Database Develop

Camera problem: red/blue/purple noise in low light photos

Hello everybody!
I am now a proud owner of an HTC One and I absolutely love it.
Its an SH35BW903846 and, build quality wise, its almost perfect - 99% perfect. No gaps, no dents, not dead pixels, no light bleed and not even the pop/crackle. It's running the 1.29.401.16 software.
The only problem I have (I don't know yet if it is a problem), is with the camera in night time and very low light scenes.
My problem is that in night shots and very low light scenes, the camera turns the black into blue (or red in very very dark scenes). For example, I included some photos, on a dark street with only a few light posts it turns black areas into blurry blue. Yes, it lets in more light (and more natural looking light) than my old One X, but the black areas are blue.
Not to mention, some times it has trouble focusing so a few of the shots I attached were taken after 2-3 tries.
Even more, in very very dark scenarios - see the last picture - it turns the blackness into red.
Now, my questions:
Is this normal?
Has anyone else had this problem (is it a problem)?
Can someone post a night time picture taken with their one in similar scenario and without the "blue"?
I am a bit worried because if it is a flaw than i would have to return my almost perfect One... :crying:
If the information below or this thread have helped you in any way, hit the thanks button
UPDATED 13th of November: I took my phone into service again. This time they didn't replace my whole phone, but they did replace the camera module. They put in a camera from SHARP, sensor date 14 october 2013. The first tests I've done indicate that they've finally found a way/a sensor/a manufacturer to make the damned camera perform in low light like it supposed to... See a photo comparison of the new camera here.
UPDATED 14th of October: A comparison test after getting the 4.3 and Sense 5.5 Update: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=46781359&postcount=3099
UPDATED (2nd of October) - If you have the same problem, please fill in this Google form made by @gogogaga7 so we can have a centralized data base with information about the units that are flawed. The form is here: http://goo.gl/HmRJqC
UPDATED (5th of July) - I just got a replacement for my faulty unit and I just posted comparison photos in this post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=43265994&postcount=89
Advice: If your camera gives you similar results with blue/red/purple noise in low-light photos -> take it back to HTC or an operator or repair service for a replacement!
UPDATED with Poll (13th of August) - Seeing how many replies and page views this thread has gathered during these couple of months, how many of you said they experience this problem and how HTC has not publicly recognized it (either as software or hardware fault), I added a Poll to see indeed how many of us are having this problem. Please vote!
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@VictorCozmei
Heya buddy! Yes this is the same as mine! I have been trying to create a discussion of this eversince and also found some users here with the same or worst than ours issue.
Apparently reducing the ISO solves the issue.
Anyways do you have access to other HTC One devices? Like demo on stores or relatives owning one? You could try by covering the camera lense with your hand. If it turns bright red then we must assume it's a normal behaviour of the camera. I can't really tell but I think this is happening because of the very aggressive sensitivity of light on our phones. I compared it with my previous phone and an ISO 100 on HTC One is equally similar to the ISO 400 of my previous phone.
Anyways if we can gather much feedback from users maybe we would know if this is a defect indeed(software/hardware) or just normal.
Also this should not be Chromatic aberration or at least similar to thos of the iphone 5 purple haze as it's like the opposite. CA and iphone purple haze is due to high contrast whilst ours is happening on low contrast areas.

^^^ @Riyal
Thanks for the reply. I thought for surely my post would go unnoticed and I'll be left alone with this potential problem even if there are loads of HTC One owners on the forum who can give a helping hand but just don't bother...
I don't have immediate access to another HTC One, but I will be following your advice and I will surely test them that way... Again, I sure hope this isn't a flaw in my phone. I would hate to take it back because it is so perfect in every other way :crying:
Just hope somebody else could join in the discussion and share their experience...

I notice a couple of interesting things when trying stuff out after reading your post:
If it's very dark (probably darker than what it was when you took the example pictures) the screen could be blue, red, or purple (a mix of blue and red noise upon closer inspection) depending on how much light I allowed back in.
If it's completely dark (put it down on a table), the screen is always red. This is actually pretty common among many sensors though.
Taking pictures with it at night in my living room with the tv on, the pictures are usually orange.
So it seems to me to be a property of the camera even when the camera is otherwise fine as I have noticed no other issues with mine. Thinking back to my old iPhone, I remember the pictures being blue just like your examples when it was dark. Maybe further evidence of it being normal?
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

@Xerro-Five
Do you also experience the same issue as ours? I believe it's a miscalibration. Or probably an issue with image sense chipset of HTC. Did any of you guys already tried directly ask HTC about this issue?
Anyways could I ask you guys the build number of your phones?
@VictorCozmei
Considering that this phone should boast low light capabilities I think this is not a normal behavior. What we should do is ask directly HTC if this is solved through software or hardware. As far as I know not all people here experience this issue else we could seen alot more posts about this.
Xerro-Five said:
I notice a couple of interesting things when trying stuff out after reading your post:
If it's very dark (probably darker than what it was when you took the example pictures) the screen could be blue, red, or purple (a mix of blue and red noise upon closer inspection) depending on how much light I allowed back in.
If it's completely dark (put it down on a table), the screen is always red. This is actually pretty common among many sensors though.
Taking pictures with it at night in my living room with the tv on, the pictures are usually orange.
So it seems to me to be a property of the camera even when the camera is otherwise fine as I have noticed no other issues with mine. Thinking back to my old iPhone, I remember the pictures being blue just like your examples when it was dark. Maybe further evidence of it being normal?
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Riyal said:
@Xerro-Five
Do you also experience the same issue as ours? I believe it's a miscalibration. Or probably an issue with image sense chipset of HTC. Did any of you guys already tried directly ask HTC about this issue?
Anyways could I ask you guys the build number of your phones?
@VictorCozmei
Considering that this phone should boast low light capabilities I think this is not a normal behavior. What we should do is ask directly HTC if this is solved through software or hardware. As far as I know not all people here experience this issue else we could seen alot more posts about this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well yeah, that's what I was getting at lol. Even right now for example it's dark and the blacks can turn blue and/or red. Again I don't think this is a problem but rather a normal behavior of image sensors (at least in my experience) so I haven't made any complaints or inquiries.
HT349W
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

Xerro-Five said:
Well yeah, that's what I was getting at lol. Even right now for example it's dark and the blacks can turn blue and/or red. Again I don't think this is a problem but rather a normal behavior of image sensors (at least in my experience) so I haven't made any complaints or inquiries.
HT349W
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@Xerro-Five
Check this post I made yesterday...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=42413954&postcount=6926
Some users doesn't have that annoying red/blue tint on their devices even when covered.
Here's mine
And here's from another user

@Riyal
Mine doesn't get red when i cover the camera with my hand and take a picture (or if i put it on the table with the camera down). Its black, but at night time and in extremely very low light it goes to red... If it finds a little more light than the black areas get blue, blueish or purple... And it gets very hard to focus for a proper shot, even if i point it towards a light source like a lamp post.
I took a photo with my hand fully covering the camera and it turned out black. I compared it to the one posted on the other thread by the other user, the one who uploaded his black photo for you so you could see the exif data.
Compared, mine was taken with ISO 400, the other user's photo was ISO 2000 ... Mine had thew birghtness -2.163531, his was -4.48546
What does yours say?

Mine is also saying 2000 ISO and brightness(based on properties detail on windows 7) 4.28472
This only mean 1 thing... Our phone's sensor is either uncalibrated or is just way too aggressive in collecting light.
I can only recreate a pitch black result by covering the camera if my I manually set my ISO to 400 or 200. Setting it to 800, 1600 or Auto shows up the reddish tint.
I already contacted HTC about this and sent a sample screenshot. Now let's see what they can tell.
@Professional photographers
What do you think this is? color temperature issue? Gain issue? I can modify these values in the kernel if someone can confirm me what might be the real issue is.
VictorCozmei said:
@Riyal
Mine doesn't get red when i cover the camera with my hand and take a picture (or if i put it on the table with the camera down). Its black, but at night time and in extremely very low light it goes to red... If it finds a little more light than the black areas get blue, blueish or purple... And it gets very hard to focus for a proper shot, even if i point it towards a light source like a lamp post.
I took a photo with my hand fully covering the camera and it turned out black. I compared it to the one posted on the other thread by the other user, the one who uploaded his black photo for you so you could see the exif data.
Compared, mine was taken with ISO 400, the other user's photo was ISO 2000 ... Mine had thew birghtness -2.163531, his was -4.48546
What does yours say?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

@Riyal
I tried again to take some shots with my hand closely covering the camera.... One picture was purple, the other one was red... In both ISO was 2000...
-4.4 in brightness

VictorCozmei said:
@Riyal
I tried again to take some shots with my hand closely covering the camera.... One picture was purple, the other one was red... In both ISO was 2000...
-4.4 in brightness
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I guess all I could say is.... Welcome to the club! lol! Now with so many users having this issue I don't know if it's indeed an issue or not. Is this the downside of having 300% more light in a low pixel resolution camera?
---------- Post added at 04:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:26 PM ----------
By the way I'm gonna go to our local telecom provider later since they have display units of HTC One here. I'll take a look and see if it also has the issue. Last time I checked it was a May build so it's a new batch.
*Hope it gets the same result to ease my mind*
I'm really gonna fret out if it's a hardware issue as I have to ship the device back to europe from asia just to get it fixed/replaced >.<

Riyal said:
Well I guess all I could say is.... Welcome to the club! lol! Now with so many users having this issue I don't know if it's indeed an issue or not. Is this the downside of having 300% more light in a low pixel resolution camera?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm looking at the anandtech review and I don't see this problem in their night shots... For example, this picture ( http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/gadgets/HTC/HTCOne/cameracomp/bench-HTC One.jpg ) was taken on full auto and it returned an ISO of 531 1/15s and all that was supposed to be black was black...
If I try something like that... I'll most certainly get an 1/7s and an ISO-2000...

VictorCozmei said:
I'm looking at the anandtech review and I don't see this problem in their night shots... For example, this picture ( http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/gadgets/HTC/HTCOne/cameracomp/bench-HTC One.jpg ) was taken on full auto and it returned an ISO of 531 1/15s and all that was supposed to be black was black...
If I try something like that... I'll most certainly get an 1/7s and an ISO-2000...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so... Look at the light in the area it's way to evenly spread out for yours to become reddish believe me I have tried it. For the photo to become reddish you basically need to have a very limited light source(candle in a completely dark room) for the sides to become reddish.

+1 on the above stated issues. When I cover the lens, the image turns red because iso shoots up. However when I manually set the iso lower (say 100), then the image is just plain black.
I honestly do not think this is a defect of some kind but rather normal behaviour with high iso settings. But when someone can take a pitch black picture with the lens covered on iso 2000 than we will have a problem

Riyal said:
I don't think so... Look at the light in the area it's way to evenly spread out for yours to become reddish believe me I have tried it. For the photo to become reddish you basically need to have a very limited light source(candle in a completely dark room) for the sides to become reddish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried taking photos in similar scenarios like the one on the anadtech site and my result was a photo with blue and purple-ish noise instead of the black that appears in their photos. All on auto on my device -> ISO 2000, 1/7s, blue instead of black areas

I was thinking the same as you before someone gave me this pitch black result.
Floris2310 said:
+1 on the above stated issues. When I cover the lens, the image turns red because iso shoots up. However when I manually set the iso lower (say 100), then the image is just plain black.
I honestly do not think this is a defect of some kind but rather normal behaviour with high iso settings. But when someone can take a pitch black picture with the lens covered on iso 2000 than we will have a problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VictorCozmei said:
I've tried taking photos in similar scenarios like the one on the anadtech site and my result was a photo with blue and purple-ish noise instead of the black that appears in their photos. All on auto on my device -> ISO 2000, 1/7s, blue instead of black areas
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure I could get exactly the same results with my phone. Even just a single street light is enough to remove the reddish tint on the camera. However what I find odd is flourescent lights can't remove it.

@VictorCozmei @Floris2310 @Xerro-Five
Confirmed! We have a weird sensor on our devices. I manage to play with another HTC One in a store here in our place and it's indeed having perfect pitch black images

damn, bad news then. Probably a stupid question but did you check the ISO settings on the device?
There are two possible scenarios here:
1) We have a sensor which is acting weird/broken
2) There is something wrong with the ISO selection and it typically takes an ISO to high which causes the red image
I think (read: hope) the second option is more likely and the good news is that this would probably be a software rather than hardware issue.
Anyway, thanks @Riyal for checking this!

@Riyal
This is horrible :crying: @#$%!
If this is truly confirmed and there are a number of One's out there with broken sensors, than I think this thread should be renamed so that all users know about this problem. Maybe some of them, looking to buy the One, can do the camera test before purchasing a faulty unit!
I just got my One and I'm falling in love with it and now I have to take it back and be without it... More over, the great HTC-partner service we have here doesn't not know the meaning of the word "replacement" and they will most surely try to open and fix it (oh the horror!!) ...

VictorCozmei said:
@Riyal
This is horrible :crying: @#$%!
If this is truly confirmed and there are a number of One's out there with broken sensors, than I think this thread should be renamed so that all users know about this problem. Maybe some of them, looking to buy the One, can do the camera test before purchasing a faulty unit!
I just got my One and I'm falling in love with it and now I have to take it back and be without it... More over, the great HTC-partner service we have here doesn't not know the meaning of the word "replacement" and they will most surely try to open and fix it (oh the horror!!) ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would wait a little longer before returning the device. The 4.2.2 update is just around the corner and I have read somewhere that there are some camera improvements. Perhaps the issue is fixed with the update. If it's a software problem that is.

Is my camera broken, or I need to play with settings?

Hi all,
I have bought the phone yesterday, stock, unlocked latest software.
Look at those pictures, especially white birds... Ridiculous, even some white tint over seagulls, zero details on white feathers.
No sun, normal Irish day..
Please comment... Stock camera settings.
http://db.tt/BnlPNQqy
http://db.tt/PTM8fnBE

are you on 1.29?

the photo`s are overexposed, the one sets the exposure on what it is focusing on, so i would have though it focused on the dark water and raised the exposure, that`s is why the white birds are overexposed, if you focused on a white bird, the one would reduce the exposure, and give more detail on the birds.
You know you can touch the screen to focus, but there is a setting in the menu to take a photo automatically when you click on an area of the screen.
I wish there was an total area exposure mode instead of the focus spot one.
John.

that ^
I'm not an expert but, I think you just need to focus manually (press on the screen to focus as Tinderbox said) to avoid an overexposed picture...

valdigre said:
Hi all,
I have bought the phone yesterday, stock, unlocked latest software.
Look at those pictures, especially white birds... Ridiculous, even some white tint over seagulls, zero details on white feathers.
No sun, normal Irish day..
Please comment... Stock camera settings.
http://db.tt/BnlPNQqy
http://db.tt/PTM8fnBE
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's called metering. When you tap on the water to focus (dark), the camera turns the light up so that the water is clearly visible and perfectly exposed. But since you're making dark brighter, the brights will naturally be even brighter. You want the feathers to show detail, you tap on them and it adjusts the light so that they are darker and you can see detail at the expense of even darker water.
Your best bet in these kind of high contrast situations is to use HDR mode. It takes 1 under-exposed image (dark) and 1 slightly over-exposed image (bright) and merges the 2 together. Dark areas will be brighter and bright areas will be darker, giving the image a little fake look, but evenly exposed throughout.
On dSLRs, HDR actually takes THREE images to combine (sometimes even 5). This gives the processor more choices to pick and choose the best parts of each image to merge to a final picture.

SLver said:
that ^
I'm not an expert but, I think you just need to focus manually (press on the screen to focus as Tinderbox said) to avoid an overexposed picture...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your replies, guys.
I don't remember now, what I have been focusing on - was it the swans/seagulls or dark water, pavement. I think I tried both, focusing on different areas of the screen and the result was the same.
Same goes for videos, birds are overblown and shine like some white lanterns...
My firmware is 1.29.401.16

yeah do some metering and try different types of shots,

valdigre said:
Thanks for your replies, guys.
I don't remember now, what I have been focusing on - was it the swans/seagulls or dark water, pavement. I think I tried both, focusing on different areas of the screen and the result was the same.
Same goes for videos, birds are overblown and shine like some white lanterns...
My firmware is 1.29.401.16
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just some samples to explain my previous post. First pic is me focusing on the wall, which is dark. The wall is now not but my lightsource is completely blown out.
As one pic shows me focusing on the light. Since it's bright, the camera has to darken the whole scene so I can actually see the object I focused on, turning the rest of the scene dark.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

Guys, I know what you all mean, I know how to make pictures, good ones. It is the first phone I have that in auto mode makes such a scrappy photos...
Look at those:
http://db.tt/zBmK28lA
http://db.tt/KlhAMEKs
Those are pathetic details on whites, I was focusing on white feathers and still terrible. I even lowered exposure but this is not ideal as well. Hdr photos are the same for whites, still overblown...
Camera fault?

It's just the camera. I tested it against an s4 and an Xperia z. Indoor shots were way better on the one than either of them but both beat out the one hands down when it came to outdoor shots. I have tried everything and can't get a really good outdoor shot. I would like to see the result of someone porting the Xperia z camera app to our device but I don't know if it is possible.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app

valdigre said:
Guys, I know what you all mean, I know how to make pictures, good ones. It is the first phone I have that in auto mode makes such a scrappy photos...
Look at those:
http://db.tt/zBmK28lA
http://db.tt/KlhAMEKs
Those are pathetic details on whites, I was focusing on white feathers and still terrible. I even lowered exposure but this is not ideal as well. Hdr photos are the same for whites, still overblown...
Camera fault?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those first picture is terrible...
Could you post more pictures because that kind of terrible picture i have never had with the htc one...
So we can see if its realy broken

valdigre said:
Guys, I know what you all mean, I know how to make pictures, good ones. It is the first phone I have that in auto mode makes such a scrappy photos...
Look at those:
http://db.tt/zBmK28lA
http://db.tt/KlhAMEKs
Those are pathetic details on whites, I was focusing on white feathers and still terrible. I even lowered exposure but this is not ideal as well. Hdr photos are the same for whites, still overblown...
Camera fault?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looks just like what ArmedandDangerous explained. In the first picture you seem to be focused on the water and the second it looks like you're focused on the birds.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

SkizzMcNizz said:
It looks just like what ArmedandDangerous explained. In the first picture you seem to be focused on the water and the second it looks like you're focused on the birds.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey guys,
The problem is, that some extra white/bright objects are too small for the camera to catch focus for and adjust the settings.
I played with settings a bit over the weekend and the camera focuses OK on brighter objects, as long as they are big enough...
A bit of a shame, nor my Lumia 920, nor even galaxy S2 has problems like this... I guess, I can live with it, though

Real Camera Experience - P20 Pro Vs Pixel 2 XL - DxoMark lies? or faulty software?

I have both devices currently and from my very brief short time with the P20 pro , the pictures taken with it don't even come close to the quality you can get from the Pixel 2 XL.
Please tell me its just a case of faulty software, else I think I may be taking this phone back sadly.
Problems so far
Images lack any real detail and are very soft
HDR mode still hidden
Night Mode whilst great is still a 4 sec picture.. (but still soft ) - (The advantage you get from those 4 secs does not seem worth it from my quick test - but i'll keep testing)
Camera UI is rubbish... (subjective i know)
But it will be interesting to know if anyone else as similar experiences , as most reviewers online appear to suggest that this is the best camera phone ever!

Can't say my photos come out soft, mine are pretty close to what I see with my eyes. Not as sharp as some cameras that seem to over sharpen via post processing. More natural images than most cams I have used.
With the P20 Pro you do have to fiddle a bit in different situations, it's definitely not as versatile as the pixel if you just want to point and shoot. Some of my pics come out better when I bump up the megapixels. Some need nightmode or for me to disable the AI.
You can adjust pretty much everything. You don't need to always take 4 second night shots, you can adjust the time for the situation. Sometimes a second is enough.
The UI is a bit of a pain I agree, although I did expect that with the sheer amount of options provided. There is a lot going on. I'm having great success in Pro mode in my limited testing so far. It is a bit or a learning curve with the P20 Pro compared to other phones though for sure.
---------- Post added at 10:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:13 AM ----------
I forgot to add that the front camera is a different story, not that I take many selfies but...damn. Beauty mode seems to be undefeatable. Even when turned off I come out looking like a Ken doll. They really need to provide some kind of fix for that. The camera itself is capable of better pics, looks like they gimped the software.
I emailed them about it, because as it is, it's not that useful.

What i can say from my experience using several huawei phone is that, ever since P9,
The phone built with a photographer user (not really common point and shoot user) in mind,
Manual or semi auto setting always work best in various condition. Especially if the user understand well the corelation between apperture size, speed and ISO sensitivity and how it affect the picture quality/result.
That being said, someone who come from pixel 2 (i own pixel 2 xl myself as well) might find that the camera app UI and the auto mode is not as easy/versatile to use compare to google one. But the potential is definitely there.
Honestly, when using huawei camera, i mostly shoot in RAW and do the post processing later on myself. Auto mode is good enough for daily usage like shooting food or friend for instagram use. But the true power is in manual mode. Thats where all those leica software engineer chime in.

Thanks guys
Can you give me some examples of your images after post-processing ?
I'm more than happy to use pro mode (I also had a V30) , but even in pro the images just don't look right at all.
Also it was mentioned that the colours are more true to life but again i'm not seeing this when compared to the pixel (I took a very quick random picture of a orange t-shirt and it came out yellow on the p20 pro... )

Horses for courses. If you only want to point n shoot then Pixel or S9, if you're more into photography than that then easily the P20 Pro over anything else on the market right now. DxO ratings have always correlated poorly to actual general use, I thought everyone had worked that out by now.

Highspeed123 said:
Can't say my photos come out soft, mine are pretty close to what I see with my eyes. Not as sharp as some cameras that seem to over sharpen via post processing. More natural images than most cams I have used.
With the P20 Pro you do have to fiddle a bit in different situations, it's definitely not as versatile as the pixel if you just want to point and shoot. Some of my pics come out better when I bump up the megapixels. Some need nightmode or for me to disable the AI.
You can adjust pretty much everything. You don't need to always take 4 second night shots, you can adjust the time for the situation. Sometimes a second is enough.
The UI is a bit of a pain I agree, although I did expect that with the sheer amount of options provided. There is a lot going on. I'm having great success in Pro mode in my limited testing so far. It is a bit or a learning curve with the P20 Pro compared to other phones though for sure.
---------- Post added at 10:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:13 AM ----------
I forgot to add that the front camera is a different story, not that I take many selfies but...damn. Beauty mode seems to be undefeatable. Even when turned off I come out looking like a Ken doll. They really need to provide some kind of fix for that. The camera itself is capable of better pics, looks like they gimped the software.
I emailed them about it, because as it is, it's not that useful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you please share some of the settings that helped you? I for one am not able to find the setting to disable the AI [Edit - Did you mean the Master AI setting? It seems to only affect the Photo mode]

Not a point an shoot quite yet
I would say the Samsung Note 8 or S8/9 are easier to use but the colours on the P20 Pro seem more realistic once you have disabled AI.
If you like to work in Pro mode and use the manual focus you can get some very good results on the P20 Pro but everything set to auto and its random whether the shot works out or not.
In particular for close ups manual focus is infinitely more effective than trying to wait for the auto focus which sometimes fails completely.
If you use the P20 Pro like you would a camera the depth of abilities are way up there but AI doesn't quite work well enough yet to provide reliable results.
Remember DX0 is only about sensors not ease of use or UI etc its just about sensor performance.
My 2p worth..

After more playing around with the p20 pro i've come to the conclusion that its not for me.
I'm more of a point and shoot guy and the p20 pro is too random with its pictures to really be a good point and shoot.
I'm going to stick with the pixel 2 xl, and would advise anyone looking for a simple point and shoot camera to look elsewhere.
P.S Surely the LG V30's manual mode is superior to the p20 pro if you want to play with manual settings?

Tiger33 said:
After more playing around with the p20 pro i've come to the conclusion that its not for me.
I'm more of a point and shoot guy and the p20 pro is too random with its pictures to really be a good point and shoot.
I'm going to stick with the pixel 2 xl, and would advise anyone looking for a simple point and shoot camera to look elsewhere.
P.S Surely the LG V30's manual mode is superior to the p20 pro if you want to play with manual settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would agree with you, if you simply need a point and shoot camera. Pixel 2 XL wil do better for you
P20 Pro, just like the "Pro" moniker it bring along, will suit a seasoned photographer more.
As for manual mode conparison between LG v30 and P20, i would say, no. LG is nowhere close to huawei manual/pro mode. But again, that is a subjectivity. Someone who were common with a DSLR / Mirrorless camera manual set up, will appreciate huawei software more. Since it resemble their old "real" camera gear more. DxO is quite an oldtimer in photography area, and what they did with their test, is what normally a photographer will do as well. Unfortunately, thats not always the case with the rest of mobile phone user. Thats why the result is oftenly unrelateable.
Btw, before you actually ditch your P20 pro, can you give it one more chance, but this time,
Try to shoot everything using night mode (even in daylight). I think you will find the result totally different with your previous experience.
Thats all i can suggest for now. If you wonder, why nigh mode ?? Maybe this video can help you get a better idea :

Tiger33 said:
P.S Surely the LG V30's manual mode is superior to the p20 pro if you want to play with manual settings?
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I don't think the number of settings and the options given to the photographer are nearly as good with LG. Huawei are in a class of their own in that regard, at the moment. UI can definitely be improved a bit though.
Also, the V30 uses a tiny 1/2.9" sensor, like the iPhones.

Right, I've created a very quick group in flickr with some pictures taken with both p20 pro and pixel 2 xl.
would love to get your opinions.
In all cases i'm just using Auto with no AI for the P20 Pro,
https://www.flickr.com/groups/[email protected]/
Again in my eye the pixel 2 xl is 'alot' better than the P20 Pro ( bad photographer? = me )
So yes i just pointed, focused and shot the picture.
Just using auto and no AI for the pictures too.
let me know if you think i should adjust settings and i'll continue making adjustments.
I have a few more days with phone before making final decision.

I've added another 3 pictures to the group
https://www.flickr.com/groups/[email protected]/
1 taken with pixel 2 xl
1 taken with p20 pro auto
1 taken with p20 pro night mode (as suggested earlier)
Night mode just appears to oversharpen the image badly IMO?? , whilst auto is too soft
Picture 7 - P20 Pro - Night Mode
Picture 7 - P20 Pro - Auto
picture 7 - Pixel 2 XL

Looks to me very close although I think the P20 shots on Auto are a slightly over exposed but have less noise and the Pixel shots are better exposed but have more noise.
I would say the P20 will be better for night shots if you are happy waiting 6 seconds for a shot, but the Pixel 2 XL will take better auto day time shots.

Tiger33 said:
Right, I've created a very quick group in flickr with some pictures taken with both p20 pro and pixel 2 xl.
would love to get your opinions.
In all cases i'm just using Auto with no AI for the P20 Pro,
https://www.flickr.com/groups/[email protected]/
Again in my eye the pixel 2 xl is 'alot' better than the P20 Pro ( bad photographer? = me )
So yes i just pointed, focused and shot the picture.
Just using auto and no AI for the pictures too.
let me know if you think i should adjust settings and i'll continue making adjustments.
I have a few more days with phone before making final decision.
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Click to collapse
iI've checked your album,
and i would agree that the roof top auto result from P20 Pro is lPretty bad. Sky was overblown. And pedestrian area is not looks that good as well. But for the night mode shoot, i wont say that as an oversharpen image though. The detail on trhe brick is quite good, sky is not clipping, and in overall, it has less noise compared to the pixel 2XL.
same case with ST. Pancras shot, i would say that in term of detail and noise level, P20 pro has an advantage here. You can check the detail on the top decoration, as well as near the ceiling. While Pixel 2 XL already abit of smudgy because of the noise, P20 result still showing the fine detail. So am not sure what you mean by "soft". (check my attachment to understand which area am talking about)
what confused me is the dinning room shot. I check the ISO and Shutter Speed of both shot. And in both shoot, Pixel 2 using faster shutter speed and lower ISO, yet the result is much darker in P20 Pro shot. This doesn't really go well with a photography theory, LoL. Slower speed and higher ISO should always resulting abrighter image. Yet the P20 Pro image is so bad at retaining the dark area.
May i know some details from you :
1. How do you point your focus/metering ? Do you always focus on same area/spot when shooting using the two phones ?
2. What resolution did you use on P20 Pro ? 40MP or 10MP ? 40MP use full resolution, but will deject the post processing, causing softer & darker image, but good for self post editing. But will looks bad if you plan to use the picture directly. In contrary, 10MP will use the post processing engine more, resulting in more pleasant picture for mobile use.

Sorry i left the attachment

otonieru said:
iI've checked your album,
and i would agree that the roof top auto result from P20 Pro is lPretty bad. Sky was overblown. And pedestrian area is not looks that good as well. But for the night mode shoot, i wont say that as an oversharpen image though. The detail on trhe brick is quite good, sky is not clipping, and in overall, it has less noise compared to the pixel 2XL.
same case with ST. Pancras shot, i would say that in term of detail and noise level, P20 pro has an advantage here. You can check the detail on the top decoration, as well as near the ceiling. While Pixel 2 XL already abit of smudgy because of the noise, P20 result still showing the fine detail. So am not sure what you mean by "soft". (check my attachment to understand which area am talking about)
what confused me is the dinning room shot. I check the ISO and Shutter Speed of both shot. And in both shoot, Pixel 2 using faster shutter speed and lower ISO, yet the result is much darker in P20 Pro shot. This doesn't really go well with a photography theory, LoL. Slower speed and higher ISO should always resulting abrighter image. Yet the P20 Pro image is so bad at retaining the dark area.
May i know some details from you :
1. How do you point your focus/metering ? Do you always focus on same area/spot when shooting using the two phones ?
2. What resolution did you use on P20 Pro ? 40MP or 10MP ? 40MP use full resolution, but will deject the post processing, causing softer & darker image, but good for self post editing. But will looks bad if you plan to use the picture directly. In contrary, 10MP will use the post processing engine more, resulting in more pleasant picture for mobile use.
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Yep that is what was so frustrating, I noticed the night shot of St pancras Hotel sign and could see it looked do much better yet that was the only example
All other pictures the pixel looked better
I'm using 10MP and I'm focusing on the same area with both phones

otonieru said:
Sorry i left the attachment
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Which images are taken with which phone?

scook94 said:
Which images are taken with which phone?
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Warmer tone is P20 Pro

otonieru said:
Warmer tone is P20 Pro
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Images 2&4? They certainly seem the superior pictures.

So far I'm not too wowed by the camera either :/
Hoping to learn to use it properly because some sample shots I've seen look amazing but I can't seem to get anything like that.

Blurred photo on moving objects

Hi any advice please.
When taking a photo of someone who is moving or waving that body part is blurred.
Is there a certain setting required.
Many thanks
Richard

use pro mode higher iso lower shutter

Thanks for reply. Would have thought just the normal photo mode would have done a better job. I know it was a pic taken in a bowling alley but not that dark!

It all depends on the available light, auto mode cannot itself determine the shutterspeed required to freeze a subjects motion in whatever type of ambient light it has to work with. That's when you should use Pro mode as suggested and feed it with a suitable settings for the subject you are trying to capture.
/ Magnus

I find the P20 Pro to take very sharp pictures of moving objects compared to many other phones...shutter speed is instant even in dimmer conditions

For someone waving, a shutter speed of 1000 could be enough. That requires a lot of light and unless it's a bright sunny day, it's not happening on a smartphone camera.

Just buy the pixel it dies the job way better. Huawei cameras are over rated

The nokia n8, a 10 year old phone did a fantastic job of frozen motion pictures, the xenon flash made a huge difference, you didnt need pro mode and all this complicated stuff, I cant believe nobody makes phone cameras like that anymore.

nsn27 said:
Just buy the pixel it dies the job way better. Huawei cameras are over rated
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Pixel cameras are the one over rated, my pixel 3 do screw photos of moving object more often than my huawei P20 pro or my P30 pro, and Top shot gives AWFUL 1Megapixel size photos that are kind of a joke

Question Human Face Picture bit darker than normal

I bought redmi note 10 pro max somedays ago. Normal shots of this phone is fine. But when I click photos of human face it is bit darker than normal. My other phones picture is more natural and real. But this one is bit darker and it can be really annoying sometimes. Attached some picture sample here. 1st picture is from Note 10 pro max and 2nd one is from Redmi 4x I am on miui 12.5.2 by the way. Is this a software or hardware issue I am confused. Please help!

eastad10 said:
I bought redmi note 10 pro max somedays ago. Normal shots of this phone is fine. But when I click photos of human face it is bit darker than normal. My other phones picture is more natural and real. But this one is bit darker and it can be really annoying sometimes. Attached some picture sample here. 1st picture is from Note 10 pro max and 2nd one is from Redmi 4x I am on miui 12.5.2 by the way. Is this a software or hardware issue I am confused. Please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forget if it's darker or brighter. Actual thing you have to look for is which one has natural colors (without enhancing colors artificially) because some phones/OEMs put artificial algorithms to make the picture look more brighter and put excessive brightness than what it actually has naturally.
Some people like natural colors and some like enhanced (artificial) colors/photos.
Cheers!

i can confirm the same... human face photos are too much saturated+yellowish+darker (with both stock miui and ANX )... compared with my redmi note 5 pro+mi 10i. (rn5 pro is pretty much natural WOW) .. and when adding 2x zoom to rear cam photos, it takes a bit much annoying time to process and clearly display the photo..

it's software. check Gcam then compare

Abdullah.Csit said:
it's software. check Gcam then compare
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Used 7.4 gcam. Same result.

eastad10 said:
I bought redmi note 10 pro max somedays ago. Normal shots of this phone is fine. But when I click photos of human face it is bit darker than normal. My other phones picture is more natural and real. But this one is bit darker and it can be really annoying sometimes. Attached some picture sample here. 1st picture is from Note 10 pro max and 2nd one is from Redmi 4x I am on miui 12.5.2 by the way. Is this a software or hardware issue I am confused. Please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have both redmi note 10 pro and Pro max. In both phones, human faces look darker in pics as well as 1080p videos (720p vids are bit grainy and just same as other phones). The problem persists in all conditions, let it be well lit indoor or outdoor, for group photos etc. Such problems were not there in my other redmi/realme/honor phones. Indoor Pics are not all presentable whatever the setting may be. And if you zoom in to human face, they kind of messy. Grainy would have been fine. Not sure if it can be improved.

This is because different mobile phones have different shooting configurations. This problem can be solved by adjusting some functions, etc.

Facing the same situation from day one of the use of Redmi note 10 pro max.
All pictures where human is involved are darker than actual skin color tone.
Not sure how to fix that. I use some filters provided by redmi to balance out the color tone, but that is something that you don't wanna do every time you open the camera.
Any solution?
(GCAM also provided the same results)

Ankit Chaturvedi said:
Facing the same situation from day one of the use of Redmi note 10 pro max.
All pictures where human is involved are darker than actual skin color tone.
Not sure how to fix that. I use some filters provided by redmi to balance out the color tone, but that is something that you don't wanna do every time you open the camera.
Any solution?
(GCAM also provided the same results)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use MTSLsnapv5 with neon3 xml

Redmi Note 10 Pro max owned by me too has the same problem. I had checked many note 10 pro max camera review videos and for them it seems normal as any typical phone camera - smoothens a little, improve brightness, overall the picture gets pleasant and good. However, just on my Redmi note10 Pro max, any human skin gets a darker tone- FYI it is not even the natural color, but darker.
Initially thought it is a software issue and might get resolved with updates. Though I update my phone as soon as updates gets available, so far, after an year and numerous updates, the issue is still there. I tried all settings that they provide for camera and tried other camera apps etc- but results were same.
I suspect it could be a hardware issue due to bad quality control- I'm an electronics engineer and I do encounter one off problems for some items in mass production.
From the conversation above, I'm understanding that there are a few others who have same experience as me with Redmi Note 10 pro max.

Yes this is problem even new 2022 products at least on box all kind of software updates means all reviews on YouTube are fake and paid they just cheat spoiled 22000 on promax 8/128 just because of camera reviews note 9 was far better than this

mohan17 said:
Yes this is problem even new 2022 products at least on box all kind of software updates means all reviews on YouTube are fake and paid they just cheat spoiled 22000 on promax 8/128 just because of camera reviews note 9 was far better than this
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Click to collapse
Check gcam thread for Shamim latest and @Kairu135 or my configs and try with these again

eastad10 said:
I bought redmi note 10 pro max somedays ago. Normal shots of this phone is fine. But when I click photos of human face it is bit darker than normal. My other phones picture is more natural and real. But this one is bit darker and it can be really annoying sometimes. Attached some picture sample here. 1st picture is from Note 10 pro max and 2nd one is from Redmi 4x I am on miui 12.5.2 by the way. Is this a software or hardware issue I am confused. Please help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you find solution to this problem. Mobile is almost useless because above issue. I had purchased mobile mainly for its Camera. Please help.

ZainBilq said:
Forget if it's darker or brighter. Actual thing you have to look for is which one has natural colors (without enhancing colors artificially) because some phones/OEMs put artificial algorithms to make the picture look more brighter and put excessive brightness than what it actually has naturally.
Some people like natural colors and some like enhanced (artificial) colors/photos.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very bad camera quality. Human face Darke while taking photos. I wasted my 20000

WildBeast1984 said:
Did you find solution to this problem. Mobile is almost useless because above issue. I had purchased mobile mainly for its Camera. Please help.
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Click to collapse
Very bad camera quality. It darken human face while taking simple photos. Only human photo are darken. Other phone redmi note 9 pro and note 7 note 8 are good. I purchased this phone only for camera. But I wasted my 21000. I m very sad by purchasing this phone. Why it darken human face only. Every setting failed. Also photo crash after zooming. Very bad quality. What is fun of 108 mp camera. Redmi decieving it's customers. In future I will never buy Xiaomi phones.