Develop Bugs

Initial Camera Observations

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/
.[/QUOTE]
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.

Video Stabilization - Oneplus 5 No OIS

When I got my oneplus 5 I was drawn back by its pace and stamina, the camera isn't bad, but without OIS it can be a horrible solution especially if you're in motion and doing any kind of zooming.
Have tried every single camera apk available and none offer anything which may help at all..
At least until today when I tried the new (I think it's new ) feature on Google photos.
Open your camera.
Start a video which you know will have shake, zoom in, move around etc.
End the video and open up Google photos.
Click edit, then stabilise and it'll do the work for you.
I was quite shocked, the results are surprisingly amazing.
There are times when the frames overlap but in comparison to a very shaky experience it's absolutely brilliant.
Don't need anything but your phone, camera app and Google photos.
Processing is quick on the Oneplus 5 so not much of a problem but certainly not real time, take about 20 seconds for a short 30 second clip.
Hope this helps, it has with me. :good:

Hmmph, I actually like the EIS better then the OIS when taking video based on YouTube vids demonstrating against 2 other phones (OP5 vs both Samsung s8+ and iPhone 8+). It's a bit more stable then the OIS which in and of itself is pretty amazing. The only thing the OP5 lacks is the EIS on 1080p 60fps, EIS is only working on 1080p 30fps.
As far as photos are concerned, my OP5, on OOS 5.0.4, is way more then adequate for everyday stuff (Normal light) and just OK in low light. If you're zooming it is not very good but you can add a Magisk Module (Camera M) if you're rooted and it is significantly better (no water color painting effects in processing). I'm more then just an amateur photog so if I need anything important I make sure I have my DSLR so that may ultimately be the reason the camera is more then just fine for me.
Though it is nice that Google Photos added that post processing/algorithm

Eric214 said:
Hmmph, I actually like the EIS better then the OIS when taking video based on YouTube vids demonstrating against 2 other phones (OP5 vs both Samsung s8+ and iPhone 8+). It's a bit more stable then the OIS which in and of itself is pretty amazing. The only thing the OP5 lacks is the EIS on 1080p 60fps, EIS is only working on 1080p 30fps.
As far as photos are concerned, my OP5, on OOS 5.0.4, is way more then adequate for everyday stuff (Normal light) and just OK in low light. If you're zooming it is not very good but you can add a Magisk Module (Camera M) if you're rooted and it is significantly better (no water color painting effects in processing). I'm more then just an amateur photog so if I need anything important I make sure I have my DSLR so that may ultimately be the reason the camera is more then just fine for me.
Though it is nice that Google Photos added that post processing/algorithm
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That's great. I'm sharing something for people who have a problem with the evidently shakiness in comparison to an OIS capable device.
This is not a thread to discuss what's better. This is a thread for me to share a find, and for people if they didn't know about it and want to use it to say thank you, nothing more.
On a personal note, EIS is in no way a substitute for OIS, it just isn't..
Next time you're a passenger in a car, zoom in fully and record a stationary object whilst the car is in motion.
Your will have a very hard time with a lot of shaking.
An OIS enabled device has no problem in this regard..
Finally, If your don't require stabilisation for your device and you're happy the way it is then please refrain from commenting here, it's not helping anybody and there is no point, is rather not get the mods in to clear up this thread.
Thank you.

dladz said:
That's great. I'm sharing something for people who have a problem with the evidently shakiness in comparison to an OIS capable device.
This is not a thread to discuss what's better. This is a thread for me to share a find, and for people if they didn't know about it and want to use it to say thank you, nothing more.
On a personal note, EIS is in no way a substitute for OIS, it just isn't..
Next time you're a passenger in a car, zoom in fully and record a stationary object whilst the car is in motion.
Your will have a very hard time with a lot of shaking.
An OIS enabled device has no problem in this regard..
Finally, If your don't require stabilisation for your device and you're happy the way it is then please refrain from commenting here, it's not helping anybody and there is no point, is rather not get the mods in to clear up this thread.
Thank you.
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lol I do have a requirement for stabilization and the EIS out preforms an iPhone 8 and S8 with OIS. If you don't think so then your hands must shake like crazy.. As far as zooming all the way in, it is a digital zoom, not an optical zoom. I don't know a lot of people trying to zoom all the in on a video capture.

Eric214 said:
lol I do have a requirement for stabilization and the EIS out preforms an iPhone 8 and S8 with OIS. If you don't think so then your hands must shake like crazy.. As far as zooming all the way in, it is a digital zoom, not an optical zoom. I don't know a lot of people trying to zoom all the in on a video capture.
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This is subjective, Just because you don't need sormthing doesn't mean others won't, and fyi my hands are like a rock and although I shouldn't have to justify myself, here's an example.
In my instance, I was driving along with my wife, me in the passenger seat, the Grenfell fire had just happened and I was capturing footage of it, we were on the dual carriageway way and the building was in the distance. I recorded with my HTC 10 at full zoom, this was perfect it adhered to every bump and jilt perfectly, a week later I tried with my oneplus, the oneplus was a mess, I have incredibly steady hands and it was impossible to get anything close to what the HTC offered.
I take a lot of photos and videos, some are zoomed some are not, some are moving some are stationary, some I have very little time to react to, not having OIS can mean a missed shot, poor video or both.
Furthermore I'm not here to tell you that you need this, it's you who's made the decision to come here and start saying that this isn't required, great that's your opinion, this is not a place for that, this is a place for people who DO have a problem with the EIS and believe me there are many besides me.
If you like the solution I've posted then say thanks and be happy, it works very well hence the share, I don't care if you're happy and you don't need stabilization, but this isn't the place to talk about that.
There is a camera thread you can share your views on, not in this thread.
PS: Not trying to be funny with you, but i don't want this thread to be a place for people to come and blindly defend a phone that should have had a key feature, OIS should be mandatory, EIS simply doesn't cut it in comparison, ask any photographer and they'll tell you the same thing.

Eric214 said:
lol I do have a requirement for stabilization and the EIS out preforms an iPhone 8 and S8 with OIS. If you don't think so then your hands must shake like crazy.. As far as zooming all the way in, it is a digital zoom, not an optical zoom. I don't know a lot of people trying to zoom all the in on a video capture.
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I count as someone who has pretty stable hands and I can say that the EIS on OnePlus isn't even near OIS from an iPhone X/8 (idk about the S8, I don't have one so can't compare). EIS is good (and better than EIS from other phone brands) but isn't as good as OIS. Not like my videos come out as a blurry mess due to shaking but there's definitely a difference between X or 8.

david19au said:
I count as someone who has pretty stable hands and I can say that the EIS on OnePlus isn't even near OIS from an iPhone X/8 (idk about the S8, I don't have one so can't compare). EIS is good (and better than EIS from other phone brands) but isn't as good as OIS. Not like my videos come out as a blurry mess due to shaking but there's definitely a difference between X or 8.
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With your videos if there's shake and if you upload it to YouTube it will remove some of it, but Google photos actually does a better job.. unless I'm seeing things.
Was surprised by the results.

dladz said:
With your videos if there's shake and if you upload it to YouTube it will remove some of it, but Google photos actually does a better job.. unless I'm seeing things.
Was surprised by the results.
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Yeah, it's not that terrible, I can look at the videos without vomiting :laugh:

dladz said:
When I got my oneplus 5 I was drawn back by its pace and stamina, the camera isn't bad, but without OIS it can be a horrible solution especially if you're in motion and doing any kind of zooming.
Have tried every single camera apk available and none offer anything which may help at all..
At least until today when I tried the new (I think it's new ) feature on Google photos.
Open your camera.
Start a video which you know will have shake, zoom in, move around etc.
End the video and open up Google photos.
Click edit, then stabilise and it'll do the work for you.
I was quite shocked, the results are surprisingly amazing.
There are times when the frames overlap but in comparison to a very shaky experience it's absolutely brilliant.
Don't need anything but your phone, camera app and Google photos.
Processing is quick on the Oneplus 5 so not much of a problem but certainly not real time, take about 20 seconds for a short 30 second clip.
Hope this helps, it has with me. :good:
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You were recording with stock OOS camera app, right? I know that in case of a stabilization in video, GCam can give much worse results
Sent from my OnePlus 5 using XDA Labs

Pshemo__ said:
You were recording with stock OOS camera app, right? I know that in case of a stabilization in video, GCam can give much worse results
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Yes it was the stock camera, I know my cameras and I know my phone's, ROMs, mods.
As I've said in the OP there is no combination of camera APK or ROM that gives an above par experience which would be comparable to OIS.
Simply put I've scoured every option that there is out there for a viable solution and there simply isn't one.
YouTube has its own algorithm for stabilization, as does Google photos.. the Google photos version is superior, I'm simply making people aware as it's helped me out.
I'm not sure if anyone here has had an OIS capable device but the experience compared to the stock OOS camera is literally night and day.
If anyone can't see that then they're either in denial or they have sormthing wrong with their eyes, it's that obvious.

Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Sony Xperia XA2 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!

ugly, very ugly

Extremely difficult to get a decently sharp picture while holding the device in your hands.
Expect blurry details at any resolution and in any shooting mode.
You'll be better off taking screenshots instead of real photos; before shooting, the preview looks really crisp and sharp. You might get better results with better postprocessing of the images, like with a different camera app (?) or with a non-Sony ROM. Not exactly sure what can be done here.

aeolist said:
Extremely difficult to get a decently sharp picture while holding the device in your hands.
Expect blurry details at any resolution and in any shooting mode.
You'll be better off taking screenshots instead of real photos; before shooting, the preview looks really crisp and sharp. You might get better results with better postprocessing of the images, like with a different camera app (?) or with a non-Sony ROM. Not exactly sure what can be done here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's actually not that difficult, but you need to practice a little bit. I have already taken quite a lot of nice pics with my Xperia.
Only night photos are not so good, or rather... mixed bag. Different result each time.
And different camera app is not a solution, I've tried already a lot of them and it seems that none of them can work correctly (a lot of noise in the photos, even with good light) - looks like Sony has changed camera libraries somehow and third party apps don't know how to use them. So it's just stock camera and... well, that's it.

I've put already this information in other thread, but latest software upgrade (50.1.A.13.83) is a real gamechanger. Sony has really improved image processing. Impressive ! Now photos are much, much better. And the HDR mode in Manual camera section does really great job.

emcom said:
I've put already this information in other thread, but latest software upgrade (50.1.A.13.83) is a real gamechanger. Sony has really improved image processing. Impressive ! Now photos are much, much better. And the HDR mode in Manual camera section does really great job.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it's much better now (manual + HDR). Superior mode still not ok. But manual + HDR.
But for some reason update no available for my XA2 dual phone, installed via flashtool + XperiFirm

Is there a "touch to focus" function like the Google camera has? I think that's the feature I miss the most from my nexus. I actually don't know how to get the camera to focus at all!

メジロ said:
Is there a "touch to focus" function like the Google camera has? I think that's the feature I miss the most from my nexus. I actually don't know how to get the camera to focus at all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello,
Camera Settings -> Metering -> Touch
or
Enable "Object tracking" then touch to thing what you want to shoot.

Focus mode is not good. unfortunately It's worse than my Mom's Phone which Xiaomi Redmi 6A is. video quality is ok but at low light it has insane noise.like ISO 3200. Selfie is ok but don't expect too much.
at low light with auto flash on , it can take a good image but you need to wait 2 or 3 sec.

Photo quality is the worst thing, it is so bad. Only in daylight picture is good, one of them, about in 10-15 shots

gioyocho said:
Photo quality is the worst thing, it is so bad. Only in daylight picture is good, one of them, about in 10-15 shots
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Photo quality may not be so good but your house must make more than up for it! Dream location, it looks like to me. Congrats.

here is my photo serial ...

Galaxy A70 has 8MP Main camera and not 32MP? Attention everyone

I've been using the A70 for about a week. I interacted with some A70 owners and they said that the phone had 8MP main camera and not the 32MP main camera. I gave a try to some hardware info apps and all showed 8MP camera at the back and 5.2MP camera on the front. What's wrong here? The phone is showing wrong info or it just has an 8MP camera. Can everyone confirm this?
I have also made a video on it. I'm just trying to get an answer from all the Galaxy A70 owners about their experience with this phone.
You can check it here: https://youtu.be/tOM9oNWV_rQ
I wish I'm wrong on this, Everyone please drop your comments.

No, it really is a 32mp camera module. Samsung, for whatever reason, have crammed the 32mp option in a submenu inside the camera app. Tap on the format button and choose 3:4H. Now you'll be able to use the full resolution of the camera.
Just be aware that - I don't know why - HDR does not work in 32mp mode.

All I can say is that pictures taken in low light conditions are amongst the worst I have seen. Absolutely terrible picture quality worthy of a 100$ budget phone not a premium 400$ phone.
Even my 3 years old A9 Pro 2016 has better low light capability.

Sufyan3D said:
All I can say is that pictures taken in low light conditions are amongst the worst I have seen. Absolutely terrible picture quality worthy of a 100$ budget phone not a premium 400$ phone.
Even my 3 years old A9 Pro 2016 has better low light capability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second that. I don't know why Samsung had to cripple their camera module this hard via software. Using Gcam though, the camera does produce great results in low light!

Irrespective of MP number, picture quality isn't great for sub $400 phone. Can they fix with software update? or need to change phone?

um009 said:
I've been using the A70 for about a week. I interacted with some A70 owners and they said that the phone had 8MP main camera and not the 32MP main camera. I gave a try to some hardware info apps and all showed 8MP camera at the back and 5.2MP camera on the front. What's wrong here? The phone is showing wrong info or it just has an 8MP camera. Can everyone confirm this?
I have also made a video on it. I'm just trying to get an answer from all the Galaxy A70 owners about their experience with this phone.
I wish I'm wrong on this, Everyone please drop your comments.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually wrote a post about this, didn´t see yours, was too eager to write my first post here I guess. The camera uses a new Samsung technology which only works if you choose 4:3H aspect ratio, there is no way to choose file size for each respective ratio. The pictures are hardware 4 x 8MP rendered and since the technology is new all third party camera and HW info apps only view the 8 MP .. not the x4 tetracell technology which works and is implemented in an abysmal manner.
---------- Post added at 11:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:34 PM ----------
Jason379 said:
No, it really is a 32mp camera module. Samsung, for whatever reason, have crammed the 32mp option in a submenu inside the camera app. Tap on the format button and choose 3:4H. Now you'll be able to use the full resolution of the camera.
Just be aware that - I don't know why - HDR does not work in 32mp mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What if one usually only uses 16:9 aspect ratio? .. limited to 8 MP? ... I call that false advertising.

Jason379 said:
I second that. I don't know why Samsung had to cripple their camera module this hard via software. Using Gcam though, the camera does produce great results in low light!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you tell us wich version of Gcam u use, and where to find it ?
Edit: See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0D1U0aSgKE for example.
Seems like at the moment Gcam is only better for taking photo's in low light......

Snoete said:
Can you tell us wich version of Gcam u use, and where to find it ?
Edit: See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0D1U0aSgKE for example.
Seems like at the moment Gcam is only better for taking photo's in low light......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I used this version of Gcam:
S10_1_MGC_6.1.021_BSG_Arnova_TlnNeun_V1.3.030119.0 645.apk
You can find it on Androidfilehost, for example. Works like a charm on my A70. Lots of settings are actually possible - just don't try to 'force 4K on front camera' mode - it'll make the app crash all the time. Other than that, Gcam really is way better than the stock camera app and HDR+ works really really good, too. Only downside - pics are limited to 8MP at the moment, but when using RAW, it's not a big deal at all.

Jason379 said:
Hi,
I used this version of Gcam:
S10_1_MGC_6.1.021_BSG_Arnova_TlnNeun_V1.3.030119.0 645.apk
You can find it on Androidfilehost, for example. Works like a charm on my A70. Lots of settings are actually possible - just don't try to 'force 4K on front camera' mode - it'll make the app crash all the time. Other than that, Gcam really is way better than the stock camera app and HDR+ works really really good, too. Only downside - pics are limited to 8MP at the moment, but when using RAW, it's not a big deal at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downloaded the samd apk, does your night mode shots also crash the app ?

Download this Gcam mod to get full working night mode on the A70:
MGC_6.1.021_MI8_V2e
https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=1395089523397887533
Make sure you make a few necessary changes in app settings by following this video:
https://youtu.be/0cRMt39V8Po
Getting great low light shots with this mod. Other Apks crash when taking a photo in night mode.

Hi,
I must say that, whatever the causes, the pictures taken by this device are simply horrible.
I am not one of those so called photographers that is looking for the absolute colour reproduction and the sharpness of 10X real life.
I just want to have some pictures for moments I want to remember.
But even for that, this device doesn't do the job
All pictures are blurry, out of focus...
I can't even set the picture quality in the settings of the camera app.
I just can set the aspect ratio (in the Photo part) and the video resolution in the settings.
But no way to set the number of pixels I want for the pictures.
That is another dark side of this device that looked so promising on paper but doesn't deliver at all.
So goes Samsung... and device will be sent back to Amazon.

NexusPenguin said:
Hi,
I must say that, whatever the causes, the pictures taken by this device are simply horrible.
I am not one of those so called photographers that is looking for the absolute colour reproduction and the sharpness of 10X real life.
I just want to have some pictures for moments I want to remember.
But even for that, this device doesn't do the job
All pictures are blurry, out of focus...
I can't even set the picture quality in the settings of the camera app.
I just can set the aspect ratio (in the Photo part) and the video resolution in the settings.
But no way to set the number of pixels I want for the pictures.
That is another dark side of this device that looked so promising on paper but doesn't deliver at all.
So goes Samsung... and device will be sent back to Amazon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, this phones's cameras suck.
You can choose high resolution mode (32mp) by tapping on the small 3:4 button then choosing 3:4H (H stands for high quality or high resolution).
There is an update rolling in India right now which promises to improve camera quality.

Sufyan3D said:
Agreed, this phones's cameras suck.
You can choose high resolution mode (32mp) by tapping on the small 3:4 button then choosing 3:4H (H stands for high quality or high resolution).
There is an update rolling in India right now which promises to improve camera quality.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds very promising. In the meantime, use the app 'open camera' for 100% JPG quality or even full size RAW output. It's got fully manual controls, too.

Yes, it looks like camera software improvements are coming soon:
https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_pushes_first_software_update_for_the_galaxy_a70-news-37147.php
We'll have to wait to see how much it's improved...

SAMSUNG A70 CAMERA Poor Quality images and videos
I just bought Samsung a70, and the camera gives very poor images for 738 kb sizes only. I bought that mobile from samsung site, how to return the mobile. any help.

i am more than disappointed with the main camera...it is below any standards for modern phones...even my no name chinese phone couple of years old is making better photos....it is a shame for samsung to produce such half hearted pathetic camera...photos are smudgy, soft, and lack sharpness...auto focus is sluggish and in most cases you don't know is it even work...my old phone has clear green square signs all over screen which shows if photo is in focus or not, here you don't know what is going on...samsung is trying to impress all of us with 32mp number, but it is pathetic as well...i have tried some of the gcam camera and results are clearly better....so, it is obvious samsung is treating customers badly and sell them inferior camera not only to direct competition regarding price, but camera which is even worse than cameras in 50 dollars no name chinese phones...to say i am feeling cheated is understatement...
to be honest, live focus/blur/portrait mode is doing very good job?? how come? it looks like samsung is artificially made camera bad and not even try to make things better through software changes...
i would like to hear your thoughts about it? are you feeling cheated and disappointed about main camera in a70?

Tactman said:
i am more than disappointed with the main camera...it is below any standards for modern phones...even my no name chinese phone couple of years old is making better photos....it is a shame for samsung to produce such half hearted pathetic camera...photos are smudgy, soft, and lack sharpness...auto focus is sluggish and in most cases you don't know is it even work...my old phone has clear green square signs all over screen which shows if photo is in focus or not, here you don't know what is going on...samsung is trying to impress all of us with 32mp number, but it is pathetic as well...i have tried some of the gcam camera and results are clearly better....so, it is obvious samsung is treating customers badly and sell them inferior camera not only to direct competition regarding price, but camera which is even worse than cameras in 50 dollars no name chinese phones...to say i am feeling cheated is understatement...
to be honest, live focus/blur/portrait mode is doing very good job?? how come? it looks like samsung is artificially made camera bad and not even try to make things better through software changes...
i would like to hear your thoughts about it? are you feeling cheated and disappointed about main camera in a70?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Back camera is simply bad.
Front camera is very good and specially in night. All I would like to change in that phone is the back camera which I do not really understand why Samsung are doing this....

Samsung A70 32MP camera (top camera) is not working
All cameras the 8MP, 5MP and the front camera are working. Im sure they are working because I tried blocking each one depending on settings. But I cant seem to find the settings on how will the top camera will work. I tried the 3:4H ratio already but its the middle camera that is being utilized. For the wide angle, it is the bottom back camera. How can I utilize the top camera at the back?

Engrfusi said:
All cameras the 8MP, 5MP and the front camera are working. Im sure they are working because I tried blocking each one depending on settings. But I cant seem to find the settings on how will the top camera will work. I tried the 3:4H ratio already but its the middle camera that is being utilized. For the wide angle, it is the bottom back camera. How can I utilize the top camera at the back?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, top camera's job is depth. You can use it with live focus.
32MP one is in the middle of them. It's the main camera.
And bottom camera is wide angle as you knew.

NexusPenguin said:
Hi,
I must say that, whatever the causes, the pictures taken by this device are simply horrible.
I am not one of those so called photographers that is looking for the absolute colour reproduction and the sharpness of 10X real life.
I just want to have some pictures for moments I want to remember.
But even for that, this device doesn't do the job
All pictures are blurry, out of focus...
I can't even set the picture quality in the settings of the camera app.
I just can set the aspect ratio (in the Photo part) and the video resolution in the settings.
But no way to set the number of pixels I want for the pictures.
That is another dark side of this device that looked so promising on paper but doesn't deliver at all.
So goes Samsung... and device will be sent back to Amazon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this phone a70 is a total lie.
it has a 8 magapixel awful camera.
it is absolutely not 32 megapixel by hardware. maybe it is 32 megapixel by software.
photos have no details, overprocessed, photos are washed out. like a watercolor paint. there are no textures. all textures are washed out.
colors are either too washy or either too bright.
low light performance is among the worst.
SAMSUNG, DO YOU KNOW THE WORD CALIBRATION???
and by 6 months this lier company released to market after A10,A20,A30,A40,A50,A60,A70,A80,A90 the s variants.
A10s,A20s,A30s,A40s,A50s,A60s,A70s etc.
now they have released the 1 variants.
A11,A21,A31,A41,A61,A71 etc etc
this samsung company is a total lier. hoax company.
trying to dominate the market by flooding with fake phones almost all the same hardware... market lies.
incomplete products, incomplete software, full of bugs, full of bloatware...
and i forgot they have the M10,M20,M30 as well as M20s,M30s....
pufffff LIER HOAX COMPANY SAMSUNG.

Camera quality / focus?

Folks; unsure whether it's the device, the camera app or just me, but: Is it (im)possible to shoot really "sharp" images using the M51 stock camera app or hardware? Using this in various situations, it basically seems to boil down to a _very_ limited range of focus within the image with everything outside being slightly blurred which looks quite bad especially on "natural" structures (trees / leaves). From a mere "optic" point of view it feels like the camera hardly has any depth-of-field and there seems no way to fix this. Is there...?
Thanks in advance and all the best,
Kristian

Samsung Stock Camera is very bad at sharpness/HDR, it tries as much as possible to denoise pictures, and the front image processing is even more disappointing on many devices I've tried/used.
Using Google Camera, it feels very different, as there's manual settings, you can increase/decrease sharpness, saturation, hue, AWB, ...
So the problem is not the hardware but the camera app. Depth Camera works fine on objects/persons.
Consider trying the GCam that suits you from here. I can modify sharpness as low/high as I want.

Mohamedkam000 said:
Samsung Stock Camera is very bad at sharpness/HDR, it tries as much as possible to denoise pictures, and the front image processing is even more disappointing on many devices I've tried/used.
Using Google Camera, it feels very different, as there's manual settings, you can increase/decrease sharpness, saturation, hue, AWB, ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the feedback, will give it a try then. Just wondering (after playing with one of the builds for a moment): How _do_ I actually set sharpness and the like in GCam? Compared to OpenCamera or the stock app, user interface seems even more stripped-down. Maybe though I missed something here...

kr428 said:
Thanks for the feedback, will give it a try then. Just wondering (after playing with one of the builds for a moment): How _do_ I actually set sharpness and the like in GCam? Compared to OpenCamera or the stock app, user interface seems even more stripped-down. Maybe though I missed something here...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on the mod you are using, there's a lot of mods, each has his features, but most of them has lib patcher, allowing the modification of image processing library.
For an example, here's how you find sharpness on tigr GCam mod. It has a lot of controls. You can use xml files to load some ready-made configurations. Sometimes configuration may not be compatible with your device, then you'll need to clear app data and try another one.

Mohamedkam000 said:
Depends on the mod you are using, there's a lot of mods, each has his features, but most of them has lib patcher, allowing the modification of image processing library.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah cool, wasn't aware of that. Will test-drive some of these and see how they do. Thanks bunches for pointing me there.

kr428 said:
Ah cool, wasn't aware of that. Will test-drive some of these and see how they do. Thanks bunches for pointing me there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anytime, mate.

Replying to myself as recommendation / hint to future readers: All my fault. Period.
Longer answer: When ordering the M51, I applied a screen protector glass - to both the main display and the camera cut-out, in order to protect the camera when having the phone in my pocket. After spending quite some time playing around with this, I learnt that apparently the screen protector placed in front of the camera lens causes a drastic loss of quality (and, thinking a few moments longer about physics and refraction of light in different media, this is pretty obvious).
So: Without this thing on my lenses, quality is ages better. Don't use screen protectors in front of your M51 camera.

kr428 said:
Replying to myself as recommendation / hint to future readers: All my fault. Period.
Longer answer: When ordering the M51, I applied a screen protector glass - to both the main display and the camera cut-out, in order to protect the camera when having the phone in my pocket. After spending quite some time playing around with this, I learnt that apparently the screen protector placed in front of the camera lens causes a drastic loss of quality (and, thinking a few moments longer about physics and refraction of light in different media, this is pretty obvious).
So: Without this thing on my lenses, quality is ages better. Don't use screen protectors in front of your M51 camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh .. never thought about this, because I thought it was obvious since 2014 or something that full screen protectors do cause problems with phone sensors, and front camera.
I couldn't find a screen protector with camera cutout for my A70, so I had to crack it manually.