Database Develop

Nexus 5 in the hands of a photographer

We gave our Nexus 5 in the hands of a photographer (friend of mine) for a month, and this is what we get!
Very impressive!
http://www.androidworld.it/2014/01/...i-di-un-fotografo-il-nostro-test-foto-209321/

cisoprogressivo said:
We gave our Nexus 5 in the hands of a photographer (friend of mine) for a month, and this is what we get!
Very impressive!
http://www.androidworld.it/2014/01/...i-di-un-fotografo-il-nostro-test-foto-209321/
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Click to collapse
Knowing a thing or two about taking picture taking results in some impressive pictures.
Whodathunkit!

Cirkustanz said:
Knowing a thing or two about taking picture taking results in some impressive pictures.
Whodathunkit!
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yup

There's some pretty severe pink-camera-problem going on in the center of most of the photos.

Wow, these look great.
Getting excited to see if I'll be able to get shots which look are remotely as good

and you had to get a photographer for those shots? :laugh:
anyways, OP has "generating clicks" written all over it.

Nice shots! I especially like how well OIS works on the n5 when taking videos too, much better than the n4.

PoisonWolf said:
There's some pretty severe pink-camera-problem going on in the center of most of the photos.
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I think that issue is pretty common these days, you camera might even produce those with the very same conditions.

Nice Pic's, probably could have been a litter better if it was from a White N5

Grande ciso!

EarlZ said:
I think that issue is pretty common these days, you camera might even produce those with the very same conditions.
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My N4 has it as well, I agree, but not to the extent as observed in those photos.

ghettopops said:
Nice Pic's, probably could have been a litter better if it was from a White N5
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O_O explain

biscuitownz said:
O_O explain
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Auto correct. Little. White N5's are better than the black ones

ghettopops said:
Auto correct. Little. White N5's are better than the black ones
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How are they a little better?

cisoprogressivo said:
We gave our Nexus 5 in the hands of a photographer (friend of mine) for a month, and this is what we get!
Very impressive!
http://www.androidworld.it/2014/01/...i-di-un-fotografo-il-nostro-test-foto-209321/
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Click to collapse
I am assuming that your friend bit**ed and moaned about the lack of manual shutter speed and aperture control, default camera app (awful), and in general lack of a manual mode (which is how most pros shoot- manually setting everything).
Disclaimer: I'm a photographer (not the 'I have a DSLR and use AUTO mode and press this thingy' photographer, the 'I have my own successful business' kind) and the lack of manual shutter & aperture is beyond frustrating to me. Sure there are (mostly worthless) apps that give you some control of ISO, WB, burst mode, etc., but without those vital exposure controls (shutter and aperture) to me all smartphone cameras will suck.
I know, I know. It's not a pro level slr... it's a phone...

Of course having stunning locations always helps.

anactoraaron said:
I am assuming that your friend bit**ed and moaned about the lack of manual shutter speed and aperture control, default camera app (awful), and in general lack of a manual mode (which is how most pros shoot- manually setting everything).
Disclaimer: I'm a photographer (not the 'I have a DSLR and use AUTO mode and press this thingy' photographer, the 'I have my own successful business' kind) and the lack of manual shutter & aperture is beyond frustrating to me. Sure there are (mostly worthless) apps that give you some control of ISO, WB, burst mode, etc., but without those vital exposure controls (shutter and aperture) to me all smartphone cameras will suck.
I know, I know. It's not a pro level slr... it's a phone...
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While I agree with you that the default camera app is incredibly awful and lacks many controls, mobile phones are replacing point and shoot cameras, not DSLRs or micro 4/3. Also, most people use photos nowadays for stupid web shots/social/ready-made-filters etc and not for printing or cropping and zooming for the perfect frame.
I replaced my Cannon P&S since I had the HTC One X two years ago, but no mobile will ever replace my Fuji X-A1

anactoraaron said:
(which is how most pros shoot- manually setting everything).
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I don't disagree with you on anything but this - most modern SLR pros I know (less than 100, but many more than 10) do NOT shoot all manual. Most may shoot A-priority or S-priority, or use P mode and wheel their way to the desired blend, but only landscape, product or portrait shooters really can practically go all manual, all the time - you need non-moving subjects and somewhat consistent lighting to rock all manual and get a decent return on your shots.
And let's be fair, manual shooting modes do not make better pictures: better photographers make better pictures.

mr.r9 said:
While I agree with you that the default camera app is incredibly awful and lacks many controls, mobile phones are replacing point and shoot cameras, not DSLRs or micro 4/3. Also, most people use photos nowadays for stupid web shots/social/ready-made-filters etc and not for printing or cropping and zooming for the perfect frame.
I replaced my Cannon P&S since I had the HTC One X two years ago, but no mobile will ever replace my Fuji X-A1
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I know this and agree with you entirely, but I do have an old Polaroid P&S that allows me to set the shutter speed (like from 1/30-1/200, but no aperture control) and that thing is 5+ years old now. But yeah, the need to own a P&S is mostly non-existent with how good smartphone cameras are getting now. It still wouldn't stop me from griping about the things I mentioned if someone gave me a smartphone to take photos with the expectation of delivering pro quality work though (OP was 'I gave my phone to my pro friend to see what he/she could do').
big_adventure said:
I don't disagree with you on anything but this - most modern SLR pros I know (less than 100, but many more than 10) do NOT shoot all manual. Most may shoot A-priority or S-priority, or use P mode and wheel their way to the desired blend, but only landscape, product or portrait shooters really can practically go all manual, all the time - you need non-moving subjects and somewhat consistent lighting to rock all manual and get a decent return on your shots.
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The only problem I have with P, A, and S priority modes is the reaction time of the camera to lighting conditions - especially outdoors. I particularly have an issue with P mode as most cameras seem to want a neutral/balanced shutter and aperture - like 1/60 @ f8 - whereas I may want 1/125 or faster @ f4.5-6.3 - and it gets worse outdoors (like wanting 1/160 @ f25 instead of 1/800 @ f8 etc) almost necessitating use of S mode if auto operation is desired. It also seems to take too long sometimes for the camera to read the amount of light and adjust the exposure (shutter speed in A mode or aperture in S mode) correctly. Shooting in manual mode for me is easier and better for me as I can read the light and pick a proper shutter, etc. based on conditions where I am shooting without having to worry about being occasionally slightly too bright (concern for a loss of detail being washed out) or too dark (where softness/pixelation comes into play).
But I suppose how you use your camera will vary on what you are taking pictures of. My gripe with the Nexus 5 is that with adequate lighting indoors and having the flash on auto the camera seems to always want to take pictures with the flash off at 1/10 or 1/20 @ f10 ISO ~400 or something like that, and that's just no good with really anything especially pictures of the kids. Why can't I at least just set the shutter? So many blurry pics... I thought there would be more emphasis on getting the camera experience better on a Nexus phone... the sad thing is that the hardware is actually really good for a phone but sadly the software side is woefully behind :crying:
And let's be fair, manual shooting modes do not make better pictures: better photographers make better pictures.
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Absolutely correct.

I always love these posts,
I have been an on again off again professional photographer for over 10 years mostly in industrial photography.
Even once owned an online photography magazine with pros writing articles from around the world.
My first thought is that it never really has much to do with the camera, its the photographer that stands behind this.
The best example I can give you of this, is the gear snobs that say you can't use mirror-less cameras in the professional setting.
Just grab a pro photographer give them a Nikon V1 or a Olympus OM-D and let them go shooting for a day.
As far as not having P/S/A/M modes, it's a phone....
1 in 100 000 people will even know what that is and about a third of those will actually know how to use it.
If we want to talk camera geek for a moment.
Sensor size is 1/3.2″
Aperture is f2.4 (fixed Aperture)
Max iso is 100 - 800
What does this mean?
Low light shots will still be grainy (Tiny sensor doesn't collect enough light)
The Lens is equivalent to about 28mm which if you have a Canon Rebel or a Nikon DXXXX camera it works out to the 18mm on a kit lens.
So why no manual control?
Well with a fixed aperture of 2.4 what can you change?
Well if you know cameras there is something called the exposure triangle, all this means is aperture, shutter speed, iso have to line up just right for an image to be exposed correctly. In A (aperture priority) you only control aperture and iso, S (shutter priority)you only control shutter and iso, and M you control everything. If you can't change the aperture then you can't use these modes.
Any app that says it gives you control of these things are just simulated.
Every photographers favorite word.... Bokeh!
The blur in the background, how to get it on a phone.
First we have to look at two things the 28mm lens and the tiny sensor. The smaller the sensor does not help at all in this case and nether does the focal length. To get Bokeh with your phone you have to get really really close to your subject almost as if your taking a macro shot.
One more trick for you guys if your still reading this, the camera phone is not ideal for taking portraits.
The reason why is at 28mm you get barrel distortion that pulls the center of the image towards the viewer. You can give people longer than usual noses and get strangeness going on. If your going to take a portrait of a person, instead of taking a close up on the face back up a bit. It will help hide this distortion.
Wow didn't mean for this to come out this long but I am at work, and bored.... lol

[Q] Hope for the Nexus 6 Camera?

Alot of the reviews says, nexus 6 camera experience has been a "hit or miss" from taking a good pic even with HDR on. Would it help to install a new camera app and do some tweakings over it, or better yet use an xposed module (if any) to fix the issue?

I'm a photographer. Here's the thing.
Camera reviews on cell phones are reviewed by gadget freaks, not photographers. They're interested in specs, they think megapixels are important, they don't even mention the important stuff.
Android L is the first OS to have a decent camera api. This will allow the nexus camera - which is only inherently different from the note 4 camera in terms of software - to vastly outperform anything on the market given a good camera app.
This mythical camera app should take advantage of a few things - full manual control. Exposure compensation and AE/AF lock. Auto bracketing. Proper metering, with selections for spot through to matrix. FPS control. Video control with framerate and resolution options, and the ability to manually control or lock exposure and focus. And finally, take advantage of L's .dng output, so we can work on this in lightroom after we're done. I don't trust my $2000 camera to spit out a nice jpg processed the way I want it, I shoot raw, I sure as hell don't trust a phone.
The nexus 6 looks to have some nice hardware. Let the software take advantage of it and you'll be happy.

tripler6 said:
I'm a photographer. Here's the thing.
Camera reviews on cell phones are reviewed by gadget freaks, not photographers. They're interested in specs, they think megapixels are important, they don't even mention the important stuff.
Android L is the first OS to have a decent camera api. This will allow the nexus camera - which is only inherently different from the note 4 camera in terms of software - to vastly outperform anything on the market given a good camera app.
This mythical camera app should take advantage of a few things - full manual control. Exposure compensation and AE/AF lock. Auto bracketing. Proper metering, with selections for spot through to matrix. FPS control. Video control with framerate and resolution options, and the ability to manually control or lock exposure and focus. And finally, take advantage of L's .dng output, so we can work on this in lightroom after we're done. I don't trust my $2000 camera to spit out a nice jpg processed the way I want it, I shoot raw, I sure as hell don't trust a phone.
The nexus 6 looks to have some nice hardware. Let the software take advantage of it and you'll be happy.
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Good post. My girlfriend is a photographer but her biggest complaints were:
- The lens should've been bigger (1.5/3 at least - according to her the sheer size of this phone would have allowed for a much bigger lens, even 1.2/3).
- The dual LED flashes would likely overexpose the images due to their placement on the back of the phone. Sure, aesthetically it can look good (depending on your preference) but logically it will risk adding too much exposure to photos. The Note 4, 6+, top Nokia phones with large lenses all have the flashes further away from the lens for example (for good reason).
- The type of flash (LED) wont be as good an xenon flash (or dual). According to her the phone body is definitely thick enough to house the bigger flash; this would reduce noise in the images and provide better lighting/exposure in photos.
She also mentioned that even with a 10/10 camera app which does absolutely everything you want, the photo quality will not be much better (maybe the same as or potentially still worse) compared with the Note 4 or even iPhone 6+. Yes the hardware might be similar but the placement of the flash compared with the Note 4 will affect the way the camera captures photos with flash enabled. As, even though TW in Samsung has major issues it does have very heavily optimised camera software which will always improve - better than every camera app that I personally know of.
Front facing camera however will not complete with the Note 4. From demo's , despite being higher MP than the iPhone 6+, the results are worse. I do not know why, it could be down to the quality of the lens in the front but the Nexus 6 FF camera quality isn't much better than the Nexus 5 (it looks the same to me).

spartanm99 said:
Good post. My girlfriend is a photographer but her biggest complaints were:
- The lens should've been bigger (1.5/3 at least - according to her the sheer size of this phone would have allowed for a much bigger lens, even 1.2/3).
- The dual LED flashes would likely overexpose the images due to their placement on the back of the phone. Sure, aesthetically it can look good (depending on your preference) but logically it will risk adding too much exposure to photos. The Note 4, 6+, top Nokia phones with large lenses all have the flashes further away from the lens for example (for good reason).
- The type of flash (LED) wont be as good an xenon flash (or dual). According to her the phone body is definitely thick enough to house the bigger flash; this would reduce noise in the images and provide better lighting/exposure in photos.
She also mentioned that even with a 10/10 camera app which does absolutely everything you want, the photo quality will not be much better (maybe the same as or potentially still worse) compared with the Note 4 or even iPhone 6+. Yes the hardware might be similar but the placement of the flash compared with the Note 4 will affect the way the camera captures photos with flash enabled. As, even though TW in Samsung has major issues it does have very heavily optimised camera software which will always improve - better than every camera app that I personally know of.
Front facing camera however will not complete with the Note 4. From demo's , despite being higher MP than the iPhone 6+, the results are worse. I do not know why, it could be down to the quality of the lens in the front but the Nexus 6 FF camera quality isn't much better than the Nexus 5 (it looks the same to me).
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A lens is proportionate to the sensor. On top of that? It's a fixed lens. They can make those extremely small when we're talking about phone sensors. There is also no mechanical shutter, meaning the lens can be even more compact. This is why mirrorless cameras have small lenses. This of course goes for cell phone lenses in general, but the reason is there's really no need to put a huge lens on a phone.
The dual LED flashes won't overexpose the image, don't worry. In the studio we use a ring flash - same concept - there are some versions that operate as a regular flash, and there's some versions that operate constant on. You can shoot with either. Studio LED lighting is even becoming a thing now, it's cool because you can control the color temp directly and change the brightness.. it's also always on so WYSIWYG. Either way your flash will operate TTL and will not overexpose Xenon - what a hotshoe flash uses - will just use a lot of energy and drain your batteries. LED is very efficient.
The ring flash appears to be too small to have the "ring flash effect", which is uniform lighting around a subject that is popular in fashion and hides blemishes.. I mean it's like the size of a finger. The source of the flash is too small to produce any meaningful difference between the "ring" flash and the regular samsung/iphone flashes. It's going to look about the same. If you see a difference, it's software.

I am just excited about the RAW support in 5.0. I am okay with an f/2.0 aperture on a device in my pocket. If I needed something better, my DSLR has a 50mm f/1.5 which is only a camera bag away

The problem I'm having with my Nexus 6 is lag. That is, I went into my 9 month old's room, and turned on the light. So, okay incandescent lighting, not too bright, but I wouldn't call it 'low-light', either. My little son is standing up in his crib bouncing around, and every now and again turning and smiling at me. I go for the shot with my nice Nexus 6....and in the FOUR SECONDS it takes for the camera to actually take the picture, he's looked away again. I tried several times. Each time, the camera did NOTHING for a few seconds and then took the shot when the window of opportunity was gone. WHAT THE HECK?!?!?! It didn't even look like it was doing any autofocus hunting.
THIS is very depressing. Anyone know of any camera apps that will actually, I don't know, take the picture when I actually ask it to?
Randy

I'm waiting for devs to work their magic on the camera. It has a great sensor (Sony IMX214) so the potential is there. I really wish they could use the G3's software because its great. Is there a way to make the G3's software work on the Nexus for the camera? It processes images really well and is very fast.

rmagruder said:
The problem I'm having with my Nexus 6 is lag. That is, I went into my 9 month old's room, and turned on the light. So, okay incandescent lighting, not too bright, but I wouldn't call it 'low-light', either. My little son is standing up in his crib bouncing around, and every now and again turning and smiling at me. I go for the shot with my nice Nexus 6....and in the FOUR SECONDS it takes for the camera to actually take the picture, he's looked away again. I tried several times. Each time, the camera did NOTHING for a few seconds and then took the shot when the window of opportunity was gone. WHAT THE HECK?!?!?! It didn't even look like it was doing any autofocus hunting.
THIS is very depressing. Anyone know of any camera apps that will actually, I don't know, take the picture when I actually ask it to?
Randy
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Do you have HDR+ enabled? If so that's why your focus takes so long. It's taking 3 pictures in a row and is great for still images. I find the camera with HDR+ off plenty fast.
---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------
On another note is raw format already being supported on the 6 or is it coming in an update. I'm no photographer but I'm extremely pleased how well the camera functions. I've only had nexus devices. The last phone I had with a decent camera was the Nokia n 5

Smallsmx3 said:
Do you have HDR+ enabled? If so that's why your focus takes so long. It's taking 3 pictures in a row and is great for still images. I find the camera with HDR+ off plenty fast.
---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------
On another note is raw format already being supported on the 6 or is it coming in an update. I'm no photographer but I'm extremely pleased how well the camera functions. I've only had nexus devices. The last phone I had with a decent camera was the Nokia n 5
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No, HDR+ was NOT on, nor was the flash. I just wanted it to snap the stupid picture with as little muss n fuss as possible

I extracted the lib files and camera apk/odex from my g3 is there anything else I would need to make it work? I can get the framework from my system files if needed. I want to see if this will help the camera at all considering it had a lot of potential.

Pilz said:
I extracted the lib files and camera apk/odex from my g3 is there anything else I would need to make it work? I can get the framework from my system files if needed. I want to see if this will help the camera at all considering it had a lot of potential.
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Let us know how it goes

rmagruder said:
No, HDR+ was NOT on, nor was the flash. I just wanted it to snap the stupid picture with as little muss n fuss as possible
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Then something is broken on your phone. Completely stock N6, not even root let alone disabling encryption, without HDR+ or Flash... the phone takes pictures within half a second every time.

Smallsmx3 said:
Let us know how it goes
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Click to collapse
It's still FC's even after I moved the camera.apk and camera.odex into the system/app and I wrote over the Nexus's libs with the G3's. I'm not sure why its FC's maybe I can install the framework.apk from my G3 and see if that works.

Try some low light shots....

tripler6 said:
I'm a photographer. Here's the thing.
Camera reviews on cell phones are reviewed by gadget freaks, not photographers. They're interested in specs, they think megapixels are important, they don't even mention the important stuff.
Android L is the first OS to have a decent camera api. This will allow the nexus camera - which is only inherently different from the note 4 camera in terms of software - to vastly outperform anything on the market given a good camera app.
This mythical camera app should take advantage of a few things - full manual control. Exposure compensation and AE/AF lock. Auto bracketing. Proper metering, with selections for spot through to matrix. FPS control. Video control with framerate and resolution options, and the ability to manually control or lock exposure and focus. And finally, take advantage of L's .dng output, so we can work on this in lightroom after we're done. I don't trust my $2000 camera to spit out a nice jpg processed the way I want it, I shoot raw, I sure as hell don't trust a phone.
The nexus 6 looks to have some nice hardware. Let the software take advantage of it and you'll be happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any chance for Slo Mo video (at least 120fps) with this "mythical camera app"?

rmagruder said:
Try some low light shots....
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I found this thread after searching for a better camera for my n6. Realized after reading your post that it is the low light shots that suffer from severe shutter lag. Pics in good light are perfect. Ugh. My original moto x Dev. Took awesome pics compared to this low light garbage

Cwoomer said:
I found this thread after searching for a better camera for my n6. Realized after reading your post that it is the low light shots that suffer from severe shutter lag. Pics in good light are perfect. Ugh. My original moto x Dev. Took awesome pics compared to this low light garbage
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The pics are great when you are in a very well lit place. The moment you start to lose even a little light (semi lit), the camera really struggles. I'm very disappointed to start, but I'm going to stay patient and wait for Google to fix this.

Pilz said:
I'm waiting for devs to work their magic on the camera. It has a great sensor (Sony IMX214) so the potential is there. I really wish they could use the G3's software because its great. Is there a way to make the G3's software work on the Nexus for the camera? It processes images really well and is very fast.
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The G3 is the best camera on a phone because of the hardware.. not sure if the software has much to do with it because I've switched camera apps on that phone many times and the pics still come out amazing

dannieloco said:
The G3 is the best camera on a phone because of the hardware.. not sure if the software has much to do with it because I've switched camera apps on that phone many times and the pics still come out amazing
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The G3 uses the IMX135 sensor while the Nexus uses the IMX214 which is a better sensor. So in theory the Nexus 6 is capable of better photos if the software can back it up. The G3 still uses the lib's and framework from LG no matter what camera app you are using from what I understand.

Anyone know anything about the Slo Mo capabilities? Im wanting to buy the N6 but the Slo Mo feature is really important to me. Hopefully it is possible with the sensor which everyone seems to regard as a pretty high quality sensor.

[Q] Camera quality: superior auto vs 15.5mp manual

Hi all. I jus bought this phone, it's great and all, but camera didn't deliver as expected. Moved from LG G3 to Z3 compact, and camera is of lower quality it seems. Some people say that superior auto mode takes better pictures, some say that manual mode take better pictures. I'm not specially interested in detail, it is obvious that 20mp shots do have a lot more detail than 8mp superior auto shots. I am specially interested in noise, sharpness and colour balance. Most of my pics are shot in low light without flash (at home, in the office, in pubs and coffe shops, etc). What mode does deliver less noise and more acurate colours? Manual or Superior auto? I have mixed results in my testing. Thanks allot

cornel.atomei said:
Hi all. I jus bought this phone, it's great and all, but camera didn't deliver as expected. Moved from LG G3 to Z3 compact, and camera is of lower quality it seems. Some people say that superior auto mode takes better pictures, some say that manual mode take better pictures. I'm not specially interested in detail, it is obvious that 20mp shots do have a lot more detail than 8mp superior auto shots. I am specially interested in noise, sharpness and colour balance. Most of my pics are shot in low light without flash (at home, in the office, in pubs and coffe shops, etc). What mode does deliver less noise and more acurate colours? Manual or Superior auto? I have mixed results in my testing. Thanks allot
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Maybe you can find some answers in this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/stock-camera-google-camera-t2892515

charliebigpot said:
Maybe you can find some answers in this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/stock-camera-google-camera-t2892515
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I have read this post, it's about stock camera app vs google camera. I am interested only in stock camera performance, not google camera. Thanks anyway

Manual is always better if you know what you are doing.
For indoors or night shots, noise is inevitable unless you use a tripod (at ISO 100/200) and/or your subject is not moving (handheld ISO 400/800). YMMV, increase ISO by a step if what you take is blur.
Auto takes night shot at around ISO 1600-6400 when not using flash.
For accurate colors, use manual white balance. If your scene has lots of neutral colors, then auto wb should reproduce accurate colors.
I use Auto Superior most of the time though, because composition and capturing the moments are more important than noise.
Overall I am happy with this camera considering its size, but it could be better as I believe the software is holding it back.

Pretty much everything is better than Superior Auto mode on this camera in my experience, but I also find the 20MP manual mode tends to waaaay oversharpen images. It's especially evident on high-contrast edges and can ruin many landscape shots.
Superior auto always seems to choose entirely the wrong settings. I've found it almost impossible to take artificial-light indoor portraits, for example, because they always come out blurred whatever scene mode and flash mode I use.

I'd like to pile on. As frustrating as the 2013 Moto X camera was, it's auto functionality, even if it was too aggressive, was much more effective than this one seems to be. I've enabled the 20MP Superior Auto hack but have yet to try it out. Not too hopeful. I wonder if the Moto X camera app is extractable?

LastSilmaril said:
I'd like to pile on. As frustrating as the 2013 Moto X camera was, it's auto functionality, even if it was too aggressive, was much more effective than this one seems to be. I've enabled the 20MP Superior Auto hack but have yet to try it out. Not too hopeful. I wonder if the Moto X camera app is extractable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing is that even if you're able to port the Moto X app, chances are very big that the app won't be able to use all libs, etc. So in other words the ap still won't work to it's full potential.
Sent from my D5803

Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the LG Nexus 5X 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!

It's ok. Lots of details

I'm not a photographer by any means. So long as I can capture the moment, it's good enough.
I docked a star because the lack of OIS. It is noticeable under many circumstances, and it's sorely missed.
Otherwise, this camera is pretty darn great!

Coming from Oneplus One previously, this camera is 100x better IMO. No issues whatsoever.

Also comming from a OPO. The camera in NX5 is one of the best... I love to be able to take shots in low light without flash. HDR+ and 1.55 u size make great job.
Nexus 5X+ Nova+Root

Great cam, have to say I dont miss the OIS at all, its useless for 99% of my photography use cases. Video is a different thing, but here you can enable EIS in the build.prop and it does a decent job too.

I'm using the stock google camera on HDR+ mode for absolutely everything. Image quality even in low light is pleasantly surprising! I think I can get 85% of the image quality from my (well-aged) Pentax K-5 (built-in in-body stabilization) on the 35mm f/2.8 prime. Of course, HDR+ combines many shots in order to maintain colour saturation and reduce the appearance of noise, whereas on my Pentax I just shoot RAW and tweak one shot, so it's not a perfect comparison. But, the Nexus 5X is good enough for social media and one helluva lot lighter and easier to carry than the dSLR!
Also, I used to use a LG G4, and I prefer the look of google camera HDR+ compared to the LG camera HDR mode. Dynamic range and colour accuracy are all better on the Nexus 5X in my eyes.

amartolos said:
But, the Nexus 5X is good enough for social media and one helluva lot lighter and easier to carry than the dSLR!
Also, I used to use a LG G4, and I prefer the look of google camera HDR+ compared to the LG camera HDR mode. Dynamic range and colour accuracy are all better on the Nexus 5X in my eyes.
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You nailed it - as they say: "The best camera is the one that's with you."
Also interesting comparison regarding the G4, thank you!

its cool

Coming from a Z3 Compact, this camera is leagues better, there is legitimately no comparison. That being said, the pictures are quite stunning, possibly in some circumstances rivalling my RX100. I am no photographer but I am very happy with the camera in this phone.

Coming from Oneplus One previously, this camera is 100x better IMO. No issues whatsoever.

Very very good ... Better then Moto x pure which has a 21mp camera.
Not to mention the camera mods available that make this camera close to 6p cam
Sent from my Nexus 5X using XDA Free mobile app

I like the photos created with this device. It's okay for general using, posting some photos to the instagram or something else.

It would be nice if you guys put some photo examples here.

I jumped to the N5x from a Samsung ATIV S.
Damn I miss the two phase shutter button, but quality wise the N5x wins, not that the ATIV S was bad, just looking a little dated these days...

sny_tr said:
It would be nice if you guys put some photo examples here.
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Check this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-5x/general/excellent-camera-t3230797

Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Moto G4 Plus 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!

Above average

is it that good?
I keep seeing reviews and comments talking about the great quality of this camera (above the average, at the level of high end...), however, my phone does not cope very well with some situations and I do not know why. Is it defective? is it low light? I am going to post some images but right now I am going to describe the behaviour.
For some reason the main camera struggles a lot when taking pictures of thing in movement. I does not expect a shutter speed of 1/1000 but I cannot make my son to be more steady either. The image seems focused except the moving part which is always blurry. This happens in low light but also in conditions which I consider good light (exteriors, rooms with 25W LED + side lamp...)
The front camera IMHO does not deserve any compliment, it struggles a lot to focus, more than half the pictures are blurry and/or out of focus, most of them have a lot of noise like in low light. It is a bit better after turning on the flash in screen but, again, is this normal?
I will thank any comment on this.
Picture 1_room_with_side_ window_light.jpg: Room with a side window where you do not need to turn the lights on for things like writing or sewing.
Pictures 2 and 3 has very good light in my opinion and the camera struggles.
4 and 5 are made with the front camera and both are below the standard IMHO.
1of3isgood shows how I needed 3 pictures to take one OK
sunlight shows how the camera struggel even with sunlight in the scene
whatIexpect are 2 very good photos this is what I expect
I have to say, the camera is at least VERY inconsistent on it results. It is capable of a lot but it only demonstrates some times
What do you think?

I honestly think that the camera on the Moto G could have been much better. I like the camera APP interface itself, but the photo quality is mediocre. Aside from picture quality, anyone notices their camera lens getting scratched up? Mine is.

You're right.
foxaxel said:
I keep seeing reviews and comments talking about the great quality of this camera (above the average, at the level of high end...), however, my phone does not cope very well with some situations and I do not know why. Is it defective? is it low light? I am going to post some images but right now I am going to describe the behaviour.
For some reason the main camera struggles a lot when taking pictures of thing in movement. I does not expect a shutter speed of 1/1000 but I cannot make my son to be more steady either. The image seems focused except the moving part which is always blurry. This happens in low light but also in conditions which I consider good light (exteriors, rooms with 25W LED + side lamp...)
The front camera IMHO does not deserve any compliment, it struggles a lot to focus, more than half the pictures are blurry and/or out of focus, most of them have a lot of noise like in low light. It is a bit better after turning on the flash in screen but, again, is this normal?
I will thank any comment on this.
Picture 1_room_with_side_ window_light.jpg: Room with a side window where you do not need to turn the lights on for things like writing or sewing.
Pictures 2 and 3 has very good light in my opinion and the camera struggles.
4 and 5 are made with the front camera and both are below the standard IMHO.
1of3isgood shows how I needed 3 pictures to take one OK
sunlight shows how the camera struggel even with sunlight in the scene
whatIexpect are 2 very good photos this is what I expect
I have to say, the camera is at least VERY inconsistent on it results. It is capable of a lot but it only demonstrates some times
What do you think?
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Not good as described in media
The photo quality is not as described. Image stabilization seems just not there are or not working properly.
Photo quality is good only if still photos are taken during day time with more light in. That is all.
But for the cost of around $200 its a good phone but not a camera phone.

How do I access camera debug options?

As far as I'm concerned the camera quality is really above average. Your problem seems to find his cause elsewhere.
To keep it simple, your photos may be blurry because of the lack of light indoor. Smartphone are known to have small objective (while real camera have big one) that can't gather a lot of light by themselve. It means that you'll have to sacrifice quality if the environnement is not well lit. In this case, you're phone try to make up for the lack of light by gathering more light before taking the photo which cause a more blurry photo. You can also manually set it to take it faster but you'll have to use a higher iso (which mean more noise).
If you want a good photo you need :
- light (even for a galaxy S7)
- A good objective (also the bigger the better but we're on a smartphone so...)
- A clean objective (I can't stress how this matter ! Even more if we consider that it's really use to put à finger on the objective of the moto g4)
Here you go, hope it helped, if you want to test your camera to see if it has some problem you should do it outdoor with the sun at zenith and some cloud to avoid bad shadows and blinding effects.

kayet95 said:
As far as I'm concerned the camera quality is really above average. Your problem seems to find his cause elsewhere.
To keep it simple, your photos may be blurry because of the lack of light indoor. Smartphone are known to have small objective (while real camera have big one) that can't gather a lot of light by themselve. It means that you'll have to sacrifice quality if the environnement is not well lit. In this case, you're phone try to make up for the lack of light by gathering more light before taking the photo which cause a more blurry photo. You can also manually set it to take it faster but you'll have to use a higher iso (which mean more noise).
If you want a good photo you need :
- light (even for a galaxy S7)
- A good objective (also the bigger the better but we're on a smartphone so...)
- A clean objective (I can't stress how this matter ! Even more if we consider that it's really use to put à finger on the objective of the moto g4)
Here you go, hope it helped, if you want to test your camera to see if it has some problem you should do it outdoor with the sun at zenith and some cloud to avoid bad shadows and blinding effects.
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Thanks for your answer kayet95. The main point is that the camera is not reliable enough and you end up taking 5 pictures each time just to be sure one will be fine. Of course with the lighting you suggest the camera does well, it would be a complete rubbish if not, but take a look at my attachment sunlight. The window was fully open, there where sun coming into the scene and the camera struggled once.
I agree the camera is capable of taking great pictures, but it is nor reliable.

My experience is that the camera in G4Plus is above average for a phone. I think that who expects more is delusional, you need to buy a real camera to take good pictures - in low light or with any level of zoom.

One that I clicked this morning
just wanting to share a photo taken by my Moto G4 plus .
No special Arrangement , everything on Auto

I love this camera.... Sunny day and auto mode....
---------- Post added at 10:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:13 AM ----------
Another one. Raining and almost running by night. Just shot under the rain.... lot of noise but the connditions were really bad!!

SoNic67 said:
My experience is that the camera in G4Plus is above average for a phone. I think that who expects more is delusional, you need to buy a real camera to take good pictures - in low light or with any level of zoom.
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I agree 100%. :good:
This camera is very good for a phone camera, especially one of this price. To expect high quality pix from it in every lighting or motion situation is simply ludicrous.

Two more photos:
One tree
Royal Palace, Madrid, Spain

the color quality is good, but sometimes i cant take a picture, might be my hand is wet, or the phone lagging

The camera is capable of good pictures, however mine seem inconsistent. Sometimes take the same shot a couple times to get good one, even in good lighting. I upgraded from last year's moto g, and consistently got excellent pictures with it.
Overall I feel the camera on the g4 plus isn't quite as good as last year's moto g. I was really expecting better.

hi , i use OpenCamera and it`s much better.