8 in real world usage...not reviewer and photo buff critics..Not to say I don't like my M8, just, to me, this is very overloaded option and a person would be disappointed making a decision on a camera based on this description of the M8. I'm hoping for some firmware fix that will adjust camera quality, especially in sunlight.
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Click to collapse
I can easily prove his statements wrong, I have comparison images I took last year between the M7 and S4 which showcase the difference in outdoor capability.
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Also to add, the new "Google camera" in Playstore that has had the recent update is a pretty good camera to either bee a companion or replacement. i'm usually taking a zillion photos, well, say 15-25GB a month of photos I noticed in the past with my One X and LG G2 over the past couple of years (2 kids, 2 + 4 year old, I have like 5-10 photos of my childhood, I want the kids to savoir the joys of technology so most of their great moments are recorded, plus day to day stuff. That is what we and they are ultimately going to visually remember their young + older life. Might as well have more than less! Delete is easy, "recover from zero" is a tad harder
But I digress basically I'm just adding, even though I've had limited use of my camera relative since Google Camera latest *big* update happened, it looks the business. This coming from someone who usually has 7 or 8 camera apps installed to get the best picture depending on the situation, experience shows me the best app as needed
Better camera unlocked, Holo Camera, Procapture, LGcamera were my most used camera apps on the old phone(s), now it seems Google Camera might take the best pics for any situation (mostly). Tim e to stop blabbering, 2 hours sleep again in 48 hours and 14 hours the past 7 days makes me post 'the stupid'
---------- Post added at 10:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 PM ----------
msavic6 said:
I can easily prove his statements wrong, I have comparison images I took last year between the M7 and S4 which showcase the difference in outdoor capability.
Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Don't forget "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" also holds, while the technicality of various pictures can be seen/known, some people still prefer the technically inferior photo for their own taste. I worked in a tattoo shop for 2 years and saw _a lot_ of pictures, edited/modified/turned upside down while some tattoos we saw on customers or friends of customers, looked "crap" to my hopefully objective eye, they thought they looked awesome (Like badly inked in tattoos with 'stupid' pictures or photo realism that doesn't look like 'real life'.
It's very hard for some people to say a winner/better camera on any particular photo(s) to align with a review they're reading.
We like what we like Be happy with it and try not to impress someone we really care to impress ultimately. It'll make yourself have less 'bad moments' of not being able to impress aforementioned people we really don't care to impress but do. Impress yourself = win ! heh
waz675 said:
Also to add, the new "Google camera" in Playstore that has had the recent update is a pretty good camera to either bee a companion or replacement. i'm usually taking a zillion photos, well, say 15-25GB a month of photos I noticed in the past with my One X and LG G2 over the past couple of years (2 kids, 2 + 4 year old, I have like 5-10 photos of my childhood, I want the kids to savoir the joys of technology so most of their great moments are recorded, plus day to day stuff. That is what we and they are ultimately going to visually remember their young + older life. Might as well have more than less! Delete is easy, "recover from zero" is a tad harder
But I digress basically I'm just adding, even though I've had limited use of my camera relative since Google Camera latest *big* update happened, it looks the business. This coming from someone who usually has 7 or 8 camera apps installed to get the best picture depending on the situation, experience shows me the best app as needed
Better camera unlocked, Holo Camera, Procapture, LGcamera were my most used camera apps on the old phone(s), now it seems Google Camera might take the best pics for any situation (mostly). Tim e to stop blabbering, 2 hours sleep again in 48 hours and 14 hours the past 7 days makes me post 'the stupid'
---------- Post added at 10:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 PM ----------
Don't forget "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" also holds, while the technicality of various pictures can be seen/known, some people still prefer the technically inferior photo for their own taste. I worked in a tattoo shop for 2 years and saw _a lot_ of pictures, edited/modified/turned upside down while some tattoos we saw on customers or friends of customers, looked "crap" to my hopefully objective eye, they thought they looked awesome (Like badly inked in tattoos with 'stupid' pictures or photo realism that doesn't look like 'real life'.
It's very hard for some people to say a winner/better camera on any particular photo(s) to align with a review they're reading.
We like what we like Be happy with it and try not to impress someone we really care to impress ultimately. It'll make yourself have less 'bad moments' of not being able to impress aforementioned people we really don't care to impress but do. Impress yourself = win ! heh
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Click to collapse
Thank you and the rest of you all for replying and helping me.
As I said, I don't need anything that spectacular, just good enough for what I want to do. I'm certainly no expert photographer, so I don't need an amazing camera like the Z2 or the GS5. I don't socially network, so the M8's aim of having a camera suited to share photos on Facebook is of no value to me. My situation would be me playing around with my 2 year-old son, he’s screwing around acting like a goofball, laughing, dancing, and I snap a picture at just the right moment and I want to get a 8x10 made, frame it, and give it to the Mrs. for Mothers’ Day. Currently, my S3 takes good enough photos to be able to do that – resolution and overall picture quality. Would the M8 be able to do that as well as my S3? Granted, I understand that lighting has to be right and he can’t be moving too fast or it’ll be blurry and all that stuff. I don’t want a camera that’s worse than my S3, but I don’t need a camera that can perform rocket surgery either.
Rocket surgery?!?
As has been said, it's horses for courses. If you're constantly taking pictures outdoors of buildings / landscapes, then don't buy the M8 for this purpose, there are better camera phones for it.
I've found the M7 and the M8 to be fantastic at one thing in particular, photographing kids. I have a Lumia 1020 and an M8 and I frequently choose the M8 over the 1020 because of the camera's sheer speed, and Zoe, which is fantastic for kids. (I have a 3y/o and soon to be 5y/o that NEVER stay still!).
Add to this the compilation videos HTC Makes with Zoe, which you can edit and the value proposition from HTC is very strong, IF you have kids!
I haven't tried the S5 yet, but the HTC is fast BECAUSE it "only" shoots 4mp stills, so it's a trade-off.
I get around this trade off by carrying two phones
TL;DR: Unhappy with noisy photos/videos from camera. Not sure if I'm being unreasonable, or if this device has hardware/software issues. Your thoughts?
I'm curious as to what other people's thoughts are on the Pixel camera? The pictures and videos on this phone do not seem up to par with what Google represented, or else I possibly received bad hardware. Here's my experience so far...
I ordered the device from the Google Store and received it early December. First thing I did was update the firmware and updated the apps, which included the Google Camera app. Every photo I took, in varying degrees of lighting, seemed to have a great deal of noise or pixelation. Even 4K video in daylight looked like I ran it through a noise filter in editing software. I contacted Google Support and they ran through a series of tests while the engineer was remote viewing my screen. We deleted the Google Camera app's cache/data, put the device in safe mode, and performed a factory reset. After each step the photos looked no better than before. The engineer then stated my hardware was defective and issued an RMA for the device. Now that I'm on my second Pixel XL, I can't say the camera is any better and I'm still disappointed with the results, but I'm reluctant to contact Google again because I feel like it's more than likely a software/firmware issue at this point.
How could both devices (brand new, second was not a refurbished device) have the same hardware defect and this not be a widely reported issue? I've read articles about the "Halo" issue and people having pink lines on the camera viewer, but Google claimed it was software related and I believe they already released a fix. I've also flashed ROMs before on old devices that didn't have proper drivers, which resulted in similar experiences similar to my current problem when I knew for a fact the hardware was just fine.
Anyway, sorry for the meandering post, but I'd love for anyone to share their thoughts about the camera. Does it live up to your expectations and take photos worthy of the highest rated smartphone camera of all time?
In well lit environment, high megapixel cameras win for me due to detail. But for low light, this camera is awesome
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Pictures sometimes turn out fantastic, and sometimes average.
The camera seems to not know what to focus in on which leads to weird looking images. Also, for some reason, my pictures all have a somewhat yellow tint.
Maybe my expectations for "the highest rated smartphone camera...ever" was set a bit too high.
Mr Hoff I would have to say no, as the camera works awesome I would say its the best smartphone camera on the market, and that is even without ois to boot.
As much as I don't wanna admit it but iPhone 7 camera is definitely a better all around camera. There's no debating it. Yes the pixel can beat it out in perfect circumstances taking still photos.. but the iPhone exceeds in more areas.
The pixel is horrible at capturing the slightest movement without blurring the picture. I heard this is because the camera uses a slow shutter speed compared to other devices.
Same thing goes for videos. Taking a video of someone standing there talking.. the pixel will likely win..But try to follow a moving person or object and that's where you notice the lack of OIS and the pixel looses by far.
I take riding pictures (BMX) with a normal DSLR but always have my cell phone to take some pics to.. the pixel doesn't do much better than my s5 did
aholeinthewor1d said:
As much as I don't wanna admit it but iPhone 7 camera is definitely a better all around camera. There's no debating it. Yes the pixel can beat it out in perfect circumstances taking still photos.. but the iPhone exceeds in more areas.
The pixel is horrible at capturing the slightest movement without blurring the picture. I heard this is because the camera uses a slow shutter speed compared to other devices.
Same thing goes for videos. Taking a video of someone standing there talking.. the pixel will likely win..But try to follow a moving person or object and that's where you notice the lack of OIS and the pixel looses by far.
I take riding pictures (BMX) with a normal DSLR but always have my cell phone to take some pics to.. the pixel doesn't do much better than my s5 did
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Click to collapse
Yep. This is my biggest issue as well. I have a newborn and half my pictures are blurry due to him moving his arms when I'm taking pics.
Here's what I'm referring to. Granted this is low light, but when the camera does hit the light you can really see the noise I'm referring to. This can't be normal.
4K Video taken tonight: https://goo.gl/photos/MCTbfb96Cpw74bkFA
If you're having issues with motion blur (will be more prominent in middle and low light) disable HDR for those shots. It keeps the "shutter" capturing longer. Your image quality will take a hit but the motion blur should be reduced.
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I'm disappointed but I'm so used to my rx100 so it's not fair at all
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biggiestuff said:
I'm disappointed but I'm so used to my rx100 so it's not fair at all
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Click to collapse
I have an rx100m3 as well, which is partly why I'm wondering if I'm being unreasonable. Guess I'll have to keep carrying that with me when I want higher picture quality.
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chrisstl said:
I have an rx100m3 as well, which is partly why I'm wondering if I'm being unreasonable. Guess I'll have to keep carrying that with me when I want higher picture quality.
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I'm pretty sure that plays a huge part in it. There isn't a smart phone camera that can compare. Once you've become accustomed to the quality of the Sony, it's hard to downgrade. I take it with me to anything that is going to involve low light.
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The low light is absolute garbage, worse than the Note 4 I had before it.
I loved my note 7, the panoramas were amazing on that phone. Thought camera was great on pixel but after more use I have some quirks I dislike. If I want to take quality photos or video I bring my Nikon D3300.
Are you guys trying to compare a DSLR vs. a smartphone camera in low light?
Ok, consider this. Low light shots require a lot of light collection. How much bigger is a DSLR lens vs. a smartphone lens.
I'm looking at the Pixel XL lens, and it's about 2.5mm in diameter. That's about 5 mm squared of area.
A DSLR lens would be about 2 inches wide, that's 50.8mm in diameter or about 2000 mm squared of area.
The difference in light captured in low light, with the same exposure, is a factor of 400!
It is a miracle that enough light is even captured by a tiny smartphone camera lens for low light shots. If I were completely unaware of the actual quality of pictures but was only given the specs of both cameras, I would say that they couldn't even be compared!
nabbed said:
Are you guys trying to compare a DSLR vs. a smartphone camera in low light?
Ok, consider this. Low light shots require a lot of light collection. How much bigger is a DSLR lens vs. a smartphone lens.
I'm looking at the Pixel XL lens, and it's about 2.5mm in diameter. That's about 5 mm squared of area.
A DSLR lens would be about 2 inches wide, that's 50.8mm in diameter or about 2000 mm squared of area.
The difference in light captured in low light, with the same exposure, is a factor of 400!
It is a miracle that enough light is even captured by a tiny smartphone camera lens for low light shots. If I were completely unaware of the actual quality of pictures but was only given the specs of both cameras, I would say that they couldn't even be compared!
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Click to collapse
I'm certainly not comparing a DSLR vs a smartphone. And also an rx100 isn't a DSLR either. My disappointment, which I didn't really mention, was mentally comparing my iPhone 6+ and the Pixel XL. I think I'm having issue with the HDR overcompensating and causing noise.
Edit: To clarify my rx100m3 comment, I just wished that a smartphone camera quality could improve to the point where I would be comfortable leaving the rx100m3 at home sometimes. I thought the Pixel would bring me closer to that dream, but it hasn't.
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chrisstl said:
I'm certainly not comparing a DSLR vs a smartphone. And also an rx100 isn't a DSLR either. My disappointment, which I didn't really mention, was mentally comparing my iPhone 6+ and the Pixel XL. I think I'm having issue with the HDR overcompensating and causing noise.
Edit: To clarify my rx100m3 comment, I just wished that a smartphone camera quality could improve to the point where I would be comfortable leaving the rx100m3 at home sometimes. I thought the Pixel would bring me closer to that dream, but it hasn't.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this is not a general consensus, but this is what I got out of reviews of modern flagship phone cameras.
iPhone 7, Galaxy S7, Pixel cameras have similar capabilities in terms of hardware. What makes a difference is the software processing and noise reduction.
Galaxy S7 seems to have the best algorithms for noise reduction, and the fastest autofocus in very dark scenery. That means less noise, and sharper photos in the dark for the Galaxy. Pixel has an excellent HDR, with good color reproduction in HDR screnery, where dark and bright objects are present simultaneously. iPhone has a good all around camera not excelling at any particular feature.
That said, all smartphone cameras are not even close to large dedicated cameras - the sizes of lenses and sensors are literally two orders of magnitude better in low light. At the current level of technology, you cannot replace a large camera with a smartphone in low light.
Honestly, there's really not much of an upgrade from the 6P to the Pixel camera.
I've actually been pretty impressed. Coming from the S7 Edge the Pixel does not offer huge improvements in any single area, but subtle improvements across the board. When it comes to the camera, I spent weeks and hundreds of shots in different settings trying to decide which camera was better as I was weighing the decision of which device to keep. Ultimately, I found them both to be great but the Pixel seemed to do a little better when taking shots of my kids who are 1, 3 and 5 and are thus always moving and very active. I'm quite surprised with some of the comments in this thread because I've been quite pleased. When comparing photos to those of my wife's iPhone 6s+, the gap becomes a little larger and the Pixel is significantly better in most every situation, especially with moving targets. I cannot comment on comparisons to the iP7 because I don't have one and would only base my opinion on the many reviews I've read and watched over the last month or so. The one aspect of my S7 Edge camera I really miss is the wide angle FFC and probably the S7 Edge low light performance overall.
In all honesty, I do have mild regrets about keeping the Pixel and selling the S7Edge. Overall I think the S7 is a slightly better device with its design, waterproofing, form factor, and features. But the Pixel is solid enough to get me through to Pixel XL 2 or Galaxy S9.
chrisstl said:
I'm certainly not comparing a DSLR vs a smartphone. And also an rx100 isn't a DSLR either. My disappointment, which I didn't really mention, was mentally comparing my iPhone 6+ and the Pixel XL. I think I'm having issue with the HDR overcompensating and causing noise.
Edit: To clarify my rx100m3 comment, I just wished that a smartphone camera quality could improve to the point where I would be comfortable leaving the rx100m3 at home sometimes. I thought the Pixel would bring me closer to that dream, but it hasn't.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
The RX100 is darn good and can give some of the lower DSLR/mirrorless camera competition. The video you posted is the incredibly hard for a sensor this size and we know the pixel is not great at low light. RX100 is also a excellent F/1.8 lense on it.
I think you are just expecting too much out of a sensor much smaller than the RX100s. Assuming the IMX 378 has the same aspect ratio to the RX100 it is 4.1 time smaller in area.
IMX378 - 7.81mm diagonal (28mm^2 assuming same W/H ratio as RX100)
RX100 III - 8.8mm x 13.2mm, 15.86mm diagonal, 116.16mm^2
If you are comfortable shooting manual and RAW try it on the pixel (manual camera is simple and effective). It will at least show you the limits of the sensor and should help you understand when and why it will fall on it face in certain lighting conditions. It will also so you why HDR+ is so amazing.
nabbed said:
I think this is not a general consensus, but this is what I got out of reviews of modern flagship phone cameras.
iPhone 7, Galaxy S7, Pixel cameras have similar capabilities in terms of hardware. What makes a difference is the software processing and noise reduction.
Galaxy S7 seems to have the best algorithms for noise reduction, and the fastest autofocus in very dark scenery. That means less noise, and sharper photos in the dark for the Galaxy. Pixel has an excellent HDR, with good color reproduction in HDR screnery, where dark and bright objects are present simultaneously. iPhone has a good all around camera not excelling at any particular feature.
That said, all smartphone cameras are not even close to large dedicated cameras - the sizes of lenses and sensors are literally two orders of magnitude better in low light. At the current level of technology, you cannot replace a large camera with a smartphone in low light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would not agree that the S7 has better image processing. It is by far the worst by overdoing the noise reduction and overcompensating with too much sharpening. It is a better sensor/lense underneath though.
rancor22 said:
The RX100 is darn good and can give some of the lower DSLR/mirrorless camera competition. The video you posted is the incredibly hard for a sensor this size and we know the pixel is not great at low light. RX100 is also a excellent F/1.8 lense on it.
I think you are just expecting too much out of a sensor much smaller than the RX100s. Assuming the IMX 378 has the same aspect ratio to the RX100 it is 4.1 time smaller in area.
IMX378 - 7.81mm diagonal (28mm^2 assuming same W/H ratio as RX100)
RX100 III - 8.8mm x 13.2mm, 15.86mm diagonal, 116.16mm^2
If you are comfortable shooting manual and RAW try it on the pixel (manual camera is simple and effective). It will at least show you the limits of the sensor and should help you understand when and why it will fall on it face in certain lighting conditions. It will also so you why HDR+ is so amazing.
I would not agree that the S7 has better image processing. It is by far the worst by overdoing the noise reduction and overcompensating with too much sharpening. It is a better sensor/lense underneath though.
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Click to collapse
I am sorry, but do you own any of the phones/cameras in question? Do you speak from experience or from rumor mill?
Had my first day out with the V30 yesterday and just imported the photos and videos from it to my laptop for a closer look to make some initial evaluations. With some very interesting things to note and a lot to dig into further. There's definitely some realities that need to be addressed to better manage expectations.
1) I have no f'n clue what the HDR setting is doing other than making crappy photos. Which is about the same as it was on the V20. It's completely the opposite of what it was on the Nexus 6. On the Nexus 6, if you wanted the best photos out of the Google Camera you could get, you turned on HDR and forgot about it. With LG's Camera app, it's the exact opposite. Turn it off and forget it was ever there.
I still need to figure out the mess that the Google Camera app port has become and DL a copy and see how it does with this sensor.
2) If you shoot manual, there's a noise reduction on/off switch now. Unless you have some decent NR software though or know what you want to do with grainy photos (and I think it will have its uses, I just have to find the right subject), leave it on in very low light conditions. Not only does it tame grainy noise, it also tames a bit of purple fringe that will show up in high gain (high ISO) photos once the electronics start heating up around it.
3) As to that last part of #2: We have to be realistic here. This is a tiny cellphone camera packed in with A LOT of other electronics. If you're shooting several shots in a row or long exposures, either in dark conditions at high ISO, you will see amp glow or purple fringing. It's just a reality. Even DSLRs see it.
4) Digital zoom is digital zoom. If you aren't using just the standard view of each sensor, then you are going to see the limitations of a small sensor. I don't care what cellphone you're using. None of my larger/dedicated cameras have it for many good reasons. You shouldn't expect miracles from a smaller camera.
5) The wide angle sensor actually takes pretty good shots now in most conditions! The wide angle camera on the V20 was full of so many compromises that I avoided it at all costs. If I wanted a wider view than the standard lens, I would use the pano setting on the standard lens. Which is still a great option if everything in the frame is going to sit still but it takes time and patience. It still has distortion though, just not as much as before. You can't focus the wide angle in manual mode but you can in auto. Weird. It doesn't like to focus pointing directly overhead. That was hit or miss. Same rules about the NR and HDR apply here.
6) Video AF in low low light does miss sometimes. Again, just remember this phone doesn't have all the high end AF sensors that some DSLRs have to make sure focus is nailed every single time. Somewhere there's an article about the useful range of all the AF systems on the V20, I assume it still applies to the V30. I'll dig it up if I can to help manage expectations. If I remember right, laser AF is short range, maybe 7 feet.
7) During my import of files from my phone to my laptop, some of my videos lost their audio tracks. Not sure what that's about. I don't remember which ones were auto and which ones were manual but I suspect that's the problem. All videos have sound on my phone though.
8) I suck at video. Kinda hoping to kick myself in the rear with this phone and learn more about it. There's a lot more to manage and I probably won't be happy until I figure out the whole color grading thing and get the look I want. So the log file option ought to be a nice addition.
9) I remember telling someone that I swear I saw a video somewhere of a pre-unit that had the directional mics settings in manual video. Well, I can tell you that I must have imagined that because the unit I have does not have that setting. Just sliders and windcut.
10) And I don't know where LG is hiding it but I don't see 240 fps in any settings anywhere. The fastest video setting I see is 120fps. (Remember, only at 720p) I'm guessing 240 fps is reserved for the slo-mo mode and not available in manual or auto video modes.
11) Selfie camera. Yeah, I've seen the complaints. Are you sure your ugly mugs aren't breaking the camera? I posted this in the first impressions thread and I'll post it here. First thing I suggest doing is turning down the "skin toning" and skin lighting settings. Whoever renamed skin smoothing to skin toning should be shot as that's not what I thought that setting was at all. My first thought is that it adjusted the white balance of the skin to give you a rosier glow. Nope. Skin toning will butter face the heck out of you even on basics settings. Set it to zero. After that, the image held up well to some post processing and consistently gave me selfies I actually like. They actually remind me of something that might come from..... film.
I'm going to do some more shooting today and I'll try to figure out how to post examples without making you all click through to some other site. I also need to figure out how to get the videos over sound and all so I can give them honest assessments.
Ah, I just remembered something else to look out for.
12) If you shoot in manual and have the RAW option turned on, it isn't like on a real camera where you get the RAW file and a processed version of the RAW file. It shoots two photos. This does two things. One, it means you will see lag as it is shooting two photos for each press. This gets worse with longer shutter speeds. Two, this means unless you're shooting a still life that the RAW and JPG will not match. If you're shooting action like I was last night, you will get two completely different photos.
Interesting. Thanks for you observations.
I'm a pixel owner and I love the camera. It's ace. I really want to like the v30, but so far the real world observations and initial reviews haven't sung the praises of the camera. Are you happy with the camera or is it not worth the hype?
The camera is better than the V20 and I liked that a lot. Here's the issue in a nut shell. This phone is for those that aren't happy to just let the device to everything for you like an Apple product would. If that's what you want, that's what Pixels are about. Pixel is Google's iPhone. If you want control over the creative process, that's why the V's exist. The V series is more akin to using a DSLR and Pixels are more like a point and shoot. The Pixel series they're kinda hoping you're ok with whatever the phone spits out. The V series you tweak the initial settings and decide what the phone is even going to shoot so you can tweak it more to your liking later. The V30 gives us even more control than the V20 does.
CHH2 said:
The camera is better than the V20 and I liked that a lot. Here's the issue in a nut shell. This phone is for those that aren't happy to just let the device to everything for you like an Apple product would. If that's what you want, that's what Pixels are about. Pixel is Google's iPhone. If you want control over the creative process, that's why the V's exist. The V series is more akin to using a DSLR and Pixels are more like a point and shoot. The Pixel series they're kinda hoping you're ok with whatever the phone spits out. The V series you tweak the initial settings and decide what the phone is even going to shoot so you can tweak it more to your liking later. The V30 gives us even more control than the V20 does.
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Interesting. Thanks for the summary
I would like to but V30, all because camera. But I don't know is this camera one of the best in 2017 or it is just average camera. I see many bad comments on internet. And is front face camera really bad?
isko01 said:
I would like to but V30, all because camera. But I don't know is this camera one of the best in 2017 or it is just average camera. I see many bad comments on internet. And is front face camera really bad?
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I probably still have a few more days of testing but just based off of what I've seen in my standardized shooting at the museum, LG has pulled off a miracle with this tiny little sensor.
Like I said above, you have to have realistic expectations and know what the limits are of your gear. That's what a really good photographer does though. They know how the gear works and how to use what it does but also know when it's time to use something else or accept not getting a shot.
This is a tiny sensor. The largest sensor on this whole phone is only 1/3.09". It's smaller than the main one on the V20 but it looks better. That in itself is amazing but I'm not expecting a sensor that's 1/3 the size of the sensor of my smallest camera to match it. Yet that's what some people seem to expect . Which is asinine.
Really the only "failing" I had yesterday was trying to shoot overhead in extremely dark conditions with the wide angle camera and shooting performers wearing all black on an outdoor stage in the dark with just stage lighting (which was changing colors constantly) while moving around quickly. Neither of those surprised me at all. The second condition really is the realm of DSLRs still. The first one, I'm ok with too. That said, what I did get from the second condition, I'm still surprised with.
I've only had one day with it but I think I'm going to get some surprising images out of this camera. Now to teach myself more about video editing.
And again, about the front camera. Once you set those stupid settings to the bottom, you can get more skin detail out of a photo than most people would like to see. Every crease and furrow in my brow line and forehead ,pock mark in my nose, and hairs on my head and beard. From shooting models, I can tell you a lot of people wouldn't want to see that level of detail on their face. So I have no idea what people are complaining about. It's an f'n vanity camera that most people wouldn't want to use to its full potential.
Uploaded a couple of shots. All shots are my normal workflow with a cellphone camera. Shot with the V30 and the jpegs processed in Snapseed. First one is shot with the main camera overhead in a room not known for being well lit at the museum I used to work at. In fact the only real lighting is from some LEDs in the pearl at center. The LEDs are designed to be very soft so they don't degrade the paint and woodwork. The other two shots are selfies taken with indirect sunlight being the only light source indoors. The one with back background is indirect sun through clear glass. The one with the light background is indirect sunlight through very milky glass.
Main camera: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/36870848874/
Dark background selfie cam: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/37322765870/
Light background selfie cam: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/23728950428/
Seriously, I'm not sure I'd really want more detail than that. I'm actually quite please with how all of these images turned out so far. I'll try to work up some more shots from the main and wides.
Can you post some pics in a room at night with just a lamp on or something in auto mode?
EVOme said:
Can you post some pics in a room at night with just a lamp on or something in auto mode?
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I'll have to see what I can set up. That's not really a normal shot I have set-up or sitting around. I might be able to do something at work tomorrow before everyone else gets in and the whole place is blasted with light. Unfortunately, I no longer work at the museum but I might be able to make something work.
isko01 said:
I would like to but V30, all because camera. But I don't know is this camera one of the best in 2017 or it is just average camera. I see many bad comments on internet.
And is front face camera really bad?
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I'm not hijacking this thread, but you asked a specific question. There's another thread where the camera is discussed, along with other features, and @keithleger took all his in "auto" mode, to compare the two V30 back cameras, and he also compared it to the Note 8 camera which he's decided to sell.
Camera
-Excellent camera but not on par with Pixel line or Samsung. Don't get me wrong, it is a great camera and in the sunlight it is fantastic but low light it does not do as well as Note 8. Video or Stills. But it is very adequate for my needs and I prefer having the wide-angle lens over the zoom lens any day.
-The one thing that really bothered me was shutter lag at times. Sometimes when I snapped a photo it was almost instant and others I had to wait a second or so. Long enough to think I might not of pressed the button. Not sure if others have had this issue but it is troublesome. It was not isolated to taking multiple photos fairly quickly either. Sometimes first shot.
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However, he's selling the Note 8 to keep the LG V30.
He posted an album of his first weekend pictures, as well as the comparison shots to the Note 8. The V30 outside shots look FANTASTIC, and even though the Note 8seemed to do better indoors the LG V30 won at least one of the indoor shots, in my opinion.
As for selfies, he gives the same advice as @CHH2.. Turn off the enhancemet crap on the selfie camera.
keithleger said:
For selfies, if you set the skin tone and lighting effects to 0 then it is ok.
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CHH2 said:
Selfie camera. . First thing I suggest doing is turning down the "skin toning" and skin lighting settings.
Skin toning will butter face the heck out of you even on basics settings. Set it to zero.
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See, they say the same thing. The only reason I'm mentioning the other thread -- and I do not mean to hijack @CHH2 camera thread -- is because @keithleger has direct comparisons to the Note 8 camera was well as the f/1.6 and wide angle cameras on the V30. Plus he only shot in auto, and didn't do any post processing (to my knowledge).
I appreciate all the work @CHH2 has put into this thread!
CHH2 said:
I'll have to see what I can set up. That's not really a normal shot I have set-up or sitting around. I might be able to do something at work tomorrow before everyone else gets in and the whole place is blasted with light. Unfortunately, I no longer work at the museum but I might be able to make something work.
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Thanks! You don't have to go out of your way. I will have my phone tomorrow.
EVOme said:
Thanks! You don't have to go out of your way. I will have my phone tomorrow.
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I shot this real quick this morning. It's completely SOOC. Yes, you might notice something rather odd and be asking yourself, "Why didn't he rotate the image?" Well, I didn't rotate it because on my phone the image is upright and correct. Somewhere between the phone and Flickr, it got rotated. I'll be deleting this one at the end of today as it's not really something I'd normally shoot even as a reminder or novelty.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/36882784984/
And just because I got lucky this morning, a little close up:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/37593620881/
Going to add one more photo. This one shot in probably one of the most challenging places to shoot, a jazz club. This is probably the cleanest shot I've taken in there with a cellphone. I'm impressed.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/36883443574/
CHH2 said:
I shot this real quick this morning. It's completely SOOC. Yes, you might notice something rather odd and be asking yourself, "Why didn't he rotate the image?" Well, I didn't rotate it because on my phone the image is upright and correct. Somewhere between the phone and Flickr, it got rotated. I'll be deleting this one at the end of today as it's not really something I'd normally shoot even as a reminder or novelty.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/36882784984/
And just because I got lucky this morning, a little close up:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/37593620881/
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Wow man! I have restored faith in the camera. That office shot is very sharp. For the grasshopper, are you using one of the installed filters or is a post render?
Thank you for taking those.
EVOme said:
Wow man! I have restored faith in the camera. That office shot is very sharp. For the grasshopper, are you using one of the installed filters or is a post render?
Thank you for taking those.
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You're welcome. For photos, I never use the filters in the camera apps. I always use Snapseed. It has a lot more control and much more power once you learn how to apply the various filters in combination. The grasshopper only had typical post processing that most photographers would apply; a tad sharpening that is only really noticeable when zoomed in, B&W conversion, bump in contrast, and a bump in shadows to make them a tad darker. Oh, and a crop, maybe threw away a little more than half the overall pixels from the frame as I didn't want to scare it off.
And yeah, for being such a tiny sensor, I'm impressed with the low light shooting. I still want to try shooting in the basement of the jazz club. That's usually territory that I need at least my smaller dedicated camera if not my DSLR. I won't get to try that again until this next weekend.
Decided to try something a little different. This isn't final by any means but this shows what playing around for a couple of minutes in Snapseed with just a couple quick shots can get you: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/37605204891/
Looking forward to showing this to my curator friend and watching him fall off of his barstool when I tell him it was all done on one cellphone in under five minutes. (He's pretty much a film guy as is the guy who is the inspiration for this photo. Bonus points if you can name the photographer I'm copying for this photo.)
Main camera: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/36870848874/
Dark background selfie cam: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/37322765870/
Light background selfie cam: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/23728950428/
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What camera was used for those selfies? I'm not a fan of selfies but love the ones you've taken. I'd like to experiment with it and my fiance would too.thank you. Btw love you test album. Talent for sure
lg3FTW said:
Main camera: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/36870848874/
Dark background selfie cam: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/37322765870/
Light background selfie cam: https://www.flickr.com/photos/chimphappyhour/23728950428/
.
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What camera was used for those selfies? I'm not a fan of selfies but love the ones you've taken. I'd like to experiment with it and my fiance would too.thank you. Btw love you test album. Talent for sure[/QUOTE]
I used the front selfie camera with all of those silly settings at the bottom of the frame turned off, set to zero, whatever their values are. Then I just did some quick processing in Snapseed. That's pretty much it. I don't get too complex. And thank you.
Finally figured out a work around so I can hear the audio on the videos I'm importing from the phone to my laptop and can't believe I didn't think of this before. Pulled the videos from their folder over into an empty Chrome browser window and Voila! they played complete with their soundtrack!
So the following is from shooting in a dark jazz club. (Notes, not footage yet. I'll try uploading something to youtube when I figure out what, when, and how.)
Probably the most important observation I see about video from the V30 (and this actually applied to the V20 too) is that loud music can end up jostling the OIS and introduce more shake than it removes.
Another observation is that recording video while in Auto mode, you better make sure you have plenty of somewhat decent light. Tonight while playing around, the screen would be plenty bright all the way up until I hit that little red record button. Then the screen squeezes down and went dark enough that the footage was unusable. Shooting in manual video mode, I was able to get some footage. It wasn't exactly ideal settings that I was shooting with though so the footage is so-so. (Best settings I could get were ISO 3200 and a shutter speed of 1/25. My understanding is that since I had my frame rate at 24fps, I should have had a shutter speed of 1/50 but that just wasn't happening inside that place.)
In manual video mode, it really doesn't like ISO 3200 for some reason. I'd play with a setting and come back and the ISO would be set to 3150 for some reason. I'd bump it back up to 3200, go do something else, come back to 3150. I would have to make sure that's the last thing I tweaked before hitting the record button.
The audio picks up pretty much all the sounds I'm hearing. I need to sit down with headphones and see if there's extra noise being introduced. I suspect dragging the videos into the Chrome browser is exactly the best quality test. It just lets me know the audio tracks are intact in the file which I was a little worried about at first.
I still have a lot more playing around with the video as most of it is new to me.