Nexus 5: How bad is the camera?

[BBGBBG]

I have a Nexus 4, which I like, and since my contract is up in a few weeks, I'm looking at a new device and the Nexus 5 is an obvious choice. However, the one thing that really annoys me about the Nexus 4 is the camera, particularly how slow it is to take a picture (it's the one thing that I'm jealous of on my wife's iPhone.) So, for those who have experience, is the Nexus 5 camera any better than the 4? And even if it is, is it still pretty slow?

 

[LeoRex]

It isn't going to match the iPhone in terms of speed.

As for is it better than the Nexus 4... You'll look around and you'll see that it is a pretty significant bump above the camera in the Nexus 4... detail, colors, etc... its a big improvement.

I'll say this... the Nexus 5 can take excellent pictures, but it can sometimes be temperamental.... particularly when it comes to focusing. Sometimes it would drill right in, nice and sharp and take a picture. Othertimes it would lollygag about, hunting for focus. It drove my wife nuts (we both had Nexus 5s) and it ultimately cause me to switch her over to a LG G3. She wanted a more 'point and shoot' expirience, so she didn't have a lot of patience during the times where it didn't exactly get its act together. I didn't have as many headaches because I knew its limits and was quick to tap my way to focusing correctly.

But.... it can, and will, take good pictures, better than the Nexus 4 most certainly.

 

[32gig]

I for one think its a great camera, never had an issue with any photos or videos taken with it.. I was quite surprised with how good the pictures were after reading some of the comments about it before purchasing my nexus 5.. And my girlfriend has a nexus 4 and her camera isn't too shabby either..

Posted via Android Central App

 

[MattyyCakes]

Like others are saying its not a "bad" camera, the focusing has given me problems as well but I think over time you get used to it.

 

[flyer8493]

Focusing sucks. If you have small children and your trying to take a quick pic before they run you will absolutely hate the camera. If you can deal with the constant re-focusing then it takes great pics.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BBGBBG]

So tell me, LeoRex, how does your wife like the G3? It's the other phone I'm looking at, but my concern is bloat from whatever LG sticks on there. I'm quite happy with the interface on my Nexus 4. Does LG do a good job of not sticking a lot of crap on there?

 

[BBGBBG]

Oh hell yeah flyer8493, the constant refocusing in the Nexus 4 is terrible. Focus...focus...wait...almost ready...focus...annnnnnd....picture! Just can't decide if this is a deal breaker for me. Thanks for the reply.

 

[krifor03]

The camera rocks, with the right software. I use L-Camera if i need to guarantee a quality photo (it out puts RAW files). Its MUCH better than my nexus 4

 

[LeoRex]

So tell me, LeoRex, how does your wife like the G3? It's the other phone I'm looking at, but my concern is bloat from whatever LG sticks on there. I'm quite happy with the interface on my Nexus 4. Does LG do a good job of not sticking a lot of crap on there?

I also had one prior to my Nexus 6.

She likes it. The one thing that I noticed right away is that she stopped complaining to me that some of her pictures were out of focus. As for the software, its not all that bad to be honest with you, and I'm a huge fan of stock Android. We're on T-Mobile, so they only put their 'My Account' app on it. From LG, there's some overlapping junk on there, but I actually didn't mind the G3's UI that much.... it's like taking Touchwhiz and removing all the annoying elements and brightening up the colors a bit. Early build of 4.4.2 were a bit jittery, but later updates smoothed all that out.

If you put both phones on a table and asked me to pick one, I'd pick the G3. Its just a better phone. Not that the Nexus 5 is bad, its just that the G3 had some key advances.

 

[Jonneh]

I'll preface this with "this is just my opinion", but, I consider my Nexus 5 to have a pretty crummy camera. I also consider it one of the phone's downsides.

 

[berrydroidapple]

I love the pictures I take, but I do sometimes become frustrated waiting for focus, but once focused awesome.

 

[BBGBBG]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I went with the G3.