Guys,
I've started a multi-part article series discussing how the Note4's camera should be used (and how it compares to other high-end phones, cameraphones or even standalone cameras).
The first two parts in the series have already been published:
Part I: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3781966
Part II: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3782300
This series will be of particular interest to Snapdragon 805 users. Exynos users, at the moment, will find the series less interesting, as third-party apps, currently, can't access the (almost) non-processed image stream and they, consequently, can't export non-overprocessed images.
EDIT (2015/01/17): Part III is published on HDR: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3782850
EDIT (2015/01/24): a brand new writeup is here at XDA; you should start with it instead of the previous ones: http://forum.xda-developers.com/note-4/general/shooting-light-best-image-quality-note-4-t3012008
Great. Thank you
Skickat från min iPhone 6 Plus med Tapatalk
So which app we must use for normal photos ?
How to manually change shutter speed to 1/8s in Snap Camera HDR app? Thx
masterchif92 said:
So which app we must use for normal photos ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically, if you have an Exynos device, the stock Camera app unless
- you're absolutely sure you don't need shutter speeds under 1/30s (the restriction of many apps, incl. FV-5) and
- you do need the on-screen controls of that app.
Otherwise, the image quality will be the same so there's no advantage in using any third-party app for shooting, as opposed to the Snapdragon case.
If you have a Snapdragon device, you can get far-far better image quality out of your camera in both still and video shooting mode because of the lack of noise reduction and oversharpening. Then, using third-party apps like Snap camera HDR is preferable, assuming, of course, you don't need features like dual camera.
Menneisyys said:
Basically, if you have an Exynos device, the stock Camera app unless
- you're absolutely sure you don't need shutter speeds under 1/30s (the restriction of many apps, incl. FV-5) and
- you do need the on-screen controls of that app.
Otherwise, the image quality will be the same so there's no advantage in using any third-party app for shooting, as opposed to the Snapdragon case.
If you have a Snapdragon device, you can get far-far better image quality out of your camera in both still and video shooting mode because of the lack of noise reduction and oversharpening. Then, using third-party apps like Snap camera HDR is preferable, assuming, of course, you don't need features like dual camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the s805 model....there are some settings with this camera to set? Or it will be good with the stock one ?
cornelito said:
How to manually change shutter speed to 1/8s in Snap Camera HDR app? Thx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't - the pre-Lollipop API doesn't let for directly setting the shutter speed. The device will automatically use 1/8s when there's little light.
You'll need to make sure you do enable the Photo > “Samsung Camera Mode” checkbox; otherwise, it will NOT be able to go under 1/15s, resulting in a complete loss of no less than 1EV. At least on Snapdragons; I couldn't test this on Exynos devices.
masterchif92 said:
I have the s805 model....there are some settings with this camera to set? Or it will be good with the stock one ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then, if you really want to see in which cases third-party apps can produce significantly better images, you really want to compare my example shots of the stock app to those of, say, Snap camera HDR - see the crops in my article.
Basically, the stock Camera app applies far too much noise reduction and oversharpening, pretty much ruining fine detail and introducing ugly oversharpening halos. Photos produced by third-party apps, incl. Snap camera HDR, are far more natural.
Just writing my HDR article. The first two parts of the new article is already published: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3782850
Very nice articles. Thanks for doing them.
Is there any way to get rid of the cruddy yellowish look I get on low light photos on my phone? My wife's phone doesn't have this at all, and both of the Note 4s that I have had do. I've been very unimpressed with the low light abilities of this phone, so far. I'd love a solution that doesn't involve sending the phone in to maybe be fixed.
usmaak said:
Is there any way to get rid of the cruddy yellowish look I get on low light photos on my phone? My wife's phone doesn't have this at all, and both of the Note 4s that I have had do. I've been very unimpressed with the low light abilities of this phone, so far. I'd love a solution that doesn't involve sending the phone in to maybe be fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried setting "White balance" to "Incandescent" in Settings?
Muyfa666 said:
Very nice articles. Thanks for doing them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Today, I've continued working on the HDR article.
Thanks for your work. I don't know if I understand correctly but the play store version is 6.2.0. Can this version take pictures under 1/15s? Or we still need a test version for this?
Thanks
zabumba said:
Thanks for your work. I don't know if I understand correctly but the play store version is 6.2.0. Can this version take pictures under 1/15s? Or we still need a test version for this?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, 6.2.0 has just been released. I've tested it; it works flawlessly, at least on Snapdragon:
1/8s is supported
almost-RAW output is supported
Hi there. It's a nice report! However i do have some input
1. The stock camera does do 1/4s in rare occasions , happens for me when I do shots in not-well lit conditions and yet insufficient for camera to engage in night mode.
2. I have no idea if its just me, but night mode does not downsize my photos to 6mpix no matter how dark the scene is. It still stays at 5312x2998. N910G here. Details of photos on poorly lit scenes do not have significantly worse detail for me as compared to well lit ones and file size is in fact larger by a bit. (the room is still not too dark though).
IMO the stock camera does some sort of multi frame noise averaging technique (similar to canon's and sony's "Hand-held Twilight") to reduce noice.
andalism said:
Hi there. It's a nice report! However i do have some input
1. The stock camera does do 1/4s in rare occasions , happens for me when I do shots in not-well lit conditions and yet insufficient for camera to engage in night mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! Haven't ever seen such an image from my European Snap 805 (F) model. Could you post the original to, say, flickr, or, here as an attachment? (Of course, feel free to remove the location info first from the EXIF data.)
IMO the stock camera does some sort of multi frame noise averaging technique (similar to canon's and sony's "Hand-held Twilight") to reduce noice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It'd, then, exhibit a much higher probability of camera shake / stitching errors. The relative noiseless-ness is because of the very-very strong noise reduction. (Or, maybe, because of the "G" model you have is somewhat different from the European one? I wouldn't think so - after all, both are Snapdragon-based.)
Menneisyys said:
Have you tried setting "White balance" to "Incandescent" in Settings?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried all of the settings in the phone. Nothing makes the problem go away. Using the same settings as my wife's phone, and there's a huge difference in the quality of indoor pictures between the three phones.
It does take quite nice outdoor pictures.
usmaak said:
I've tried all of the settings in the phone. Nothing makes the problem go away. Using the same settings as my wife's phone, and there's a huge difference in the quality of indoor pictures between the three phones.
It does take quite nice outdoor pictures.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you take low-light images with an LCD computer screen displaying white
- without(!) using f.lux or other tools to decrease the white balance (this is equal to about 7000K) and
- at both a very low brightness level (to "kick in" night mode) and a high one (to avoid night mode)
with both phones? Preferably in "auto" and "incandescent" WB modes on both phones.
Menneisyys said:
Wow! Haven't ever seen such an image from my European Snap 805 (F) model. Could you post the original to, say, flickr, or, here as an attachment? (Of course, feel free to remove the location info first from the EXIF data.)
It'd, then, exhibit a much higher probability of camera shake / stitching errors. The relative noiseless-ness is because of the very-very strong noise reduction. (Or, maybe, because of the "G" model you have is somewhat different from the European one? I wouldn't think so - after all, both are Snapdragon-based.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I deleted those photos as it was blurry due to the unexpectedly low shutter speeds or that the picture sucked. I will post if I can reproduce that setting again.
As for the noise averaging mode...
1. It will not cause camera shake/stitching errors even if you hold still. Why? If you were to shake your phone violently, the software is smart enough to abandon image stacking altogether & the final image produced is the result of just 1 picture that has a little fine bit of extra noise reduction maybe.
2.Samsung's night mode is not well documented, unfortunately, despite them having this mode since Galaxy SIII.
However, the answer lies hidden in one of their support page for galaxy S4
http://www.samsung.com/us/support/howtoguide/N0000003/10094/120418/SGH-I337ZBMATT
"Night: Take photos by combining them to get a brighter, clearer photo in low light, without flash."
Now, you may think that perhaps this mode only applies to the S4's night mode, so I did a mini test.
(click on photos to zoom in)
(1)
Image taken with night mode
(2)
Image taken WITHOUT night mode under same conditions (This is done by tricking the camera to first take a photo in bright light,continue holding down the shutter button to engage burst shot, quickly direct phone to subject and wait for phone to adjust to the right exposure)
(3)
Same image from (2), but edited in Lightroom by dragging the luminance noise slider to like 40.(there is little or no chroma noise, so I did not touch that slider)
As you can see, despite their photos taken under the same conditions, (1) is the best as it as less noisy compared to (2) and sharper than (3).If Samsung really did engage in strong noise reduction at night mode, much fine detail would be lost and the photo will look like an oil painting when you pixel-peep. Thus , night mode photos you take will look more like (3) than (1), when (1) is the actual night mode photo in reality.
3. Another good guess that Night mode is actually a multi frame mode is that, all night mode's photos have their EXIF data eroded.
(Fun fact, dpreview says iphone 6+ does this too)
"the built-in, stock Camera app may have too strong noise reduction and oversharpening"
IMO, Im sorry but I disagree, too strong noise reduction would mean that photos from the note 4 would be too smooth and would lack any fine detail at all, which from my observations isnt true. Samsung excels in that area. Also, oversharpening is also not the case, oversharpened photos often result in false detail and look contrasty/frosty which is again, not the case to me.
EDIT: oversharpening and noise reduction could be a matter of taste so it could be true for some
Related
Hi everyone,
I thought I'd post this as since I've had my S5 (within last 6 months) I have been quite disappointed by the quality of the camera images, particularly in mid to low light. Having had a Xperia Z2, LG G3 and G2 I had seen that the S5 was meant to have by far the best camera out of its peers. Unfortunately, while not as anywhere near as bad as the Z2, the S5 is significantly worse than both the G3 and the G2, mainly due to the awful noise reduction implemented by the Samsung firmware. The Z2 also had this problem in spades, and the only way to remove it was to unlock the bootloader and erase the DRM keys.
I though that this was the same on the S5 (or even completely impossible), but have recently discovered a camera app called 'Snap Camera HDR' in the Play Store. There is a free version and a paid version.
The app is the most fully featured camera app I have seen (I have used Open Camera, Camera FV-5 and many others), with tonnes of options and manual controls.
They key thing though is that it allows you to disable the built in noise-reduction: Go through the menu and select, then deselect the option 'Denoise'
There are also options to select 'Samsung Camera Mode' which enables real-time HDR (you have to select 'Use OpenGLES 2.0' under 'Other'), and you can also increase image sharpness and
change compression levels.
I've done some real world tests and I think the difference is huge. I'd rather have a little bit of noise and keep a sharper, more detailed, more natural image.
Here are some comparisons (I've cropped them down so you can see the detail more easily):
(P.S.: I have absolutely nothing to do with the Snap Camera developers)
Hm, nice find. I'm not sure if I'd need it thought since I'm on the Note 7's camera app. Any idea if the Note's camera app has this problem or not? I'm no picture taking guy so i can't tell by myself. I've barely used my camera during the past 3 years.
PS: The S5's camera was never good in low light, its strength was only during the day
great, great discovery I was propio looking for a good room for lineage 15.1 unofficial, thanks
This also seems to work without root (I have root but the app has never asked for SU permissions). I'm not sure why other camera apps don't have this feature.
Camera FV-5 has several image adjustments (such as saturation and sharpness) but they don't actually seem to work.
I have an AT&T S5 so I'm unfortunately stuck with stock based ROMs. Does anyone know if this heavy handed noise reduction exists on AOSP or other ROMs?
This might actually make me like my S5. I'm looking forward to getting out and taking some decent shots with the phone now!
Here is an example of the highly customisable UI
Also the built in camera of LineageOS 14.1 has the option to disable camera noise reduction.
With this camera you also have the possibility to take pictures in RAW mode without compression and you can also use HDR mode (but without flashlight) :good:
regards
j1gga84 said:
Also the built in camera of LineageOS 14.1 has the option to disable camera noise reduction.
With this camera you also have the possibility to take pictures in RAW mode without compression and you can also use HDR mode (but without flashlight) :good:
regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
RAW? I didn't think Camera2 was supported on the S5 hardware..? Is the Lineage camera available as an apk?
Here: https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/linea...a-2-0-002-776519c100-30-android-apk-download/
I don't know if it is RAW but pictures in best quality mode have a very big filesize.
Regards
Sent from my SM-G900F with Tapatalk
j1gga84 said:
Here: https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/linea...a-2-0-002-776519c100-30-android-apk-download/
I don't know if it is RAW but pictures in best quality mode have a very big filesize.
Regards
Sent from my SM-G900F with Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably not RAW then. You'd know if it was RAW as you'd have to use a special image viewer and process the photographs afterwards.
I can't install it to test unfortunately as I'm limited to Lollipop.
Resurrecting this.
Tried the app in a hope it would allow me to disable the noise filter on my Galaxy Note 7 LDU. It does. But it also restricts the shutter speed to 1/10th of a second. Unacceptable having up to 10 seconds capability. Overall the app has a hard to use and confusing UI. Users complain that there is no support at all to ask devs for help or features. Ditched it.
halx said:
Resurrecting this.
Tried the app in a hope it would allow me to disable the noise filter on my Galaxy Note 7 LDU. It does. But it also restricts the shutter speed to 1/10th of a second. Unacceptable having up to 10 seconds capability. Overall the app has a hard to use and confusing UI. Users complain that there is no support at all to ask devs for help or features. Ditched it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough. I still use it and as far as I'm concerned it's the best camera app for Android. I get what you mean about the UI, but what I like is that you can customise it quite a lot.
You can use the 'gesture' / 'pie' controls, or (as I do) chose to add all the required switches and adjustments as static buttons around the camera edge.
Hi
Will Huawei fix the overexposed soft image quality of the selfie camera on this phone.
I am still on 8.1.0.103 and wondering if its been fixed in one of the newer updates as it is really disappointing
Not sure they think it's broken, it was obviously designed to do this on purpose. I know a lot of people that use beauty mode. It is rather annoying though as it can't be disabled for those that don't want to be enhanced to Ken doll like proportions lol
If you hit the photo mode rather than the default portrait mode for front camera it does help a bit. Definitely better than portrait mode. I do hope that a future update will add more control over the processing, but I won't bank on it.
I've tried many different camera apps, and the overexposure and softening occur as soon as the camera detects a face. Haven't been able to find a solution yet.
prowsterz said:
I've tried many different camera apps, and the overexposure and softening occur as soon as the camera detects a face. Haven't been able to find a solution yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im 99% sure it can be disabled with root - its got to be a setting that detects faces.
we;d need someone to go through the source (if they ever release it)
once i root my p20 ill stalk around to try and find a property.
Sorry, i dont have phone yet. But, if you use some other camera application, will it be the same problem?
Its definitely a setting built into the kernel/source code because using another camera app will not override the setting. It only focuses on the subject (face) and blurs out the background which should not be the case
I have rooted P20 pro, and there is a ton of properties and definitions xml files for different modes and effects in odm/camera folder. For example there is something called "casiobeauty" among others But, to mess with those parameters someone has to have knowledge. So, i guess effects can be modified, if there ever will be someone of knowledge and will to do it
You all may want to install CameraMX from PlayStore.
It gives out high resolution and high qualoty images. Selfies taken by it are noticeably sharper than the p20 pro stock camera. Also, there is a slider to adjust exposure for the front cam (something that is missing from the stock). In addition, the app also supports HDR for the selfie cam as well.
You can give it a try...
mulkman said:
Hi
Will Huawei fix the overexposed soft image quality of the selfie camera on this phone.
I am still on 8.1.0.103 and wondering if its been fixed in one of the newer updates as it is really disappointing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it was fixed in .120
Kusznier said:
it was fixed in .120
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What region? I am currently using the .120 for C636 but there is still the annoying overexposure and lack of details esp in groufies
You all might want to use the CameraMX app... I use it on all my selfies now. Ive compared it with the stock front cam and it's way way way better. See for yourself...
Archer Casio said:
You all might want to use the CameraMX app... I use it on all my selfies now. Ive compared it with the stock front cam and it's way way way better. See for yourself...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very cheap quality sorry bro!
I hope overexpo fixed in next update!
Kusznier said:
it was fixed in .120
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's better in 120 but definitely not fixed.
kabirjedi said:
very cheap quality sorry bro!
I hope overexpo fixed in next update!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uploaded the wrong photos the last time sorry..
For the photos below, the washed out one is taken with the front camera native app. The better one is with cameraMX app.
Note: No editing done, same lighting condition, almost the same hand position, same angle.
It is very evident that the native camera app is washed out/overexposed.
Well, the CameraMX photo isnt perfect but for me, it is 80% better than the stock camera.
Archer Casio said:
Uploaded the wrong photos the last time sorry..
For the photos below, the washed out one is taken with the front camera native app. The better one is with cameraMX app.
Note: No editing done, same lighting condition, almost the same hand position, same angle.
It is very evident that the native camera app is washed out/overexposed.
Well, the CameraMX photo isnt perfect but for me, it is 80% better than the stock camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi - Is everyone certain this is a SW issue? I don't know a ton about cameras but is it possible there are defective front facing cameras on a bunch of these devices?
Hobartwash said:
Hi - Is everyone certain this is a SW issue? I don't know a ton about cameras but is it possible there are defective front facing cameras on a bunch of these devices?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I'm pretty much sure it's a software issue as the original photo can look so much better when you edit it. And, you can also use other camera apps
There is a workaround on the overexposed p20 front camera images using the Google Photos Editor App
(I've read it from another XDA thread).
The results are stunning! It's almost as if the photos were taken using an actual Google Pixel front camera! (In my opinion)
I suppose the image enhancement algorithm for the Google Photos app is similar to the image post-processing of Google Pixel phones.
Note: Google Photos is commonly preinstalled along with Gmail, Hangouts, GMaps.
Step 1 - Snap a selfie using the native app
Step 2 - Preview the photo and click the (...) at the bottom right
Step 3 - Click Advanced Edit ---> Select Google Photos
Step 4 - Select the second icon next to the filters menu.
You will find 3 sliders (Light, Color, and Pop)
Step 5 - Slide Pop all the way up, as well as Color.
You may tweak the settings more for Color and Light too!
(There are more options when you expand it)
Step 6 - Click Save.
Find sample photos below:
Just got a P20 Pro and this is seriously my biggest hate with this phone! The rest is great (except my google pay not working) but the front camera makes me look like a ghost on any image!
I'm on update 128 and the front camera still overexposed.
srgank said:
I'm on update 128 and the front camera still overexposed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I second that.
Whenever I shot a photo from front or back camera, it either doesn't focus at all or takes shaked photos, even when I seem stable with little motion, resulting in bad photo due low shutter speed. Does anyone else experience the same? Is it some hardware issue or it is software? The photos are usually blurry and overexposed. It seems like phone needs a tripod even with 'good light'. It results when I shoot the photo only, because in preview before I take the photo, everything seems focused.
The configuration I see in metadata is usualy 1/20 of shutterspeed with 400 of ISO, AI desabled. Mate 20 lite supports 3200 ISO, so what's the deal? I had Nexus 5X before, and I never experienced such an issue. In low light it was grainy, but focused with 3 years old Nexus 5X, what's with the mate 20 lite?
1. What are the results with the AI mode enabled?
2. Have you tried using the 'Pro' mode where you can adjust the ISO etc?
3. Can you upload full resolution images somewhere? I use imgit.org as it keeps exif data, but whatever works for you.
Hi, having the same "issue", also when trying to capture details (almost Macro photo) camera cant focus correctly....i went from a P9 to the Mate 20 Lite and i'm a little disapointed with the camera quality....hope that the problem it's some sort of configuration....
I always use Gcam.
I use stock app only for extremely lightened scenarios, not even with night mode (with AI stabilizer) because the quality's not the best.
Haxseeder1 said:
I always use Gcam.
I use stock app only for extremely lightened scenarios, not even with night mode (with AI stabilizer) because the quality's not the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is it possible to install gcam on not routed device.
My mate 20 lite is not routed and a I wold like to try gcam.
giancaleone said:
Is it possible to install gcam on not routed device.
My mate 20 lite is not routed and a I wold like to try gcam.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use this old version (it works with Kirin 710)
https://mega.nz/#!ZMAmTQxT!IN0R1KQk_BHJ7rihdLArGd-v4REIssEkk1k2vA571zE
It doesn't have HDR mode and night sight but I get much better results than with stock camera app.
Try it you don't need a rooted device.
Haxseeder1 said:
I use this old version (it works with Kirin 710)
https://mega.nz/#!ZMAmTQxT!IN0R1KQk_BHJ7rihdLArGd-v4REIssEkk1k2vA571zE
It doesn't have HDR mode and night sight but I get much better results than with stock camera app.
Try it you don't need a rooted device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great it sounds good.
I tried it, and the quality of immage is better, thisphone have a good camera I hope to solve with andrid 9
camera
giancaleone said:
Great it sounds good.
I tried it, and the quality of immage is better, thisphone have a good camera I hope to solve with andrid 9
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does Google camera works on this phone
yourmum151 said:
Does Google camera works on this phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, it works but an old version posted in this thread
giancaleone said:
yes, it works but an old version posted in this thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... and to me didn't make visible difference. Hope soon we can try version with working Hdr+ and other gCam features.
Sent from my SNE-LX1 using Tapatalk
forbidden8 said:
... and to me didn't make visible difference. Hope soon we can try version with working Hdr+ and other gCam features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In some dark pictures, the difference is bigger between stock app and gcam app. Try taking a picture with flashlight with both apps in the night and you'll see the difference. (The difference is not only in that case)
Haxseeder1 said:
In some dark pictures, the difference is bigger between stock app and gcam app. Try taking a picture with flashlight with both apps in the night and you'll see the difference. (The difference is not only in that case)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you're right, but i didn't use flash too often. In other hand, maybe have little more details in low light situations but with more noise compared to stock camera app. Even on day shots in shadow area visible noise to me.
Sent from my SNE-LX1 using Tapatalk
In some pictures I take with stock camera (specially in dark situations) there's a blue tone rounding the photo and it's horrible. I prefer to take photos with gcam than Huawei cam. I hope Huawei solve the low quality of the cam in an update.
I had the P20 lite before Mate20 Lite and it took better pictures than Mate20 (even with the higher specifications of the Mate 20)
what camera version is users on pie have, my camera shows version 86.9.1130.21 but the interesting thing is when I hold the app icon and go into app options then app info advanced then scroll down to store and tap on it it shows device not compatible with this version, but even more strange is if I go to google play on my pc to look at camera apps it tells me I have version
Current Version
91.9.1133.80 installed
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Don't bother with the stock camera app, it's rubbish. Install a modded Pixel camera app, much better for photos and videos, though some modes like slow motion sometimes bug out.
Pabliell said:
Don't bother with the stock camera app, it's rubbish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It certainly isn't crap. Just have a look to my manual of the stock camera (with examples).
View my profile for link to website.
actiyo said:
It certainly isn't crap. Just have a look to my manual of the stock camera (with examples).
View my profile for link to website.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Saw your website and sorry, low light photos are rubbish. In good light even a low range phone can take good photos these days.
Nokia 8 is a flagship, with decent camera, unfortunately ruined by bad software. We even got a second camera to enhance low light performance, but it's still crap compared to better software using single sensor.
Just go ahead and get a GCam with working Night Sight mode, you'll see what I'm talking about with your own eyes.
The original camera of the Nokia 8 was praised (for photos taken in ideal light circumstances) and criticised (for photos taken in low light circumstances). That's why a completely new camera app was released on May 31st 2018, which got a major update in early September 2018. This camera app added an amount of Pro possibilties and - more important for everyday users - a much improved HDR to take better pictures in low light conditions.
The official manual for the camera, however, is not only very basic but only covers the original camera app. On the net there are almost no sites that reviewed this new (Pro) camera app or gave tips and tricks except for one by nokiapoweruser dot com.
I have tried to write my own manual (for taking photographs) based on numerous tips and tricks found in different forums. The manual is written in English - A Google Translate widget can be used on the site.
I hope this guide may be of some use to some of you. If anyone wants to share other tips, feel free to write them down here. Please don't start bashing the stock camera and praising gcam - I have a gcam-app myself, one of the newest, 6.1.021.220943556. A link to a similar manual as mine for gcam would be appreciated, though.
_____
On my website (click on my user name to see the link) four pictures taken at night, three pictures inside a museum, one inside a railway station and two inside an indoor market hall.
I found out that 108 MP mode only works with ISO <=100 on the Redmi note 10 pro.
Attached are crops from 108MP with ISO 100, 108 and 125. It is clear that after SO 100 the quality drops significantly. I shot the photo in 12MP as well and upscaled the photo in the PC. The resulting picture corresponded to the 108 and 125 ISO.
It would be nice to shoot 108MP at least up to ISO 400 or 800.
Moreover it seems that sometimes the 108MP is fake even though the iso is below 100. I did not find the cause of that yet.
Finally, the 108MP photos often have a green cast. It would be nice if that could be fixed as well.
The ISO_100_cr photo has a lot higher quality than ISO_125_cr and s_1_400_cr photos.
The ISO_100_a and ISO_100_b are taken about 3 minutes appart using the same settings and the same lightning conditions. However one of them uses the fake 108MP. I have no explanation for that so far.
I reported the bug using the Xiaomi Services & feedback. So far I did not get a reply.
xseryd said:
I found out that 108 MP mode only works with ISO <=100 on the Redmi note 10 pro.
Attached are crops from 108MP with ISO 100, 108 and 125. It is clear that after SO 100 the quality drops significantly. I shot the photo in 12MP as well and upscaled the photo in the PC. The resulting picture corresponded to the 108 and 125 ISO.
It would be nice to shoot 108MP at least up to ISO 400 or 800.
Moreover it seems that sometimes the 108MP is fake even though the iso is below 100. I did not find the cause of that yet.
Finally, the 108MP photos often have a green cast. It would be nice if that could be fixed as well.
The ISO_100_cr photo has a lot higher quality than ISO_125_cr and s_1_400_cr photos.
The ISO_100_a and ISO_100_b are taken about 3 minutes appart using the same settings and the same lightning conditions. However one of them uses the fake 108MP. I have no explanation for that so far.
I reported the bug using the Xiaomi Services & feedback. So far I did not get a reply.
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Click to collapse
Use pro mode. Its there.
In all of the photos above I used the pro mode. Otherwise I would not be able to set ISO manually. However the issue is in both normal and pro mode.
The phone acts like using 108MP, but in some cases it indeed used 108MP, in other it just upscales the 12MP photo.
Try clearing system cache and cam data.
Try rolling cam back to factory load if it's been updated.
blackhawk said:
Try clearing system cache and cam data.
Try rolling cam back to factory load if it's been updated.
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I do not think the cam itself got updated, just the system to 12.0.10 MIUI Global. I cleared all the caches and the issue persists. Using pro mode 108MP with fixed ISO 100 and 125 there is a huge drop in quality in the 125 ISO.
xseryd said:
I do not think the cam itself got updated, just the system to 12.0.10 MIUI Global. I cleared all the caches and the issue persists. Using pro mode 108MP with fixed ISO 100 and 125 there is a huge drop in quality in the 125 ISO.
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What about using it in ISO 200?
The drop in image Q is very small or should be.
blackhawk said:
What about using it in ISO 200?
The drop in image Q is very small or should be.
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The pictures look almost the same for ISO 50-100. Then there is a sharp drop in quality and than the pictures are almost the same for ISO 125-500. ISO 1000 is noticeably softer, but that is to be expected.
xseryd said:
The pictures look almost the same for ISO 50-100. Then there is a sharp drop in quality and than the pictures are almost the same for ISO 125-500. ISO 1000 is noticeably softer, but that is to be expected.
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If it's native ISO is 100, don't drop below that unless the ambient light is too bright.
Use at it's native ISO # or higher whenever possible. Its native ISO is probably 100 but never assume...
blackhawk said:
If it's native ISO is 100, don't drop below that unless the ambient light is too bright.
Use at it's native ISO # or higher whenever possible. Its native ISO is probably 100 but never assume...
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The automatic mode tries to use ISO 50 if there is enough light, so I guess that is the native ISO. However that does not solve the issue that for ISO > 100 the photo looks suspiciously similar to what I get when I shoot 12 MP and upscale the picture in the pc. And unfortunately even for <=100 it is not guaranteed to shoot the true 108 MP.
xseryd said:
The automatic mode tries to use ISO 50 if there is enough light, so I guess that is the native ISO. However that does not solve the issue that for ISO > 100 the photo looks suspiciously similar to what I get when I shoot 12 MP and upscale the picture in the pc. And unfortunately even for <=100 it is not guaranteed to shoot the true 108 MP.
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You need to see what its native ISO is speced at to know.
Poor focus* and cam shake can be factors.
The 108 MP file size should be significantly larger than the 12 MP one.
*the wrong AF lock on point can trash images taken with a fast lense; the focal range is quit narrow at close range. Try some shots at 50 feet out.
All the photos mentioned above are at least 50 feet away and all have shutter time 1/300 or faster, so shake should not be an issue. The two last photos with the cherry tree even have ~1/1700s time and the issue is still visible.
Finally the picture size of the real 108MP files is 23-25MB, whereas the picture size of the faked ones is 14-18MB. Even there there seems to be something wrong.
xseryd said:
All the photos mentioned above are at least 50 feet away and all have shutter time 1/300 or faster, so shake should not be an issue. The two last photos with the cherry tree even have ~1/1700s time and the issue is still visible.
Finally the picture size of the real 108MP files is 23-25MB, whereas the picture size of the faked ones is 14-18MB. Even there there seems to be something wrong.
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Size of the file varies by the content, sometimes drastically. It still could be an AF issue, try manual focus if you have that option.
Cam shake can happen at almost any shutter setting; brace the cam on something solid.
Because there is no weight to the phone compared to 2-7 pounds of a pro- cam means little inertia to over come and no good handholds... cam shake is more an issue.
You can get cam shake at 1/1000 @Sec with a pro cam if your technique is sloppy.
Review the cam settings carefully and double check them.
I don't know, you could be right. It seems like it be a poor business plan though. It may be an inadvertent flaw on that production run and/or the firmware for it.
blackhawk said:
Size of the file varies by the content, sometimes drastically. It still could be an AF issue, try manual focus if you have that option.
Cam shake can happen at almost any shutter setting; brace the cam on something solid.
Because there is no weight to the phone compared to 2-7 pounds of a pro- cam means little inertia to over come and no good handholds... cam shake is more an issue.
You can get cam shake at 1/1000 @Sec with a pro cam if your technique is sloppy.
Review the cam settings carefully and double check them.
I don't know, you could be right. It seems like it be a poor business plan though. It may be an inadvertent flaw on that production run and/or the firmware for it.
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Just to be sure I did the test again using a tripod and a self timer. Still the same results. I could not use the manual focus mode, because the "infinity" seems to be only a few feet and my objects came out blurry.
The file difference was on the same scene, taken 10s apart. 24MB real 108MB, 14MB faked 108MB.
I have taken several photos in 108 in low light and the behavior of the Iso is correct.
It always maintains 108 and the Iso obtained go from 581 to 12800, I suppose it can go up a little more.
Logically, the higher the iso, the lower the quality and more with such small objectives.
I am very happy with the camera results and I come from a Pixel 2.
Well for one thing use solid objects that aren't able to be moved by the wind as subjects preferably with the light source in back of you rather than in back of the subject.
A wrought iron fence maybe.
24 mp is actually a lot. It's not just the pixel count but also the quality, grey depth, color accuracy that the individual pixel can capture.
blackhawk said:
Well for one thing use solid objects that aren't able to be moved by the wind as subjects preferably with the light source in back of you rather than in back of the subject.
A wrought iron fence maybe.
24 mp is actually a lot. It's not just the pixel count but also the quality, grey depth, color accuracy that the individual pixel can capture.
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I selected branches because there the difference was the most obvious. There was no wind at all. I attach different part of the picture with a solid object.
jmfb55 said:
I have taken several photos in 108 in low light and the behavior of the Iso is correct.
It always maintains 108 and the Iso obtained go from 581 to 12800, I suppose it can go up a little more.
Logically, the higher the iso, the lower the quality and more with such small objectives.
I am very happy with the camera results and I come from a Pixel 2.
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The camera reports all of the 108MP photos to be 108MP. However I believe that sometimes the picture was taken using 12MP and then just upscaled to 108MP using a software.
Good obsevation. I can't get my phone to make 20+mb pictures. I tried with your setting so: 108MP & iso 50 but no luck. Photos still come out between 14-17mb.
FakedAce said:
Good obsevation. I can't get my phone to make 20+mb pictures. I tried with your setting so: 108MP & iso 50 but no luck. Photos still come out between 14-17mb.
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Sometimes I get the fake 108MP even with small ISO. I don't understand that. Or maybe your scene is not that complex and the file is smaller even though it is the real 108MP. Try using ISO 125 if you see a size and quality difference. You can also try shooting 12MP and upscaling the picture in PC to see if it is the same as what you shot in 108MP.
FakedAce said:
Good obsevation. I can't get my phone to make 20+mb pictures. I tried with your setting so: 108MP & iso 50 but no luck. Photos still come out between 14-17mb.
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MP=megapixels
MB=megabytes
The correlation between file size and the number of megapixels is a not strictly a ratiometric one.
Without the manufacturer's white papers it's hard to know exactly how they are processing the image. Companies like Canon and Denon usually exceed their specifications, and often share detailed information beyond just the specs.
♤Does the cam allow you to shoot in RAW mode?
Try that if so. That should give a more revealing look at what's going on. RAW's have the least post processing and contain much more of the image data.