Related
[final update 10/11/2012]
I have moved to the HTC One X you can see my photo samples from the One X here and here
You can find much more impressive photos posted by One X users in this thread
so I've concluded a similar guide for the One X is not really needed
[last updated 11/12/2011]
3.12.405.1 Update:
. Introduces new scenes options: portrait, landscape, action, closeup, backlight, beach, snow, candlelight and low light.
It attempts to auto select settings based on the scenario of choice, image quality remains bad because it locks the sharpness setting to 0, thankfully with scenes>auto you can override, control sharpness and follow this guide
. Improved quality: color treatment, face detection, auto focus and low light
. Low light video recording @30Fps is back, its achievable by using the low exposure trick
. For root users Panorama mode can be enabled here>>
2.36.405.8_R Update:
. Introduces improved sharpness algorithm, sharpness -1 is now acceptable
. new colors treatment, tries to extract more colors and adds some sort of soft bloom, sometime gives unreal results and colored grain, can't be disabled
. higher 720p recording video/audio bit rate
. a new option called auto enhance which blurs noise in the image at the cost of details, fortunately it can be disabled
. low light video recording 30fps is no longer achievable using the low exposure trick, you can still achieve better fps using this trick but not full fps
1.72.405.3_R2 Update:
. improve system performance and camera feature enhancements
. camera interface is faster after the update and 720p recording freeze bug is fixed
A lot of people even reviewers have been complaining about the camera quality, however the Desire HD boosts a good 8 mega pixels senor, you can achieve great results if you know your way around it.
I will start this guide by showing some tasty examples since this thread is all about photo quality please don't complain about photo sizes as its meant to be examined.
The guide is intended for the stock HTC camera app, although the general guidelines can apply to any other camera app.
The following is a quick version of this guide, each setting is later explored in details.
Manually set your focus, wait for the focus signal to turn green, keep your hand steady until the shot is taken (keep it till the preview appears)
Make sure the camera protection glass is wiped clean
To fix image quality: Disable digital sharpness so it’s set to -2 or reduce it to -1 if you feel its too soft but never sharpness 0, you can later increase sharpness using external apps
To fix the video recording freezes: update to firmware 1.72 or above, also make sure no apps are busy in the background (i.e. skype)
To fix low light bad video FPS: reduce the exposure setting to -2, it will go up to 30fps, use the flash to boost the brightness back
To fix the green tint caused by the flash: set white balance to Fluorescent
To fix the changing colors while recording video indoors: set the white balance manualy. Auto is good during daylight but jumpy indoors
Higher ISO will always boost the camera available light, so higher ISO improves frame rate, reduces motion blur and reveals more detail in darkness. However keep in mind higher ISO will reduce image quality since it introduces noise to the image. Auto ISO is pretty smart
If your photo is washed out, use the auto enhance effect from the gallery to fix levels and color balance, your photo will stay at 8MP, the enhanced photo will be saved as a new file
Taken at 8 mega pixels, sharpness -2, everything else is default Contrast/exposure/saturation 0, ISO auto, White balance auto and Flash is off.
These are from first attempt and untouched It’s just Flickr resizing them. Flickr limits the size to 1k.
{
"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"
}
Larger: http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157625450976523/
more samples here: HTC Desire HD group on Flickr
As you can see these photos look great and natural, two things the Desire HD camera excels at, color reproduction and marco shots which works automatically as long as you set your focus correctly.
The main issue we need to tackle with the camera is the sharpness setting.
Image adjustments: Sharpness
+1 +2: Increases noise reduction and sharpness, however it doesn’t appear to change much from the default, the screen displays more sharpness but when you examine the photo taken there is little difference
0: Default value, in reality it applies aggressive noise reduction and sharpness
-1: Reduces noise reduction and sharpness.
-2: Disables noise reduction and sharpness completely
At default this setting is set at 0 with four other options (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2) so effectively the default sharpness is actually set at 2.
Like other cameras, at first it attempts to reduce noise by blurring out fine detail and then attempts to restore detail by sharpening edges.
However it’s all very over done so it introduces lots of blur and artifacts, even down scaling the image by half leaves it looking unnatural.
As you can see its pretty bad job at default, it’s a good thing we have the option to reduce it or turn it off, despite being a little soft-2 looks the most natural and has the most detail.
Recommendation: disable it at -2 so you capture the pure image taken as by the camera sensor, despite looking a little soft at full scale it’s still a lot of pixels at 8MP so it will look great when scaled like on the phone screen, TV, websites like Flickr or even print.
If you want a little more sharpness you can extract more detail by sharpening it in Photoshop, you can also sharpen it using an app like PicSay pro which is pretty good but sadly downscales it to 1MP.
By the way some of the effects in the gallery can improve definition and sharpness, more on this later.
Otherwise If you must have some sharpness in the image and willing to sacrifice some image quality you can set it at -1 which is less aggressive. But as you can see above even with -1 detail are getting lost.
Keep in mind taking a photo with the default sharpness applied will leave little choice to fix it later, since the image details are already tempered with.
Image adjustments: Contrast, Saturation, Exposure
Contrast: controls the levels between black and white, reducing it will reveal more detail in dark areas but at the loss of overall definition.
Saturation: controls the richness of colors, increasing it can reveal more grain.
Exposure: controls brightness, you increase the brightness but risk over exposing an area.
This setting appears to have an affect on the camera speed and frame rate, reducing it will increase frame rate at low light, -2 it can achieve up to 30fps at low light.
Recommendation: leave them at default 0 which is well balanced, unless you see a need to adjust your photo.
White balance
White balance enables the camera to capture colors more accurately by adjusting to your current lighting
environment. White balance settings include: Auto, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Daylight, and Cloudy.
Recommendation: leave it at auto it does a good job, unless your photo appears wrong in the viewfinder.
You can use Fluorescent to fix the yellow colors hue caused by using the Flash.
If you are filming a video indoors set it manually since it’s a little jumpy.
Focus
Auto simply sets the focus at the center of the screen whenever you move the camera, you can still pick your focus even with auto focus engaged.
If you want properly focused shots without any blur plus good photo framing you will have to set your focus manually, focus will also adjust your target exposure.
A slight issue sometimes after you set the focus the handset detects a slight movement and resets the focus at the center so you need to be careful.
Unlike previous HTC phones you can no longer keep holding an area to focus and shoot, you will need to press the capture button after the focus is set.
Auto focus also has a face detection sub function; it works really well when people are in frame.
Recommendation: Unless you want a quick point a shoot photo always set the focus yourself, it will insure you get the proper sharpness plus fix the exposure of your subject.
If people are in the picture face detection will do the job for you. If you like to insure the focus never mess up turn off auto focus altogether but you will lose face detection functionality.
Of course always wait for the focus pointer to turn green.
Self Portrait & Self Timer
Self portrait: If you want your camera to automatically take people photos, you can set it to identify 1 or 2 faces and automatically adjust the focus.
Self timer: If you need to take a group photo or your own photo, you can set a time delay before your camera automatically takes the photo.
ISO, Shutter speed & Flash
ISO determines how sensitive the image sensor is to light, increasing it will help you get more light in darker settings, however the higher the ISO the grainier the photo will look.
The Shutter speed is also affected by light sensitivity, so higher ISO can reduce motion blur.
Recommendation: leave it at auto it does a good job of detecting the needed settings, however if you notice the image is too grainy, too dark or suffering motion blur you can adjust it manually.
Use an ISO of 100 or 200 when taking photographs outside in sunny conditions. If the sky is overcast or it is evening time, then use an ISO within the range of 400 to 800.
Moving subjects will require some ISO and flash consideration to prevent motion blur.
Shutter Speed
The shutter speed in the DHD is linked to the available light, testing in daylight at low ISO reveals motion blur with moving subjects.
Higher ISO means more light so it will snap moving subjects sharply of course of at the cost of increasing grain in the image.
You can see the difference in the viewfinder by changing the ISO value (in daylight). The higher the ISO the less motion blur.
Exposure also seems to have an effect on the camera speed, reducing it can reduce motion blur at low light.
Recommendation: Compared to other phones the capturing and saving speed itself is pretty fast.
So when capturing moving subjects a good practice is to snap multiple shots in a raw to make sure you get a good shot, you can disable preview to make this process faster.
As always insure your hand is steady and wait until the photo is completely taken i.e. wait a little after you press capture.
If you can't be bothered then rely on ISO 400 or 800 to prevent motion blur with moving subjects. At low light you still have to insure a steady capture, exposure consideration and enable flash to help.
Flash
If it’s very dark you will have to rely on the flash, The good news is with auto ISO the flash rarely burns your subject and it usually selects a good ISO.
Flash will also help in preventing motion blur. However flash tints the image with some green-yellow hue, it can be improved using the following tricks.
Tips to improve the yellow color tint:
Thanks to Elemental_Fire for the tip! you can get much more natural colors while using the flash by choosing Fluorescent for white balance.
Remember this white balance tip is only good during flash, if you keep it at fluorescent it might ruin your daylight shots.
Like any other photo you can also improve it by using the auto enhance feature in the gallery effects menu.
Here are some examples of low light and flash performance of the DHD camera
Larger: http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157625585331314/
Widescreen
To fill the viewfinder 5:3 widescreen aspect is selected by default it gives a cropped photo at the size of 3264x1952, while disabling it produces a full 8 megapixels 4:3 photo at 3264x2448
Recommendation: Leave it disabled, you are loosing lots of pixels with 5:3, even better when widescreen is disabled the viewfinder actually runs smoother.
Gallery Effects
A very nice feature included in the new sense, it allows you to further improve your photos from within the gallery.
On the Gallery app’s Albums screen, tap an album > Press and hold on the photo that you want to add effects to > In the menu that opens, tap Edit, and then tap Effects.
There are too many to list but auto fix will improve the colors and contrast of your photo, while effects like high contrast will add an artistic vignette and increase the sharpness of your image, of course you can also apply them over each other.
It works at native 8 mega pixels photo without badly recompressing it.
Here are some examples (original, auto enhance, high contrast, lively and overexpose)
Larger: http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157625585449676/
720p Video recording
Zooming is not available in 720p mode but you can change focus while filming.
In good to ok lighting conditions, the Desire HD films at 30fps, but it can drop to 20 fps and as low as 10fps if its dark.
The exposure settings seems to have an effect on the camera performance, so reducing it will improve frame rate and reduce motion blur.
Filming at 800x480 allows you to zoom in while filming.
The video encoding is good at 8MB/s baseline mp4 level 3.1 but the audio is badly compressed at 8 kHz 32 kbps! Maybe to improve performance…
Recommendation: The main issue with photos applies in 720p, the sharpness setting at default 0 is pretty bad especially with filming people.
Unlike photo mode, setting sharpness to +1 or +2 makes a visible increase in sharpness.
The video will be full of artifacts and jaggies unless you disable it with sharpness -2 or lower it at -1 if you really like sharpness.
If you are filming indoor manually select your white balance, with auto its quit jumpy and keeps changing while filming!
To film at 30fps in low light, scale exposure down to -2 and use the Flash to boost the brightness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2uK6uk5MIw&hd=1
The above video recorded 30fps at sunset without any lag, using auto ISO. Keep in mind when you upload to YouTube it re-encodes the video
720p Freeze/Lag issue: [issue appears resolved with the 1.72.405.3 update]
It can be solved by killing tasks before recording, use an app like free advanced task manager hit end all and then launch the camera app. Be careful of background heavy like Skype.
Some people have said formatting the SD card with 32k cluster size will help but I found no solution other than killing tasks before recording, I have the bundled class 2 microSd and it works every time.
Solutions for bad FPS in low light conditions:
Thanks to SupremeBeaver for this excellent tip! Reducing the exposure will improve frame rate, at exposure -2 the frame rate will jump up to 30fps, you can then use both the flash and ISO 800 to boost the brightness, perfect solution for indoors low light.
Keep in mind extra light will always help both the image quality and pefromance, so make use of the Flash and ISO settings, although by default auto ISO takes care of it pretty well.
You can't select the ISO level while in video mode but you can force it in photo mode, of course this will also result in a grainier image.
more samples here from solopalmari.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNtZSgcaToY
Finally the fun part
Desire HD vs Desire vs iPhone4
The iPhone4 has a very good sharpness algorithm, which is quite similar to what you can get with Photoshop. Its great outdoor but fails badly in indoor daylight lighting.
It extracts a lot of noise, perhaps the sensor is working at a very high ISO and unlike the Desire HD you can't adjust any of this.
In case of 720p recording iPhone 4 is the winner by default, it always films at 30fps even in low light (with lots of noise). However the Desire HD can achieve equal results by filming with exposure -2.
The flash on the iphone 4 is a major fail, on the other hand it has a very nice HDR mode. Finally color reproduction on the DHD is better, colors with the iphone4 are adjusted and unreal.
To conclude the DHD has a quit good camera, its only the default HTC settings failing it, fortunately it can all be solved by understanding the available settings.
Deal with sharpness, understand ISO, set framing and focus right and you can achieve great results.
Finally don't forget to experiment with the effects feature in both the camera and gallery which are really impressive.
Feel free to post your success stories or questions
have fun!
thanks i've asked the mod to stick it, it should save lots of questions about the camera
Nice job Hamdir, looks like quite some work!
I did notice the comment on the sharpness -2 setting in one of the other camera threads. It does give the photo's a sort of 'blurred' feel imho, judging the above comparison pics.
Anyway, very clear comparison of all the possible settings.
That must have taken some time to put together . Thanks very much for it, greatly appreciated.
paulus_01 said:
Nice job Hamdir, looks like quite some work!
I did notice the comment on the sharpness -2 setting in one of the other camera threads. It does give the photo's a sort of 'blurred' feel imho, judging the above comparison pics.
Anyway, very clear comparison of all the possible settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes i'm the one who keeps preaching sharpness -2 hehe
its a little soft at full scale, but why would you ever look at a photo at this size?
it can be improved in many ways since the details are there in the image, anything higher then -2 will mess up the original photo in my opinion
you can settle to sharpness -1 its the closest we can get to Photoshop sharpness quality but you can see in the comparison some details are lost in the bushes for example
don't come anywhere near sharpness 0 its pure @#$%
anyone knows how to embed a youtube video? i can't get it to work
Superb post... thanks for that.
My main issue is capturing moving people (especially my 2 year old!) indoors. Keep getting blurred shots/footage.
Any suggestions to improve this?
Thanks again.
mjt said:
Superb post... thanks for that.
My main issue is capturing moving people (especially my 2 year old!) indoors. Keep getting blurred shots/footage.
Any suggestions to improve this?
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good question, i'll add a part for that, sadly it seems the shutter speed is a little slow in the DHD.
But capturing a photo is still very quick so there is a solution, when i'm snapping a photo of people i take a few quick shots in a raw, one of them will work
hope this helps
My camera issue:
Having decent settings to get the best result is one thing, having a design flaw is another:
Below is a picture I have taken with the DHD inside a football stadium (it has been resized, but that is irrelevant for the point I am making).
I am sitting 1 meter from the field, with just one row beneath me.
When I try to take a picture of the field, the lights in the roof of the stadium reflect behind the camera's glass protection (it actually reflects behind the black circle which says 8.0 megapixels). This results in the reflection being caught on camera as well.
This, in my opinion, is a design flaw and really should not have occurred. What is your opinion?
it happens mainly when you take a picture and a bright lightsource is above and opposite from you, while your camera is pointed straightforward.
i don't get it, isn't this lens flare? it occurs in all cameras, otherwise you need a specialty lens to deal with this
as a matter fact we simulate and add it as an effect when we make a CG stadium animation...
None of the pics I made with my K850i had this show up.
I think this should not happen, it is a reflection of the light on the inside of the camera cover or something.
i think it varies between different lenses, cameras and phones, i don't know its clearly lens flare, here check these from google
and this a straight shot of the sun, its just lens flare tons of cameras do that
[edit]thanks, is it working for you? it gives me "movie not loaded" can anyone confirms the video is embedded?
I don't know, to me it seems reflection bounces from the back of the black glass cover.
I get your point of it being flare, however, it looks a bit different to me.
brilliant guide! nicely laid out! u clearly have experience with photography and it shows! thanks very much, i cant wait to get snapping on christmas day! =)
hamdir said:
good question, i'll add a part for that, sadly it seems the shutter speed is a little slow in the DHD.
But capturing a photo is still very quick so there is a solution, when i'm snapping a photo of people i take a few quick shots in a raw, one of them will work
hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever get a chance to see if there's any solution to this?
An amazing guide! I hope to buy the phone before Christmas and the one thing, other than the battery life, that was of concern to me was the quality of the camera, however with you suggestions I don't think it will be as big an issue.
Amazing guide! thank you for that!
I have a question, using my DHD at a night club, all photos came out either overexposed, unfocused, alot of noise or other kind of poor image quality.
The photos you took with flash surprised me a lot. Is there a special reason for that?
co0kie said:
Amazing guide! thank you for that!
I have a question, using my DHD at a night club, all photos came out either overexposed, unfocused, alot of noise or other kind of poor image quality.
The photos you took with flash surprised me a lot. Is there a special reason for that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
never had this problem, only yest at the pub I tried to take a quick photo of a friend, it was out of focus in the viewfinder so I had to get the camera to focus right at this point the focus sticks to the same distance for the next shots
so make sure you get focus, quick point and snap doesn't always work well at night. Also in low light the viewfinder slows down so you need to make sure your hand is steady.
I now have a habit of snapping multiple shots in row, later I delete the ones that came out badly
one thing I can't figure out is motion blur, sometimes fast moving subjects get blurred on the other hand I have dozens of amazingly focused shots of friends while moving.
The only explanation I could think of is maybe the shutter speed adjusts in auto or maybe its related to low light and high ISO since most of the motion blurred shots are at night without flash, I will try to investigate this.
Hamdir,I appreciate your amazing work and admire the effort and time you put to it,but I just have one thing to disagree with.You said that 720p video at low light conditions has a very low framerate,whereas the iPhone 4 get 30fps but with noise,right?Try upping your ISO all the way to 800 from the photo mode in the camera and then switch to video and record one.You will get full fps,just noise will occur.Most phones probably do that automatically(that's why they all give noise in low light IMO).I saw that with my friend's SE Vivaz.Try that and report back!
Other than that,your work seems...Flawless!Well done!I hope there are more people like you around here!
tolis626 said:
Hamdir,I appreciate your amazing work and admire the effort and time you put to it,but I just have one thing to disagree with.You said that 720p video at low light conditions has a very low framerate,whereas the iPhone 4 get 30fps but with noise,right?Try upping your ISO all the way to 800 from the photo mode in the camera and then switch to video and record one.You will get full fps,just noise will occur.Most phones probably do that automatically(that's why they all give noise in low light IMO).I saw that with my friend's SE Vivaz.Try that and report back!
Other than that,your work seems...Flawless!Well done!I hope there are more people like you around here!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cool nice tip ill try it, if it works ill add to the guide thx
With so many choices of camera apps for your HTC ONE, I thought I would put a quick comparison together. This way you get to see the results side by side, making the differences far easier to see. This is not a test of functionality, but more importantly image quality.
The four apps chosen for this test were,
1. HTC One on-board camera app
2. Camera FV-5
3. Camera ICS
4. Camera 360
Each camera app was set to, no zoom, 100 ISO and the photographs were taken under varying light conditions, but the results are still clear to see. All the images below have not been edited and are uploaded as the original files, so feel free to click on the link below each photo to see in larger format.
TEST 1
Camera 360
{
"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"
}
http://flic.kr/p/bWqNWq
Camera ICS
http://flic.kr/p/bWqNVu
Camera FV-5
http://flic.kr/p/bWqNNL
HTC Camera
http://flic.kr/p/bWqNNE
As you will see from the images the HTC Camera application does not blow out the whites with over exposure and compared to the camera FV-5 file which is a 12.5 MB PNG compared to the 3 MB HTC camera JPEG file, there is no more detail resolved in the FV-5 photo. In fact all the third party application photos show no more detail and all suffer from over exposure and severe purple fringing.
TEST 2
Camera 360
http://flic.kr/p/bWr6Cy
Camera ICS
http://flic.kr/p/bWr6C9
Camera FV-5
http://flic.kr/p/bWr6Cf
HTC Camera
http://flic.kr/p/bWr6B1
Very similar results once again to test 1, with the HTC camera outperforming the other applications in this comparison.
TEST 3
Camera 360
http://flic.kr/p/bWrizG
Camera ICS
http://flic.kr/p/bWriys
Camera FV-5
http://flic.kr/p/bWriyA
HTC Camera
http://flic.kr/p/bWrixU
At this point the results are becoming consistent and I’m sure to the surprise of many users the HTC camera application is actually superior!
So to conclude:
1st HTC Camera Application
2nd Camera FV-5, Camera ICS, Camera 360 and the results from all three of these were much the same and underwhelming. I’m sure many users will psychologically think these apps have to be better due to the file sizes and adjustable image compression, but this is not seen in practise.
What do you think?
Join us at the 'HTC ONE Users Group at Flickr' to share your great photos and to discuss all things 'one'. http://www.flickr.com/groups/htc-one/
Do the other camera apps use the image sense chip or just the cpu like most other phones?
Radiognome said:
The four apps chosen for this test were,
1. HTC One on-board camera app
2. Camera FV-5
3. Camera ICS
4. Camera 360
Each camera app was set to, no zoom, 100 ISO and the photographs were taken under varying light condition
...
As you will see from the images the HTC Camera application does not blow out the whites with over exposure...
What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for doing this test.
With a 28mm f2.0 lens, I wonder if apps struggle with automatic exposure control?
It could explain why all apps over expose, if this lens lets in more light than most camera lenses.
Did you try auto ISO?
Firstly robt772000, I would also like to know if the other camera apps use the image sense chip. As I'm sure that I read somewhere that the image data is sent in raw format to the image sense chip for processing.
BenPope, I did not try auto iso for this test, as I wanted to capture the best possible quality from each camera app and also I selected iso 100 to keep the results consistant. But I will run a quick test using auto iso and see if the results change.
Thank you both for your input!
The whole point of Camera FV-5 is customizing all the settings as you would do on a DSLR, you need to know how to better-custom it, if you do so the pictures will look amazing. There is no "auto" setting on camera FV-5, there is also no pre-set config like "sunny" for white balance for instance
L Tavaress, I understand your point, but if the metering is way out on FV-5, you do not have a very good base for customization. All DSLR's depend on accurate metering for any given situation. Not having the luxury of being able to adjust the shutter speed and aperture, leaves you somewhat restricted. With the only options being iso and exposure compensation this will make photo taking painfully slow and many opportunities will be lost, while tumbling for the correct adjustments.
very nice thread here..
Thanks for The thread, very helpfull, I m using all HTC stcok apps, Sense is wonderful, no need to find additional apps... I love The camara, I know its a cell cámara, so i m happy with apps and phone.
Enviado desde mi HTC One X usando Tapatalk 2
So I assume trips cm9 will have a lot of over exposure due to it having the stock ics camera?
Radiognome said:
L Tavaress, I understand your point, but if the metering is way out on FV-5, you do not have a very good base for customization. All DSLR's depend on accurate metering for any given situation. Not having the luxury of being able to adjust the shutter speed and aperture, leaves you somewhat restricted. With the only options being iso and exposure compensation this will make photo taking painfully slow and many opportunities will be lost, while tumbling for the correct adjustments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right!!! The fixed aperture thing is such a pain in the @$$
LTavaress said:
You're right!!! The fixed aperture thing is such a pain in the @$$
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can just be compensated with faster shutter speeds to keep exposure down.. Or lower ISO values, which is even better.
robt772000 said:
So I assume trips cm9 will have a lot of over exposure due to it having the stock ics camera?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh. Cm9 uses the aosp camera app. Probably not even wide screen option... I still dont get why people use Cm9. To plain to my taste.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
Wondering what rom version you are on? Am guessing 1.29+?
FOUND AN ALTERNATIVE TO sense camera !
use any camera app and reduce exposure time, you will get almost the same image quality as the sence camera. I have tested this on CM9. worked with Camera FV-5 and Camera360. The settings are saved so u dont have to bother next time u start the app. and it is more convenient on the FV-5(use the latest version). Only thing you will miss is the assum burst mode !! and in video capture. Thats all.
This is most helpful for cm9 users.
The real issue is that this phone has bad saturation and whitebalance settings no matter what camera software you use.
Have you tried vignette? I think the pics are better with that app.
More Shots
Can anyone provide more shots with HTC ONE and third-party cam's (Camera FV-5), after settings tweak?
Is it actually possible, to make pic look better than on stock camera?
The big problem with the One stock app is that in low light it tends to slow the shutter speed too much (for a phone) even with the internal stabilization, something slower than 1/10 sec will end blurry even if you keep your hand still.
The solution will be an app that controls shutter speed or to tweak the stock apk (they just tweaked jpeg compression)
KromerX said:
Can anyone provide more shots with HTC ONE and third-party cam's (Camera FV-5), after settings tweak?
Is it actually possible, to make pic look better than on stock camera?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This thread is about One X, not the One that came in 2013... Look at the dates of the differents posts before yours...
You revived a thread that is older than a year!
Model name
Blubster said:
This thread is about One X, not the One that came in 2013... Look at the dates of the differents posts before yours...
You revived a thread that is older than a year!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see that. But look at the name of this topic. Am I wrong? Or maybe moders are wrong? Or Maybe author just screwed up?
Whatever it was, this topic and model name in it is rather ambiguous.
Is there any way to disable the audio zoom when recording video?
I've noticed and seen it reported that the audio becomes almost muffled when zooming in while recording a video. It would be nice to experiment with that feature toggled on/off.
refresh
speedzioch said:
refresh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Refresh? What kind of answer is that? Refresh what?
I have the same question about the audio zoom btw.
danielscissorhands said:
Refresh? What kind of answer is that? Refresh what?
I have the same question about the audio zoom btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no way to disable the audio zoom in the native camera app. I've even emailed LG support about it and they have no workaround from inside that app.
I have been experimenting with a bunch of third party camera apps in the meantime and it seems that most of them do not show this effect so it must be baked into the native camera app or something. I would recommend looking into apps like ProShot or Camera FV-5. I know for sure ProShot does not have the audio zoom effect. I'm singling out those two cameras because they have EV (exposure value) compensation right on the interface when taking pictures/video which is really helpful because this phone doesn't seem to auto-adjust the EV properly in many situations I'm in when trying to take pictures/video.
monrovian said:
There is no way to disable the audio zoom in the native camera app. I've even emailed LG support about it and they have no workaround from inside that app.
I have been experimenting with a bunch of third party camera apps in the meantime and it seems that most of them do not show this effect so it must be baked into the native camera app or something. I would recommend looking into apps like ProShot or Camera FV-5. I know for sure ProShot does not have the audio zoom effect. I'm singling out those two cameras because they have EV (exposure value) compensation right on the interface when taking pictures/video which is really helpful because this phone doesn't seem to auto-adjust the EV properly in many situations I'm in when trying to take pictures/video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. In another forum (here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/g4/general/lg-g4-cameras-problems-t3180240), someone mentioned that when they used a 3rd party app that, while the audio zoom was no longer a factor, the sound quality at a concert was worse than with the LG G4 camera app itself. I want to film a lot of concerts, and I have until Monday to make a decision about returning my LG G4. I don't think I'll have time to test it out at a concert before Monday. Have YOU tried it at a concert with these apps? How was the sound with these apps. Was it better or worse? Do loud sounds still get distorted easily? I have hear that the LG G4 has a bad mic. Do you think so?
Should i spend the extra $150 or $200 to get the Samsung S6? There is also the Nexus 6P, but I have heard that the frame can bend easily on that camera. And as for the Samsung, it has a really bad quality speaker when you are playing stuff back.
PS: If the audio zoom is baked into the native camera app, like you said, that sounds like a SOFTware issue, right? So could a future update fix that, possibly?
Thanks.
danielscissorhands said:
Thanks. In another forum (here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/g4/general/lg-g4-cameras-problems-t3180240), someone mentioned that when they used a 3rd party app that, while the audio zoom was no longer a factor, the sound quality at a concert was worse than with the LG G4 camera app itself. I want to film a lot of concerts, and I have until Monday to make a decision about returning my LG G4. I don't think I'll have time to test it out at a concert before Monday. Have YOU tried it at a concert with these apps? How was the sound with these apps. Was it better or worse? Do loud sounds still get distorted easily? I have hear that the LG G4 has a bad mic. Do you think so?
Should i spend the extra $150 or $200 to get the Samsung S6? There is also the Nexus 6P, but I have heard that the frame can bend easily on that camera. And as for the Samsung, it has a really bad quality speaker when you are playing stuff back.
PS: If the audio zoom is baked into the native camera app, like you said, that sounds like a SOFTware issue, right? So could a future update fix that, possibly?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I primarily use my phone to video concerts as well and it's way above most other android phones in that regard, imo. Now, I wouldn't necessarily say that equates to much since non-HTC android phones have been known to record garbage at concerts. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out why my old HTC One X could record concert sound so much better than any newer phone I got and I'm finally satisfied with this phone. I tried to look over some concert videos I've been to, comparing videos recorded with the native camera app and with an app like ProShot. I can't definitively say one has better sound quality than the other but it sounds like the native app tries to soften certain louder noises (this could be a good or bad thing depending on what you want and the exact sound conditions). I don't think the phone has a bad mic either but I have experienced distortion in videos, for parts of a second - nothing too long, which I don't think can't be expected when recording in such loud environments. Otherwise, my videos have been pretty distortion free. You will want to watch where your hand is around the recording mic, at the bottom of the phone though. I've had varied results when I'm not paying attention and my hand is covering or partially covering the mic.
I don't think you'll have any better results with the Samsung phone and I've never heard particularly good things about their phones recording in concert environment. These companies don't put as much effort into their audio recording capabilities like Apple, Nokia or HTC do but LG did a pretty good job with this one. Although, the iPhones record in mono (and you can absolutely distinguish between that and how this phone records in stereo) and the feedback on HTC's camera has been pretty negative so you gotta balance the good with the bad.
This is an absolute software issue since the third party camera apps don't experience the audio zoom. Ideally, LG should have provided a way to toggle the audio zoom in the camera app like they did for the LG G2. I originally posted this hoping someone went through the camera code and found a flag to toggle to control the audio zoom as well but it doesn't look like anyone has put any effort in there or that flag is not exposed in the code?
Anyway, I don't think you're gonna find a much better, or anything better, in terms of recording concerts if you want to stick with Android. If you stick with it, I would again recommend using a third party camera app like the two I previously suggested since it eliminates the audio zoom and allows for EASY EV control. Video with the phone isn't too bad when it comes to auto-EV compensation but the photos can be horrendeous, especially if you're focusing on the lead singer's face where they usually have a spotlight. I can't even count the amount of photos I've tried to take where the lead singer's face is almost completely "whited out", if that makes sense, until I found one of these apps with easy EV control. Now, whenever I recognize that happening, I turn the EV compensation down (sometimes all the way down to -2) and I get pretty good results.
Check out my instagram if you want some real examples. Keep in mind, there's a ton of compression thrown on them from IG. The ones on there from this phone will be the ones dated July of this year and later. I can guarantee the last 9 posts on there were with the ProShot app.
instagram (dot) com (slash) monrovian (I don't know how they handle URLs around here so I'll put it like this to be safe)
Completely agree with you. Wasn't aware of that problem at all, now after I came back from a football match with many videos I realized that the sound is so crap... So still they haven't fixed it because I'm on latest MM update. How do you deal with it use ProShot app?
F-L-Y-E-R said:
Completely agree with you. Wasn't aware of that problem at all, now after I came back from a football match with many videos I realized that the sound is so crap... So still they haven't fixed it because I'm on latest MM update. How do you deal with it use ProShot app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I accidentally used the native camera app to record part of a concert two weeks ago where I zoomed in slightly and the effect is still there after a few OS updates.
I have gotten around it since learning about the ProShot app by using that app since it does not experience the audio zoom effect if you're trying to zoom at all during the video. I would highly recommend using that specific app or you could probably use any third-party video recording apps. ProShot, in particular, lets you zoom while retaining the original audio sound and lets you control EV very easily, even while recording. This may be a lot more important to me than you since I attend many indoor concerts. I have also found that ProShot usually takes more accurately colored images than the native camera app if there's any large difference in lighting around where your photo will be (ie. in terms of an indoor concert, darkness surrounding a spotlight on the singer), without even accounting for the EV control. For other cases where the lighting is pretty consistent around where the photo will be, I've found ProShot and the native app comparable.
I have pretty much replaced the native camera app with ProShot unless I'm somewhere well lit or want to snap something quick (double-tap the volume down button with the screen off to turn on the camera app quickly) and don't particularly care how it comes out.
monrovian said:
Yeah, I accidentally used the native camera app to record part of a concert two weeks ago where I zoomed in slightly and the effect is still there after a few OS updates.
I have gotten around it since learning about the ProShot app by using that app since it does not experience the audio zoom effect if you're trying to zoom at all during the video. I would highly recommend using that specific app or you could probably use any third-party video recording apps. ProShot, in particular, lets you zoom while retaining the original audio sound and lets you control EV very easily, even while recording. This may be a lot more important to me than you since I attend many indoor concerts. I have also found that ProShot usually takes more accurately colored images than the native camera app if there's any large difference in lighting around where your photo will be (ie. in terms of an indoor concert, darkness surrounding a spotlight on the singer), without even accounting for the EV control. For other cases where the lighting is pretty consistent around where the photo will be, I've found ProShot and the native app comparable.
I have pretty much replaced the native camera app with ProShot unless I'm somewhere well lit or want to snap something quick (double-tap the volume down button with the screen off to turn on the camera app quickly) and don't particularly care how it comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So do you use pro version or demo one? If you know what are the difference, does it limit something or not, thanks.
I found the problem, I told you guys, the only way to fix it is when you want to record a gigs and zooming at the same time, you have no choice to record it in PORTRAIT mode, the audio zoom is not activated when you record in portrait mode... It's LG I don't know why they have stupid ideas, it's not even fix with the LG G5, they think it's a good feature lol.
Edit : but obviously, the stereo is not good as when you shooting in landscape mode.
Edit 2 : I don't think ProShot use completely the stereo mics, the pictures are better but the sound are worst than the native camera app.
I found a workaround for this issue with the "best ever feature" of LG called Audio zoom. Just use external microphone and everything will be fine with recorded sound. No distortion, no cutting, no filters - just raw sound even if you use zoom with the official Camera app. Forget about video recording with 3-rd party apps - the sound is terrible and the zoom is not full zoom as with the original Camera app, but some low res digital video picture cropping.
You can use any external microphone you want, but since you are about to record a gig / concert for example you would like to have the smallest one, this is what I bought also from aliexpress for 2$ - Cellphone Smartphone Portable Mini Omni-Directional Mic Microphone for Recorder:
{
"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"
}
This is just to show that Le Pro3 camera has the potential to shine if (only if) you use the right app like Google Camera. For those saying Le Pro 3 camera is a trash, well too bad for you...
First up...
Google Camera (Left) | Default non-HDR | Default HDR
{
"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"
}
Next...
Nexus 5X vs Le Pro3 (Google Camera App) vs Le Pro3 (Default Camera App)
Next...
Le Pro3 (Google Camera App) vs Le Pro3 (Default Camera App)
What versión of Google camera app???
And where to download the relevant version? Thanks.
sytayeth said:
What versión of Google camera app???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/camera/camera-2-7-010-release/
-Tiz- said:
And where to download the relevant version? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/camera/camera-2-7-010-release/
Weidas said:
Well, using google camera instead of default one does provide sharper images it seems. But the details in shadows are still pretty bad, and there doesnt seem to be any improvement in dynamic range. Tho would be nice to see some more shots in real world, and real lightning, cause those pics of dolls really dont say much. Btw 5x still provides way sharper image with way nicer colors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HDR is a must for any smarrtphone with tiny sensor or under-expose the scene and lift the shadows. Unfortunately, HDR is not available if you use Google Camera app on LP3.
I already filed a ticket on LeEco to give us control over noise reduction setting as it is the one killing LP3 shots resulting to soft and painterly effect esp. on low light/night shots.
Nexus 5X is definitely better but take a look at the ISO difference between it and LP3 with Google Camera app. (Hint it was much lower)
Weidas said:
Well, using google camera instead of default one does provide sharper images it seems. But the details in shadows are still pretty bad, and there doesnt seem to be any improvement in dynamic range. Tho would be nice to see some more shots in real world, and real lightning, cause those pics of dolls really dont say much. Btw 5x still provides way sharper image with way nicer colors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the edited version just to show that lifting the shadows will help in balancing DR
Default Camera App vs. Google Camera App (50% lift) vs. Default Camera App (50% lift)
18s'es x720 camera is definitly better in low light than any relase of Google camera, witch one pictures are too violet. Only in mine device?
marik1 said:
18s'es x720 camera is definitly better in low light than any relase of Google camera, witch one pictures are too violet. Only in mine device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would be interested to see your comparison. So far with my tests, Google Camera app is superior than default LePro camera app.
The normal are by original cam. This darker is by 360 cam. The violet are by Google Camera
marik1 said:
The normal are by original cam. This darker is by 360 cam. The violet are by Google Camera
https://s12.postimg.org/gd37qdg1p/IMG_20161126_142856.jpg
https://s12.postimg.org/5rjced9q5/IMG_20161126_142844.jpg
https://s12.postimg.org/i7g284325/IMG_20161126_084644.jpg
https://s12.postimg.org/uncs1uwe5/C360_2016_11_26_08_44_49_892.jpg
https://s12.postimg.org/6xncd5y0t/IMG_20161126_084136.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange that I am not getting this violet tint on any of my shots. I will do some testing again to see if I can replicate the issue. Are you using 2.7.010 of Google Camera app?
I used 3 versions; lastest for Android 6.0 witch one crash every change setting in cam, trouble with identifity cam and nearly black light level. 2nd from Le Store, witch as same as third for Android 4.4. i think the last one is this one. 2nd and 3rd had 'violet' trouble.
I tried NEXT time download from Le Store. Today sample was not violet, but still lower quality, like did on 2MPx's and a bit too light. Im boring, may my Le Photo works fine, better than your?
marik1 said:
I used 3 versions; lastest for Android 6.0 witch one crash every change setting in cam, trouble with identifity cam and nearly black light level. 2nd from Le Store, witch as same as third for Android 4.4. i think the last one is this one. 2nd and 3rd had 'violet' trouble.
I tried NEXT time download from Le Store. Today sample was not violet, but still lower quality, like did on 2MPx's and a bit too light. Im boring, may my Le Photo works fine, better than your?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IQ is definitely better on Google Camera app. Le Eco Camera app is applying over-zealous noise reduction hence making the output soft and killing the detail.
My favorite cam app has been Open Camera for a long time, I'll give it a try. Especially now that I have CM13 running on it, which freaking rocks!:victory: Open camera has options for sharpness, image quality %, and even bitrate. Actually, bitrate in these example photos is probably one of the biggest differences. There's like 3mb difference per picture on the google and HDR shots. In my experience with video, bit rate makes a massive difference in sharpness/resolution and with less noise/blocking so I'm pretty sure the same applies to images.
benjmiester said:
My favorite cam app has been Open Camera for a long time, I'll give it a try. Especially now that I have CM13 running on it, which freaking rocks!:victory: Open camera has options for sharpness, image quality %, and even bitrate. Actually, bitrate in these example photos is probably one of the biggest differences. There's like 3mb difference per picture on the google and HDR shots. In my experience with video, bit rate makes a massive difference in sharpness/resolution and with less noise/blocking so I'm pretty sure the same applies to images.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM13 on LEX727? =D
So which camera app would produce the best results with the X727?
darkmuck said:
So which camera app would produce the best results with the X727?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sheer detail and sharpness, Google camera app 2.7
HDR, default LeEco camera app.
Joms_US said:
CM13 on LEX727? =D
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. Check out the 'buiding cyanogen' thread, somebody found a build of CM13 from a Chinese Le Pro site and hosted it on their Google drive. You have to be bootloader unlocked (can also do on 727 now). It's great, about 98% working as a daily. I've been on it since I posted that comment. No probs at all. There's a few really tiny things, just check the thread.
Sent from my LEX720 using XDA-Developers mobile app
benjmiester said:
My favorite cam app has been Open Camera for a long time, I'll give it a try. Especially now that I have CM13 running on it, which freaking rocks!:victory: Open camera has options for sharpness, image quality %, and even bitrate. Actually, bitrate in these example photos is probably one of the biggest differences. There's like 3mb difference per picture on the google and HDR shots. In my experience with video, bit rate makes a massive difference in sharpness/resolution and with less noise/blocking so I'm pretty sure the same applies to images.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note that photos with less detail will just have smaller file size not because of bitrate or bitrate-like functions. The concept of bitrate is not really relevant on pictures.
Though you can play with picture quality (JPEG compression) options, it does not have drastic effects like in video's bitrate unless it is implemented in crazy way. Bitrate restriction for video is there because video files can get very large. Pictures do not so there is no gatekeeper (limitation) to keep the file sizes down.
4K2K said:
Note that photos with less detail will just have smaller file size not because of bitrate or bitrate-like functions. The concept of bitrate is not really relevant on pictures.
Though you can play with picture quality (JPEG compression) options, it does not have drastic effects like in video's bitrate unless it is implemented in crazy way. Bitrate restriction for video is there because video files can get very large. Pictures do not so there is no gatekeeper (limitation) to keep the file sizes down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, got it. Good to know if I bump up the quality setting, I won't be making them take up that much more space. I tried open camera (on CM now), but it doesn't have HDR, forgot to upload them. I haven't even looked at them yet! Hope they're good. I couldn't find the best subjects. Just a bunch of stuff in my kitchen to get some colors and details.
These are all with quality at 100% in open cam, default is 95 I believe. Some with flash, some without. Forgot to do a low light, but it's just a low watt LED bulb overhead in a real small apt kitchen.
Sent from my LEX720 using XDA-Developers mobile app
I was always a big fan of Gcam on my previous phones. It provided improved results in almost all situations over stock camera. But with Mi A3, I'm liking stock jpegs more. Except of very low light situations, in my eyes stock camera provides better white balance, contrast, saturation and details. I made a comparison photos for my usage, but maybe some other "pixel peeper" finds it interesting. All photos taken with phone resting against the window with point&shoot method (no change in focus point etc.). Full res photos should be available after clicking on them.
Apps used:
Stock camera - AI on
Hypercam E1 - "truelight" XML profile with increased saturation (and maybe something else, I forgot what I've changed )
7_2 - pgmc_7.2.014_androidpie_v7.apk found in some telegram group, default settings
Day:
Stock
Hypercam
Details
Night:
Stock
Hypercam night mode
Details:
Nice comparison, yes stock camera works beter on mi a3 but older versions are better than these pixel 3 or 4 based gcam, i was using parrot v12 gcam and it was really messing the contract most of the time and the images were dark even in day light when compared to stock, i also tested the arnova's version (8.2) of gcam and it works better pictures are brighter in daylight than parrot version, unfortunately that's all i can say about arnova gcam cause i have not tested it much yet but yes i had a max pro m1 before a3 and on that arnova gcam was awesome.
Btw. if anyone wants to experiment, you can try attached profile for Hypercam E1 or E2 (https://gcambrasil.com.br/dev/hypercam-app). It is based on TrueLight profile created by Gcam Brasil team, I just tweaked a few settings. After trying tens of different profiles I settled on this one (even though I'm using it primarily for night photos).
I always wondered what different "LIBS" in Gcam settings do, so..
In my eyes, other libs than stock Google provide very flat image - you can barely see the difference between surfaces lit by sunlight and those in shadows, which is extremely unnatural. Stock AI made the picture a tad too "punchy" by oversaturation, but I guess that's normal for the landscape mode. Gcam with Google libs is the closest to what I really see when I look out of the window, stock cam is close behind.
Stock AI (scene detected as landscape)
Gcam - Stock Google
Gcam - Xlib XS
Gcam - sRGB + B2
Gcam - Abhi Hypercam
Details comparison
_mysiak_ said:
I was always a big fan of Gcam on my previous phones. It provided improved results in almost all situations over stock camera. But with Mi A3, I'm liking stock jpegs more. Except of very low light situations, in my eyes stock camera provides better white balance, contrast, saturation and details. I made a comparison photos for my usage, but maybe some other "pixel peeper" finds it interesting. All photos taken with phone resting against the window with point&shoot method (no change in focus point etc.). Full res photos should be available after clicking on them.
Apps used:
Stock camera - AI on
Hypercam E1 - "truelight" XML profile with increased saturation (and maybe something else, I forgot what I've changed )
7_2 - pgmc_7.2.014_androidpie_v7.apk found in some telegram group, default settings
Day:
Stock
Hypercam
Details
Night:
Stock
Hypercam night mode
Details:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great comparison ??
Very nice topic
Quality of Gcam is so bad here because gc6.3 have far less detail than 7.0 and 7.2 is even sharper, also it's strongly corellated to lib settings. With modded settings in lib patcher (option in newer gcam mods), quality can be much better.
Depend on gcam version, best settings are different but general rule is to achive look of more megapixel count and wider dynamic range with natural analog grain with more DSLR feel, instead of digital low megapixel oversharpened smartphone look. To do this it's advisable to:
-lower sharpening to 0 or one point above (to remove ringing halo and digital look of bad interpolation)
-lower luma denoise to 0 or 1, this increase real detail preserving natural grain, and gcam is realy good at simulating analog grain with it's debayering alghoritms.
-lower contrast/dehaze to achive more dynamic range (as you can see in xlib custom lib example, lower contrast saves highlights from overburning and retain shadows, this gives space for further color postproduction)
Sharpening is only compensation for denoising, and both of those creates look of lower resolution picture. Hypercam 7.2 can be set to 3 on luma denoising and still remain natural grain, but less noise, PGMC7.0v13 have lowest noise with settings remaining natural grain, there is version modded by Burial with added Aux lens but they dont keep it on Gcam port hub, I found it on Burials Telegram.
FCHRO said:
Quality of Gcam is so bad here because gc6.3 have far less detail than 7.0 and 7.2 is even sharper, also it's strongly corellated to lib settings. With modded settings in lib patcher (option in newer gcam mods), quality can be much better.
Depend on gcam version, best settings are different but general rule is to achive look of more megapixel count and wider dynamic range with natural analog grain with more DSLR feel, instead of digital low megapixel oversharpened smartphone look. To do this it's advisable to:
-lower sharpening to 0 or one point above (to remove ringing halo and digital look of bad interpolation)
-lower luma denoise to 0 or 1, this increase real detail preserving natural grain, and gcam is realy good at simulating analog grain with it's debayering alghoritms.
-lower contrast/dehaze to achive more dynamic range (as you can see in xlib custom lib example, lower contrast saves highlights from overburning and retain shadows, this gives space for further color postproduction)
Sharpening is only compensation for denoising, and both of those creates look of lower resolution picture. Hypercam 7.2 can be set to 3 on luma denoising and still remain natural grain, but less noise, PGMC7.0v13 have lowest noise with settings remaining natural grain, there is version modded by Burial with added Aux lens but they dont keep it on Gcam port hub, I found it on Burials Telegram.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if we're looking at the same pictures, but 7.2 came out as the worst out of the comparison.
I know that it's possible to fine tune every single parameter in GCAM, but if it was that easy, we would have THE best profile/lib available already. So far I've seen great profile for "punchy" colors, great for strong light, great for shadows, great for details, great for noise removal..but not a single one, which would be great in all situations. I have zero interest and capacity to take thousands of photos with hundreds of different settings combinations, just to find out that my precious profile is suddenly unusable with another GCAM version. If you have such a profile, fine tuned for Mi A3, I'm eager to test it and include in the comparison.
Personally I want out of camera jpeg, which is sharp, has realistic colors and provides natural contrast (shortly WYSIWYG). If I wanted soft, flat, desaturated picture, I'd shoot in RAW and do all the magic on a PC. I expect and achieve the same from my mirrorless camera - OoC JPEGs which I don't have to edit (but still can if I wanted to). For most situations, stock A3 camera provides what I want. I run GCAM only at night or when I want "artistic" HDR.
Obviously your expectations and experience might be vastly different to mine and that's completely fine. This is why I provided comparison photos instead of telling everyone what's "right" - they can easily see and chose what they prefer. You are very welcome to add your comparison photos here, I'd say that everyone is interested in seeing DSLR look and how superior it is.
I was talking about full capabilities of gcam version, not settings that mod author choose as default. That was reason for my discontent tone of 'so bad'. I didn't try to be rude, and can only be greatfull for contributing your time and effort for community.
My expectations from smartphone cam are to take jpg photos with 'ready' look, but also retaining usable information in highlights and shadows at the same time.
I'm ok with medium-low contrast look, as it takes few seconds to correct that, and you cannot undone overburned values, noise filtering artifacts or sharpening. WYSIWYG in today's state of technology is a recepie for getting large percentage of over or underexposed images that are unrecoverable. Yet this should be offered as option. Xiaomi and Realmi are choosing now to offer less contrasty stock setting for this reason, still offering contrast settings in options. Lower contrast also enable better filter compatibility, as most add contrast themeselves.
0 contrast setting in Gcam lib patcher is far from 'flat' look, speaking in video profiles lingo. It's similar to xlib or SRGB+B2 in your examples. Saturation is separate setting which can be adjusted accordingly. Increasing it in shadows usually helps with hdr and desaturating blues in post resolves stock oversaturation of highlights. 0.8-1 for highlights and 1.9-2.0 in shadows is quite universal setting, depending on mod and sensors.
Check out new mods as now updates are appearing every day on https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/developers/ Newer versions above 6.3 are significantly better.
Telegrams of developers are also good source of builds, not everything appears on Gcam port Hub. Parrots mods are compatybile with a lot of phones. Hypercam 7.2 have good lib patcher. Burial offers mod that use 48mp resolution. As for comparision photos, I have already deleted those photos. Maybe I will post something later if I will test newer mods.
I use camera on a smartphone mainly for "documentation" photos, I am well aware of its HW limitations. Whenever I want to take "nice" pictures (mostly portraits), I always take out M4/3 camera as results simply can't be compared with a phone. This is why I prefer 100% done (or as close to this as possible) photo out of a smartphone, as I find correcting phone photos just a waste of time. Even if it costs me loss of "invisible" details (which are usually worthless in terms of useful information anyway).
I understand your approach and agree that if someone wants to do any type of postprocessing, "flat" pictures are the right way to go. However I'm quite sure, that most people don't care about this and they just want to take a photo and share or view it later. Just as no "ordinary folk" cares about V-LOG in stock camera/gcam for videos.
The biggest problem with GCAM I see today is that there are probably hundreds of different versions already, and as you say, new ones appearing every day. The improvements or changes are usually so small (even if at the end quite important), that it takes a lot of effort to find the best app and settings. I usually try some new "hyped" app or xml version, but at the end I always return to stock app. For me it's much easier to remember limits of one app and take photos accordingly than to try different app every day and/or do corrections of every photo.
Don't take me wrong, I would love to have native gcam - if properly configured by professionals, it provides superior results probably to any other stock app. But that unfortunately won't happen and none of the ported versions I tried works as effortlessly as stock app.
In each case, if you find the time, I would really like to see some comparison photos with your suggested settings (stock vs gcam). Maybe you'll convince us that it's worth it.
Use default camera app, its as simple as that
Simran62 said:
Use default camera app, its as simple as that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that my posts were rather lengthy, but I will just quote myself 'For most situations, stock A3 camera provides what I want. I run GCAM only at night or when I want "artistic" HDR.'
The following GCAM version anyway beats stock camera maybe except video.
I think this is the best GCAM 7 version by Parrot043 with the best photo quality for our mi A3 on android 9 (P) for now. Also Astrophotography is always on at night mode.
this works best with only a few changes without special settings. I think this is the most beautiful thing for us.
I change hdr+ on with 15 frames and 4:3 ratio for maximum resolution. And on video this gcam supports 1080p at 60fps, 4k is only 30fps.
link : https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=4349826312261647530
xda-dvlprs said:
The following GCAM version anyway beats stock camera maybe except video.
I think this is the best GCAM 7 version by Parrot043 with the best photo quality for our mi A3 on android 9 (P) for now. Also Astrophotography is always on at night mode.
this works best with only a few changes without special settings. I think this is the most beautiful thing for us.
I change hdr+ on with 15 frames and 4:3 ratio for maximum resolution. And on video this gcam supports 1080p at 60fps, 4k is only 30fps.
link : https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=4349826312261647530
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, maybe, if it could take a photo. App is constantly crashing with HDR+. Works only with HDR enhanced, which gives very unrealistic photos.
I was experimenting with photo alignment software and took a few handheld photos..
What I really see with naked eye is stock camera (Gcam Truelight profile coming close, but clouds are still "overdone" with HDR). The most pleasant, albeit the most unrealistic photos is taken with Murphy profile.
Stock camera
{
"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"
}
Stock camera + AI enabled (identified as "buildings")
Hypercam E2 + "truelight" profile
Hypercam E2 + "Murphy" profile
_mysiak_ said:
Yeah, maybe, if it could take a photo. App is constantly crashing with HDR+. Works only with HDR enhanced, which gives very unrealistic photos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I disagree with you, but I respect your opinion. I think the photo quality is very realistic. maybe followers try and make their own decisions.
xda-dvlprs said:
I disagree with you, but I respect your opinion. I think the photo quality is very realistic. maybe followers try and make their own decisions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Realistic = what I see when I look with a naked eye. Enhanced HDR gives unrealistic/unnatural contrast boost, especially to clouds/sky. It might be nice, artistic etc., but it's not "real".