Related
I have been very dissapointed with the performance of the X1 camera even after installing the R3 cab. It was imposiible to capture anything that moved because by the time it took the photo my subject had left the vicinity lol.
Following the advice of another poster (sorry, cant remeber who but thanks) I set my focus to infinity. Now, I can take full 3mp, fine quality pics, use the zoom function and capture crisp, clear images...even when the subject is moving. This combined with Resco Photo Viewer has been the final missing piece of the X1 jigsaw.......forget the X2 Ill now keep my X1 for as long as I can
Hah, I will check this out than!
Nice advice, works flawless! The pictures are not shaken anymore...
But tell me: how do you zoom? Does the x1 have the option to zoom?
Cheers
Zooming
Use the volume up and down button. Didnt work with 3mp and auto focus but works a treat now!!
just remember there is no optical zoom only digital zooma, so the more you zoom the worse the picture.
Well, even with infinity focus I can't zoom in 3mp mode. It says "cannot zoom in this quality mode". Man. Do you guys use R3A or has it nothing to do with it. Or is there a newer camera program?
oTToToTenTanz said:
Well, even with infinity focus I can't zoom in 3mp mode. It says "cannot zoom in this quality mode". Man. Do you guys use R3A or has it nothing to do with it. Or is there a newer camera program?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, have installed R3A cab so maybe that's the difference with the zoom function. Well worth doing as it also has auto flash and GPS functionality.
You can zoom as long as the image is set to less than the max (3 mega pixels for the X1). Its always been like this on every WM and nonWM phone I've ever had.
i always thought infinity would be the worst option
thnx for the tip!
Still blurry indoors for me. Are y'all saying that this solves that issue for you? Only thing that works to get rid of blur for me is to change to action mode and keep flash on, but pictures are still pretty dim.
ring-bearer said:
Still blurry indoors for me. Are y'all saying that this solves that issue for you? Only thing that works to get rid of blur for me is to change to action mode and keep flash on, but pictures are still pretty dim.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The infinity "trick" doesnt effect the ability of camera to take good pics in poor light. It just lets you take good quality pics instantly rather than suffering the lag between button push and photo taken.
Sonus said:
You can zoom as long as the image is set to less than the max (3 mega pixels for the X1). Its always been like this on every WM and nonWM phone I've ever had.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have my camera set for 3mp and fine quality, have just double checked and it seem that with the R3A cab installed the zoom function is available with all of the focus options.
hey thanks for the advice, it really helps.
biernes_atrece said:
i always thought infinity would be the worst option
thnx for the tip!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a photographer I can hopefully shed some light on this - the percieved 'shutter lag' that most people experience on consumer grade cameras and cellphone cameras has nothing to do with shutters (actually nearlly all of these don't have shutters, but 'hot' shutters where the imaging sensor is just sampled for 1/x seconds), but to do with focus acquisition. On a DSLR, focus is performed using phase-detection using a seperate and extremely quick method (also hence why DSLRs have reflex mirrors).
On cellphones, where there's a far smaller sensor, and no room to beamsplit with mirrors, autofocus is done by measuring contrast on the main sensor, focus is moved in increments from MFD to Infinity, contrast of the image measured, until the sensor detects the maximum available contrast, then focus locked at that point. Because this has to essentially traverse the entire focus range (which admittedly isn't that huge), and is performed on a small sensor with fairly low contrast, the process isn't fast. It is decently accurate though.
By setting the focus to Infinity, the camera doesn't focus, as focus is just fixed at the further possible focal point. This would usually present an out-of-focus issue, (and it still would), but due to the depth of field relationship to sensor size, a camera with a small sensor has a large given depth of field, and, the hyperfocal (the point after which all distances are in acceptable focus) is relatively close, and the depth of field at infinity also encompasses a large slice of distance. Because of this, a large amount of the image will always likely be in focus, especially for stuff that's not right in front of the camera, and the delay of focusing is eliminated, so when you hit the shutter release, the photo just takes, and it's likely in focus just fine
flashpanda said:
As a photographer I can hopefully shed some light on this - the percieved 'shutter lag' that most people experience on consumer grade cameras and cellphone cameras has nothing to do with shutters (actually nearlly all of these don't have shutters, but 'hot' shutters where the imaging sensor is just sampled for 1/x seconds), but to do with focus acquisition. On a DSLR, focus is performed using phase-detection using a seperate and extremely quick method (also hence why DSLRs have reflex mirrors).
On cellphones, where there's a far smaller sensor, and no room to beamsplit with mirrors, autofocus is done by measuring contrast on the main sensor, focus is moved in increments from MFD to Infinity, contrast of the image measured, until the sensor detects the maximum available contrast, then focus locked at that point. Because this has to essentially traverse the entire focus range (which admittedly isn't that huge), and is performed on a small sensor with fairly low contrast, the process isn't fast. It is decently accurate though.
By setting the focus to Infinity, the camera doesn't focus, as focus is just fixed at the further possible focal point. This would usually present an out-of-focus issue, (and it still would), but due to the depth of field relationship to sensor size, a camera with a small sensor has a large given depth of field, and, the hyperfocal (the point after which all distances are in acceptable focus) is relatively close, and the depth of field at infinity also encompasses a large slice of distance. Because of this, a large amount of the image will always likely be in focus, especially for stuff that's not right in front of the camera, and the delay of focusing is eliminated, so when you hit the shutter release, the photo just takes, and it's likely in focus just fine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the mini lecture. I've been trying to get good bokeh/DOF blur on my X1 and K850, this helps in telling me which settings to focus on (no pun intended)
harveydent said:
Thanks for the mini lecture. I've been trying to get good bokeh/DOF blur on my X1 and K850, this helps in telling me which settings to focus on (no pun intended)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heh, you're welcome. If you're trying to get narrow DOF/bokeh effects on your X1 and K850, I'm afraid to say you're pretty much out of luck, the (tiny) imaging sensors on phones leads them to have a very large depth of field at any given aperture. Your best chances for getting the smallest depth of field and best bokeh possible is to have a subject extremely close to the X1, focus near, and have the background seperated and relatively far away.
flashpanda said:
Heh, you're welcome. If you're trying to get narrow DOF/bokeh effects on your X1 and K850, I'm afraid to say you're pretty much out of luck, the (tiny) imaging sensors on phones leads them to have a very large depth of field at any given aperture. Your best chances for getting the smallest depth of field and best bokeh possible is to have a subject extremely close to the X1, focus near, and have the background seperated and relatively far away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I do, actually I usually include a secondary subject in the background to make the DOF blur easily appreciated.
Plus, I have a modded camdriver for the k850 which allows manual focus. No luck finding one for the X1, though.
Thanks Crank1.
I was getting peeved about the quality of the pics and the lag.
No I get perfect pics every time! (well for a phone camera)
manual focus would be so awesome
hi all,
im not able to understand why all the pictures taken by my Xperia are hazy..... even in daylight. please see the attached images for sample. which are taken in different lighting conditions, in "Auto" settings.
Bright Outdoor:-
, Sunny:-
, Indoor :-
i tested almost every settings but all reproduces the same, where as Xperia is quite capable of taking quality pictures (http://www.flickr.com/groups/xperia/pool/)
Im using the stock ROM, with stock camera software.
i tried the instruction in the threads (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5087670#post5087670 & http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=577364) but not able to solve my problem.
The Quality of video is good & i don't have any problem with that.
I might be missing some setting in Still image. can some one guide me or share their settings to get bright & vivid images.
netant said:
hi all,
im not able to understand why all the pictures taken by my Xperia are hazy..... even in daylight. please see the attached images for sample. which are taken in different lighting conditions, in "Auto" settings.
Bright Outdoor:-
, Sunny:-
, Indoor :-
i tested almost every settings but all reproduces the same, where as Xperia is quite capable of taking quality pictures (http://www.flickr.com/groups/xperia/pool/)
Im using the stock ROM, with stock camera software.
i tried the instruction in the threads (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5087670#post5087670 & http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=577364) but not able to solve my problem.
The Quality of video is good & i don't have any problem with that.
I might be missing some setting in Still image. can some one guide me or share their settings to get bright & vivid images.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I'm not sure.
But once I experienced some effect of this kind and was surprised too.
Than I looked at the camera eye cover
and observed that this invisible cover is scrached.
And discovered that the camera eye cover has a little invisible
layer on. So I removed this by strong scraching with a cloth.
Once I removed this layer and made the cover clean again
I never experienced this problem again.
As for settings - I almost always use Sports mode
which gives crisp and sharp photos..
Touch zoom works great with far/close object effect.
Usually I have unfinished ∞ zoom
or automatic.
doministry said:
As for settings - I almost always use Sports mode
which gives crisp and sharp photos...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply, but my problem is not related to shutter-speed or grainy thingy...
my problem is about the colors & brightness, i noticed the moment i click the image an additional amount of brightness has been added to the image before saving.
Please see this image to know my problem better.
See the unwanted glow around bright / white objects
netant said:
Thanks for your reply, but my problem is not related to shutter-speed or grainy thingy...
my problem is about the colors & brightness, i noticed the moment i click the image an additional amount of brightness has been added to the image before saving.
Please see this image to know my problem better.
See the unwanted glow around bright / white objects
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------------------
I think you may have the problem described here - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=493732
I had the same issue - disappeared on it's own after a week or two...
I still believe it's just a lens problem,
where camera sensor badly interprets visual input.
Remember it's a DIGITAL camera,
so all the light/picture information is digitally interpreted.
There's nothing optical about it...
photo quality is good of my xperia....may be brightness control (adjusted through keys around dpad, up down ) may be high or the camera is in multishot in shoot mode...just a guess...
Hazy pictures
I had the same problems, my lens was scratched from dust and other...
I polished it with a Display-Polish (you get it in a cellular accessory store, or search at amazon for displex) and the pictures are nice and clear again.
But take care: Don't use it on the Touch-Screen!!!
Just dirty from sweat and/or greasy hands. Just wipe it of. But depends on how long has it been there. You probably need few minutes to clean it. Mine was exactly the same
I have the same quality of pictures too...
ai think most of you guys don't get the situation... becuase i also experience the same issue..
when in viewfinder mode (when just about to take a picture. you know, the part where you are hunting and focusing on your subject), the picture quality is great. no smudges, the light balance is ok and the focus is just right.. but when you press the shutter button and it takes the picture, it like suddenly gets another hazy layer of over-exposed fog above your view finder preview.
as stated as well by the thread opener, the video quality is good.
if it is something to do with dirt and/or smudges on the camera's lens or lens cover, surely you would see the haze and the bad quality on all camera related stuff, including viewfinder mode and video. as another note, i have the HTC camera installed in my rom and it doesnt do the hazy, over-exposed picture on it..
ai think most of you guys don't get the situation... becuase i also experience the same issue..
when in viewfinder mode (when just about to take a picture. you know, the part where you are hunting and focusing on your subject), the picture quality is great. no smudges, the light balance is ok and the focus is just right.. but when you press the shutter button and it takes the picture, it like suddenly gets another hazy layer of over-exposed fog above your view finder preview.
as stated as well by the thread opener, the video quality is good.
if it is something to do with dirt and/or smudges on the camera's lens or lens cover, surely you would see the haze and the bad quality on all camera related stuff, including viewfinder mode and video. as another note, i have the HTC camera installed in my rom and it doesnt do the hazy, over-exposed picture on it..
ytsejam_ said:
ai think most of you guys don't get the situation... becuase i also experience the same issue..
when in viewfinder mode (when just about to take a picture. you know, the part where you are hunting and focusing on your subject), the picture quality is great. no smudges, the light balance is ok and the focus is just right.. but when you press the shutter button and it takes the picture, it like suddenly gets another hazy layer of over-exposed fog above your view finder preview.
as stated as well by the thread opener, the video quality is good.
if it is something to do with dirt and/or smudges on the camera's lens or lens cover, surely you would see the haze and the bad quality on all camera related stuff, including viewfinder mode and video. as another note, i have the HTC camera installed in my rom and it doesnt do the hazy, over-exposed picture on it..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like I said - first try it, then write Mine had also great videos. Why? Well not hard to find out
And yeah, the lens seemed also OK to me.
Like I said - try to clean it first. Otherwise it's pointless to write here and complain, coz nothing else can fix it Had this on my Qtek 8310, 8500, W910.. Know what I am talking about
Mine takes great pics in automatic mode, I have not done anything in the settings. I am using R3 camera.
http://www.aijaa.com/v.php?i=5676896.jpg
http://www.aijaa.com/v.php?i=5676911.jpg
http://www.aijaa.com/v.php?i=5676914.jpg
http://www.aijaa.com/v.php?i=5676917.jpg
Must be the lens..
i have the kodak easy share C1013 which has 10 mega pixels apparently. but the problem is my phones comes blurry what ever i do, even if the flash is on for some reason, but this only happens indoors and even if the lights are on...if anyone here is good in camera, can they help me pls
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=7783291#post7783291
see the third photo on this thread i clicked it with the flash on
Well the third photo the picture is recular out of focus. The problem with Point and SHoots is that they take a while to focus (especially in low light) and (this with all cmeras) the shutter speed has to be much lower for the sensor to gather more light...and P&S's have tiny sensors compared to an APS-C, CMOS, ir a full frame sensor. But you should just retake that shot making sure the camera is focused and maybe add some more light on the subject to make it easier for the camera.
Are you using a manual setting? Have you dropped the camera? How close are you shooting?
wdfowty said:
Are you using a manual setting? Have you dropped the camera? How close are you shooting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have tried both manual and automatic, but both come out blurry. the camera has never been droped and this occur only indoors even if there is plently of light.
jaszek said:
Well the third photo the picture is recular out of focus. The problem with Point and SHoots is that they take a while to focus (especially in low light) and (this with all cmeras) the shutter speed has to be much lower for the sensor to gather more light...and P&S's have tiny sensors compared to an APS-C, CMOS, ir a full frame sensor. But you should just retake that shot making sure the camera is focused and maybe add some more light on the subject to make it easier for the camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i alway focus my camera properly, when ever the focus is right, the box thing becomes green. how to lower the shutter speed i will take some photo with plenty of light. also the the the third photo was taken in a room full of light and also with the flash on
You mentioned that the room is well lit. But perhaps you are standing in front of the light and casting a shadow on your subject?
You mentioned that the camera has locked focus before you fully pressed the shutter. But with inadequate lighting, perhaps the camera is focusing on the wrong spot?
Some cameras have a light that comes on when you half-press the shutter to help the camera focus in low-light. If your camera has this, then make sure you enable it.
Also, if you didn't crop the photo, then perhaps you are holding the camera too close to your subject. Try backing off at least 2 or 3 feet. Then crop the photo with an editor to exclude anything you don't want.
You could also check settings for your focus point. It could be set to spot focus off center, I've seen it before.
ohyeahar said:
You mentioned that the room is well lit. But perhaps you are standing in front of the light and casting a shadow on your subject?
You mentioned that the camera has locked focus before you fully pressed the shutter. But with inadequate lighting, perhaps the camera is focusing on the wrong spot?
Some cameras have a light that comes on when you half-press the shutter to help the camera focus in low-light. If your camera has this, then make sure you enable it.
Also, if you didn't crop the photo, then perhaps you are holding the camera too close to your subject. Try backing off at least 2 or 3 feet. Then crop the photo with an editor to exclude anything you don't want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i tried what you said and see the pics i uploaded, but still i dont find the quality of a 10 megapixel camera tho
For those types of pics you need a camera with a macro feature/setting.
good day.
The 3rd and 6th photos are blurry because your subject spans a large depth of field. In those two photos, the base of the iPhone is close to your camera while the top of the iPhone is far away. The distance between these 2 points is too large for your camera to handle (especially under those lighting conditions). Your camera needs a smaller aperture setting than it can handle for those shots.
(In the 3rd photo, the camera seems to have focused on the farthest point. Notice that the top is in focus but the bottom is blurred. In the 6th photo, it's the opposite. Notice that you can clearly see the cracks in the cardboard box on the bottom while the top is blurred.)
The others look on par with what you should expect from your camera under those lighting conditions.
Remember that more megapixels doesn't mean better quality.
The following is just a tip. Lighting is important. Try to take your pictures with sunlight. Don't depend on your camera flash. If you use your flash aimed directly at your subject to compensate for lack of lighting, your pics will look terrible more often than not. (I see from the reflection off the rear of your iPhone that you're using a lamp as your primary source of light. That's not adequate...)
Shallow depth of field is not a bad thing with good lighting. It allows you to highlight certain aspects of your subject. See the following examples.
1st Pic, 2nd Pic, 3rd Pic
The 2nd pic draws your eyes to the bottom right corner while the 3rd pic draws them towards to the top left.
These were also taken indoors with a 10MP camera. But I used my Nikon D60 with SB-400 speedlight to bounce the flash off the ceiling.
Hello,
i just got my hands on the Z3 Compact and took it out to test it on a sunny day.
Back home i noticed that the picture quality is really bad in auto mode!
I made a quick comparison picture to my old phone: a Xiaomi Mi2 (not the S Model) with 8m Camera.
The picture shows the text quality of the Xperia Z Ultra Power Pack which is the best example i can do now.
The automode settings are: ISO-800, F/2, 1/50 Sec, no flash
The Mi2 automode settings are: ISO-488, 1/16 Sec (no data on the F), no flash
Directlink:
http://abload.de/img/neuebitmapoksb8.png
And here the same with manual mode and a lower ISO (100 instead of 800 that was used in auto mode):
The complete settings were: ISO-100, F/2, 1/8 Sec, no flash
Directlink:
http://abload.de/img/dsc_0099emqqy.jpg
Heres another example of a picture i took when i was outside (without zoom, i just cut away some parts to make it smaller):
The automode settings here: ISO-50, F/2, 1/320sec, no flash
Directlink:
http://abload.de/img/dsc_0036lujf6.jpg
Any idea why automode causes such very bad picture quality? Any ideas on how to improve it?
Thank you for help!
Why bother so much about the auto mode? You can take such great pictures in manual mode when you play with the settings. In the end auto mode will never be great, because it does what it says: auto mode, it adjusts the settings to what it thinks is best in each situation.
Playing with the manual mode will also give you more knowledge of basic photography.
Sent from my D5803
Auto mode became better over time on the Z1C, I guess they'll keep improving it. Dunno if they made a step back here.
Dsteppa said:
Why bother so much about the auto mode? You can take such great pictures in manual mode when you play with the settings. In the end auto mode will never be great, because it does what it says: auto mode, it adjusts the settings to what it thinks is best in each situation.
Playing with the manual mode will also give you more knowledge of basic photography.
Sent from my D5803
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Auto mode will always be handy.. no one wants to mess with settings most of the times.. its a phone camera and if i want manual controls i would pick a dslr. Thats why iphone wins in camera department. Take it out and snap a pic instantly with great output. Even on my galaxy s5 i take pictures on auto and i havent seen anyone setting things up manually each and every time to take a damn photo
Auto mode uses a technique called oversampling to gather information with the 20MP sensor, then heavily processes the photo to whatever the software (Sony) decided was best (post-processing). The idea is you get the detail of a 20MP sensor, in a auto-corrected and down-sized 8MP resolution photo. Oversampling is also why the Z3 has a small amount of "lossless" zoom. (ever tried "zooming" with other phone cameras? It usually leaves you with a terrible blob of digital noise)
As with any automatic post-processing, there are pros and cons. The truth is, the software doesn't really know what you're taking a picture of, so it tries to give it's best guess on correcting exposure, colour, noise, etc. The result you're seeing in the auto-mode photo is a result of heavy post-processing (Noise Reduction), bad focus, and camera shake.
The reason your "manual" photo is better is because manual mode drops the post-processing. It also looks like you were able to hold the camera steadier for the manual shot.
"Auto" mode is far from perfect, but it will often save you more times than you know. Over time, you'll learn the strengths and weaknesses of "auto mode", and you'll know when you need to switch to Manual for the better shot. Auto mode can also be easily improved upon via software updates.
PS: A little trick I use to minimize camera shake while taking a photo is to set a quick 2 second self timer. This will allow you time to press the shutter button and then stabilize the phone for minimal "camera shake"
I have read the z3 Compact camera is great, great, great...but yeah I have been grossly underwhelmed by the auto mode. The auto mode is THE mode...sure have a manual mode if you want...if you have time. But I use my phone for quick snaps...QUICK being the operative word. I want to pull it out aim and shoot. My iphone5 took very acceptable pictures. The z3 compact has shown me grainy, bland looking shots in auto.
I don't get why auto mode isn't the most important mode for designers. It's a phone...not a camera...so make the auto mode work
Yeah, camera is definitely underwhelming. That being said though, it's better than most. My Moto X took absolutely horrid shots for the most part.
Crewville96 said:
Yeah, camera is definitely underwhelming. That being said though, it's better than most. My Moto X took absolutely horrid shots for the most part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming from 2 years on the iphone5...I was under the impression that camera technology was pretty well mastered across the board. iphone makes it look easy. There's even an annoying lag between pressing the button and the shot being taken on the Z3...what the hell is up with that?
Eclypz said:
Auto mode uses a technique called oversampling to gather information with the 20MP sensor, then heavily processes the photo to whatever the software (Sony) decided was best (post-processing). The idea is you get the detail of a 20MP sensor, in a auto-corrected and down-sized 8MP resolution photo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, my z3c is still on the way. I have a question. Will the 8MP pictures I take in Manual mode be oversampled as well?
Because the sensor is still 20MP and if I manually adjust it to take only 8MP pictures what advantage do I have in having a sensor that is 20MP? I never print photos. Only watch it on my phone, laptop or my LED tv which is 1080p and 50" screen. I don't want photos that are too big in file size unless it is benefiting me in some sense other than for the purpose of printing and viewing in very large resolutions. I see that oversampling in auto mode is benefiting from a 20MP sensor but is that the case if I take 8MP pics in manual mode?
coolmalayalee said:
Well, my z3c is still on the way. I have a question. Will the 8MP pictures I take in Manual mode be oversampled as well?
Because the sensor is still 20MP and if I manually adjust it to take only 8MP pictures what advantage do I have in having a sensor that is 20MP? I never print photos. Only watch it on my phone, laptop or my LED tv which is 1080p and 50" screen. I don't want photos that are too big in file size unless it is benefiting me in some sense other than for the purpose of printing and viewing in very large resolutions. I see that oversampling in auto mode is benefiting from a 20MP sensor but is that the case if I take 8MP pics in manual mode?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By selecting 8MP in manual mode, all you're doing is resizing the photo from 20MP (post processing). The sensor will always capture at its full resolution.
If you know you only want a 8MP photo, there is a small benefit in resizing the photo at the phone:
The first benefit is obviously file size, but before I get into the second reason, I need to explain something first: A picture that has been converted to JPG is considered to be post processed. The compression that the JPG engine performs means your image loses details and thus has been altered. I know I said above that Manual mode means the image isn't processed, but I really only said that for the sake of explaining things easier. The average user does not consider JPG compression as post processing and they probably don't care to know. The truth is, unless Sony allows us to capture images in RAW format, the act of converting all our images to JPG means our images are all being post processed whether we like it or not. The difference between manual and auto mode is really about "how much" post processing occurs. In manual, Sony is most likely just compressing to JPG (and probably lens distortion correction but I won't get into that now) , and not applying corrections like noise reduction.
As for how it may be beneficial to resize at the phone; JPG compression is usually the final step in post processing. So by resizing at the phone, the theory is the image is captured in [email protected] > resized to 8MP while still in RAW format > compressed to JPG.
This means you benefit from the photo being resized before it is "post processed". In theory, this method should leave you with a higher quality 8MP photo versus resizing from a computer. Resizing from a computer means you're applying post processing to an already "post processed" photo.
For the average user, 8MP is more than enough, however, this is not to say all phone cameras should come in 8MP. Keep in mind that there is a big difference between an image captured by a 8MP sensor vs being captured by a 20MP sensor and then resized to 8MP. The 20MP sensor can capture much more detail with proper/sufficient lighting.
@wooki (OP):
Especially the first comparison "Xperia Z Ultra Power Pack", the one you made with the Z3C is nothing but blurred. So what is it you're trying to show/compare? I mean, yes, may the Z3C doesn't come with the best camera on the market, and yes, the "Auto mode" does not always provide the best results. Not really sure you're into photography or not, but what can be expected from a lens not even half the size of a fingernail? Not too much, right?! Get an SLR with decent lenses and a full frame sensor if you need more/better.
However, the attached fotos were one of the first ones I made with the Z3C (in Auto Mode) and think it's quite ok. No processing, just resized them.
@sxtester
I was comparing my Z3C with my old phone (a 2 year old Xiaomi Mi2) which seems to have a very good auto mode. Was just asking if i was the only one who has had a bad automode experience and if someone knows how to improve it.
How do your pictures look like without resizing?
As i'm owning a WQHD Screen all my automode pictures look very bad!
I don't want to set up the manual mode every time i want to take a picture, this phone has a shutter button to make fast pictures and with the setup phase i lose time even if manual mode gives me excellent pictures.
Eclypz said:
Auto mode uses a technique called oversampling to gather information with the 20MP sensor, then heavily processes the photo to whatever the software (Sony) decided was best (post-processing). The idea is you get the detail of a 20MP sensor, in a auto-corrected and down-sized 8MP resolution photo. Oversampling is also why the Z3 has a small amount of "lossless" zoom. (ever tried "zooming" with other phone cameras? It usually leaves you with a terrible blob of digital noise)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The manual mode uses oversampling as well, if you select a lower resolution. I've compared an auto mode shot with a manual mode shot of the same scene, and both were equal in terms of details and noise. The main difference was that the auto mode shot looks far worse because it tends to use that horrible HDR which just washes out the photo and ruins the contrast to near non-existence. I find that "multi" light metering mode, selectable in manual mode, gives far better results than HDR on this phone.
---------- Post added at 07:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:20 PM ----------
Auto:
http://i.imgur.com/er38iZn.jpg
Manual:
http://i.imgur.com/Oqwl3KE.jpg
---------- Post added at 07:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:32 PM ----------
Furthermore, the pictures from this phone's camera would look a lot better if Sony used a better algorithm for their oversampling.
Here is a comparison between a 100% crop of an image taken using Sony's oversampling (8mp) (former attachment) and a 100% crop of a photo taken at 20mp, and then downsampled to the 8mp dimensions using Irfanview (latter attachment):
I agree....Sony's software is lacking compared to everybody else. Auto mode seems kind of hit or miss. Their camera sensors are excellent, as I believe the iPhone uses a Sony sensor, but the difference being Apple is able to process better looking images with their software. I also have a iPhone 5s, and I must agree that 7/10 times, I'll get a better looking image from the iPhone. In terms of capturing details, i think Z3C is better (as expected), but all my images from the Z3C are on the "red" side when shooting in auto-mode. In the end, the iPhone comes out with the better looking photo because I'd much rather have better colour re-production over slightly more detail that you wouldn't even notice unless you had a photo to compare against.
I still think the Z3C's camera is on par with the best from Samsung's Galaxy S5 and LG's G3 (Sony sensor). It's way better than my old HTC One M8's "ultrapixel".
On the Android side of things, I think Z3C is still top 3, and Top 5 in the Smartphone world (iPhone and Lumia above it).
wooki said:
@sxtester
How do your pictures look like without resizing?
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@wooki:
Here you go, all unedited made in Auto Mode:
http://imgur.com/uMiM0Sh
http://imgur.com/0mYsf5U
http://imgur.com/vJ32fjT
http://imgur.com/8g7oJD7
degraaff said:
Here is a comparison between a 100% crop of an image taken using Sony's oversampling (8mp) (former attachment) and a 100% crop of a photo taken at 20mp, and then downsampled to the 8mp dimensions using Irfanview (latter attachment):
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Click to collapse
Sony's approach looks way better because it doesn't blur that heavily. If I want to blur away all the details, I can still do that myself.
This is a bit off-topic, but I don't really want to start a new thread just to ask such a silly question.
I've been playing with the camera app some more and is there seriously no "rule of thirds grid" in Sony's Camera app? I often like to use the grids to assist in making sure my shot is straight.
Iruwen said:
Sony's approach looks way better because it doesn't blur that heavily. If I want to blur away all the details, I can still do that myself.
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Really? Sony's approach is full of over sharpening artifacts and -auras, doesn't look better at all IMO.
One dumb quetion.
If i use another camera APP, it will improve the photo quality?
point_pt said:
One dumb quetion.
If i use another camera APP, it will improve the photo quality?
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It depends. I choose CFV-5 and PNG image saving (rrather than JPG) and it looks much better then Superior auto, and sometimes better than Sony's Manual mode.
So coming from a photographer-background i feel that the camera on the P30 Pro is a bit heavy on the HDR. Meaning that it doesn't recreate blacks very well, and in some shot's where shadows would be better left natural, it gives it too much HDR. (Sorry the bad English)
Is there a way to adjust/turn off HDR on this camera?
I believe if you turn off the AI and shoot in auto it shouldn't apply any HDR - but I don't know this to be true.
It's somewhat difficult to get away from the HDR look since when you shoot in Auto mode at 10mpix it utilizes pixelbinning which will kinda look like HDR where highlights are pulled down and shadows are lifted. The only way to get around this is to use a third party camera application or to shoot RAW, and i do recommend you shoot RAW anyways to get away from the heavy overprocessing, noisereduction and sharpening.
/ Magnus
Use pro mode.
Thanks for the reply guys. But I don't have the time to shoot pro and RAW all the time when it comes to smartphone-photos. The phone is for taking quick shots for Instagram-stories and such.
If I want to get a proper shot I pull out my Nikon D800. But there should be an option to adjust the level of HDR in photo mode, turning off "AI" doesn't change much, sadly.
TordFuglstad said:
Thanks for the reply guys. But I don't have the time to shoot pro and RAW all the time when it comes to smartphone-photos. The phone is for taking quick shots for Instagram-stories and such.
If I want to get a proper shot I pull out my Nikon D800. But there should be an option to adjust the level of HDR in photo mode, turning off "AI" doesn't change much, sadly.
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Use pro mode without changing any setting you will be fine.
Just surfing comparisons online and this video shows it goes both ways. Sometimes the P30 Pro pulls out the shadow detail, other times the 6T does:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wevRTMspBIM
This is also bothering me, I turned off the AI on my previous P20 Pro, and this wasn't a problem. But now on the P30 Pro, even if I turn off the AI sometimes photos come out as horribly overprocessed to the extent that the photos can't even be fixed by post processing. The effect is very similar to heavy HDR (or glike going overboard with the Google Photos' Pop effect)