Your thoughts on the S4 camera and gallery - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4

Here are my thoughts on the galaxy S4 camera:
Pros
1. 13 megapixel camera
2. Front and Back camera at same time
3. Some great new shooting modes like sound and shot, animated photo, etc..
4. Gallery has air-view
5. Gallery is easy to use and share photos
Cons
1. No paper artist
2. No filters from S3 (fall colors, solarize, etc)
3. Gallery does not have awesome scrolling view features from Note 2 and spiral view. EDIT: this feature is there.
4. Drama shot never works like Samsung advertises it to.
5. No Macro shot from S3 for close up shots.
Please add both pros and cons that you are finding when using the S4 camera and gallery.
Also, what features would you like to have seen added into the S4 camera and gallery
Sent from my Hyperdrive beast using xda premium. Hit thanks if you like this thread! :thumbup:

bajasur said:
Gallery does not have awesome scrolling view features from Note 2 and spiral view
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has the spiral view.

mutelight said:
It has the spiral view.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Really? I'll try and find it now. Thanks
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium

Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium

bajasur said:
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you found it.
Regarding the macro shots, I have taken some very close up shots. Are you referring to a specific mode that you put the phone in via the software?

mutelight said:
Glad you found it.
Regarding the macro shots, I have taken some very close up shots. Are you referring to a specific mode that you put the phone in via the software?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya.
There used to be a macro setting in the software where close up shots would look great. I have tried to take multiple close up shots of my S3 to try and sell it online and could not get an in focus shot of it.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium

It doesn't need a macro mode, it adjusts automatically.
That's with a simple desk lamp for lighting, otherwise it would be even better.

berfles said:
It doesn't need a macro mode, it adjusts automatically.
That's with a simple desk lamp for lighting, otherwise it would be even better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I'm just going to have to mess with it some more.
I've been getting blurry shots
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium

loving the camera a lot better than iphone

bajasur said:
I think I'm just going to have to mess with it some more.
I've been getting blurry shots
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting a *lot* of blurry shots. Is there some way to turn on stabilization or something? Most of my shots come out blurry unless I hold the camera *very* still. Seems like it should do a better job of this sort of thing.
For reference, I was a technical photographer -- I aided photographers in taking better shots by using their hardware in a better way. I know a good amount about photography, but I never really cared much for smartphone photography. One thing I'll say is that I've used many smartphones before to take pictures and none really came out as naturally shaky/blurry as these. Coming from an iPhone 5 I could hold both up and take the same picture and the iPhone 5 is clear and the one from the GS4 is blurry.
---------- Post added at 08:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:28 PM ----------
hotleadsingerguy said:
I'm getting a *lot* of blurry shots. Is there some way to turn on stabilization or something? Most of my shots come out blurry unless I hold the camera *very* still. Seems like it should do a better job of this sort of thing.
For reference, I was a technical photographer -- I aided photographers in taking better shots by using their hardware in a better way. I know a good amount about photography, but I never really cared much for smartphone photography. One thing I'll say is that I've used many smartphones before to take pictures and none really came out as naturally shaky/blurry as these. Coming from an iPhone 5 I could hold both up and take the same picture and the iPhone 5 is clear and the one from the GS4 is blurry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WELL I feel stupid. Didn't actually look through the options yet...found the stabilization options under photo and video. Works like a charm :laugh:

hotleadsingerguy said:
I'm getting a *lot* of blurry shots. Is there some way to turn on stabilization or something? Most of my shots come out blurry unless I hold the camera *very* still. Seems like it should do a better job of this sort of thing.
For reference, I was a technical photographer -- I aided photographers in taking better shots by using their hardware in a better way. I know a good amount about photography, but I never really cared much for smartphone photography. One thing I'll say is that I've used many smartphones before to take pictures and none really came out as naturally shaky/blurry as these. Coming from an iPhone 5 I could hold both up and take the same picture and the iPhone 5 is clear and the one from the GS4 is blurry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
weird, i was the complete opposite... to me lighting was important. but my pictures arent as noisy. i guess i also make sure to let it focus a bit longer which the iphone didnt have to do

hotleadsingerguy said:
I'm getting a *lot* of blurry shots. Is there some way to turn on stabilization or something? Most of my shots come out blurry unless I hold the camera *very* still. Seems like it should do a better job of this sort of thing.
For reference, I was a technical photographer -- I aided photographers in taking better shots by using their hardware in a better way. I know a good amount about photography, but I never really cared much for smartphone photography. One thing I'll say is that I've used many smartphones before to take pictures and none really came out as naturally shaky/blurry as these. Coming from an iPhone 5 I could hold both up and take the same picture and the iPhone 5 is clear and the one from the GS4 is blurry.
---------- Post added at 08:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:28 PM ----------
WELL I feel stupid. Didn't actually look through the options yet...found the stabilization options under photo and video. Works like a charm :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Me too
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium

I'm pretty happy with the close up shots. I can't get the camera to focus as close as I could on my rezound, it still did well. This little bastard wouldn't let me get any closer to him though lol. And of course this app degrades picture quality :banghead:
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2

I really like the camera. The shots are crips and clear when you have ample lighting. One gripe with this camera is the settings don't stick. I have set anti shake and auto night detection and they turn themselves off. I even had the camera change itself back to 9mp from 13mp. The gallery I just discovered that if you have pictures saved to the SD card and attempt to create some organization by moving them into albums the pictures get moved off of the SD card and back onto the phone internal storage. This creates a folder called "pictures" with all the albums inside as individual folders titled whatever you called the albums. You can't move this "picture" folder back to the SD card as it seems to be locked.

I'm at the beach today missing the beaches/snow filter from the S3.... another feature missing from the S4 camera
Also, does anyone know how you get the two picture at once thing from taking the picture automatically?
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium

How do you do the spiral gallery view?

EvoRocker said:
How do you do the spiral gallery view?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open your gallery, select albums (top left) and it's an option there.

Another con:
Timer is disabled on most shooting modes. Sometimes I feel creative and want to dry the drama shot, and doing it by yourself is impossible. Having 10 seconds to stage the shot would be awesome.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium

lots of settings to work through on this camera. i don't think there can be many scenarios that the s4 camera cannot adjust for. was never much into changing the settings since a camera on a phone never had high expectation from me, but i might actually take more time to dig into and learn the options on the s4.

Has anyone figured out how to take legit drama shots?
I get a good one about every ten tries.
Thanks
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda premium

Related

Photon Camera Issue - Indoors

So I am loving my photon. Have had it since launch day, and the one thing I am less than happy with is the camera performance indoors. Both my epic and evo shift 4g took good pictures indoors, but it seems pretty hit and miss with me and the photon. I cant decide if I should return it and wait for the Galaxy S2 or if maybe they will improve the camera software in an update.
Example as to what I mean with the pictures.
I took a picture, with flash on and settings in auto on my friends atrix, and side by side with my photon. The picture looked more natural on his screen, but on mine, the colors were weird and it wasn't focused very well.
Thoughts?
Only giving my opinion because no one has answered this yet.
I have noticed that the camera is not great indoors. However, one must remember that indoor shots are difficult even with good cameras because of the low light.
But since you are comparing your shots to another phone, all I can say is that hardware is different. Hard to say what is causing it and whether or not the camera on the Atrix is really better.
What I would do if it was me as a first step is to call Motorola and ask them why the camera sucks compared to the Atrix and see what they say. Maybe someone can shed some light on things.
If not, might just have to bite the bullet and buy an app such as Vignette from the Market if you can't get the satisfactory settings on the stock camera app. It might have some set profiles you can use that would make the pictures come out much better. I did see that someone posted taking pictures on the Photon with Vignette produced really good pics but don't know where the shots were taken.
Again, I'm not that knowledgeable on this so these are just suggestions.
I think it's because the flash is less than white. I think it actually gives a more natural picture and looks less like a flash was used. You can edit the photo after you have taken it on the phone. Moto built in some decent editing software in the gallery view.
randomrobbi said:
So I am loving my photon. Have had it since launch day, and the one thing I am less than happy with is the camera performance indoors. Both my epic and evo shift 4g took good pictures indoors, but it seems pretty hit and miss with me and the photon. I cant decide if I should return it and wait for the Galaxy S2 or if maybe they will improve the camera software in an update.
Example as to what I mean with the pictures.
I took a picture, with flash on and settings in auto on my friends atrix, and side by side with my photon. The picture looked more natural on his screen, but on mine, the colors were weird and it wasn't focused very well.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Photon actually takes the photo before it finishes focusing causing pics to look really bad. Having played with several Photons, I decided to just use Vignette (from the market) instead. Pics now look outstanding.
My comparisons were done between EVO 4G & MoPho. Hope that helps.
I would say that my HTC Heroc's camera is better then the MoPho which is a big disappointment. It's also worse the the Evo 3D's which I played with for a month. The crappy pictures aren't just indoor, they also aren't very good on clouldy days. Is there a better camera app out there that can take nicer pictures or any roms that have camera tweaks?
MinceMan said:
I would say that my HTC Heroc's camera is better then the MoPho which is a big disappointment. It's also worse the the Evo 3D's which I played with for a month. The crappy pictures aren't just indoor, they also aren't very good on clouldy days. Is there a better camera app out there that can take nicer pictures or any roms that have camera tweaks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Vignette from the Market.
sorry bro.....photon....ergggg....all moto devices always have the wroste camera on phones soo :S....you have no lucky to that
I just downloaded the free version of vignette and the photos are much worse than the stock camera. I mean real bad. Is the free version not so good?
Photos colors are way off.
vignette free sucks because it only saves effects in .3mp, however the full version can take forever to process the effects. luckily you can just keep taking pictures and it processes in the background. btw vignette is better than stock.
jokersax11 said:
vignette free sucks because it only saves effects in .3mp, however the full version can take forever to process the effects. luckily you can just keep taking pictures and it processes in the background. btw vignette is better than stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downloaded the app after reading the numerous recommendations. Maybe I'm an idiot but I can't figure out how to zoom in and out...seems like every button takes a picture...help?
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
Vignette only helps so far. What we need is an update from Motorola that addresses the camera issues. But Motorola is silent when it comes to the camera...
I have recently been looking at the photos out of the Nokia N8. If only my MoPho could take images like that!
romantivist said:
I downloaded the app after reading the numerous recommendations. Maybe I'm an idiot but I can't figure out how to zoom in and out...seems like every button takes a picture...help?
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hold your finger on the screen and you'll see options
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
Our photon comes with really great effects too just press menu then edit than advance
Its the screen resolution of the photon that makes it look different take download the pictures to a computer from both phones and sompare them side by side and you will see that the photon takes a way better pictures, the difference is in the screen,
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
The problem I have with the default camera app is that on anything but the brightest of sunny days everything looks blurry. Vignette seems to be much better in that regard. At least inside pictures are fairly sharp.
I'm really feeling Camera ZOOM FX right now, pictures are really nice and sharp indoors. The steady shot give you a readout of the accelerometer and wont take the picture unless you've been stead for 0.5 , 1 or 2 seconds. It's $0.10 on the market today and I would strongly recommend it. The only problem is you don't seem to be able to change picture quality settings.
Camera ZOOM FX
+1 just got camera zoom..lovin it.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
I use camera zoom since i got my photon the default camera app is really ****ty i guess that the difference should be the way the picture is procesed
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
I find the Photon camera pretty decent, actually is the best camera I ever had on a phone. For the low light issue thing I would just like to say that it does not take the greatest pic on low light conditions but what actually makes it worse is the Pentile display (and I'm not saying is not a good display like most people), because if you transfer your pictures to your computer you can actually see that the pictures aren't as bad as they seems when you view them in your Photon.
As for camera apps I use Camera360 Ultimate and HDR Camera+
I really don't like camera zoom because you can't save pictures in actual resolutions. (at least when I used I couldn't get them) Maybe they fixed that now.?

do you guys think that the amaze have the best camera?

guys a friend of mine just got the motorola razer,
its a really good phone now that i see it more often,
but i was testing our camera with the razor camera,
our have more features witch i think is the only phone and the mytouch slide that have more features on the camera,
well i noticed with both cameras on that the razor have better low light pictures in we were at starbucks this afternoon, and i got both cameras on when i moved these phones sides on the amaze you could see the lights moving fast and on the razor it was smooth, low light was perfect when on the amaze it was kinda yellow
even on the ffc when i moved them the razor looked better than the amaze,
what do you guys think? is it something we could fix on ours maybe a tweak
or its the way the camera was built?
I hate the yellow tone to indoor pictures! You can tell when you go into settings and uncheck widescreen, the image will turn normal for a split second and then go back to yellowish. A tweak would be awesome.
Other than that this camera is fantastic.
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using XDA App
The camera itself on the amaze is better. You just have to do some software tweaking like play around in manual mode with lighting saturation contrast iso etc. And turn auto enhance off.
Also if you're seeing yellow change the white balance in manual mode.
I just went from the MyTouch 4g Slide to the Amaze. Cameras are comparable, and both very good. I think the clarity on the Amaze is a bit better- I took a pic of a book with a post it on it to compare, and could read the handwriting on the Amaze version where it was blurry on the 4gSlide. Slide has markings on the lens, but I can't tell that the optics are any better on the older phone. All in all, very good, very fast camera.
#1 complaint about the Amaze camera is the retarded focusing. It gets even worst in low light. So if you're in a hurry, your first pictures will always be blurry. Best thing you can do is turn off Auto focus, and keep it in manual mode.
I also hate the yellow looking indoor pictures also. It's a decent camera but I wouldn't stay the best.
sefar said:
I just went from the MyTouch 4g Slide to the Amaze. Cameras are comparable, and both very good. I think the clarity on the Amaze is a bit better- I took a pic of a book with a post it on it to compare, and could read the handwriting on the Amaze version where it was blurry on the 4gSlide. Slide has markings on the lens, but I can't tell that the optics are any better on the older phone. All in all, very good, very fast camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
they both have the same camera, the software settings might be a little different from factory
---------- Post added at 04:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:40 PM ----------
hzm82 said:
#1 complaint about the Amaze camera is the retarded focusing. It gets even worst in low light. So if you're in a hurry, your first pictures will always be blurry. Best thing you can do is turn off Auto focus, and keep it in manual mode.
I also hate the yellow looking indoor pictures also. It's a decent camera but I wouldn't stay the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
change the white balance settings in manual mode!!! also they yellowish nature of the picture is party because of the yellowish tint of the amaze screen..you can only tell a picture apart if you look at the same picture taken with two camera's on the same screen
Thanks to whoever it was that mentioned about going into settings and white balance. Definitely looks a ton better and takes out the yellowish hue. Now I am happy with the camera. Before that only outside pics look good. Inside was terrible, but this helped out a ton.
Thanks!
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk
JesseMT4G said:
Thanks to whoever it was that mentioned about going into settings and white balance. Definitely looks a ton better and takes out the yellowish hue. Now I am happy with the camera. Before that only outside pics look good. Inside was terrible, but this helped out a ton.
Thanks!
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
glad it helped
Responding to your title question. I personally think the camera and video sucks compared to my old Nokia N8. That is the best camera I ever had and I REALLY miss it a lot lol.
seansk said:
glad it helped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea it helps a ton, I'm just annoyed with HTC for having auto so yellow. Thanks!
Sent from my HTC_Amaze_4G using XDA App
hasoon2000 said:
Responding to your title question. I personally think the camera and video sucks compared to my old Nokia N8. That is the best camera I ever had and I REALLY miss it a lot lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true Nokia does make very nice camera's on their phones...so does sonyericsson which is now only sony, since sony is also in the business of point and shoot, they can make camera's better than a manufacturer that's only in cellphones.
the camera really take good pictures if you are not in a hurry,
but my concern was when u have it open and move around, its very fast, when i saw the razr it was smooth and the lights were not like lazer looking as with the amaze was,
hasoon2000 said:
Responding to your title question. I personally think the camera and video sucks compared to my old Nokia N8. That is the best camera I ever had and I REALLY miss it a lot lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it is safe to say that you had the champion of champs of phone cameras.
The Amaze seems to be among the best cell phone cameras of all time. Definitely top 5 if not top 3, and there have been alot of cell phone models that have come out over the years.
Please keep all question related threads in the Q&A section.
Thread Moved.
Sent from my Galaxy Note i717, using XDA Premium.
You don't have to be a farmer to know what sh*t smells like.
I have a few devices,and I use the camera alot.
So far,the Samsung infuse has the best pictures.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA
i love this camera. for me no need for a digital cam this works great and is always in my pocket.

Close up pictures?? how?!?!

okay so ever since i got the LTE EVO iv been seeing people take AMAZING close up pictures of bugs/insects that are in FOCUS!
HOW?!?!?!?!?
Ill find a bug outside and take out my LTE evo, open up the camera app and put the macro on "close up" and i can NEVER get it to atuo focus/touch focus good enough to see that its even a bug!
..
i also tried it and this is the best I could get...
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
im in the same boat as you guys. People say the camera is awesome but i think its sub par. My GS2 was way better than this. I get great out door pics but thats it. nothing inside.
I've been using "Depth of Field" effect for close ups and I've been getting some really good results.
I've had inconsistent results with up close pictures.
I agree that indoor pictures are bad on the auto mode.
Sent from my EVO using XDA
jaime2563 said:
I've been using "Depth of Field" effect for close ups and I've been getting some really good results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where is this effect?
Warrior 3000 said:
where is this effect?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From the Camera app, it is the blue semi-transparent button above the camera shutter button. That gives you different options for effects when taking pictures (and video also if I'm not mistaken)
Make sure you're in close up mode. Hit the A and scroll down to close up it's near the bottom.
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
donatom3 said:
Make sure you're in close up mode. Hit the A and scroll down to close up it's near the bottom.
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes do this. Here's a close up of my otterbox clip I took and it looks pretty clear and closeup.
SENT FROM MY EVO 4G LTE!!!
Sounds like a focusing bug in the app on some phone. Try camera 360.
Sent from my EVO LTE
First one was normal setting but zoomed fully. Second was closeup setting unzoomed.
Sent from my EVO using xda premium
drdagreenphd said:
From the Camera app, it is the blue semi-transparent button above the camera shutter button. That gives you different options for effects when taking pictures (and video also if I'm not mistaken)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that actually makes it even worse. it does focus on anything close up.
Close up work for me, i was probably less than an inch from the keyboard in this photo. Are you half pressing the shutter button or pressing on the screen to focus the image?
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G LTE using Tapatalk
When I press the camera button on my phone it doesn't focus at all
Sent from my EVO using XDA
schnergun said:
When I press the camera button on my phone it doesn't focus at all
Sent from my EVO using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You press it halfway and it will focus, press it down all the way and it snaps a shot. You can also focus by pressing on the object in the frame on the screen, it will actually make a noise when you do that.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G LTE using Tapatalk
Lots of user error in this thread.
schnergun said:
im in the same boat as you guys. People say the camera is awesome but i think its sub par. My GS2 was way better than this. I get great out door pics but thats it. nothing inside.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not the camera's fault. That's user error. Mine works flawlessly indoors and outdoors as well as with closeups and panoramic shots.
drdagreenphd said:
From the Camera app, it is the blue semi-transparent button above the camera shutter button. That gives you different options for effects when taking pictures (and video also if I'm not mistaken)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That changes effects (similar to Instagram) not the ability to render quality closeups.
Noiro said:
Sounds like a focusing bug in the app on some phone. Try camera 360.
Sent from my EVO LTE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong. It's people blaming the phone instead of taking the time to learn their phone inside and out and understand exactly how it works.
donatom3 said:
Make sure you're in close up mode. Hit the A and scroll down to close up it's near the bottom.
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is correct. The phone's camera has various modes to which it can be set and take a wide variety of picture types.
Concordium said:
Lots of user error in this thread.
That's not the camera's fault. That's user error. Mine works flawlessly indoors and outdoors as well as with closeups and panoramic shots.
That changes effects (similar to Instagram) not the ability to render quality closeups.
Wrong. It's people blaming the phone instead of taking the time to learn their phone inside and out and understand exactly how it works.
This is correct. The phone's camera has various modes to which it can be set and take a wide variety of picture types.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm, the OP mentions using the mode in the 1st post.
It works perfectly for me as well but clearly not for him.
Hence a possible bug in the camera application. Just because is fine for us doesn't mean its fine across the board.
Sent from my EVO LTE
Concordium said:
Lots of user error in this thread.
That's not the camera's fault. That's user error. Mine works flawlessly indoors and outdoors as well as with closeups and panoramic shots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's unfair for people to immediately blame the camera, but by the same token, it's unfair for you to claim it's simply user error. There's a degree of subjectivity (not sure if that's even a word LOL) that needs to be taken into consideration when talking about camera and picture quality.
With that being said, my personal opinion is is that the camera software on this phone is certainly flawed. It's good, but it can be better in so many ways. The camera itself is very very good. Tons of potential there, but the software is holding it back.
As for my personal experience when I had this phone, it consistently takes very good outdoor shots, but was very hit or miss when it came to indoor, lowish light shots. I have 2 pictures that was able to find that illustrate my concern. I think the problem is with the AUTO settings. Manually changing settings prior to taking the shot will produce better pictures, but it's a bit impractical to expect that (EVEN from a phone). In regards to the physical camera button, maybe my phone was defective because the first step of the button did absolutely nothing. I was told it's supposed to SEEM like it does nothing, but that it's actually auto-focusing. In my experience, that wasn't the case. The auto-focus usually happens automatically (kind of like the iPhone 4S) center-weighted, unless you use tap-to-focus. Pressing the button didn't refocus anything. In fact, it didn't seem to do anything AT ALL. Again, my phone may have just been defective. Going to make sure to try this again when I get another one in my hands.
I'm adding a few pictures. The one of the boxes and of the notebook is a prime example of the kind of shots I would get when shooting AUTO in indoor and low-light conditions. As you can see, the shots are terrible. For some reason the camera is maxing the ISO (among other things) so they came out extremely grainy. They are perfectly focused, the image simply isn't optimized. The keyboard picture shows a much better shot. In this shot the camera did a better job of optimizing under AUTO settings. It also maxed the ISO, yet it still produced a good looking shot. This one had better light, as you can see.
Overall my grade of the camera was an 8/10, and only because of the software limitations. As a reference, I also give the Samsung Galaxy S II an 8/10. On that phone the camera itself isn't as good, but the software (or maybe just the capture algorithm) is significantly better when shooting in AUTO.
Just my 2 cents.
gnarlynick said:
You press it halfway and it will focus, press it down all the way and it snaps a shot. You can also focus by pressing on the object in the frame on the screen, it will actually make a noise when you do that.
Sent from my HTC EVO 4G LTE using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Um, no it doesn't.
Press it down half way to lock focus and exposure, not to command a focus.
The camera is constantly focusing. Half-pressing the shutter button only maintains the focus at the time it was pressed.
vulcZ said:
It's unfair for people to immediately blame the camera, but by the same token, it's unfair for you to claim it's simply user error. There's a degree of subjectivity (not sure if that's even a word LOL) that needs to be taken into consideration when talking about camera and picture quality.
With that being said, my personal opinion is is that the camera software on this phone is certainly flawed. It's good, but it can be better in so many ways. The camera itself is very very good. Tons of potential there, but the software is holding it back.
As for my personal experience when I had this phone, it consistently takes very good outdoor shots, but was very hit or miss when it came to indoor, lowish light shots. I have 2 pictures that was able to find that illustrate my concern. I think the problem is with the AUTO settings. Manually changing settings prior to taking the shot will produce better pictures, but it's a bit impractical to expect that (EVEN from a phone). In regards to the physical camera button, maybe my phone was defective because the first step of the button did absolutely nothing. I was told it's supposed to SEEM like it does nothing, but that it's actually auto-focusing. In my experience, that wasn't the case. The auto-focus usually happens automatically (kind of like the iPhone 4S) center-weighted, unless you use tap-to-focus. Pressing the button didn't refocus anything. In fact, it didn't seem to do anything AT ALL. Again, my phone may have just been defective. Going to make sure to try this again when I get another one in my hands.
I'm adding a few pictures. The one of the boxes and of the notebook is a prime example of the kind of shots I would get when shooting AUTO in indoor and low-light conditions. As you can see, the shots are terrible. For some reason the camera is maxing the ISO (among other things) so they came out extremely grainy. They are perfectly focused, the image simply isn't optimized. The keyboard picture shows a much better shot. In this shot the camera did a better job of optimizing under AUTO settings. It also maxed the ISO, yet it still produced a good looking shot. This one had better light, as you can see.
Overall my grade of the camera was an 8/10, and only because of the software limitations. As a reference, I also give the Samsung Galaxy S II an 8/10. On that phone the camera itself isn't as good, but the software (or maybe just the capture algorithm) is significantly better when shooting in AUTO.
Just my 2 cents.
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Your hardware button isn't defective. It's programmed to lock focus and exposure settings instead of manually focusing.

Blowing off some steam - G2 has the SLOWEST camera in a smartphone?!

Unbelievable how slow this camera is...
Makes it almost unusable, especially with moving objects.
Is it just me?
Really my g2 takes pictures quite fast...no issues here
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Definitely faster than my Galaxy S2 on launch and taking a picture.
This camera has literally made me want to throw the phone against a wall.
What makes it worst is the results are the same with every camera application.
It has to be hardware.
I'm thinking I should've fixed my DROID DNA.
Taking pictures of moving objects is painful to say the least. It makes you wonder how they were able to get those pictures on their commercial...
I would of thought with optical stabilization that moving objects picture taking would be improved.
SysAdmNj said:
I would of thought with optical stabilization that moving objects picture taking would be improved.
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Optical Stabilization has nothing to do with that. It has to do with "shake" caused by handholding the camera. OIS has nothing to do with moving objects. That's shutter speed.
+1 getting good pictures of my child is a PITA. It's just too slow
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Caught the soccer ball midflight without any fuss...
I would say the slowness of the camera is my biggest/only? gripe of the entire phone. This should get fixed soon, but we need to put the word out to them that this is a major concern of its users.
Taking pictures of the kids is ridiculously hard!!!! I have to put it on time shot so it takes multiple shots
TL;DR: A cellphone camera is a lot less flexible than a dedicated camera. If a scene is extremely well lit (read: direct sunlight), a cameraphone should be able to freeze frame, such as that soccer photo that was posted above, but if it's not well lit and/or the camera is biased towards slow shutter speeds, good luck. Gotta use the right tool for the job, and a cellphone isn't it.
Here comes the long version:
To create a picture, a specific amount of light is needed - too little, and you're underexposed, everything is too dark, too much, everything is over exposed; white. There's two primary factors controlling light taken in: Aperture (amount of light let in) and shutter speed (how much light is collected). Imagine filling a cup: aperture is how much you open the tap, and shutter speed is how long you keep it open. However, there's an additional factor: sensor sensitivity (ISO), which is a multiplication factor, but introduces noise when used. Think of measuring rainfall with a big bucket or a small glass. The glass will give you a ballpark figure, but the bucket will be much more accurate.
However, in all cell phones, the aperture is fixed, leaving only iso and shutter speed to be adjusted, and in most cell phones the max ISO is low due to the abysmal noise performance of these tiny sensors. In the case of the G2, it only has 4 stops of adjustment in ISO, where most compact cameras can manage 6 (iso 100-3200) and DSLRS can manage 8 or more. And, you really don't want to be using the last 2 stops if you can at all help it.
Problem is, the shutter speed can only go so low until hand shake becomes an issue. The whole point of image stabilization is to allow slower shutter speeds than could normally be used, with the ancillary benefit of less shaky video. Slower shutter speeds mean a lower ISO can be used, which results in better image quality. IS is one of the big selling points of this phone, so it's not a surprise they've decided to make it heavily favor its usage to increase image quality.
But, for moving stuff, you want fast shutter speeds.... with a bias towards slow shutter speeds, well, there's your problem. Sometimes there is a sports mode which will change the bias towards faster shutter speeds, but the G2's doesn't seem to do that (or it doesn't help much). I'd say, set ISO to max (800) and pray.
Or, if you are talking about focusing on a moving subject, either tap on something on the right plane as the moving subject, and take the picture when the subject is in the right spot. In the case of the G2, you have another option, which is to use manual focus. Either works.
Wow, the entire time I thought my camera was defective. The commercial makes a point of shooting pictures while the subject is moving and getting a still shot. In real life with this phone it's pretty impossible.
For most part the G2's camera has been fine for me but I usually don't take moving pictures with my cell phone camera.
It's true. I hope LG addresses this issue so long as it is a software defect. I'm concerned that it could be a hardware limitation though. capturing moving subjects is near impossible even in good lighting. However, the camera app opens fast enough, faster than SOME other devices. The shutter speed also gives the impression that it is faster than the nexus or moto camera. Galaxy devices are faster and then iOS has fastest shutter speed.
As for still subjects or scenes, this phone has arguably the best camera on any android device. In some instances, it is better than the iphone 5s, in others it is not. Low light shots are heavily softened yet the shot is brighter than any other camera I've seen. The smartphone camera that beats all of them is of course the lumia 1020, which many HAVE also complained to be slow.
Well I have a 9 month old and this thing doesn't miss a beat. I do however have that auto intelligence on and that snap is instant.
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Zigzag is point on. This is cell phone camera. I find it to be one of the best overall in that area. Every cell phone I have owned has had one weakness or the other. If you need quality pictures of moving objects then you need dslr. Or, snap a bunch and take the best one.
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craigbailey1986 said:
Well I have a 9 month old and this thing doesn't miss a beat. I do however have that auto intelligence on and that snap is instant.
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The camera drives me nuts as well. Every time I read about it someone chimes in saying "well its a cellphone camera" but I have had more cellphones than most people and never had such trouble taking pictures of my son/nephew/nice, etc. To get a child to stand still for a picture is tough and sometimes it takes up to 7 seconds (I've counted) to take the picture. That's an eternity as a parent. I love everything about this phone except that aspect of the camera and the fact that Verizon doesn't offer it in white, which I'm hoping is fixed tomorrow. From there I just have to hope LG has an update for this. I don't care about the science of taking pictures, how it let's in light, I don't care if they have little Indonesian kids working in a little micro-sweat shop drawing pictures. It takes way too long to take a picture in anything but perfect sunny daylight, and thats not because it's a cellphone camera, that's comparing it to many other cellphone cameras.
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joeliotta said:
The camera drives me nuts as well. Every time I read about it someone chimes in saying "well its a cellphone camera" but I have had more cellphones than most people and never had such trouble taking pictures of my son/nephew/nice, etc. To get a child to stand still for a picture is tough and sometimes it takes up to 7 seconds (I've counted) to take the picture. That's an eternity as a parent. I love everything about this phone except that aspect of the camera and the fact that Verizon doesn't offer it in white, which I'm hoping is fixed tomorrow. From there I just have to hope LG has an update for this. I don't care about the science of taking pictures, how it let's in light, I don't care if they have little Indonesian kids working in a little micro-sweat shop drawing pictures. It takes way too long to take a picture in anything but perfect sunny daylight, and thats not because it's a cellphone camera, that's comparing it to many other cellphone cameras.
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I wasn't saying it drives me nuts... I was saying I don't have an issue with the camera... my son is crawling now and becoming more playful everyday. I don't have any issue with the camera. It does a great capturing him moving around. Not sure what some of you guys are going through because what I use it for it does an awesome job......
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joeliotta said:
The camera drives me nuts as well. Every time I read about it someone chimes in saying "well its a cellphone camera" but I have had more cellphones than most people and never had such trouble taking pictures of my son/nephew/nice, etc. To get a child to stand still for a picture is tough and sometimes it takes up to 7 seconds (I've counted) to take the picture. That's an eternity as a parent. I love everything about this phone except that aspect of the camera and the fact that Verizon doesn't offer it in white, which I'm hoping is fixed tomorrow. From there I just have to hope LG has an update for this. I don't care about the science of taking pictures, how it let's in light, I don't care if they have little Indonesian kids working in a little micro-sweat shop drawing pictures. It takes way too long to take a picture in anything but perfect sunny daylight, and thats not because it's a cellphone camera, that's comparing it to many other cellphone cameras.
Sent from my VS980 4G using xda app-developers app
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I meant to quote the person on top of your post, not your post. The strangest part is that I had the phone for about a week and didn't notice any problem with the camera. I rooted it and still didn't even notice any issue. I uprooted back to stock so I could hopefully return it for a white one If it comes out in the next couple of days and it wasn't until that point I noticed it. I took many pictures the following days as I ended up in Great Wolf Lodge and took many unsuccessful pictures of the kids, but I wonder if it was working OK and then gave me a hard time after either rooting or unrooting or if it just took me a few days to get out of the honeymoon stage to realize it. I'm curious to see what happens if I do get the option to switch my phone in the coming days, if it'll still be a problem or not.
Didn't mean for such a long post, sorry. Just following the lead of the thread, "Blowing Off Steam."
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---------- Post added at 09:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:48 PM ----------
I read somewhere (most likely on here) that the Optimus PRO had the same issue for a while with the slow shutter and was eventually fixed with a software upgrade. I never had LG before (mainly because it isn't a heavily supported brand, which is frustrating with this one as well) so I don't know how they've been in the past.
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joeliotta said:
I meant to quote the person on top of your post, not your post. The strangest part is that I had the phone for about a week and didn't notice any problem with the camera. I rooted it and still didn't even notice any issue. I uprooted back to stock so I could hopefully return it for a white one If it comes out in the next couple of days and it wasn't until that point I noticed it. I took many pictures the following days as I ended up in Great Wolf Lodge and took many unsuccessful pictures of the kids, but I wonder if it was working OK and then gave me a hard time after either rooting or unrooting or if it just took me a few days to get out of the honeymoon stage to realize it. I'm curious to see what happens if I do get the option to switch my phone in the coming days, if it'll still be a problem or not.
Didn't mean for such a long post, sorry. Just following the lead of the thread, "Blowing Off Steam."
Sent from my VS980 4G using xda app-developers app
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I have read others with your issue and then those like me with no issue. Could be bad batch ois in some of the phones.
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Camera not working properly

I've been trying to take still pictures in my C5 ultra and they all turn out overtly grainy to the point that they look like they were taken on some other phone.
Sometimes I need to add flash even to well-lit rooms. I've lowered the ISO and I've tried changing manual settings. The pictures still come out blurry and grainy to some extent.
Is there something I'm doing wrong? This is kind of frustrating, I was expecting the cam to be decent.
Are taking pictures Indoor? Artificial light does that.
If you take pictures under bright sunlight, are the pictures still grainy?
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malih16 said:
Are taking pictures Indoor? Artificial light does that.
If you take pictures under bright sunlight, are the pictures still grainy?
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I've taken pictures with no artifical light and the pictures are still unfocused and don't look as good as you'd expect. The focus is also really strange and doesn't seem to be working properly.
Pekolachi said:
I've taken pictures with no artifical light and the pictures are still unfocused and don't look as good as you'd expect. The focus is also really strange and doesn't seem to be working properly.
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Can you upload a sample of those unfocused pictures?
There's always the possibility you have a bad hardware.
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malih16 said:
Can you upload a sample of those unfocused pictures?
There's always the possibility you have a bad hardware.
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https://i.pantsu.cat/mvuyaw.JPG
https://i.pantsu.cat/ryphvr.JPG
Took pictures of a figure to illustrate what I meant. The first one was taken with the flashlight turned on. The second one was without flash.
ISO settings were turned down to 100. But I can't seem to get the focus right. I'm coming from an LG G3 and getting this phone to take pictures that look decent (note I'm not expecting perfect photography) has been a pain.
Could be the shutter speed, try Manual mode and select 'Sports' Scene for the fastest Shutter speed, usually works with Flash or Good amount of Sunlight
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