Camera quality is bad - Galaxy S II General

So I've been taking a few pictures on my phone, and I have noticed that the Galaxy S2 is very very inconsistent in taking quality photos. I can have a great clear shot of some mid-ranged photos, but far distanced photos have horrible quality. I understand if you take pictures of something really far, obviously it won't be that good, but when I compared to my friends iPhone 4, the 8MP is barely on par with it. Do any of you know what might be the problem? I've tried using auto focus and manual focus, but it is always blurry.

It seems to be an hardware problem. I find the sgsw camera pretty good, especially the dynamic range. My only concern is with indoor pictures, a bit noisy and cold.

Can you upload and provide some shots samples?
Everything on auto? It might help to know which ROM/mod you are using.
I'm not an expert in mobile digital photography but if I can see your blurry distant shots it might be able to tell if I get better result with my device.

The S2 tends to like low shutter speeds (1/4s - 1/20s) ALL the frigging time.
It will select this slow shutter speed even when it should raise the ISO and get a faster shutter speed.
This is why the S2 often takes blurry photos, because even 1/15 or 1/19sec is not fast enough to take a photo sharply with a 28mm lens (effectively what the S2 is).
The slowest shutter speed the S2 should use is 1/30sec to ensure the photos aren't blurred by *camera* vibration/shake. (But, if the *subject* is moving, like a child, then 1/60s or 1/80s are the minimum that are needed to freeze the subject).
This is why the photos are so often blurry as soon as the light gets slightly low - cloud day, in shade, etc. I don't have a solution sorry!
Proof: check the EXIF data of the blurry photos you take. Most will have a stupidly low ISO (like ISO25, ISO50) and a stupid low shutter speed.

Yes I have noticed that the shutter speeds are quite low...now I'm assured that its not just me
I can take SOME really good photos, but almost every other pictures are very blurry even at a close distance.
Everything is on default, except I have enabled Anti-Shake or something like that, and I am using CheckROM 3.1.1 (KJ3)
The first 2 are taken at a considerably good range, with no zoom or any effects, just a normal shot, but then the outcome was very weird.
The last one was a closer shot, but in a darker area, and that one was a little bit more clear

I don't want to be captain obvious, and I am sure you are a better photographer than me but can you check if the focus mode is set to macro if it is then change to auto focus.
Since this happened to me once i set to macro and forgot and all the photos were blurry.
I just felt that might be the reason.

I am guessing that what you're doing is pressing on the "Capture" button without focusing on the subject yet?
I do find that it's best to press to focus on the area you want to take and then press the main capture button to capture it. It seems like the focus hasn't focused on what you want to take.
It's quite annoying because then that means I have to press in the middle and then press the capture button to take a decent shot. I wish I could just hold down the capture button to focus, then release to shoot.. which works sometimes but not as good as what I said above.

Here you have 2 images, far and close focus. You can see the great quality of the camera. Take a look at the focus settings: better in auto mode if you don't want to manage it in all photos. Maybe you have some problem in the camera hardware... so warranty is the best option here.

There are at least 2 types of camera modules in SGS II.
Check this:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1098834
Mine also had this problem (blury at far objects), the soultion is set the metering to matrix in camera menu.It works for me.

iocar said:
Yes I have noticed that the shutter speeds are quite low...now I'm assured that its not just me
I can take SOME really good photos, but almost every other pictures are very blurry even at a close distance.
Everything is on default, except I have enabled Anti-Shake or something like that, and I am using CheckROM 3.1.1 (KJ3)
The first 2 are taken at a considerably good range, with no zoom or any effects, just a normal shot, but then the outcome was very weird.
The last one was a closer shot, but in a darker area, and that one was a little bit more clear
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Click to collapse
are you using macro mode to take farer objects ?
thats why it is more clear when you are taking photo of the specimen (3rd one)
or the camera firmware is broken , if not ,it may be the hardware issue

I always touch the place where I want to focus, and that is why I am confused
Yes I was using Macro, but only because it had the best quality...Auto-Focus doesn't really help as it never focus properly, as in when I press the "Capture" button, most of the time it goes to red and doesn't turn green. I am holding the phone still and don't know why
The camera firmware is also up to date
What I don't get is that my old HTC Desire can take photos that are much more crisp than my Galaxy S2

Try resetting the camera settings see if that works,try a third party HDR camera app or Camera 360,if quility is still bad in the 3rd party app then it could be a hardware fault
Sichroteph said:
My only concern is with indoor pictures, a bit noisy and cold.
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Click to collapse
auto contrast I find helps take better indoors

Cant say I've had any problems with the camera. Love the macro focussing.

It seems obvious that your device doesn't behave like it should and have focus problems. I can have the exact same results with macro mode activated (and not shooting close objects)
I would suggest :
- trying another camera app (like TheiPhoneKiller suggested)
- trying a totally stock rom
- trying a rom like CM7 or MIUI
If you still got totally unfocused shots, you may very well have an faulty device. Try to get a replacement unit if you can.
(And did you try the fix kisstom suggested?)

Well... my shots is certainly much more grainy, since i upgraded to 2.3.5 - even if shot outside in bright sunshine. And many of the pictures is becoming more yellow than before - especially when using the flash-LED, so something has happened when i upgraded... this is one of my big complaints about the new upgrade. My old W800i 2Mpx beats the SGS2 in pure quality of the pictures now (but that was also, and still is, a VERY good camera for a phone)...
When comparing the newest pictures to some of the old pictures i have shot in the past, it's clear to me that i have a loss of quality since upgrading. How do i check manually, if there's a new camera-software version available - as i can't seem to find any in the Samsung apps, even if i have read somewhere that there's a newer one, comparing to my version of the camera-software???
But a least it's still not as crappy as my old HTC's camera - THAT was lousy...

Frankly speaking, 'Camera quality is bad' makes no sense. If you've said it's bad than this or that then I'd take it. Have used all the SE phones as I loved their image quality and I'll say after playing with the Satio, C905 I don't think this one would beat them. We are talking about a small image sensor here. So the main job is how good the post image processing is, some part still depends on the lens though.
The thing is I didn't buy this one for camera, believe me or not, after purchase, that is almost six months now, I've shot barely 10 pics with it. For normal usage and as a professional can't go without 350D, and for short tours and holidays I still shoot with my C905 , but not GSII.
But still this Camera is capable of taking some great pics, posting some of them here, after seeing them you certainly can't say Camera quality is bad.
The very bests I've found,

-> ithehappy
Well - i used to have that image quality too, but it has become somewhat impossible to shot such good pictures, since upgrading... i suspect that it's because my camera firmware still is TBEC28 (but of course not sure of it)

iocar said:
I always touch the place where I want to focus, and that is why I am confused
Yes I was using Macro, but only because it had the best quality...Auto-Focus doesn't really help as it never focus properly, as in when I press the "Capture" button, most of the time it goes to red and doesn't turn green. I am holding the phone still and don't know why
The camera firmware is also up to date
What I don't get is that my old HTC Desire can take photos that are much more crisp than my Galaxy S2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Confused!!! Are you saying that you always have macro focus on?
If so then turn it off. My cousin complained about the exact same thing, blurry and red box when trying to focus. Went through his settings, turned macro off and everything was good again.
Also auto focus will not work correctly if macro is on, unless your taking really close range pics, which is what macro focus is for.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

well i am on 2.3.5 Images are really Perfect for me am seriously impressed the Quality iam on kI8 here is one example
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/708/20111118205552.jpg

iocar said:
Yes I was using Macro, but only because it had the best quality
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That's exactly why your pictures are blurry at a distance.
Macro focus is for close-up pictures, use auto focus for longer distances

Related

Is the cam so bad?

Im dont know, every where I read, thay say that the cam is s..., and it takes 5 secs. from when I press till it takes the picture.
Is that right?
Stick with the Diamond, much better IMO. Only advantages of a HD is the bigger screen and more RAM, but I think the Diamond is much more useable.
To answer your question, that appears to be the case for me, yes.
"Only" the screen is a pretty major advantage, it's almost double the size. The Diamond isn't seriously usable for web browsing - the HD is. Ditto for video.
ChrisB said:
Im dont know, every where I read, thay say that the cam is s..., and it takes 5 secs. from when I press till it takes the picture.
Is that right?
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That's rubbish and completely untrue. I find the camera to be quite excellent and picture quality very good in fact.
I don't blame you though for getting that impression. Before I got my own unit, I also had that false impression from reading all the complaints on this forum. But after getting my own HD, I'm really happy with it. This is despite not having flash.
eaglesteve said:
That's rubbish and completely untrue. I find the camera to be quite excellent and picture quality very good in fact.
I don't blame you though for getting that impression. Before I got my own unit, I also had that false impression from reading all the complaints on this forum. But after getting my own HD, I'm really happy with it. This is despite not having flash.
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Exactly the HTC Touch HD is a great phone. Some people reading forum like this think they get a good sampling of what people using the phone think about it. That is not true since it is mostly the maybe 1% that have troubles of some kind with their phone that write here. The rest of the people that are happy with their phone do not write about.
The only thing I can recommend for people considering buying the phone is to get the phone and try it out. You will most likely like it a lot.
Camera is not bad, but also not good. Don't buy it as a camphone.
I've got a nokia n82 and a touch hd.
If the cam is ****? Yeah, it is. Don't let people let you think different. I guess it's not worse than other htc-phones though, I haven't had one since the original touch (elf).
If it was daylight out here now (denmark, actually) I should have taken comparision shots for you, but it's not, and with the xenon flash on the n82 it is even more superior in this light.
That said, the touch hd is a fantastic device in every other aspect! I didn't buy it for the cam, and don't care about it's picture quality, since I've got my n82.
The camera is only suitable for taking pictures in well-lit area.
Forget about dark areas.
All in all I'm sufficiently pleased with it, as I did not expect anything great.
Hello
Yes the Cam is ****
very slow slow slow and it only does pictures in very light areas.
In the drak they are very dark - the missing flash is a desaster.
Do not buy the hd for taking pictures or videos
But also safe you monry on fu.. nokia modells
IMHO...
The quality of the photos that the Touch HD can take is far better than the three HTC devices I've used before. It's actually pretty good in my limited experience with it. However, the camera remains virtually unusable because of two things:
1 - the delay between tapping the screen and the photo taking the image while the camera fusses over the focussing and then thinks for a couple of seconds
2 - the lack of hardware button makes camera shake very hard to avoid
These two factors make it almost impossible to take a photo of a moving scene because of the unpredictability of the timing of the shot and the likelihood of camera shake.
Attached is a photo I've just taken in the low evening light that illustrates what should be a perfectly easy photo. I couldn't avoid camera shake even standing still and being ultra-careful. The exposure isn't bad though.
the cam is bad... only usable by normal daylight also video recording is very bad
well in normal daylight the cam is better than my n73. video is realy better...
Are there some tweaks or settings to speed up taking images? It's really slooooow...
TIP: Disable the "Auto Whiteness" in the camera.
I have spent the last 2 weeks playing with the camera and was very disappointed with low level lighting pictures at first, BUT! now I have ressolved this problem.
There is an option in the camera "Auto Whiteness", the sensor or software in the camera seems to be useless at judging lighting, so if you set this to manual and select the indoor lighting icon (looks like a light bulb) then the camera gives quite impressive low level lighting pictures.
Speed of the camera between pressing and taking a picture is about 3 seconds, not the worst shutter delay I have seen on a camera phone, but not the best. Hopefully HTC can address this with future software updates??
For me the main issue is the blurryness of virtually all pictures,
if its a picture of a person I have to ask them to be still, then I take a pic and then I have to ask them once more to be DEAD STILL.
Most people take stay still to mean don't walk off any where but with the Touch HD stay still means don't let one muscle move.
If you want a phone that takes decent picture then its not or you.
Its a multimedia phone (pics not included)
I have been playing with the HD for two days now, which meant finding all of the tweaks and then removing them until it works for me. The excellent tweak app (search for it here) recommends enabling the sport and burst modes of photo (works great) and then changing the maximum res to 3M (makes my phone crash!)
Anyway if you want to take really good SHAKE FREE pics the ONLY way is through the burst/sport options. The auto focus for the 'normal' cam is so crap that the shutter stays open forever. In sport or burst mode the camera has to ditch the refocus and just shoot - out of the 5 in sport or 30 in burst you will have two or 10 decent pictures. This was exactly the same on my old HTC P3900.
The video is still completely crap - although much improved if you shoot as for MMS.
If we're talking about very low light, even my Canon camera does not give good result. So I don't expect miracle from HD. Having said that, I have taken quite a lot of indoor shots with lights on and the result is not noticeably worst than what my Canon camera can deliver.
As for motion, I actually don't find any problem there. I have taken quite many shots with car moving towards and away from me and the sharpness is still there. No blurring at all.
I find vido recording to be really good.
The lack of hardware button is a non-issue for me. I find it very easy to just touch the screen, the try to hold it still for the process to be completed.
This is the best camera I've ever had in a phone, and I find myself using it quite a lot since getting my HD.
This is seriously the worst camera I've ever had in a phone. And the sad part is the auto focus which is way too slow and cannot be disabled. No other tweak will help really unless somebody will figure out how to set focus to infinity permanently.
Attached are photos taken with the HTC Touch HD at night in New York City last week:
YESSSSSS IT SUCKSSSSSSS!
Auto light balance is useless, shutter speed is miserably slow (not even for a still photo) , no flash , video is worthless. 5 MP not in full screen (in full screen it is 4MP) .
If you have kids and want to take a photo for them then please wait till thy sleep and start shooting , other wise you will be wasting only your time and battery .
It is even too bad in watching movies without setting hours and hours converting them!
I hope it is not a hardware issue and only software that can be updated later .
No cam-mobile , yes surf-mobile and nav-mobile.

Use this setting for Noise-free images!

I've come across a lot of people complaining about the camera not giving out noise-free images like it's supposed to. The trick is to use manual mode. I agree, if you use Superior Auto mode, it's a miss most of the times, and when it does work, it gives a purple-ish tint at the corners.
However, If you use manual mode and select the SCENE to NIGHT, the images come out amazing and noise-free!
[DO NOT JUDGE THE IMAGE BY WHAT THE VIEWFINDER SHOWS YOU. A lot of things happen when you press the shutter button. The viewfinder simply goes red for making it easy to focus. The final image in the gallery is a hundred times better]
The Scene modes are one of the most commonly ignored settings.
I hope this helps!
Thanks for this but i just tried it and even though it pretty light where i am taking the picture, the picture turns us a little blurry.
Possibly because night mode uses a longer shutter time which makes it more sensitive to motion blur?
Schadowx277 said:
I've come across a lot of people complaining about the camera not giving out noise-free images like it's supposed to. The trick is to use manual mode. I agree, if you use Superior Auto mode, it's a miss most of the times, and when it does work, it gives a purple-ish tint at the corners.
However, If you use manual mode and select the SCENE to NIGHT, the images come out amazing and noise-free!
[DO NOT JUDGE THE IMAGE BY WHAT THE VIEWFINDER SHOWS YOU. A lot of things happen when you press the shutter button. The viewfinder simply goes red for making it easy to focus. The final image in the gallery is a hundred times better]
The Scene modes are one of the most commonly ignored settings.
I hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
USe night SCENE even if we are with light ? i mean DAY light
DjTony90 said:
USe night SCENE even if we are with light ? i mean DAY light
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How do you select a SCENE mode? I don't have any such option.
Never mind, I had it at 20MP.
Havent got around to really check out every setting in manual mode, bu I will for certain try this on oute tomorrow.
don't know why but right now scene mode shows up only on 8 megapixel and lower shots , so change your camera settings to access it.
I Use Manual mode, 20 Mp, ISO 50!!! Very important for controlling noise - still at pixel level picture is a mess but that is true for Every camera with such pixel density! And overall picture quality as seen on my sample is OK!
Isn't ISO50 only workable with very good lighting? I mean, indoors it's very tricky already...
dagrim1 said:
Isn't ISO50 only workable with very good lighting? I mean, indoors it's very tricky already...
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Photography is painting with Light, when light is not available there no much "painting" - Agree indoors when it's dark You should up ISO otherwise camera will go to very long exposures and You'll get blurry pictures.
What i was giving was setting for lower possible noise in pictures, settings will vary according to current lighting condition
pesho00 said:
Photography is painting with Light, when light is not available there no much "painting" - Agree indoors when it's dark You should up ISO otherwise camera will go to very long exposures and You'll get blurry pictures.
What i was giving was setting for lower possible noise in pictures, settings will vary according to current lighting condition
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Sure, but it's logical that a lower ISO will generate less noise, unfortunately then shutter times increase quickly resulting in moved shots. But it does seem an issue with auto mode that it increases the ISO values very quickly...
Ah well, hoping future firmware updates will improve things (if only had sony included OIS in this thing).
when i select Iso50 the whole of the viewfinder becomes VERY laggy. doesnt anyone else find this? (happens with both mine and my old z1 which was replaced)
very disappointed with the camera on this phone given that the camera is supposed to be the main selling point of the phone.
thefunkygibbon said:
when i select Iso50 the whole of the viewfinder becomes VERY laggy. doesnt anyone else find this? (happens with both mine and my old z1 which was replaced)
very disappointed with the camera on this phone given that the camera is supposed to be the main selling point of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have No such problem.
thefunkygibbon said:
when i select Iso50 the whole of the viewfinder becomes VERY laggy. doesnt anyone else find this? (happens with both mine and my old z1 which was replaced)
very disappointed with the camera on this phone given that the camera is supposed to be the main selling point of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same lagginess here, but only when the lighting is low/lower... Not as much as an issue for me.
Camera doesn't live up to it's expectations unfortunately, especially in lower light. (No, I don't expect awesome pics in lower light but coming from a Lumia920, which performed a whole lot better, yay for OIS, in that area it is kinda disappointing)
dagrim1 said:
Same lagginess here, but only when the lighting is low/lower... Not as much as an issue for me.
Camera doesn't live up to it's expectations unfortunately, especially in lower light. (No, I don't expect awesome pics in lower light but coming from a Lumia920, which performed a whole lot better, yay for OIS, in that area it is kinda disappointing)
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not tested it in "good light" to be honest since the whole point in changing the ISO is to compensate for the low light conditions you are trying to take the photo in.
its a little confusing since "Auto" iso setting is the only one which is not laggy. you can select iso50 or the top iso level (Can't remember what number it is) and its all just as laggy. you would have thought that Auto would imply that you would be using an automatically determined iso level, which would be more intensive on the phone than selecting an iso level manually (especially iso 50 which should be really less processing than"auto" would be.
---------- Post added at 09:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 AM ----------
ilovemyZ1 said:
After doing some more research I found the answer to our low-light camera problems! This trick works with all Sony phones and is easy to do.
What we need is this and this and image quality improves SIGNIFICANTLY!
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well, i have one of those and i can tell you that low light pictures on that are just as bad. a) it doesnt use the nice sony camera app. it uses the frankly rubbish Sony memories camera app which has next to nothing in terms of manual setting and b) you can't use a flash.
so no. it isnt the answer. at all.
ilovemyZ1 said:
haha maybe you should have got the QX100 instead
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maybe, but it was a freebie with my phone. i've used it a handful of times and its frankly crap.
might stick it on ebay later actually. i doubt the qx100 would be much better tbh as it'd still be using the same app. it'll still take about 30 seconds to connect the device to the phone and it'll still have the same crap wifi distance (about an arms length) before the phones viewfinder lags out badly.
thefunkygibbon said:
maybe, but it was a freebie with my phone. i've used it a handful of times and its frankly crap.
might stick it on ebay later actually. i doubt the qx100 would be much better tbh as it'd still be using the same app. it'll still take about 30 seconds to connect the device to the phone and it'll still have the same crap wifi distance (about an arms length) before the phones viewfinder lags out badly.
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The QX10 is pretty good in low light, the QX100 will be better with the large sensor and 1.8 aperture at the wide end.
Nothing can help the lack of flash for certain situations, but a lot of it comes from learning the camera.
Wifi isn't amazing, but it works further than that for me, and through walls. I'm trying to think of new ways to use that style of camera and have been experimenting.
Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk now Free

Camera slow shutter speed

I know the camera issue has been beat to death already but I've been testing it for many days and would like to relay my results. A lot of people are saying that the auto focus is bad causing blurry pictures. This is false, the focus works great but the camera always chooses a shutter speed that's to low for the lighting causing blur on subjects in motion. The only way I can get the shutter speed over 1/20 is by taking a picture in bright light. Even in above average lighting conditions the shutter will go to 1/20 or below. There is no option for metering so I wonder if LG coded something wrong in the camera drivers. I have tried every camera program out there and they all take the exact same picture using the same to low shutter speed which tells me it's not the stock camera app. I don't have the skill to dive into the programming but that is where the problem seems to be. It's the same brand (Sony) camera sensor as the SGS4 so I know that it's not the sensors fault.
Any thoughts?
Sent from my LG-D803 using xda app-developers app
Anybody else have any ideas?
I'm also seeing these ridiculous shutter speeds (1/14, 1/20) when shooting in low light indoors, even if picking Sport mode, and was looking for a discussion on the topic here. Happy to find it
I had almost given up getting the camera to do what I wanted, when I discovered that the Intelligent Auto feature actually sometimes is ... intelligent. I took 4 photos of my toddler - obviously, not a subject willing to sit still. All photos on intelligent auto.
For two of the photos, the software shot with ISO 700 and 1/15th shutter, pretty much what Normal does every time. But - the other two were taken with ISO 1400-1/30 and ISO 1500-1/30. Naturally, the latter two were a lot sharper.
This is incredibly annoying since the Normal mode only lets you manually pick max ISO 800 and gives no shutter speed control. Until I found out about this intelligent auto thing, I forced -1, -1 1/3 stops underexposure to make the camera use a faster shutter (it typically used 1/59 for some reason). Now I guess I will take 5-6 pics every time and hope the camera is indeed intelligent part of the time.
- Is there no custom camera app capable of setting shutter speed manually, and use the ISO settings available to Intelligent Auto?
- Noone's had any word from LG on this?
I will be contacting LG support about this as well, but wanted to get the XDA word on the matter first...
Cheers, Are
Just replying to say I'm having the same issue. The fastest shutter speed I've seen is 1/15 in a well lit, easy to focus shot. The vast majority of my shots are blurry as a result.
I'm running Cyanogenmod at the moment.
I'm having pretty bad shutter speeds as well. It take 2 seconds to take a well-lit picture.
Guys , Try out the Moto X camera app. I may be wrong but i think its a bit faster .
JasElS said:
I'm having pretty bad shutter speeds as well. It take 2 seconds to take a well-lit picture.
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farazafs said:
Guys , Try out the Moto X camera app. I may be wrong but i think its a bit faster .
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I'm not talking about how long it takes to take the picture, that's delay. I'm talking shutter speed, how long the shutter stays open allowing light to hit the sensor.
I have not had any big problems with this, most of my shots are pretty tack sharp, and seem to have some decent shutterspeeds.. Only in very poor light I do get 1/15 shutterspeeds but at pretty average lights I get 1/30-1/120 sometimes faster, but mostly 1/40..
My shutterdelay is almist nothing too..
I found a modified version of the stock LG G2 camera by sefnap that works with CM 10.2 M1 and produces much better results: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2522889
Some of the features don't work but overall it's vastly better than the camera included with CM.
There is also another modified version of the stock camera put up by Heatshiver that probably works even better but it doesn't currently work with CM (only works with stock and some AOSP ROMs): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2525783
I just discovered something the other day when playing with my camera... Albeit in bright light. Check out these pics taken at 60mph from my car while I was driving (ie not the most steady hand).
What I did was set it on sports mode and then old down the camera button until I heard the beep, and then released to capture the image I wanted (ie the road signs). The one out of my car window was actually more focused than I could focus with my naked eye...

Camera sucks without flash.

Why does my s5's camera suck without flash? It gets so grainy! And the front camera is also ****, my S3 takes way better pictures! Anyone else have this problem?
The S5 flash seems close to half the power of the S3 so obviously that makes a huge difference in low light, So this more than cancels out the S5s improved low light ability in the sensor.
Your camera has a problem. Clean the lens carefully and if it does not help, try to compare with another S5.
Cleaned it, Still same.. It doesn't focus as much too..
Low light shots without flash are terrible, well lit shots are very good though. I think your camera is normal.
homer285 said:
Low light shots without flash are terrible, well lit shots are very good though. I think your camera is normal.
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I think so too. But what really annoys me is when the camera is on auto mode, you snap a picture in "sort of" low light, and the freakin "hold the camera stable until picture is takenÉ message stays on screen for like 15-20 seconds, How annoying is that? Other S phones never had that.
That second pic is normal for the S5 camera unfortunately in low light it not very good, you need to have a very steady hand and turn on image stabilization to get any kind of decent shot, or just use the flash if you intend to do any close up shots in low light.
As for the front camera I've seen worst, the best I've seen to date is from the iPhone 5S, no matter what lighting conditions are like it always gives a great image from the front camera.
Tbh i do find the S5 camera abit hit & miss in both picture and video, if the conditions are right then images are some of the best you see from a smartphone, with only the Nokia 1020 being the exception , but as soon as the light becomes slightly less than ideal it's starts to struggle, where the other's will do a better job.
I think Samsung have finally realized this, so when the Note 4 arrives it will come with a now rumoured new 12mp Sony Sensor with OIS & a F2.0 lens which should in theory give it much better performance in low light, and that being the case I will buy the Note 4 on launch come September.
try to turn on stabilization and hdr
After having used a Lumia Icon for two weeks, and having returned it during my "upgrade" window, it's hard to not compare the camera quality. My S5 performs very well outside in well lit scenarios, but most cameras do. I too have noticed the low light/indoor lightning suckage, especially compared to the Icon. I don't mind a photo being a little dark (that can be auto fixed with image software), but it's incredibly frustrating getting out of focus shots more often than not just because of a little less than optimal lighting situation (not talking about night shots). I leave HDR mode on full time now, and it has improved the quality/consistency some. I only use image stabilization in low light situations when I know there won't be a lot of movement involved. All of the pictures I take are through the built in camera app. I haven't ventured to other camera apps yet, but I figure it wouldn't make a huge difference.
Ultimately, I decided on functionality (android) over camera quality as I don't take pictures on a day to day basis to justify the lack of apps on the 8 ecosystem. I still enjoy my phone's use in my day to day though.
The camera is not the best, it takes several seconds to take a pic sometimes, which easily becomes blurry and out of focus... I wanna take pic not a movie, this hold still thing really annoy you after a while..
polish_pat said:
I think so too. But what really annoys me is when the camera is on auto mode, you snap a picture in "sort of" low light, and the freakin "hold the camera stable until picture is takenÉ message stays on screen for like 15-20 seconds, How annoying is that? Other S phones never had that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Turn off image stabilisation if you don't need it and that problem will be fixed. It's the image stabilisation waiting for you to stop moving the phone that is causing the delays.
Also, back on main topic... try manually changing the
ISO settings to see if high value is causing your issues. High ISO = noisy low light pic.
kgyirhj said:
The camera is not the best, it takes several seconds to take a pic sometimes, which easily becomes blurry and out of focus... I wanna take pic not a movie, this hold still thing really annoy you after a while..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Is it just my Z2 or is camera focus a problem.

I love the camera on the Z2... when it focuses properly.
I've never had such a bad phone at focussing!
I also get the odd shot that's over processed into a mush but that's another story and something all mobile cameras can do on occasions.
Went to my eldest's first nativity play today and tried to film it, end result the back of people's heads in front of us were in focus but the kids on stage?
Nah they were a blurry mess.
It's not just the constant focus seeking for no reason in videos that annoys me either.
With stills, generally it's 50/50 if I get a focussed shot or not.
When I do the results are fantastic (as long as you use manual white balance)
Half the time the camera doesn't focus properly with touch focus or doesn't focus where you want it.
If I just try infinity focus and let the camera sort itself out I get a few pictures that the camera focuses on nothing, the entire shot is out of focus.
Never had these problems with the M8, Note2, GS2 that preceded my Z2 so I don't think it's me.
I know that the Z2 has focus problems in less than brilliant light which doesn't help (unlike the M8) but it's making my mobile photography pretty hit and miss.
Unfortunately the shot often looks fine on the phone but when viewed on a large PC monitor it's obvious the shot is useless.
It's seriously making me consider leaving the Sony stable in the next generation next year which would be a real shame because the phone itself is the best Android out there for me at the moment.
Sony really have to sort out their camera processing, if Apple can do it with a Sony lens there should be no excuse for Sony.
Either it's just a Sony thing or my phone is faulty but like I said some of the pictures I take have stellar focus and colour balance but on the whole... not.
Sorry just needed to vent some frustration!
First of all this must be moved to Q & A threat,second - After the 4.4.4 update the Superior auto mode is even crappier then 4.4.2,so if you make your photos that way...its normal.Try playing with the Manual mode with 20mpxls and if you want a full focused picture - go with Multifocus mode and Multi metering,and ofcourse this is just the beginning.If you still experience those kind of focus problems see if ur camera glass antireflection coating is not removed. / scratched/ (the glass itself is not scratched.) If so - give it to sony centre for repair. You can check when putting the glass on bright light.
effective said:
First of all this must be moved to Q & A threat,second - After the 4.4.4 update the Superior auto mode is even crappier then 4.4.2,so if you make your photos that way...its normal.Try playing with the Manual mode with 20mpxls and if you want a full focused picture - go with Multifocus mode and Multi metering,and ofcourse this is just the beginning.If you still experience those kind of focus problems see if ur camera glass antireflection coating is not removed. / scratched/ (the glass itself is not scratched.) If so - give it to sony centre for repair. You can check when putting the glass on bright light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, for the advice.
I must admit I have started using Manual mode more often than Auto now because under artificial light all the auto shots turn out orange and over processed.
I'll try Multifocus and metering now.
kibbster said:
Thanks, for the advice.
I must admit I have started using Manual mode more often than Auto now because under artificial light all the auto shots turn out orange and over processed.
I'll try Multifocus and metering now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to configure the focus tô touch or center,may solve you problems .
FrosteezBR said:
Try to configure the focus tô touch or center,may solve you problems .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, touch focus is ropy as hell on this phone, often it won't actually focus where I want it to, and if it does often it'll focus on a pin point area and blur everything else.
kibbster said:
I love the camera on the Z2... when it focuses properly.
I've never had such a bad phone at focussing!
I also get the odd shot that's over processed into a mush but that's another story and something all mobile cameras can do on occasions.
Went to my eldest's first nativity play today and tried to film it, end result the back of people's heads in front of us were in focus but the kids on stage?
Nah they were a blurry mess.
It's not just the constant focus seeking for no reason in videos that annoys me either.
With stills, generally it's 50/50 if I get a focussed shot or not.
When I do the results are fantastic (as long as you use manual white balance)
Half the time the camera doesn't focus properly with touch focus or doesn't focus where you want it.
If I just try infinity focus and let the camera sort itself out I get a few pictures that the camera focuses on nothing, the entire shot is out of focus.
Never had these problems with the M8, Note2, GS2 that preceded my Z2 so I don't think it's me.
I know that the Z2 has focus problems in less than brilliant light which doesn't help (unlike the M8) but it's making my mobile photography pretty hit and miss.
Unfortunately the shot often looks fine on the phone but when viewed on a large PC monitor it's obvious the shot is useless.
It's seriously making me consider leaving the Sony stable in the next generation next year which would be a real shame because the phone itself is the best Android out there for me at the moment.
Sony really have to sort out their camera processing, if Apple can do it with a Sony lens there should be no excuse for Sony.
Either it's just a Sony thing or my phone is faulty but like I said some of the pictures I take have stellar focus and colour balance but on the whole... not.
Sorry just needed to vent some frustration!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same issue. Touch focus for video is useless and it takes forever to track into focus even when looking at sharp edges and keeping still. Google Camera does MUCH better but no 4K video or 60 fps.
sam_conrad said:
I have the same issue. Touch focus for video is useless and it takes forever to track into focus even when looking at sharp edges and keeping still. Google Camera does MUCH better but no 4K video or 60 fps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may try a different camera then.
I don't use 4k or 60fps usually so probably no loss there.
Thanks.
sam_conrad said:
I have the same issue. Touch focus for video is useless and it takes forever to track into focus even when looking at sharp edges and keeping still. Google Camera does MUCH better but no 4K video or 60 fps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip!
Been playing with Google camera today and I've got to say it's far more accurate for focus than the stock app!
HDR in Google camera works better than stock as well, although it's slow.
Shame I can't override the default camera button behaviour because the hardware button is a handy way to get into the camera quickly.
kibbster said:
Thanks for the tip!
Been playing with Google camera today and I've got to say it's far more accurate for focus than the stock app!
HDR in Google camera works better than stock as well, although it's slow.
Shame I can't override the default camera button behaviour because the hardware button is a handy way to get into the camera quickly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HDR in Google Camera used to be exclusive to Nexus devices but Google opened it up in the last few updates. It also does HDR at 20.7 MP but Google Camera lacks extended options like ISO speed control and such.
I switch between manual mode in the Sony app and Google Camera depending on the situation. For videos, the Google Camera app definitely wins in focus speed and accuracy. The software developers and engineers at Sony really need to get on the same page!
sam_conrad said:
HDR in Google Camera used to be exclusive to Nexus devices but Google opened it up in the last few updates. It also does HDR at 20.7 MP but Google Camera lacks extended options like ISO speed control and such.
I switch between manual mode in the Sony app and Google Camera depending on the situation. For videos, the Google Camera app definitely wins in focus speed and accuracy. The software developers and engineers at Sony really need to get on the same page!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only shame with Google cam video is it doesn't have the steady shot that Sony camera does.
I guess the lack of constant focus shifting makes up for that though.
Oh and there's no doubt Sony's software engineers are the cause of most of the camera issues and need to sort it out!

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