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Photo quality

Say "cheese", then rate this thread to express how photos taken with the Google Pixel 2 come out. A higher rating indicates that photos offer rich color (without over-saturating), sharp detail (with all subjects in-focus), and appropriate exposure (with even lighting).
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!

Not taken by the "average consumer" but I have to admit that these picks are AMAZING! Cant wait to have my 2XL in hand to test it out! https://9to5google.com/2017/10/07/google-pixel-2-photos-videos-samples-gallery/
Updated link with Full Res Pics
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=WEdYT3BMNFZGdUlwQ0l6aEdFT1UwVlg2LUZESDhn

I haven't taken more than a few photos, but oh my lord this camera is absolutely awesome. Depth of field trick is snazzy and works perfectly 99% of the time. Color accuracy on photos is mind-blowing.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/AWwB8R1uW2CQJPBh1

Took some sample pictures with Pixel 1 and Pixel 2, compared images on PC, they look identical but some are better on Pixel 1. Pixel 2 colors are more saturated and there is no flare....

I have been comparing the photos from the Pixel 2 to the iPhone 8 Plus if anyone is interested ?
Daylight and Night time

Took pictures today after dusk, same thing. Most images look identical to Pixel 1, but when I zoom in I can see that lens on Pixel 1 is a little bit sharper with less noise.
Edit: also noticed that automatic white balancing is off sometimes. Pixel 1 gets it right while Pixel 2 doesn't.
But all negatives are relatively small, I wouldn't say one is better then another

I don't find the camera miles better than previous phones I've owned (S7, S8, 5s pixel port etc). But it's capable, fast, a good allrounder and DOF mode is okay for a single lens construction. Hdr+ is a joy and considered, that Google don't yet utilize the new chip empowering this function it's FAST.
Sendt fra min Pixel 2 med Tapatalk

I have been able to take amazing pictures with the N5,N5X,N6P and now with the Pixel 2.
HDR+ does a great job in all these phones I owned.
The main quality difference between the N5 and the latest 3 I mentioned, are the megapixels. (But HDR+ quality was still solid in the old 5).
They main difference between the 5X/6P and the Pixel 2 is the speed to take photos, launch the camera, focus and process the HDR+ but the quality is really close.
I've decided to stick with HDR+ enhanced (which is similar to the old HDR+ in the Nexus) to minimise the risk of getting unfocused areas that sometimes with the HDR+ are not so detailed. So I'm sacrificing speed to capture photos to try to get always a perfect HDR+ shot.
Sent from my Pixel 2

thesebastian said:
I have been able to take amazing pictures with the N5,N5X,N6P and now with the Pixel 2.
HDR+ does a great job in all these phones I owned.
The main quality difference between the N5 and the latest 3 I mentioned, are the megapixels. (But HDR+ quality was still solid in the old 5).
They main difference between the 5X/6P and the Pixel 2 is the speed to take photos, launch the camera, focus and process the HDR+ but the quality is really close.
I've decided to stick with HDR+ enhanced (which is similar to the old HDR+ in the Nexus) to minimise the risk of getting unfocused areas that sometimes with the HDR+ are not so detailed. So I'm sacrificing speed to capture photos to try to get always a perfect HDR+ shot.
Sent from my Pixel 2
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do you think it's better then middle range budget mirrorless camera ?

julianalaqrua said:
do you think it's better then middle range budget mirrorless camera ?
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I don't know because I stopped using cameras for my trips, since I got a Nexus 5 with HDR+ and before that I mostly used the typical compact Sony cyber shot with Carl Zeiss lense.
And I only regret to use smartphone as main camera when I switched from the N5 to Z5 Compact and went to Paris and took ugly photos. Specially nightly photos and closeup photos. This is the main reason I sold that phone after 6 months and went for the 5X.
Probably you can get better details with those cameras you mention. But there are some key features in HDR+ (this is all post processing) that do a lot of magic:
- Focus in most of the areas. (You can focus on a person's face and still capture the details behind a window that points to the street / or the clouds in the sky/ or other faces; as if you had focused directly on that window or clouds).
- More dark skies at night. The night photos look amazing. Nightly skies try to be converted to a more solid dark colour.
- Same good quality with sunny photos that have a lot of sunlight or sun rays and you can't see well trough the camera app when taking the photo because of the high brightness. After HDR+ you could have a good result more opaque.
Other things I like from the latest Google phones cameras:
- Panoramas. Sometimes I take a panorama with just 1 captured image, because of the increased FoV to fit a building. And sometimes you need to take more than 1 because the building still doesn't fit.
- Capture photos when walking: In previous HDR+ Nexus cameras when you press the shutter, camera starts capturing and you can have blurry photos if you were moving. In The Pixel 2 when I press the shutter of the camera (also walking and with HDR+ enhanced) phone camera blocks and take some time to capture to maximize the possibility of a crisp shot. (And if you press the shutter and starts shaking the camera it won't capture till you stop shaking)
So I'm taking photos when I don't have time to stop now.
- Minimum focus distance: I love close-ups / macro shots and the latest Google phones had a good minimum focus distance and mixed with HDR+ the result is amazing.
(The Z5 Compact I owned used to have a wide angle but terrible minimum focus distance I hate this).
What I don't really care is the new portrait mode. You get 2 photos when using it. With blurry unfocused areas and the original with no blur. I think this is only useful for CV photos or some close-ups or special cases. There is a lot of people that loves this feature. I personally prefer the photo that contains more data for 99% of my captures.
Sent from my Pixel 2

Absolutely love the camera on my Pixel 2. Below are some examples shot really quickly from The Shard in London.
I had the iPhone 8 plus briefly and although similar, I'd probably say the Pixel 2 is a bit better, I also think the portrait mode is insanely good considering it only has one camera! :highfive:

Pixel 2 vs Pixel 1 (Auto, flash off, lens clean, no case)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FTyfRvJHxWAx38e93

julianalaqrua said:
do you think it's better then middle range budget mirrorless camera ?
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Click to collapse
absolutely not.
however, the pixel takes decent pictures completely automatically while you can completely mess up a picture on a mid range a mirrorless camera if you don't know how to use the settings - and the fully automatic mode of the mirrorless cameras tend not to be actually as good as the pixel
(technically, the pixel is also a mirrorless camera btw - just that the sensor and lens are tiny, get less light and aren't as sharp, basically - but they have much better automatic processing)

sstanton86 said:
Absolutely love the camera on my Pixel 2. Below are some examples shot really quickly from The Shard in London.
I had the iPhone 8 plus briefly and although similar, I'd probably say the Pixel 2 is a bit better, I also think the portrait mode is insanely good considering it only has one camera! :highfive:
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amazing shots. that's auto mode or you have used lightroom or photoshop ?

sammyalexandro said:
amazing shots. that's auto mode or you have used lightroom or photoshop ?
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Thank you! And it was through a glass window too! No Lightroom or any other editing app. Just HDR!

Very happy with the camera.

took pixel 2 for a two weeks Europe trip, omg! The pictures are amazing!!!!

elijahmendelson said:
what about bokeh? is it possible to make background blur on pixel 1 like pixel 2 in portrait mode ?
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Click to collapse
Pixel 1 does not have Portrait mode (or at least not yet). Pixel 1 has Lens Blur mode, it works but not as good
---------- Post added at 12:45 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 AM ----------
bilboa1 said:
absolutely not.
however, the pixel takes decent pictures completely automatically while you can completely mess up a picture on a mid range a mirrorless camera if you don't know how to use the settings - and the fully automatic mode of the mirrorless cameras tend not to be actually as good as the pixel
(technically, the pixel is also a mirrorless camera btw - just that the sensor and lens are tiny, get less light and aren't as sharp, basically - but they have much better automatic processing)
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Click to collapse
I had Canon G5 ($500 compact camera) and gave it away with a purchase of Pixel 1. I think P1 pictures are much better.

kolyan said:
Pixel 1 does not have Portrait mode (or at least not yet). Pixel 1 has Lens Blur mode, it works but not as good
.
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is it possible to activate portrait mode on pixel 1 ? this is only software thing as I understand, right?

alfonsocoralles said:
is it possible to activate portrait mode on pixel 1 ? this is only software thing as I understand, right?
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Click to collapse
No you can't activate it, not sure if it's software or some hardware thing. Maybe Google will enable it later

Is there a way to change the default camera to the 12MP one?

Is it possible to use the low-light camera as the default one so 3rd parties like GCam can work with it?

Just use night view or manual but why you want to do that? More megapixel won't mean better camera just larger image

blazessdd said:
Just use night view or manual but why you want to do that? More megapixel won't mean better camera just larger image
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Click to collapse
It actually means brighter photo in low light. The megapixel count might be higher, but it uses pixel binning to give 5 MP output, but a better low light image.
I think the reputed devs owning MI A2 here should develop some patches or modules to use second camera with GCam.
- Mi A1 has got it done with the telephoto lens
- One plus 5 got it with almost similar config as MI A2. Its secondary lens is low light, and uses same pixel binning like MI A2.
All we can do is hope that some dev researches a bit on this and gets this working on our device too. I'm very sure that its possible since GCam has made its way to triple lens switching already.

Question How to improve video quality (4k details)

Hi,
I noticed the bit rate in video recording on the S21 ultra is significantly lower than the competition's and I think this is why the video doesn't look as sharp (because the photos are better than that of the same competitors). Is there anyway to make it record at higher bit rate to get properly good results?
It seems like Samsung artificially decreases the quality of the video for some unknown reason. Do you think there is a chance Samsung will fix it in future update?
Thanks

yes you should use 3rd party software like FilmicPro & mcpro24fps

I will give it a try, but usually the HDR capabilities of 3rd party apps are not as good, as well as stabilization.
Filmic Pro also still doesn't support 10bit or [email protected]
Is there a way to get rid of the oversharpened look of videos in the main app?

it supports both , you cant control anything in stock apps

Wagnerian said:
I will give it a try, but usually the HDR capabilities of 3rd party apps are not as good, as well as stabilization.
Filmic Pro also still doesn't support 10bit or [email protected]
Is there a way to get rid of the oversharpened look of videos in the main app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since the last 1 or 2 updates it now supports both.

Stabilization seems quite bad, though. Edit: This due to the stabilization being turned off, probably....
The FilmicPro is really underwhelming in low light:

Wagnerian said:
Stabilization seems quite bad, though. Edit: This due to the stabilization being turned off, probably....
The FilmicPro is really underwhelming in low light:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why does filmic fail to impress you? It is significantly better if you look at it from a more experienced perspective. Original is overbrightenned and denoised to a hurtful point so it looks blurry almost.
The filmic one is more realistic and much sharper. The noise is easy to remove in post.
Plus filmic has plenty of quality and denoise settings which could be turned on and off and adjusted. We don't know what the Korean guy in the video has for his settings in Filmic.

it supports only OIS though which makes 4k60 as shaky as it was on Mi 8 back in the day, so you need gimbal or something of sorts, + one thing it doesn't sort is 2x less detail compared to 4k30, i get higher detail with Filmic on 4k60 with S20 Ultra with a generation older sensor than what i get with S21 Ultra so i avoid using 4k60 completely on that phone

Question Super Slow Motion Video

I'm opening this thread since I don't see it there.
Why do I get the impression that the 960 FPS Slow Motion that the Camera does is actually an interpolated version of a 240 FPS version?
Today I was curious to see how good it was, I put the 960 FPS mode and I said: I will finally be able to see every little detail of my experiments and social life.
I was very disappointed to see that after the video had been processed I would find myself with an old acquaintance of interpolation algorithms such as RIFE, CAIN or DAIN... The distortions. These flaws are common when interpolating videos as the AI is trying to guess where the next pixel will go in the next frame, as a consequence sometimes a teleportation effect is generated and that's what I realized today.
Honestly, that has left me disappointed because now I know that in the 960 FPS version, 3 out of 4 frames are not real.
It would be stupid to ask but the camera and processor specs support 960 FPS video. Why didn't Motorola actually implement it? Instead it is using the NPU to Interpolate

fulltronservice said:
I'm opening this thread since I don't see it there.
Why do I get the impression that the 960 FPS Slow Motion that the Camera does is actually an interpolated version of a 240 FPS version?
Today I was curious to see how good it was, I put the 960 FPS mode and I said: I will finally be able to see every little detail of my experiments and social life.
I was very disappointed to see that after the video had been processed I would find myself with an old acquaintance of interpolation algorithms such as RIFE, CAIN or DAIN... The distortions. These flaws are common when interpolating videos as the AI is trying to guess where the next pixel will go in the next frame, as a consequence sometimes a teleportation effect is generated and that's what I realized today.
Honestly, that has left me disappointed because now I know that in the 960 FPS version, 3 out of 4 frames are not real.
It would be stupid to ask but the camera and processor specs support 960 FPS video. Why didn't Motorola actually implement it? Instead it is using the NPU to Interpolate
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They couldn't be bothered. Much about this device is made just to seem good on the surface but actually using it is a different story. I, for example, doubt that the main camera is even 108MP. Taking photos in 108MP does not offer any more detail than 12MP. They honestly should have just gone for an OIS 16MP or something but no, they went backwards from last generation and slapped in this garbage sensor, which is a shame since the telephoto and wide angle are actually great. I also noticed the messed up "960fps video" and I just never use it.

Username: Required said:
They couldn't be bothered. Much about this device is made just to seem good on the surface but actually using it is a different story. I, for example, doubt that the main camera is even 108MP. Taking photos in 108MP does not offer any more detail than 12MP. They honestly should have just gone for an OIS 16MP or something but no, they went backwards from last generation and slapped in this garbage sensor, which is a shame since the telephoto and wide angle are actually great. I also noticed the messed up "960fps video" and I just never use it.
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Actually in the rest of the sections I am satisfied for the price of the phone but in the quality of the main camera I was disappointed. I'm still using GCam and I can't find a way to make the photo display with its details.

fulltronservice said:
Actually in the rest of the sections I am satisfied for the price of the phone but in the quality of the main camera I was disappointed. I'm still using GCam and I can't find a way to make the photo display with its details.
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Click to collapse
What do you mean by "display with it's detail"? The phone does take soft pictures with the main camera, I know. Shooting in RAW and opening the images in Light Room does show that there is a lot of detail that gets crushed due to the aggressive denoise algorithm that GCam uses, and the main camera app sharpens the image so much that it ends up looking like an oil painting.

Username: Required said:
What do you mean by "display with it's detail"? The phone does take soft pictures with the main camera, I know. Shooting in RAW and opening the images in Light Room does show that there is a lot of detail that gets crushed due to the aggressive denoise algorithm that GCam uses, and the main camera app sharpens the image so much that it ends up looking like an oil painting.
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With details I was referring to the information that the camera captures when you zoom in and start to see noise. I find no way to prevent the noise algorithm from creating corrections far from reality. When you take a picture, the photo is perfect until you zoom to 4x. You realize that you start to see noise and lose detail. And Motorola in the camera content update it released earlier this week hasn't fixed anything.

General GCam vs Asus photo quality

This thread explores the photo quality possibilities of the Z8. I'll post occasional info and tests about the stock camera, comparisons with GCam mods, etc, with example pictures to illustrate my findings. I hope you'll find some of this useful and post examples of your own that we can learn from.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Latest posts
Nikon SLR vs Zenfone photo quality test, June 2023
Asus & GCam Night Shots, in-depth comparison
Brightening GCam to match the Asus Camera - 2
Brightening GCam to match the Asus camera
Asus vs GCam vs Nikon - DSLR quality from the Z8?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Wichaya GCam V1.6
Wichaya has recently released an updated version of GCam, “GCam_8.1.101_Wichaya_V1.6”, that is now almost as good as the stock Asus camera.
The previous GCam version's shots were always too dark, lacked shadow detail and looked dull compared to the Asus stock camera's excellent pictures. With the latest V1.6 pictures are almost identical with the stock Asus camera, most of the time.
My only criticism of Asus shots is that they are over-sharpened. Foliage looks great but it can have an unnatural flattened appearance; fine textures can look like sand and coarser textures can be exaggerated too much. Unfortunately the Asus camera does not allow any adjustments.
GCam does not suffer from over-sharpening and the settings can be fine-tuned. Occasionally it will under expose and may not give as much shadow detail as the Asus shots, and the white balance can be a bit too warm, but overall the latest version is a fantastic improvement.
Many thanks to Wichaya for this upgrade!
Available here: https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/dev-wichaya/f/dl6/
I used the “Wichaya8.1_ZF8_V5.xml” with it from here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/working-gcam.4280045/page-8

I'll never understand why people think stock cam takes better pics than GCam. Whenever I take shots side by side, Gcam's always have more detail.

I wanted to test this latest GCam 1.6 with this V5 config file and Asus A12 .113 firmware stock camera. Just to see for myself, and well here are some pictures and details. It's like previously said, stock camera has a lot of sharpening added. It blows the fine details out and gives some edges a "halo effect". GCam without HDR was useless at least on this spot.
Overall, I like the Asus white balance a lot better, closer to reality like with my own eyeballs. GCam is much too cold. Is there a configuration setting that tunes the GCam WB? GCam HDR+ Enhanced catches in some cases a lot better detail, but takes some seconds to capture. HDR+ still has more detail, but also more noise and in my opinion worse white balance. Asus camera can oversharpen a lot and add halos around every edge. Denoise and sharpen blurs details.
https://imgur.com/a/cxgK8nj
edit: Jeez imgur destroys the pictures, maybe just download them.
Also the full pictures if someone wants to zoom, my photo editor might have processed the zooms a bit.

Jgruar said:
I wanted to test this latest GCam 1.6 with this V5 config file and Asus A12 .113 firmware stock camera. Just to see for myself, and well here are some pictures and details. It's like previously said, stock camera has a lot of sharpening added. It blows the fine details out and gives some edges a "halo effect". GCam without HDR was useless at least on this spot.
Overall, I like the Asus white balance a lot better, closer to reality like with my own eyeballs. GCam is much too cold. Is there a configuration setting that tunes the GCam WB? GCam HDR+ Enhanced catches in some cases a lot better detail, but takes some seconds to capture. HDR+ still has more detail, but also more noise and in my opinion worse white balance. Asus camera can oversharpen a lot and add halos around every edge. Denoise and sharpen blurs details.
https://imgur.com/a/cxgK8nj
edit: Jeez imgur destroys the pictures, maybe just download them.
Also the full pictures if someone wants to zoom, my photo editor might have processed the zooms a bit.
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Thanks for taking the trouble to explain and illustrate your findings comparing the Asus camera and Wichaya's latest GCam version. I also prefer the look of the Asus shots but dislike both how they over-sharpen some areas and smooth out other areas.
The Gcam shots on my Zenphone 8 generally look more natural (= not over-sharpened) but are often a bit too dark, and can also be a bit too warm. So there may be manufacturing variations that affect the white balance. The Asus shots also have a lot more shadow detail, which I prefer.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a combination of Ram Patcher setting that would bring the Gcam shots closer to how I'd like them to be. If Wichaya can advise how to increase shadow detail without affecting the highlghts I'd be grateful!

Yeah, would be really great if we could combine the good parts from both softwares. I don't know much about the GCam settings, if someone wants to share what we are able to change and how?

Tom100% said:
Thanks for taking the trouble to explain and illustrate your findings comparing the Asus camera and Wichaya's latest GCam version. I also prefer the look of the Asus shots but dislike both how they over-sharpen some areas and smooth out other areas.
The Gcam shots on my Zenphone 8 generally look more natural (= not over-sharpened) but are often a bit too dark, and can also be a bit too warm. So there may be manufacturing variations that affect the white balance. The Asus shots also have a lot more shadow detail, which I prefer.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a combination of Ram Patcher setting that would bring the Gcam shots closer to how I'd like them to be. If Wichaya can advise how to increase shadow detail without affecting the highlghts I'd be grateful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Give this a look: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-arnova8g2s-google-camera-port.3862448/post-84805697

MRDA1981 said:
Give this a look: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/app-arnova8g2s-google-camera-port.3862448/post-84805697
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Click to collapse
Thanks, it's certainly interesting and gives some insight into how complex changing the default settings can be (for Arnova8G2's GCam). It shows how to increase the exposure time - this would brighten both the shadows and the highlights.
I would like to increase only the shadow detail. This is the main difference between Wichaya's GCam and the Zenfone 8's stock camera which gives the shadows a welcome boost.

I did a quick test to see how the Zenfone 8 and Whchaya V1.6 GCam performed in Night mode.
All examples are cropped from 16MP files.
I took one shot in the normal camera mode, then in night mode, and an extra shot with the GCam’s RAW (DNG) mode to compare side by side.
The Asus camera’s normal mode always tries to smooth lightly textured areas and so has made the road and areas of soil look unnaturally smooth. The GCam normal shot (HDR+) records the textures faithfully and is more colourful but a little too bright. Both cameras blow out the bright lights at the front and side of the building.
The Asus Night shot is excellent as it holds all the textures, minimises the highlight blowouts and is quite sharp and well exposed. The GCam Night shot is quite good but a bit too bright. It’s more colourful, not quite as sharp as the Asus shot and the highlights are blown out.
So it appears as though the Asus Night mode gives the best result.
However, take a look at the enlarged cropped area of the “Asus-GCam Night modes” comparison. The Gcam Night shots is not as sharp as the Asus Night shot, but the Asus is way very over-sharpened, so much so that the light pebbledash texture of the wall is unnaturally exaggerated. The ideal, in my opinion would be somewhere in-between these two. The GCam DNG edited shot is almost ideal as it is sharp but does not over exaggerate textures, however the highlights are blown out...
To sum up I’d say that the Asus Night mode will give the best results, but can sometimes look a bit artificial depending on the range of textures involved.

Hello,
thank you for another comparison of image quality. At night the scenario from the day is repeated, the stock camera is oversharpened and the Gcam is unsharp with little detail. Is it possible to modify the Gcam in general to produce sharper images? This is a question more for the author @michelinoO

Dave.a said:
Hello,
thank you for another comparison of image quality. At night the scenario from the day is repeated, the stock camera is oversharpened and the Gcam is unsharp with little detail. Is it possible to modify the Gcam in general to produce sharper images? This is a question more for the author @michelinoO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you look in Wichaya's GCam settings, Advanced, Ram Patcher you'll see setting to vary lots of parameters, including sharpness...

Asus vs GCam vs Nikon. DSLR quality from the Z8?
Modern smartphones cameras have tiny imaging sensors yet take amazingly good pictures. The Zenfone 8’s imaging sensor is only 7.5 x 5.5mm and is crammed with almost 64,000,000 light sensitive cells. It requires a serious amount of “computational photography” processing to create pictures that exceed the actual capability of the camera’s tiny sensor.
About 20 years ago I bought one of the first cellphones that had a built in camera, the Nokia 7650. The photos were only 640 x 480 pixels but looked good on the phones 176 x 208 pixels display! Todays phones take high quality HDR pictures that look good on large screens, so I thought it would be fun to compare a picture taken with my Zenphone 8 and Nikon DSLR. This has an 24MP sensor that’s 10x the size of the Z8’s.
Z8 compared to DSLR
The DSLR has fewer megapixels but they are larger and gather much more light which results in higher quality pictures without the need for the intense processing necessary in smartphone cameras.
I took all of the attached shots during a 10 minute period to try to keep the lighting reasonably consistent and used the Z8’s stock camera and the Wichaya V1.6 GCam mod to shoot both Jpegs and DNGs. I shot only RAW files (NEFs) with the Nikon.
I edited the Asus DNG, Gcam DNG and the Nikon RAW files to reasonably match the Asus stock camera’s Jpegs to give some consistence to the comparisons.
I expected the Nikon would come out on top, but I wasn’t certain because of the outstanding results I’ve had with the Z8. The Nikon won, but the edited 64MP Gcam DNG came a close second. In some ares the Asus and GCam shots were actually better than the Nikon’s.
Notes
I’ve kept the comparisons the same size - I was impressed that the 16MP Asus Jpg that even when enlarged to 130% compares quite well with the edited 24MP Nikon RAW seen at 100%. But enlarging the Asus Jpeg makes the usual over-sharpening of fine foliage details more obvious.
The 16MP GCam at 130% is also impressive but is under exposed and lacks shadow detail that’s usual for Wichaya’s GCam.
The large 64MP Asus and GCam Jpgs both lack shadow detail, but at least the Asus isn’t over-sharpened and is actually a bit softer than the GCam.
The best results were obtained with the edited GCam 64MP DNG. I’ve shown how it compares to the edited Nikon RAW in two comparative enlargements. A very impressive result.
Of course in different circumstances the results will vary, but this test in daylight with deep shade and sunlit highlights shows the astonishing capability that computational photography has with tiny sensors.
I did this test for my own amusement and out of my interest in computational photography, but for most normal snaps it probably makes little difference whether you prefer the normal 16MP Asus or GCam Jpegs.
Computational Photography and Mainstream Cameras
Mainstream camera manufacturers don’t seem in a hurry to introduce computational photography into their mirrorless cameras because this would narrow the gap between expensive professional and cheaper consumer equipment. But eventually they will have to give in and this could revolutionise the amateur and professional photography scene. Can’t wait!

Tom100% said:
I expected the Nikon would come out on top, but I wasn’t certain because of the outstanding results I’ve had with the Z8. The Nikon won, but the edited 64MP Gcam DNG came a close second. In some ares the Asus and GCam shots were actually better than the Nikon’s.
Notes
The best results were obtained with the edited GCam 64MP DNG. I’ve shown how it compares to the edited Nikon RAW in two comparative enlargements. A very impressive result.
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Click to collapse
I just worked out that the 64MP Gcam that came a close 2nd to the Nikon DSLR was shot at 2 stops of under exposure (f1.8, 1/850sec, ISO 25 compared to f8, 1/60sec, ISO 100).
If the phone had taken only a single shot the image would have been very dark with mainly the highlights showing. Because of "computational photography" the phone takes a lot of the same shots quickly, perhaps 15 or more, which it then adds together using “image stacking” and uses several digital enhancement techniques to create the final HDR image.
The "Asus Smartphone for Snapdragon Insiders" scored 131 in the DXOmark Photo category. It costs twice as much as the Zenphone 8 but has the same main Sony camera and Qualcomm chip as the Z8, which has a Photo score of only 120.
I guess only the computational photography software had been upgraded to give the superior Photo score. Hopefully Asus will share some of the magic sauce in future upgrades to my Z8.

Brightening GCam to match the Asus camera
Shots taken with the Asus camera have an edge over GCam shots, they have lots of "pop", are well exposed and have good shadow detail. GCam shots have a more natural appearance but are generally darker with less shadow detail.
The Asus camera over-sharpens and exaggerates textures such as foliage and grass, etc. This creates the "pop" effect that looks good on a smartphone but can look artificial and over-processed when viewed on a laptop or PC screen. Unfortunately Asus does not have any settings to reduce this effect so I’ve been experimenting with Wichaya’s GCam to try brighten its shadow detail to look more like the Asus shots.
In GCam’s Advanced section the Ram Patcher has settings to fine tune the processing. Some settings are self explanatory, such as Sharpness and Saturation, but it’s not clear how other adjustments affect the picture, either when used singly or in combination.
Adjusting Ram Patcher settings is not straightforward. There are hundreds of possible combinations, and some settings are predictable up to a certain point and then produce erratic results.
Other Mods sometimes explain what their setting do but use different terms that may not directly apply to Wichaya’s Ram Patcher. As far as I can tell there isn’t a setting that will directly increase shadow detail without affecting the midtowns or highlights. I’ve came to the conclusion that it will take a combination of settings to do this.
Test Results
In a recent test I found that a combination of HDR Range Minus and HDR Range Plus can lift the shadow detail and bring GCam closer to the look and feel of the Asus camera.
The examples below show the same scene taken with the Asus camera, the darker looking GCam V1.6 (plus xml), and the GCam with custom HDR Range Minus “-4” and HDR Range Plus “4” settings to brighten the shadows. I'll be using this setting over the next few weeks in different situations to see if it can be improved.
I noticed a peculiar effect in the Asus Camera’s shot: The sun is high in the sky towards the left side of the building - in the GCam shots the sky in this area is almost white. In the Asus shot the sky behind the building appears to have been over processed to make it a much darker, and this looks quite artificial in the area I've marked in red. The GCam sky has a more natural appearance.
If you have found other ways to improve the quality of the GCam compared to the Zenphone 8’s camera I be happy if you could share examples and details here. Thanks.

Tom100% said:
The examples below show the same scene taken with the Asus camera, the darker looking GCam V1.6 (plus xml), and the GCam with custom HDR Range Minus “-4” and HDR Range Plus “4” settings to brighten the shadows. I'll be using this setting over the next few weeks in different situations to see if it can be improved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couple of settings i have seen in other xml setups.
HDR range Minus
-0,375
HRD Range Plus
8.5(default) / 10.0 / 11.5
HDR Range Minus
-0.875
HDR Range Plus
8.5(default) / 10.0 / 11.5
I use my phone (not AZ8) on -0.375 / 10.0. I like that shadows is little bit darker but i have to test that -4 / 4 setting

Dayuser said:
Couple of settings i have seen in other xml setups.
HDR range Minus
-0,375
HRD Range Plus
8.5(default) / 10.0 / 11.5
HDR Range Minus
-0.875
HDR Range Plus
8.5(default) / 10.0 / 11.5
I use you my phone (not AZ8) on -0.375 / 10.0. I like that shadows is little bit darker but i have to test that -4 / 4 setting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the information - I'll try out those settings. I found that there are a wide variety of settings that brighten and lighten the shadows but the HDR Range Plus/Minus seem to give the most control.
Edit: I tries out the settings they didn't make much difference. The best results so far I've shared in my latest post: Brightening GCam to match the Asus Camera - 2.

Is there a way to use the Asus Cam on a custom ROM?
I run lineageOS and tried to backup the Asus CAM before wiping the phone via ADB but only got a file with a few kB. Does anyone have a working APK?

flymetothemoon said:
Is there a way to use the Asus Cam on a custom ROM?
I run lineageOS and tried to backup the Asus CAM before wiping the phone via ADB but only got a file with a few kB. Does anyone have a working APK?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know about technical things like this, but I do remember reading how the Asus camera couldn't be extracted from the Asus system. Can't remember where I read it, though.

Brightening GCam to match the Asus Camera - 2
I've always preferred the brighter, more punchy look of the Asus Zenfone 8 camera to Wichaya's V1.6 GCam. Unfortunately the Asus shots are over-sharpened and can look somewhat unnatural when viewed on laptop and monitor screens.
Wichaya's GCam does not over-process the images but usually gives darker results, so I've been experimenting with the Ram Patcher settings to try to brighten them up...
In my last post, "Brightening GCam to match the Asus Camera", I listed some Ram Patcher settings that lightened the GCam shadows to try and resemble the Stock Asus Camera. Further experiments have yielded improved results and I've attached samples cropped from 100% enlargements of a few pictures. Those with more subtle highlights are the Gcam shots.
The setting I now use are shown in the Ram Patcher screengrab. I discovered that the HDR Effect Intensity alters the overall contrast of the image and I've adjusted it to give more shadow and highlight detail.
No combination of setting can make GCam shots exactly match the Asus shots since the intense computational processing that goes on under the hood is different. But I like these GCam shots and for me they provide a good alternative to the Asus shots.
I now use Asus for general/family pictures and GCam (RAW+Jpg) for more important or creative shots that I might process afterwards.
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Reviews I've seen about the Asus Zenfone 9 camera indicate that it still over-sharpens the images. Hopefully Asus might provide some setting to reduce this in future upgrades.

Asus and Gcam Night shots, in-depth comparison
I’ve been having another look at pictures taken at night with the Asus stock camera and the Wichaya GCam on my Zenfone 8. The results can vary a lot between the two cameras, particularly if there are large areas of dimly lit shadows.
The Asus camera over-sharpens fine detail which gives pictures taken during the day or at night an over-processed appearance. Viewed on a phone they look great, but when viewed on larger screens they can look a little unreal. GCam applies less sharpening - pictures look good on phones and have a more natural appearance on larger screens. Which you prefer is personal preference.
Asus vs GCam Night Shots
The difference between pictures taken at night with the GCam and Asus cameras is more pronounced than in daylight shots. You can view the attached examples to judge for yourself…
I sometimes use the Asus Night camera for general shots in low light. I can access it quickly (using Zenfone shortcuts) to capture fleeting moments. But when I have the opportunity to take a more artistic or creative shot at night I will use the GCam HDR+ Enhanced mode. This is set to capture jpg and dng files together - the jpg looks sharp and accurately exposed, and if I want the very best quality I can edit the dng files later.
The quality of the edited GCam Night mode dng is almost as good but it has a longer "hold still" time, so it's not my first choice for quality and convenience.
The Night Sight mode can also be used for daylight shots but it still doesn't give any sharper or more detailed result than the HDR+ Enhanced mode. The edited dng files from both look just the same, so the HDR+ Enhanced mode is still the best choice.
However in very extreme low light situations I may try the GCam Night Sight mode, which has the longest "hold still" time. But so far I’ve been happy with the quality achieved by the HDR+ Enhanced option.
The examples are from the central area of the picture to make comparisons easier...
I”m using
Wichaya's 8.1 v1.6: GCam_8.1.101_Wichaya_V1.6
Wichaya-8.1.101-ZF8-amrazing33.xml
The HDR+ modes and Ram Patcher settings are shown in the screenshots.
In GCam Settings I have the Multiframe HDR+ Enhanced set to Very High.

Did someone try night sky photos?
I could not get good star photos with gcam, but with Asus cam they look decent.