As we all know by now, all camera reviews say our S5 has sub par night shooting. The thing is if we have our default settings on, this is absolutely true. I believe default has ISO on Auto and image stabilization ON. If you notice night shots are blurry as hell and we lose lots of detail even if we hold the phone absolutely still. This is because Auto ISO, I believe, is digitally ramped super high past ISO 800 in order to have a quick shutter speed. This causes less details to be taken in, in trade for brighter night shots.
This is the easiest way to get much better night shots and I wish reviewers tried this in their camera reviews for smartphones. See examples below of:
1. auto image stabilization with auto ISO
2. ISO 800
MUCH BETTER. notice that with auto settings on, it artificially brightens the entire shot, the night sky is forced to be brighter and you notice lots of noise near the horizon. the carnival lights are over exposed and details are not present.
notice the manual ISO shot, the night sky is correctly a pure black, and the lights are not over exposed so it leaves a crisp detail.
TL;DR: deactivate image stabilization so you can manually adjust ISO. Instead of Auto ISO, choose 800 for crisper, more detailed night shots.
next tip in the near future: shooting people in dark lighting
chillsen said:
As we all know by now, all camera reviews say our S5 has sub par night shooting. The thing is if we have our default settings on, this is absolutely true. I believe default has ISO on Auto and image stabilization ON. If you notice night shots are blurry as hell and we lose lots of detail even if we hold the phone absolutely still. This is because Auto ISO, I believe, is digitally ramped super high past ISO 800 in order to have a quick shutter speed. This causes less details to be taken in, in trade for brighter night shots.
This is the easiest way to get much better night shots and I wish reviewers tried this in their camera reviews for smartphones. See examples below of:
1. auto image stabilization with auto ISO
2. ISO 800
MUCH BETTER. notice that with auto settings on, it artificially brightens the entire shot, the night sky is forced to be brighter and you notice lots of noise near the horizon. the carnival lights are over exposed and details are not present.
notice the manual ISO shot, the night sky is correctly a pure black, and the lights are not over exposed so it leaves a crisp detail.
TL;DR: deactivate image stabilization so you can manually adjust ISO. Instead of Auto ISO, choose 800 for crisper, more detailed night shots.
next tip in the near future: shooting people in dark lighting
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What park is that? Looks like the one near me, is that roller coaster the crazy mouse? Lmao.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Impressive, that's a nice shot.
not bad
thanks for the tip the delay sucks anyway to get rid of that?
What about during the day, I have it on auto but imagine stabilization off. would 800 iso be fine for the day? Or is there a better setting for the day, I just leave it on auto b/c I don't want deal with remembering to change it back and forth lol.
surf1 said:
What about during the day, I have it on auto but imagine stabilization off. would 800 iso be fine for the day? Or is there a better setting for the day, I just leave it on auto b/c I don't want deal with remembering to change it back and forth lol.
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for the day, auto is fine because there is so much bright light it will automatically be able to keep the iso low like 100-400 and still have a quick shutter. if you want super clear crisp pictures, try ISO 100 but depending on how bright it is, you might get blurry photos because the shutter will have to compensate by being open longer.
if you know the basic relationships between shutter speed and aperture, you'll know that our aperture is only 1 setting. so the only thing we can do to brighten pictures is to have a long shutter time (which is bad bc if you move it will get blurry) or change the ISO speed (higher iso, enables quicker shutter speed but sacrifice details).
galaxy s4 nutjob said:
thanks for the tip the delay sucks anyway to get rid of that?
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the delay isn't actually a delay but its how long the shutter of the camera is open for (taking in enough light to form the picture). Since it's dark and the ISO is at 800 there will be a longer shutter speed. if you listen carefully you will hear 2 noises, one at the beginning, then the delay, then another sound. those two sounds are when the shutter is opening and when it closes back after it has enough light to create a picture.
another way for you to understand this is try iso 100, it will be a longer delay and the picture will come out way too underexposed (darker) because it can't capture enough light while the shutter is open.
however if you have a nice digital camera you can take great night shots with a tripod at low ISO speeds, since you can manually set how long you want the shutter to be open for.
Br4nd3n said:
What park is that? Looks like the one near me, is that roller coaster the crazy mouse? Lmao.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
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this was at the annual fair in virginia
Related
Anyone else having issues with the camera not taking crisp photos?
I came from a S3 and once you touched the screen to focus and then hit the photo button it would take sharp pictures all the time, on the S5 I have went thru every setting possible trying to see of one will help it take a clear picture and as of yet have failed every time.
Sitting in the living room lit with sunlight I tried to take a pic of the living room, came out blurry (yes the plastic film is off of the camera). out of 5 photos maybe 2 come out clear. Last night at the basketball game I had the same issues, pictures of us taken by other people required multiple shots to get one that came out clear, shots we took in the arena when it was lit up well were hard to get to come out in focus.
Anyone else seeing these issues on the S5?
Turn off picture stabilization future in your camera.
Swiping from dark side of Galaxy S5.
norbarb said:
Turn off picture stabilization future in your camera.
Swiping from dark side of Galaxy S5.
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This. I'll explain. the higher the ISO the faster the shutter speed at the expense of photo quality. in traditional film cameras higher speed films (ISO) came out very grainy and loss of detail. It's used a lot in dark, low light situations because as you know the slower the shutter speed, the more chance of blur.
image stabilization in smartphones has at least some to do with shortening that shutter speed by ramping up the ISO, leading to loss of detail. aperture / shutter speed / iso are the three things that are correlated, our cameras have a set aperture. when you take pics outdoors on a bright day, the shutter doesn't have to be open long, and the ISO is taken down to 100, so that is why you have amazing crisp clear pictures.
at night, take of image stabilization, set the ISO to 100-200-400, and have a VERY steady hand. when you try all 3 ISO levels, you'll notice it will take longer for the shutter to close, however if you have a tripod or set it on a table, your picture will look very clear. clearer than iso 400, 800, etc.
the benefit is at higher ISO, in low light settings the shutter will be faster so less chance of blur
I don't have the image stabilization turned on, it takes to long to use it and even when I did try it out the photos it produced were blurry as well.
I am pretty camera savvy as I have a nice DSLR, I have tried different metering options and messed with the ISO. No change in settings produces a clear picture, beginning to wonder if I have a defective camera system in the phone. I noticed this morning that the camera module is set in the phone crooked as well.
sneakyws6 said:
Anyone else having issues with the camera not taking crisp photos?
I came from a S3 and once you touched the screen to focus and then hit the photo button it would take sharp pictures all the time, on the S5 I have went thru every setting possible trying to see of one will help it take a clear picture and as of yet have failed every time.
Sitting in the living room lit with sunlight I tried to take a pic of the living room, came out blurry (yes the plastic film is off of the camera). out of 5 photos maybe 2 come out clear. Last night at the basketball game I had the same issues, pictures of us taken by other people required multiple shots to get one that came out clear, shots we took in the arena when it was lit up well were hard to get to come out in focus.
Anyone else seeing these issues on the S5?
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I get very sharp shots in good light. I'd say it is hard to get one out of focus in good light. I'm seeing pretty decent performance in low light (for a camera phone). If you are getting poor focus in good light, you may have a defecting camera.
What shutter speeds are you getting for the ones that are out of focus? Because of the camera's limitations in aperture and ISO, it is easy to get shutter speeds in the 1/15 second range. Obviously anything moving in the picture is going to have motion blur, on any camera. Only way to get around that is to increase light (e.g., use flash).
Here are a couple things to try (if it is not motion blur of subjects):
- Turn on tap to take picture, and keep the phone as still as possible. I find that with this set, I have to do less handling of the phone and can keep it more stable
- Picture stabilization helps a bit. It increases the ISO a bit, and does some image processing. It appears to be doing some sort multi-frame processing (comparing/combining multiple frames to yield a better shot). Seems to help more with camera shake blur than it does with subject motion blur.
Hey hey people.
I got xperia Z3c few days ago, I had abrupt end to my Xperia Z's life and had to replace it with something. I am enjoying the phone feature and size wise, I really wondered where is the neck for smaller powerful phones in android marketplace. That about me and that about "I am really more or less glad with this phone"
But the same problem persists with the camera, it's quality is good only outside, and indoors the quality is worse the darker it is. I take ONLY inside photos if I ever do take photos. So I see a lot of grain and stuff with photos I get.
I am not sure if there is a thread for this but basically; tips/tricks for improving the camera quality.
Personally i want sharper and less noisy photos with low light, light bulb illuminated spaces. if there is any tricks to improving this just slightly even, I would be thankful. Camera is really the only gripe I have with the phone and I really do not take that much photos with it anyway, but whenever I do I want to get the best possible.
Sumea said:
Hey hey people.
I got xperia Z3c few days ago, I had abrupt end to my Xperia Z's life and had to replace it with something. I am enjoying the phone feature and size wise, I really wondered where is the neck for smaller powerful phones in android marketplace. That about me and that about "I am really more or less glad with this phone"
But the same problem persists with the camera, it's quality is good only outside, and indoors the quality is worse the darker it is. I take ONLY inside photos if I ever do take photos. So I see a lot of grain and stuff with photos I get.
I am not sure if there is a thread for this but basically; tips/tricks for improving the camera quality.
Personally i want sharper and less noisy photos with low light, light bulb illuminated spaces. if there is any tricks to improving this just slightly even, I would be thankful. Camera is really the only gripe I have with the phone and I really do not take that much photos with it anyway, but whenever I do I want to get the best possible.
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Try different camera apps and take with your time to play with the settings. When I take a picture and I have the time, I just take the picture multiple times, but with different settings each time.
You can't use AUTO mode when shooting if you want to improve the photo quality indoors. It automatically boosts the ISO too high and produces grainy, over-exposed photos. You'll have to manually adjust the ISO and exposure in Manual Mode. Play with it until you find the right combination that works for you.
PuffDaddy_d said:
You can't use AUTO mode when shooting if you want to improve the photo quality indoors. It automatically boosts the ISO too high and produces grainy, over-exposed photos. You'll have to manually adjust the ISO and exposure in Manual Mode. Play with it until you find the right combination that works for you.
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On my old phone, a Sony Xperia P i have very good quality indoors and outdoors with auto-mode, this is on Honomi MW v8 (Z1 apps) and , with my new Z3c the indoor colors are grossly saturated in comparison to the more accurate older phone.
(i haven't tested it outdoors yet).
This is really annoying.
Hey, if you have root and Xposed you can get an xposed module called "20MP superior auto" this enables taking photos in 20MP and 15MP while in auto mode. If you are on lollipop with root you can get this UNLOCKED CAMERA, which does the exact same thing but only for lollipop
Do you think that could correct my saturation issue?. I dunno.
Did you unlock your bootloader by any chance? The proprietary algorithm is lost when you do that and it could bring about a loss of indoor photo quality.
nzzane said:
Hey, if you have root and Xposed you can get an xposed module called "20MP superior auto" this enables taking photos in 20MP and 15MP while in auto mode. If you are on lollipop with root you can get this UNLOCKED CAMERA, which does the exact same thing but only for lollipop
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I'm not so sure that resolution is the problem. The phone's processing algorithm simply over-sharpens the image by boosting the ISO to the point where the photo looks grainy and lacks detail.
I've tried 3rd party apps and they have given me even worse results, though not necessarily in the same way. In my experience, the stock app has performed just a little better indoors than the 3rd-party apps I've tried.
Hi Guys,
If anyone can enlighten me under which condition we should use HDR and which condition HQ?
As far as I have found that in Low light should go for HQ as it reduces noise, and in good light condition HDR.
Still if anyone can bother to detail explain .
Thanks.
uttam.ace said:
Hi Guys,
If anyone can enlighten me under which condition we should use HDR and which condition HQ?
As far as I have found that in Low light should go for HQ as it reduces noise, and in good light condition HDR.
Still if anyone can bother to detail explain .
Thanks.
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Yeah you have it spot on another little tip is that holding down the shutter bursts takes pictures up to 20 very fast and then you select the best one you see. Great for catching that right moment.
HDR should be used generally in conditions when in your pic you have both under lighted and over lighted areas. Than the HDR is taking 3 (or more) pics with different exposures in order to capture the most from each areas (under and over lighted) and then combines them. At least this is the general photography theory for HDR.
I am also curious for what is optimized the HQ mode. From the name (HQ, High Quality) I would go for a better sharpness and focus which is obtained by sacrificing shot speed (this can be obtain through some processing, adjusting of the camera settings, etc), but this is only my assumption. I try to google it but nowhere is coming any official information, only guys again posting their assumptions and some time some 3-4 pics for comparison...
Recently, I've noticed the Note 8 camera tends to overexpose the background light in photos by default (that is when you tap on the screen to focus on a location and it adjusts light automatically). The pictures are amazingly sharp and high quality, but they seem a bit fake due to this light overexposure. On the other hand, when I manually adjust the light, the pictures tend to look more realistic of the natural situation.
So does the camera just overexpose by default? Or is this normal for all cameras? I'm using all default settings and auto mode.
For comparison, and better understanding of my question, see the two photos.
Touch to focus work similar in every other phone. Get focus and light settings only on touched object. Background always become over or under exposed in depending the darkness of the focused object.
For solve that use camera soft button. In this case focus and light will be average for whole pic.
I have noticed an issue with the stock camera app in auto mode for low light situations.
My understanding is that the camera has a couple of auto detect features for low light situations.
-The generic "low light" / night scene indicator
-The tripod mode, where a small tripod icon appears when you put the camera on a surface to keep it still.
As far as I am aware, the two modes should work as follows:
- When low light is detected, and the camera is being held in hand, ISO should be prioritised and shutter speeds kept sensible to avoid motion induced blur. For example, 1/8 second, 12,800 ISO.
- When both low light and a tripod/still phone is detected, Shutter Speed should be prioritised. For example, 1 second exposure at 1600 ISO.
This is not happening for me. Tripod mode behaves exactly the same as low light mode, so even if you have the little tripod icon showing, and it's low light, shutter speed remains high and ISO at max.
I did a test scene, and, in auto mode it chose 12,800 ISO at 1/8s. In tripod and low light mode it was exactly the same. When I went into manual mode, I set the speed to 1s and 3600 ISO and got a great, sharp, and bright picture. What's going on?
Thanks.