Telephoto lens not being used after update - Samsung Galaxy S10 Questions & Answers

HI all
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S10, and I've noticed that a recent update changed the default camera app behaviour.; it now shows three zoom levels whereas previously it showed leaves indicating the lens it was using. This in itself isn't an issue, however what is an issue is that I can't get the camera app to use the telephoto lens.
I'd initially assumed that the three zoom numbers correlated with the three different leaf icons that we used to have. However, now that I've looked further that's not the case for the telephoto.
I tested this by covering the wide angle lens, and switching to it - sure enough, just my finger. Moved my finger across to the middle lens, switched to "x1", sure enough, finger. Moved my finger to the telephoto lens, press the "x2" button, and I still see the picture, indicating that the phone didn't switch to the telephoto lens, but it's just digitally zoomed in the standard lens picture (which explains why photos taken this way look poor). The same happens whichever zoom level I choose - none of them seem to use the telephoto lens.
Is anyone else experiencing the same thing, or does anyone know how to get the phone to use the telephoto lens correctly like it used to?
Thanks in advance!

I'm seeing the same behavior... so I agree this seems odd. I do have the 3 leaf icons (I thought they were trees, but either way). I'm testing on the S10+ in case that matters, but it may not. Android 11, December 2021 patch level.
A quick search showed me this thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/galaxys10/comments/bqvd1e
There it says the phone won't use the telephoto lens if there isn't enough light. My test now is at night, with interior lighting... which may not be enough. We'll have to try on a sunny day outside (tomorrow won't be sunny here, so maybe you can get to test more quickly than I will).

schwinn8 said:
I'm seeing the same behavior... so I agree this seems odd. I do have the 3 leaf icons (I thought they were trees, but either way). I'm testing on the S10+ in case that matters, but it may not. Android 11, December 2021 patch level.
A quick search showed me this thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/galaxys10/comments/bqvd1e
There it says the phone won't use the telephoto lens if there isn't enough light. My test now is at night, with interior lighting... which may not be enough. We'll have to try on a sunny day outside (tomorrow won't be sunny here, so maybe you can get to test more quickly than I will).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I just figured out the same thing - covering the lens with my finger makes the phone use the normal lens. Holding my finger further away I can see it shift to the tele lens, so it does seem like it's using it. Perhaps it's just a bit more picky about when it uses that lens.

Agreed, I just tested this too, as there's enough light right now. The telephoto does engage, and then when I go to cover it, it senses the low light and you can hear a click as it shifts over to normal cam with digital zoom... and my finger then disappears from the image.
Smart, but confusing. I wish you could just force the lens you want, and handle the light yourself (ie, if you're in pro-mode, for example) but there doesn't appear to be a way to do that...

Related

AT&T Tilt Camera White Color Problem (Way too bright)

Hello guys!
I have the phone for 3-4 months now, and I used the camera only 3 times.
I noticed that the white color is very bright, and the photo becomes bad (please look at the photos attached). Can you tell me if your camera is having the same problem, or it's only me ?
If it's only me - do you have idea how can I try to fix it ?
Notes:
I changed the ROM 3 times /No difference
I changed the brightness/contrast in the settings, but there is no big difference ( the photo becomes better if I use brightness+contrast = max, but still the white is very bright)
both of these images are backlit... this is very hard for the camera to do, because the foreground is a low light situation... try to adjust the angle of the shot to avoid this situation. In the attached photos I have demonstrated what I am trying to say. These are pics of my 20 year old Cocker Spaniel, Sheeba. Notice in pic 01.jpg, her face is blown out. But in the second it is actually better, and in the third (as I move further around her) her face is now clearly visible.
Remember this is a Pocket PC, with a camera chip. Not a camera with a Pocket PC attached. With that in mind, this camera does a phenomenal job!
Hope this helps!
Also it looks like your lens is dirty, and make sure that the blue plastic is pulled off inside the battery cover...
For the picture of the child tilting the camera down more would have helped the light metering compensate better, see all of the area above his head, that is where most of the metering is taking place.
here is another example
You can also try lowering the brightness down to -1.5 or to your liking. It might help a little bit (it does to me)
Thanks a lot for the tips guys!
From what I'm seeing here the Tilt has just bad camera...
My wife has Samsung U600(with 3MP camera) and the pictures are way better than the Tilt ones.I guess I'll just use her phone.
Thanks again for your help!
You should try the camera outside in the daylight with a front-lit subject before you condemn it.... post some pics from your wifes Samsung for us to view then
Here is how the camera would have metered it (photoshop profile) had you not included the area where all of the light was.
The camera does work pretty awesome with the proper lighting...
Notice in the first two, pointing the camera down, so that the car is the majority of the picture, the camera meters for the car, overexposing the sky. Put pointing the camera up underexposes the car, but the sky is brilliant blue, instead of white....
Now I am not saying that this camera doesn't have problems... on the contrary, this camera has a light leak.. which is clearly obvious when every picture taken has the same Spike in photoshop's histogram. But an ounce of prevention, in this case is truly worth a pound of cure! Play with the camera, experiment with all of the settings, find out what you like best. But most important, just pay attention to the screen and move the camera up, or down, left, or right ever so slightly and watch how the exposure changes... It won't take long before you can take great pictures with it!
Oh yeah, and clean that lens every time you use it!

[Quest] Best camera settings?

Hello, today is my first day with xz1c. I noticed that photos are really bads.
My settings are on 19 mpx. Maybe I have to set other? And what about best manual settings?
P.s.: album app take lot of time on loading completely pictures, why?
Thanks in advice
This topic has been mentioned before in the discussion thread
I've read that thread, but no found answers to my questions
The best pictures I have achieved have been in manual mode. You're right to set it to 19mp as this uses all the available pixels on the sensor.
Take the ISO down to 80 or 100, then adjust the shutter speed down to 15th of a second or the slowest possible for the picture. For best results hold the phone still for two or three seconds to get the correct focus, I know in the PR blurb it mentions superfast laser focus, but of all the Sony compacts I've owned, this is the slowest to focus.
The phone takes its best pictures on a tripod, strange but true. There are several phone tripods that come with bluetooth shutter release, play with 1 second shutter speed at dawn or twilight for some amazing colours.
HDR is supposed to work in Auto mode, but rarely does. You can turn it on in manual mode, but this will disable any manual settings you have set up, so remember to renable them once you've finished taking the HDR pic.
HDR doesn't always take the best picture, playing with shutter speed and ISO will give you the best results.
Shooting in macro seems to be problematic, I found it actually focuses a lot closer if you switch to using the Sony Bokeh app, which is excellent.
The super wide angle lens is pretty useless at catching nice vistas or landscapes, everything comes out a long way away and blurry, but it is good at portraits and medium distance 5 -10 ft objects.
The wide angle selfie camera is superb and catches so much of what's happening around you.
Don’t forget to turn off object tracking.
Edit: get a case for the phone that protects the lens. Although the lens is gorilla glass, it still scratches easily. So find a case that prevents anything from touching it when it's placed face down on a surface. Don't put the phone in a pocket with keys/coins. It also benefits from a wipe with a clean cloth every now and then, although it looks clean, the very nature of a phone is that you're handling it all the time and the lens gets covered in grimy prints, a quick wipe can make a huge difference.

Camera switch problem

Hi.
Ever since I received the latest update (.153), my phone does not switch the camera to the 5x all the time. It only changes, 100% of the time, when I press on the 10x zoom.
I have a hard time explaining, basically what I want to say is: When I press the 5x zoom button the app stays on the main sensor and doesn't use the 5x one all the time, only sometimes.
Try to go to settings>apps>storage and then clear data, it should fix it, otherwise, go to the service center.
Or maybe your subject is too close or you do have a low light environment
Just checked mine and it works 100% okay, so it's not a "global" bug.
IamNumber25 said:
Try to go to settings>apps>storage and then clear data, it should fix it, otherwise, go to the service center.
Or maybe your subject is too close or you do have a low light environment
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it happens only in low light and also when its too close, but still, why?
When I tried outside(in the night) it still used the main sensor, but when I tried using the x10, it was sharper than the main sensor at x5, so I dont understand their logic.
Robert- said:
Well, it happens only in low light and also when its too close, but still, why?
When I tried outside(in the night) it still used the main sensor, but when I tried using the x10, it was sharper than the main sensor at x5, so I dont understand their logic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because focusing has minimum required distance, maybe at least 2m-3m when you use 5x optical zoom to properly focus on the subject (Even DSLR/Mirrorless lenses has it). Also, it will shift to main sensor at night because it has only 3.5 Aperture and it will be too dark if it will use it compared to 1.6 aperture of the main camera. Same how samsung uses its telephoto lens at night, it will automatically shift to main sensor.
In contrast, 10x zoom uses hybrid zoom which uses both the periscope lens and the main camera. So far, my device is good in lowlight even I use 5x zoom, I think you just need to focus it firmly before taking photos
I've noticed the very same issue after .153 with mine, I've cleaned data for camera and reset it to default which immediately fixed the issue, but now it's happening again... and not always, it seems like it just can't switch to other camera module... when needed (5x only) both for video or photo... really strange... Mine is from UAE...
Yeah, same here... But I can't even fix the issue.
It keeps struggling with 5x zoom.
When it starts focusing, often a noticable switch (different camera module?) to a much noisier image occurs.
Also with zooming in from 1,1x to 4,9x I have no image stabilization...
I hope they can sort this out with future updates.
For now I have to use 5,1x zoom or 10x zoom for a clean image with stabilization.
Can anyone confirm that behaviour?

Camera Problems

Hi,
Currently in the .153 firmware and have noticed a couple of camera problems and just wanted to see does anyone else have the same problems or know a solution.
First problem I noticed is sometimes when I take a picture and go to view it using the gallery button in the camera it will say "loading" and it will stay like that and then I'll either get a could not connect to camera error or the camera will crash and the picture won't be saved. This seems to be solved with a reboot.
Secondly I noticed that when using the 5x zoom it appears to not use the dedicated zoom lens and instead using digital zoom from the main lens. Clearing the data and cache fixes this issue for a period until I comes back.
HOLOYOLO said:
Hi,
Currently in the .153 firmware and have noticed a couple of camera problems and just wanted to see does anyone else have the same problems or know a solution.
First problem I noticed is sometimes when I take a picture and go to view it using the gallery button in the camera it will say "loading" and it will stay like that and then I'll either get a could not connect to camera error or the camera will crash and the picture won't be saved. This seems to be solved with a reboot.
Secondly I noticed that when using the 5x zoom it appears to not use the dedicated zoom lens and instead using digital zoom from the main lens. Clearing the data and cache fixes this issue for a period until I comes back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have also noticed the zooming not using the main zoom lens you could hear it before but you cant hear the lens anymore since the update so they have bust the camera in the update ?
Mine seems to zoom okay
When there's not enough light for the tele lens to expose correctly the phone will switch to the main lens and then apply digital zoom. This is because the main lens has higher aperture (lower f/number) and therefore it will let pass more light to the sensor than the tele lens
Stolz said:
When there's not enough light for the tele lens to expose correctly the phone will switch to the main lens and then apply digital zoom. This is because the main lens has higher aperture (lower f/number) and therefore it will let pass more light to the sensor than the tele lens
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think this is the problem for me because I noticed this happening outdoors in nice sunny areas.
The latest updates has many camera bugs even using light painting mode. Silky water feature does not work very well even in other light painting modes which produces around 700kb file only instead of more than 2mb.
SO how does that 5x optical zoom work? Everything beneath 5x is not optical, is that right? Or does it depends on the light conditions?
drcldrcl said:
SO how does that 5x optical zoom work? Everything beneath 5x is not optical, is that right? Or does it depends on the light conditions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of the time, 0.6x, 1x and 5x zooms are purely optical, any other zoom is not. But as stated before in certain light conditions 5x can be non purely optical
I've noticed the same issue with the camera lenses and was surprised, that the quality of the results differs a lot even with the same focal lenght!
The phone does not always chose the lens you actually want to use. I did a few tests on that by covering each lens when changing from wide to 1x to 5x (that 10x is digitally zoomed is obvious). Everything in between is digitally zoomed (or cropped?) as well of course.
Please see attached pictures. Both on "5x" - 135mm focal lenght, but of course with different aperture (F3.4 vs. F1.6), exposure (1/30s vs. 1/120s) and ISO (200 vs. 80). This indicates quite accurate, that the phone uses the main lens (1x) with digital zoom in some situations, which is a mess! You cannot force the phone to use one lens, that's the issue, even in pro mode. It seems the phone decides which lens to pick on the available light (of course the main lens has the larger aperture), but digital zoom is a really bad solution!
As you guys mentioned, this issue is the same with videos!
I have not found any solution or how to chose one explicit lens. Hope an update will make that possible...
I'm on 153 also but didn't have any problems with lenses so far..altough I can tell it sometimes takes some time to switch the lens between the main and tele lens..you can tell because picture sudennly "clears out" while composing a shot.
I noticed different problem. When using slow motion video above 120fps resolution is horrible and focus is extremely slow.
I did experience some camera crashes while doing macro photography but continued to use the camera and phone normally without rebooting.
Same Problems, maybe even worse...
Hi,
I'm having the same problems but after the picture does not load in my gallery, it becomes just a green picture... My phone is been to the store 5 times now, i've had a new one, but i'm experiencing the same issues.
Is there a solution yet?
I have exactly the same issue with regular P30
Telephoto lens was working fine with EMUI 9.1, but since EMUI 10 any zoomed pictures results in a blurry mess, in order to use telephoto you have to switch to Pro mode AND enable RAW output, otherwise it won't work
This surely looks like a bug in the camera software

Portrait mode ruined by new camera update?

Just wanted to see if anyone else has noticed this. I was noticing how Portrait Mode on my new Pixel 4XL seems way worse than my Pixel 3XL was. Specifically, edge detection is awful. I’m seeing the same thing MKBHD talked about in his review when he showed how the cutout around Portrait Mode pictures he took of his dog were just awful. I’m getting that constantly. But I did some experimenting and found something interesting. If I go into the Google store and “uninstall” the camera app, it reverts back to version 7.0.019.X, and then Portrait Mode works like a champ again. But as soon as I update to 7.2.011.X, edge detection falls off a cliff.
I’ve attached two quick portrait shots I did of my hand. One was with the app at 7.0 and the other was moments later after updating to 7.2.
Anyone else noticing this? Any thoughts?
I'm on 7.2.011.276470382, and I did a hand test similar to yours and it came out perfect.
Kevin-DC said:
Just wanted to see if anyone else has noticed this. I was noticing how Portrait Mode on my new Pixel 4XL seems way worse than my Pixel 3XL was. Specifically, edge detection is awful. I’m seeing the same thing MKBHD talked about in his review when he showed how the cutout around Portrait Mode pictures he took of his dog were just awful. I’m getting that constantly. But I did some experimenting and found something interesting. If I go into the Google store and “uninstall” the camera app, it reverts back to version 7.0.019.X, and then Portrait Mode works like a champ again. But as soon as I update to 7.2.011.X, edge detection falls off a cliff.
I’ve attached two quick portrait shots I did of my hand. One was with the app at 7.0 and the other was moments later after updating to 7.2.
Anyone else noticing this? Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have noticed the same issues, but it's been a little more inconsistent for me... Some shots come out great, and some are just useless! I also don't like how we can't use the standard lens for portrait, I'd like to have the option. I've also noticed how crappy 2x zoom looks in the viewfinder and it's only after the shot is taken + processed it looks normal.
Demolition49 said:
I have noticed the same issues, but it's been a little more inconsistent for me... Some shots come out great, and some are just useless! I also don't like how we can't use the standard lens for portrait, I'd like to have the option. I've also noticed how crappy 2x zoom looks in the viewfinder and it's only after the shot is taken + processed it looks normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should have clarified in my original post - it doesn't fail at portrait mode all the time with the latest app update. It's been inconsistent for me too. But I'd say for me, it only nails a portrait shot about one time in four, and even then, it doesn't seem any better than my Pixel 3's portrait shots were.
There's another weird bug I've been experiencing. Pretty often, I'll take a portrait shot and after it processes, no effect will be applied. But it will still save as a portrait shot. I'll go into the photos app, and I'll have two pictures saved. And when I edit the portrait shot, and select the blur effect and retap to focus on the same point I tapped on in the view finder, suddenly the effect is applied (and looks pretty good too, when it works). All in all I'm pretty disappointed so far. When it works, the Pixel 4 takes amazing portrait shots, better than my iPhone 11 Pro Max. But my iPhone is far more consistent - it gives me very good portraits every single time, whereas my Pixel is giving me portraits that are either great, or garbage.
Also, just a few more fun facts - contrary to what a lot of people are saying, the Pixel 4 does not use the telephoto lens to take portraits. You can check this yourself. Cover up the telephoto lens with your finger, and go into portrait mode - you'll see that the viewfinder is still clear. It's also not a 2x zoom. If you rewatch the presentation when the Pixel was announced, the guy on stage referred to it as "approximately" 2x. But it's actually about 1.85x. When you go into portrait the mode, the main lens crops in about 1.85 times, so it and the telephoto lens have the same frame but with different focal lengths and slightly different angles, to provide additional depth data. But the picture is being taken with the main sensor, not the telephoto.
Kevin-DC said:
Also, just a few more fun facts - contrary to what a lot of people are saying, the Pixel 4 does not use the telephoto lens to take portraits. You can check this yourself. Cover up the telephoto lens with your finger, and go into portrait mode - you'll see that the viewfinder is still clear. It's also not a 2x zoom. If you rewatch the presentation when the Pixel was announced, the guy on stage referred to it as "approximately" 2x. But it's actually about 1.85x. When you go into portrait the mode, the main lens crops in about 1.85 times, so it and the telephoto lens have the same frame but with different focal lengths and slightly different angles, to provide additional depth data. But the picture is being taken with the main sensor, not the telephoto.
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Click to collapse
It's no different than what used to happen on my Pixel 2 XL. I guess everyone is all crazy about it because the Pixel 3 doesn't do that at all?
Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

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