Dealbreaker? - Moto X General

Hey guys, I've had my Moto X for a week now and I might return to my Note 3. I really like this phone overall, but man the camera really is that bad. I read all the stories but hoped the update would be good enough for me. Unfortunately it hasn't been.
I can't even imagine how bad the camera must have been before the update. The camera is simply dreadful. Do I have a defective Moto X or is it really this bad?
If I'm not outside on a sunny day or in a really well lit room, it's the worst camera I've ever had on any smartphone that I've ever owned. And that includes phones from over 4 years ago. Is it really this bad?
Here are some sample shots. I took these same shots with my Note 3, and those shots blew these away. I will try to post those later.
Sent from my XT1058 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Yes, It is that bad. Coming from a S4 and I know what you mean. But I still love being free with a unlocked bootlaoder and would not go back.

Ughh, I was afraid of that. I really like the phone, but not sure I can deal with this. Thanks bro.
Sent from my XT1058 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I don't think the camera is bad at all. I didn't get to experience how it was before any of the updates though.
So far color representation looks to be spot on. I was even impressed by the low light quality. I took a picture last night in a dimly lit room and was astounded at how good the picture came out. It's way better than my last phone (EVO 3D).

ahhh ya i came from an iPhone 4 which is 3.5 yrs old and the camera on that was better in every category except low light performance.

Are you using HDR?
I also see that your flash seems to be firing. I have Auto Flash OFF because the pictures to look very washed out with the bright white flash. I find that the camera works much better and has much better saturation in lower light with the flash off.
If I'm just taking a picture of a list or piece of paper and I only need to be able to see/read it, I use the flash, otherwise I keep the flash off for "nice" photos.

Have you tried using any camera apps. I would recommend the following two apps :"a Better Camera "almost fully functional in the free version and FV-5, a paid app and I don't believe there is a trial version. I have been experimenting with both apps and have been quiet successful getting some really decent low light shots. Both apps allow you to set the ISO level and "a Better Camera" allows you to set the amount of noise reduction for low light shots (the options are None, Minor & Hard). Worth trying out either app in my opinion.
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

I've got pics of the kids inside at night, with flash on... And the pics are easy better than my s2 was. I find background light can make the pic taking tricky tho. I have to move slightly one easy or the other and when I get it right the pics are just fine. Maybe other phones handle background light easier.... But with a little practise, I find this camera pretty good.
That's just me.
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 12:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:08 PM ----------
And yes... Sometimes you think you need a flash inside... When you don't. And the pics are easy better with no flash. Again... I had to play around and get to know how and where the best pics turn out.
But again.... I'm one of those, it's just a phone camera guys... I'm maybe not as picky. I'm not trying to sell my pics, so I'm happy. If I know I want to take very good pics somewhere... In advance... I bring my camera.
Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

Right about now it would be nice to see 4.4.2 with camera update. Noise/quality are un-exeptable for a $500+ phone. Yes S4 is night and day difference with Moto X in camera.
S4 was the FIRST camera in phone that I used and I took many pictures, most came out usable and some pretty impressive. With MX, most pictures indoors I cant even look at.....I delete all of them right away.

The only place I find camera quality to be bad is in low light, but it's not the hardware, it's the software. The camera software just sets the ISO higher than it should and overexposes everything in low light. I use FV-5 to manually set a lower ISO and manually set the metering point so that it doesn't overexpose the shot, and then I can get great shots in low light. If you don't know a little about cameras or aren't willing to take the time to manually adjust low light shots though, you'll be disappointed. In decent lighting I can get some great shots even with the stock camera app though, especially with HDR.

gtg465x said:
The only place I find camera quality to be bad is in low light, but it's not the hardware, it's the software. The camera software just sets the ISO higher than it should and overexposes everything in low light. I use FV-5 to manually set a lower ISO and manually set the metering point so that it doesn't overexpose the shot, and then I can get great shots in low light. If you don't know a little about cameras or aren't willing to take the time to manually adjust low light shots though, you'll be disappointed. In decent lighting I can get some great shots even with the stock camera app though, especially with HDR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps you are right. But how hard is it for a TEAM of developers at Motorola/Google to figure this out ? We are on 2nd camera update here its still ****
PS. on S4 I used only 2 modes and didnt even touch settings, Auto and Night Mode......thats all I needed to take excellent photos.
few night/low light shots from S4, last one was taken in almost complete darkness, camera just picked up light from night club flashing lights

I agree. I love this phone but the camera sucks. Snoop Dogg came to my Christmas party and I was so excited to get some shots.
They all came out blurry all my buddies with S4s got killer shots. I don't know, maybe I'll blame it on the alcohol....
That ticked me off a bit.
Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk

gtg465x said:
The only place I find camera quality to be bad is in low light, but it's not the hardware, it's the software. The camera software just sets the ISO higher than it should and overexposes everything in low light. I use FV-5 to manually set a lower ISO and manually set the metering point so that it doesn't overexpose the shot, and then I can get great shots in low light. If you don't know a little about cameras or aren't willing to take the time to manually adjust low light shots though, you'll be disappointed. In decent lighting I can get some great shots even with the stock camera app though, especially with HDR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. For low light shots, I either use fv5 or take the photos with the stock camera and run them through Perfectly clear. I've gotten a lot of fantastic shots with my X. Low-light is the only setting in which I need to kind of finagle anything.

WizeGuyDezignz said:
Hey guys, I've had my Moto X for a week now and I might return to my Note 3. I really like this phone overall, but man the camera really is that bad. I read all the stories but hoped the update would be good enough for me. Unfortunately it hasn't been.
I can't even imagine how bad the camera must have been before the update. The camera is simply dreadful. Do I have a defective Moto X or is it really this bad?
If I'm not outside on a sunny day or in a really well lit room, it's the worst camera I've ever had on any smartphone that I've ever owned. And that includes phones from over 4 years ago. Is it really this bad?
Here are some sample shots. I took these same shots with my Note 3, and those shots blew these away. I will try to post those later.
Sent from my XT1058 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you take a pic of your tree with an SLR with the same exposure settings and you'll get an equally awful pic.
honestly i think the camera on the X is fine. i think it could be better but i think overall its a pretty good camera, on par with some point and shoots i've used. it all comes down to lighting, plus the HDR mode really helps.

Been using Camera FV-5 for whenever I need low light shots. First one is the stock camera app and the second shot is via Camera FV-5. These were shot in very low light conditions.

il buono said:
Been using Camera FV-5 for whenever I need low light shots. First one is the stock camera app and the second shot is via Camera FV-5. These were shot in very low light conditions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gonna give it a try. Big difference there

kolyan said:
Gonna give it a try. Big difference there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CameraZoomFX lets you pick the ISO setting too, which could increase the exposure.

640k said:
if you take a pic of your tree with an SLR with the same exposure settings and you'll get an equally awful pic.
honestly i think the camera on the X is fine. i think it could be better but i think overall its a pretty good camera, on par with some point and shoots i've used. it all comes down to lighting, plus the HDR mode really helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am curious if these photos were taken with the stock camera app or a 3rd party app?
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

telefoner said:
I am curious if these photos were taken with the stock camera app or a 3rd party app?
Sent from my XT1060 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock. You can tell from the image properties.
EDIT: I take it back. There's no specific information that says what app took the pic, only what device. Technically we're talking about the inability of the Moto X's sensor to perform adequately. Different apps can force different settings/processing techniques, but you're still limited to the sensor/lens capability of the device.
Here's a CameraZoomFX photo taken with a DROID4:
It's all about lighting.

I'm with you on this one WizeGuy. At first I didn't think the camera was as bad as people said it was. But after using it in the wild and over the course of a week, it really is disappointing. The biggest issue for me is consistency. I CAN get a decent shot if I try to. Low light performance is terrible however and it's really tough to get a good shot most of the time. I was also coming from an S4 and didn't expect it to be on the same level obviously, but now that I've played with it enough, I'm positive even my S3 was better overall. In fact, I've been comparing it with an old iPhone 4S and I couldn't say it's better than that camera (except when there is ample lighting). I take a lot of pictures and it is important to me. Yes it is a camera phone, but downgrading is harder to accept than I thought it would be. I guess I value something that is consistent and easy in auto mode when it comes to my phone. Much sadder is the fact that I really like everything else about this phone, much more than the s4. I prefer the size the moto x by far to anything out there, but the nexus 5 is tempting me right now.

Related

Optimal Camera Settings

Currently using CM7 and I'm not really happy with the camera picture quality (with any rom). Not looking for another app to replace the stock one. I'm interested in tweaking the contrast, saturation, sharpness, exposure, and white balance to produce the optimal picture quality.
So my question is what settings are you using to produce top quality images from the camera?
I've pretty much given up on this phone providing a decent photograph. My BlackBerry Pearl took better shots tbh.
HTC Vision (G2) - CM7 B75 w/AUS radio
Wow... Really? My blackberry pear suck hella lot. There must be something wrong with your phone.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA Premium App
I would like an optimal setup for the camera as well.
There is no such thing as optimal exposure and white balance settings. It depends on the conditions. For instance, increasing exposure will help in low light situations, but will make the photo look overexposed in brighter situations. Picking the white balance setting that corresponds to the type of light typically looks better than auto, but the wrong one will look terrible.
Taking good photos is an art, and it takes practice. Its not just a matter of picking a couple of catch-all settings.
Also, many poorly lit photos can be corrected after-the-fact pretty well using easy apps like Vignette or Picsay Pro.
redpoint73 said:
There is no such thing as optimal exposure and white balance settings. It depends on the conditions. For instance, increasing exposure will help in low light situations, but will make the photo look overexposed in brighter situations. Picking the white balance setting that corresponds to the type of light typically looks better than auto, but the wrong one will look terrible.
Taking good photos is an art, and it takes practice. Its not just a matter of picking a couple of catch-all settings.
Also, many poorly lit photos can be corrected after-the-fact pretty well using easy apps like Vignette or Picsay Pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a photographer i totally agree!
+2 if you know what your doing this is the best 5mp cam ive used in quite a while.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App
Silly me, I want non blurry photos quickly and easily. It's a cell phone, not a high end standalone camera.
Snapping a quick pic of something is what a lot of people use their phone camera for. Having to fiddle with exposure, shutter speed, light balancing, etc every time is a pain.
Anyone know of a camera app that does better than stock for general pics?
HTC Vision (G2) - CM7 B79 w/AUS radio
onelikeseabass said:
Silly me, I want non blurry photos quickly and easily. It's a cell phone, not a high end standalone camera.
Snapping a quick pic of something is what a lot of people use their phone camera for. Having to fiddle with exposure, shutter speed, light balancing, etc every time is a pain.
Anyone know of a camera app that does better than stock for general pics?
HTC Vision (G2) - CM7 B79 w/AUS radio
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Vignettes auto focus and auto white bal etc is pretty good, my choice over stock app, though it takes hella longer to process images as it doesnt compress them as much.
Although the number one cause for blurry pics is a fingerprinted cam lens, always give it a wipe once and a while.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App
ptesmoke said:
Vignettes auto focus and auto white bal etc is pretty good, my choice over stock app, though it takes hella longer to process images as it doesnt compress them as much.
Although the number one cause for blurry pics is a fingerprinted cam lens, always give it a wipe once and a while
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll give Vignette a whirl.
Re: blur, I guess I meant noisy more than blur. I keep the lens clean. The images just don't come out crisp/clean unless I'm outside and it's high noon with not a cloud in sight.
HTC Vision (G2) - CM7 B80 w/AUS radio
Camera 360
I tried the stock app on CM 6.1, Vignette, and Camera 360 all shooting the same indoor shot under fluorescent lighting. Camera 360 had the sharpest and best coloring of any of the three. I use it now as my main camera app. I don't know if it's the best, but it's the one I like the most.
onelikeseabass said:
Re: blur, I guess I meant noisy more than blur. I keep the lens clean. The images just don't come out crisp/clean unless I'm outside and it's high noon with not a cloud in sight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What that person said, about the #1 cause of blurry pics being fingerprints, is hogwash. The main reason for blurry photos is an aperture that is too small, and ISO that is too low for the lighting conditions, resulting in the shutter having to stay open longer to capture the image. This allows more time for the camera or subject to move while the shutter is open, which causes a blurry photo.
http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/129/the-top-4-causes-of-blurry-photos-and-how-to-fix-them/
Photos can also appear noisy or over-processed. This is due to the camera trying to increase the ISO (light sensor sensitivity), or manually increasing the ISO, to compensate for low lighting.
Point and shoot cameras try to do the work for you by automatically adjusting the aperture, ISO, and shutter speed. So the recommendation for a different camera app (which all handle these adjustments slightly differently) is probably a good place to start if you aren't comfortable making the adjustments manually (and its often not convenient).
But practice and understanding how cameras work goes a lot farther. You'd be surprised at how much you can improve your photos with simple tricks that don't involve camera settings. Just slightly shifting the point of focus can significantly improve the amount of light entering the lens. Or bracing the camera/phone on a stationary object (like a piece of furniture, or a building column) to create an impromptu tripod, can control the camera jitter just enough to get a less blurry photos in low light.
Found this in the Desire HD section, though some of the options aren't available to us.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=875230&highlight=camera+settings
boost3d23 said:
Found this in the Desire HD section, though some of the options aren't available to us.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=875230&highlight=camera+settings
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting read, thanks for linking it. Although to clarify your comment, some of the options discussed on the guide aren't available on non-Sense ROMs. But those on Sense have all the options available.
Also interesting to see the Desire and Desire HD cameras compared side-to-side to the iPhone 4. I know the camera on the Desire Z (or even my older Touch Pro 2) is decidedly better than the iPhone 3GS. My wife owns a 3GS, and she is always commenting on how much better the photos taken by my phone are. But I know Apple made some improvements to the camera for the iPhone 4, so I was wondering how things netted out. While the Desire Z was not specifically compared, its newer than the Desire (and same MP), while being the same generation as the HD (but the HD is 8 MP). So I'm just guessing the Desire Z falls somewhere in between the two in photo quality.
Nothing beats the iPhone 4 when it comes to the camera and the photo/videos - I'm jumping ships when the iPhone 4S hits T-Mobile!
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
What i dont like about the cam is the noise. at first (scaled to fit the screen) it looks very good. once you transfer it to your pc and view the normal size, noise is all over.
any setting to reduce that? ISO?
ptesmoke said:
+2 if you know what your doing this is the best 5mp cam ive used in quite a while.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've got to say that the camera on this thing is the one thing I was disappointed with when moving from my Nokia N95 8gb. That thing had the best camera I've EVER seen on a phone, and I think it was a combination of a better sensor and a considerably better (and larger) lense. This thing takes decent pictures, and they actually look good when printing in like a 4x6 or smaller, but the quality overall is pretty disappointing. I've given up on getting better pictures out of it and just take what I can.
TL24 said:
Nothing beats the iPhone 4 when it comes to the camera and the photo/videos - I'm jumping ships when the iPhone 4S hits T-Mobile!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have any proof to back that statement up? Because the side-by-side comparison in the linked guide above clearly shows the photos on both the old Desire, and the Desire HD are significantly superior to photos taken on the iPhone 4, for indoor conditions.
Hyperbolic statements, with no proof make you sound like Steve Jobs.
Cm7 already has a built in mod to allow you to take pictures in 720p and you can activate deblur fhor our unsteady hands. Its in the settings tab of the camera on cm7 just scroll down a little
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA Premium App
rajbaba2 said:
Cm7 already has a built in mod to allow you to take pictures in 720p and you can activate deblur fhor our unsteady hands. Its in the settings tab of the camera on cm7 just scroll down a little
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They still look like crap.
HTC Vision (G2) - CM7 B91 w/AUS radio

Is THIS really all the camera is capable of?!?

Or is mine bad?!? Seriously, is no one else getting this problem with blown highlights and over-exposure, or are y'all accepting it? I bought this phone for its "superior camera" and while yes it can take pictures in low light I was not willing to give up taking good pictures in good lighting >8(
I installed Android Revolution 8, then 9, to get the "updated" camera- stock kernel, Dev. Ed.
Attached photo taken with stock camera with auto settings, no custom settings, no hdr (though that has been disappointing as well). Oh and white balance was about 5-800 Kelvin too yellow as well... (sigh)
So do I send it back to get cameras as good as everyone else's or start watching the Sony rumors again? Because my 18 month old Galaxy Note could get this picture right...
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
The camera is awesome, its just you have to play around with the settings. Cange the sharpness to -1 and contrast to +1 for day light pictures. Also focus manually before taking pics.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using XDA Premium HD app
What were u expecting from a phone camera?
If you want realy good pictures you need to buy a good standalone camera..
The time isnt still there (and will be for along time) before phone cameras can compete with good standalone cameras...
I also find the camera disappointing. I love the software features like Zoe, but I personally can't rely on this camera to quickly capture a good picture. And I don't think the low light performance is very good either.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app
Those pictures do not look nearly as good as pictures I have taken with mine,using stock settings. Here's a couple for example. The pictures look a lot better in original format as well in full resolution.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium
I love this camera, it lacks the raw specs but it manages to capture those special moments very well, better than even a camera.
The camera has impressed me so far, especially the speed and the amazing colours.
Completely stock trickdroid settings for camera here
@jeeptrash love your cat
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
My camera is working fine too
it's not perfect but it works
john291 said:
What were u expecting from a phone camera?
If you want realy good pictures you need to buy a good standalone camera..
The time isnt still there (and will be for along time) before phone cameras can compete with good standalone cameras...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
John, my expectations are to not move BACKWARD in quality. Trust me I carry my X100 half the time, but the other half this phone was supposed to fill in and it doesn't cut it.
It's your phone also blowing highlights and having white balance problems? I'm trying to understand if this behavior is typical or not.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
The overexposure thing is a little annoying it's true. HDR mode seems to recover lost shadow detail but doesn't seem to help with blown-out highlights.
Setting contrast to +1 is definitely *not* going to help it.
When you know there will be difficult highlights, setting exposure to -1 in normal non-HDR mode seems like the only response. Not ideal I know. Especially when making such a simple, temporary adjustment requires a lot of fiddling around with menus.
Yep, been playin with my camera all day, had no work in. Found the adjustment settings werent fine enough - swung too much one way or the other on +/- 1.
And indoor pictures where theres any daylight showing (doors/windows etc) caused the images to be washed out, even when focused on the lightest part first.
I think the hardware is fine, just some software improvements are needed. So its not all bad.
davedigerati said:
John, my expectations are to not move BACKWARD in quality. Trust me I carry my X100 half the time, but the other half this phone was supposed to fill in and it doesn't cut it.
It's your phone also blowing highlights and having white balance problems? I'm trying to understand if this behavior is typical or not.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello yes it have the white balance problems sometimes..
I think they need to finetune the software better..
But it can also make some nice pictures too...
But a fine tuned software would be great..
---------- Post added at 10:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:07 PM ----------
davedigerati said:
John, my expectations are to not move BACKWARD in quality. Trust me I carry my X100 half the time, but the other half this phone was supposed to fill in and it doesn't cut it.
It's your phone also blowing highlights and having white balance problems? I'm trying to understand if this behavior is typical or not.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By the way this was a simple picture i took out of my window..
Here i like the shadow detail and the natural look of it..
The camera does over expose yes. If you want an easy to use camera. Get the S4/iPhone 5.
Can you control, ISO, shutter speed, Exposure compensation?
Turn ISO off automatic and set it to like 50
Terrorantula said:
Can you control, ISO, shutter speed, Exposure compensation?
Turn ISO off automatic and set it to like 50
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can control iso but you cant get below 100..
The shutter speed cant be controlled manual..
The exposure can be set.
Terrorantula said:
Can you control, ISO, shutter speed, Exposure compensation?
Turn ISO off automatic and set it to like 50
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ISO & exposure yes, you can, and even better if you want to monkey with settings for every shot I recommend FV-5 which I use frequently
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...NvbS5mbGF2aW9uZXQuYW5kcm9pZC5jYW1lcmEucHJvIl0.
The point of my post though is not to find workarounds but to see if this is COMMON, or my camera chip has issues.
I'm puzzled by the lack of complaints out there and feel like the photo I posted was a good example of average sunny day conditions, done badly. Indoors, low light, we're fine, it's the sunny days that are the issue.
Everyone quiet means either
a) everyone is accepting poor quality sunny day photos
b) my camera has issues and everyone else's is fine
c) everyone is feeling a little bit bad that the camera they were promised would offer 'a great leap in the quality of point-and-shoot photos and video' (http://www.htc.com/www/zoe/) frankly isn't, and reluctant to say so, or
d) other?
So everyone shooting sunny day pics please chime, in I appreciate your input- if your pics are coming out great without clipping I'll start the RMA process, or if yours are getting blown I'll fire up the angry fan-boi machine and pester every HTC channel I can hit with requests for a camera update.
Cheers,
Dave
The latter option.
I second, go for the latter
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
davedigerati said:
ISO & exposure yes, you can, and even better if you want to monkey with settings for every shot I recommend FV-5 which I use frequently
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...NvbS5mbGF2aW9uZXQuYW5kcm9pZC5jYW1lcmEucHJvIl0.
The point of my post though is not to find workarounds but to see if this is COMMON, or my camera chip has issues.
I'm puzzled by the lack of complaints out there and feel like the photo I posted was a good example of average sunny day conditions, done badly. Indoors, low light, we're fine, it's the sunny days that are the issue.
Everyone quiet means either
a) everyone is accepting poor quality sunny day photos
b) my camera has issues and everyone else's is fine
c) everyone is feeling a little bit bad that the camera they were promised would offer 'a great leap in the quality of point-and-shoot photos and video' (http://www.htc.com/www/zoe/) frankly isn't, and reluctant to say so, or
d) other?
So everyone shooting sunny day pics please chime, in I appreciate your input- if your pics are coming out great without clipping I'll start the RMA process, or if yours are getting blown I'll fire up the angry fan-boi machine and pester every HTC channel I can hit with requests for a camera update.
Cheers,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have posted few times in this forum about disappointing camera or my expectation is too high. Maybe the next HTC software update would fix them. I like the speakers though which is undeniable to be the best.
Camera is superb.
But it's not all things to all men. If you prepared to fanny around with lighting, settings, angles etc for a photo, and expect a high res masterpiece, this isn't your bag. If you want a point and shoot camera which takes nr unbeatable pictures quickly, then this is it.
Mega bright lights will screw any photo up. Your picture is remarkable given the phone was able to cope at all.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

HTC One - Some Impressive Photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lng0004/sets/72157633487686583/
Very good looking photos, taken with the HTC One. Impressive what can be done with a little knowledge of lighting, and a bit of post editing.
Apparently all the editing was done with stock features or Avairy.
Great shot!:good:
Those are some awesome shots indeed. But I think there are a couple of these threads already that this could be merged with.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
sly101s said:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lng0004/sets/72157633487686583/
Very good looking photos, taken with the HTC One. Impressive what can be done with a little knowledge of lighting, and a bit of post editing.
Apparently all the editing was done with stock features or Avairy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stunning!
Downloading Aviary now
The content and artistic value is impressive. The quality of the images are not really that mpressive though. You can tell its been taken on a mobile phone.
Rubbish
mwatson said:
The content and artistic value is impressive. The quality of the images are not really that mpressive though. You can tell its been taken on a mobile phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only way to tell that these are taken on a mobile is if you knew before hand!
Great shots, that could have been taken with the majority of compact cameras
No shame in any of them!
Great shooting
Dal1970 said:
The only way to tell that these are taken on a mobile is if you knew before hand!
Great shots, that could have been taken with the majority of compact cameras
No shame in any of them!
Great shooting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They way to tell is view them at their full size (in other words at 100%), its then VERY clear they were taken with a low MP phone cam. They aren't very sharp. Remember your monitor is lower resolution than the images, if you view them even full screen the reduction gives a sharpening effect, hides aliasing on lines, masks artefacts. The 'effects' applied also hide the Ones poor dynamic range.
They are very very well composed shots, and are great looking scenes, which is something the One does very well because it has a fast shutter and therefore little blur, but no they arent quality images from a technical standpoint. The problems with the One camera are still quite clear.
If you zoom in close on any shot you see the pixels - it is digital
I use a D7000 as my main camera and if you zoom in close enough is is pixelated
When you view these shots at a sensible size, there is nothing wrong with them. They will never blow up as large as my dSLR, but that is a different animal entirely.
the low light shots and indoor shot I took on my iPhone 4 are attrocious in comparison - took me ages to correct the colour casts and reduce the HUGE amount of noise
100% is not zoomed, its native. Its shortcomings are very evident at native resolution. I suspect those that don't notice are viewing on the phone or on a fairly small monitor. If thats the case, and you're happy, then fine.
Yes its great in low light, although some other phones manage quite well with HDR mode in low light, however in daylight the One is just a poor quality 4MP camera. Those images have done their best to hide it with great composition and effects, but its still evident.
One way to hide it a bit is to enlarge the picture in Photoshop, maybe to 16MP or more, then apply a smart sharpen of maybe 2.5 pixels and 75%, then drop back to 8MP. It cleans up a lot of the aliasing, artefacting and in effect interpolates a higher resolution.
Awesome shots welldone!
It always amazes me that some people expect a phone camera to match a DSLR.. i have both and yes the One isnt as good as my DSLR but it takes brilliant shots and is a whole lot easier to carry around in my pocket
sharpey said:
Awesome shots welldone!
It always amazes me that some people expect a phone camera to match a DSLR.. i have both and yes the One isnt as good as my DSLR but it takes brilliant shots and is a whole lot easier to carry around in my pocket
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No one expects it to match a DSLR, but to approach a 5 year old 5MP phone in daylight would be nice, and it just doesnt. This is why people are upset by the Ones camera. Its low light abilities are great, but its daylight abilities, especially moderate to long distance shots are very poor, even for 4 MP.
mwatson said:
The content and artistic value is impressive. The quality of the images are not really that mpressive though. You can tell its been taken on a mobile phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
The same photographer could have made equally amazing photos with any other smartphone or crappy point and shoot.
The value of those photos come from their composition and lighting, not the image quality. Its the old argument of photographer vs camera.
But yes, very nice photos
Those are some great photos, is that Chinatown in Manhattan?
rovex said:
No one expects it to match a DSLR, but to approach a 5 year old 5MP phone in daylight would be nice, and it just doesnt. This is why people are upset by the Ones camera. Its low light abilities are great, but its daylight abilities, especially moderate to long distance shots are very poor, even for 4 MP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, see... this is where I have a problem: I think the daylight abilities are quite good, but that it really sucks in low light.... For me, all the photos I take in low light (ex. a street corner at night, with lamp posts around) it turns the black into blue noise and it takes some time and a few shots to get a focused photot, even with all the blue in the picture...
Impressive pics imo
Sent from my HTC One using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
We have a photo sharing thread already. The OP in this thread put up some specific shots and claimed they were "impressive". There's plenty to discuss there without opening it up to random new shots with generic captions
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
NxNW said:
We have a photo sharing thread already. The OP in this thread put up some specific shots and claimed they were "impressive". There's plenty to discuss there without opening it up to random new shots with generic captions
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry wrong thread... Will delete.
Sent from my HTC One using Xparent BlueTapatalk 2
Yeah if you just want to share you can always go to
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2169626
Plenty of good shots in there..
Sent from my HTC One using xda app-developers app
Incredible quality. One of the main reason why I choose One. I can probably say goodbye to my digital camera now.
Flattered you think my shots are impressive. Sure, I agree that the photographer makes the difference (;p) but the HTC one camera tech really helps. I've yet to take a photo in low light only to find it shaky later. Never. Of course, sometimes sharpness comes with higher noise level but better than a shaky image.
I feel like I'm using an old camera with fixed wide angle lens when shooting with the HTC One. HDR what? ;p

I give up on this camera...

No matter what I do I can't seem to get a clear picture. Everything is blurry. I can't figure out if my expectations are just too high.....I came from an LG G4 but still. How are you guys getting good pictures? I'm talking 5% of the pictures I take are passable. Maybe I have a faulty camera? Anyone else find the camera to be garbage? I've looked through the camera threads and people seem happy overall. It can't just be me.
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA Free mobile app
Moto camera app sucks...did you try a different app?
Sent from my XT1572 using XDA Free mobile app
I tried Open Camera and am using Google camera currently. And I'm no Ansel Adams but I takes lot of pictures and have always been able to figure out how to take a decent shot on every device I've owned until this one.
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA Free mobile app
Are the pictures blurry or noisy?
They're blurry. That the thing, that's new to me. Good lighting with as steady a hand as I can muster still results in a blurry shot. I'll take one now and post if I can.
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA Free mobile app
This is probably a stupid suggestion, but have you tried just wiping the lens and making sure it's clean and clear? Honestly I've had that problem before where it's been smudged without my noticing and it obviously makes every picture screwed up. I know it's not likely, but something that's worth a shot I've found! Other than that I know nothing about cameras and coming from an HTC One I know nothing of a quality photo...
No, I agree with @jiggyb21, I just bought the Moxo X and came from the Galaxy S6. The camera on the Moto seems like pure garbage to me, and I think it's because we are coming from phones with superior cameras. People who came from phones with worse cameras will obviously think the Moto X camera is great right?
I don't have the steadiest of hands, but I haven't run into a problem like what you are describing. Have you given some thought that you might have a faulty device? It uses phase detection for focus, so if every picture is blurry you may have an issue with the actual camera module.
I've tried a few camera apps, and though pics come out good, man do I really have to keep a steady hand. Move it a hair and any text blurs. Why not lean it up against something to take your handling out of equation and voice command take pic and see what comes up.
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk 2
It would be nice if you could post some samples. I'm not in love with the camera but I have consistently been able to snap photos that are good enough quickly
I don't even know if I uploaded the pics correctly and if not I'll fix it later while I'm watching the Giants beat on the Eagles. Something interesting happened while taking these pictures. I am in 100% optimal lighting conditions and these are basically the best 4 shots I could possibly get out of this camera. I asked around to the people here on the jobsite with me and everyone thought the pictures were just fine. Yes, they aren't blurry to the point of being unreadable by any means but they are quite blurry. I guess it could just be me but I would still argue it's not. Before anyone says anything about how this is just a smartphone and it's only a $400 smartphone at that and it's good enough, I know that and maybe people who haven't used a good smartphone camera don't know what they're missing. If that's the case, fine, and that's why I started this thread was to find out. My last 4 phones were Xperia ZL, Z2, Z3 and LG G4. We all know the G4 and S6, to name two, have incredible cameras and have OIS. The first 3 I named weren't and don't. They were all rated as average cameras and they don't have OIS. I have hundreds of pictures taken in similar conditions with the Sonys and they didn't suffer from blur. Like I said these 4 pictures were surprisingly good IMO. Most I take are MUCH more blurred and most of the pictures I take aren't in this perfect a light. So I'll have to post more pictures from my collection at home to really show off the bad ones.
If you zoom in a little on the pics its almost a 3D art poster kind of eye strain. Again, I'm not talking about level of detail, just the blurriness.
I think part of the pictures of blurry because of shallow depth of field due to lower aperture setting in the software algorithm. It seems the software is trying to compress too much noise. Although I have not personally used it, try the following link for the alternative camera and report back the results. Hope this works out for you:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-g/themes-apps/app-camera-galery-t3216944
trace1er said:
No, I agree with @jiggyb21, I just bought the Moxo X and came from the Galaxy S6. The camera on the Moto seems like pure garbage to me, and I think it's because we are coming from phones with superior cameras. People who came from phones with worse cameras will obviously think the Moto X camera is great right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really. I have a DSLR so that's my standard on PQ. In daylight, nothing should be blurry at 100% zoom on even a $200 phone. You don't need flagship to take a good photo at 1/125 second shutter speed. It's either defective camera unit or something is wrong with the setting. Just look at all the photos people have posted on this forum.
---------- Post added at 10:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:25 PM ----------
jiggyb21 said:
I don't even know if I uploaded the pics correctly and if not I'll fix it later while I'm watching the Giants beat on the Eagles. Something interesting happened while taking these pictures. I am in 100% optimal lighting conditions and these are basically the best 4 shots I could possibly get out of this camera. I asked around to the people here on the jobsite with me and everyone thought the pictures were just fine. Yes, they aren't blurry to the point of being unreadable by any means but they are quite blurry. I guess it could just be me but I would still argue it's not. Before anyone says anything about how this is just a smartphone and it's only a $400 smartphone at that and it's good enough, I know that and maybe people who haven't used a good smartphone camera don't know what they're missing. If that's the case, fine, and that's why I started this thread was to find out. My last 4 phones were Xperia ZL, Z2, Z3 and LG G4. We all know the G4 and S6, to name two, have incredible cameras and have OIS. The first 3 I named weren't and don't. They were all rated as average cameras and they don't have OIS. I have hundreds of pictures taken in similar conditions with the Sonys and they didn't suffer from blur. Like I said these 4 pictures were surprisingly good IMO. Most I take are MUCH more blurred and most of the pictures I take aren't in this perfect a light. So I'll have to post more pictures from my collection at home to really show off the bad ones.
If you zoom in a little on the pics its almost a 3D art poster kind of eye strain. Again, I'm not talking about level of detail, just the blurriness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a f 2.0 lens. You gonna have blurriness around the edge of photo if you are taking it that close. It has nothing to do with OIS.
In any case, you can read the professional review of the XPE here.
http://www.dxomark.com/Mobiles/Moto-X-Style-Mobile-review-Style-and-Substance
If you're in good light, this is arguably one of the best phone cameras out there. Your pictures should be nice and crisp. Try this: take your camera outside during the day and take a few shots of the horizon or something. Then post the pictures here and we'll tell you (hopefully) if you've got a faulty unit. It sounds like your phone is not performing as mine is. I'm even satisfied with some indoor shots with this camera. I have done professional photography, so I am well-versed in cameras (color, WB, ISO, exposure, f-stop, etc.).
Even from reading reviews and comparisons from the web and tech reviewers, this camera performs with, and sometimes beats the other current flagship models out there. I happen to agree with them. From reading this thread though, maybe your camera isn't the only one with this problem.
Anyway, try to post a couple of pictures up. A link to an external host like photobucket or something like that would probably be better than uploading straight to XDA, due to compression and size limits.
---------- Post added at 04:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:42 PM ----------
Edit: looks like I missed a page
Those photos don't look that bad. What sort of blurriness are you talking about? The bokeh from taking close up pictures? Bokeh is a natural blurring effect you get from a larger aperature lens not being able to capture the entire depth of field. That's normal. The focused part of those pictures don't look blurry to me.
As an aside, any indoor shot will not be optimal lighting, unless you have a lighting kit or something to really brighten up the scene. Optimal lighting would be outside, and when the sun is not directly overhead. This is a very quick summation of optimal light, but you get the point.
Gr8man001 said:
I think part of the pictures of blurry because of shallow depth of field due to lower aperture setting in the software algorithm. It seems the software is trying to compress too much noise. Although I have not personally used it, try the following link for the alternative camera and report back the results. Hope this works out for you:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-g/themes-apps/app-camera-galery-t3216944
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, thanks, that camera works great, I always enjoy having the face detection feature it makes focusing on faces much faster.
Gr8man001 said:
I think part of the pictures of blurry because of shallow depth of field due to lower aperture setting in the software algorithm. It seems the software is trying to compress too much noise. Although I have not personally used it, try the following link for the alternative camera and report back the results. Hope this works out for you:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-g/themes-apps/app-camera-galery-t3216944
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your tip. After turning off NR in advanced setting, I tried a couple of indoor shots of some writings on my note book. Please excuse the terrible lighting and my bad handwriting, but it's very easy to tell which shot had the NR off. Yes the one with NR off has a dirtier background, but the pen strokes has much better contrast from the paper. That's probably one of the reasons why the default setting produces blurry photos.
Yea when taking photos of dogs in low light I only managed to have 1 or 2 come out bad and that was from me moving the phone. But then again I am used to shooting 50asa film freehand.
lack of optical image stabilization rearing it's ugly head.. who knows why the hell they couldn't use a sensor with it, but it's quite disappointing. but turning off nr helps a lot.. we need a dev to come in and work on a true camera mod for this phone only. I tried to get my bud xdabbeb to make a mod (as anyone who had the g2 knows his xcam mod was killer!) but he isn't planning on buying this phone. ugh.
Sent from my Moto X Pure Edition
jonathanbailie said:
If you're in good light, this is arguably one of the best phone cameras out there. Your pictures should be nice and crisp. Try this: take your camera outside during the day and take a few shots of the horizon or something. Then post the pictures here and we'll tell you (hopefully) if you've got a faulty unit. It sounds like your phone is not performing as mine is. I'm even satisfied with some indoor shots with this camera. I have done professional photography, so I am well-versed in cameras (color, WB, ISO, exposure, f-stop, etc.).
Even from reading reviews and comparisons from the web and tech reviewers, this camera performs with, and sometimes beats the other current flagship models out there. I happen to agree with them. From reading this thread though, maybe your camera isn't the only one with this problem.
Anyway, try to post a couple of pictures up. A link to an external host like photobucket or something like that would probably be better than uploading straight to XDA, due to compression and size limits.
---------- Post added at 04:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:42 PM ----------
Edit: looks like I missed a page
Those photos don't look that bad. What sort of blurriness are you talking about? The bokeh from taking close up pictures? Bokeh is a natural blurring effect you get from a larger aperature lens not being able to capture the entire depth of field. That's normal. The focused part of those pictures don't look blurry to me.
As an aside, any indoor shot will not be optimal lighting, unless you have a lighting kit or something to really brighten up the scene. Optimal lighting would be outside, and when the sun is not directly overhead. This is a very quick summation of optimal light, but you get the point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you and this is why I wanted feedback. I posted the pictures I did (close-up), because, to me, they were the most objectifiable shots I could take while at work. The text just isn't as clear as other shots I've taken with other phones. I called it optimal lighting because I was in a 6x6 room with three windows and a skylight on a sunny day with no direct sunlight. The lighting felt like the kind any decent camera would take advantage of. To me, that's optimal..but I understand that's a strong word and not scientific. The fact that it scores so highly in professional reviews is what has me frustrated. The only thing I can deduce is that a professional, lab environment is more controlled and repeatable than my layman's point and shoot approach. They must be using a tripod, right? This phone has everything else I want and I just want to like the camera. So believe me, I want to figure out how to enjoy the camera. I will take more shots tomorrow and post them and I hope you and others with knowledge will chime in. I just know that with the other smartphone cameras I mentioned earlier, 8 out of 10 shots were keepers and with this one it's more like 1 out of 10 and that's not jiving with everyone else. Thanks again.
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA Free mobile app
looking at the pictures, they seem just fine to me. the blurred part (glue) at the bottom of the bottle is just from it using a wide aperture. the images are not tack sharp but this is a cellphone camera and small dof. I dont see motion blur.
problem with auto cameras is that you dont know what priority it has. to use a wide aperture to get a decent shutter speed and not have to use high iso or the opposite.
for proper exposure you have to adjust and juggle the 3 parameters (iso/aperture/shutter) to get a proper image.
wish the phone had controls like the LG G4 which has aperture iso shutter WB and EC.

LG G4 dissapointed with camera :(

Hi!
I bought Lg G4 very much for its camera, but my Nexus 6 still takes better pictures...........
First pic is from g4 and second is from Nexus 6. G4 is picking up sunlight and making pictures to bright......very dissapointed.
They look about the same to me. Try some different shots I guess.
I am quite impressed with G4 camera, beats the S6 edge and Priv we have.
milan187 said:
They look about the same to me. Try some different shots I guess.
I am quite impressed with G4 camera, beats the S6 edge and Priv we have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can see the sunbeam on the back of the chair on the G4.
Here is two other examples. First one from Nexus 6, second one from G4. Nexus 6 pic is much more vivid and clear, LG G4 is to bright and catches all sunlight on the picture,
Ohh yah I see it there. Have you tried dark shots with out sun light.
I don't have a Nexus 6 to compare but I do wonder if maybe you got a bad camera on a G4 (if that is possible).
Are you on the latest version too, M?
It may make a difference where you touch to focus too.
Jaxione said:
You can see the sunbeam on the back of the chair on the G4.
Here is two other examples. First one from Nexus 6, second one from G4. Nexus 6 pic is much more vivid and clear, LG G4 is to bright and catches all sunlight on the picture,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is just different focus points. G4 has laser focus and probably focuses on another area. Indoor pictures are crap anyway especially when shot against bright windows.
milan187 said:
Ohh yah I see it there. Have you tried dark shots with out sun light.
I don't have a Nexus 6 to compare but I do wonder if maybe you got a bad camera on a G4 (if that is possible).
Are you on the latest version too, M?
It may make a difference where you touch to focus too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i am on Marshmallow. Still picks up every sunbeam there is, doesent matter where I focus. Here is another example. The sunbeam looks like a white mark across the picture, my Nexus 6 does not pick up that at all
see if this help:
clean the camera lens, then take a shot;
i have my G4 for 3 weeks and i love photography ! i have photos that make me say WT...lolololol
exemples:
https://goo.gl/photos/1guniv2cwdW3vBx9A
https://goo.gl/photos/CMxKBp5KfnUeVndN6
https://goo.gl/photos/FkYgDs6A2dQiTNjD7
all in manual mode
You have full manual controls with RAW capability. Regardless of how auto works, tweaking manual settings will produce far better shots than the Nexus 6 would ever be capable of producing.
Now for the helpful less "fan boy sounding" response: LG tend to blow out highlights in the background to produce a proper exposure for the main subject.
Even the G5 looks like this will be the case, as sampled here
Personally, I think Samsung nailed the auto camera experience with the S6 generation phones. LG have more capability, but it's lessened by the fact most users are not photographers.
Kind of looking forward to the S7 for this reason, it brings back all the features I couldn't tolerate losing with the S6 and enhances the camera even more.
To fix your problem (particularly in environments like your photos)
Turn the brightness up to about 80% with auto brightness disabled
Switch to manual in the camera
Keep everything auto, but fiddle with ISO and exposure time.
Keep the ISO as low as possible while making sure you can take a photo without motion blur from hand shakes (1/30 is as slow as I go usually)
When it looks right on screen, take the shot.
If in doubt and you're feeling technogically empowered, enable RAW.
Happy snapping
Your shooting scene is a difficult one. Play with Manual. The G4 camera is plain excellent. Ecstatic even.
If you want to record a video you are doomed, no manual mode there. Enjoy massive overexposure and over saturated colors. And the retarded ois of course...
Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
Night shots are amazing. I took this one without flash in Netherlands. The best thing is it was with auto mode. In my opinion better camera than any other smarts.
http://i.imgur.com/lO18AzQ.jpg
Thanks all for your replies. Its going back. I want a phone with a camera who can take ok pictures without having to fiddle with manual settings. I am no photographer and have no interest in changing settings for every scenario.
İ thing ur LG g4's camera has some problem cause i also used h815 and right now h818p mine was not like that bad u can look my photo's from the link
Edit I'm not photographer also it's really easy to learn manual settings just try but automatic also not bad
https://drive.google.com/folder/d/0B0YMxD-WRGRoVnNudThXN01Fcms/edit
---------- Post added at 08:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:34 PM ----------
krater1212 said:
Night shots are amazing. I took this one without flash in Netherlands. The best thing is it was with auto mode. In my opinion better camera than any other smarts.
http://i.imgur.com/lO18AzQ.jpg
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good shot is it automatic or Manuel if Manuel than if u was try to ISO 50 and 4second exposure u can get gread pics u can also check my photos if u want
I went through my gallery to check indoor pictures. Definitely a faulty unit/optics/glass you have there, did not notice the same effect here.
Maybe you (OP) are looking at it from a wrong angle. I think the G4 camera just records what is sees. It's not its fault that there are sun rays. On the other hand, the N6 doesn't capture what there really is. Besides, the net is full of tutorials how to catch sunbeams. With G4 you get it out of the box.
This must be a problem with dirt on the lens or the protective glass, nothing to do with the camera, the camera is awesome. Could even be on the inside so it might be hard to remove without disassembling the phone.
KoRoZIV said:
If you want to record a video you are doomed, no manual mode there. Enjoy massive overexposure and over saturated colors. And the retarded ois of course...
Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah the OIS is frankly terrible. I don't take any video with my G4 because of it.
gerhard_wa said:
This must be a problem with dirt on the lens or the protective glass, nothing to do with the camera, the camera is awesome. Could even be on the inside so it might be hard to remove without disassembling the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, looks to me like the lens had a smear or something on it.
I have 505 serial dual h818N. Having a vignette effect when on 60 fps mode. Some users reported that they have no issue like mine. Ois is terrible on my device IMHO.
KoRoZIV said:
If you want to record a video you are doomed, no manual mode there. Enjoy massive overexposure and over saturated colors. And the retarded ois of course...
Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just own the G4 and I have to say hat video quality exposure and all that stuff its the best. maybe you need to learn a bit on how to use a proper camera.

Categories

Resources