How to take good photos on Nexus 4 - Nexus 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I don't know anything about photographic. All I have done up to now is using the automatic mode. Well, you know, aim and shoot. But I would like exploit it more, as I have seen great photos from another topic. So can anyone give me little hints on how to adjust the default values in different conditions?
Also, about flash and HDR. When to use flash and when to use HDR? I know they're helpful in low light conditions, but photos with flash seems to be less realistic despite being brighter. On the other hand photos with HDR are easier to be out of shape if we would like to take quick photo (a moment in a party for instance).
Gửi từ Nexus 4 của tôi

Graphics Designer/Photographer here. Depending on what rom you have (stock or custom), you may have different camera options, so I'm going to go off the stock settings in the Nexus 4 camera.
Flash:
I typically leave flash off, sometimes I have it on if I know it's a dark place (indoors, parties, bad lighting). A lot of the times, the flash can create a white-ish haze, or even blow out details in photos. Flash can also produce a lot of glare on reflective surfaces which can be annoying and ruin a photo. If I can shoot a photo without the flash, I'll do so and touch it up later to improve it. Although sometimes just because you don't need the flash doesn't mean you shouldn't use it. Camera have a setting called "ISO" (You can't change this on our phone). Typically in a bright sunny environment, the ISO will be lower, causing a less grainy image. In darker scenes, the ISO automatically kicks up higher and adds grain to the image to help hold details which would otherwise be lost due to the low lighting. (This is also noticeable on old film cameras depending on the ISO speed of film you purchase, 100 being lowest, 400 being typical, 800+ being high grain)
Exposure:
If an image is too dark, flash on, or flash off, you can always try to turn the exposure up by +1, or +2. Same for if an image is a bit too bright, you can turn the exposure down. I use this a bit less on cell phone cameras since it feels a bit more fake than what you'd find on a real camera. It can be helpful though in bright/dark scenes. Play with it yourself to get the hang of it.
White Balance:
This mainly modifies how color is perceived by the camera when a photo is taken. Color temperature (in kelvins) can change how white looks under different lighting. A piece of white paper may look pure white when outdoors in the bright sun, while inside your lamp makes it seem creme/yellowish. Adjust the white balance to the proper lighting condition will better allow you to get more accurate colors in your photos. If you have a florescent light, switch the setting to that. If you have incandescent lighting indoors when trying to snap a photo, switch to that. On this mode, you're better off leaving it on automatic most of the time, but if you have time to make changes based upon the lighting conditions, do it.
HDR:
I wouldn't use this mode if you're trying to capture high speed motion or anything moving. It's best for still shots you know you can capture. HDR quickly takes 2 photos split seconds apart from one another. It adjusts the settings of the camera to capture the most detail in the darkest portions of the scene, and the brightest portions of the scene. Then it combines the photos into one image creating a scene you normally would not have been able to shoot without HDR. For example if I'm outside in a sunny day and I'm shooting a photo of some trees, the camera is going to adjust itself to capture the most detail and color from the trees. Because the sun is so bright, normally the camera would just blow out the sky and make it pure white, or extremely bright. With HDR on, it'll shoot a photo metering the color and values of the trees, then shoot another metering the color and values of the sky, then stitch them into one nice photo.)
I hope I helped some. I'm trying not to use too much photography terminology which might confuse people who aren't too familiar with manual photography.

Wow honestly I didn't expect such a detailed and useful reply. So basically if I'm in good light condition and no need to rush or something like that, HDR always produces better photos?
Gửi từ Nexus 4 của tôi

khanhtrinh said:
Wow honestly I didn't expect such a detailed and useful reply. So basically if I'm in good light condition and no need to rush or something like that, HDR always produces better photos?
Gửi từ Nexus 4 của tôi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but only if you have very steady hands

Rarscaryfrosty said:
Graphics Designer/Photographer here. Depending on what rom you have (stock or custom), you may have different camera options, so I'm going to go off the stock settings in the Nexus 4 camera.
Flash:
I typically leave flash off, sometimes I have it on if I know it's a dark place (indoors, parties, bad lighting). A lot of the times, the flash can create a white-ish haze, or even blow out details in photos. Flash can also produce a lot of glare on reflective surfaces which can be annoying and ruin a photo. If I can shoot a photo without the flash, I'll do so and touch it up later to improve it. Although sometimes just because you don't need the flash doesn't mean you shouldn't use it. Camera have a setting called "ISO" (You can't change this on our phone). Typically in a bright sunny environment, the ISO will be lower, causing a less grainy image. In darker scenes, the ISO automatically kicks up higher and adds grain to the image to help hold details which would otherwise be lost due to the low lighting. (This is also noticeable on old film cameras depending on the ISO speed of film you purchase, 100 being lowest, 400 being typical, 800+ being high grain)
Exposure:
If an image is too dark, flash on, or flash off, you can always try to turn the exposure up by +1, or +2. Same for if an image is a bit too bright, you can turn the exposure down. I use this a bit less on cell phone cameras since it feels a bit more fake than what you'd find on a real camera. It can be helpful though in bright/dark scenes. Play with it yourself to get the hang of it.
White Balance:
This mainly modifies how color is perceived by the camera when a photo is taken. Color temperature (in kelvins) can change how white looks under different lighting. A piece of white paper may look pure white when outdoors in the bright sun, while inside your lamp makes it seem creme/yellowish. Adjust the white balance to the proper lighting condition will better allow you to get more accurate colors in your photos. If you have a florescent light, switch the setting to that. If you have incandescent lighting indoors when trying to snap a photo, switch to that. On this mode, you're better off leaving it on automatic most of the time, but if you have time to make changes based upon the lighting conditions, do it.
HDR:
I wouldn't use this mode if you're trying to capture high speed motion or anything moving. It's best for still shots you know you can capture. HDR quickly takes 2 photos split seconds apart from one another. It adjusts the settings of the camera to capture the most detail in the darkest portions of the scene, and the brightest portions of the scene. Then it combines the photos into one image creating a scene you normally would not have been able to shoot without HDR. For example if I'm outside in a sunny day and I'm shooting a photo of some trees, the camera is going to adjust itself to capture the most detail and color from the trees. Because the sun is so bright, normally the camera would just blow out the sky and make it pure white, or extremely bright. With HDR on, it'll shoot a photo metering the color and values of the trees, then shoot another metering the color and values of the sky, then stitch them into one nice photo.)
I hope I helped some. I'm trying not to use too much photography terminology which might confuse people who aren't too familiar with manual photography.
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Click to collapse
That was quite a detailed explanation u gave there..
I didn't know abt the HDR. Thanx..

khanhtrinh said:
Wow honestly I didn't expect such a detailed and useful reply. So basically if I'm in good light condition and no need to rush or something like that, HDR always produces better photos?
Gửi từ Nexus 4 của tôi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've found indoor museums to be good for HDR. Usually they're so dark except for specific areas where spot lights are shining down upon. If you shoot a normal photo, you'll have a lot of dark spots which hold no detail. With HDR, you'll pick up some detail in those darker areas, though they'll still be a bit dark.

What I'm wondering is how is it that I can remove some of the blue when taking photos on non HDR photos. It always seem to come out bluish

afbengochea said:
What I'm wondering is how is it that I can remove some of the blue when taking photos on non HDR photos. It always seem to come out bluish
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Click to collapse
I have noticed the same issue. This is really my only complaint with the N4 camera.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

HDR takes way too long to capture.......anything that can be done about that?
Sent from my Nexus 4
------------------------------------
Devices:
LG Google Nexus 4 16 GB
Samsung Google Nexus 10 32 GB
Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini ST15i (Retired * Sold)
Nokia C7 (Sold)
HTC TyTn II (Sold)
Motorola RAZR v3 (broken)
Sony Ericsson W705 (broken)
------------------------------------

Lower the picture size
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Related

Lumia 920 camera issues (soft photos)

I really hope nokia fixes this.
"Despite what reviews say, this isn't only a problem with daytime shots. Nighttime shots suffer from this "soft" look too. The night shots are good at capturing lots of light, but still poor on the sharpening part.
It sucks because before taking a picture, when I push the camera button down to focus, the image in the screen looks BEAUTIFUL and very sharp/detailed. As soon as I take the picture, it completely changes the look and makes it very soft and takes away detail."
They are saying it will be a software fix. They meaning Nokia.
Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express
I dont like it as well but you can easily fix it with the built in autofix in windows or just use nokia creative studio app.
The main thing though for me is although the phone takes amazing low light shots.. they are only good for static objects as if your subjects moves even a bit they will become blur because of the slow shutter speed..
I guess you cant have everything
To be honest I'm not seeing the problem when taking photos of objects near. I suspect that on landscapes f2.0 aperture creates a shallow depth of field and so things in the distance aren't sharp compared to cameras with a much smaller aperture.
This is physics at work, can't do much about that with a fixed aperture.
Sure you can, set the focal point on whatever the distance is to the landscape (in effect, "infinity" by photography definition). Now, if you try and photograph a scene with things at different distances, some of them will be out of focus and look soft, yes. That is absolutely a case of "physics at work". It may be that the camera is too eager to focus on something in the foreground - even something meaningless, like the ground at your feet - when trying to take landscape shots.

Bad camera focus

So, my problem is that my camera does not seem to focus an Objekt, even when I "touch " it in the camera app. It is still a bit blurry when I view the taken shot. When I look at my friends Nexus 4, colors are much better and everything is sharp. Is it possible that I have a broken camera? The settings are exactly the same...
It may be helpful to post some example shots.
1st thing to look for is to make sure that the glass covering the lens is clean. And shoot in good lighting.
Known problem, please star the issue http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=43153&thanks=43153&ts=1359017856
AW: Bad camera focus
And the washed out colors? Max it be the fault of rev10 devices? A friend of mine said something like that
//edit
Here's a sample. If you zomm in you will see the Blurry borders. They are really annoying because when I look at the pic on a PC, I am able to notice it. Maybe it's the cameras fault or Googles fault for bad drivers and software.
http://db.tt/QSb8F0KE
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
It seems to me like the hardware is perfectly capable of the focal lengths to get clear focus, it's just the autofocus implementation that's broken. Is autofocus a driver level implementation? If so, would it be feasible to try and create a custom driver to at least allow for true manual focus?
There are several things that can be going on here. 1.) it ain't a great lens, so not all areas of the picture are going to be razor sharp. I see a good degree of softness in the corners.
2.) I have noticed the camera's default behavior is to use lower ISO, and longer shutter speeds in less than ideal light, making camera movement a major factor in blurry photos. If you're gonna test under less than ideal light, rig up some kind of tripod.
3.) Auto-focus algorithms decide focus based on maximum contrast. If the area of your focus reticle is over an area that has poor contrast, focus will be compromised. Low light also lowers contrast.
4.) Depth of field. It is limited with this lens. Make sure areas you are checking for focus are on/near the same plane with shots that have reasonable distance separating foreground/background objects. They all can't be in focus.
With all that said, reasonable photography skills can get pretty reasonable results from this camera, as is exhibited in the photos posted in the photo thread of the "general" forum.
It does focus, but has a small delay tho..
actually the focus on N4 is slow a little bit ..
Is there any new piece of information about the bad camera focus?
anyone else have a pink haze when capturing white objects

HTC one great phone, lacks focus

I mean it in a literal sense.
If you look at the image below, youll be able to see that its a bit blurry,
I've drawn 2 black lines in the image, notice that the top and the bottom is blurry and the center is focused.
It doesnt occur alot, but it does happen and sometimes even in videos.
Any help as to why? Perhaps 4.2.2 might fix this?
I think the DOF is so narrow because the lens has a wide aperture of F2.0 which helps in low light.
RoSonic_ said:
I think the DOF is so narrow because the lens has a wide aperture of F2.0 which helps in low light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you explain what DOF is?
Is there anyway I could fix it? You think anyone else has this problem?
"depth of field (DOF) is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image." - (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field)
And I don't think it's a problem. It's just how the lens is made with a large aperture to allow more light in to the image sensor.
You could try to compensate this a bit by increasing the sharpness from the camera menu.
I'd be more concerned with the poor dynamic range shown in the top of the pic. ;O)
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
That`s totally normal for the one, it only exposes the focus point, instead of the whole image, could htc not have given us a choice
John.
americasteam said:
I'd be more concerned with the poor dynamic range shown in the top of the pic. ;O)
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tinderbox (UK) said:
That`s totally normal for the one, it only exposes the focus point, instead of the whole image, could htc not have given us a choice
John.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that sucks. One of the reasons I bought this phone was for the camera.
Do you know anyway I could fix this? or atleast minimize it?
The problem is when the image contains both dark and bright areas, if you focus on the bright, the dark areas will be underexposed and if you focus on the dark the bright areas will be overexposed, you need to find an area to focus on that will give you an average exposure for the entire image.
I have the same problem, but some photo`s are amazing and some are utter crap.
Try using hdr mode, it takes multiple images at different exposure levels and then integrates them into one photo, but you need to keep the phone very steady, hopefully HTC will fix this problem.
John.
uzman1243 said:
Well that sucks. One of the reasons I bought this phone was for the camera.
Do you know anyway I could fix this? or atleast minimize it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine does this as well. Easiest fix I've come across is just tapping on the screen in the area you want focused...it seems to hold focus better after the first time and the photos look a lot better.
Problem is, I generally forget about this until after the first picture is taken without it. So it's a process for sure.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
Has anybody tried some other camera apps from the play store, maybe we can find one that exposes correctly, i wish the one had my nikon`s matrix metering
John.
---------- Post added at 06:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:46 PM ----------
I bought this Camera Zoom FX app for £0.50p on sale that i never used, i think it`s about time i tried it.
John.
Mine is the same way. Wasn't bashing the camera was just giving my first impression of the pic posted. I think the camera is excellent for a phone. Small sensor and tiny optics will only go so far. This device is fantastic as an overall package.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
The sensor is great for a phone camera, but the software that does the exposure is very very poor or am i missing something???
John.
You rack focus
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
Why are all you guys saying this is normal? Either you have defective phones or you don't know how to take pictures! ... The only time my One does this is when I use touch to focus on Macro mode. I have taken hundreds of pictures and no pictures look like yours unless I wanted them to.
Agreed. The picture in the OP looks like an issue with OIS, not depth of field.
If it was a one time thing then this thread doesn't need to exist. If it happens a lot the phone needs to be replaced.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
NxNW said:
Agreed. The picture in the OP looks like an issue with OIS, not depth of field.
If it was a one time thing then this thread doesn't need to exist. If it happens a lot the phone needs to be replaced.
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well its not a repetitive condition but occurs once in a while. Even in videos.
Try camera fv-5 from playstore. DSLR style camera app with multiple metering modes.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
AllAboutTheCore said:
Why are all you guys saying this is normal? Either you have defective phones or you don't know how to take pictures! ... The only time my One does this is when I use touch to focus on Macro mode. I have taken hundreds of pictures and no pictures look like yours unless I wanted them to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do think it's a flaw in the camera software that exposure and focus can't be decoupled. I LOVE the shallow depth of field but can't use it property because touching-to-focus blows out highlights.
uzman1243 said:
I mean it in a literal sense.
If you look at the image below, youll be able to see that its a bit blurry,
I've drawn 2 black lines in the image, notice that the top and the bottom is blurry and the center is focused.
It doesnt occur alot, but it does happen and sometimes even in videos.
Any help as to why? Perhaps 4.2.2 might fix this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of these comments come from people who have no idea what they're talking about.
Your phone is perfect. Nothing wrong with it. All you did was tap to focus on the middle of the picture.
This did 2 things.
1. It will FOCUS on the center of the pic. Other areas will be blurred. Hence the term, focus. That's how cameras work.
2. The exposure was adjusted to where you focused it to. What does that mean?
If you focused on a light area the camera will adjust the exposure to compensate. What that means is if it's light, the camera will darken the overall image. Lights become darker, farms become darker.
If the photo is focused on a dark area, the camera will adjust the photo by making the dark area brighter and the bright areas, as a result, brighter. Which is why you have super white skies.
To fix it, go to the camera settings and I think select touch to capture. But to say fix means it's a problem.
It's not.
For landscapes, use landscape mode which will focus on the entire image and bot blur. Also you can tap on the area where you want adjusted, ie brighter or darker. Blur again is only cause you focused. Don't focus on landscapes.
Photographer here. Focus on this comment and not anyone who says your phone is messed up. This is why.
Take a look at my two attached photos. One I clicked on the sky and the other I clicked on the grass. Light then dark. Can you figure out which was which and see what happened to the photo?
Note that it was overcast and cloudy. There were NO BLUE SKIES. it was grey. So the sky wasnt killed by the camera
Btw don't always use Hdr. Don't. Its not a saving grace every time. If you shoot in the sun you're shooting in the sun. Photography rule #1: DON'T.
ALWAYS USE THE SCENES WHEN YOU CAN. WHICH IS WHY THEYTE THERE AND EXIST. SLRS HAVE THEM TOO FKR A REASON!
As for the lines, panorama? Did you move too fast? That's what happens when you do - camera can't stitch properly
Sent from my HTC One
chc31 said:
Most of these comments come from people who have no idea what they're talking about.
Your phone is perfect. Nothing wrong with it. All you did was tap to focus on the middle of the picture.
This did 2 things.
1. It will FOCUS on the center of the pic. Other areas will be blurred. Hence the term, focus. That's how cameras work.
2. The exposure was adjusted to where you focused it to. What does that mean?
If you focused on a light area the camera will adjust the exposure to compensate. What that means is if it's light, the camera will darken the overall image. Lights become darker, farms become darker.
If the photo is focused on a dark area, the camera will adjust the photo by making the dark area brighter and the bright areas, as a result, brighter. Which is why you have super white skies.
To fix it, go to the camera settings and I think select touch to capture. But to say fix means it's a problem.
It's not.
For landscapes, use landscape mode which will focus on the entire image and bot blur. Also you can tap on the area where you want adjusted, ie brighter or darker. Blur again is only cause you focused. Don't focus on landscapes.
Photographer here. Focus on this comment and not anyone who says your phone is messed up. This is why.
Take a look at my two attached photos. One I clicked on the sky and the other I clicked on the grass. Light then dark. Can you figure out which was which and see what happened to the photo?
Note that it was overcast and cloudy. There were NO BLUE SKIES. it was grey. So the sky wasnt killed by the camera
Btw don't always use Hdr. Don't. Its not a saving grace every time. If you shoot in the sun you're shooting in the sun. Photography rule #1: DON'T.
ALWAYS USE THE SCENES WHEN YOU CAN. WHICH IS WHY THEYTE THERE AND EXIST. SLRS HAVE THEM TOO FKR A REASON!
As for the lines, panorama? Did you move too fast? That's what happens when you do - camera can't stitch properly
Sent from my HTC One
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The black lines on the image, I DREW to show where it gets blurred (not panaroma).
You're right, but when I focus on the center, all objects in the background should get blurred right? I mean thats how the focus works. You focus on a particular subject (lets assume in the foreground) the objects in background gets blurred.
If you see the image I uploaded (in the top line) the upper part of the tree is blurred and the lower part is focused.
It doesn't work like that right?

Camera exposure and response time

I find the camera takes darker pictures, especially in low light, compared to Note 5 (underexposed perhaps? Not a photography buff at all . Also, the snapping pictures in general seems to be slower vs. Note 5.
Any suggestions?
I currently have both 6p and Note 5 and truly find the Note 5 to have an all-around better camera. 6p but bad by any means, but tough comparing to Note 5.
Been comparing to a friend's note 5.
The note seems to overexpose a tad in lower light.
6p seems like it's a tad darker around the edges, but for the most part is a better match to what the eye sees.
Hdr+ balances everything out, and should be used whenever possible - like always.
It works wonders. This coming from an amateur photographer, well, I have been paid for my work, but I still consider myself an amateur - even after 35+ years of playing with cameras.
Phazmos said:
Been comparing to a friend's note 5.
The note seems to overexpose a tad in lower light.
6p seems like it's a tad darker around the edges, but for the most part is a better match to what the eye sees.
Hdr+ balances everything out, and should be used whenever possible - like always.
It works wonders. This coming from an amateur photographer, well, I have been paid for my work, but I still consider myself an amateur - even after 35+ years of playing with cameras.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree with your assessment. Note 5 can tend to overexpose slightly in low light but overall I find Note 5 pics to be a bit clearer in low light. Even with hdr auto on both. Also agree the 6p tends to be darker around the edges. Biggest concern I have with 6p is length of time to focus/snap picture. Seems far longer than Note 5...
lp1527 said:
Agree with your assessment. Note 5 can tend to overexpose slightly in low light but overall I find Note 5 pics to be a bit clearer in low light. Even with hdr auto on both. Also agree the 6p tends to be darker around the edges. Biggest concern I have with 6p is length of time to focus/snap picture. Seems far longer than Note 5...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only been playing with the new 6p for a couple days, but so far it seems pretty instantaneous.
Point, click, there's a picture - and in focus.
Been very very happy with the camera so far.
With HDR off the shutter is crazy fast, pretty much instantaneous. I keep auto HDR on because the HDR on this phone creates truly amazing results. If your phone is shooting HDR there is a little bit of a lag when taking a photo but not terrible. I'll take the slight lag of the HDR because the increased image quality far outweighs it.
As for underexposing images, I don't think there is any issue there. Keep in mind that the screen on the 6p is calibrated very differently than most devises. I notice images look underexposed on my phone's screen but on a computer screen or another device they look fine. I have adaptive display on so it is dimming the screen making the image look darker than it really is.
Look at the histogram of the photos if you want to see the dynamic range and the actual exposure info. In low light my 6p is very good figuring out the exposure. The histogram is obviously on the darker side if I take a photo in low light but there isn't any clipping at all under reasonable low-light. In extreme situations, like a photo in the middle of the night with only one light source, then the shadows clip but they would with any camera. What is really impressive is the lack of noise!! Usually when you have full black on a cell phone pic you get a ton of noise but the 6p is pretty good at just letting it go black rather than trying to overexpose.
The dynamic range with the HDR on is really impressive. Even extreme contrast like indoor photos with a bright window in the background won't clip in the highlights.
I am having a blast testing the limits of this camera.
nonnasmyladie said:
With HDR off the shutter is crazy fast, pretty much instantaneous. I keep auto HDR on because the HDR on this phone creates truly amazing results. If your phone is shooting HDR there is a little bit of a lag when taking a photo but not terrible. I'll take the slight lag of the HDR because the increased image quality far outweighs it.
As for underexposing images, I don't think there is any issue there. Keep in mind that the screen on the 6p is calibrated very differently than most devises. I notice images look underexposed on my phone's screen but on a computer screen or another device they look fine. I have adaptive display on so it is dimming the screen making the image look darker than it really is.
Look at the histogram of the photos if you want to see the dynamic range and the actual exposure info. In low light my 6p is very good figuring out the exposure. The histogram is obviously on the darker side if I take a photo in low light but there isn't any clipping at all under reasonable low-light. In extreme situations, like a photo in the middle of the night with only one light source, then the shadows clip but they would with any camera. What is really impressive is the lack of noise!! Usually when you have full black on a cell phone pic you get a ton of noise but the 6p is pretty good at just letting it go black rather than trying to overexpose.
The dynamic range with the HDR on is really impressive. Even extreme contrast like indoor photos with a bright window in the background won't clip in the highlights.
I am having a blast testing the limits of this camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please explain to me the slowest shutter time of the nexus 6p with a third party app? Currently I have a Oneplus 2 and I can get up to 30 seconds which is a lot. My Oneplus 1 even had 60 seconds. Can I have these values with the nexus 6p or through a mod?
Thanks

[Camera Review] - The Unassuming Bea5T

I expected a decent camera (having used a 3t before) and back then 3t could hold its own 70% of the time against the S7edge and iPhones, but had lacked the oomph/wow factor in the images it produced. The 5t is a huge improvement over 3t (I guess this is due to the fact that i did not use op5). The images are crisp, well lit and razer sharp in good to average lighting conditions. More often than not I have been mighty impressed with the OOB images from the camera and I have not been editing them on snapseed because I didn't feel the need to - thats a testament to the camera processing on this phone (OnePlus has come a long way here).
Note: Click on the images to view full size versions of them. All images posted here are straight out of the camera without any editing/post-processing done to them.
Good lighting:
Moderate/Tricky Lighting and conditions:
I expected things to go down south as it did on the 3T on similar lighting conditions. Seattle is a particularly tricky place to get good evening shots as its mostly grey and gloomy and camera's dynamic range becomes a big factor when shooting in Seattle. The camera did a good job detecting the need for HDR on the streetcar shot below (It notifies on the camera UI that its using HDR). Given the gloomy and dim conditions I was very impressed with the picture. I was unsure about composition when the streetcar was moving so I long pressed the shutter - With HDR on, it took about 4 shots in very quick succession (Thats impressive speed, slightly better than S7edge camera). The other 2 images below are in bright to moderately dim indoor conditions with multiple colorful stuff in the frame to meter. I have to admit that in indoor warm lighting the blue tones take a serious hit and ends up grey-er than normal. On the 3rd image below there was so many small tiny details on those objects and I was blown away by the sharpness and details on that image given that the lighting was only moderate.
Low Light and severely-low/dark lighting conditions:
I did read the op5 reviews early on and part of the reason why i skipped that was due to the low light camera performance (and lack of 18:9 screen). I wouldn't say they have blown me away here but I was getting more wow-worthy images out of this camera setup than the previous oneplus phones. 7/10 times I ended up not having to re-shoot the image or edit for sharpness and noise reduction. The first image below is a 7 AM (yeah thats how Seattle is in the morning) night lit building shot of the amazon bioshperes - the shot came out very very sharp and with excellent details. The lights were too bright so I am not surprised by the blown highlight spots, but the details on the greens/plants inside could have been better.
The next 2 images were taken in very poor lighting conditions. The first one is from under the kitchen cabinet where its the darkest corner and I know there is nothing going on here, but this is was shot i was MOST impressed with from this camera. there was absolutely no light in there but the outcome was a very pleasingly clear and crisp/usable image of my shiny cookie jar and hot chocolate cups.
The last one below is a photo with a faint one LED light source on a toy, i have linked the full lighting image for comparison of colors on the toy - in short: yeah it does better, but image processing needs lot of work on super dark conditions color noise and smudgy artifacts are visible.
Regular lighting shot of the above toy for comparison: https://i.imgur.com/cM9dPnMh.jpg
Portrait mode and Macro:
This is an exciting feature and I was completely not expecting such results (DSLR-esque bokeh). Granted this is my first portrait mode equipped camera phone (as a daily driver), and I was thinking that the G6s wide angle was the best second camera option until this happened. I am going to let the sample images speak for itself.
In short:
Very pleasing subtle bokeh
Color rendition on macros is "phenomenal"
Sharp... sharp as a needle.
No glaring smudgy artifacts on portrait mode when lighting is good.
very close focusing distance
did I say sharp.. its freaking sharp - just look at the chipmunk picture below, those hairs can give you a paper-cut by just looking.
Nice shots! Can't wait to get my 5T next week. Had the 5 before but sold it and now I'm borrowing a friend's 3T. So technically I've upgraded, then downgraded, and now will be upgrading again:laugh:
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