Database Develop

Capture more light with the camera

Hi guys, was just messing around a while ago and found out that if you turn exposure to +2 and then choose HDR and set the camera to shoot at 5MP, it takes in almost 300% more light than normal. I find it funny though because the One X's camera app had a similar bug where Night mode would stick to HDR thus allowing extremely long exposure times (for phone standards) and also capturing approximately 300% more light.
EDIT: I chose to turn it to 5MP so that the HDR can be processed faster.
Have any of you tried this too?
Just wanted to share
Will upload some samples later for proof
Normal:
{
"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"
}
HDR:
HDR + Exposure+2:
MORE SAMPLES:
Normal (Exposure at 0):
Normal with Exposure at +2:
Normal HDR (Exposure at 0):
"Hybrid" HDR (Exposure at +2)
The main reason I shared this is because with other phones, you cannot manually set the Exposure whilst using HDR Mode, the Exposure settings usually get grayed out or it simply resets to 0.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Does +2 exposure actually increase the exposure time or is it just pushing the exposure up two stops digitally?

wtfshouldidonow said:
Hi guys, was just messing around a while ago and found out that if you turn exposure to +2 and then choose HDR and set the camera to shoot at 5MP, it takes in almost 300% more light than normal. I find it funny though because the One X's camera app had a similar bug where Night mode would stick to HDR thus allowing extremely long exposure times (for phone standards) and also capturing approximately 300% more light.
Have any of you tried this too?
Just wanted to share
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Works for me. Thanks for the tip. The difference is incredible.

arich said:
Does +2 exposure actually increase the exposure time or is it just pushing the exposure up two stops digitally?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The increase of exposure time that I'm talking about only applies to the One X camera bug. The +2 exposure + HDR on our Nexus 4, I don't really know how to explain. Maybe someone else can, I'm just sharing here
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

the +1, +2, +3.. exposure times is doing what its supposed to do, its letting more light in, thats its function. the shutter is staying open longer. no more, no less. just as a -1,-2, -3 lets less light in.

Compare the normal shots with exposure increased to HDR shots with exposure increased though, and the difference is huge
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

Confirmation
Hey guys! I can confirm this!! I have taken the photos (attatched) in low light no flash. See respective file names for method. I will take some more in daylight later. 2 AM right now.

wtfshouldidonow said:
Compare the normal shots with exposure increased to HDR shots with exposure increased though, and the difference is huge
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
compare a normal shot with an hdr shot and the difference is huge too.

wtfshouldidonow said:
Compare the normal shots with exposure increased to HDR shots with exposure increased though, and the difference is huge
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is the exact result I just got from my own N4 camera using the stock aosp cam app from PA 3.50 may 14th build
not only do I get more light, the colors are far more true to those in real life!!
+2 exposure, HDR off
+2 exposure, HDR on

hp420 said:
this is the exact result I just got from my own N4 camera using the stock aosp cam app from PA 3.50 may 14th build
not only do I get more light, the colors are far more true to those in real life!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldn't the same thing apply when you're comparing regular exposure with HDR and regular exposure without HDR?
I think someone should test these two shots: regular exposure and HDR, and
+2 exposure and HDR
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

rabrot said:
Wouldn't the same thing apply when you're comparing regular exposure with HDR and regular exposure without HDR?
I think someone should test these two shots: regular exposure and HDR, and
+2 exposure and HDR
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the reason why the effect is so pronounced is because HDR is a series of photos merged together at several regular exposure settings....however, by setting the overall exposure to +2, as opposed to stitching say -2, 0, and +2 exposures together, it's now stitching 0, 2, and +4 exposures together.
At least that is what I think is going on.
I tried it with 8mp and it seems to work fine. OP, any reason why you suggested 5mp?

PoisonWolf said:
I think the reason why the effect is so pronounced is because HDR is a series of photos merged together at several regular exposure settings....however, by setting the overall exposure to +2, as opposed to stitching say -2, 0, and +2 exposures together, it's now stitching 0, 2, and +4 exposures together.
At least that is what I think is going on.
I tried it with 8mp and it seems to work fine. OP, any reason why you suggested 5mp?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Faster processing with 5 mp . Try it
Sent from my HTC_Flyer_P512_NA

simms22 said:
compare a normal shot with an hdr shot and the difference is huge too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why are you such a do*che? I'm really sorry mate, no offense. I used to "admire" you for your skills in taking great pics with your Gnex and just recently the N4, but man, if you don't want to accept the fact that some little things DO make a difference then just please stay back and shut up. Okay? Really, I don't want to start a fight here.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

wtfshouldidonow said:
Why are you such a do*che? I'm really sorry mate, no offense. I used to "admire" you for your skills in taking great pics with your Gnex and just recently the N4, but man, if you don't want to accept the fact that some little things DO make a difference then just please stay back and shut up. Okay? Really, I don't want to start a fight here.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dude chill, im not being a douche. im trying to tell you that this is how the camera is supposed to work. thats why you get those options, to tweak the camera and better your images. there are other ways to get little light tweaks too, like the angle you point the camera at the object youre shooting at, for example. anyways, im not trying to start a fight, youre freakout right here is doing a good job on its own. what im trying to do is tell you that what you discovered isnt new. you have to do what you must to get the best photos in the light conditions that are available. thats all. no disrespect to you. but i didnt deserve the above post either.

I take lots of photos with my N4, I just dont post them up like others do. I'm very happy with the quality of the photos...in daylight. Tried this and compared it to stock 8 megapixel settings. It indeed is a big difference and the HDR delay is minimal. Nice find op. :good:

benman715 said:
I take lots of photos with my N4, I just dont post them up like others do. I'm very happy with the quality of the photos...in daylight. Tried this and compared it to stock 8 megapixel settings. It indeed is a big difference and the HDR delay is minimal. Nice find op. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OP Updated. @simms22, Okay, I admit I was cranky back there Just had a nap and I'm refreshed! Lol. Sorry for my tantrum, that was almost 4am in the morning in my area and I still haven't had any sleep, just got back from a long flight. Apologies sir!

wtfshouldidonow said:
OP Updated. @simms22, Okay, I admit I was cranky back there Just had a nap and I'm refreshed! Lol. Sorry for my tantrum, that was almost 4am in the morning in my area and I still haven't had any sleep, just got back from a long flight. Apologies sir!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was the same way this morning, seriously. so apology excepted for sure

wtfshouldidonow said:
Why are you such a do*che? I'm really sorry mate, no offense. I used to "admire" you for your skills in taking great pics with your Gnex and just recently the N4, but man, if you don't want to accept the fact that some little things DO make a difference then just please stay back and shut up. Okay? Really, I don't want to start a fight here.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google how exposure works and what the exposure compensations of +1 and +2 mean and you will no longer call people, telling you that you found nothing new, douches.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2

What I like about the camera on this phone is it takes really good pics in scenes that have multi colored lighting. By that I mean those neon lights in the bars. When my wife takes a pic with her HTC phone at the bar, it comes out with a lot of color and glare from those lights, even with the flash. When I take pic right next to her, my camera does a good job of toning down those colors and glares. The result is a pic that has more white lighting and much better looking.

morfic said:
Google how exposure works and what the exposure compensations of +1 and +2 mean and you will no longer call people, telling you that you found nothing new, douches.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

Long exposures, controlling shutter speed.

Hey guys, I was curious if there is any method to take a long exposure photo on our Z1. I guess hardware is capable of doing that for sure. Tried to search exposure options in stock camera and Google camera, unfortunately didn't find anything. Is there any mod which would let me take a long exposure photos? Found some apps @ google play, but only one worked and could take photos @ 0.9MP 1280x720 so thats way too low.
Looking forward to answers.

EarlShannons said:
... take a long exposure photo...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as far as i know this is restricted by android system itself, although hardware would be able to handle it

punkt said:
as far as i know this is restricted by android system itself, although hardware would be able to handle it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said above, there is one application that is working like it should (setting delay/aperture) but the major problem is that it take only 1280x720 resolution photos, far too small (but still it does the job, photos looked like on my old panasonic). If I could take photos with at least 12MP or 21MP it'd be awesome.

EarlShannons said:
As I said above, there is one application that is working like it should (setting delay/aperture) but the major problem is that it take only 1280x720 resolution photos, far too small (but still it does the job, photos looked like on my old panasonic). If I could take photos with at least 12MP or 21MP it'd be awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i know there apps for this
some time ago i was looking also for this feature and i only can remember that this apps do not take realy long exposure images as you get them out of a dslr or normal digicam. i also read that this is not possible because android os system is not supporting this feature yet. think the problem was/is that you cannot fully control shutter time.
maybe i am wrong, but then there would be a lot of apps with this image mode and i also think sony would support this on their phones too.

EarlShannons said:
As I said above, there is one application that is working like it should (setting delay/aperture) but the major problem is that it take only 1280x720 resolution photos, far too small (but still it does the job, photos looked like on my old panasonic). If I could take photos with at least 12MP or 21MP it'd be awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think those apps that claim to do long exposure are using video instead of photo as a form of long exposure trickery. e.g. taking 10 seconds of video and merging it into 1 single photo. why they are limited to 720p or 1080p.
not a photo expert so i could be wrong

Tonian1878 said:
i think those apps that claim to do long exposure are using video instead of photo as a form of long exposure trickery. e.g. taking 10 seconds of video and merging it into 1 single photo. why they are limited to 720p or 1080p.
not a photo expert so i could be wrong
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anyways I will just wait for new google camera api, this is going to be a one of its features so.

EarlShannons said:
Hey guys, I was curious if there is any method to take a long exposure photo on our Z1. I guess hardware is capable of doing that for sure. Tried to search exposure options in stock camera and Google camera, unfortunately didn't find anything. Is there any mod which would let me take a long exposure photos? Found some apps @ google play, but only one worked and could take photos @ 0.9MP 1280x720 so thats way too low.
Looking forward to answers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please tell mi name of those apps
Sent from my C6902 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

ron76426 said:
Can you please tell mi name of those apps
Sent from my C6902 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is free app "Light camera".

EarlShannons said:
It is free app "Light camera".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanku?
Sent from my C6902 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

The sole reason why they were able to do this is because they are utilizing the viewfinder. Which means they are taking pictures from viewfinder not directly from the camera and also hence the reason why it's only too small. The viewfinder size I think depends on your display hence if you have a 4k screen I think you can get a 8mp shot with this.

I remembered I read a very detailed explanation on why long exposures aren't possible on Android devices without some workaround, so I googled and found the answer. This is what the developers of Camera FV-5 say (an app that features 'long exposure' through viewfinder capture):
"In Android there is no support as of now for long exposures (longer than half of a second). Therefore, Camera FV-5 capture the sensor live view feed directly and perform the exposure by software. The problem is that, given that the application need the sensor feed, it is limited to the maximum resolution the camera driver provides live view feed. That maximum resolution is often bigger than the screen resolution of your phone, but still, no phone provides full resolution sensor feeds to applications. On most phones, the maximum feed resolution is 1 MP, while on newer phones is 2 MP. There is no other way to achieve true long exposures without camera driver support."
Source: http://www.camerafv5.com/faq.php#long-exposure-resolution
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess we'll have to wait for Google to release an Android version that supports long exposures for all devices, or Sony to provide drivers with an update.
Can't come soon enough I'd say..!

Cool! Hah! I was right I'm not still sure though but I think it's doable to forward the full camera output to viewfinder but I'm not sure how it would work out. Maybe they could hijack the buffer from /dev/video*
Anyways I'm not app developer hence I can't do this.
Hermantje said:
I remembered I read a very detailed explanation on why long exposures aren't possible on Android devices without some workaround, so I googled and found the answer. This is what the developers of Camera FV-5 say (an app that features 'long exposure' through viewfinder capture):
I guess we'll have to wait for Google to release an Android version that supports long exposures for all devices, or Sony to provide drivers with an update.
Can't come soon enough I'd say..!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

It is a shame this is not part of all new Android devices. I had a chance to test the 8 sec long exposure on Oppo N1 (review here) and the results where just extraordinary for a smartphone.
Check out the samples from Oppo N1 below (of course tripod was needed for 8s exposures):
{
"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"
}

Camera sensor on OPPO N1
oppo n1 has a sony sensor????
then hardware is not a problem in long exposure its software only!!!!
BTW in lumia 830 u can have 4 second exposure!!!!
and my Mini pro (non exmor)had a 1/2 second exposure and results were sexy!!!!

Galaxy Note 4 / Edge blurry camera problem petition

If it was not already painfully obvious to any of us with children, the movement of subjects using both the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge camera results in CONSTANT blurry photos.
Yes, we have all tried sports mode. And we know about the rapid image capture trick which takes a bunch of photos we don't want, to get a single shot. We also know that the video can take an impressive 4K, and you can grab .png files from the video that are frozen. But, seriously, who does this?
This thread is meant to point out a serious flaw in the firmware of the Samsung OIS 16mp camera on the Galaxy Note 4 and Edge and Samsung knows it. We need to demand an update that handles the far to wide open Fstop that Samsung is using for normally lit environments, and give us a night mode selection for those shots we can manually turn on and off. I am tired of my kids looking like a blurry mess because they looked in a slightly different direction during every shot. It's not like I am complaining because they are running around the room created blurred images. This is far more common than it should be.
Anyone want to post their blurry pics of fully lit rooms, I will be joining you when I have a chance to upload them.
Cmon Samsung, fix the camera on your $800+ phone. Really sad since when their is zero movement in the image, the quality is pretty fantastic.
EDIT: If anyone can get any subject frozen in motion, please let me know. There may be some defective camera in these phones, but I have not seen any still shots in sports mode of any people caught in movement yet. None.

I agree with your assessment. Also how can we speed up the shutter speed taking a picture with flash? I press the button and seconds later it takes the picture by then I've lost the shot.

Sorry man I have to say I disagree. Every phone I have had, has been bad up until now. I was on HTC then jumped to samsung gs3 then gs4. This has been an issue for so long with all phones. In fact most people I know with Icrap phone will ask me to take the picture instead cuz they can't stand their camera on the iphone. This has been the first time I am satisfied with the camera. Just 3 days ago my daughter had a Christmas show at school and every picture was crystal clear even with all the kids moving. Yesterday too I took my daughters to a chris.as festival and the kids were playing in the fake snow. Again crystal clear. To add to that my wife was using her gs3 and could not get the shots. In fact she was aittle mad at me because I have a phone that takes good pictures and she doesn't. We also need to remember one this this is a cell phone to a thousand dollar nikon that is built to only take pictures. In the end this is a phone it is to answer and make calls and for it to take the picture that it does is amazing. They are almost better than my nikon and that thing is huge. Just my 2 centz.
{
"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"
}
A d these kids were moving and squirming all over the place.

I disagree that there's a problem with the camera in the note 4. It's just the nature of an auto setting.
The low aperture allows for a higher shutter speed. Thus less motion blur.
However, in low light situations with a fixed aperture, the iso will rise and shutter speed will drop naturally in an auto setting like on our phones.
And to the pper talking about shutter delay, when you use the flash on a cell phone it will always take a little longer. It sucks and I noticed the note 4 does have a slightly longer delay with the flash being used than some other phones.
If you want total control over all lighting situations and thus little to no motion blur, buy a dslr and some good lenses. You can't expect perfection from a cell phone.
EDIT: sorry, saw you were talking about normal lighting conditions after I posted. I haven't noticed a problem with this with mine in good lighting. My bad!
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app

ZenInsight said:
If it was not already painfully obvious to any of us with children, the movement of subjects using both the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge camera results in CONSTANT blurry photos.
EDIT: If anyone can get any subject frozen in motion, please let me know. There may be some defective camera in these phones, but I have not seen any still shots in sports mode of any people caught in movement yet. None.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right they're all blurry... the subject doesn't even need to be in motion... it's software bcos fine detail is being lost.
I have a pic of my cat just sitting on the floor and you can't even make out his nose, and his fur is missing all detail, whereas the floor around him has more detail and is generally sharp.
I have another where he's walking and he's all blurry whereas his surrounds are sharp.
It's like they've totally gone over board with NR.

I dont understand why there aren't way more complaints. Could we have defective cameras? Ones that have the wrong apeture settings?

Are you guys on stock rom?

Stock rooted here.

If it's within 14 days you can exchange it. I'm suprised no one else has any input. I wouldn't make a full conclusion on 2 guys cameras are other parts and 2 guys cameras are good. We need more data.

I am an Australian user and facing same issue.
Close up pics are sharp. Long shots are blurry.
Camera also seems to loose focus.
I have tried all troubleshooting tips.
And no I do not have shaky hands
Sent from my SM-N910G using XDA Free mobile app

I also have the exact same problem as OP, have resorted to using camera in sports mode even for any slightly moving objects as otherwise pics are blurry

I don't have this problem. I have never used sport mode and the pictures taken with my Note 4 are not blurry.

Just made some tests with my Note 4 camera because of this thread. I have to admit, that I rarely use my phone camera, as I have always a system camera with me.
If you want to take a picture of people that are not moving much, you should have a shutter speed of at least 1/60s, if you have moving kids, I'd recommend 1/200s or more. I just took some test shots indoors (evening, only artificial light source) and noticed the Note 4 is limited to ISO 800 max, which results in slow shutter speeds like 1/17s in my conditions. I also tried sports mode, but as the camera is already at its limit, this does not speed up the shutter any more.
If you use the LED flash, the camera will decrease the ISO and keep the shutter speed still slow to decrease noise. The only way to speed up the shutter is to set ISO to 800 fix and force the LED flash. You will sure have more noise in your image, but less motion blur. To speed up even more, you can under expose by one step (EV -1), which will result in a darker image but shutter speed is additionally increased. Unfortunately the noise will get more visible in darker areas as well.
In low light the OIS does a good job as long as there are no moving subjects, but for moving subjects under bad light conditions the Note 4 camera is imho not capable of getting the job done.
I'm using the N910F (Qualcomm), not sure if the Exynos is using a different camera module.

This could be fixed in lolipop. They are opening up restriction in the camera. Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel. Pardon the pun.

HDR related?
I was getting blurry shots in reasonable lighting conditions, until I turned off HDR mode. That seemed to fix the issue for me, and increased the speed a little too.

[/IMG]
---------- Post added at 03:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:12 PM ----------

Don't use stock camera app. Use example Camera FV-5 for settings - use flash and 800 ISO. Use flash in night mode.
Same for video - author made app for vids too.
I use these apps in SGS II, where in stock camera I couldn't set plenty of things, where in Camera FV-5 I can.

I agree with you. I tried to take a picture and my subject wasnt moving at all and it all blurry. Im not that noob at taking a picture.. fix it please.

ryj01 said:
I agree with your assessment. Also how can we speed up the shutter speed taking a picture with flash? I press the button and seconds later it takes the picture by then I've lost the shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same problem here after talking shots it shows the pics but after restart the cell pictures lost y y y???

I'm having the same issues, all my closeup pics are great, anything over 5 feet away is completely blurry. I'm on a Sprint phone, well past the 14 days for exchange. This is unacceptable. I can post examples.

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.
Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

Is there no way of stopping this from happening?

quaium said:
Is there no way of stopping this from happening?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use a different camera app or shoot RAW.
It's a baked in part of Huawei multi sensor processing.
Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

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/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not a bug, it's a separate process from the unsharp mask algorithm in the jpg processing.
Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

orangecroc said:
It's not a bug, it's a separate process from the unsharp mask algorithm in the jpg processing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
{
"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"
}
Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

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
Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
{
"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"
}
Sent from my Phone 2 using Tapatalk

Warrior1988 said:
Try this. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p9wTQKDUWFDrOMX2zAofWl7G2ULpTdRn/view?usp=drivesdk
Click to expand...
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
Sent from my Phone 2 using Tapatalk

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.
Click to expand...
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.