Improved portrait/bookeh since launch ? - Moto X4 Questions & Answers

Looking into getting the X4 particularly for the dual lens hardware with the wide-angle lens and the portrait/bookeh mode but initial reviews showed that this didn't work well ("blotches" around the subject) at all, unlike on the dual lens Apple phones. I've searched high and low but can't see any feedback saying if this has been improved since ? Thanks !

This is pure software effect, so dual camera is not used.
Of course final result depends heavily on photographed objects, conditions etc.
But I made a few portraits already and for me it's working really OK.
Of course, if you examine all the photos using looking glass you can find something not 100% perfect, but...
I think it would not be normal behaviour

Sure, that's not something you want to do but the examples of "portraits" in the initial reviews were pretty horrible, hence my question I do believe both lenses are used for that with one (wide presumably) used to for the "bookeh" background.

webvan said:
Sure, that's not something you want to do but the examples of "portraits" in the initial reviews were pretty horrible, hence my question I do believe both lenses are used for that with one (wide presumably) used to for the "bookeh" background.
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Not at all. When you switch to the portrait mode, you have this "bokeh" preview - then you can just put your finger on the secondary camera, and nothing changes. That's all.

ok thanks, well maybe that's why the results are not as good as on the iPhone + devices since they claim they use the second lens to blur the background. Anyway my X4 is on the way so will test that feature and hopefully find it useful !

You can use Google Camera, Portrait mode works fine.

Related

Nexus 5 in the hands of a photographer

We gave our Nexus 5 in the hands of a photographer (friend of mine) for a month, and this is what we get!
Very impressive!
http://www.androidworld.it/2014/01/...i-di-un-fotografo-il-nostro-test-foto-209321/
cisoprogressivo said:
We gave our Nexus 5 in the hands of a photographer (friend of mine) for a month, and this is what we get!
Very impressive!
http://www.androidworld.it/2014/01/...i-di-un-fotografo-il-nostro-test-foto-209321/
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Click to collapse
Knowing a thing or two about taking picture taking results in some impressive pictures.
Whodathunkit!
Cirkustanz said:
Knowing a thing or two about taking picture taking results in some impressive pictures.
Whodathunkit!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup
There's some pretty severe pink-camera-problem going on in the center of most of the photos.
Wow, these look great.
Getting excited to see if I'll be able to get shots which look are remotely as good
and you had to get a photographer for those shots? :laugh:
anyways, OP has "generating clicks" written all over it.
Nice shots! I especially like how well OIS works on the n5 when taking videos too, much better than the n4.
PoisonWolf said:
There's some pretty severe pink-camera-problem going on in the center of most of the photos.
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I think that issue is pretty common these days, you camera might even produce those with the very same conditions.
Nice Pic's, probably could have been a litter better if it was from a White N5
Grande ciso!
EarlZ said:
I think that issue is pretty common these days, you camera might even produce those with the very same conditions.
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My N4 has it as well, I agree, but not to the extent as observed in those photos.
ghettopops said:
Nice Pic's, probably could have been a litter better if it was from a White N5
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O_O explain
biscuitownz said:
O_O explain
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Auto correct. Little. White N5's are better than the black ones
ghettopops said:
Auto correct. Little. White N5's are better than the black ones
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How are they a little better?
cisoprogressivo said:
We gave our Nexus 5 in the hands of a photographer (friend of mine) for a month, and this is what we get!
Very impressive!
http://www.androidworld.it/2014/01/...i-di-un-fotografo-il-nostro-test-foto-209321/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am assuming that your friend bit**ed and moaned about the lack of manual shutter speed and aperture control, default camera app (awful), and in general lack of a manual mode (which is how most pros shoot- manually setting everything).
Disclaimer: I'm a photographer (not the 'I have a DSLR and use AUTO mode and press this thingy' photographer, the 'I have my own successful business' kind) and the lack of manual shutter & aperture is beyond frustrating to me. Sure there are (mostly worthless) apps that give you some control of ISO, WB, burst mode, etc., but without those vital exposure controls (shutter and aperture) to me all smartphone cameras will suck.
I know, I know. It's not a pro level slr... it's a phone...
Of course having stunning locations always helps.
anactoraaron said:
I am assuming that your friend bit**ed and moaned about the lack of manual shutter speed and aperture control, default camera app (awful), and in general lack of a manual mode (which is how most pros shoot- manually setting everything).
Disclaimer: I'm a photographer (not the 'I have a DSLR and use AUTO mode and press this thingy' photographer, the 'I have my own successful business' kind) and the lack of manual shutter & aperture is beyond frustrating to me. Sure there are (mostly worthless) apps that give you some control of ISO, WB, burst mode, etc., but without those vital exposure controls (shutter and aperture) to me all smartphone cameras will suck.
I know, I know. It's not a pro level slr... it's a phone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I agree with you that the default camera app is incredibly awful and lacks many controls, mobile phones are replacing point and shoot cameras, not DSLRs or micro 4/3. Also, most people use photos nowadays for stupid web shots/social/ready-made-filters etc and not for printing or cropping and zooming for the perfect frame.
I replaced my Cannon P&S since I had the HTC One X two years ago, but no mobile will ever replace my Fuji X-A1
anactoraaron said:
(which is how most pros shoot- manually setting everything).
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Click to collapse
I don't disagree with you on anything but this - most modern SLR pros I know (less than 100, but many more than 10) do NOT shoot all manual. Most may shoot A-priority or S-priority, or use P mode and wheel their way to the desired blend, but only landscape, product or portrait shooters really can practically go all manual, all the time - you need non-moving subjects and somewhat consistent lighting to rock all manual and get a decent return on your shots.
And let's be fair, manual shooting modes do not make better pictures: better photographers make better pictures.
mr.r9 said:
While I agree with you that the default camera app is incredibly awful and lacks many controls, mobile phones are replacing point and shoot cameras, not DSLRs or micro 4/3. Also, most people use photos nowadays for stupid web shots/social/ready-made-filters etc and not for printing or cropping and zooming for the perfect frame.
I replaced my Cannon P&S since I had the HTC One X two years ago, but no mobile will ever replace my Fuji X-A1
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Click to collapse
I know this and agree with you entirely, but I do have an old Polaroid P&S that allows me to set the shutter speed (like from 1/30-1/200, but no aperture control) and that thing is 5+ years old now. But yeah, the need to own a P&S is mostly non-existent with how good smartphone cameras are getting now. It still wouldn't stop me from griping about the things I mentioned if someone gave me a smartphone to take photos with the expectation of delivering pro quality work though (OP was 'I gave my phone to my pro friend to see what he/she could do').
big_adventure said:
I don't disagree with you on anything but this - most modern SLR pros I know (less than 100, but many more than 10) do NOT shoot all manual. Most may shoot A-priority or S-priority, or use P mode and wheel their way to the desired blend, but only landscape, product or portrait shooters really can practically go all manual, all the time - you need non-moving subjects and somewhat consistent lighting to rock all manual and get a decent return on your shots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only problem I have with P, A, and S priority modes is the reaction time of the camera to lighting conditions - especially outdoors. I particularly have an issue with P mode as most cameras seem to want a neutral/balanced shutter and aperture - like 1/60 @ f8 - whereas I may want 1/125 or faster @ f4.5-6.3 - and it gets worse outdoors (like wanting 1/160 @ f25 instead of 1/800 @ f8 etc) almost necessitating use of S mode if auto operation is desired. It also seems to take too long sometimes for the camera to read the amount of light and adjust the exposure (shutter speed in A mode or aperture in S mode) correctly. Shooting in manual mode for me is easier and better for me as I can read the light and pick a proper shutter, etc. based on conditions where I am shooting without having to worry about being occasionally slightly too bright (concern for a loss of detail being washed out) or too dark (where softness/pixelation comes into play).
But I suppose how you use your camera will vary on what you are taking pictures of. My gripe with the Nexus 5 is that with adequate lighting indoors and having the flash on auto the camera seems to always want to take pictures with the flash off at 1/10 or 1/20 @ f10 ISO ~400 or something like that, and that's just no good with really anything especially pictures of the kids. Why can't I at least just set the shutter? So many blurry pics... I thought there would be more emphasis on getting the camera experience better on a Nexus phone... the sad thing is that the hardware is actually really good for a phone but sadly the software side is woefully behind :crying:
And let's be fair, manual shooting modes do not make better pictures: better photographers make better pictures.
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Absolutely correct.
I always love these posts,
I have been an on again off again professional photographer for over 10 years mostly in industrial photography.
Even once owned an online photography magazine with pros writing articles from around the world.
My first thought is that it never really has much to do with the camera, its the photographer that stands behind this.
The best example I can give you of this, is the gear snobs that say you can't use mirror-less cameras in the professional setting.
Just grab a pro photographer give them a Nikon V1 or a Olympus OM-D and let them go shooting for a day.
As far as not having P/S/A/M modes, it's a phone....
1 in 100 000 people will even know what that is and about a third of those will actually know how to use it.
If we want to talk camera geek for a moment.
Sensor size is 1/3.2″
Aperture is f2.4 (fixed Aperture)
Max iso is 100 - 800
What does this mean?
Low light shots will still be grainy (Tiny sensor doesn't collect enough light)
The Lens is equivalent to about 28mm which if you have a Canon Rebel or a Nikon DXXXX camera it works out to the 18mm on a kit lens.
So why no manual control?
Well with a fixed aperture of 2.4 what can you change?
Well if you know cameras there is something called the exposure triangle, all this means is aperture, shutter speed, iso have to line up just right for an image to be exposed correctly. In A (aperture priority) you only control aperture and iso, S (shutter priority)you only control shutter and iso, and M you control everything. If you can't change the aperture then you can't use these modes.
Any app that says it gives you control of these things are just simulated.
Every photographers favorite word.... Bokeh!
The blur in the background, how to get it on a phone.
First we have to look at two things the 28mm lens and the tiny sensor. The smaller the sensor does not help at all in this case and nether does the focal length. To get Bokeh with your phone you have to get really really close to your subject almost as if your taking a macro shot.
One more trick for you guys if your still reading this, the camera phone is not ideal for taking portraits.
The reason why is at 28mm you get barrel distortion that pulls the center of the image towards the viewer. You can give people longer than usual noses and get strangeness going on. If your going to take a portrait of a person, instead of taking a close up on the face back up a bit. It will help hide this distortion.
Wow didn't mean for this to come out this long but I am at work, and bored.... lol

[Q] Hope for the Nexus 6 Camera?

Alot of the reviews says, nexus 6 camera experience has been a "hit or miss" from taking a good pic even with HDR on. Would it help to install a new camera app and do some tweakings over it, or better yet use an xposed module (if any) to fix the issue?
I'm a photographer. Here's the thing.
Camera reviews on cell phones are reviewed by gadget freaks, not photographers. They're interested in specs, they think megapixels are important, they don't even mention the important stuff.
Android L is the first OS to have a decent camera api. This will allow the nexus camera - which is only inherently different from the note 4 camera in terms of software - to vastly outperform anything on the market given a good camera app.
This mythical camera app should take advantage of a few things - full manual control. Exposure compensation and AE/AF lock. Auto bracketing. Proper metering, with selections for spot through to matrix. FPS control. Video control with framerate and resolution options, and the ability to manually control or lock exposure and focus. And finally, take advantage of L's .dng output, so we can work on this in lightroom after we're done. I don't trust my $2000 camera to spit out a nice jpg processed the way I want it, I shoot raw, I sure as hell don't trust a phone.
The nexus 6 looks to have some nice hardware. Let the software take advantage of it and you'll be happy.
tripler6 said:
I'm a photographer. Here's the thing.
Camera reviews on cell phones are reviewed by gadget freaks, not photographers. They're interested in specs, they think megapixels are important, they don't even mention the important stuff.
Android L is the first OS to have a decent camera api. This will allow the nexus camera - which is only inherently different from the note 4 camera in terms of software - to vastly outperform anything on the market given a good camera app.
This mythical camera app should take advantage of a few things - full manual control. Exposure compensation and AE/AF lock. Auto bracketing. Proper metering, with selections for spot through to matrix. FPS control. Video control with framerate and resolution options, and the ability to manually control or lock exposure and focus. And finally, take advantage of L's .dng output, so we can work on this in lightroom after we're done. I don't trust my $2000 camera to spit out a nice jpg processed the way I want it, I shoot raw, I sure as hell don't trust a phone.
The nexus 6 looks to have some nice hardware. Let the software take advantage of it and you'll be happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good post. My girlfriend is a photographer but her biggest complaints were:
- The lens should've been bigger (1.5/3 at least - according to her the sheer size of this phone would have allowed for a much bigger lens, even 1.2/3).
- The dual LED flashes would likely overexpose the images due to their placement on the back of the phone. Sure, aesthetically it can look good (depending on your preference) but logically it will risk adding too much exposure to photos. The Note 4, 6+, top Nokia phones with large lenses all have the flashes further away from the lens for example (for good reason).
- The type of flash (LED) wont be as good an xenon flash (or dual). According to her the phone body is definitely thick enough to house the bigger flash; this would reduce noise in the images and provide better lighting/exposure in photos.
She also mentioned that even with a 10/10 camera app which does absolutely everything you want, the photo quality will not be much better (maybe the same as or potentially still worse) compared with the Note 4 or even iPhone 6+. Yes the hardware might be similar but the placement of the flash compared with the Note 4 will affect the way the camera captures photos with flash enabled. As, even though TW in Samsung has major issues it does have very heavily optimised camera software which will always improve - better than every camera app that I personally know of.
Front facing camera however will not complete with the Note 4. From demo's , despite being higher MP than the iPhone 6+, the results are worse. I do not know why, it could be down to the quality of the lens in the front but the Nexus 6 FF camera quality isn't much better than the Nexus 5 (it looks the same to me).
spartanm99 said:
Good post. My girlfriend is a photographer but her biggest complaints were:
- The lens should've been bigger (1.5/3 at least - according to her the sheer size of this phone would have allowed for a much bigger lens, even 1.2/3).
- The dual LED flashes would likely overexpose the images due to their placement on the back of the phone. Sure, aesthetically it can look good (depending on your preference) but logically it will risk adding too much exposure to photos. The Note 4, 6+, top Nokia phones with large lenses all have the flashes further away from the lens for example (for good reason).
- The type of flash (LED) wont be as good an xenon flash (or dual). According to her the phone body is definitely thick enough to house the bigger flash; this would reduce noise in the images and provide better lighting/exposure in photos.
She also mentioned that even with a 10/10 camera app which does absolutely everything you want, the photo quality will not be much better (maybe the same as or potentially still worse) compared with the Note 4 or even iPhone 6+. Yes the hardware might be similar but the placement of the flash compared with the Note 4 will affect the way the camera captures photos with flash enabled. As, even though TW in Samsung has major issues it does have very heavily optimised camera software which will always improve - better than every camera app that I personally know of.
Front facing camera however will not complete with the Note 4. From demo's , despite being higher MP than the iPhone 6+, the results are worse. I do not know why, it could be down to the quality of the lens in the front but the Nexus 6 FF camera quality isn't much better than the Nexus 5 (it looks the same to me).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A lens is proportionate to the sensor. On top of that? It's a fixed lens. They can make those extremely small when we're talking about phone sensors. There is also no mechanical shutter, meaning the lens can be even more compact. This is why mirrorless cameras have small lenses. This of course goes for cell phone lenses in general, but the reason is there's really no need to put a huge lens on a phone.
The dual LED flashes won't overexpose the image, don't worry. In the studio we use a ring flash - same concept - there are some versions that operate as a regular flash, and there's some versions that operate constant on. You can shoot with either. Studio LED lighting is even becoming a thing now, it's cool because you can control the color temp directly and change the brightness.. it's also always on so WYSIWYG. Either way your flash will operate TTL and will not overexpose Xenon - what a hotshoe flash uses - will just use a lot of energy and drain your batteries. LED is very efficient.
The ring flash appears to be too small to have the "ring flash effect", which is uniform lighting around a subject that is popular in fashion and hides blemishes.. I mean it's like the size of a finger. The source of the flash is too small to produce any meaningful difference between the "ring" flash and the regular samsung/iphone flashes. It's going to look about the same. If you see a difference, it's software.
I am just excited about the RAW support in 5.0. I am okay with an f/2.0 aperture on a device in my pocket. If I needed something better, my DSLR has a 50mm f/1.5 which is only a camera bag away
The problem I'm having with my Nexus 6 is lag. That is, I went into my 9 month old's room, and turned on the light. So, okay incandescent lighting, not too bright, but I wouldn't call it 'low-light', either. My little son is standing up in his crib bouncing around, and every now and again turning and smiling at me. I go for the shot with my nice Nexus 6....and in the FOUR SECONDS it takes for the camera to actually take the picture, he's looked away again. I tried several times. Each time, the camera did NOTHING for a few seconds and then took the shot when the window of opportunity was gone. WHAT THE HECK?!?!?! It didn't even look like it was doing any autofocus hunting.
THIS is very depressing. Anyone know of any camera apps that will actually, I don't know, take the picture when I actually ask it to?
Randy
I'm waiting for devs to work their magic on the camera. It has a great sensor (Sony IMX214) so the potential is there. I really wish they could use the G3's software because its great. Is there a way to make the G3's software work on the Nexus for the camera? It processes images really well and is very fast.
rmagruder said:
The problem I'm having with my Nexus 6 is lag. That is, I went into my 9 month old's room, and turned on the light. So, okay incandescent lighting, not too bright, but I wouldn't call it 'low-light', either. My little son is standing up in his crib bouncing around, and every now and again turning and smiling at me. I go for the shot with my nice Nexus 6....and in the FOUR SECONDS it takes for the camera to actually take the picture, he's looked away again. I tried several times. Each time, the camera did NOTHING for a few seconds and then took the shot when the window of opportunity was gone. WHAT THE HECK?!?!?! It didn't even look like it was doing any autofocus hunting.
THIS is very depressing. Anyone know of any camera apps that will actually, I don't know, take the picture when I actually ask it to?
Randy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have HDR+ enabled? If so that's why your focus takes so long. It's taking 3 pictures in a row and is great for still images. I find the camera with HDR+ off plenty fast.
---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------
On another note is raw format already being supported on the 6 or is it coming in an update. I'm no photographer but I'm extremely pleased how well the camera functions. I've only had nexus devices. The last phone I had with a decent camera was the Nokia n 5
Smallsmx3 said:
Do you have HDR+ enabled? If so that's why your focus takes so long. It's taking 3 pictures in a row and is great for still images. I find the camera with HDR+ off plenty fast.
---------- Post added at 01:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:15 PM ----------
On another note is raw format already being supported on the 6 or is it coming in an update. I'm no photographer but I'm extremely pleased how well the camera functions. I've only had nexus devices. The last phone I had with a decent camera was the Nokia n 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, HDR+ was NOT on, nor was the flash. I just wanted it to snap the stupid picture with as little muss n fuss as possible
I extracted the lib files and camera apk/odex from my g3 is there anything else I would need to make it work? I can get the framework from my system files if needed. I want to see if this will help the camera at all considering it had a lot of potential.
Pilz said:
I extracted the lib files and camera apk/odex from my g3 is there anything else I would need to make it work? I can get the framework from my system files if needed. I want to see if this will help the camera at all considering it had a lot of potential.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let us know how it goes
rmagruder said:
No, HDR+ was NOT on, nor was the flash. I just wanted it to snap the stupid picture with as little muss n fuss as possible
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then something is broken on your phone. Completely stock N6, not even root let alone disabling encryption, without HDR+ or Flash... the phone takes pictures within half a second every time.
Smallsmx3 said:
Let us know how it goes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's still FC's even after I moved the camera.apk and camera.odex into the system/app and I wrote over the Nexus's libs with the G3's. I'm not sure why its FC's maybe I can install the framework.apk from my G3 and see if that works.
Try some low light shots....
tripler6 said:
I'm a photographer. Here's the thing.
Camera reviews on cell phones are reviewed by gadget freaks, not photographers. They're interested in specs, they think megapixels are important, they don't even mention the important stuff.
Android L is the first OS to have a decent camera api. This will allow the nexus camera - which is only inherently different from the note 4 camera in terms of software - to vastly outperform anything on the market given a good camera app.
This mythical camera app should take advantage of a few things - full manual control. Exposure compensation and AE/AF lock. Auto bracketing. Proper metering, with selections for spot through to matrix. FPS control. Video control with framerate and resolution options, and the ability to manually control or lock exposure and focus. And finally, take advantage of L's .dng output, so we can work on this in lightroom after we're done. I don't trust my $2000 camera to spit out a nice jpg processed the way I want it, I shoot raw, I sure as hell don't trust a phone.
The nexus 6 looks to have some nice hardware. Let the software take advantage of it and you'll be happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any chance for Slo Mo video (at least 120fps) with this "mythical camera app"?
rmagruder said:
Try some low light shots....
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Click to collapse
I found this thread after searching for a better camera for my n6. Realized after reading your post that it is the low light shots that suffer from severe shutter lag. Pics in good light are perfect. Ugh. My original moto x Dev. Took awesome pics compared to this low light garbage
Cwoomer said:
I found this thread after searching for a better camera for my n6. Realized after reading your post that it is the low light shots that suffer from severe shutter lag. Pics in good light are perfect. Ugh. My original moto x Dev. Took awesome pics compared to this low light garbage
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The pics are great when you are in a very well lit place. The moment you start to lose even a little light (semi lit), the camera really struggles. I'm very disappointed to start, but I'm going to stay patient and wait for Google to fix this.
Pilz said:
I'm waiting for devs to work their magic on the camera. It has a great sensor (Sony IMX214) so the potential is there. I really wish they could use the G3's software because its great. Is there a way to make the G3's software work on the Nexus for the camera? It processes images really well and is very fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The G3 is the best camera on a phone because of the hardware.. not sure if the software has much to do with it because I've switched camera apps on that phone many times and the pics still come out amazing
dannieloco said:
The G3 is the best camera on a phone because of the hardware.. not sure if the software has much to do with it because I've switched camera apps on that phone many times and the pics still come out amazing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The G3 uses the IMX135 sensor while the Nexus uses the IMX214 which is a better sensor. So in theory the Nexus 6 is capable of better photos if the software can back it up. The G3 still uses the lib's and framework from LG no matter what camera app you are using from what I understand.
Anyone know anything about the Slo Mo capabilities? Im wanting to buy the N6 but the Slo Mo feature is really important to me. Hopefully it is possible with the sensor which everyone seems to regard as a pretty high quality sensor.

[Q] Will the Lollipop update fix the terrible camera?

As we all know the sensor and lens on the Z3 are some of the best on the market right now. However, for some reason, Sony, who make maybe the best compact cameras out there, seems to have failed miserably in regard to the camera software in its phones. All photos come out with little detail, soft focus, artifacts and overprocessed. Do you think that will get fixed in 5.0(2)? Will the camera finally be comparable to, say, the Galaxy Note 4 or some of the Lumias?
Regards.
what terrible camera?
i'm no Ansel Adams, but i think the Z3c has a great camera, especially once you get the hang of it.
seklerek said:
As we all know the sensor and lens on the Z3 are some of the best on the market right now. However, for some reason, Sony, who make maybe the best compact cameras out there, seems to have failed miserably in regard to the camera software in its phones. All photos come out with little detail, soft focus, artifacts and overprocessed. Do you think that will get fixed in 5.0(2)? Will the camera finally be comparable to, say, the Galaxy Note 4 or some of the Lumias?
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In theory yes. With Lollipop we will be able to take RAW images with the camera due to the new api. RAW images are unprocessed, straight from the sensor. The Sony camera sensor is good but the software image processing isn't. Taking photos in RAW eliminates the poor image processing so the images should be much much better.
Sent from my D5833
I actually agree on this, especially when taking photos. All the other devices I used before my Z3 Compact did not try to focus again after I already touched focus a certain area, but my Z3C actually does so as I press the shutter button. It also has trouble trying to focus on really close objects, only able to get precise focus 1/10 of the time.
I personally use google camera for simple, clear, low-processed pictures. The drawback is that the photos cannot be saved on the sd card w/o root.
Or, you can very well use the manual mode - this one also is pulling some nice photos, w/o blur,
ro_explorer said:
I personally use google camera for simple, clear, low-processed pictures. The drawback is that the photos cannot be saved on the sd card w/o root.
Or, you can very well use the manual mode - this one also is pulling some nice photos, w/o blur,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Atleast on the regular Z3 you can choose to save photos and videos on the sd card directly.
Camera, the three blocks, settings icons.
I'm currently playing around with the app ABetterCamera and so far images are taken faster and low light photos look much better. They have an option to choose where to store the photos and if you choose external card it gives you the message Android doesn't allow that...BUT there is an option to choose custom folder which I pointed to the SDCard and it worked!
Yeah I find the camera terrible too.
My dads Note 2 takes much better pictures. If I put them side by side at a certain distance and take a picture of a piece of paper, on one I can clearly read what is written on it, and on the other it's all blurrines. I didn't expect this camera to suck that big especially compared to such an old low-res camera.
If that was not enough, colors are much more innatural on the sony, while the note 2 reproduces them much better...
michyprima said:
Yeah I find the camera terrible too.
My dads Note 2 takes much better pictures. If I put them side by side at a certain distance and take a picture of a piece of paper, on one I can clearly read what is written on it, and on the other it's all blurrines. I didn't expect this camera to suck that big especially compared to such an old low-res camera.
If that was not enough, colors are much more innatural on the sony, while the note 2 reproduces them much better...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you print out the pictures or look at them on the same screen it's really not possible to compare color reproduction from camera to camera.
Try ABetterCamera app, for me it takes better shots.
lol1rfs said:
Atleast on the regular Z3 you can choose to save photos and videos on the sd card directly.
Camera, the three blocks, settings icons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you use the sony camera yes you can, but he was using Google camera that can't save to Sdcard.
Back camera is mostly ok. But the front camera is the worst! I cannot wait to sony fixes this soft skin efect bug. It's driving me nuts!!
I think the camera Lumia 925 that I had, much better than the camera's compact Z3. To be honest, the camera of this device did not please me so much.
android167 said:
Back camera is mostly ok. But the front camera is the worst! I cannot wait to sony fixes this soft skin efect bug. It's driving me nuts!!
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Click to collapse
You can actually turn the "soft skin effect" off in the menu and if you want better pictures from the front camera make sure the "HDR" option is always enabled.
---------- Post added at 01:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:22 PM ----------
FSRBIKER said:
Unless you print out the pictures or look at them on the same screen it's really not possible to compare color reproduction from camera to camera.
Try ABetterCamera app, for me it takes better shots.
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Click to collapse
Camera FV-5 is a better choice. It allows 100% JPG Quality, 100% Thumbnail quality AND uncompressed PNG format option for taking shots.
seklerek said:
As we all know the sensor and lens on the Z3 are some of the best on the market right now. However, for some reason, Sony, who make maybe the best compact cameras out there, seems to have failed miserably in regard to the camera software in its phones. All photos come out with little detail, soft focus, artifacts and overprocessed. Do you think that will get fixed in 5.0(2)? Will the camera finally be comparable to, say, the Galaxy Note 4 or some of the Lumias?
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally will not get my hopes up that Sony will do anything to the camera software to improve image quality just because 5.0 supports RAW format. Sony may not even include RAW support in their version of 5.0.
So many times, phone manufacturers pick and choose which features of android to implement or substitute that feature with their own.
seklerek said:
As we all know the sensor and lens on the Z3 are some of the best on the market right now. However, for some reason, Sony, who make maybe the best compact cameras out there, seems to have failed miserably in regard to the camera software in its phones. All photos come out with little detail, soft focus, artifacts and overprocessed. Do you think that will get fixed in 5.0(2)? Will the camera finally be comparable to, say, the Galaxy Note 4 or some of the Lumias?
Regards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The formal answer is "no" - it will NOT fix the poor image processing. RAW format is not supported by Sony in Android 5.0
http://www.xperiablog.net/2015/03/1...-does-not-support-manual-camera-settings-raw/
PuffDaddy_d said:
The formal answer is "no" - it will NOT fix the poor image processing. RAW format is not supported by Sony in Android 5.0
http://www.xperiablog.net/2015/03/1...-does-not-support-manual-camera-settings-raw/
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Click to collapse
That's sad, I had my hopes up that they would finally do something about it. How can a camera company make a phone camera so bad I can't understand.
Daryll99 said:
You can actually turn the "soft skin effect" off in the menu and if you want better pictures from the front camera make sure the "HDR" option is always enabled.
---------- Post added at 01:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:22 PM ----------
Camera FV-5 is a better choice. It allows 100% JPG Quality, 100% Thumbnail quality AND uncompressed PNG format option for taking shots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You cannot. Try to turn it off, take a picture, then take a picture when it's on. There is apsolutely no difference.
camera is not terrible, doesn't need to be fixed. because iphone has better camera doesn't mean it's terrible, it's just second best after Gs5 in android (third after iphone)
ilgreco112 said:
camera is not terrible, doesn't need to be fixed. because iphone has better camera doesn't mean it's terrible, it's just second best after Gs5 in android (third after iphone)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hardware is indeed great, but software is very bad, and since the combination of both make the picture, the camera needs to be fixed (software part).
I mean look at all the phones using SONY sensors, they take excellent pictures on AUTO. Z3? Nope, rarely. Manual is super, but sometimes you do not have the time to fiddle around with the settings. And no DNG RAW in 5.0.2? Well, totally wasted potential of this phone's camera.
I'm very disappointed with the Z3C camera too... I mean, considering the specs, I was hoping for a lot much better pictures.
I´ve just got mine, I did a lot of research before buying a new phone (I had a Note 2), and the main reasons why I bought this phone are: size/specs, battery life and camera. I also considered buying the Moto Maxx (Brazilian Droid Turbo variant) but the Z3C compactness (is this a word?) made me chose it and I'm kind of regretting it a little bit... lol

Which Sony Xperia 1 II Camera App Works BEST For Auto Shots??!

Can anyone tell me if the regular Main camera or Photo Pro in Auto Mode is BEST for getting the best quality shots on this phone?? I know Cinema Pro is basically the Manual Mode camera app on this phone, so disregarding that. But for getting the very best auto shots, which of those 2 is best?
I'm guessing no one can answer this until the phone is released, but if someone saw a review or can answer based on past experience, please feel free to reply as well!!
Thanks in advance!!
This new review by WIRED Magazine indicates that (see quote below) the Photo Pro app is superior to the default camera app on the 1 II, but I'd still like some confirmation that the Photo Pro app can work/act as a FULL auto camera app when set to Auto Mode.
A few of the inconsistencies I found in the default camera app, like frequently over-exposed photos, can be avoided by switching to Sony's Photography Pro app, which comes pre-installed on the phone. It offers far more granular controls than what you get on most other smartphones—even those with dedicated manual modes in the camera app. You'll find an interface that's very similar to the one on Sony's professional cameras, allowing you the option to set things like the shutter speed, ISO, focus area, auto or manual focus, auto-exposure lock, and continuous shooting mode.
Thanks!
I'm curious of this too. I know there'd be some people wondering why we'd be getting this phone to use auto, but there'll certainly be occasions where a quick auto-shot would be preferred rather than fiddling around with settings
cd993 said:
I'm curious of this too. I know there'd be some people wondering why we'd be getting this phone to use auto, but there'll certainly be occasions where a quick auto-shot would be preferred rather than fiddling around with settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. I used to not mind using Manual Mode (etc.) on past Xperia phones, but at this point, I don't wanna deal with it anymore. Just give me a STRONG Auto Mode that can compare with the Pixel line, and I MAY reconsider buying another Sony phone again.
I'm gonna pass on the Xperia 1 II though b/c 1) NO 5G bands in the U.S. (yet they're still selling it at the full $1200 price here..........NOT cool!) and 2) Still NO dedicated Face Unlock. More and more ppl are using this feature on other phones, so I think Sony needs to realize that and implement one ASAP. (And 3) A minor thing.......... but I keep seeing reviews sayin' the max brightness isn't very bright. Come on Sony! Quit holdin' back!!)
This is something that I would also really like to know. I am by no means anything more than a casual photographer and most pictures I take are of friends, family, me, my partner and our dog (aside from the occasional scenic photo on holiday).
To take a high quality portrait photo or selfie am I best off using the standard stock camera or should I be using the pro camera as my go-to?
Photo quality is not great. the 24 mm lens gives good results, comparable in both apps. the 70 mm lens gives comparable results in both apps but is pretty soft. On a white towel I got a bit of a white with yellowish spots. the 16 mm lens is a bit overprocessed in both apps, but the shots I took indoors at ISO 400 looked acceptable in the normal app and very bad in in the Pro app. No texture at all. I hope that future firmware upgrades will improve the quality, it's like 4 years back in time. The worked with the Alpha team.....seriously?
Sho-Bud said:
Photo quality is not great. the 24 mm lens gives good results, comparable in both apps. the 70 mm lens gives comparable results in both apps but is pretty soft. On a white towel I got a bit of a white with yellowish spots. the 16 mm lens is a bit overprocessed in both apps, but the shots I took indoors at ISO 400 looked acceptable in the normal app and very bad in in the Pro app. No texture at all. I hope that future firmware upgrades will improve the quality, it's like 4 years back in time. The worked with the Alpha team.....seriously?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that is disappointing! The one or two reviews I've seen indicate that Photo Pro App can be used in Auto if you desire AND is superior to the stock camera app too.
What about just putting everything in Photo Pro app on auto and comparing it again to the stock app? Maybe that will improve the results of Photo Pro app?

Question Disappointing daylight photo quality

Hello
For different reasons, I had to upgrade my vanilla S20 to vanilla S23 (though I was not entirely convinced to).
Although the phone runs incredibly smooth, the battery life is amazing, screen is the best I've ever seen, the most important phone aspect for me is the camera video and photo quality, especially during the daytime.
Videos are amazing from S23 and way better than S20's, especially in terms of stabilization.
However, the daylight photos, from all cameras leaves A LOT to be desired. No matter what photo is it - well lit room, landscape, greenery, plants, moving objects, from both main and Telephoto camera are noticeably WORSE than from S20 during daytime.
Photos are noisy as hell, does not have that much details and has too much oversharpening applied. Even using fake 1,1 "tele" lens from S20, the resolved details during the daytime are just better on S20, on all available zoom ranges. Oversharpening on S23 is so strong that it literally kills some finest details sometimes and makes all photos look artificial and unnatural. S20 photos, compared to S23 look as if it S20 was from far future compared to S23.
I am incredibly disappointed as I was expecting A LOT more from phone of that kind. S20 photos are just amazing and I expected something either similar or better.
Is there any way to reduce the oversharpening and smoothen the photos so that they are not that noisy? Or maybe force S20's camera algorithms to S23?
Expert RAW is a no go for me as it takes too much time to play with to take photo. It also processes these photos too much.
Thanks,
Maciej
I came from pixel 7 and I am also dissaponted a lot from the camera although I wouldn't say my photos have noise. It's this Overusaturation that Samsung does( I have turned off scene optimizer) that gets on my nerves. Also night photos are not good. I'm thinking of switching back to pixel.
Download the Camera Assistant software from the Galaxy Store. There you can adjust the softening of your images.
vzsolti said:
Download the Camera Assistant software from the Galaxy Store. There you can adjust the softening of your images.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have it and I see only option for automatic hdr and where to give priority, speed or quality
Is there a Google cam available?
ermacwins said:
Is there a Google cam available?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/gcam-port.4553443/
vzsolti said:
Download the Camera Assistant software from the Galaxy Store. There you can adjust the softening of your images.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thank you for reply!
I've been looking for something like this, although I'm not entirely convinced if there are enough options regarding eg. noise. Nevertheless, I will surely try it out and share my findings
Kindest regards,
Maciej
I have played with the Camera Assistant app and it helped a little bit indeed, but the quality is still far from perfect.
No matter what "Smoothening" level I select, there is still visible noise, but more or less "smudged" based on "Smoothening" settings. Finest details are also lost when any "Smoothening" is enabled (even the medium option).
Although there is some visible changes with Camera Assistant, I still preffer S20's photos as they are both detailed and noise-free.
I hope Samsung improves the Camera, because this is not what people should expect from the top tier Android flagships. Too bad is that March security patch does NOT include any Camera improvements.
You can also try to switch off Scene Optimizer or use Pro mode to take photos
Benoe said:
You can also try to switch off Scene Optimizer or use Pro mode to take photos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply.
Scene optimizer has been off since I first launched the camera. On pro mode the results are moreless the same - very noisy and tons of artificial oversharpening.
I've had an opportunity to compare my shots from last year's S22. I think there is less noise from S22 shots, so I believe this will get fixed by Samsung in the near future. BTW - S22's photos are still worse than my old S20's and that's the major reason I decided not to purchase S22 year ago.
I shoot and edit in RAW/DNG only. I like the S23 photo compared to my S21 phone.
Do you use Pro mode then?
Hi,
I have the same issue, as per the flagship tag, the photo quality is not that much great I would say.
Usually people taking photos just point and shoot no other special settings changes.
This camera taking 2 to 3MB picture with 12MP camera but too much noise and little blurry as well.
When I switch to 50MP 3:4mode then picture is capturing little sharpen as compared to the above 12MP camera, but it has very large size of picture around 8 to 12MB.
Even banana shape are also capturing specially on humans head.
I'm very disappointed with the camera.
If I talk about overall phone except camera then this is the best phone I have ever seen.
I don't know why every YouTuber is telling lie to us in camera department, they are saying camera is much better then the iPhone or Pixel but the real truth is this phone has very poor camera specially while capturing the photos.
My brother have Realme 9pro+ and he has taken photos on my daughter's birthday and I have taken also and I'm surprised when I saw the quality of his phone's camera photo, very sharp, no noise good quality and size is also not that much.
Thinking to buy pixel 7 or some other flagship kind of phone in exchange of this S23 because I don't this so Samsung will push the camera update on this as they are very much focused on 23ultra and they have bought every YouTuber mouth as well.
I'm very happy with the camera quality so far. This month we should receive a major camera update and it will get only better with time. I have compared the gcam output with the Samsung camera app and gcam is significantly worse. And yes I have used the config file as described.
I truly hope this match update will indeed improve the quality of the camera as this is simply bad now.
Moreover - I have also found many other issues as I keep using my S23 as a daily driver.
First - the video stabilization simply does not work. It did work once released and it was actually one of major improvements that made me amazed, but it seems like february (or march) security patch has simply destroyed this feature. The videos are completely without ANY kind of stabilization.
Second - I have noticed that the Super Slow Motion mode has a HUGE step back when compared to S20. I love this feature as this allows you, without any professional hardware, to capture interesting physical phenomenoms using just your phone, such as lighting up the lighter, break the glass/ice, or even see how the little bees' wings work. These kind of videos have always been unique to Samsung and I find them extremely interesting and I'm a huge fan of these.
While S20 did capture the real 960 frames for 1 second (quite a long of time for a smartphone), S23 captures only half a second and... it's certainly NOT 960 FPS, but rather 480 FPS artificially enriched to 960 FPS by the software.
The effect is that you can't see all the phenomenoms - bees are wingless, the glass breaks unnaturally (you clearly see it's more AI work than actual capture). I'm terribly disappointed.
Honestly I doubt this upcoming March camera patch will solve that many issues and I'm extremely disappointed that 1000 EUR phone is such a garbage in terms of camera. I agree with @Normas Interruptor
If I talk about overall phone except camera then this is the best phone I have ever seen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But the truth is that you can charge your battery if it's empty, you can still use the phone if it lag sometimes, you can play the games if you don't have full details. But you can't repair damaged and bad photo. Period.

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