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Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the LG V20 come out. A higher rating indicates that photos offer rich color (without over-saturating), sharp detail (with all subjects in-focus), and appropriate exposure (with even lighting).
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

With good lighting, the camera takes pictures comparable to the note 7. But the note 7 starts faster and focuses faster.

koppee1 said:
With good lighting, the camera takes pictures comparable to the note 7. But the note 7 starts faster and focuses faster.
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yeah I had the note 7 myself and completely agree what you said, except for the pic quality, I still found that the pics were better on the S7 edge/note 7 compared to the V20 I had , I loved my blue coral Note 7, but traded it in and got the V20 and realized I was wanting the camera opening quickness, better pics, led,AOD, wireless charging, and waterproofing(I kayak a lot), so I just returned my V20 for the sliver S7 Edge, then the next day I got the 100.00 bill credit for going back to Samsung, since I had the Note 7:good:

Yeah, I miss the note 7 camera (and stylus). With the note 7, I could actually start the camera and take a very quick shot through heavily tinted windows and it comes focused and great. I can't seem to do that with the v20..
Over all the camera is good.. But it falls behind over the Samsung ones. I'll keep this though and wait for the note 8...

Wonder how the Mate 9 camera will compare.

My wife's relatives were in town. For the first time, my wife let me take pics with my device. She didn't really like the quality on the Note 4, but she did trust the LG V20. Pics came out great. YMMV of course... lighting, conditions, settings. But Auto Mode does a pretty good job.

What would everyone recommend for the HDR Settings? Auto, On, or Off?

I've tried a bit of testing... The only time manual was better for me was when I lowered the iso and took a longer shutter speed to lessen grain. But auto does a good job.
What I don't like is when you zoom in. Then everything seems like a water color painting. Although my wife's iPhone 6 does the same when you zoom in. I'm not sure.. But I don't think the note 7 did that....

Can you post sample photos?

Took this with the v20 wide angle camera and have to say I am quite impressed. Shot the phone with manual mode and HDR on.

Here are a few photos I've taken with the regular lens, HDR, and 4:3 16MP.
Both photos have a decent amount of light in them, but I thought they turned out pretty well.
P. S. Sorry for them being sideways

Thanks

Capable of taking some good photos, but this is the most inconsistent phone i've ever owned. Photos are grainy when they have no reason to be (more than sufficient lighting). Shutter speed drops to 1/9 most of the time, causing huge blurry messes.
They need to send an update out to fix this, zero reason this sensor/lense should have these issues. My g5 takes much better photos in nearly all situations

haruyukisama said:
Took this with the v20 wide angle camera and have to say I am quite impressed. Shot the phone with manual mode and HDR on.
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HDR mode is not available when using manual controls.

do all photos look like an oil painting when you even slightly zoom in or is it just me?? would this even be possible to fix with a software update in the future?

ronattack said:
do all photos look like an oil painting when you even slightly zoom in or is it just me?? would this even be possible to fix with a software update in the future?
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Yes, I noticed this too..But then I went to a Samsung store and tested the s7..and it was similar. I don't remember that hastening to my note 7 though...unless I'm mistaken

I think the camera is terrible on the V20. Its okay in bright light, but even indoor lighting it struggles with. Everytime I try to grab a photo of my son I regret buying this phone.

Very disappointed in the camera
I took advantage of the T-Mobile S6 trade in while I really liked my camera on the S6 I was ready for an improvement and it was a toss up between the s7 or the v20 for a free trade in I couldn't pass it up. Problem is since I gave my S6 away I cant replace my V20 with the S7 or anything else Im stuck with it I can return it within the 15 days but that wouldn't help my situation I believe since I got the free bill credit trade in from the S6.
Apparently I made the wrong decision based upon the camera it's terrible! I've tried every setting manual or auto every lighting condition and I can confirm like the others here grainy or blurry photos. Only great lighting will yield decent photos but not one photo so far is even better than my S6 sadly. Is this maybe cause its the t mobile variant? Other reviews online and photos I've seen I Was impressed.
This camera went backwards for me. Everything else about the phone I really like however this camera which is my #1 priority is ****. If I zoom in I see the water painting look. If I use the front camera all pics look like a water painting without even zooming in. One thing I did notice is the wide angle lens the color accuracy looks better than the regular lens in auto and it's less grainy WTF! I've tried 4:3 and 16:9 does not make a difference. pissed about this. T-Mobile said there surprised by this but reading here obviously I'm not the only one seeing this. T mobile said they would look at it and if they see what I'm saying they could replace the phone with another V20 but what will that do? is this maybe a t mobile specific issue? will a software update fix this?

Yes low.light pictures suck

Has anyone tried turning off HDR? I've been reading the forums on reddit and by turning off HDR, the quality of the photos, according to the users, increased tenfold. So, that's definitely something to try.

Question Camera performance

Can someone comment on camera performance, specifically indoor shots with pets. How well does it pick up fur? I've just got the S21 and I'm sending it back because the camera software is pretty bad. Wondering if it's the same story with the Ultra or not?

I think it works really with, here`s my cat

It depends if they are moving or not plus what settings you have on. I'm happy coming from a S20+.

2003vstrom said:
I think it works really with, here`s my cat
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Thanks! This is the perfect example as to what I was looking for, even down to the colour of the cat! Unfortunately it confirms to me that while it is much better than the regular S21, its just not up to scratch.
Here's my cat (Pixel 4 vs S21). The Pixel does a much better job of not blurring the fur and retains a lot of the detail and more colour accuracy.

The main camera seems to be really good and sharp and has motion tracking to maintain focus on moving subjects. I dont have pets but don't think you should have a problem. However, I find the quality from the 10X zoom camera to be really bad. I dont know if it is just my unit or if others are experiencing these issues as well. The images are soft, lack detail and are over processed. See examples below. Not sure if this is due to low light or some other reason as its been quite cloudy in the UK these past few days. Let me know what you guys think. Can my unit be defective? Look at the processing on the robins tail in the 1st image its so grainy. Also the 3rd image lacks detail looks like the bird has been painted.

yeah I know my pics are lot better coming from the S20 ultra, with close up shots lol

eldrid said:
The main camera seems to be really good and sharp and has motion tracking to maintain focus on moving subjects. I dont have pets but don't think you should have a problem. However, I find the quality from the 10X zoom camera to be really bad. I dont know if it is just my unit or if others are experiencing these issues as well. The images are soft, lack detail and are over processed. See examples below. Not sure if this is due to low light or some other reason as its been quite cloudy in the UK these past few days. Let me know what you guys think. Can my unit be defective? Look at the processing on the robins tail in the 1st image its so grainy. Also the 3rd image lacks detail looks like the bird has been painted.
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yeah here is my moon pic at 30x zoomed that wasn't even on a tripod that was a steady hand, I know the pic looks way better on my phone then regular crappy computer screen. lol

2003vstrom said:
yeah here is my moon pic at 30x zoomed that wasn't even on a tripod that was a steady hand, I know the pic looks way better on my phone then regular crappy computer screen. lol
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Wow! that looks really good. Was that on your S20 Ultra? Or the s21 ultra.

eldrid said:
Wow! that looks really good. Was that on your S20 Ultra? Or the s21 ultra.
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on my s21 ultra, the s20 ultra I had the you could never get a nice image out of the zoom

I should get a new unit while I can then. I probably have a defective unit as my pictures from the 10x zoom camera are horrible.

Camera is no where near as good as touted. Which is a familiar story. Anything other than bright light the zooms are essentially pointless. Night mode helps, but unless your taking a pic of a still scene or a sleeping pet then it's going to look bad.
Funny thing is, you snap a pic and click the photo preview and it's snapped the shot instantly and is in focus, but then it's almost like the processor catches up and gives you the blurry pic. I don't get it.
3x zoom pic in good light attached. View attachment 5206487

Aneres11 said:
Camera is no where near as good as touted. Which is a familiar story. Anything other than bright light the zooms are essentially pointless. Night mode helps, but unless your taking a pic of a still scene or a sleeping pet then it's going to look bad.
Funny thing is, you snap a pic and click the photo preview and it's snapped the shot instantly and is in focus, but then it's almost like the processor catches up and gives you the blurry pic. I don't get it.
3x zoom pic in good light attached. View attachment 5206487
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This is what I feared and it's exactly the same as the regular S21. The hardware is capable enough, just the Samsung processing can be awful. You can see the difference when switching between gcam and the Samsung camera app. How have they managed to do such a bad job?
It's a shame because other than the camera I love everything else about the phone.

steslatt said:
This is what I feared and it's exactly the same as the regular S21. The hardware is capable enough, just the Samsung processing can be awful. You can see the difference when switching between gcam and the Samsung camera app. How have they managed to do such a bad job?
It's a shame because other than the camera I love everything else about the phone.
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Yeah. I have a 12 Pro currently and bought this thinking I could have similar still performance with the added benefits of the great zoom. But my P30 Pro from two years ago took better photos than this IMO.
Samsung do not know what to do with post processing. It's painful. And I'm sick of reviewers saying contrary. Every year it's the same thing. Cameras are bigged up, Samsung "finally get it right" and then normal users get them in hand and it's the same story.
I'll be returning to my 12 Pro.

Pets yes and no. I've only had the phone since Friday, so I have a lot more time shooting on my Pixel 4, but so far, I think the P4 was better for pets. Especially for those quick shots. Now I may get used to the ultra and learn to shoot with it better, because it does take some amazing shots, but for now, I'd give the Pixel the slight edge. It gave me more confidence anyways that I would get a good shot

So are the noisy over sharpened pics from the 10X zoom camera normal then? I am thinking of sending mine back. I got the phone only for the camera.

2003vstrom said:
yeah here is my moon pic at 30x zoomed that wasn't even on a tripod that was a steady hand, I know the pic looks way better on my phone then regular crappy computer screen. lol
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What camera settings are you using to achieve it. I've tried several times to take a moon shot and mine come out horrible... Maybe it's the bright lights of the city, don't really know.

mprunty said:
What camera settings are you using to achieve it. I've tried several times to take a moon shot and mine come out horrible... Maybe it's the bright lights of the city, don't really know.
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It was default mode and I just open the camera app and zoomed it to 30x and made sure I was very steady then took the pic, I didn`t mess with any settings and it could be the the city lights I was out were there is little light pollution.

Does anyone have any S21U portrait photos they can share with a comparison to either Pixel or iPhone 11/12 Pro Max?
I will be coming from a Pixel 5 and really hoping pet and portrait photos are of comparable quality.

Tmel14 said:
Does anyone have any S21U portrait photos they can share with a comparison to either Pixel or iPhone 11/12 Pro Max?
I will be coming from a Pixel 5 and really hoping pet and portrait photos are of comparable quality.
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Judging from what I've seen and the replies in here, pet pictures definitely won't be comparable. The processing is too soft and just makes the fur look too blurry.

Question Terrible camera quality

I'm so disappointed in the photos from the telephoto lenses of this camera. Even at 1x, there is so much noise in every photo, even in outdoors on a sunny day everything looks like an oil painting. Did they give me a faulty device because I got a student discount (costed $1360 AUD 256GB) is this a common issue? Pretty disappointed with the camera of this "flagship" phone...
The photos are 1x, 1x cropped, 10x and 19x zoom.

I'm not seeing an issue.
The last one looks like cam shake and/or a bad AF lock.

The thing is even when holding still taking photos the post processing always oversharpens it and makes it noisy

Tristan17 said:
The thing is even when holding still taking photos the post processing always oversharpens it and makes it noisy
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Digital zoom sucks but look at the size of the optics. It's no L70-200 f/2.8 IS telephoto!
Shooting RAW will get rid of that... or at least you can with post editing.
Samsung doesn't have good photo editing tools, that pisses me.
My stupid S4 had a better photo editor than my 10+ which has none. WTF?
Maybe I'm missing something... probably not

That's fair but I wish they didn't oversharpen every photo, it would look much better like gcam does a way better job

Tristan17 said:
That's fair but I wish they didn't oversharpen every photo, it would look much better like gcam does a way better job
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That cam should be better than my 10+.
The 10+ does an excellent job, but digital zoom is not one of them.
Close the distance. Know the limitations of the camera; see the world as it does and your photos will improve immensely.
Even with pro equipment this is true.
Look at the stunning photos grabbed over a century plus ago with very limited technology.
A good camera helps but in the end it's more about who's shooting.

True thanks

Relax and enjoy it...
Try wide angle on a brick house or a picket fence and see how it does. Two of my favorite test subjects after people.
Don't enable vivid in screen mode if that's an option as it blows out colors.

Yeah I've got my screen set to amoled photo and I have gotten some good photos already thanks for the feedback

Tristan17 said:
View attachment 5429491
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Nice to see another Orient here...

Wow nice man it's a great watch haha

Yall old timers!
P. S. Just kiddin, the older ones look superb!

I totally agree with the OP, the S21U camera is definitely not a 2021 flagship camera. 10x zoom softens the image like crazy (everything becomes hazy & lacks of contrast) and the noise in all cameras is too much, especially in low light conditions.

blackhawk said:
Digital zoom sucks but look at the size of the optics. It's no L70-200 f/2.8 IS telephoto!
Shooting RAW will get rid of that... or at least you can with post editing.
Samsung doesn't have good photo editing tools, that pisses me.
My stupid S4 had a better photo editor than my 10+ which has none. WTF?
Maybe I'm missing something... probably not
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I recommend you try Snapseed app (free, owned by Google), have look on YouTube for videos on Snapseed and you'll see how good it is at editing photos

Snapseed is indeed a great editor!
And all of you guys who are hating on the ZOOM cameras of the phone, ya'll just don't understand how lenses and cameras work in general, that's why the s21U cams annoy you. Especially in low light... It is absolutely normal and it is still better than anything else at this size and functionality.
The fact that you have this kinda photo power in a phone in 2021 is in it self amazing.

In general I think that S21 Ultra have most versatile camera setup in market (at least at the moment when I've ordered phone), but sometimes I've had that feeling that details are not the best e.g. when zooming some photos. I guess it's exynos thing, because details are better on snapdragon versions.
BTW I'm happy to see so many Orient owners.

I did a video comparing the S20u vs S21u cameras and it's VERY subjective. Some of the shots on the S20u are better, some on the S21u are better, but all in all, they both don't compare to an actual camera, yet still blow away any other phone by comparison.
The biggest downfall I see is when people bash on the zoom lens, saying it's grainy.. and it's like.. yeah.. can any other phone out there even come close to a focal range this thing has? It's still a further reach zoom than anything else regardless of quality which is only improving between the S20u and S21u when it comes to zoom.
Which you can see that the image processing on the zoom lens out of the box on the S21u is worse than the S20u, but the clarity at further reach on the s21u pulls ahead over the s20u

babyboy3265 said:
Snapseed is indeed a great editor!
And all of you guys who are hating on the ZOOM cameras of the phone, ya'll just don't understand how lenses and cameras work in general, that's why the s21U cams annoy you. Especially in low light... It is absolutely normal and it is still better than anything else at this size and functionality.
The fact that you have this kinda photo power in a phone in 2021 is in it self amazing.
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Sorry, but I strongly disagree with you. I have been shooting with slrs and dslrs for decades, also owning numerous lenses, so I guess I know a bit about photography hardware. Yet again, I am not comparing apples to oranges, namely dslr quality with S21U quality, but instead comparing S21U quality with my 2020 p40 pro photos and believe me there is a HUGE gap over there. The p40 pro was a 2020 flagship and it's photo quality is miles ahead the S21U in various aspects, the most important being low light performance in all cameras, as well as zoom quality etc. Had the p40 pro not been a deal breaker due to no GMS (huawei USA ban etc), I would not change the device for the S21U. I did know though that there would of been a small downgrade in photo quality when I decided to switch to S21U, yet hoped for a good trade off with the 10x zoom instead of 5x, as well as a true uw lens, as compared to the merely uw on the p40 pro (18mm only), but we are talking about a huge difference over here in terms of quality,i mean, even my previous p20 pro which was a 2018 device was capturing much more detail in low light, yet still noise free.

thanito said:
Sorry, but I strongly disagree with you. I have been shooting with slrs and dslrs for decades, also owning numerous lenses, so I guess I know a bit about photography hardware. Yet again, I am not comparing apples to oranges, namely dslr quality with S21U quality, but instead comparing S21U quality with my 2020 p40 pro photos and believe me there is a HUGE gap over there. The p40 pro was a 2020 flagship and it's photo quality is miles ahead the S21U in various aspects, the most important being low light performance in all cameras, as well as zoom quality etc. Had the p40 pro not been a deal breaker due to no GMS (huawei USA ban etc), I would not change the device for the S21U. I did know though that there would of been a small downgrade in photo quality when I decided to switch to S21U, yet hoped for a good trade off with the 10x zoom instead of 5x, as well as a true uw lens, as compared to the merely uw on the p40 pro (18mm only), but we are talking about a huge difference over here in terms of quality,i mean, even my previous p20 pro which was a 2018 device was capturing much more detail in low light, yet still noise free.
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When I spoke of cameras and lenses, it is because I too have such tech and like photography.
And honestly, the Huawei just seems to have a different post-processing. Which amps up the "structure" a bit and makes things appeared deeper and more detailed. But that's just my 2 cents. Maybe I am wrong.

Camera array question (Find X5)

Can anyone explain the camera array on the Find X5 please? I know it has two 50mp sensors, one for wide angle and a standard. It also supposedly has one 13mp 2x optical zoom, however if I zoom in, it is still using the standard 50mp lens until I zoom past 10x at which point the small lens below the two main lenses kicks in.. I’d have expected it to be at the specified 2x telephoto. (I tested this by covering each lens with a finger). Also, there’s a fourth lens/sensor next to the 13mp lens.. anyone know what that is? I can’t tell when I’m getting true optical zoom and when it’s hybrid or digital. Thanks!

ehello indeed really strange when I try to know on my X5 pro some sensor and on the time 2 no matter which one I hide with my finger I always see something on my screen!!! so basically if you plug a sensor with your fingers it switch to another sensor is really strange!!!! moreover for me the photo part is even worse since Android 13 because a lot of pictures now are blurry I really don't understand what this is about. if someone can also look for the zoom because it's really strange thank you

EAnd I'm not going to lie I bought it for that photo part is but then I'm really disappointed!!! It was sold by many websites as excellent in photos frankly apart from on The quality of the colors I am ok but on the rest we know we are laughed at. By the way "dxomark.com" Haven't even bothered to test it, it's very simple because it has exactly the same photo part as the X5 classic version. I bought the one believing that would be better than my xiaomi 11 pro Well I should have waited, sure I would be more careful in the future because buy a phone at 1200€ to have the same photo part has something ready with Oppo Find X3 pro me Stay in the throat.

JI spoke too fast, Dxomark Finally did their test, they gave it a score of 130, that seems a bit much to me, I would like to know which android version was the device

Question Pixel 7 Closeup Photos

I have had trouble taking photos from close angles. Anthony closer than 6 inches is blurry and gives me a "move back to improve focus" message. I tried open camera as an alternative, but have the same blurry quality photo. I'm not looking for macro photos, but I do like taking closeup shots. Just wondered if anyone had noticed the same issue, and if you've found a work around for it.
I tried the same distance with my Galaxy S10+ as well as a Note 8, and they both handled the shots well. The second picture was taken by the Pixel, the 1st and 3rd taken by the S10+.

condor97 said:
I have had trouble taking photos from close angles. Anthony closer than 6 inches is blurry and gives me a "move back to improve focus" message. I tried open camera as an alternative, but have the same blurry quality photo. I'm not looking for macro photos, but I do like taking closeup shots. Just wondered if anyone had noticed the same issue, and if you've found a work around for it.
I tried the same distance with my Galaxy S10+ as well as a Note 8, and they both handled the shots well.
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There's no workaround. It's a common thing with new smartphone cameras. Step further, take a photo and then crop into your desired space.

SharifOthman said:
There's no workaround. It's a common thing with new smartphone cameras. Step further, take a photo and then crop into your desired space.
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Thanks man. I guess I am going to have to wait and get a macro option in my next upgrade. Progress

condor97 said:
Thanks man. I guess I am going to have to wait and get a macro option in my next upgrade. Progress
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If you really care about macro photography then you should get a phone with an autofocus macro lens, none of these useless 2 megapixel cameras that are being thrown in every phone these days. I'd rather use the main sensor than to use these awful sensors.

SharifOthman said:
If you really care about macro photography then you should get a phone with an autofocus macro lens, none of these useless 2 megapixel cameras that are being thrown in every phone these days. I'd rather use the main sensor than to use these awful sensors.
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Well you are right. I would pay for the exra feature if it didn't involve exra large phones with curved screens. But that is another topic....
I guess I don't look at closeup photos and macro photography as the same thing. The S10+ I took the above photo with has a 16mp and two 12mp cameras. They seem to perform fairly well in this range, but I know that I am not going to pick up the detail on the eyes of a bee with them (which is what I consider macro to be).

condor97 said:
Well you are right. I would pay for the exra feature if it didn't involve exra large phones with curved screens. But that is another topic....
I guess I don't look at closeup photos and macro photography as the same thing. The S10+ I took the above photo with has a 16mp and two 12mp cameras. They seem to perform fairly well in this range, but I know that I am not going to pick up the detail on the eyes of a bee with them (which is what I consider macro to be).
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I fully understand what you mean. As for big phones, that's the exact reason why I chose the smaller Pixel 7, even if I'm missing the telephoto and the macro.

condor97 said:
Well you are right. I would pay for the exra feature if it didn't involve exra large phones with curved screens. But that is another topic....
I guess I don't look at closeup photos and macro photography as the same thing. The S10+ I took the above photo with has a 16mp and two 12mp cameras. They seem to perform fairly well in this range, but I know that I am not going to pick up the detail on the eyes of a bee with them (which is what I consider macro to be).
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I noticed also that the minimun focus distance is quite far away. Althought, I've been happy with the results of the 2x crop (before taking the picture). Just get the minimun focus distance, then hit the 2x and take the picture. That big sensor and Super Res Zoom does the rest. Results are quite ok IMO.

Finneri said:
I noticed also that the minimun focus distance is quite far away. Althought, I've been happy with the results of the 2x crop (before taking the picture). Just get the minimun focus distance, then hit the 2x and take the picture. That big sensor and Super Res Zoom does the rest. Results are quite ok IMO.
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That's a good tip! Thanks!