Related
Alot of the reviews says, nexus 6 camera experience has been a "hit or miss" from taking a good pic even with HDR on. Would it help to install a new camera app and do some tweakings over it, or better yet use an xposed module (if any) to fix the issue?
I'm a photographer. Here's the thing.
Camera reviews on cell phones are reviewed by gadget freaks, not photographers. They're interested in specs, they think megapixels are important, they don't even mention the important stuff.
Android L is the first OS to have a decent camera api. This will allow the nexus camera - which is only inherently different from the note 4 camera in terms of software - to vastly outperform anything on the market given a good camera app.
This mythical camera app should take advantage of a few things - full manual control. Exposure compensation and AE/AF lock. Auto bracketing. Proper metering, with selections for spot through to matrix. FPS control. Video control with framerate and resolution options, and the ability to manually control or lock exposure and focus. And finally, take advantage of L's .dng output, so we can work on this in lightroom after we're done. I don't trust my $2000 camera to spit out a nice jpg processed the way I want it, I shoot raw, I sure as hell don't trust a phone.
The nexus 6 looks to have some nice hardware. Let the software take advantage of it and you'll be happy.
tripler6 said:
I'm a photographer. Here's the thing.
Camera reviews on cell phones are reviewed by gadget freaks, not photographers. They're interested in specs, they think megapixels are important, they don't even mention the important stuff.
Android L is the first OS to have a decent camera api. This will allow the nexus camera - which is only inherently different from the note 4 camera in terms of software - to vastly outperform anything on the market given a good camera app.
This mythical camera app should take advantage of a few things - full manual control. Exposure compensation and AE/AF lock. Auto bracketing. Proper metering, with selections for spot through to matrix. FPS control. Video control with framerate and resolution options, and the ability to manually control or lock exposure and focus. And finally, take advantage of L's .dng output, so we can work on this in lightroom after we're done. I don't trust my $2000 camera to spit out a nice jpg processed the way I want it, I shoot raw, I sure as hell don't trust a phone.
The nexus 6 looks to have some nice hardware. Let the software take advantage of it and you'll be happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good post. My girlfriend is a photographer but her biggest complaints were:
- The lens should've been bigger (1.5/3 at least - according to her the sheer size of this phone would have allowed for a much bigger lens, even 1.2/3).
- The dual LED flashes would likely overexpose the images due to their placement on the back of the phone. Sure, aesthetically it can look good (depending on your preference) but logically it will risk adding too much exposure to photos. The Note 4, 6+, top Nokia phones with large lenses all have the flashes further away from the lens for example (for good reason).
- The type of flash (LED) wont be as good an xenon flash (or dual). According to her the phone body is definitely thick enough to house the bigger flash; this would reduce noise in the images and provide better lighting/exposure in photos.
She also mentioned that even with a 10/10 camera app which does absolutely everything you want, the photo quality will not be much better (maybe the same as or potentially still worse) compared with the Note 4 or even iPhone 6+. Yes the hardware might be similar but the placement of the flash compared with the Note 4 will affect the way the camera captures photos with flash enabled. As, even though TW in Samsung has major issues it does have very heavily optimised camera software which will always improve - better than every camera app that I personally know of.
Front facing camera however will not complete with the Note 4. From demo's , despite being higher MP than the iPhone 6+, the results are worse. I do not know why, it could be down to the quality of the lens in the front but the Nexus 6 FF camera quality isn't much better than the Nexus 5 (it looks the same to me).
spartanm99 said:
Good post. My girlfriend is a photographer but her biggest complaints were:
- The lens should've been bigger (1.5/3 at least - according to her the sheer size of this phone would have allowed for a much bigger lens, even 1.2/3).
- The dual LED flashes would likely overexpose the images due to their placement on the back of the phone. Sure, aesthetically it can look good (depending on your preference) but logically it will risk adding too much exposure to photos. The Note 4, 6+, top Nokia phones with large lenses all have the flashes further away from the lens for example (for good reason).
- The type of flash (LED) wont be as good an xenon flash (or dual). According to her the phone body is definitely thick enough to house the bigger flash; this would reduce noise in the images and provide better lighting/exposure in photos.
She also mentioned that even with a 10/10 camera app which does absolutely everything you want, the photo quality will not be much better (maybe the same as or potentially still worse) compared with the Note 4 or even iPhone 6+. Yes the hardware might be similar but the placement of the flash compared with the Note 4 will affect the way the camera captures photos with flash enabled. As, even though TW in Samsung has major issues it does have very heavily optimised camera software which will always improve - better than every camera app that I personally know of.
Front facing camera however will not complete with the Note 4. From demo's , despite being higher MP than the iPhone 6+, the results are worse. I do not know why, it could be down to the quality of the lens in the front but the Nexus 6 FF camera quality isn't much better than the Nexus 5 (it looks the same to me).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lens is proportionate to the sensor. On top of that? It's a fixed lens. They can make those extremely small when we're talking about phone sensors. There is also no mechanical shutter, meaning the lens can be even more compact. This is why mirrorless cameras have small lenses. This of course goes for cell phone lenses in general, but the reason is there's really no need to put a huge lens on a phone.
The dual LED flashes won't overexpose the image, don't worry. In the studio we use a ring flash - same concept - there are some versions that operate as a regular flash, and there's some versions that operate constant on. You can shoot with either. Studio LED lighting is even becoming a thing now, it's cool because you can control the color temp directly and change the brightness.. it's also always on so WYSIWYG. Either way your flash will operate TTL and will not overexpose Xenon - what a hotshoe flash uses - will just use a lot of energy and drain your batteries. LED is very efficient.
The ring flash appears to be too small to have the "ring flash effect", which is uniform lighting around a subject that is popular in fashion and hides blemishes.. I mean it's like the size of a finger. The source of the flash is too small to produce any meaningful difference between the "ring" flash and the regular samsung/iphone flashes. It's going to look about the same. If you see a difference, it's software.
I am just excited about the RAW support in 5.0. I am okay with an f/2.0 aperture on a device in my pocket. If I needed something better, my DSLR has a 50mm f/1.5 which is only a camera bag away
The problem I'm having with my Nexus 6 is lag. That is, I went into my 9 month old's room, and turned on the light. So, okay incandescent lighting, not too bright, but I wouldn't call it 'low-light', either. My little son is standing up in his crib bouncing around, and every now and again turning and smiling at me. I go for the shot with my nice Nexus 6....and in the FOUR SECONDS it takes for the camera to actually take the picture, he's looked away again. I tried several times. Each time, the camera did NOTHING for a few seconds and then took the shot when the window of opportunity was gone. WHAT THE HECK?!?!?! It didn't even look like it was doing any autofocus hunting.
THIS is very depressing. Anyone know of any camera apps that will actually, I don't know, take the picture when I actually ask it to?
Randy
I'm waiting for devs to work their magic on the camera. It has a great sensor (Sony IMX214) so the potential is there. I really wish they could use the G3's software because its great. Is there a way to make the G3's software work on the Nexus for the camera? It processes images really well and is very fast.
rmagruder said:
The problem I'm having with my Nexus 6 is lag. That is, I went into my 9 month old's room, and turned on the light. So, okay incandescent lighting, not too bright, but I wouldn't call it 'low-light', either. My little son is standing up in his crib bouncing around, and every now and again turning and smiling at me. I go for the shot with my nice Nexus 6....and in the FOUR SECONDS it takes for the camera to actually take the picture, he's looked away again. I tried several times. Each time, the camera did NOTHING for a few seconds and then took the shot when the window of opportunity was gone. WHAT THE HECK?!?!?! It didn't even look like it was doing any autofocus hunting.
THIS is very depressing. Anyone know of any camera apps that will actually, I don't know, take the picture when I actually ask it to?
Randy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have HDR+ enabled? If so that's why your focus takes so long. It's taking 3 pictures in a row and is great for still images. I find the camera with HDR+ off plenty fast.
---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------
On another note is raw format already being supported on the 6 or is it coming in an update. I'm no photographer but I'm extremely pleased how well the camera functions. I've only had nexus devices. The last phone I had with a decent camera was the Nokia n 5
Smallsmx3 said:
Do you have HDR+ enabled? If so that's why your focus takes so long. It's taking 3 pictures in a row and is great for still images. I find the camera with HDR+ off plenty fast.
---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------
On another note is raw format already being supported on the 6 or is it coming in an update. I'm no photographer but I'm extremely pleased how well the camera functions. I've only had nexus devices. The last phone I had with a decent camera was the Nokia n 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, HDR+ was NOT on, nor was the flash. I just wanted it to snap the stupid picture with as little muss n fuss as possible
I extracted the lib files and camera apk/odex from my g3 is there anything else I would need to make it work? I can get the framework from my system files if needed. I want to see if this will help the camera at all considering it had a lot of potential.
Pilz said:
I extracted the lib files and camera apk/odex from my g3 is there anything else I would need to make it work? I can get the framework from my system files if needed. I want to see if this will help the camera at all considering it had a lot of potential.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let us know how it goes
rmagruder said:
No, HDR+ was NOT on, nor was the flash. I just wanted it to snap the stupid picture with as little muss n fuss as possible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then something is broken on your phone. Completely stock N6, not even root let alone disabling encryption, without HDR+ or Flash... the phone takes pictures within half a second every time.
Smallsmx3 said:
Let us know how it goes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's still FC's even after I moved the camera.apk and camera.odex into the system/app and I wrote over the Nexus's libs with the G3's. I'm not sure why its FC's maybe I can install the framework.apk from my G3 and see if that works.
Try some low light shots....
tripler6 said:
I'm a photographer. Here's the thing.
Camera reviews on cell phones are reviewed by gadget freaks, not photographers. They're interested in specs, they think megapixels are important, they don't even mention the important stuff.
Android L is the first OS to have a decent camera api. This will allow the nexus camera - which is only inherently different from the note 4 camera in terms of software - to vastly outperform anything on the market given a good camera app.
This mythical camera app should take advantage of a few things - full manual control. Exposure compensation and AE/AF lock. Auto bracketing. Proper metering, with selections for spot through to matrix. FPS control. Video control with framerate and resolution options, and the ability to manually control or lock exposure and focus. And finally, take advantage of L's .dng output, so we can work on this in lightroom after we're done. I don't trust my $2000 camera to spit out a nice jpg processed the way I want it, I shoot raw, I sure as hell don't trust a phone.
The nexus 6 looks to have some nice hardware. Let the software take advantage of it and you'll be happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any chance for Slo Mo video (at least 120fps) with this "mythical camera app"?
rmagruder said:
Try some low light shots....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found this thread after searching for a better camera for my n6. Realized after reading your post that it is the low light shots that suffer from severe shutter lag. Pics in good light are perfect. Ugh. My original moto x Dev. Took awesome pics compared to this low light garbage
Cwoomer said:
I found this thread after searching for a better camera for my n6. Realized after reading your post that it is the low light shots that suffer from severe shutter lag. Pics in good light are perfect. Ugh. My original moto x Dev. Took awesome pics compared to this low light garbage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The pics are great when you are in a very well lit place. The moment you start to lose even a little light (semi lit), the camera really struggles. I'm very disappointed to start, but I'm going to stay patient and wait for Google to fix this.
Pilz said:
I'm waiting for devs to work their magic on the camera. It has a great sensor (Sony IMX214) so the potential is there. I really wish they could use the G3's software because its great. Is there a way to make the G3's software work on the Nexus for the camera? It processes images really well and is very fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The G3 is the best camera on a phone because of the hardware.. not sure if the software has much to do with it because I've switched camera apps on that phone many times and the pics still come out amazing
dannieloco said:
The G3 is the best camera on a phone because of the hardware.. not sure if the software has much to do with it because I've switched camera apps on that phone many times and the pics still come out amazing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The G3 uses the IMX135 sensor while the Nexus uses the IMX214 which is a better sensor. So in theory the Nexus 6 is capable of better photos if the software can back it up. The G3 still uses the lib's and framework from LG no matter what camera app you are using from what I understand.
Anyone know anything about the Slo Mo capabilities? Im wanting to buy the N6 but the Slo Mo feature is really important to me. Hopefully it is possible with the sensor which everyone seems to regard as a pretty high quality sensor.
Hi all. I jus bought this phone, it's great and all, but camera didn't deliver as expected. Moved from LG G3 to Z3 compact, and camera is of lower quality it seems. Some people say that superior auto mode takes better pictures, some say that manual mode take better pictures. I'm not specially interested in detail, it is obvious that 20mp shots do have a lot more detail than 8mp superior auto shots. I am specially interested in noise, sharpness and colour balance. Most of my pics are shot in low light without flash (at home, in the office, in pubs and coffe shops, etc). What mode does deliver less noise and more acurate colours? Manual or Superior auto? I have mixed results in my testing. Thanks allot
cornel.atomei said:
Hi all. I jus bought this phone, it's great and all, but camera didn't deliver as expected. Moved from LG G3 to Z3 compact, and camera is of lower quality it seems. Some people say that superior auto mode takes better pictures, some say that manual mode take better pictures. I'm not specially interested in detail, it is obvious that 20mp shots do have a lot more detail than 8mp superior auto shots. I am specially interested in noise, sharpness and colour balance. Most of my pics are shot in low light without flash (at home, in the office, in pubs and coffe shops, etc). What mode does deliver less noise and more acurate colours? Manual or Superior auto? I have mixed results in my testing. Thanks allot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you can find some answers in this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/stock-camera-google-camera-t2892515
charliebigpot said:
Maybe you can find some answers in this thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-compact/general/stock-camera-google-camera-t2892515
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have read this post, it's about stock camera app vs google camera. I am interested only in stock camera performance, not google camera. Thanks anyway
Manual is always better if you know what you are doing.
For indoors or night shots, noise is inevitable unless you use a tripod (at ISO 100/200) and/or your subject is not moving (handheld ISO 400/800). YMMV, increase ISO by a step if what you take is blur.
Auto takes night shot at around ISO 1600-6400 when not using flash.
For accurate colors, use manual white balance. If your scene has lots of neutral colors, then auto wb should reproduce accurate colors.
I use Auto Superior most of the time though, because composition and capturing the moments are more important than noise.
Overall I am happy with this camera considering its size, but it could be better as I believe the software is holding it back.
Pretty much everything is better than Superior Auto mode on this camera in my experience, but I also find the 20MP manual mode tends to waaaay oversharpen images. It's especially evident on high-contrast edges and can ruin many landscape shots.
Superior auto always seems to choose entirely the wrong settings. I've found it almost impossible to take artificial-light indoor portraits, for example, because they always come out blurred whatever scene mode and flash mode I use.
I'd like to pile on. As frustrating as the 2013 Moto X camera was, it's auto functionality, even if it was too aggressive, was much more effective than this one seems to be. I've enabled the 20MP Superior Auto hack but have yet to try it out. Not too hopeful. I wonder if the Moto X camera app is extractable?
LastSilmaril said:
I'd like to pile on. As frustrating as the 2013 Moto X camera was, it's auto functionality, even if it was too aggressive, was much more effective than this one seems to be. I've enabled the 20MP Superior Auto hack but have yet to try it out. Not too hopeful. I wonder if the Moto X camera app is extractable?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing is that even if you're able to port the Moto X app, chances are very big that the app won't be able to use all libs, etc. So in other words the ap still won't work to it's full potential.
Sent from my D5803
Please somebody port nubia camera app for our one plus 3t.
Bro, honestly I don't think anyone will port it. It might have some great feature but it will be a real pain. Porting the official oneplus camera to other ROMs is still not 100% complete, so I don't see anyone(or interested) porting it.
I am myself studying kernel and ROM development(actually starting) to build a ROM to my liking.
Reeb_Lam said:
Bro, honestly I don't think anyone will port it. It might have some great feature but it will be a real pain. Porting the official oneplus camera to other ROMs is still not 100% complete, so I don't see anyone(or interested) porting it.
I am myself studying kernel and ROM development(actually starting) to build a ROM to my liking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for replying...
I didn't knew that it requires so much of energy.. But the problem is camera quality of oneplus 3t is not up to the mark according to me.
I find too much of noise in pics except in bright daytime photos.
Do you also agree with this?
munmun said:
I find too much of noise in pics except in bright daytime photos.
Do you also agree with this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i do
munmun said:
Thanks for replying...
I didn't knew that it requires so much of energy.. But the problem is camera quality of oneplus 3t is not up to the mark according to me.
I find too much of noise in pics except in bright daytime photos.
Do you also agree with this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Better to request port whole of Nubia rom.
It had a better image output that way in yureka.
But for that will have to wait for a snap 821 device with Nubia ui
Navi44 said:
Better to request port whole of Nubia rom.
It had a better image output that way in yureka.
But for that will have to wait for a snap 821 device with Nubia ui
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you are right..lets hope 4 the best..
Learn to use manual mode to compensate for poor low light performance.
Also, you could save photos in RAW format and use POST processing to improve low light photos.
As someone else mentioned in another thread, the camera may not be great, but when you offer such a high-end device for half the price of other flagships something has to be sacrificed to justify that cost.
Personally, it's a comprise that I can live with.
munmun said:
Thanks for replying...
I didn't knew that it requires so much of energy.. But the problem is camera quality of oneplus 3t is not up to the mark according to me.
I find too much of noise in pics except in bright daytime photos.
Do you also agree with this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually its not the app which is difficult to port instead its features. For example, as far I know no one is able to port HDR+ from google pixel. Same goes with Nubia app. It may be ported but some features might not work due to incompatibility.
As for the quality of photos, it sure is bad in low light but in my opinion it is best in this price segment. Also I don't think camera app or as a matter of fact any post processing will make any huge improvement.
HampTheToker said:
Learn to use manual mode to compensate for poor low light performance.
Also, you could save photos in RAW format and use POST processing to improve low light photos.
As someone else mentioned in another thread, the camera may not be great, but when you offer such a high-end device for half the price of other flagships something has to be sacrificed to justify that cost.
Personally, it's a comprise that I can live with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with your comprise point but as you said its a personal choice and vary with every individual and for me its camera and screen quality.
After using custom kernel I am now happy with the saturated colors which earlier were too washed out.
But camera still sucks but not too much ..its just that imx 298 sensor with ois can do much better which oneplus is not able to extract from it.
Reeb_Lam said:
Actually its not the app which is difficult to port instead its features. For example, as far I know no one is able to port HDR+ from google pixel. Same goes with Nubia app. It may be ported but some features might not work due to incompatibility.
As for the quality of photos, it sure is bad in low light but in my opinion it is best in this price segment. Also I don't think camera app or as a matter of fact any post processing will make any huge improvement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used nubia z9 mini ..nubia z11 mini and both were amazing related to camera quality even with imx 234 and imx 298 without ois.
And our onpeplus 3t has got ois as well..still not able to produce what I expected from it.
I was too confused between nubia z11 and oneplus 3t before buying this phone but in end I made my mind for oneplus.
And now I miss nubia image processing..
Let's wait and hope.
Try this initial version of Nubia camera and it still does a pretty job.
Use its manual and fun mode..u will njoy.
https://www.apk4fun.com/apk/3407/
So for those who already own the XZ3, what are your thoughts so far on the camera??
For me, I've been happy with daytime photos and definitely the selfies are fantastic, but I'm not too happy with the low light shots, at least some of the time. While the XZ3 maintains Sony's ability to be VERY color accurate (unlike Samsung and Apple, and maybe LG sometimes?), it seems so far in low light it doesn't fare all that well.
What do you think? If you've found a way to improve the camera, ESP in low light conditions, please let us know what settings you implemented, or tricks you used. Also mention which mode you're in, though I'd prefer to keep this on Auto only, I will be open to Manual Mode suggestions as well.
Thank you!!
As I said on my previous post, the only thing I hate is the lens flare. Other than that, I'm pretty much satisfied with the camera.
This is from iArvee, who posted it in another thread:
"Comparing it to my XZP, I find the XZ3 to be better, especially in low light photos. Low light photos come out more clear, and less smudged in comparison with the XZP. However, I hate that there's a huge lens flare when taking photos in both low light or daylight."
That's cool! I too notice the lens flare, and have been in some cases lowering the brightness while in Auto mode to compensate. To elaborate more on what I said above, in low light, it just seems like the XZ3 in most cases keeps color accuracy but the details are smeared out more than they should be. I wonder if I don't have the best settings up, but Auto is limited there, so I dunno. To elaborate, here are some pics b/t my LG V30 (which uses the modded GCam ((same camera app found in the Pixel phones)) app) and the XZ3.
Thoughts? Any way I can make these better?? In both cases, the LG ones with GCam app seems to be more detailed. Though in other shots the Sony was better. The ones with the clock........zoom into the Glenlivet liquor box. Which one looks better to you? (Note: Waive mouse over each pic to see if it's LG or Sony.)
Note: I apologize for the Sony pics being rotated over. I have no idea why this is happening. lol Feel free to download the pics and rotate them accordingly if you wish for comparison's sake.
Here are some additional pics. Waive over each pic to see which phone took it (again, LG is NOT using stock but modded GCam app in Auto) and also the mode.
Looks to me that the Sony in Auto mode won out here, where the LG couldn't quite keep up.
The Sony Manual mode pics (HDR off and HDR on) came out the worst, proving that Manual mode isn't always better. Unfortunately, XDA isn't letting me upload those, but I can tell you they came out VERY dark and inferior to the two that did get uploaded to this message.
Thoughts?
I love how the colors turn out in low light. Sony delivers there for years. I also don't bother a bit of noise as long as the chroma noise is eliminated. But it is the end of 2018, they need to step up the game in Computational Photography. Something like a night mode on Huawei or Pixel Phones is missing. Something like HDR+. And functional Portrait modes.
If the Google Camera worked on the XZ3, it could be the best camera phone on the market. This sensors performance on high iso is sick. Gcam makes heavy use of multiple high iso shots and merges them together to increase the dynamic range and reduce the noise. So this sensor is kind of made for something like gcam.
A real portrait mode is also missing. The selfie one is ok, sharp but really flat looking, and making a lot of mistakes bluring out the background. But the downloadable portrait mode for the rear camera is total garbage.
Even though Sony App improved a lot compared to previous iterations, it feels like it is still 2 or 3 years behind.
I'd pay 100€ to get the gcam working on this phone. I'm pretty sure it will rock!
I'm satisfied with it but it doesn't hold a candle to the Xperia XZ2 Premium camera. I wish Sony would put all the best features into one device and call that the flagship. Xperia XZ2 Premium has a dual lens camera and 4K. The Xperia XZ3 has OLED screen. Make one device, with all the best features, and sell that. As it is, I carry the XZ3 to use as my phone and watch videos and carry the XZ2 Premium if I will be taking pictures.
madphone said:
I love how the colors turn out in low light. Sony delivers there for years. I also don't bother a bit of noise as long as the chroma noise is eliminated. But it is the end of 2018, they need to step up the game in Computational Photography. Something like a night mode on Huawei or Pixel Phones is missing. Something like HDR+. And functional Portrait modes.
If the Google Camera worked on the XZ3, it could be the best camera phone on the market. This sensors performance on high iso is sick. Gcam makes heavy use of multiple high iso shots and merges them together to increase the dynamic range and reduce the noise. So this sensor is kind of made for something like gcam.
A real portrait mode is also missing. The selfie one is ok, sharp but really flat looking, and making a lot of mistakes bluring out the background. But the downloadable portrait mode for the rear camera is total garbage.
Even though Sony App improved a lot compared to previous iterations, it feels like it is still 2 or 3 years behind.
I'd pay 100€ to get the gcam working on this phone. I'm pretty sure it will rock!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love the phone overall, and camera overall too. But when it comes to details, it's not as good as it should be. So I agree with you there that they need to step it up for sure!
Case in point............here are some more daytime pics I took earlier today (attached). The outdoor pics are superior to what I took on my LG V30 with modded GCam app (yes, I WISH there was one for Xperia!!!! lol), but when I come indoors, the XZ3 disappoints. When you zoom in, even with the movies one, it just doesn't look all that great. I'm honestly having second thoughts about keeping it sadly.
I even tried out some other camera apps off Google Play Store. NONE of them were as good as Sony's stock software, but that's not saying much. For overall pics, and also selfies (EVEN nighttime selfies), the XZ3 is fantastic. For wanting detail, it still isn't up to par despite it being a 2018 flagship.
Thoughts?
augie7107 said:
I'm satisfied with it but it doesn't hold a candle to the Xperia XZ2 Premium camera. I wish Sony would put all the best features into one device and call that the flagship. Xperia XZ2 Premium has a dual lens camera and 4K. The Xperia XZ3 has OLED screen. Make one device, with all the best features, and sell that. As it is, I carry the XZ3 to use as my phone and watch videos and carry the XZ2 Premium if I will be taking pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting. Very helpful post!
Let me ask you augie, how was the XZ2 P when it came to detail, both in daytime and low light vs. the XZ3 (please see my last post before answering)?? I am very interested in your opinion there. Please feel free to be AS DETAILED as possible!
Yeah it sux b/c the XZ2 P is 16:9, and I really really like 18:9 phones. But they couldn't make 4K in an 18:9 phone with the 845 chip I guess. So the XZ3 P next year will offer that up instead as I believe the 855 will be able to handle that. If I don't keep my XZ3, I may just wait for the XZ3 P then.
Wow ok. You shouldn't have to do that, but I guess you got the best of both worlds at least! lol
RockStar2005 said:
Interesting. Very helpful post!
Let me ask you augie, how was the XZ2 P when it came to detail, both in daytime and low light vs. the XZ3 (please see my last post before answering)?? I am very interested in your opinion there. Please feel free to be AS DETAILED as possible!
Yeah it sux b/c the XZ2 P is 16:9, and I really really like 18:9 phones. But they couldn't make 4K in an 18:9 phone with the 845 chip I guess. So the XZ3 P next year will offer that up instead as I believe the 855 will be able to handle that. If I don't keep my XZ3, I may just wait for the XZ3 P then.
Wow ok. You shouldn't have to do that, but I guess you got the best of both worlds at least! lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As always, good to hear from you. I will provide a detailed response with examples tomorrow. The short of it, XZ2P is the best Sony low light/night time camera I have had on a Sony phone. The 51200 max ISO makes this possible. Great point on the 4K screen ratio issue but what is stopping them from putting a dual lens camera with higher ISO in the XZ3?
augie7107 said:
As always, good to hear from you. I will provide a detailed response with examples tomorrow. The short of it, XZ2P is the best Sony low light/night time camera I have had on a Sony phone. The 51200 max ISO makes this possible. Great point on the 4K screen ratio issue but what is stopping them from putting a dual lens camera with higher ISO in the XZ3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Likewise old friend! Been a while too. Hope you're doin' alright!
Ok that's cool. I await that post!
Oh yeah that's right.........51200 max ISO! The XZ3's max is 12800. So that makes sense why the XZ2 P's would be so much better. I just REALLY wish they also had ISO on ALL these cameras. Then I believe they would be unstoppable. But Sony Mobile is SO damn stubborn about OIS. But hey, let's RANDOMLY put it on the XA2 Ultra's FRONT cam only!!! Not the main camera, or any of the ACTUAL flagships! Cuz that would be too weird and insane to conceive!! lol
I have NO idea why they didn't continue using dual lenses augie. But at this point I've made a final decision to return my XZ3. The main reason I'd say is the camera thing. But also, T-Mobile's about to get a new radio band, Band 71/600 MHz, and Sony didn't program it on this phone, so although I get Band 12, I won't get 71 when it does if I keep the XZ3. If they'd CERTIFIED it with T-Mobile then I would, or else if they wanted to ACTUALLY remove their heads FULLY out of their a$$es, they'd get with ALL the major carriers here and actually sell some phones! I've seen charts that show that the same time they stopped dealing with T-Mo and Verizon (2015) is when their sales here started to plummet. Coincidence? I think not. lol It just sux cuz I really love this phone.
Again, I look forward to your XZ2 P pics tomorrow. In addition though, can you tell me, is there anything CAMERA-wise that the XZ3 does better than the XZ2 P? I'm kinda hoping not, but I thought I'd read they made further improvements. Ughh I dunno! lol
Here are some samples from XZ2P. I am a photography novice but I thought these low-light pictures were the best I have captured with a Sony phone
augie7107 said:
Here are some samples from XZ2P. I am a photography novice but I thought these low-light pictures were the best I have captured with a Sony phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow!! Gorgeous man. Thanks for sharing!
So again, was there ANYTHING about the XZ3's camera that you thought was actually better vs. the XZ2 P's?
RockStar2005 said:
Wow!! Gorgeous man. Thanks for sharing!
So again, was there ANYTHING about the XZ3's camera that you thought was actually better vs. the XZ2 P's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There isn't, XZ2P camera is far superior in my humble opinion. Again, a photography novice so simply my preference is stated.
augie7107 said:
There isn't, XZ2P camera is far superior in my humble opinion. Again, a photography novice so simply my preference is stated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok. That's what I was expecting you to say too. lol
Very sad!! But also, hopeful for the XZ3 P!!!!! :good:
Let me ask you, if you have time, can you take some new pics with the XZ2 P of something specific? I'd like to see some close-up pics (within 5-7 feet) of anything with writing on it............boxes, DVD/Blu-Ray movie containers, etc. In low-light would be preferred, just to see how the XZ2 P handles it vs. the XZ3's weak a$$ for this. lol
Thank you!!!!!
In other random news lol.
Hello
For different reasons, I had to upgrade my vanilla S20 to vanilla S23 (though I was not entirely convinced to).
Although the phone runs incredibly smooth, the battery life is amazing, screen is the best I've ever seen, the most important phone aspect for me is the camera video and photo quality, especially during the daytime.
Videos are amazing from S23 and way better than S20's, especially in terms of stabilization.
However, the daylight photos, from all cameras leaves A LOT to be desired. No matter what photo is it - well lit room, landscape, greenery, plants, moving objects, from both main and Telephoto camera are noticeably WORSE than from S20 during daytime.
Photos are noisy as hell, does not have that much details and has too much oversharpening applied. Even using fake 1,1 "tele" lens from S20, the resolved details during the daytime are just better on S20, on all available zoom ranges. Oversharpening on S23 is so strong that it literally kills some finest details sometimes and makes all photos look artificial and unnatural. S20 photos, compared to S23 look as if it S20 was from far future compared to S23.
I am incredibly disappointed as I was expecting A LOT more from phone of that kind. S20 photos are just amazing and I expected something either similar or better.
Is there any way to reduce the oversharpening and smoothen the photos so that they are not that noisy? Or maybe force S20's camera algorithms to S23?
Expert RAW is a no go for me as it takes too much time to play with to take photo. It also processes these photos too much.
Thanks,
Maciej
I came from pixel 7 and I am also dissaponted a lot from the camera although I wouldn't say my photos have noise. It's this Overusaturation that Samsung does( I have turned off scene optimizer) that gets on my nerves. Also night photos are not good. I'm thinking of switching back to pixel.
Download the Camera Assistant software from the Galaxy Store. There you can adjust the softening of your images.
vzsolti said:
Download the Camera Assistant software from the Galaxy Store. There you can adjust the softening of your images.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have it and I see only option for automatic hdr and where to give priority, speed or quality
Is there a Google cam available?
ermacwins said:
Is there a Google cam available?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/gcam-port.4553443/
vzsolti said:
Download the Camera Assistant software from the Galaxy Store. There you can adjust the softening of your images.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thank you for reply!
I've been looking for something like this, although I'm not entirely convinced if there are enough options regarding eg. noise. Nevertheless, I will surely try it out and share my findings
Kindest regards,
Maciej
I have played with the Camera Assistant app and it helped a little bit indeed, but the quality is still far from perfect.
No matter what "Smoothening" level I select, there is still visible noise, but more or less "smudged" based on "Smoothening" settings. Finest details are also lost when any "Smoothening" is enabled (even the medium option).
Although there is some visible changes with Camera Assistant, I still preffer S20's photos as they are both detailed and noise-free.
I hope Samsung improves the Camera, because this is not what people should expect from the top tier Android flagships. Too bad is that March security patch does NOT include any Camera improvements.
You can also try to switch off Scene Optimizer or use Pro mode to take photos
Benoe said:
You can also try to switch off Scene Optimizer or use Pro mode to take photos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply.
Scene optimizer has been off since I first launched the camera. On pro mode the results are moreless the same - very noisy and tons of artificial oversharpening.
I've had an opportunity to compare my shots from last year's S22. I think there is less noise from S22 shots, so I believe this will get fixed by Samsung in the near future. BTW - S22's photos are still worse than my old S20's and that's the major reason I decided not to purchase S22 year ago.
I shoot and edit in RAW/DNG only. I like the S23 photo compared to my S21 phone.
Do you use Pro mode then?
Hi,
I have the same issue, as per the flagship tag, the photo quality is not that much great I would say.
Usually people taking photos just point and shoot no other special settings changes.
This camera taking 2 to 3MB picture with 12MP camera but too much noise and little blurry as well.
When I switch to 50MP 3:4mode then picture is capturing little sharpen as compared to the above 12MP camera, but it has very large size of picture around 8 to 12MB.
Even banana shape are also capturing specially on humans head.
I'm very disappointed with the camera.
If I talk about overall phone except camera then this is the best phone I have ever seen.
I don't know why every YouTuber is telling lie to us in camera department, they are saying camera is much better then the iPhone or Pixel but the real truth is this phone has very poor camera specially while capturing the photos.
My brother have Realme 9pro+ and he has taken photos on my daughter's birthday and I have taken also and I'm surprised when I saw the quality of his phone's camera photo, very sharp, no noise good quality and size is also not that much.
Thinking to buy pixel 7 or some other flagship kind of phone in exchange of this S23 because I don't this so Samsung will push the camera update on this as they are very much focused on 23ultra and they have bought every YouTuber mouth as well.
I'm very happy with the camera quality so far. This month we should receive a major camera update and it will get only better with time. I have compared the gcam output with the Samsung camera app and gcam is significantly worse. And yes I have used the config file as described.
I truly hope this match update will indeed improve the quality of the camera as this is simply bad now.
Moreover - I have also found many other issues as I keep using my S23 as a daily driver.
First - the video stabilization simply does not work. It did work once released and it was actually one of major improvements that made me amazed, but it seems like february (or march) security patch has simply destroyed this feature. The videos are completely without ANY kind of stabilization.
Second - I have noticed that the Super Slow Motion mode has a HUGE step back when compared to S20. I love this feature as this allows you, without any professional hardware, to capture interesting physical phenomenoms using just your phone, such as lighting up the lighter, break the glass/ice, or even see how the little bees' wings work. These kind of videos have always been unique to Samsung and I find them extremely interesting and I'm a huge fan of these.
While S20 did capture the real 960 frames for 1 second (quite a long of time for a smartphone), S23 captures only half a second and... it's certainly NOT 960 FPS, but rather 480 FPS artificially enriched to 960 FPS by the software.
The effect is that you can't see all the phenomenoms - bees are wingless, the glass breaks unnaturally (you clearly see it's more AI work than actual capture). I'm terribly disappointed.
Honestly I doubt this upcoming March camera patch will solve that many issues and I'm extremely disappointed that 1000 EUR phone is such a garbage in terms of camera. I agree with @Normas Interruptor
If I talk about overall phone except camera then this is the best phone I have ever seen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But the truth is that you can charge your battery if it's empty, you can still use the phone if it lag sometimes, you can play the games if you don't have full details. But you can't repair damaged and bad photo. Period.