Moto z2 play stock camera - Moto Z2 Play Themes, Apps, and Mods

Has anyone else noticed that using auto the device tends to overexpose images and videos in low light and the only thing i've tried to mitigate that is drop the brightness down on the device or adjust the iso manually

Yes, I've noticed the same. If there was a way to change the black level for the stock camera, it would be great. It takes really nice photos in the daylight. Only low light photos are so-so (like with most devices...)

So, I'm still testing under Pie, but I have quite strong impression that after latest Moto Camera update the image quality in low light has been noticeably improved. For sure this "overexposure" is gone.

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Camera sucks without flash.

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

Hi there,
As everyone knows, default camera app of sony sucks. I have tried a lot of alternative applications. For me the best results is from Snap Camera with settings 20mpx, camera api2, jpeg quality Best, opengl2, auto scene auto whitebalance, auto flash. These settings allows me to take much sharper images tested on my small facial hair. BUT! Camera is very overheating, after few minutes (5-6 shots) i have started sony camera and it alerted that camera is too hot, so it shuts down.
Snap camera allows HDR in 20mpx also any scene, its not limited as sony-s camera
Also snap camera produced the best images on my old low quality mtk based phone. So i recommend it, its paid but as far i know it have trial version.
I will be happy if someone will tell how is satisfied with this app.
PS.: FV-5 is worse, for my eyes.
in the play store info, there is setting for ISO. but why is there non when i check in setting...?
ive taken some kick ass photos in good light/ low light / bad light with the stock app. IDK what everyone is on about. but to each their own =)
`Ghost` said:
ive taken some kick ass photos in good light/ low light / bad light with the stock app. IDK what everyone is on about. but to each their own =)
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In Auto mode or Manual?
Both.
Basically, when you unlock your boot loader, the great photo quality will be gone. If you have backed up your "TRIMM area" before unlocking it (where the DRM keys are stored), then you'll be able to get it back, by re-locking the BL, but this means you'll lose your ability to use costom ROMs, only modified stock ROMs are possible after that.
The reason for this is that Sony uses some pretty amazing software magic to get great pictures in low light (noise reduction algorithms) which aren't meant to be accessible for others to reverse engineer, so they lock them away with the DRM keys. So with a locked boot loader, the camera makes awesome pictures even in low light, with an unlocked BL, meh... (not so much any more)
Of course, these algorithms are only available to the Sony default camera app for the same reasons...
Have you tried this
It will let you have scene's and HDR in 20mp, also it has more ISO options.
I've used FV-5 from the start and imo it's a lot better for me then the stock app. I can't work with the stock app that has limited control
Sent from my D5803 using XDA Free mobile app
stock camera is the only one...'cause of manual iso... fv-5 has good auto but you can't force iso 100, 200 and so on
Recently I have the Z3 Compact therefore not yet tried everything, but the camera does not seem anywhere near what they sold me in reviews. The original camera seems poor choices, the automatic mode leaves much to be desired, especially in low light because when you have a lighthouse in front can not interpret well and properly handle white balance and contrast.
I was testing the Open Camera app and gives me better results than stock. The only thing I use it now for the stock camera is for timeshift and sometimes for panoramic shots.
I have almost forgot about this post, thanks for cleaning my bookmarks.
Thanks for everyone’s reply, I have figured out that another phones also uses that sensor and they make better pics, so probably problem is with sony's software developers who are doing a weak job. I am very addicted to zooming pictures and when I compare zoomed 5mpx downscale shot of lumia 1020 and 8 or 20mpx shot of Z3C, then shot of lumia is sharp and clear, full of details.... the shot of sony is like blurred and without details. So i think that they algorithm is wrong somewhere or they are compressing raw to too low quality and when jpeg is created then its final quality will be even worse regardless of 97% or 100% jpeg quality. Need to note that nokia's sensor is three times bigger in its physical size that captures the light.
But the video quality is epic i have never seen so good video quality from phone.
Currently i am waiting for availability of 5.1.1 in slovakia

CAMERA: Selfie Quality

You're beautiful and everyone knows it. That's why you take selfies. Rate this thread to express how the front-facing camera of the Note5 performs. A higher rating indicates that the front camera produces fantastic results consistently.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
Love, love, love the wide-angle. Also, the Note5, for better or worse, seems to apply a skin smoothing effect, which makes me look better than normal (my face needs all the help it can get!), so I like it, but it's also not very natural. And this is on the automatic setting. Hum.
Concur on the skin smoothing effect. A little much for my tastes. Looks unnatural and 'photoshopped'.
Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk
way better than my LG G4. g4 becomes small screen size when doing selfie. unlike note 5 same screen size. can easily detect its lower quality than the camera at the back. still its a great improvement from previous note series.
"Automatic" Night Mode Ruins the Almighty Camera
The night mode is so frustrating since it cannot be disabled/enabled manually, especially in the front camera. It seems its turning on in moderate lit areas since the front camera(ONLY) is laggy although there is no "sign"(hand) on the top right of the screen showing night mode turned on(I know, wierd right ?), i downloaded a third party app that has no night mode and the camera was smooth(with the same lighting as in the default camera app which means the night mode in the default camera was not needed at that time). So the problem is with the software regarding night mode. Now in the default camera app when i enter a high lit room, the camera becomes super smooth(no lag) . And now regarding the "smoothing effect"(beautifying effect) it is not that big of a deal since it is not that visible unless you increase it in the settings. OVERALL: Camera(wide angle - great quality pictures/videos - many modes - Fast shutter speed/response/launch etc.) is GREAT. Hope there will be a phone update to fix the night mode issue without affecting both the qualities mentioned above and the ones not mentioned.
Side Note: does anyone else have the issue i am facing(no pun intended) ?
I have not taken a selfie for a long time. I used to take LOTS of them and send them to my girl frined. Doesn't matter which Apps I used, facebook, messenger, instagram, snapchat or regular default text message app the quality of the seflie came out nice. Even in the low light, it wasn't the best and there was some grainy digital noise but still looked good. I don't use a lot of filters or post pic editing or changing like instagram. But my girlfriend did mention, the selfies looked nice and good quality. Not as good as the iphone 6s selfie,. but better much better than the note 3 selfie camera quality.

CAMERA: Low Light

At the club, at the bar, or just in your mom's basement, nighttime is when you come out to play. Rate this thread to express how the Note5's camera performs when no or low light is present. A higher rating indicates that the camera sensor "sees" lots of light in dim conditions, and that the resulting photos have minimal noise. A higher rating also indicates that when the flash fires, the resulting photo is evenly-lit without any bright spots.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
The Pro mod adds a lot to the scence, it easier to capture good photos in low light with Note 5, but it can't hold a candle to the mighty G4 camera at low light, i have many photos with G4 and some with note 5, G4 wins easy, but Note 5 still does a good job.
Derpling said:
The Pro mod adds a lot to the scence, it easier to capture good photos in low light with Note 5, but it can't hold a candle to the mighty G4 camera at low light, i have many photos with G4 and some with note 5, G4 wins easy, but Note 5 still does a good job.
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From what I have seen the G4 does better at close up things, maybe motion...I don't know about that. But in other cases with exposure and further away the Note seems to take the lead.
At dim room light it seems to be a big toss up....except again with close ups where the G4 seems to take a lead.
i agree my G4 does have better result in low light for preset option. not sure if in pro mode though.
So I've been KIND of missing my G4, which I still own, so this morning, with some lights on and some light off in the living room, I took the same shot with both phones, because I am sure that extra .1 aperature width really makes the difference....
But now I'm not so sure. These pics show clearly that the Note 5 gets all the points for color accuracy and at the least TIES with the G4 in terms of clarity and loss of details.
I think having the buttons on the back of the G4 lends itself to a more stable shot... I can press the volume button with my index finger while wrapping the rest of my hand around to stabilize. Whereas I either need to use the on screen shutter, or hold the phone and press down on the volume button which can make the phone shake or move.... does anyone else get what I'm saying?
Either way, this allayed my fear of missing out on the G4... which, while using it, was slower and buggier than the N5.
The Auto mode is very aggressive in noise reduction, which can make some photos really blurry, video is much worse, it's got even more blur.
I hope samsung will reduce it in Android 6, i hope we can create a group and let them know about this.
low light sucks compared to galaxy edge plus, i compared them hand in hand, with no lights turn on, only using a flash light to focus on a certain area
The only thing that bugs me is that in auto mode the iso is jacked all the way up and it manual mode when you go for a slower shutter you cant control exposure which usually over shoots. But sometimes the exposure is good.
Even with raw format you get some noise when using low ISO and slow shutter speed
The low light camera is decent. Much better than my note 3. I cant complaint to much, like the previous post, there will be some digital noise. I shut mostly in auto mode anyway, sometimes I'll mess with macro for foodie shots

Low light

At the club, at the bar, or just in your mom's basement, nighttime is when you come out to play. Rate this thread to express how the Moto X4's camera performs when no or low light is present. A higher rating indicates that the camera sensor "sees" lots of light in dim conditions, and that the resulting photos have minimal noise. A higher rating also indicates that when the flash fires, the resulting photo is evenly-lit without any bright spots.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
With flash it's 5 stars. Works pretty good without. Works as good as my S8.
I took some test shots on my phone today, using 3 different camera apps:
- The Stock Moto Camera
- The Stock Google Camera from the Play Store
- Modified Google Camera found Here. MGCB_7.0H_C2API_Full_PXL2_v.1.4_60FPS_noburst_v3
I tested in a large room with the lights off, and sunlight coming in. There are lots of shadows and dark areas, as well as very bright spots. I tested with HDR Off, HDR On, and HDR Auto (if applicable). I also threw in a wide angle, for comparison. (spoiler: Ew).
Some things that surprised me, in no particular order:
- The Stock Moto HDR actually did a decent job at brightening up the dark areas, and giving the shadows a bit of color. Not a ton of extra noise, either. However, the window was still washed out.
- Stock Google Cam didn't offer anything the others didn't, and HDR On/Off didn't seem to do a thing.
- Modified Google Cam definitely helped with the bright spots, as those are the only 2 pictures that you could see out the window, but it also introduced a LOT of noise in the shadows and dark areas. This is a known side effect of HDR in low-light, as I saw the same effect on my 5x when using HDR+ in low light.
I may try a different Modified Gcam, and try to input the settings manually. Hopefully that will result in better pics, as otherwise the Stock Moto camera seems to be our best bet for now.
The stock camera app in normal picture mode is not using good ISO/shutter speed combinations in low light at all. Take some and check the info on your images. It always goes for high ISO and faster shutter speed. It stops on 1/15 A LOT, and seems to adjust ISO from there. Switch to Professional Mode and force a slower shutter speed, lower ISO and now they look much better. HDR on this app is garbage with those auto focus settings too. It works much better with higher quality images with less noise, which the auto focus is incapable of providing in any low light situations.
I did some more tests with the v4.0 AIO modified Gcam, and there wasn't a difference.
I went back to the v1.4, and took some pics at home. These were very low-light, with candles the only light source in the room. I noticed similar trends:
Stock Cam is VERY blochy when you zoom in.
Stock HDR seems to brighten the whole image, but isn't very, you know, dynamic.
Stock Cam is way less noisy/blochy when you zoom in. It preserves much more detail.
Modified Gcam using HDR+ does a MUCH better job handling the candle light in the pic, as the light source isn't overexposed.
I may do some 100% crops and share them tomorrow, but Stranger Things 2 with the wife is more important atm. #sorrynotsorry.
crazyates said:
I did some more tests with the v4.0 AIO modified Gcam, and there wasn't a difference.
I went back to the v1.4, and took some pics at home. These were very low-light, with candles the only light source in the room. I noticed similar trends:
Stock Cam is VERY blochy when you zoom in.
Stock HDR seems to brighten the whole image, but isn't very, you know, dynamic.
Stock Cam is way less noisy/blochy when you zoom in. It preserves much more detail.
Modified Gcam using HDR+ does a MUCH better job handling the candle light in the pic, as the light source isn't overexposed.
I may do some 100% crops and share them tomorrow, but Stranger Things 2 with the wife is more important atm. #sorrynotsorry.
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I'm using the manual Google APK here with HDR+ and it's also using very high ISOs, even in pretty good light. I have a lamp behind me, lights on in the room and both apps are using an ISO2400. If I manually set the ISO to 1200 or lower, I can still take a good photo by manually adjusting the shutter speed to 1/15, 1/10, or even 1/8 (anything lower and it's blurred). This HW should be capable of blazing fast auto focus so there is zero reason it's setting the ISOs so high. High ISO = more noise, less detail. Fast auto focus should mean that lowering the ISO in low light will focus better, faster, with less blur from the slower shutter speed. Something ain't right here.
HDR+ will clean up the noise from the high ISO setting some.
FrozenOx said:
I'm using the manual Google APK here with HDR+ and it's also using very high ISOs, even in pretty good light. I have a lamp behind me, lights on in the room and both apps are using an ISO2400. If I manually set the ISO to 1200 or lower, I can still take a good photo by manually adjusting the shutter speed to 1/15, 1/10, or even 1/8 (anything lower and it's blurred). This HW should be capable of blazing fast auto focus so there is zero reason it's setting the ISOs so high. High ISO = more noise, less detail. Fast auto focus should mean that lowering the ISO in low light will focus better, faster, with less blur from the slower shutter speed. Something ain't right here.
HDR+ will clean up the noise from the high ISO setting some.
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That's odd. Is this an issue you've been experiencing on the optimum configs (manual version) or with both modded apps?
FrozenOx said:
HDR+ will clean up the noise from the high ISO setting some.
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Yeah, you're right on this. I did some more test last night, and the most consistent seems to be the modified Gcam HDR+. It preserves more detail while keeping the noise down.
Basically, I feel like these are all just playing around with settings and apks that are meant for other phones. I know the Gcam software can work wonders, and I know the sensor/ISP/DSP/CPU can support more than what the stock Moto Cam is doing, but getting a modded Gcam apk that's meant for out phones would be fantastic. Unfortunately, it'll take someone smarter than me to piece it all together.
Coming from a much older S3, the moto x4 camera is WAY ahead.
I have a small laser projector that only outputs 63 lumens.
The S3 camera could never get a photo on the highest setting.
The x4 camera does it easily.
Apples and Oranges possibly, but the camera is not nearly as "bad" as some
reviews stated.
That's Nobody said:
With flash it's 5 stars. Works pretty good without. Works as good as my S8.
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Is it really? I'm choosing between the S7 and the X4, the camera being the only thing making me lean towards the Galaxy.
gaurink said:
Is it really? I'm choosing between the S7 and the X4, the camera being the only thing making me lean towards the Galaxy.
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I had an S7 for work until recently. Hated it. Battery life is worse than X4, too much bloatware, and the fingerprint sensor on it suuuuucked. Rear camera was about the same as X4 but front was inferior. No contest. Get the X4.
Please think twice believing reviewers.
Most of them hated Moto X4's camera coz it has a sluggish and mediocre quality when it comes to depth (portrait mode).
BUT I can assure you that my Moto X4 performs on par with HTC 10 when it comes to ALL lighting conditions.
I took photos side by side and the quality is the same. I even found that the Moto X4 does NOT need to auto trigger HDR in the lowlight pic I took (HTC did auto trigger HDR).
Both HTC 10 and Moto X4 have minimal noise and really looks almost the same given that they are using a different ISP (SD 820 vs SD 630).
I'll try to upload both pics so you can check them as well.
Quick one from today.
The Galaxy S7 will definitely has a better camera quality BUT the X4 also has a pretty good camera so you won't get disappointed.
BUT I'd rather choose Moto X4 since it is a new device while S7 is already almost 2 generations older (S9 is coming).
forbidden8 said:
Quick one from today.
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Is this using the stock camera app?
varunbala said:
Is this using the stock camera app?
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Yes.
Four low light examples. They were taken in hostile lightning codtions by Gcam HDR+. No tripod. The quality and the dynamic range is at the same level as Nexus 5x, Pixel 1.
Can you share a gCam version that you use. And setting ...I try few, but for me quality of stock camera photos is better. Thx.
forbidden8 said:
Can you share a gCam version that you use. And setting ...I try few, but for me quality of stock camera photos is better. Thx.
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GCam5.1.018-Arnova8G2-V1.3-Front-HDR+
Nexus6p, nexus 6p, hdd+ on
tavcsor said:
Four low light examples. They were taken in hostile lightning codtions by Gcam HDR+. No tripod. The quality and the dynamic range is at the same level as Nexus 5x, Pixel 1.
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Does the portrait mode of gcam work?

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