Database Users

What's the purpose of this phone having LED flash?

I've found the LED flash to be basically useless for taking pictures. Everytime I try to use it in a dark environment, the shutter speeds are too slow and the picture is both horribly overexposed and there is motion blur as well.
I understand there is no pre-flash firing to lock focus, but the camera should be smart enough to bump up shutter speed to actually take a usable picture in the dark with flash.
Does everyone's camera do this?

supdawg said:
I've found the LED flash to be basically useless for taking pictures. Everytime I try to use it in a dark environment, the shutter speeds are too slow and the picture is both horribly overexposed and there is motion blur as well.
I understand there is no pre-flash firing to lock focus, but the camera should be smart enough to bump up shutter speed to actually take a usable picture in the dark with flash.
Does everyone's camera do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine takes awesome pictures, even in complete darkness.

supdawg said:
I've found the LED flash to be basically useless for taking pictures. Everytime I try to use it in a dark environment, the shutter speeds are too slow and the picture is both horribly overexposed and there is motion blur as well.
I understand there is no pre-flash firing to lock focus, but the camera should be smart enough to bump up shutter speed to actually take a usable picture in the dark with flash.
Does everyone's camera do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera works great, it's no DSLR but it's just as good or better than any point and shoot i've ever owned. As far as the flash goes only time pictures are overexposed is when you are too close and try and use the flash. Cameras can't work miracles. If it's too dark for you to see your subject then it's too dark for the camera to see it as well and the pictures will look bad on any camera. As long as the lighting is reasonable the pictures come out great.

Jykinturah said:
Mine takes awesome pictures, even in complete darkness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
might be a problem with the OPs flash

supdawg said:
I understand there is no pre-flash
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you use a led widget, it will stay on before, during, and after the shot but it is not as bright as the camera flash brightness.

supdawg said:
I've found the LED flash to be basically useless for taking pictures. Everytime I try to use it in a dark environment, the shutter speeds are too slow and the picture is both horribly overexposed and there is motion blur as well.
I understand there is no pre-flash firing to lock focus, but the camera should be smart enough to bump up shutter speed to actually take a usable picture in the dark with flash.
Does everyone's camera do this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine seems to work ok it can actually take a decent picture in complete darkness
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Jykinturah said:
Mine takes awesome pictures, even in complete darkness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
michaelvibe said:
Mine seems to work ok it can actually take a decent picture in complete darkness
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what are your settings cause mine look crappy as well? met my favorite band and took pics and they all came out crappy.. luckly i had my canon camera as a backup but after one picture the bastard died.. if my phone was taking nice pics i could have had a collection of awesome memories

This is a typical picture taken with my camera in very low lighting with flash.
As you can see the picture is horribly overexposed. All I did was take the raw file an upload to imageshack with a slight crop.
Is this typical? Or do I have a defective camera? Camera takes good pictures in good light, but flash pictures are terrible.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Link to full res photo
http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/6331/imag0052ou.jpg

Its a flashlight... Duh

supdawg said:
This is a typical picture taken with my camera in very low lighting with flash.
As you can see the picture is horribly overexposed. All I did was take the raw file an upload to imageshack with a slight crop.
Is this typical? Or do I have a defective camera? Camera takes good pictures in good light, but flash pictures are terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lower the brightness when you take pictures that close with the flash. It will help a LOT.

midri said:
Lower the brightness when you take pictures that close with the flash. It will help a LOT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip. I tried to recreate the picture at -2 & -3 exposures.
-2
-3
While lowering the exposure helps a bit, the pictures still look extremely soft to me (looks like the shutter speed was too low/motion blur).
I understand this phone won't produce DSLR quality pictures (I own a Canon 450D for that). However, I would like to get usable pictures with flash. To me, even at -3 exposure, these pictures are pretty bad.
Subject was about 4-5 feet away.
TIA

i think it's because the camera doesn't pre-light and focus before hitting the shutter, it just "focuses" in complete darkness then lights up the flash and takes the picture with an out of focus subject. Best way is to use a flashlight app to light it up, focus, then turn off the flashlight and take the pic

It's better than not having flash and not many companies are willing to go to the added expense (as well as sacrifice more space) of a xenon flash.

Just wanted to know if this was typical? Can someone post a pic of a person using flash in low light with flash?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

I took some pictures at night during the Fourth of July and the daytime pictures came out much better than my 10.1MP point and shoot, the camera is also about 5X faster, so I didn't miss nearly as many shots as my GF using my P&S.
Night time pictures on both cameras were also mediocre. Like someone here already said, if you can't see the person very well in low light, then the camera won't either. As soon as the flash goes off it flushes the area with light. Honestly, I think you are expecting a little much from a cellphone camera. Compared to every other camera I have owned (not owned a DSLR) this camera trumps both phones and P&S cameras.
Good luck, but I think your comparing apples and oranges seeing as you own a DSLR. Most phones don't even have a flash.

Brutal-Force said:
I took some pictures at night during the Fourth of July and the daytime pictures came out much better than my 10.1MP point and shoot, the camera is also about 5X faster, so I didn't miss nearly as many shots as my GF using my P&S.
Night time pictures on both cameras were also mediocre. Like someone here already said, if you can't see the person very well in low light, then the camera won't either. As soon as the flash goes off it flushes the area with light. Honestly, I think you are expecting a little much from a cellphone camera. Compared to every other camera I have owned (not owned a DSLR) this camera trumps both phones and P&S cameras.
Good luck, but I think your comparing apples and oranges seeing as you own a DSLR. Most phones don't even have a flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a fair assessment. I just thought that this camera could do what every point and shoot camera I've owned for the past 10 years could do. Take a sharp picture in a dark environment using flash.
And I've owned a phone with a flash before (Touch Pro). I cannot remember if it exhibited the same behavior, though.
I just don't think it's too much to ask for a camera to expose properly and give sufficient shutter speed to take sharp pictures while using the flash. I love having the LED's for flashlight purposes, I simply question it's functionality/usability as a part of the camera.
I am not talking about physical limitations of the sensor. The sensor is capable of doing it, but it just needs to be improved software wise by HTC. I understand there will be noise and grain in this type of sensor. I just want sharp photos that don't have all of their highlights blown all to hell on 0 EV compensation.
The exposure compensation setting at -3 to take is a real PITA considering its just not FEV, so I imagine even daytime shots would come out underexposed if you forget to switch back.
I just hope HTC does something to improve this camera/video camera. It's too nice of hardware for it to under perform the way it does.

Jykinturah said:
Mine takes awesome pictures, even in complete darkness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you post a picture of someone taken about 5 feet away using flash in a dark environment? If you dont feel comfortable doing that on the forum, you could PM me.
I could look at your picture to see if it has the same problems as mine does.

easy fix take it. back and a ip4 it has a "better camera".
my camera takes great pics in the dark
sent with my evo from a secret place

Sporkman said:
easy fix take it. back and a ip4 it has a "better camera".
my camera takes great pics in the dark
sent with my evo from a secret place
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Care to share any?

supdawg said:
Care to share any?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To answer your question, yes these are typical results for a photo taken in complete darkness. The Evo, while pretty good for a cell phone camera, is comparable in quality to a cheap P&S camera (to me it looks slightly better than my wife's old Canon A430, but noticeably worse than my Canon SX100). There's nothing wrong with your phone.

X10 Stock Camera: Better Pictures Guide!

Ok, I started this thread because there are a million question throughout this forum about the stock camera on the X10. Some people just don't understand why they can't get good pictures from a 8mp camera. Some people say, why does this stupid 8mp camera take pictures with the quality of a 5mp camera (that makes me laugh a bit) lol.
So, here's the deal, for as long as I have been a member here I don't remember seeing a thread on this to help people get better pictures. Just many threads with questions scattered throughout.
Lets get started:
As a photographer I do spend ALOT of time taking pictures whether Im at home, work, parties, etc etc. I also shoot weddings, I have done and still do family portaits, etc etc.
So, most of the time I have my DSLR..but sometimes I dont, sometimes I just have my point-and-shoot, sometimes I rely on my X10. And thats where the fun starts.
When I use my phone to take pictures, I want to make sure I use the best possible settings to get the best possible picture. That includes, white balance, metering, and the lovely EV+/-.
I have spent a HUGE HUGE amount of time comparing many many different camera apps against each other. Guess which one won in the very end??? STOCK CAMERA! by a long shot!
What makes the stock so good compared to others? probably a more accurate meter reading, better white balance control and of course the EV+/- control.
How do I use my X10 camera properly then?
1. One thing I found for SURE on the X10 camera is the focusing isn't good. Use infinity focus for any shot UNLESS it's a macro (which isn't truly a macro, because smartphones aren't capable of shooting actual macro)
2. Change your white balance! if your inside your house with normal lighting from lamps, ceiling fans, etc, use incandenscent white balance! if your outside on a bright sunny day..use day white balance, if your outside and it's cloudy, use cloudy white balance. If your unsure, just use auto,,,it holds up really well.
3. Use EV+/- balance! best feature of our stock camera, which no other camera app can offer. Here's how its works:
you will see a meter when use press the EV control on your camera screen. It goes from -2___0___+2. By default its set to 0. If your shooting outside on a bright day try lowering it to about -0.3 to -1. You will see a dramatic difference with your shot. Much more detail becomes available. If you taking a picture of your friend, family member, etc etc outside on a bright day you might notice sometimes they look dark on your screen...thats because all the light from the background (usually the sun) is tricking your lens into thinking it has a crazy amount of light and it will lower the shutter speed. To counteract that, you will need to raise your EV to the + side. What this essentially does is overexposes the background, but brightens your subject up close so they aren't dark. Inside under poor lighting people complain about the camera and how it sucks. Well, guess what, we cant control the shutter speed or aperture on our camera, so we have to use whats available...again EV.
Under poor lighting, lower your EV to no less then -0.7 (otherwise the image might be to dark) What you will notice by doing this is yes the picture is slightly darker, but it also help reduce background noise within your photo.
Play around with the EV and see the difference for yourself. But never raise it in the + side of things unless your subject it to dark compared to the background otherwise you will end up with an overexposed photo. Lowering it a bit helps in almost all situations for everyday shooters.
How do I setup the X10 camera:
Capturing Mode: Normal
Resolution: 8mp or 6mp (wide) depends on what I want (remember, MP DO NOT effect quality)
Scenes: Normal
Focus Mode: Infinity or macro for close up shots
Photo light: always off for me
self timer: always off
metering: depends. but for everyday shooting use average as this is also known as matrix and is the most accurate metering mode.
White Balance: I explained above how to use it and when
Image stabilizer: ALWAYS OFF!! The feature is bad on the X10. Its litterly destroys the image. It causes way to much smearing should I say.
The rest of the features don't matter.
I hope this helps alot of your get better images from your stock cam. Because in the end of it, it most certainly is a superior app than anything on the market. Of course I have 360 ultimate, and vignette on my phone. 360 is nice for taking pictures with instant effects, and works really well. Same with vignette. So those 2 apps are by no means junk....just in sheer quality, not comparible to stock. Try staying away from automatic settings most of the time.
How to make your photo unique and very nice?
Use the rule of thirds. If you guys like this enough, I will continue to help you all with achieving much prettier pictures.
If you guys like this, I will take the time to do photos and show the differences when using EV and other features on the stock camera.
I would like this to become a sticky so people visiting these forums can see it at the top of the list and hopefully helps them before having to post more questions.
Any questions about this, feel free to ask.
Please don't troll this thread, I have dedicated myself to photography as a passion and take things very seriously. Of course you can disagree with me on this thread, but do it in a nice manner.

Thank you this is what I have always wanted to know how to make it better with the stock Camera
Your guide helps me a lot I cant wait to try it by myself after my phone is done charging
It would also be nice if you dont mind showing us some of your picture taken from X10 ( And Yes It will be appreciated if you could do the comparison )

nice tips... how about a write up on how to compose a picture =)

Montague said:
Thank you this is what I have always wanted to know how to make it better with the stock Camera
Your guide helps me a lot I cant wait to try it by myself after my phone is done charging
It would also be nice if you dont mind showing us some of your picture taken from X10 ( And Yes It will be appreciated if you could do the comparison )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will put together pictures for this thread showing the differences in features. But alot of my x10 pictures are of family which i wont post. So gimme a little time to take random shots.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

beanoguy said:
nice tips... how about a write up on how to compose a picture =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If people like this thread enough, i will absolutely take it further. I will give the tips and tricks i use when shooting weddings, family portraits, etc.
Composition comes with practice. Knowing how to frame your shot is a big deal in photography.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

The stock camera in 2.1 was the best, but now I am noticing a severe deterioration in quality after upgrading to GB. Night photos are completely unusable after upgrading to GB - there is severe noise reduction applied as default and the pictures look like some artist's water-colored images. I wish i could revert to the 2.1 firmware
Will post a comparison soon...
EDIT: Image Stabilization is set to OFF and I am using normal mode (no scenes).

bbsrailfan said:
The stock camera in 2.1 was the best, but now I am noticing a severe deterioration in quality after upgrading to GB. Night photos are completely unusable after upgrading to GB - there is severe noise reduction applied as default and the pictures look like some artist's water-colored images. I wish i could revert to the 2.1 firmware
Will post a comparison soon...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Simce i just flashed 2.3.3 i havent really had a chance to check the camera much. But i will soon.
Sent from my X10i using XDA App

Please continue sir, this can't be more helpful Thank you very much!

Oh man what took you so long to write this?
by the way weren't you the one who once said miui camera takes better pictures than stock?

Hei, you're good at making photos, so i suppose you're also good with photoshop and stuff.
Because there is a slight chance that there are some ..... how should we call them.... people who don't understand something when they don't see it with their own eyes.... why don't you make a picture of camera app and insert numbers to describe each feature and which is where.
Here is a Screenshot
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
(sorry for this pixel thing on the right side, but just cant get rid of it, liveview of camera refreshes to fast for screenshot ^^ )

riginal said:
Oh man what took you so long to write this?
by the way weren't you the one who once said miui camera takes better pictures than stock?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also thought Vignette did to. Once I learned infinity focus was better than single auto, and discovered EV on stock cam...it was all over lol

Haldi4803 said:
Hei, you're good at making photos, so i suppose you're also good with photoshop and stuff.
Because there is a slight chance that there are some ..... how should we call them.... people who don't understand something when they don't see it with their own eyes.... why don't you make a picture of camera app and insert numbers to describe each feature and which is where.
Here is a Screenshot
(sorry for this pixel thing on the right side, but just cant get rid of it, liveview of camera refreshes to fast for screenshot ^^ )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Up in my first post I wrote how I setup my stock cam.
there all in order according to your camera app starting from the top to the bottom, then in the additional settings.
If you use a different camera app, and wanna know what button is doing, just ask
Oh! ps. I noticed your set on infinity focus in that screenshot,,,which wouldn't work out so well being so close. you would want macro. Which is the very top box on your camera screen

Very deatil, I must say.
I am going to try using the EV adj to take better photos.
If you gave time,could you write another thread to teach us how to take good photo under poor light/at night(Well,I knowthe light sensor is just x.x)
cheers,
L
Sent fRom mY FreeXperia X10 uSIng xda Premium App

m8 the shire quality of the images is much much much time better with vignette than the stock camera app mainly coz the stock camera app compresses the pictures a lot more and the quality is a lot worst than those taken with vignette for instance i took the same picture with the stock app and vignette and the truth is ht picture with the stock camera is 2.8mb a lot worse and the one with vignette is 5.6mb ... sooo .. dunno what u compared but m8 from my experience your not right for shire quality of the images, about the options of the app i agree with u but not for the quality taken with the stock app its poor .For instance i was on the same options that u mentioned and me and my gf who has 6700 nokia compared pictures and i was astonished how bad is the quality untill i found vignette - the best app for taking quality images for me

bbsrailfan said:
The stock camera in 2.1 was the best, but now I am noticing a severe deterioration in quality after upgrading to GB. Night photos are completely unusable after upgrading to GB - there is severe noise reduction applied as default and the pictures look like some artist's water-colored images. I wish i could revert to the 2.1 firmware
Will post a comparison soon...
EDIT: Image Stabilization is set to OFF and I am using normal mode (no scenes).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
while taking pics in night try night landscape! if it's outdoor!
suggested by mode from esato!
you can check few pics in here

laill said:
Very deatil, I must say.
I am going to try using the EV adj to take better photos.
If you gave time,could you write another thread to teach us how to take good photo under poor light/at night(Well,I knowthe light sensor is just x.x)
cheers,
L
Sent fRom mY FreeXperia X10 uSIng xda Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nightime photography is my favorite. However on this phone without manual controls of aperture, shutter speed and ISO...you can only do so much.
If you shooting handheld at night,, you better have a VERY steady hand. Otherwise mount your phone.
Leave the EV at 0 and adjust from there. White balance makes a massive difference at night...which most of the time (not always) will be incandenscent white balance.
Use infinity focus at night because the X10 just wont be able to focus properly anyways. Unless you have significant lighting. I still stick with infinity anyways lol.
Good thing about infinity focus, is you can hold the shutter button half way as if you were focusing and move around with it held half way til your ready to snap your shot then just press the shutter the rest of the way.
But yeah, the sensor is only so good on this phone.

Mr Patchy Patch said:
I also thought Vignette did to. Once I learned infinity focus was better than single auto, and discovered EV on stock cam...it was all over lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought about Vignette too & frankly I love that app & its effects hehe.
But I'll try playing with these settings in stock cam & see what'll happen.

laill said:
Very deatil, I must say.
I am going to try using the EV adj to take better photos.
If you gave time,could you write another thread to teach us how to take good photo under poor light/at night(Well,I knowthe light sensor is just x.x)
cheers,
L
Sent fRom mY FreeXperia X10 uSIng xda Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly tho, taking phone cameras out of the picture, it's difficult to take nice pictures in low light conditions, even with a DSLR.
Essentially, there are several factors that enable you to take good low light photos, such as longer exposure times (allowing more light to hit the sensor) the use of tripods (a very steady hand) and/or a flash for a light source.
Even your breathing will give camera shake resulting in a blurry picture.

Agreed, the X10 is powerful enough to take great photos and it's up to the user to make the picture look awesome.
Here's the one I took and post processed with Lightroom 3.

diimaan said:
while taking pics in night try night landscape! if it's outdoor!
suggested by mode from esato!
you can check few pics in here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You better have a steady hand in night landscape mode lol.
But it does work well

LG G4 Pictures (56k No No) + Impromptu Mini-Photography Tutorial

These are straight from the camera, no editing. Also, it was crazy windy and I don't have a tripod for this thing...so they are a bit blurry. If it was calm, these would be a lot better. You can see a few were better than the others (I was using objects to set the phone on and keep it more steady), just luck of the draw due to it being so windy.
I am AMAZED by this camera at night. Just BEAUTIFUL. Up until now, shooting pics at night with a smart phone was a COMPLETE waste of time. Now? Totally doable.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

Were these on Auto
Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk

LancerV said:
Were these on Auto
Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, manual. You do have to know what you're doing, but with a tripod setup of some kind, this phone is capable of a LOT.

Thanks for sharing! They definitely look good, it's good to see on manual mode with some understanding of the settings you can get some nice clean shots.

Freshtojeff said:
Thanks for sharing! They definitely look good, it's good to see on manual mode with some understanding of the settings you can get some nice clean shots.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With a steadier hand it would have been even better lol.

AWESOME! i suggested LG to give us more options to camera, like 1080p 60fps, jpeg quality at 100% and slight more control, just like XCAM for G3.
But yeah, nothing can compete with G4 camera, all my friends rape this camera so hard.

IlyaKol said:
No, manual. You do have to know what you're doing, but with a tripod setup of some kind, this phone is capable of a LOT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mind putting these up someplace so we can check the exifs ?
imgur unfortunately strips them out.
flickr is best, failing which googledrive or dropbox etc.

IlyaKol said:
No, manual. You do have to know what you're doing, but with a tripod setup of some kind, this phone is capable of a LOT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would you mind sharing some of the settings or at least the basic how to use the manual mode? I can see from the pics that you a professional photographer. Would you please outline some instructions for us or at least point us in the direction where we can learn how to shoot with a manual camera? Thanks

One Twelve said:
You mind putting these up someplace so we can check the exifs ?
imgur unfortunately strips them out.
flickr is best, failing which googledrive or dropbox etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See/try attached.
llaugerm said:
Would you mind sharing some of the settings or at least the basic how to use the manual mode? I can see from the pics that you a professional photographer. Would you please outline some instructions for us or at least point us in the direction where we can learn how to shoot with a manual camera? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Photography is a complicated thing with many principles and techniques. I also like to say that it's half luck lol. Right place, right time type stuff (at least for the photography I did/do). In general though, the 'foundation' of knowing how to use a DSLR or in this case a smartphone with manual controls is the following:
Aperture: This is a number signified by something like F1.8 (LG G4). This signifies how wide a lens can open and maintain it's speed (by allowing more light, you can make the shutter speed fast - more on that below); the wider the better because it allows in more light. In the DSLR world, a F2.8 (fast) lens will cost 2x as much as a F4.5 (slow) lens, if not more. For the sake of the LG G4, this isn't really something you can change from what I can tell.
ISO (aka Sensitivity): ISO is one of the more important things to know, IMO. The reason is that it can have a DRASTIC effect on your images if not used properly. The way ISO works is, like aperture, a lower number is better. In the case of the G4, the ISO goes from 50 to 2700 in various increments. Say you go from 50 to 100, what this means is that your camera needs only half as much light for the same exposure because you made it more sensitive to the already existing light. When you change your ISO, you'll notice that your preview on the phone gets considerably brighter each time you go up. The reason why it is important to know how to use ISO properly (in combination with shutter speed) is because the higher you go, the more 'grainy' an image will get. This is why I always try to shoot at 250-300 ISO or below. It's a respectable range. But, the images were dark, so I had to mess with the shutter speed. Keep reading.
Shutter Speed (aka Exposure Time): This is the other vital piece of information you need to know. As I mentioned above, the lower you go in the ISO, the darker your image will be. To combat this, you need to increase the shutter (make it stay open longer) in order to allow more light in to the censor to compensate. If you shoot a picture with a 50 ISO and a 1/30th of a second shutter (reasonably fast), your image may end up being pitch black. BUT, if you shoot an image with a 50 ISO and a 2 second shutter (slow), you'll likely get something that more or less resembles an image. However, with a long shutter, which was my issue with the pictures I posted...you MUST have a tripod. The natural movement (minuscule) of the human body + wind + building shake (I was on a massive plaza with a roadway underneath) will cause the images to be blurred. If I had made the ISO 1000 and the shutter 1/60th of a second (fast), I wouldn't need to really keep steady, but the images would have been very grainy. The shutter on the LG G4 goes from 30 seconds (incredibly slow - you will DEFINITELY need a tripod unless you're dead lol to keep steady) to 1/6000th of a second (insanely fast, but you'll need a TON of ISO to make the image even remotely visible in a darker situation).
Focus: I always shoot on manual focus (even with DSLR) but you can use auto focus. This just means that the camera will try to decide what you're trying to take a picture of (objects close or far) and will focus accordingly. With manual focus, you pick if you want the camera to focus far or near.
White Balance: Honestly, this just changes the 'color' of your photos to be more warm or cool...even when I was shooting weddings I never messed with it on the camera. If I needed to change it, I changed it post-wedding during my editing sessions.
That's very basic and I hope I touched on the important things...may have forgotten a bit here or there but that should get you started in understanding the general concept of ISO and shutter speed and their relationship.

IlyaKol said:
See/try attached.
Photography is a complicated thing with many principles and techniques. I also like to say that it's half luck lol. Right place, right time type stuff (at least for the photography I did/do). In general though, the 'foundation' of knowing how to use a DSLR or in this case a smartphone with manual controls is the following:
Aperture: This is a number signified by something like F1.8 (LG G4). This signifies how wide a lens can open and maintain it's speed (by allowing more light, you can make the shutter speed fast - more on that below); the wider the better because it allows in more light. In the DSLR world, a F2.8 (fast) lens will cost 2x as much as a F4.5 (slow) lens, if not more. For the sake of the LG G4, this isn't really something you can change from what I can tell.
ISO (aka Sensitivity): ISO is one of the more important things to know, IMO. The reason is that it can have a DRASTIC effect on your images if not used properly. The way ISO works is, like aperture, a lower number is better. In the case of the G4, the ISO goes from 50 to 2700 in various increments. Say you go from 50 to 100, what this means is that your camera needs only half as much light for the same exposure because you made it more sensitive to the already existing light. When you change your ISO, you'll notice that your preview on the phone gets considerably brighter each time you go up. The reason why it is important to know how to use ISO properly (in combination with shutter speed) is because the higher you go, the more 'grainy' an image will get. This is why I always try to shoot at 250-300 ISO or below. It's a respectable range. But, the images were dark, so I had to mess with the shutter speed. Keep reading.
Shutter Speed (aka Exposure Time): This is the other vital piece of information you need to know. As I mentioned above, the lower you go in the ISO, the darker your image will be. To combat this, you need to increase the shutter (make it stay open longer) in order to allow more light in to the censor to compensate. If you shoot a picture with a 50 ISO and a 1/30th of a second shutter (reasonably fast), your image may end up being pitch black. BUT, if you shoot an image with a 50 ISO and a 2 second shutter (slow), you'll likely get something that more or less resembles an image. However, with a long shutter, which was my issue with the pictures I posted...you MUST have a tripod. The natural movement (minuscule) of the human body + wind + building shake (I was on a massive plaza with a roadway underneath) will cause the images to be blurred. If I had made the ISO 1000 and the shutter 1/60th of a second (fast), I wouldn't need to really keep steady, but the images would have been very grainy. The shutter on the LG G4 goes from 30 seconds (incredibly slow - you will DEFINITELY need a tripod unless you're dead lol to keep steady) to 1/6000th of a second (insanely fast, but you'll need a TON of ISO to make the image even remotely visible in a darker situation).
Focus: I always shoot on manual focus (even with DSLR) but you can use auto focus. This just means that the camera will try to decide what you're trying to take a picture of (objects close or far) and will focus accordingly. With manual focus, you pick if you want the camera to focus far or near.
White Balance: Honestly, this just changes the 'color' of your photos to be more warm or cool...even when I was shooting weddings I never messed with it on the camera. If I needed to change it, I changed it post-wedding during my editing sessions.
That's very basic and I hope I touched on the important things...may have forgotten a bit here or there but that should get you started in understanding the general concept of ISO and shutter speed and their relationship.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow!!! Thank you for that great introduction to photography. I don't know how good I'll become shooting pics to my two years old that she moves pretty fast. Lol. This post was a great tutorial!! Thank you.

llaugerm said:
Wow!!! Thank you for that great introduction to photography. I don't know how good I'll become shooting pics to my two years old that she moves pretty fast. Lol. This post was a great tutorial!! Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, that's why I quit shooting weddings, sold my camera gear and bought a motorcycle lol. Shooting humans SUCKS...just too unpredictable and tough to get a good picture. They blink, don't stand still, etc. lol.
For a 2 year old, you're likely going to want to stick to using full auto mode (or at least a fast shutter and high ISO). I'd use manual mode for things like nature pictures, etc. where objects are stationary.

IlyaKol said:
See/try attached.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope, board attachments are no better, also strip out all exifs

One Twelve said:
nope, board attachments are no better, also strip out all exifs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this zip. I resized the images to 1024 by x but EXIF should still be good.

IlyaKol said:
Try this zip. I resized the images to 1024 by x but EXIF should still be good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see you are in Albany. My in-laws are in Albany and we go there quite frequently. The next time I go to Albany I will invite for a cup coffee!. I'll PM you my email.

IlyaKol said:
With a steadier hand it would have been even better lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok , now i understand better, mostly ISO 200 shots with exposure times ranging from 1/4, some at 0.5s, going up to 1s and the last one at 4s.
the sharpest one i could make out was the 1/4, things get softer at 1/2s and beyond.
if you can pull off a steady handheld 1/4 then the OIS on this thing is working and is as good as on the iP6+

Here is another one I took last night. ISO was 50 and Shutter was 2 seconds. Keep in mind that Instagram badly compresses the images on Android. Also, the bike image was also a 50 ISO and a 4 second shutter (to get the light trails):

IlyaKol said:
Here is another one I took last night. ISO was 50 and Shutter was 2 seconds. Keep in mind that Instagram badly compresses the images on Android. Also, the bike image was also a 50 ISO and a 4 second shutter (to get the light trails):
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you hold the device in your hands or did you use some kind of tripod? Really nice pics.

Galaxicos said:
Did you hold the device in your hands or did you use some kind of tripod? Really nice pics.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Queensboro Bridge picture was resting on a railing. The bike picture (longer exposure so harder) was held by hand. I have pretty steady hands, all things considered. Tips: put your elbows into your sides and hold your breath. Should steady you.

IlyaKol said:
Queensboro Bridge picture was resting on a railing. The bike picture (longer exposure so harder) was held by hand. I have pretty steady hands, all things considered. Tips: put your elbows into your sides and hold your breath. Should steady you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The bridge picture is really awesome. I don't have a steady hand. I have a DSLR as well and always have issues with this, but resting on something is a good workaround

Galaxicos said:
The bridge picture is really awesome. I don't have a steady hand. I have a DSLR as well and always have issues with this, but resting on something is a good workaround
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, if you can find something to rest on. Unfortunately, not always available lol. I find that sitting down and resting your arms on your knees can sometimes steady the shot too...I get creative lol.

Photography information/assistance/ideas

Paid hobbiest photographer here, I thought I'd share my knowledge of photography and give an opportunity for others to do the same
For pictures on the G4, they are can have the opportunity to be amazing. Let me start off by saying that LG did an amazing job with their auto mode. Whenever there is a large contrast (sun behind a mountain for example) I use auto for the hdr. When in doubt, use auto mode. The results are almost always stunning. (I also use auto for landscape pictures when it's a large subject, like a meadow for example)
That being said, there's another level that it can be taken to with manual mode. Let me explain each function from left to right.
WB: White balance - This option controls how "warm" or "cold" your pictures are. This is the most confusing option, and also the hardest to explain. Basically the lower the number, the more white your light source is. Thankfully LG put in recommendations as to what to set the white balance at based on your light source, but ultimately it's up to your personal tastes. One of the best things about this is that you can see the effects of changing the white balance on real time, making it easy to select your preferred look. I commonly increase the white balance on order to get a more saturated picture, with brighter, more vivid colors (but that's just my preference). White balance is one of the easiest to change in editing however, so I wouldn't worry too much about it as of right now.
MF: Manual Focus - This option is something I tend to leave alone, because of how well the laser focus works. As the name implies, this setting controls the focus of the camera. I find it useful in very close-up situations where the auto-focus is struggling to set, or when you want to focus on a specific object in your scene. Due to the laser auto-focus however, I mostly leave this alone, especially because it's easy to be just a tad off, and is impossible to fix in editing.
+/-: generic exposure - the only way you can have this enabled is if you uncheck "AE-L" on the far right. Adjusting this makes your pictures lighter or darker. Rather then messing with the iso and shutter speed yourself, the phone does it for you. I can honestly say I have never used this, mostly because I have a certain object I want to capture that requires either a fast shutter speed, or low iso.
ISO: Sensitivity to Light - A very useful tool, and completely foreign to the smartphone world (I think) until the LG G4. This is mostly changed based on what type of picture you're trying to capture. No matter what picture you are taking however, A LOWER ISO IS ALWAYS BETTER. While a higher iso will allow more light to be captured resulting in brighter pictures, it will also increase the "noise" or the graininess of the picture. Normally if I'm taking pictures of landscape or a still object, I'll keep the iso at 50, but at a maximum of 150 in order to keep the image clear and sharp. If I'm taking a picture of action or I'm trying the stop the motion I'll go up to an iso of 700 (but once again it's up to your personal preference)
S: Shutter Speed - one of my favorite things about this phone is being able to set the shutter speed. The longer the shutter speed, the more light will be able to get in. However, as a trade off, it's harder to keep the phone still, and anything in motion will show up blurry. A faster shutter speed will stop motion, meaning you can get really cool action shots, or freeze pretty much anything you want. The downside of this being normally you have to turn up the iso in order to compensate for the lack of light, meaning a grainier shot.
AE-L: Exposure Lock - All this does is toggle whether or not you want the camera to change the shutter speed and iso or not. As soon as you change the shutter speed or iso, the toggle is switched and the phone will not adjust these settings until you press the toggle.
Hope this helped let me know if you would like specific examples of how to use the shutter speed and iso to take some really cool shots!
-rifievans

Thanks for posting this. Complementary to the information you provided, here is below a previous post I wrote in the G4 pictures thread with some shooting tips as well. It was at the same time a mini review of the ProShot app (which allows more shooting controls), but the concepts described are relevant to any other application.
----
Here are my thoughts on the ProShot camera app followed by tips to maximize your image quality.
This is a paid app and you can dowload it here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.riseupgames.proshot2
This is a great app for photo enthusiasts and it currently offers some unique shooting modes with the LG G4.
I am not talking about scene modes like beach, snow, food, etc... - this app doesn't have that - but about the shooting functionalities you usually get on an advanced camera or SLR. The closest photo app offering a lot of manual features is Camera FV-5 that I also like.
Before going into the details, let's go through some photography basics.
The image exposure you are getting depends on the following parameters:
- Aperture: It is fixed on the LG G4 at F1.8
- Shutter speed: A slow shutter speed will allow more light to be captured but increase the risk of blur (sometimes a slow shutter speed is wanted to get light trails or water blur and the phone must be very steady for such cases). A fast shutter speed will freeze the motion.
- ISO: The image quality is maximized at ISO 50 (I have made tests and can confirm that). For a same exposure, choosing a higher ISO allows you to select a faster shutter speed (to counter shake / motion blur) but you will get more noise in the picture.
The following picture illustrates how these parameters work:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
As the aperture is fixed to F1.8 on the G4, going forward I will only cover the 2 following values: Shutter speed and ISO.
LG's camera, FV-5 and ProShot offer the following modes:
- Auto: Shutter speed and ISO are chosen automatically. You can play with the exposure compensation to undexpose / overexpose the pciture (the camera will adjust one of the 2 values, sometimes both).
- Full manual: You have to manuall select the Shutter speed AND ISO values. The exposure compensation is not available in this mode (it becomes irrelevant).
So what if I want to shoot at a specific ISO but don't want to adjust the Shutter speed everytime the light changes (or vice-versa) ?
This is where ProShot comes into the game with 2 unique functionalities (not offered on LG's camera or FV-5):
- You can select an ISO value and the camera will automatically select a Shutter speed. You can still use exposure compensation if you want.
- You can select a shutter speed value and the camera will automatically select the ISO. You can also still use exposure compensation if you want.
Ok that's good but what do I make with that ? Here are shooting recommandations to maximize your image quality all the time using the ProShot app:
1. With good light and static subject(s), use P mode and set the ISO value to 50. You will get the best image quality possible on the phone with that setup. If you want to undexpose / overexpose the picture, you can still use exposure compensation (which will affect the shutter speed, but automatically). If you start getting shake / motion blur (low light or fast moving subject, go to point 2.
2. Determine the minimum shutter you can use without getting shake / motion blur (let's say for example 1/8 sec with steady hands and a static subject). Use M mode and set up this shutter speed value. Leave ISO in "Auto". ISO will then be automatically be adjusted depending on the light. (EDIT: You can also use C1 or C2 mode if you want to apply exposure compensation.)
If you have multiple chances to shoot the scenes, you can use burst mode - even in RAW + JPEG, something not possible with the defaut G4 app - and lower the shutter speed a bit under your comfort level (1/4 sec for example). Then review your series and only keep the sharpest picture.
Because of the above shooting flexibility available in ProShot, it is currently my favorite photo app with the LG G4.
Please note that the slowest shutter speed currently available is 0.7 sec in manual mode (the stock camera allows to go up to 30 sec).

But since the G4's Display is not accurate in white balance (I think it's closer to 8000K, which results in a blueish tint), won't the photos taken look very different on a calibrated display? Is there anyway to adjust the display's temperature to closer to 6500K? permanently?

hyyoje said:
But since the G4's Display is not accurate in white balance (I think it's closer to 8000K, which results in a blueish tint), won't the photos taken look very different on a calibrated display? Is there anyway to adjust the display's temperature to closer to 6500K? permanently?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is different screen temps, mine is warmer...

hyyoje said:
But since the G4's Display is not accurate in white balance (I think it's closer to 8000K, which results in a blueish tint), won't the photos taken look very different on a calibrated display? Is there anyway to adjust the display's temperature to closer to 6500K? permanently?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never noticed the temperature of the screen... But if that's true then yes the pictures will look different on a calibrated display.

rifievans said:
Paid hobbiest photographer here, I thought I'd share my knowledge of photography and give an opportunity for others to do the same
For pictures on the G4, they are can have the opportunity to be amazing. Let me start off by saying that LG did an amazing job with their auto mode. Whenever there is a large contrast (sun behind a mountain for example) I use auto for the hdr. When in doubt, use auto mode. The results are almost always stunning. (I also use auto for landscape pictures when it's a large subject, like a meadow for example)
That being said, there's another level that it can be taken to with manual mode. Let me explain each function from left to right.
WB: White balance - This option controls how "warm" or "cold" your pictures are. This is the most confusing option, and also the hardest to explain. Basically the lower the number, the more white your light source is. Thankfully LG put in recommendations as to what to set the white balance at based on your light source, but ultimately it's up to your personal tastes. One of the best things about this is that you can see the effects of changing the white balance on real time, making it easy to select your preferred look. I commonly increase the white balance on order to get a more saturated picture, with brighter, more vivid colors (but that's just my preference). White balance is one of the easiest to change in editing however, so I wouldn't worry too much about it as of right now.
MF: Manual Focus - This option is something I tend to leave alone, because of how well the laser focus works. As the name implies, this setting controls the focus of the camera. I find it useful in very close-up situations where the auto-focus is struggling to set, or when you want to focus on a specific object in your scene. Due to the laser auto-focus however, I mostly leave this alone, especially because it's easy to be just a tad off, and is impossible to fix in editing.
+/-: generic exposure - the only way you can have this enabled is if you uncheck "AE-L" on the far right. Adjusting this makes your pictures lighter or darker. Rather then messing with the iso and shutter speed yourself, the phone does it for you. I can honestly say I have never used this, mostly because I have a certain object I want to capture that requires either a fast shutter speed, or low iso.
ISO: Sensitivity to Light - A very useful tool, and completely foreign to the smartphone world (I think) until the LG G4. This is mostly changed based on what type of picture you're trying to capture. No matter what picture you are taking however, A LOWER ISO IS ALWAYS BETTER. While a higher iso will allow more light to be captured resulting in brighter pictures, it will also increase the "noise" or the graininess of the picture. Normally if I'm taking pictures of landscape or a still object, I'll keep the iso at 50, but at a maximum of 150 in order to keep the image clear and sharp. If I'm taking a picture of action or I'm trying the stop the motion I'll go up to an iso of 700 (but once again it's up to your personal preference)
S: Shutter Speed - one of my favorite things about this phone is being able to set the shutter speed. The longer the shutter speed, the more light will be able to get in. However, as a trade off, it's harder to keep the phone still, and anything in motion will show up blurry. A faster shutter speed will stop motion, meaning you can get really cool action shots, or freeze pretty much anything you want. The downside of this being normally you have to turn up the iso in order to compensate for the lack of light, meaning a grainier shot.
AE-L: Exposure Lock - All this does is toggle whether or not you want the camera to change the shutter speed and iso or not. As soon as you change the shutter speed or iso, the toggle is switched and the phone will not adjust these settings until you press the toggle.
Hope this helped let me know if you would like specific examples of how to use the shutter speed and iso to take some really cool shots!
-rifievans
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for the tips! I am finaly somewhat comfortable with the lg gl stock camera app. But I was wondering wether there is something i can do to lower the iso below 50, since a shutter speed above 2 seconds will result in a over bright picture, even with iso on 50. Anything to change this?
Thanks

Is the stock camera app the best one to use with LG G4?

WTF? said:
Is the stock camera app the best one to use with LG G4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Proshot is better imo if you don't need longer than 0.7s shutter speed/exposure time.
It allows to turn off the Noise Reduction which LG has tuned for certain ISO's to be a bit heavy handed.

goofball2k said:
Proshot is better imo if you don't need longer than 0.7s shutter speed/exposure time.
It allows to turn off the Noise Reduction which LG has tuned for certain ISO's to be a bit heavy handed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did that kernal mod to get the quality of jpg's much better, it turns off the compression, I guess?

WTF? said:
I did that kernal mod to get the quality of jpg's much better, it turns off the compression, I guess?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe so. It doesn't really help the noise reduction though, to my knowledge.

LeonardWoody said:
Hi, thanks for the tips! I am finaly somewhat comfortable with the lg gl stock camera app. But I was wondering wether there is something i can do to lower the iso below 50, since a shutter speed above 2 seconds will result in a over bright picture, even with iso on 50. Anything to change this?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviously u tried to take some daylight long exposure shots where photos became unusable, right? As a matter of ISO 50 is the lowest as far as I know for any camera. Even many DSLR has 100 as lowest, but there u can adjust the aperture. So bad luck for smartphone users. If u really want to be creative, there's a video in HighOnAndriod youtube channel on how to take long exposure shots in daylight by using F-stop ND filters. U can apply that.
Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 01:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 PM ----------
Nice thread. I wanted to create such a thread for LG G4 photography lovers to share our ideas and techniques. I request OP to change the thread title a little bit so that even more experienced photographers share their knowledge with newbees like us.
Anyway I want to share a few gadgets/accessories which I bought recently (still to come in my hand).
1. Beastgrip Pro
2. 52mm Hoya 1000 ND filter
3. 52mm Hoya Polarizer
4. 52mm Fotga Variable ND filter
5. 37 to 52mm step up ring adapter
6. 48 to 52mm step up ring adapted
7. Kenko 37mm 0.47x Super Wideangle / Fisheye + Macro lens (Cheap, not cheapest)
8. Kenko 37mm 0.5x Wideangle + Macro lens (Cheap, not cheapest)
9. A Generic 37mm Wideangle + Macro lens
As I haven't yet received these products in my hand, I will post reviews when they are available. But u get my purpose of buying these, right?
1. To take long exposure shots as day time
2. To take longer exposure shots at night
3. To take wideangle landscape long exposure shots
Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

LeonardWoody said:
Hi, thanks for the tips! I am finaly somewhat comfortable with the lg gl stock camera app. But I was wondering wether there is something i can do to lower the iso below 50, since a shutter speed above 2 seconds will result in a over bright picture, even with iso on 50. Anything to change this?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See this post
For another way to attach the filter see this google plus post by Dave J.

nipun1110 said:
[/COLOR]Nice thread. I wanted to create such a thread for LG G4 photography lovers to share our ideas and techniques. I request OP to change the thread title a little bit so that even more experienced photographers share their knowledge with newbees like us.
Anyway I want to share a few gadgets/accessories which I bought recently (still to come in my hand).
1. Beastgrip Pro
2. 52mm Hoya 1000 ND filter
3. 52mm Hoya Polarizer
4. 52mm Fotga Variable ND filter
5. 37 to 52mm step up ring adapter
6. 48 to 52mm step up ring adapted
7. Kenko 37mm 0.47x Super Wideangle / Fisheye + Macro lens (Cheap, not cheapest)
8. Kenko 37mm 0.5x Wideangle + Macro lens (Cheap, not cheapest)
9. A Generic 37mm Wideangle + Macro lens
As I haven't yet received these products in my hand, I will post reviews when they are available. But u get my purpose of buying these, right?
1. To take long exposure shots as day time
2. To take longer exposure shots at night
3. To take wideangle landscape long exposure shots
Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately (as far as I know) you can't change the title of the thread after it is created. However I completly agree with you in that this is a terrible title. I dont know what I was doing

so i have got the products in my hand and i will post the reviews soon

Camera abilities

The A2 camera app is somewhat complex. One of the reviews I read indicated you can manually switch between the 12mp lens and the low-light 20mp lens.
The review also mentioned that the app switches between them under certain circumstances, but it's not known specifically what they are. So went ahead and did the manual switch and had some good results.
Get the menu on the bottom where u can select 'photo', 'portrait', etc. At the end of this list (swipe it left) you'll find 'manual'. Select that to choose numerous options including 'low light camera'.
Note the low light doesn't have the ability to enable HDR, which makes sense as HDR is used in high contrast lighting, which a low light shot won't have.
These results, taken a few seconds apart, show how the 'pixel binning' of the low light lens really helps:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}

AsItLies said:
The A2 camera app is somewhat complex. One of the reviews I read indicated you can manually switch between the 12mp lens and the low-light 20mp lens.
The review also mentioned that the app switches between them under certain circumstances, but it's not known specifically what they are. So went ahead and did the manual switch and had some good results.
Get the menu on the bottom where u can select 'photo', 'portrait', etc. At the end of this list (swipe it left) you'll find 'manual'. Select that to choose numerous options including 'low light camera'.
Note the low light doesn't have the ability to enable HDR, which makes sense as HDR is used in high contrast lighting, which a low light shot won't have.
These results, taken a few seconds apart, show how the 'pixel binning' of the low light lens really helps:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tap the 3 horizontal lines button in top right corner, select HHT to manually turn on this feature without using manual mode...

what is hht

veeru1saini1 said:
Tap the 3 vertical lines button in top right corner, select HHT to manually turn on this feature without using manual mode...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thnx, I'll check that out.
toxotis70 said:
what is hht
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"HHT (Handheld Twilight) mode takes multiple sequential images under low light conditions, aligns them, and then create a single optimized image."
found on the web. Sounds well worth trying.

veeru1saini1 said:
Tap the 3 horizontal lines button in top right corner, select HHT to manually turn on this feature without using manual mode...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Experimenting with this, surprisingly, it doesn't use the low light lens.
2 ways to determine that; 1st the obvious and most definitive; cover one or the other lens and determine which one it's using. In the case with 'Photo' and 'HHT', it's using the lower lens. But if you go to 'manual' mode I described, select 'low light lens', it's using the lens on top.
2nd is the megapixel size from 'info'. The lower lens (12 mp) results in 9 mp in info, while info for the top lens is 15 mp.
Kind of odd really, as HHT is described as ideal for 'low light', but it doesn't use the low light lens? what?

I don't figure out the different low light camera modes as well.
Hope Xiaomi will bring a camera update soon, to get rid of that camera mayhem.
On the homepage it is said: "Smart lens selection is available for Portait mode only. Support will be added for typical photo mode in a future update."
I think that the back camera is dooing quite good in the darkness - but its not easy to take a good picture quickly , due to the complicated menu...

It is confusing @deckimbal it does seem xiaomi is working on bug issues, which is great news.
Tested the HDR capability this morning, it seems to do a very good job. The differences are obvious. Should point out, the lens was (set to Auto, so I didn't select this as an option) wide open (f1.7), which creates a 'natural' depth of field effect.
What that means with these pictures is that some parts, unexpectedly, are a bit out of focus. The best focus seems to be where the cars are, zoom into those and you can see that.
Normally, a shot like this would want the largest depth of field possible, not the narrowest, but still a good example of HDR ability;

Another thing, I remember reading reviews that indicated the MiA2 would have a voice activated shutter ability? If it does, I can't find the setting.
Either a voice or hand gesture is kind of ideal for selfies with a number of people in it, using 2 hands on the phone means it has to be closer to the subjects and thus less of a field of vision. One hand with voice activation would be much appreciated
Is the setting there and I am too blind to see it? possible!

Unfortunately, it does not seem to be possible to disable the pixel binning. For comparison, find below details from two pictures taken with the lens manually selected. The first picture was taken with the regular lens. The second picture was taken with the low light lens. Notice that although the resolution in pixels is higher, there is less detail.
regular lens, 12 MP, 4mm, f/1.8, ISO-100, 1/603 sec
low-light lens, 20 MP, 4mm, f/1.8, ISO-100, 1/1032 sec

Very interesting @feklee will have to do some additional testing on that, not what you'd expect for sure.

feklee said:
Unfortunately, it does not seem to be possible to disable the pixel binning. For comparison, find below details from two pictures taken with the lens manually selected. The first picture was taken with the regular lens. The second picture was taken with the low light lens. Notice that although the resolution in pixels is higher, there is less detail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same findings, seems to be impossible to disable pixel binning, perhaps in bright light the phone will automatically toggle that off ?

philipnzw said:
I have the same findings, seems to be impossible to disable pixel binning, perhaps in bright light the phone will automatically toggle that off ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That kind of doesn't make any sense Philip. The lens that does pixel binning is the low light lens only. You wouldn't use it in bright light.

AsItLies said:
The lens that does pixel binning is the low light lens only. You wouldn't use it in bright light.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then they could’ve just used a 5MP sensor: There is zero advantage of using binning compared to using larger pixels.
Binning allows for faster read out speeds from a high res sensor. In cameras it often is used for video recording. For stills, of course, one wants the full resolution, even in low light.
A wild guess: The CPU in the Mi A2 is not powerful enough to quickly do demosaicing and noise reduction of a full 20MP image. Also, it is possible that the 20MP module is actually cheaper than a comparable 5MP module. Furthermore, it is possible that Xiaomi likes to use buzzwords and false advertising.
---------- Post added at 08:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:55 AM ----------
philipnzw said:
perhaps in bright light the phone will automatically toggle that off ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was in bright light. I added details on ISO and exposure to my post with the example images.

Has anyone enabled the Camera2 api for their MiA2? I read somewhere that doing that improves pictures? Not sure what to believe until I try it. Doesn't seem that it should be too difficult to do.
Can anyone confirm that doing so will of course allow installing GCam ports but improve quality of oem camera app?

AsItLies said:
Has anyone enabled the Camera2 api for their MiA2? I read somewhere that doing that improves pictures? Not sure what to believe until I try it. Doesn't seem that it should be too difficult to do.
Can anyone confirm that doing so will of course allow installing GCam ports but improve quality of oem camera app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does, just check the thread in apps and theme section, there is samples

Thanks @dodjob I've read that thread, numerous times. Has a lot of great info for sure. One thing that isn't clear, is there a way to enable the cam2 api and then uninstall magisk and unroot? And have the cam2api remain persistent?
Read something to that effect in one of the MiA1 threads, but there weren't too many posts about it. Maybe just wait until Xiaomi updates it, assuming they ever will? I've had GCam ports on other phones, always an improvement.

Getting a 'true' bokeh effect vs a 'software' created one.
Because the Mi A2 has such a wide aperture lens, it's easy to get the bokeh (narrow depth-of-field) effect. It seems Google introduced the 'software' created one to compete with other mfg's that were using dual lenses to accomplish the effect.
But the natural one just can't be beat, the following photo's are (I hope) good examples:
This first one is a "portrait" shot, which is suppose to be used for bokeh effect: exposure values are 1/30sec, f1.7, iso400
The second one is a normal 'photo' shot with values 1/24sec, f1.7, iso400
The third one is another portrait shot, just double checking the first one really, values 1/24sec, f1.7, iso400
This last one, I think, has the best detail of them all, AND thus the best bokeh effect. It was taken with the 'low light' lens manually selected, all other settings left at 'Auto'. The values are: 1/24sec, f1.7, iso400
So, what are we looking for in the pictures? Look carefully at the 'fuzz' around the sock (that's why it was chosen), it's those fine fibers that 'give away' if the picture has a 'natural' bokeh effect or a 'software' created one. The software basically 'draws and outline' around what's in the foreground, and then puts what not in the foreground 'out of focus'. The results with something like fibers, or hairs, or anything similar, is to miss out on those details.
Where the 'natural' bokeh effect has in focus whatever there is within that depth of field, no matters what it is, nor how tiny the detail, including some 'fly away' hair strand.
What's the point? I think you'll get even better bokeh effects with modes other than 'portrait', you'll even be able to do some digital zooming with the other modes. If you zoom in on the pictures, you can see the excellent job the low-light lens did. Pretty impressive.

Portrait shots are coming dull. The face has no shining. The pictures are a little dark too. Any suggestions how to fix?

hrizuwan said:
Portrait shots are coming dull. The face has no shining. The pictures are a little dark too. Any suggestions how to fix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd suggest trying another mode, such as normal photo. Is there something about portrait mode that makes you think it's better? I don't use it so I honestly don't know if there are additional capabilities or not.

AsItLies said:
I'd suggest trying another mode, such as normal photo. Is there something about portrait mode that makes you think it's better? I don't use it so I honestly don't know if there are additional capabilities or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything except the portraits are fine to me. Even the front portraits are beautiful. But when I'm clicking human photos using back camera the results are really poor. Whether it's a normal photo or a portrait the results are really really dull. Not expected from a 20+12 mp camera set up. The colour of the face is so low that it makes me think it is captured may be from a 5 mp old camera. I don't know what's wrong. I'm on stock android with the August security patch.