Database Develop

Did my new Galaxy S come with a dodgy Camera?

I just bought a new, sealed unit a few days ago. The last remaining stock left over in Aus. As soon as I turned on the camera I quickly realised something was a bit off.
I know they never had amazing camera quality to begin with, but mine is, a lot messier, than what I have seen in other units up until now.
My friend also has a I9000, and I used his a few times but mind you only checked out the camera for a total of 10-15 seconds (which is what persuaded me the galaxy S had a good camera), but that was enough for me to immediately spot a significant difference in mine. I then did a thorough test between mine and his and confirmed this. I also looked at some phones in stores.
Is this common of the newer model/last remaining stock?
Or should I try get it replaced for another one?
It seems about 30-40% worse in general.
I made sure to first reset and then check all camera settings.
The results seem consistent.
Here is my phone and my friends. Both taken at exactly the same moment, settings, etc side by side.
Mine
His
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Mine
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
His
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Mine
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
His
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Running 2.2 On Voda firmware. All stock.
Anyway I spoke to the retailer where I signed up to a contract from and they said, the camera looks fine to me. He took a few photos and said it was all in order.
It seems they would only consider replacing it is if the camera doesn't work at all?
Isn't there a level of quality control?
The retailer said if we send it of for repairs they will just inspect it, say its fine and return the same one to you again, just in worse condition.
I haven't even used the phone since I got it 5 days ago, as a major reason to get it was a decent camera. At the moment its worse/the same as all my old 1.3-5mp phones from 5 years ago.
Any ideas? Does it qualify for warranty/another unit?

by seeing the images, i feel the resolution setting for your cam is to blame. go to settings and check whether its full (2560*1920)

Looks like it's on one of the mode settings.

I suspect low quality camera sensor. Hmmm big diference... i'll check mine tonight, you make me curious.

kkagarwal said:
by seeing the images, i feel the resolution setting for your cam is to blame. go to settings and check whether its full (2560*1920)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you read the post he states that they used identical settings and each pic has it's resolution on it, they are all the same resolution.
There's definitely a big difference in quality though, the lighting is way different in the two phones. Never seen that big a difference before on the 3 phones I've used.

Yes its definitely identical settings guys.
The lighting differences seem like the software is trying to make up for the fact the camera is delivering a poor image, and turns up the iso and changes color balance etc.
I actually first posted this on android forums before I took any action, before I knew of this forum, but they don't seem that keen on hardware as here.
http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s/333683-did-my-new-galaxy-s-come-dodgy-camera.html
You can look at that link for a better sized comparison. The pics on there arranged nicer.
Anyway I called up samsung, told them of my issue.
They basically said I should contact the nearest service center. They said its Fonebiz in Rockdale on the Princess HWY. Pretty close to me.
When the lady on the phone found out its only a few days old and I am not using it because of the issue, she said if its under 20 days I can contact the place where I bought it from and get another one on the spot.
Well as I said the guy at the shop completely missed the point, tested out the camera in a few shots and started comparing it to other brands of phones.
He said any difference I notice could be because of different camera batches which is of course true, but I still think the difference is too big, especially since a better camera was one of the biggest reasons for me to upgrade phones. Not to mention you have to compare Galaxy S vs Galaxy S, as I did.
Do you guys have any recommendations/contacts etc? I think I will just walk into Fonebiz and see what they say, but I don't know if I want a refurbished unit to replace essentially a new phone.

I think that the "good" phone was aimed more at the light source hence the slight changes in exposure etc etc.
I would not judge a phone camera in a dim room anyway, but i would not change it just yet.
Come on its a phone the camera's are either poor or really poor at best.
Filename: i20110511214043.jpg
Size: 1517Kb
Resolution: 2560 x 1920
Camera used: SAMSUNG GT-I9000
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
Focal length: 3.8 mm
Aperture: f/2.6
Date/Time: 2011-05-11 21:40:42
Exposure time: 1/17
Lens F-Number: f/2.6
ISO: 200
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering mode: Center-weighted average
Exposure: Program AE
Jpeg Quality: JPEG (old-style)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Filename: a20110511214044.jpg
Size: 1409Kb
Resolution: 2560 x 1920
Camera used: SAMSUNG GT-I9000
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
Focal length: 3.5 mm
Aperture: f/2.6
Date/Time: 2011-05-11 21:40:43
Exposure time: 1/9
Lens F-Number: f/2.6
ISO: 160
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering mode: Center-weighted average
Exposure: Program AE
Jpeg Quality: JPEG (old-style)

I had problems with my camera. Its focus was bad. I found it much better if you tap the area of the photo you wish to focus on and only when it goes green take the shot.

Why don't you take both off auto, and set them both to the same iso settings and check the difference then. This would give a better indication of software vs hardware.

Yes, te same ****y quality i have on my sgs.
Iso auto (400)
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Iso 100
I notice autofocus seems got impoved in gingerbread.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Galaxy camera
There must be differences then.
Mine at ISO 400, standard scene, using stock camera (JVH ginga), handheld, with auto contrast ON and image stabilisation OFF.
640x480 attached
Full res here: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/mc1d5_bicjU0fhJaNZJehAaai0htwUKheDFpOU8DCYE?feat=directlink

Oh - there is a difference! The focal length varies - 3.5mm and 3.8mm. They must be different lens/sensor units!
Anyone with 3.8mm... bad news... but 3.5mm might be better??

Ok, so I had a chance to set the settings all to manual as was suggested.
To cut it short, regardless of the settings, when they are the matched and the phones are put side by side to take the same shot, his one captures more light and less noise. I guess they go hand in hand.
So a scene that looks completely dark on my camera(i.e black, no detail coming through), will be actually be clearly visible but with a lot of noise on his one.
A scene that looks barely visible on mine, will be fairly visible with a lot less noise on his one.
A scene that looks fully well lit with little noise on his one, will look like its a little dark on mine with a little noise.
I think you get the point. I guess what the software was doing in mine on auto is to compensate for the lack of light being captured, it turns the iso up, this introducing even more noise and off color etc.
One last thing, which I am curious to find more info about
It say on the back of my phone, MADE IN VIETNAM, and on his one MADE IN KOREA.
I had no idea they switched manufacture plants like that, nor had I come across any info on the sgs about that.
True story.
so It looks like I probably won't/cant be bothered to try exchange the phone, even though it is still within 14 days of purchase...sigh
The new one could be the same, and I may get one without a bootloader, and my current one has one etc. Heck I may even get a refurb.

this is such a good topic for me....
i have the same problem as you i did not compare with other sgs phone but i have never managed to get nice pictures indoors with this camera....
only if there is ALLOT of light the pics turn out ok nothing outstanding.
i played with all possible settings and yet nothing looks good.
i hate to admit it and sad too but the sgs camera is very ****ty imo...
its always more yellow and the colors turn out bad
also when i picture indoor with a little light in the room and night scene the pics are too dark.
this camera is a joke sadly

mine is made in Korea... so useless
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

awojtas said:
Oh - there is a difference! The focal length varies - 3.5mm and 3.8mm. They must be different lens/sensor units!
Anyone with 3.8mm... bad news... but 3.5mm might be better??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine's 3.5, my pics are fine, but I mostly use it outdoors, lots of natural light.

DMD9 said:
Mine's 3.5, my pics are fine, but I mostly use it outdoors, lots of natural light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you take an indoors photo sometime and post it here? Try set it to ISO400, as that's what most of the pics here seem to be, so we can compare. As long it's indoor, ISO400, and you don't shake the camera we should get a basic idea of quality.
So... Korea (3.5mm focal length) = good
Vietnam (3.8mm focal length) = you're screwed
If the angle of view is the same, theoretically, the Vietnam ones have a bigger sensor (same megapixels, but bigger sensor area), which normally means better image.
But in this case the lens might be really rubbish.

Mine is Vietnam 3.8mm too and pretty poor in dim light.

awojtas said:
Could you take an indoors photo sometime and post it here? Try set it to ISO400, as that's what most of the pics here seem to be, so we can compare. As long it's indoor, ISO400, and you don't shake the camera we should get a basic idea of quality.
So... Korea (3.5mm focal length) = good
Vietnam (3.8mm focal length) = you're screwed
If the angle of view is the same, theoretically, the Vietnam ones have a bigger sensor (same megapixels, but bigger sensor area), which normally means better image.
But in this case the lens might be really rubbish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do, I'll try to have a pic up tommorrow

as I said, mine is made in korea with 3.8mm so the country doesn't count.

[Q] Camera Focus

I do have the camera update installed. I have tried other camera apps including Camera Zoom and Shot Control.
Is anyone else having ridiculous problems with focusing--usually in macro situations? It's very frustrating and, frankly, embarrassing that the camera focuses so poorly. I often have to move the focus reticle around multiple times, reframe my shot, or just give up on trying to capture a focus in most macro situations (such as when I want to grab focus on an object real close and have the background blur out). I had no problems with this on my Gnex.
I just bought my Moto X over the Thanksgiving holiday and didn't know what the camera was like before the camera update, but I couldn't imagine it being worse than what I'm experiencing with it right now.
Here are two example photos of a gnome sitting a respectable 4-6" away from my camera. I found that if I moved the focus reticle onto the blue sleeve, it captured focus very well. However, if I tried to focus on the face or just brought the camera up to the gnome in a "real life situation", it wouldn't focus even after multiple movements of the focus reticle.

Then put the focus on the blue arm part. Problem solved.

natezire71 said:
Then put the focus on the blue arm part. Problem solved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol.
Sendt fra min Nexus 7 med Tapatalk 4

I tested the camera outside of my room and it's fine. Thanks for the tip. Plus there is the new camera update.

mrsonsai said:
I tested the camera outside of my room and it's fine. Thanks for the tip. Plus there is the new camera update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's the trick to get it to focus on close objects in other apps? I cannot get barcodes to scan in the Amazon app because they are out of focus when they are close enough to be big enough.

poorgrad said:
What's the trick to get it to focus on close objects in other apps? I cannot get barcodes to scan in the Amazon app because they are out of focus when they are close enough to be big enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
honestly I'm not sure. It just sort of seemed to work when I used it outside of my bedroom. Maybe try it in a different light?

Camera focus
I also tested the camera outside of my room and it's working fine.:good:

I've had a number of issues with focusing as well, especially in macro. You can try turning on the manual focus control and having it focus on your subject which seems to help in most cases. However I have had a number of times where the camera just won't focus at all unless I move it to another point and then back to the original photo. It hasn't happened a ton but I have had it happen enough to notice it.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

termleech said:
I've had a number of issues with focusing as well, especially in macro. You can try turning on the manual focus control and having it focus on your subject which seems to help in most cases. However I have had a number of times where the camera just won't focus at all unless I move it to another point and then back to the original photo. It hasn't happened a ton but I have had it happen enough to notice it.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have this same problem as well. I have a republic wireless one that didnt get the kit kat update yet, and i'm dying for the big camera update in the hopes that it will save me.
the only good thing about an iphone is the flawless camera. otherwise, my moto x just plain rules.

Decided to do a micro-focus comparison vs my S2, here's a sample of both focusing as close as they can on my computer monitor. The best image from each was selected:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I'll let you guess which is which.
I know it's not apples-to-apples (this isn't the same type of problem) but the camera definitely has some serious issues.

mrsonsai said:
I do have the camera update installed. I have tried other camera apps including Camera Zoom and Shot Control.
Is anyone else having ridiculous problems with focusing--usually in macro situations? It's very frustrating and, frankly, embarrassing that the camera focuses so poorly. I often have to move the focus reticle around multiple times, reframe my shot, or just give up on trying to capture a focus in most macro situations (such as when I want to grab focus on an object real close and have the background blur out). I had no problems with this on my Gnex.
I just bought my Moto X over the Thanksgiving holiday and didn't know what the camera was like before the camera update, but I couldn't imagine it being worse than what I'm experiencing with it right now.
Here are two example photos of a gnome sitting a respectable 4-6" away from my camera. I found that if I moved the focus reticle onto the blue sleeve, it captured focus very well. However, if I tried to focus on the face or just brought the camera up to the gnome in a "real life situation", it wouldn't focus even after multiple movements of the focus reticle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download the app "Camera JB+" from the Play Store and all your problems are solved. I think it's 1.99.
Speaking of the horrible camera on this phone does anyone get bad flash glares in their photos while using flash?? I swear this phone would be perfect if it at least had a gs3 quality camera.

Auto focus uses contrast measurement between lines of the sample area. If the area you're trying to focus on has little contrast, especially in low light, it will have a difficult time trying to focus.

Eckyx said:
Decided to do a micro-focus comparison vs my S2, here's a sample of both focusing as close as they can on my computer monitor. The best image from each was selected:
I'll let you guess which is which.
I know it's not apples-to-apples (this isn't the same type of problem) but the camera definitely has some serious issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an s2...And now a Moto x...not sure about you...But my x's camera blows my s2 away really.
Sent from my Moto X cell phone telephone.....

kj2112 said:
I have an s2...And now a Moto x...not sure about you...But my x's camera blows my s2 away really.
Sent from my Moto X cell phone telephone.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check out this thread I posted a bit ago, did a comparison between the cameras side-by-side:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2550110

Eckyx said:
Check out this thread I posted a bit ago, did a comparison between the cameras side-by-side:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2550110
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's your phones....And your picture taking techniques.....right?
I'm using fv-5, not stock app....And again...my Moto x blows my s2 away. My wife agrees.
Does it compare to my cheap 150 dollar Sony camera's pictures....nope. And no phone will.
Sent from my Moto X cell phone telephone.....
---------- Post added at 03:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:03 PM ----------
Check the pictures thread to see what people have taken. Probably people who have spent time working on their technique with this phone....But some great pics in there.
Sent from my Moto X cell phone telephone.....

kj2112 said:
I have an s2...And now a Moto x...not sure about you...But my x's camera blows my s2 away really.
Sent from my Moto X cell phone telephone.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kj2112 said:
That's your phones....And your picture taking techniques.....right?
I'm using fv-5, not stock app....And again...my Moto x blows my s2 away. My wife agrees.
Does it compare to my cheap 150 dollar Sony camera's pictures....nope. And no phone will.
Sent from my Moto X cell phone telephone.....
---------- Post added at 03:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:03 PM ----------
Check the pictures thread to see what people have taken. Probably people who have spent time working on their technique with this phone....But some great pics in there.
Sent from my Moto X cell phone telephone.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I'm using the latest update to the stock camera on the Moto X, and the stock camera app on the S2, both using stock settings. I retook pictures several times to prevent blurry shots. The Moto is definitely better indoors but outdoor performance is equal at best to the older module used in the S2. I'd be happy to purchase FV-5 and do a comparison using that if you'd like - what kind of technique am I supposed to have with a cellphone camera that has basically no controls or options? It's not like a DSLR - pretty much as point-and-shoot as you can get.

Eckyx said:
Yes, I'm using the latest update to the stock camera on the Moto X, and the stock camera app on the S2, both using stock settings. I retook pictures several times to prevent blurry shots. The Moto is definitely better indoors but outdoor performance is equal at best to the older module used in the S2. I'd be happy to purchase FV-5 and do a comparison using that if you'd like - what kind of technique am I supposed to have with a cellphone camera that has basically no controls or options? It's not like a DSLR - pretty much as point-and-shoot as you can get.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fv-5 let's you control everything...or just point and shoot too. Yes....it takes time to learn what to change and when....But it can do much more than stock. Someone who is into photography on a real camera....not a phone....would probably learn quick how to get the most out of our crappy phone cameras with fv-5.
Or a similar app....that's just the one I read about and bought.
Sent from my Moto X cell phone telephone.....

[Discussion] Improve Camera Quality

Hello. So, there has been a confusion on how to capture better photos and videos on Nexus 5. With the introduction of Android Lollipop we have the option to shoot RAW photos (which is basically the same as before, with the difference being that the image is not compressed or processed), and also we got a great app which is called L Camera..
L Camera was a great alternative for those who wanted to squeeze out as much as Nexus 5's camera has to offer. We even got to shoot at 1080p/60fps(although it was never fixed to work properly) and a resolution very close to 4K.
I hoped that since Google unlocked all this power for us with Lollipop, Marshmallow was going to bring even better stuff on the table. This does not seem to be the case though.
So, right now we are basically stuck in terms of camera options. The L Camera has been outdated, problematic and unsupported for quite some while now and Google's stock camera is still really bad.
How do you feel about all this guys? Have you found any better camera app than L Camera that works on Marshmallow? Are you building something yourselves? (maybe and improved version of L Camera)
Let's discuss this!

There is this "Manual Camera", "Camera FV-5", and "Open Camera"

This may sound strange, but the Marshmallow stock camera app (which has been updated via the play store after M was released) is far better than that of Lollipop. I have found that it is far faster to respond (both focusing and the shutter), and handles low light much better (including with HDR). The auto white balance is much improved, too. The controls are more convenient than they were on Lollipop. This was a big surprise. One day, after routine updates, the camera just became much better!
True, it is no SLR, but whereas the photos I got from the Nexus 5 on Lollipop were mostly unusable except for viewing on another phone, now I get decent shots that I am not embarrassed to post online.

I use Proshot, really great camera app.
Skickat från min Nexus 5 via Tapatalk

jshames said:
This may sound strange, but the Marshmallow stock camera app (which has been updated via the play store after M was released) is far better than that of Lollipop. I have found that it is far faster to respond (both focusing and the shutter), and handles low light much better (including with HDR). The auto white balance is much improved, too. The controls are more convenient than they were on Lollipop. This was a big surprise. One day, after routine updates, the camera just became much better!
True, it is no SLR, but whereas the photos I got from the Nexus 5 on Lollipop were mostly unusable except for viewing on another phone, now I get decent shots that I am not embarrassed to post online.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got to agree. I notice especially low light performance has improved greatly on the stock camera app on marshmallow. Not sure what Google has done but good job on them for doing it. It still responses like crap and lags some times but if the pictures are better I am all for it.

Stock app is much better its what I call serviceable now. I always knew the Nexus 5s camera was capable but poor software always held it back. Sad to see it took almost 3 years after it launched to become capable.
Open camera is also a great app and 100% free and open source

The best choice is to shoot DNG and then use lightroom for android
I'm a Brazilian without English Course, sorry and be comprehensive

The lens is prone to gather grease from you fingers causing a hazy streaky look. I always bring a microfiber cloth to clean it off before shooting.
There isnt a proper RAW color profile available so it takes work to get images to pop like the JPEGs do. One of these days I'l generate one, it requires shooting a colorchecker chart outside in clear mid-day.

I haven't taken much pictures with it but this one.
I have a 6S and iPhone 5, I had lost my iPhone 5 out of stupidity. I wanted a cheap replacement and heard good things about the nexus, I had already tried the Galaxy s5 and htc one m8 so might as well kill 2 birds with one stone a good cheap phone and a chance to try out the nexus 5. Very impressed so far, very smooth. Runs much smoother then the galaxies I had. Ran me $160 CAD and it's unlocked
I decided to take a picture last night with the nexus. Came out amazing, took some other low lighting shots in my room and compared it to my 6s and it isn't that bad to be completely honest much better then my s5, Note edge and htc in low lighting.

The N5 is terrible for general photography esp low-light. Only my iPhone 5S is worse in low-light situations lol.

RazorMC said:
The N5 is terrible for general photography esp low-light. Only my iPhone 5S is worse in low-light situations lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's even worse than a dedicated camera. But you can improve things by processing RAWs:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
---------- Post added at 07:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 PM ----------
Here's a daylight example of a processed RAW:

RoadToNever said:
It's even worse than a dedicated camera. But you can improve things by processing RAWs:
---------- Post added at 07:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:07 PM ----------
Here's a daylight example of a processed RAW:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RAW and post-editing kind of defeats the entire purpose of point-and-shoot. The first pic is really amazing with the amount of detail and clarity. The second one has too much grain for my liking. Takes me back to those Nokia cameraphones from yesteryears lol
But MM has really improved cam quality if the user knows how to use the manual settings. I've got better results with Camera FV-5 than with any other app.

RazorMC said:
RAW and post-editing kind of defeats the entire purpose of point-and-shoot. The first pic is really amazing with the amount of detail and clarity. The second one has too much grain for my liking. Takes me back to those Nokia cameraphones from yesteryears lol
But MM has really improved cam quality if the user knows how to use the manual settings. I've got better results with Camera FV-5 than with any other app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, RAW isn't user friendly, but this is thread about camera quality The second pic is really pushing it. It was a very dimly lit venue, a challenge for any camera. But offline processing allows much more sophisticated algorithms. Normally that shot would either be underexposed or at best a smoothed out, waxy-looking mess.

RoadToNever said:
Yes, RAW isn't user friendly, but this is thread about camera quality The second pic is really pushing it. It was a very dimly lit venue, a challenge for any camera. But offline processing allows much more sophisticated algorithms. Normally that shot would either be underexposed or at best a smoothed out, waxy-looking mess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, but that means instant sharing is out of the question. And many people would be uncomfortable processing pics just so some distant grandma "Likes" it on Fb.
Everytime i take low-light shots, I remember my trusty N73 with its huge LED flash and N82 with xenon.
How would you say we can make the best use of HDR on our N5 with 3rd party apps? And does it really work?

RazorMC said:
True, but that means instant sharing is out of the question. And many people would be uncomfortable processing pics just so some distant grandma "Likes" it on Fb.
Everytime i take low-light shots, I remember my trusty N73 with its huge LED flash and N82 with xenon.
How would you say we can make the best use of HDR on our N5 with 3rd party apps? And does it really work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a simple checklist I go through when processing raw photos: exposure, white balance and NR if needed. I rarely need anything else so for a single shot I'm normally done in less than a minute. Raw converters offer many options which can seem overwhelming for the novice, but there's nothing to it if you stick to the most important ones. OTOH if you are working on an uncalibrated monitor there's a small chance are you might be making things worse color-wise. I don't do HDR, sorry.

Snap camera? I threw it under system/apps, changed the name to camera2.apk and even the power button hot key works.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

"A better camera" super mode do the job very well in any light conditions.
But going manual pays it in certain situations.
https://flic.kr/p/v3nAd3
I'm a Brazilian without English Course, sorry and be comprehensive

prog19 said:
"A better camera" super mode do the job very well in any light conditions.
But going manual pays it in certain situations.
https://flic.kr/p/v3nAd3
I'm a Brazilian without English Course, sorry and be comprehensive
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm enjoying "A Better Camera" too. It's really simple to use and produces nice photos. But I still prefer Camera FV-5 over it when I need manual setings.

prog19 said:
The best choice is to shoot DNG and then use lightroom for android
I'm a Brazilian without English Course, sorry and be comprehensive
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lightroom can now take raw pictures with our N5

onesolo said:
lightroom can now take raw pictures with our N5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And output any dng to full resolution.
The sad thing about LR is the import picture method
I'm a Brazilian without English Course, sorry and be comprehensive

Continuous message "sharpening your photo please steady the device"

This is really frustrating but most of the time when I'm taking a photo I'm getting this message "sharpening your photo please steady the device". I thought it might be the Master AI so in turned that off... Still happens. Especially with low light shots or zoomed in shots even in bright light.
How the heck do I stop this from happening?? It's so frustrating!

It's when the camera combining the monochrome data to increase detail.
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Is there no way of stopping this from happening?

quaium said:
Is there no way of stopping this from happening?
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Use a different camera app or shoot RAW.
It's a baked in part of Huawei multi sensor processing.
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Basically you can use another app, lose detail and lose the message.

It seems to be a bug in the camera software. It does not handle the telephoto zoom correctly and applies sharpening algorithms when not necessary.
Have a look at the report from Android Authority https://www.androidauthority.com/huawei-camera-software-867702/

paul678 said:
It seems to be a bug in the camera software. It does not handle the telephoto zoom correctly and applies sharpening algorithms when not necessary.
Have a look at the report from Android Authority https://www.androidauthority.com/huawei-camera-software-867702/
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Click to collapse
It's not a bug, it's a separate process from the unsharp mask algorithm in the jpg processing.
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orangecroc said:
It's not a bug, it's a separate process from the unsharp mask algorithm in the jpg processing.
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I'm saying it's a bug because it should not run all processes when zooming with the telephoto. In Android Authority's samples you can see that the post processing seems to run like it is in digital zoom mode even if it's optical.

It's a totaly normal process, and you see the messages when the camera apllies HDR color correction to the photo. Other smartphones just say HDR during the photo saving, this one says this message. It's not a bug, and there's no way of disabling it. It's just NORMAL.
Sent from my Huawei P20 PRO

I understand this message to mean "Please wait while I ruin your photo."
I always get it (literally 100% of the time) when I'm using the 3x zoom and the result is always an absolutely hideous photo in which all detail has been completely destroyed. For some reason the resulting image is always 10MP, which makes me think it was taken using the 40MP sensor and binned down, however it's shot at f2.4 and the phone reports an 80mm equivalent focal length, which suggests the 3x zoom lens but that's an 8MP sensor... So just what the hell is going on? Here's an imgur album of a photo supposedly taken using the zoom lens in ideal photography conditions this morning. The light was very good. I used the Photo mode with AI master turned off, resolution set to 10MP in the settings, standard color setting, 4D predictive focus on.
Unfortunately I can't post links but go to imgur.com album /a/JEMOtHG.
It looked fine on the phone's screen but it looks hideous on a larger screen. Just look at the 100% crop - it would make a lovely watercolor painting. The photo has been sharpened to oblivion and completely ruined. The camera has retained highlights in the clouds to create an unrealistic, though beautiful IMO, cloudscape while blowing away highlights on the ships. The shadows on the trees in the foreground are mangled to the point that it looks like a single mass. This photo is unequivocally garbage.
In fact, 70% of the photos this phone takes look like total garbage. They're not just mediocre, they're bad. They look like enlarged and sharpened photos taken with an ancient, low-resolution digital camera. Maybe it's because I have no idea what the phone's actually doing with its hardware when I'm using it because the software is so bad? It just does stuff contrary to what I might expect based on the information provided at the time of the exposure and the result is invariably bad. I've tried every mode and had zero success in any mode.
Even when using the main sensor, if the lighting is slightly dim, out comes the sharpening and noise-reduction algorithm and out go your details. Even in situations where it's not really necessary, like in good indoor light, the phone goes mental with its post-processing. It even does it in broad daylight when there's a big difference in highlights and/or in the scene. If you have harsh, directional sunlight in one part of the scene, expect it to be sharpened to death.
I read all the glowing reviews and they leave me wondering whether everyone's crazy or whether I am. I really want to like this phone but the camera is 3 or 4 out of 10 so far. It makes me wonder whether Huawei's engineers have ever seen a photo before.
I'm inclined to return this phone. The camera is so bad that I'd rather go back to my Nexus 6P, which is 2.5 years old and takes effortlessly, consistently and predictably superior photos.

It keeps the detail when it says it on mine with 3x zoom.
I think maybe your technique is off?
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orangecroc said:
It keeps the detail when it says it on mine with 3x zoom.
I think maybe your technique is off? View attachment 4536191
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What technique do you propose? I don't see any options or means to remedy the problem. It seems to me that no matter what mode I shoot or what settings I toggle, I get images that are post-processed to oblivion when using the 3x zoom, and usually when using the main sensor too.
I'd love to hear what you're doing that's giving you results you're happy with. My guess is that you're also on a newer build - I've got the North American variant CLT-L04 8.1.0.109(C792).
Incidentally, your attachment is scaled down to a small fraction of its original size so it doesn't really demonstrate much.

The 109 firmware is pretty old by now, things got better with the camera when you run firmware 128 or the latest 131. Still things could be improved but it is now better than in the early days of firmware releases.
/ Magnus

This is taken with 5x zoom by hand on auto. I see no problem at all. In fact it's outstanding if consider its taken by hand.
Sent from my Huawei P20 PRO

I definitely think it's your firmware. Things have improved pretty dramatically since your version.

Well that sucks, since no newer firmware is available to me yet. I find it hard to believe Huawei would ship a premium photography-centric device with software that's so defective it can hardly take a photo worth keeping, or that it's selling functionally defective devices with this firmware 2 months after launch. Then again, maybe I shouldn't be too surprised.
I guess I'm at the right place if I want to solve this problem myself but I think I might just take it back and not void my warranty or trouble myself any further. This is an excellent phone and I want to keep it but I'm disappointed - photography should have been the first thing they got right and they fumbled.
Too bad because the specs are brilliant and the cameras are awesome in terms of the hardware. In practice, though, it always comes down to software. Thanks for your help, all.

Build 110
Natural colours and AI off to reduce the amount of processing.
When using zoom, make sure you wait for the stabilisation to start and tuck your elbows in. Where possible use the software shutter button over the volume rocker as it causes less movement.
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inepty, I second your remarks. That's what I have experienced, too, so far, and I don't think it got much better on .128 which I am using.
A few things to keep in mind:
- The 3x zoom only kicks in if you do not focus to anything closer to 1-1.5 metres. If you do, it will use the digital zoom which looks crappy.
- If you use Auto, Portrait or HDR mode, the images WILL be heavily processed
- If you use Aperture or Pro mode, they will NOT. I am so far happy with the results of these two modes.
- The monochrome mode seems not to suffer from the watercolor effects and the overprocessed look, even though the sensor is smaller
- Turn off the AI. It's pointless. It's optimized for poppy instagram style pictures. If you want this, go ahead. If you want more natural pictures, turn it off.
- Try different camera apps like Open Camera. You will of course lose fancy stuff like HDR, Zoom etc., but the resulting images are much more natural without any oversharpening or watercolor effects. You will have some grain, tho (because no noise reduction).
- The Zoom is a bit finicky. Sometimes, it gives me really good, clear and beautiful results, sometimes it looks like a crappy digital zoom picture, even though the exifs state that the zoom lens was used. Not sure what's the problem behind this.
- The night mode is a bit of a tech gimmick. Yep, it shoots photos at night but they are really blurry and lack details. If you resize them to 1000px, they will look great, but they are not made for larger resolutions or big screens. I know, a blurry picture is better than no picture at all, but I wouldn't use it the way Huawei seems to advertise it (Hey, take stunning city photos at night!) because the results are messy, unless resized to a stamp.
- And finally: The raw files are quite good most of the time. For pictures that are important (Aka: Photography instead of documentation), it's probably best to use the raw file and develop this.

all the pugs said:
inepty, I second your remarks. That's what I have experienced, too, so far, and I don't think it got much better on .128 which I am using.
A few things to keep in mind:
- The 3x zoom only kicks in if you do not focus to anything closer to 1-1.5 metres. If you do, it will use the digital zoom which looks crappy.
- If you use Auto, Portrait or HDR mode, the images WILL be heavily processed
- If you use Aperture or Pro mode, they will NOT. I am so far happy with the results of these two modes.
- The monochrome mode seems not to suffer from the watercolor effects and the overprocessed look, even though the sensor is smaller
- Turn off the AI. It's pointless. It's optimized for poppy instagram style pictures. If you want this, go ahead. If you want more natural pictures, turn it off.
- Try different camera apps like Open Camera. You will of course lose fancy stuff like HDR, Zoom etc., but the resulting images are much more natural without any oversharpening or watercolor effects. You will have some grain, tho (because no noise reduction).
- The Zoom is a bit finicky. Sometimes, it gives me really good, clear and beautiful results, sometimes it looks like a crappy digital zoom picture, even though the exifs state that the zoom lens was used. Not sure what's the problem behind this.
- The night mode is a bit of a tech gimmick. Yep, it shoots photos at night but they are really blurry and lack details. If you resize them to 1000px, they will look great, but they are not made for larger resolutions or big screens. I know, a blurry picture is better than no picture at all, but I wouldn't use it the way Huawei seems to advertise it (Hey, take stunning city photos at night!) because the results are messy, unless resized to a stamp.
- And finally: The raw files are quite good most of the time. For pictures that are important (Aka: Photography instead of documentation), it's probably best to use the raw file and develop this.
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If you select 3x zoom it uses that lens.
It doesn't use digital zoom just because you're close to the subject.
The stabilisation struggles to engage on close subject, so this may be the issue you're encountering.
These are 1x then 3x then 5x then 10x
Even the 10x digital zoom doesn't look as bad as people seem to be making out.
All are auto, standard colour, no AI in poor light.
Build 110
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orangecroc said:
If you select 3x zoom it uses that lens.
It doesn't use digital zoom just because you're close to the subject.
The stabilisation struggles to engage on close subject, so this may be the issue you're encountering.
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Nope, it doesn't work that easily, at least on my device. You can select 3x zoom and still get a digital zoom image not shot with the tele lens. Try it! Try close distance and fast burts, you will see it yourself.
And please do post full resolutions of your images. Anything moderately sharp can look good at this small size.

Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Razer Phone 2 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!

i found the stock camera app to be pretty poor coming from a pixel 2 like it was almost dealbreaking. I also have an essential phone that needed a google cam port to be usable. So i went to the gcam repo and spent a good hour trying all the versions from arnova, cstark etc. and i found that the only one that actually works is from BSG for the Mi 8 and the quality is night and day. i posted on reddit about it. https://www.reddit.com/r/razerphone/comments/9rv2ed/google_cam_port_quality_vs_stock_app_vs_pixel_2/

meh
There is no 60 frames-per-second 1080p video nor is there 16 by 9 aspect ratio for photos they are also blurry, the zoom is okay though I guess.

https://imgur.com/gallery/5tkoGjG
Picture taken with it, does an amazing job at medium-low lighting

Razer's photo app does pretty good, minus not having slow motion, beating all my previous phones in clarity, quality and ability to take photos of an always moving 2 year old with very minimal, if any, motion blur, and in low light without flash and no visible grainyness. But to boost your cameras performance, Gcam works wonders (slow motion still does not work) Beware of file sizes of videos, though... An 8 minute 4k video of my daughter was a whopping 2.5gb... and when you take photos at the same time you're recording, they come out much darker than just taking a photo by itself. Photo quality is outstanding, taking bright, clear photos in low light with no motion blur what so ever, and with no visible grainyness or loss of color accuracy. People with high end iPhones and Samsung devices were amazed at the photo quality of the Razer 2 compared to their phones...so a big plus for this phone. I have NO idea what people we're talking about when they said the camera was crap... As far as the photo album app, I think the one that comes with the phone totally sucks, it's the Google albums app, which for me is over complicated, I have no idea how to browse it, or organize it, or create folders, or move them to folders...so, I downloaded a very simple, easy to use gallery app that fits all my needs. VERY simple to understand, I can move things around, create new folders, etc. If you're interested in it, here's the link.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplemobiletools.gallery.pro
It reminds me of the simpler album apps that came with earlier versions of Android Galaxy phones, which is what I'm used to.
EDIT- 10/16/19
Finally found a camera app that makes full use of the camera. Gcam
Version 6.2.030. greatly increased clarity, amazing low light performance, night mode, multiple resolutions to choose from, hdr, hdr+, 4k video, bokke effect in portrait mode, which makes a HUGE improvement in photo dramatic effect when taking pictures of people, and most importantly, to me at least, VERIFIED WORKING SLOW MOTION AND TIME LAPSE... Which for some STUPID REASON Razer has OMITTED from even their latest software update, posted only a couple days ago. Link below for the gcam mod.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rAgBKJ9ZixrsfP2_29HHJabm-2g9etLY/view?usp=drivesdk
I cannot recommend you use this gcam mod enough! It's EXACTLY what this phone was missing all along
Not my work, BTW. Simply pointing a link at someone else's work.

mmfnsmith said:
Razer's photo app does pretty good, minus not having slow motion, beating all my previous phones in clarity, quality and ability to take photos of an always moving 2 year old with very minimal, if any, motion blur, and in low light without flash and no visible grainyness. But to boost your cameras performance, Gcam works wonders (slow motion still does not work) Beware of file sizes of videos, though... An 8 minute 4k video of my daughter was a whopping 2.5gb... and when you take photos at the same time you're recording, they come out much darker than just taking a photo by itself. Photo quality is outstanding, taking bright, clear photos in low light with no motion blur what so ever, and with no visible grainyness or loss of color accuracy. People with high end iPhones and Samsung devices were amazed at the photo quality of the Razer 2 compared to their phones...so a big plus for this phone. I have NO idea what people we're talking about when they said the camera was crap... The only problem I have is audio quality issues. Sounds like they have a background noise suppression setting turned on by default.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p9wTQKDUWFDrOMX2zAofWl7G2ULpTdRn/view?usp=drivesdk

I'm pretty blown away with this camera, especially in very low light. I downloaded the gcam app. And just wow!
This is a picture in my hobby room with just the light from my computer monitor no other lights or flash
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Warrior1988 said:
Try this. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p9wTQKDUWFDrOMX2zAofWl7G2ULpTdRn/view?usp=drivesdk
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Click to collapse
Hey man, I tried this app you linked to and here are some comparison shots.
In our play room with low light currently.
Stock camera app
You linked camera app
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Hey, a Razer Phone 2-specific version of GCam was uploaded to https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/ the other day. I downloaded it, and it's so much faster than the MI8 version. It's bloody quick. No more loading ring when I'm taking a picture. Just a flash as the picture is taken.

The quality is "okay" but not that good
I hope they'll do better in the future .
Mini Militia App Lock

cs88 said:
i found the stock camera app to be pretty poor coming from a pixel 2 like it was almost dealbreaking. I also have an essential phone that needed a google cam port to be usable. So i went to the gcam repo and spent a good hour trying all the versions from arnova, cstark etc. and i found that the only one that actually works is from BSG for the Mi 8 and the quality is night and day. i posted on reddit about it. https://www.reddit.com/r/razerphone/comments/9rv2ed/google_cam_port_quality_vs_stock_app_vs_pixel_2/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you like the Razer 2 w/gcam compared to the Pixel 2?

I just installed the RP 2 gcam from the link and only saw a lowlight/indoors performance difference while indoors. Once I went outside there was a bit of a split decision. On one hand the dynamic range of gcam was a lot better and maintained clear details in the image. There were a couple of occassions where the stock camera app took a more appealing picture. Most of the pics while outside in good natural light were almost identical; only zooming in all the way and searching would you see the difference. Again, that goes back to the dynamic range and how the apps process the images once you take the picture. At some point we need to stop splitting hairs on the most minor detail that really isn't discernable unless you zoom in 300% an search vice when you look at the normal zoom image. I have noticed however, the RP2 does over process more often than not, leading to it softening the image way too much causing a slight blur in the details. But other times it takes really good pictures.

I just uninstalled the gcam app now. I don't know what happened but was using the camera a few hours after installing and testing it out and I noticed major artifacts, color distortion and image distortion when I am looking at the screen and moving the phone around to different subjects. I also notice it having a real hard time adjusting the exposure and balance. The removal of the gcam app hasn't seemed to fix anything. I may have to reset the phone to get it functioning again.

lamamafia said:
There is no 60 frames-per-second 1080p video nor is there 16 by 9 aspect ratio for photos they are also blurry, the zoom is okay though I guess.
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Click to collapse
Not bad...

I just got the phone, and knew going into it the camera was going to be bad (doubly bad considering I was coming from an LG V20!). What I didn't expect was just how bad HDR is on the stock app. It's rather laughable. The first image is a normal photo on the telephoto lens. The second photo is an HDR shot on the same lens. I plan to play around with Gcam, but HDR will never see the light of day on my stock app. Lol

Not as good as my motorola z2 force. Really, very bad! I can only play games now. . . . Maybe gaming phones can only play games.