Database Develop

Poor X1 Camera - Hardware or Software?

Hi guys,
I've had my X1 (Vodafone UK) for quite a while now and on the whole i'm very impressed. The only big let down has been the camera.
Recording videos is fine but when I take a picture, 99% of the time it comes out blurry. If someone moves an inch in the photo then that person comes out blurry.
I flashed my ROM yesterday to use Itje's Touch-IT 4.5 and there is different camera software included. I was hoping this would make a difference but it doesn't.
My question is does anyone know if this is a software issue or a hardware issue? (and if anyone else has the same problem as me?)
If this is indeed a software issue, does anyone have any tips or fixes they have found?
Thanks in advance.
Nav

The camera seems fine to me, although it does blur from movement. I just you just need to make sure everyone stays still.
My old N95 was worse, the pictures were blurry regardless of movement. The camera just never focused properly.

Make sure you choose the appropriate profile (On original ROM). Default is automatic. Set it manually to whatever you are recording, for example portrait for people. You might also consider sport event, I think this might help you with the blur. One more advice: Make sure not to move the camera UNTIL you are sure the picture's been taken. The shutter sound is too early.

Try setting the phone down and using the self-timer. The X1 camera has an extremely slow shutter speed which makes it sensitive to tiny shakes. It could be that you have shaky hands and the mere act of pressing the shutter makes the entire right side of the phone shake.
If that's the case, you can set the self-timer to 2 seconds, press the shutter, then keep still until it takes the picture. That way your squeezing the shutter won't interfere in the capture. It also helps if you prop your elbows onto a surface (like a table) or onto your torso to keep your arm (and your hands) still.
I've found that I actually take better pictures with my 3.2 MP slow Xperia X1i than with my 5.0 MP Cyber-shot K850i. Of course, both of them are a big FAIL when compared to my Nikon D90

oops. double post

sports scene should solve your blur.. but it will be darker than usual

Does your recorded video look crap too? I think it's because of the low bitrate, but when I am moving the phone while recording, all I can see is coloured squares... I use the latest camera from R3A and it is set on "high framerate" in VGA widescreen. Oh, and the sound is terrible...

My record looks pretty good but that may be down to the ROM i'm using.
I tend to try and stay as steady as I can and when i'm taking a picture of something that isn't a person it tends to be crystal clear. It's just when I take a picture of a person, if they move slightly or if I move slightly.
I will try the timer setting, as I do sometimes struggle with the button and probably end up moving the phone slightly.
Why would SE release a camera which is SO sensitive to movement? It's on a mobile phone, movements are expected here and there. I never used to get any blur on my SE Walkman phone and thats 2mp!
Thanks for the tips guys!

yep, it's terrible for movement. i'm fairly sure it's the hardware, but you never know.
best solution is to change to "Sports" mode. this takes the photo faster (so less blurring) but at a cost (photos will appear darker, to the point that darkish scenes will become black).

I find it hard to use the camera especially the camera button at the side of the phone. Its very hard to press down after focusing and because its hard to press it caused the photo to become blurry.
If I use the keypad center button for picture it become blurry too because the focus aint that good. See the picture below..
Picture 1 - Using keypad auto focus Image seems blurry
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Picture 2 - Manual focus using the side camera button.
I only can say that im disappointed with the speaker and camera..
Hope that the next rom update can fix or at least improve the camera..
As for the speaker, at least I can still install SRS WOW HD and do some volume hack..
The camera... Nothing can be done.. T_T!

dancemacabre said:
I find it hard to use the camera especially the camera button at the side of the phone. Its very hard to press down after focusing and cause the photo to become blury.
If I use the keypad center button for picture it become blury too because the focus aint that good. See the picture below..
Picture 1 - Using keypad auto focus [Image seems blury zzz]
Picture 2 - Manual focus using the side camera button.
I only can say that im disappointed with the speaker and camera..
Hope that the next rom update can fix or at least improve the camera..
As for the speaker, at least I can still install SRS WOW HD and do some volume hack..
The camera... Nothing can be done.. T_T!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the second pic looks good.
have u got the new camera software from the r3 rom ( i have but have not noticed any improvement in quality of pic)

Ganondolf said:
the second pic looks good.
have u got the new camera software from the r3 rom ( i have but have not noticed any improvement in quality of pic)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, im just using rom 1.03.931.10 software R2AA010 Generic_uk
Lucky shot for picture 2.. sometimes i tried more than 10 times to take a good shot but all come out blurry.. Im pissed and i just give up.. *vomit blood*

dancemacabre said:
Nope, im just using rom 1.03.931.10 software R2AA010 Generic_uk
Lucky shot for picture 2.. sometimes i tried more than 10 times to take a good shot but all come out blurry.. Im pissed and i just give up.. *vomit blood*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i know they have improved it on the r3 rom but as i never used it much cant really tell the difference

Ganondolf said:
i know they have improved it on the r3 rom but as i never used it much cant really tell the difference
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, hope that r3 rom user out there can give some answer on this

Its not rubish on my X1i, its loads better than the se 8.1 cybershot phone.

hey
m using xperia stock rom uk r1a0017
but m not facing any prob with xperia camera
click the link to see the pix
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/424/dsc0888.jpg
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/7125/dsc0138i.jpg

I'm not happy too using the X1 camera. Photos even in Sport mode are shaked. Till now I've made about 300 photos and can say that maybe 10 are ok. My previous SE k800i was much better. The comparison of this 2 phones is like trying to compare k800i vs my Canon 20D.
About making movies - this sucks, really sucks. In good light, VGA mode and framerate set to high the movie is so laggy and pixelized that really can't watch them. I saw that they are almost 30 fps and same speed in playback mode on my laptop. So should be good. Must try to save them to phone memory, maybe this will be the solution. Perhaps SDHC is to slow?
Hope someone will find fix for it....

dancemacabre said:
I find it hard to use the camera especially the camera button at the side of the phone. Its very hard to press down after focusing and because its hard to press it caused the photo to become blurry.
If I use the keypad center button for picture it become blurry too because the focus aint that good. See the picture below..
Picture 1 - Using keypad auto focus Image seems blurry
Picture 2 - Manual focus using the side camera button.
I only can say that im disappointed with the speaker and camera..
Hope that the next rom update can fix or at least improve the camera..
As for the speaker, at least I can still install SRS WOW HD and do some volume hack..
The camera... Nothing can be done.. T_T!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm very disappointed with the camera especially since I came from the Sony Ericcson K750 which had an awesome camera.
I can live with it though as I don't take that many photos, and they're usually landscapes which reduces the blurryness problem...btw
THE CAKE IS A LIE!
(Yeah i'm sorry but i had to do it...didn't I? Didn't I!)

It's Tiramisu!!
Another attempt.. The lobster !!
The second picture seem blur.. and im not really happy with the first picture either When I manually focus using the side button the camera focus on the little rocks instead of the lobster.. What can I say...
D-fens said:
..
About making movies - this sucks, really sucks. In good light, VGA mode and framerate set to high the movie is so laggy and pixelized that really can't watch them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Happened to me too.. Every movement of people just blurry.. Cant even see their face..

I have a Touch Pro but I think fundamentally we have the same issues and generally the same solutions. Take a look here: http://www.fuzemobility.com/decrease-the-blur-of-your-camera-really/
To decrease the blur try to toggle the brightness setting to something a few notches lower (effectively changing the shutter speed) and there are also tips in that link to changing the delay in taking the photo. Again, I can't test these on an X1 but a lot of the X1 and Touch Pro elements are identical because of HTC. Hope it helps

Need camera help

i have the kodak easy share C1013 which has 10 mega pixels apparently. but the problem is my phones comes blurry what ever i do, even if the flash is on for some reason, but this only happens indoors and even if the lights are on...if anyone here is good in camera, can they help me pls
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=7783291#post7783291
see the third photo on this thread i clicked it with the flash on

Well the third photo the picture is recular out of focus. The problem with Point and SHoots is that they take a while to focus (especially in low light) and (this with all cmeras) the shutter speed has to be much lower for the sensor to gather more light...and P&S's have tiny sensors compared to an APS-C, CMOS, ir a full frame sensor. But you should just retake that shot making sure the camera is focused and maybe add some more light on the subject to make it easier for the camera.

Are you using a manual setting? Have you dropped the camera? How close are you shooting?

wdfowty said:
Are you using a manual setting? Have you dropped the camera? How close are you shooting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have tried both manual and automatic, but both come out blurry. the camera has never been droped and this occur only indoors even if there is plently of light.

jaszek said:
Well the third photo the picture is recular out of focus. The problem with Point and SHoots is that they take a while to focus (especially in low light) and (this with all cmeras) the shutter speed has to be much lower for the sensor to gather more light...and P&S's have tiny sensors compared to an APS-C, CMOS, ir a full frame sensor. But you should just retake that shot making sure the camera is focused and maybe add some more light on the subject to make it easier for the camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i alway focus my camera properly, when ever the focus is right, the box thing becomes green. how to lower the shutter speed i will take some photo with plenty of light. also the the the third photo was taken in a room full of light and also with the flash on

You mentioned that the room is well lit. But perhaps you are standing in front of the light and casting a shadow on your subject?
You mentioned that the camera has locked focus before you fully pressed the shutter. But with inadequate lighting, perhaps the camera is focusing on the wrong spot?
Some cameras have a light that comes on when you half-press the shutter to help the camera focus in low-light. If your camera has this, then make sure you enable it.
Also, if you didn't crop the photo, then perhaps you are holding the camera too close to your subject. Try backing off at least 2 or 3 feet. Then crop the photo with an editor to exclude anything you don't want.

You could also check settings for your focus point. It could be set to spot focus off center, I've seen it before.

ohyeahar said:
You mentioned that the room is well lit. But perhaps you are standing in front of the light and casting a shadow on your subject?
You mentioned that the camera has locked focus before you fully pressed the shutter. But with inadequate lighting, perhaps the camera is focusing on the wrong spot?
Some cameras have a light that comes on when you half-press the shutter to help the camera focus in low-light. If your camera has this, then make sure you enable it.
Also, if you didn't crop the photo, then perhaps you are holding the camera too close to your subject. Try backing off at least 2 or 3 feet. Then crop the photo with an editor to exclude anything you don't want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i tried what you said and see the pics i uploaded, but still i dont find the quality of a 10 megapixel camera tho

For those types of pics you need a camera with a macro feature/setting.
good day.

The 3rd and 6th photos are blurry because your subject spans a large depth of field. In those two photos, the base of the iPhone is close to your camera while the top of the iPhone is far away. The distance between these 2 points is too large for your camera to handle (especially under those lighting conditions). Your camera needs a smaller aperture setting than it can handle for those shots.
(In the 3rd photo, the camera seems to have focused on the farthest point. Notice that the top is in focus but the bottom is blurred. In the 6th photo, it's the opposite. Notice that you can clearly see the cracks in the cardboard box on the bottom while the top is blurred.)
The others look on par with what you should expect from your camera under those lighting conditions.
Remember that more megapixels doesn't mean better quality.
The following is just a tip. Lighting is important. Try to take your pictures with sunlight. Don't depend on your camera flash. If you use your flash aimed directly at your subject to compensate for lack of lighting, your pics will look terrible more often than not. (I see from the reflection off the rear of your iPhone that you're using a lamp as your primary source of light. That's not adequate...)
Shallow depth of field is not a bad thing with good lighting. It allows you to highlight certain aspects of your subject. See the following examples.
1st Pic, 2nd Pic, 3rd Pic
The 2nd pic draws your eyes to the bottom right corner while the 3rd pic draws them towards to the top left.
These were also taken indoors with a 10MP camera. But I used my Nikon D60 with SB-400 speedlight to bounce the flash off the ceiling.

[PHOTOS] ISOCELL camera discussion - my review is up!

We discuss ISOCELL camera technology and new camera features, photos shared on the internet, and Your user photos and videos here.
Features of the Galaxy S5 ISOCELL camera unit:
15.87 MP (5312x2988) 16:9 aspect ratio Samsung BSI ISOCELL sensor
PDAF (phase detection auto focus) for fast auto focus
4k video recording, [email protected]
Live HDR phoro and video preview (Rich Tone available for video)
Software image stabilization
Selective focus
Drama mode
I got my hands on the S5 thx to the guys at XXL GSM, so here's my review:
Since smartphones took over compact cameras as the most popular tool for daily photography, each manufacturer is trying to create it's own camera tech. Sony put the metal wiring behind photo diodes to capture more photons (BSI), HTC introduced the large UltraPixels, and Nokia came up with the large sensor 41MP PureView tech with OIS. Samsung only slightly adjusted it's sensor size (1/2.6") and pixel count (16MP with 1.12um sensor pixels) for it's 5th Galaxy S phone, but with a new sensor manufacturing method, they are introducing higher dynamic range and better color reproduction, in what they call "3D-Backside Illuminated Pixel with Front-Side Deep-Trench Isolation (F-DTI) and Vertical Transfer Gate", or because they're physically isolating pixels to decrease light crosstalk, "ISOCELL". For faster focus they also added a phase detection auto-focus layer (PDAF) delivering ~0.3s focal speed, plus image processing capable of live HDR and HDR video recording. Add sensor-level digital zoom in video, meaning you don't zoom into the 1080p picture anymore but use all the 16MPs, and the S5s new 16:9 sensor delivers a much needed step-up in camera technology.
In good light conditions the S5 rivals any rival phone in snappiness, white balance, color gamut and focal accuracy, also offering healthy amounts of details for print quality images. HDR works seamlessly and sometimes you can't tell it was on, only you realize little to no detail is lost to clipping, it works darn fast too, albeit with some loss of details. Facing directly into sunlight, and dynamic range stays solid without lens issues, color errors or aberrations, and noise levels are kept at a minimal. Jpg compression is slightly above ideal as seen in the smallest details, on the other hand, speeds are excellent, tap-to-focus and tap-to-shot is almost instantaneous, and the app opens and finishes the first shot from cache in about 1.5s, 2,5s from a locked screen. The S5 can take about 7 shots per second in a photo burst (long tap on the photo icon).
Check my full size daylight album with EXIF info here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157643999248563/
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In lower light conditions, as most small sensor smartphones, the S5 is a mixed bag, but an improvement in color reproduction, focal accuracy and snappiness over the S4. Missing are the optical image stabilization (OIS) and longer than 1/17s exposure times (Camera Zoom FX can do 1/10). The Photography app ranges from ISO40 to the very soft ISO2000 shots with manual setup available between ISO100 and ISO800 (Zoom FX does ISO1600 too). In dark conditions, if LED flash not used, you can turn on image stabilization (former night mode) to battle noise, and a multi-exposure of about 3-4 seconds (hold the phone steady) compiles an improved low-light image. HDR works too (with more noise on the sides), and while movement requires stability turned off with higher ISO or flash, optionally Sport Mode, overall I like the accurate color reproduction, which is a problem for many rivals. My biggest criticism besides OIS is the lack of 1/5 1/2 1s and other longer exposure times and manual control for it, at ISO100 with a 1 second exposure the ISOCELL sensor could capture much more details, and since the Lumias have OIS, they are better than the S5 in this category.
Full-size low-light album here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157643997683364/
The S5 works well in macro mode too with tight DOF, full-size shots with EXIF here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157643999323404/
Besides setting up ISO, exposure, white balance, resolutions, timer, voice control etc. from the menu, there are Samsung's various camera MODEs. Selective Focus shoots multiple focal shots of the same subject, and you can later select the preferred focal point - foreground, background or both - algorithm is not perfect. In Shot and more the camera takes a series of images before a fixed background, and allows you to choose Best photo, Best face, Drama mode to record multiple phases of a movement on one image, delete unwanted stuff with Eraser and add motion blur via Panning shot. The Shot and more editing menu comes up after taking the shot, later you can access it from the Studio.
Beauty face lets you play around with skin tones and stuff, Virtual tour is like moving around in Street View: you turn and walk around taking several shots in a house for example, and later revisit it virtually moving around with arrows. Dual shot places both camera images on a single shot, Animated photo creates a gif, Sound and shoot allows you to add a voice comment to your shot and Sport mode uses high ISO and wide focus not to miss any fast movement, have this one on with kids around. There are two Panorama modes, regular 2D one with horizontal movement, and the Nexus-like Surround shot that does 3D photosphere, with some inconsistency. Trick for a good sphere is to hold the camera lens at the same spot and move the phone/yourself around it.
Full gallery here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157644000900844/
The Samsung Gallery is quite advanced app, you get several views of you single images, folders and multi-folders with previews, and Air View helps checking content without tapping on it, hovering over with your fingers. Studio gives you a whole lot of options for editing, besides Photoshop-like functions and manipulations, you can make photo montages, trim videos, render slideshows and edit Shot and more mode photos.
Video recording is a great joy on the S5. Sound is clear (though I made the mistake of covering one of the stereo mics due to hand stabilization), software stabilization is quite usable and HDR is good, as well as recording in 60fps for smooth motion, though these are limited to 1080p resolution maximum. There's fast motion up to 8x and slow motion recording down to 1/8 speed without sound, but the real gem is recording the the marvelous 3840x2160 or 4k resolution, which is 4 times the pixel count of 1080p. Eventually we'll get 4k TVs and monitors, heck, tablets and phones come out with 2k/4MP displays nowadays which is almost there, so why not record in 4k right now? Just check the frame captures I posted below to see the details and low level of mp4 compression, you could print some of these frames. The trade-off is the lack of HDR, stabilization and 60FPS at this resolution, and a 5 minute clip limit since each 60 seconds recorded at 47MBit/s takes up around 350MBs. Yeah... In lower light you obviously lose some of the gorgeous details and noise comes up, but it's still quite nice.
60FPS sample 1: https://app.box.com/s/l5fwiyo0rfsm1wj2q328
60FPS sample 2: https://app.box.com/s/o1vlbzgjcel1pslw9nkv
Single frames: (click)
http://abload.de/img/vlcsnap-2014-04-12-00c0j9q.jpg
http://abload.de/img/vlcsnap-2014-04-17-142fjwg.jpg <--- 4x zoom!
http://abload.de/img/vlcsnap-2014-04-17-146ekni.jpg
http://abload.de/img/vlcsnap-2014-04-12-00aek89.jpg
http://abload.de/img/vlcsnap-2014-04-17-1486j80.jpg
http://abload.de/img/vlcsnap-2014-04-17-14tjk0l.png
http://abload.de/img/vlcsnap-2014-04-17-14lokom.jpg
http://abload.de/img/vlcsnap-2014-04-12-00kyj81.jpg
More frame captures here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157644093280315/
Conclusion
Overall the S5 camera is highly satisfying in this reviewer's option. I did not find a single case when white balance, saturation or exposure was off, operation is fast unless you have stability mode on in low-light, focus and dynamic range definitely improved, and you can choose among many video and photo options. Where's the biggest step forward? In consistency. Out of 10 shots you'll get good ones at a far better rate than before.
Obviously low light is the S5's weaker point, with less light you get softer images and need flash or high ISO to capture movement, but where you lose details to some rivals, you gain color accuracy, so Samsung's ISOCELL is getting there. Next stop should be OIS, but one thing they could do right now: allowing longer than 1/17s exposure times so we can set low ISO value and capture more dark details. Maybe the future Google camera API will open this option. Overall however, I think the shots speak for themselves: the S5 is a very capable shooter with some room for improvement, and you'll be able to pull many print-ready shots over your long usage. Just be aware: as good as the S5 battery is, things like 100% screen brightness and 4k recording kills the 2800mAh quite quickly, bring a spare battery or power bank.
Check the full gallery with EXIF info here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/
Tips and tricks
- Do multiple shots of the same subject, a good momentum or less handshake can later be selected out of the many
- HDR is one tap away, so do one with and without it, some shots look better with high contrast, others benefit from HDR
- In low light with movement, you have to use LED flash without stability, cause high ISO and longer shutter will not capture these moments with good detail
- In low light with stationary subject however, use stability, optionally LED, no HDR cause of noise. With enough lights you may try using ISO800 with darker results but more details. Much will depend on the amount of available light
- use voice commands to avoid tap-shake, hold the phone steady with two hands, optionally use a monopod
- try and use the photo Modes, some will do fancy images, others come handy like Sport mode to capture fast movement
- between Panorama and Surround Shot, I prefer the latter, cause it captures surroundings vertically too, so result won't be an overly wide image. The trick with photospheres is to not be close to the surrounding objects and have the camera lens in the absolute middle in space, and move the phone and yourself around that spot as the take the sphere images
- try alternative apps if they are better for you: CameraZoom FX, Focal, Google Camera etc. Camera Zoom FX allows 1/10 exposure and ISO1600 manually
- be aware not to cover the top and bottom microphones during video shoot. Best image quality comes from 4k, but image stabilization, 60FPS or HDR only works with 1080p, again best to test all these and later use the one best suited for you or the scene
- use AirView in Gallery, and try out Studio options for your recordings
- bring a power bank with longer photography tours cause a lot of camera usage and 100% brightness eats the battery quickly

Let's analyze! The first two striking qualities of the ISOCELL samples are: 1) eye popping wide dynamic range with rich colors, and 2) relative high noise and softness of the picture. I guess that's the tradeoff here.
Saturation is quite high yet not unrealistic, it simply looks to capture a wide color range, especially impressive in the Angry Birds photo inside. White balance is spot on. As far as Rich Tone (HDR) shots goes, it's pretty impressive as well, look how much more detail is presented without overprocessing the image. On the other hand, noise and softness is always present on these shots, even at low ISO, PureView and Exmor technology seems well ahead in per pixel sharpness. More to come.

men.. you are sure that it photo's from SGS5 ?

Pako7 said:
men.. you are sure that it photo's from SGS5 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. :good:
BTW, it appears that selective focus takes 4 photos or at least renders 4 photos, as samples played around with that setting have ~16MB size instead of the regular 4. So I guess the file can be shared and focus changed afterwards, wouldn't mind Google+ and other services allowing you to choose focus after upload.

BoneXDA said:
Yup. :good:
BTW, it appears that selective focus takes 4 photos or at least renders 4 photos, as samples played around with that setting have ~16MB size instead of the regular 4. So I guess the file can be shared and focus changed afterwards, wouldn't mind Google+ and other services allowing you to choose focus after upload.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but why you delete all info? including EXIF.. It's not secret

Again its not isocell ( probably they saving it for Note 4 or GS6 )
no new flash ( same old led flash )
indoors photos still look like oil paint -->> no OIS indoors and low light images will suck
overall i think it will be like most of Galaxy flagships : great images when there is enough light but when there is not the image will suck

I think it is ISOCELL technology, the photos on PhoneArena are really not bad at and higher 5s z1.

yahyoh said:
Again its not isocell ( probably they saving it for Note 4 or GS6 )
no new flash ( same old led flash )
indoors photos still look like oil paint -->> no OIS indoors and low light images will suck
overall i think it will be like most of Galaxy flagships : great images when there is enough light but when there is not the image will suck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is the 16MP ISOCELL sensor they developed.

Pako7 said:
but why you delete all info? including EXIF.. It's not secret
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, sorry about EXIF, I think that's the upload site doing, not sure why.

BoneXDA said:
Oh, sorry about EXIF, I think that's the upload site doing, not sure why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please re-upload a few full shot on other fileshare

These are apparently the official Samsung Galaxy S5 samples, normal vs. HDR
source, full size: http://www.mobile-review.com/articles/2014/mwc-samsung-galaxy-s5.shtml

Skander1998 said:
It is the 16MP ISOCELL sensor they developed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why they didn't mention anything about it in the unpacking event ? even the official spec didnt say anything about isocell
all i can see some news writers bs

yahyoh said:
why they didn't mention anything about it in the unpacking event ? even the official spec didnt say anything about isocell
all i can see some news writers bs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They just started mass production for the 16MP ISOCELL sensor.
http://global.samsungtomorrow.com/?p=34630
The article also mentions the new octa for the octa variant for the S5, also beginning mass production.
Samsung doesn't mention specific hardware specs anymore.

4k video sample in dim light:
yahyoh said:
why they didn't mention anything about it in the unpacking event ? even the official spec didnt say anything about isocell
all i can see some news writers bs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because Samsung never EVER goes technical about sensor tech, check their track record, they don't.
It is a vastly different sensor to the Exmors however, closer to Samsung own's Galaxy Cameras (softness of image, noise), but far superior in color balance and dynamic range, which is exactly what ISOCELL is all about. Add that announcers did show off new camera HW features and Android Authority claims ISOCELL was confirmed to them, so it's almost certainly that tech.
So where do you get your information that it isn't?

BoneXDA said:
All right, new stills from GSM Arena, normal vs. rich tone (HDR), direct linking so EXIF info should be included. Level of details don't justify 16MPs, but color reproduction and HDR quality is quite awesome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but I saw this "photo".. It's not include full EXIF (view software version - Adobe Photoshop Ligthroom )

Pako7 said:
Thanks, but I saw this "photo".. It's not include full EXIF (view software version - Adobe Photoshop Ligthroom )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Use this site, just copy image link:
http://regex.info/exif.cgi?

BoneXDA said:
Use this site, just copy image link:
http://regex.info/exif.cgi?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm.. you don't understand
I know how will view full_exif. Full EXIF will be for example such as (sorry by russian lang)

Pako7 said:
hmm.. you don't understand
I know how will view full_exif. Full EXIF will be for example such as (sorry by russian lang)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure I understand you.
GSM Arena samples show EXIF info just fine.

BoneXDA said:
I'm not sure I understand you.
GSM Arena samples show EXIF info just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok..
ps.. View snapshots from gsmarena, I found that on MWC_devices used camera modules :
16 Mp
ISP - Qualcomm
Sensor manufacturer - Samsung LSI
Release date - January 2014
Manufacturer of the module - is not yet known

BoneXDA said:
I'm not sure I understand you.
GSM Arena samples show EXIF info just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what he means, the S4 pic shows which fw the device was running, while the S5 pic shows Photoshop.

Xperia Z1 camera problem

Hello,
I recently bought a Sony Xperia Z1 and I have a thing I wanted to know, not sure if it's a problem.
When I try to take shots at night, before I press the shutter button the whole image looks very grainy. When I actually take the shot it comes out ok.
What it bothers me is that it's a big difference in quality between what appears on the screen before I take the shot and the actual picture which is ok. Is that normal?
Thank you very munch in advance.
Hope I made myself clear.

Yes this is normal in every phone. Not only the back camera, even the front works the same way

Thanks for your response!

Z1's camera does not perform well in low light photography

andreighi said:
Hello,
I recently bought a Sony Xperia Z1 and I have a thing I wanted to know, not sure if it's a problem.
When I try to take shots at night, before I press the shutter button the whole image looks very grainy. When I actually take the shot it comes out ok.
What it bothers me is that it's a big difference in quality between what appears on the screen before I take the shot and the actual picture which is ok. Is that normal?
Thank you very munch in advance.
Hope I made myself clear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The viewfinder gives you at least 30 frames per second, so each 'image' that is shown in the viewfinder will have at most a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second (or in superior auto mode more like 1/60). However, if you take the actual photo, you may end up with an image with a slower shutter speed. To make sure the viewfinder can give you 30 images per second, the ISO is increased (increasing the noise in those images) for the viewfinder frames so that the shutter speed can actually get to 1/30th of a second. After all, what you see in the viewfinder is basically 30 pictures per second.
So when you take a photo that appears less noisy than the viewfinder images, you can already guess that the shutter speed is probably lower than 1/30th of a second.

ron76426 said:
Z1's camera does not perform well in low light photography
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Herp derp. Z1 is top class regarding low light either manual or auto though manual is better depding on how light strength.
Stocka camera app, manual, ISO 100, shutter speed 1/8 and stock camera app manual, 'Night scene' mode.
---------- Post added at 04:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:00 AM ----------
[/COLOR]
Hermantje said:
The viewfinder gives you at least 30 frames per second, so each 'image' that is shown in the viewfinder will have at most a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second (or in superior auto mode more like 1/60). However, if you take the actual photo, you may end up with an image with a slower shutter speed. To make sure the viewfinder can give you 30 images per second, the ISO is increased (increasing the noise in those images) for the viewfinder frames so that the shutter speed can actually get to 1/30th of a second. After all, what you see in the viewfinder is basically 30 pictures per second.
So when you take a photo that appears less noisy than the viewfinder images, you can already guess that the shutter speed is probably lower than 1/30th of a second.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This and also after the photo is taken post proccess algorithms are applied reducing noise and more.

EQ2000 said:
Herp derp. Z1 is top class regarding low light either manual or auto though manual is better depding on how light strength.
Stocka camera app, manual, ISO 100, shutter speed 1/8 and stock camera app manual, 'Night scene' mode.
---------- Post added at 04:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:00 AM ----------
[/COLOR]
This and also after the photo is taken post proccess algorithms are applied reducing noise and more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Z1 has one of the best camera till date but still it lacks in low light photography..
I'hv been using z1 since it was launched and done taking most type of pictures
At night i was capturing a pic from a plan of a city while landing and it didn't capture well..the pic had green tint
But following updates made the camera much better but it still needs to improve in low light

ron76426 said:
Z1 has one of the best camera till date but still it lacks in low light photography..
I'hv been using z1 since it was launched and done taking most type of pictures
At night i was capturing a pic from a plan of a city while landing and it didn't capture well..the pic had green tint
But following updates made the camera much better but it still needs to improve in low light
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well all phone cameras lack in low light if you compare to high-end DSLR. But night time is the forte of the Xperia Z1+ series. No other phone even comes near regarding being able to do such high ISO while keeping decent photo quality in such harsh extreme low light situations in photo or video recording. Also as you go up with ISO the scene colors will dictate a lot. If you had green tint it means the dominating scene light was green and/or the surfaces where green like grass and so on. For example like the green lights reflecting on the window at night while you captured the photo (if you where in the plane when landing). Green hue will be visible and the high ISO will make it look like "night vision" mode. And long exposures is out of the question for such scene as you described as you are in movement and so is the plane which would result in a blurry trail mess else night scene mode or portrait mode would have given a detailed nicely lit photo at low ISO. The S6/Note 5 or G4 would fail miserably in such extreme situation.
Stock camera app (Lollipop 5.1.1, no unlocked bootlader, DRM present). First photo is to show how it looks IRL (1/8, ISO 400). Second is 1/8, ISO 2500. Third is same as first but different angle and 4th photo is 1/8, ISO 4000. I didn't even hit the max of 6400 which lits up way more. So low light capabilities of the Z1 either in night mode, portrait mode or high ISO is beyond the competition on the mobile phone arena. Heck even in lower ISO it is at the top segment!
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Stock camera..the picture did not come well..could have come better
It is noisy and thats because of the big size of z1's camera consor
Check z2 or z5 camera test samples..those cameras are improved
How long have you been using z1!?

ron76426 said:
Stock camera..the picture did not come well..could have come better
It is noisy and thats because of the big size of z1's camera consor
Check z2 or z5 camera test samples..those cameras are improved
How long have you been using z1!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Z2 and Z3 uses same IMX220 camera module. Z5 has some software that needs to be tuned but obviously better camera hardware. Your photo looks horrible. Tons of smearing, out-of-focus and movement blur. Might want to check your camera for decentered lens or scratched/greasy lens cover as something is wrong with your camera considering you even got decent night lighting around you there. Quite some time.
---------- Post added at 05:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:26 AM ----------
Also try out ProCapture camera app for night scenes if you want 'night mode' and 'portrait mode' at 21MP.
First one is stock camera app in SA mode. 1/8 and ISO 6400. Extremly dark environment.
Second one is with ProCapture camera app in 'night mode' at 21MP. 0.8, ISO 100. Night time at city, near pitch black sky.
Third one is stock camera app in manual at 21MP, ISO set to 100. 1/8, ISO 100. Night time city with very dark overcast sky.

Photo vs. pro mode

Not sure if anyone noticed this, but i just found out that under the "pro mode", the 10mb jpegs are a tad less sharpening than under the "photo mode" and a bit more natural.
I took two photos same angel in the two modes, and the shutter speed and ISO are the same in the two photos. For focusing, I did not do manual focus but simply let the camera does it thing and hit the shutter button after a few seconds.
Anyone found the same? The only site mentioning about this is photographyblog, but that review seems to talk more about the tweak from AI.

I have noticed the same. That is why I usually take the pictures with manual mode.

I take them on photo mode and edit them afterwards to reduce sharpness.
Call me old fashioned, but I find it easier to reduce sharpness in a sharp detailed image, than to try to sharpen up a crap image such as from an S9.
I am positively surprised by the quality of the 40mp photos in good light though. They just aren't quite as sharp or detailed.

40MP Pro max ISO = 6400, without tripod
40mp (40mp = max ISO is 6400) by Maik Reifschneider, auf Flickr
10MP photo Mode ISO 51.200, without tripod (max ISO 102.400)
photo mode ISO 51.200 by Maik Reifschneider, auf Flickr
night mode ISO 3200
night mode by Maik Reifschneider, auf Flickr
40MP ISO 6400, without tripod
photo mode 40mp (40mp = max ISO is 6400) by Maik Reifschneider, auf Flickr
10MP ISO 102.400 without tripod
photo mode by Maik Reifschneider, auf Flickr

Jonathan-H said:
I take them on photo mode and edit them afterwards to reduce sharpness.
Call me old fashioned, but I find it easier to reduce sharpness in a sharp detailed image, than to try to sharpen up a crap image such as from an S9.
I am positively surprised by the quality of the 40mp photos in good light though. They just aren't quite as sharp or detailed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sharpening of photos are a lossy-action meaning you actually loose detail compared to the original "soft" image as you say. When you then go back to soften the image you take it through another lossy process. This is not an ideal workflow.

I did more testing under different lighting conditions with 10 mb jpegs under photo mode (auto) and pro modes. By looking at the photos at 100%, I noticed that the strong sharpening happens in photo mode when the light source is either very strong or quite dim. The difference is very apparent. But, when the light source is neither too strong or dim, the photos between the two modes are quite comparable, with the pro mode photos still edging out a little less sharpening.
The sharpening kicks in to high drive when there is a warning on "hold steady and sharpening photo" during picture taking. The thing is, the warning comes up randomly? I can't figure out when the software decides to bring that in. Anyone figures this out?

Without owning the device myself (yet) my guess is that the phone decides to apply stronger sharpening based upon how much the user moves during the shot. To compensate for any possible motion and/or shake blur it boosts the sharpening as it will fool most users to still see a sharp photo. But i don't know, can't really tell yet until i have the device in my hands to see exactly in which situations this happens.
/ Magnus

Magnus3D said:
Without owning the device myself (yet) my guess is that the phone decides to apply stronger sharpening based upon how much the user moves during the shot. To compensate for any possible motion and/or shake blur it boosts the sharpening as it will fool most users to still see a sharp photo. But i don't know, can't really tell yet until i have the device in my hands to see exactly in which situations this happens.
/ Magnus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Brilliant theory. I'll test that.

photoxd said:
I did more testing under different lighting conditions with 10 mb jpegs under photo mode (auto) and pro modes. By looking at the photos at 100%, I noticed that the strong sharpening happens in photo mode when the light source is either very strong or quite dim. The difference is very apparent. But, when the light source is neither too strong or dim, the photos between the two modes are quite comparable, with the pro mode photos still edging out a little less sharpening.
The sharpening kicks in to high drive when there is a warning on "hold steady and sharpening photo" during picture taking. The thing is, the warning comes up randomly? I can't figure out when the software decides to bring that in. Anyone figures this out?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, based on my experience, when the scene you're trying to capture has got large differences in the bright and dark areas (high dynamic range), a sort of auto HDR mode of the camera kicks in and you will get the "Hold steady and sharpening photo" message. If you use PRO mode, the camera will not apply this auto HDR effect. Many people are complaining about this "over-sharpening" but I think it gives a nice effect in certain situations. What is less reliable is when the camera decides to enable this mode. I have been able to "force" this mode at times by touching the area which is brightly lit, this adjusts the exposure of the area selected and sometimes the camera will force this "auto HDR" mode.
Notice the first photo below - "auto hdr" did not kick in and i did not get the "Hold your device steady, sharpening photo" message. Because of the high dynamic range of the scene, the high-rise buildings in the distance are over-exposed.
In the second image, I touched to focus (and expose) the bright buildings in the distance and the camera applied the "auto hdr" producing the "hold steady" message. The high-rise buildings in the distance are then visible and the overall image gets a oversharpened look that many complain about.
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Here are my findings, not only regarding sharpening, but general camera observations. Hopefully we together can find out how camera works and how decides to apply the sharpening and other software tricks.
Photo mode:
- 3x zoom uses tele camera w/OIS, you can see it switches and the image becomes optically stabilized
- as mentioned above, on 1x, whenever you see the message to hold the camera steady, the image will be oversharpened and also some auto HDR will be applied
Pro mode:
- 3x will never use tele lens, but will always use software zoomed wide lens
- oversharpening and HDR will never be applied on 1x zoom
This is really bad UX, as you have to switch from pro to photo mode constantly if you want to use tele mode and not have software destroy wide shots.
I know that there is some great software work behind this, but I still wish there was a way to simply choose the sensor and get the output without any software adjustment: 40MP wide, 8MP tele, 20MP monochrome. In good light, 40MP produces much more detail than downsampled and software altered 10MP.

Spot on with regards to the zoom. Verified because in pro mode and zoomed 3x, the photo info says f1.8 while it says f2.4 in photo mode at 3x zoom. Thanks for the info. Didn't know this.

Ol' Blue Eyes said:
Spot on with regards to the zoom. Verified because in pro mode and zoomed 3x, the photo info says f1.8 while it says f2.4 in photo mode at 3x zoom. Thanks for the info. Didn't know this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, sometimes even in Photo mode it doesn't use tele lens (low light, focusing distance too close), but at least you can see it before taking the photo. Too bad it doesn't work in Pro mode, because Photo mode uses too long exposure (1/20s) so moving objects with tele lens are blurred.
I already contacted Huawei support about this, and asked if tele lens could be enabled in Pro mode, got only generic customer support response.
The hardware has so much potential, images are great, but software needs much improvement.
IMHO, Pro mode should have only 1x and 3x options: 1x results in 40MP image, 3x results in 10MP, that's it.
BTW, one more thing, if you zoom video to 3x (with pinch to zoom) it will also switch to tele lens.

Just discovered that in photo mode, if you change the leica colour mode to either smooth or vivid, the auto hdr never seems come on (no hold your phone steady message) . I haven't tested this extensively yet. Can anyone verify too? Cheers!

Ol' Blue Eyes said:
Just discovered that in photo mode, if you change the leica colour mode to either smooth or vivid, the auto hdr never seems come on (no hold your phone steady message) . I haven't tested this extensively yet. Can anyone verify too? Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes true. And thank God it doesn't trigger the hold steady thing, because in Leica color the over processing is staggering. Can't imagine what it would be if it combined with auto hdr steady crap

Ol' Blue Eyes said:
Just discovered that in photo mode, if you change the leica colour mode to either smooth or vivid, the auto hdr never seems come on (no hold your phone steady message) . I haven't tested this extensively yet. Can anyone verify too? Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did a few indoors tests earlier today against a window. Sharpening and auto HDR fired in normal photo mode and didn't in vivid, smooth or pro (I knew the last one wouldn't of course), so it does indeed seem like you might have stumbled onto something here.
However in these photos the standard auto with HDR and sharpening did actually look better than the others (because of the HDR, definitely could have done without the extra sharpening). So for now I will still feel the need to juggle modes much more often than on my previous couple of Samsung phones. I still feel like the P20 Pro takes exceptional photos in most situations though, it's really just the auto HDR situations that need to be readjusted. Fingers crossed that's going to happen in an update.