Hey, i just bought the Z3 Compact The phone itself is very good, EXCEPT The camera! 20 mpx of what? The camera is so blurry and noisy. And you can see the pixels easy. This is so TERRIBLE i have to ask if there is anything wrong with it? I have had Android since it came out. This results are worse than what my HTC Magic did. A phone from 2008-09. I have tried different settings, no luck. Been like this from day one. So is there something wrong, or is this suppose to be the 20mpx camera? ...
Some examples, first pic is taken in daylight. You can see at the second is in darkness (Very noisy!) Front camera is even worse!!
Please get some help! I like the phone, but if the camera is suppose to be like this i'm switching it out immediately!
I'm new to Z3c too, my camera sucks in the first shots as well, but, so did my sister's, until suddenly, it got all well. I don't know how.
Well said about camera suddenly getting good.
My recommendation is don't use superior auto. Launch your camera from a shortcut and set it to manual and from that moment on it will always launch in manual mode, but not when you launch it with shutter key.
Once in manual mode, try my settings:
Exposure: one or two bars below value of 0
WB: auto
Resolution: 15,5 mpx
Focus mode: multiple autofocus (i think that's what it's called in english)
ISO: This is the most important setting. You can set it to 100 or even 50 to avoid noise and artifacts caused by heavy postprocessing by software. But, the lower the iso, darker the image will be. So on a sunny day it can be 50 od 100, On a cloudy day, a bit higher and in night photos 800.
Metering: multiple
Focusing: When you want to take photo, put object you want to take photo of in the middle and half press shutter button. When squares turn blue on places you want focused, keep shutter half pressed and you can then move your phone to left, right, up or down and not losing focus. That way you make your composition. When you think you have your scene set up, finally press the button all the way.
Once you set it up every time you launch camera by a shortcut it will launch in manual mode with settings remembered from last time you used camera so no need to fiddle with settings every time. Camera widget is very useful.
Avoid superior auto unless you're in complete darkness because in that case heavy postprocessing and very high iso that it always uses have to be made.
Superior auto uses very high iso values when not needed. High iso causes much noise on the photos, and sony software removes that noise and does it in a not so good way. That results in artifacts and 'flat' photos.
It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. I have SLR camera experience so it's natural to me. Once you practice half pressing, composition making and then taking photo people will wonder how can you make such photos. It's knowledge that you'll be able to use always in all cameras, phones and whatever.
I hope this helps and let me know if it does. I'm thinking about writing a camera tutorial with samples because not many people use the potential of it.
See my samples, they're only resized:
http://i.imgur.com/YF2fU8l.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0cP9SiO.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/1EFhzze.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/fvWzbg1.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ptrBLVu.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/QbKBrdq.jpg
Well said ... The tutrial is good ... N m setting up these setting. It would be better to open a thread with tutrial about the camera setting n people help each other how we could get the good pictures. Thanks very much. :thumbup:
Sent from my D5803 using XDA Free mobile app
saab90095 said:
[original post]
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Did you unlock your bootloader?
degraaff said:
Did you unlock your bootloader?
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lstic said:
Well said about camera suddenly getting good.
My recommendation is don't use superior auto. Launch your camera from a shortcut and set it to manual and from that moment on it will always launch in manual mode, but not when you launch it with shutter key.
Once in manual mode, try my settings:
Exposure: one or two bars below value of 0
WB: auto
Resolution: 15,5 mpx
Focus mode: multiple autofocus (i think that's what it's called in english)
ISO: This is the most important setting. You can set it to 100 or even 50 to avoid noise and artifacts caused by heavy postprocessing by software. But, the lower the iso, darker the image will be. So on a sunny day it can be 50 od 100, On a cloudy day, a bit higher and in night photos 800.
Metering: multiple
Focusing: When you want to take photo, put object you want to take photo of in the middle and half press shutter button. When squares turn blue on places you want focused, keep shutter half pressed and you can then move your phone to left, right, up or down and not losing focus. That way you make your composition. When you think you have your scene set up, finally press the button all the way.
Once you set it up every time you launch camera by a shortcut it will launch in manual mode with settings remembered from last time you used camera so no need to fiddle with settings every time. Camera widget is very useful.
Avoid superior auto unless you're in complete darkness because in that case heavy postprocessing and very high iso that it always uses have to be made.
Superior auto uses very high iso values when not needed. High iso causes much noise on the photos, and sony software removes that noise and does it in a not so good way. That results in artifacts and 'flat' photos.
It sounds complicated, but it really isn't. I have SLR camera experience so it's natural to me. Once you practice half pressing, composition making and then taking photo people will wonder how can you make such photos. It's knowledge that you'll be able to use always in all cameras, phones and whatever.
I hope this helps and let me know if it does. I'm thinking about writing a camera tutorial with samples because not many people use the potential of it.
See my samples, they're only resized:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for a good answer. Some of the shots is amazing! Still, i can see them getting a little blurry. Also i think that if you can't choose auto and take decent photo when you are in a hurry it's actually a struggle. If you always have to set your ISO etc. Then i would rather bring my DSLR with me instead! Here are some examples from my previous phone. The S3. I set HDR on. Nothing more! Nice and easy.
I'm not saying this shots is amazing, but i just found it to be better overall than the Compact. This also have 12mpx less! Newer Samsungs have a pretty decent camera! So my questions is now, what other phone would you guys recommend? I was quite happy with my Samsung til it got slow and the battery drained out easily. I'm also happy with Sony, apart from the camera.
It's not unlocked.
Have you tried to use Google Camera? I think these crappy denoising algorithms won't be used in it. It lacks advanced options but if you just want to make nice photos with 'auto' i think it might be good enough.
Manual mode, much better photos than superior auto.
saab90095 said:
Thank you for a good answer. Some of the shots is amazing! Still, i can see them getting a little blurry. Also i think that if you can't choose auto and take decent photo when you are in a hurry it's actually a struggle. If you always have to set your ISO etc. Then i would rather bring my DSLR with me instead! Here are some examples from my previous phone. The S3. I set HDR on. Nothing more! Nice and easy.
I'm not saying this shots is amazing, but i just found it to be better overall than the Compact. This also have 12mpx less! Newer Samsungs have a pretty decent camera! So my questions is now, what other phone would you guys recommend? I was quite happy with my Samsung til it got slow and the battery drained out easily. I'm also happy with Sony, apart from the camera.
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Well, it's true that auto mode is not good. I had an Xperia P before this one and never had any issues with the camera. It had 8 mpx of amazing quality camera on the daylight at least.
But as I said, once you set your manual mode, you almost never have to fiddle around with it. At least I don't. I set iso to 100 and when it's daylight i start camera by shortcut, and on night time i start it by shutter key.
Anyway, I keep my fingers crossed that lollipop will fix all that, because it's software issue only if you ask me.
lstic said:
Well, it's true that auto mode is not good. I had an Xperia P before this one and never had any issues with the camera. It had 8 mpx of amazing quality camera on the daylight at least.
But as I said, once you set your manual mode, you almost never have to fiddle around with it. At least I don't. I set iso to 100 and when it's daylight i start camera by shortcut, and on night time i start it by shutter key.
Anyway, I keep my fingers crossed that lollipop will fix all that, because it's software issue only if you ask me.
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Tried today with your settings. Works better, so thanks! Still very blurry, but not as bad like it was. Why haven't anyone mentioned something about the camera before? Since allot of you are experiencing it? Hope Sony will release an update soon because this isn't OK at all! The colors and details are pretty decent. It just becomes blurry and not sharp enough. and why can't we turn on HDR?
Everybody has mentioned it. It's the third most talked about thing with this phone after root and battery.
Apart from the low light algorithms the camera is pretty ****.
Like the others I hope L will fix it. Until then i just use camera fv5. It even uses the hardware button so it's cool. And much better pics
HDR only works in 8MPx mode. Can't turn in on in 15.5/20MPx mode. And it's not THAT great actually. Wise exposure helps more than the HDR.
Also, you could maybe try the Camera FV-5, which has a ton of settings and also RAW capturing abilities, if you'd like to postprocess the images on your own. But I doubt anyone is doing this and taking it somehow seriously.
You have to play around a lot with the camera, bringing down exposure as suggested is a great start. I left the size at 8MPx, and also played around with some scenes (useful in the night) or lowlight, you sacrify motion blur from long exposure time for more noise, but that's how it works in photography.
The camera is not bad, you just need to be patient with it, if you'd like to quickly snap perfect shots, this may not be the perfect device, however, if you use the camera wisely, it can deliver stunning photos for large prints.
saab90095 said:
Tried today with your settings. Works better, so thanks! Still very blurry, but not as bad like it was. Why haven't anyone mentioned something about the camera before? Since allot of you are experiencing it? Hope Sony will release an update soon because this isn't OK at all! The colors and details are pretty decent. It just becomes blurry and not sharp enough. and why can't we turn on HDR?
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The pictures you posted before from the S3 really aren't better then the Z3C. Why no mentioned anything about the camera before? I'd relay the question back at you, why haven't you looked up the forum, because there are really PLENTY of topics regarding the camera. So the only thing I can conclude is that you didn't even check the forum. Even the blurry pictures have been mentioned before. Like someone above mentioned, try Camera FV-5 or any other ap. I use Camera FV-5 myself and I'm really happy with it, even with an unlocked BL. Check out the topic I created (in my signature) and you'll find plenty of pictures from the phone. It can really make some great pictures, but as you said before when you don't have a lot of time to make a picture, to change settings it can really be a bich to work with.
wayne_sk said:
HDR only works in 8MPx mode. Can't turn in on in 15.5/20MPx mode. And it's not THAT great actually. Wise exposure helps more than the HDR.
Also, you could maybe try the Camera FV-5, which has a ton of settings and also RAW capturing abilities, if you'd like to postprocess the images on your own. But I doubt anyone is doing this and taking it somehow seriously.
You have to play around a lot with the camera, bringing down exposure as suggested is a great start. I left the size at 8MPx, and also played around with some scenes (useful in the night) or lowlight, you sacrify motion blur from long exposure time for more noise, but that's how it works in photography.
The camera is not bad, you just need to be patient with it, if you'd like to quickly snap perfect shots, this may not be the perfect device, however, if you use the camera wisely, it can deliver stunning photos for large prints.
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Ok, i actually just want something nice and easy. When i take pictures with my phone i don't want to try a bunch of settings for the camera to take a decent shot. and doing this in sunlight for example when you can't see the screen at all? Instead of just pressing the camera button..Actually the superior Auto is so bad i can't even describe it. I got some OK settings now, but far from good. Of course if you play around with the settings any camera can be good, the thing that you have to do that tells me it's rubbish! Then what's the point? I could rather bring my DSLR. I would be able to take better pictures, without a hassle. For me a good camera is very important, that's one of the reason i brought it. And can you really defend a 20mpx camera from 2014 that can't even take a clear shot on a sunny day with perfect light in Auto mode?
Dsteppa said:
The pictures you posted before from the S3 really aren't better then the Z3C. Why no mentioned anything about the camera before? I'd relay the question back at you, why haven't you looked up the forum, because there are really PLENTY of topics regarding the camera. So the only thing I can conclude is that you didn't even check the forum. Even the blurry pictures have been mentioned before. Like someone above mentioned, try Camera FV-5 or any other ap. I use Camera FV-5 myself and I'm really happy with it, even with an unlocked BL. Check out the topic I created (in my signature) and you'll find plenty of pictures from the phone. It can really make some great pictures, but as you said before when you don't have a lot of time to make a picture, to change settings it can really be a bich to work with.
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I have actually seen your photos, i did go through allot of camera samples before i brought it. Little did i know that the camera was useless in auto mode. I know the shots with my Samsung isn't that good but still, this is shot in Auto mode. The first picture has HDR but nothing more. If you compare that to what i did with my Sony it's WAY better. Because as i said, if i want to take some amazing shots i will use my DSLR instead. And when i'm not having it on me i want a decent photo, but i just can't get that with the Compact.
And the S3 has 8mpx, the Compact got 20.
I changed the settings on my Compact, still blurry and un-sharp.
saab90095 said:
I have actually seen your photos, i did go through allot of camera samples before i brought it. Little did i know that the camera was useless in auto mode. I know the shots with my Samsung isn't that good but still, this is shot in Auto mode. The first picture has HDR but nothing more. If you compare that to what i did with my Sony it's WAY better. Because as i said, if i want to take some amazing shots i will use my DSLR instead. And when i'm not having it on me i want a decent photo, but i just can't get that with the Compact.
And the S3 has 8mpx, the Compact got 20.
I changed the settings on my Compact, still blurry and un-sharp.
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Sorry to say, but you've most obviously been too lazy to use the search function and you have even ignored the automatic search results while writing the title of this thread. Having said that, in the beginning you wrote about picture noise and that they come out blurred. Ok, but now you claim they're even unsharp. Sorry, that's definitely not a problem of the phone, at least you'd have the first sample with such an issue...
Regardless, please refrain from cluttering the forum by opening threads on topics that are already being *extensively* discussed. Thanks.
Sent from my D5803 using XDA Free mobile app
wayne_sk said:
The camera is not bad, you just need to be patient with it, if you'd like to quickly snap perfect shots, this may not be the perfect device, however, if you use the camera wisely, it can deliver stunning photos for large prints.
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Definitely depends what you are photographing. At 20MP I've taken some impressive photos, for sure, but under closer scrutiny on a large monitor they don't look quite as good, and they fall apart almost instantly when post-processed. Sony's sharpening algorithms are far too aggressive so any high-contrast edges look almost posterized. Other aspects of jpeg processing also leave a lot to be desired, even at low ISO. In other words, Sony took a decent sensor and only lets us get mediocre results.
And, yes, auto mode is an absolute joke. I estimate about one in ten photos I've taken in auto are useable (many of them only after slapping on Instagram filters). I just wish I could start in manual using the shutter button. Still, I'm not expecting output from a camera phone to come anywhere close to a good compact camera let alone a DSLR, so in that sense I'm a little less miffed. But reliable auto mode is essential IMO since that's always gonna be the most used mode for quick Facebook/Twitter/Instagram update snaps, which is how 99% of people use camera phones. Epic fail from Sony on that count.
I am most annoyed at all the clueless tech reviewers who last fall declared this to be the best phone camera, on a par or better than the iPhone and S5. It's not. Not even close.
pipspeak said:
I am most annoyed at all the clueless tech reviewers who last fall declared this to be the best phone camera, on a par or better than the iPhone and S5. It's not. Not even close.
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This. A million times this. How on earth did initial reviewers rave about the camera? My experience of its performance closely mirrors your own. Only a small percentage of all photos come out looking ok, even though I've messed around with wb, iso settings etc.
Same here, got my z3c yesterday and I am quite disappointed with camery quality. Images become really blurry, especially on a front facing camera. It is clear to me, that it's a software issue, because when I look at the screenm picture looks OK. But when the photo is shot, it becames blurry after pocessing. I used to have iPhone 5s before and it did amazing photos compared to sony's device.
And I also agree with an opinion that most people don't want to mess with camera settings on a mobile phone. We just want to quickly take a decent photo in an auto mode...
Hello, today is my first day with xz1c. I noticed that photos are really bads.
My settings are on 19 mpx. Maybe I have to set other? And what about best manual settings?
P.s.: album app take lot of time on loading completely pictures, why?
Thanks in advice
This topic has been mentioned before in the discussion thread
I've read that thread, but no found answers to my questions
The best pictures I have achieved have been in manual mode. You're right to set it to 19mp as this uses all the available pixels on the sensor.
Take the ISO down to 80 or 100, then adjust the shutter speed down to 15th of a second or the slowest possible for the picture. For best results hold the phone still for two or three seconds to get the correct focus, I know in the PR blurb it mentions superfast laser focus, but of all the Sony compacts I've owned, this is the slowest to focus.
The phone takes its best pictures on a tripod, strange but true. There are several phone tripods that come with bluetooth shutter release, play with 1 second shutter speed at dawn or twilight for some amazing colours.
HDR is supposed to work in Auto mode, but rarely does. You can turn it on in manual mode, but this will disable any manual settings you have set up, so remember to renable them once you've finished taking the HDR pic.
HDR doesn't always take the best picture, playing with shutter speed and ISO will give you the best results.
Shooting in macro seems to be problematic, I found it actually focuses a lot closer if you switch to using the Sony Bokeh app, which is excellent.
The super wide angle lens is pretty useless at catching nice vistas or landscapes, everything comes out a long way away and blurry, but it is good at portraits and medium distance 5 -10 ft objects.
The wide angle selfie camera is superb and catches so much of what's happening around you.
Don’t forget to turn off object tracking.
Edit: get a case for the phone that protects the lens. Although the lens is gorilla glass, it still scratches easily. So find a case that prevents anything from touching it when it's placed face down on a surface. Don't put the phone in a pocket with keys/coins. It also benefits from a wipe with a clean cloth every now and then, although it looks clean, the very nature of a phone is that you're handling it all the time and the lens gets covered in grimy prints, a quick wipe can make a huge difference.