Why does HTC make sub-par cameras?

[bpen_droid]

Probably a topic beaten to death (somewhere), but does anyone know why HTC makes such janky cameras on their phones? Historically it has been their weak spot - my old Cingular 8525 had a poor camera, my Touch Pro 2 had a bad camera, and now my HTC EVO has a very mediocre one. I probably wouldn't have noticed as much except now that the iPhone4 has come out, it's been all the rage. Apple finally has shown (although let's be honest, Nokia has been good at this for years) that a camera on a cell phone doesn't have to stink.

Now HTC has made huge strides in phones in the last 2-3 years and has finally become a tier 1 manufacturer. In terms of performance, development, and quality they are certainly up there. However, as I alluded to, the cameras in ALL of their phones are very average in terms of performance. It can't be a technical hurdle for HTC to make a better camera, and it sure as hell can't be cost (as iPhone4 has similar components cost as EVO and other smartphones in the high end). So what is it???

 

[Jerzyiroc]

Don't think this is a "sub-par" picture at all...

 

[jpdaballa]

bro, what you need to understand is that it's not that the camera is bad... the iphone just processes the pictures to look nicer and what you see are fake colors that make it look nice.

android does process and render the picture to but not as much as the iphone. try pulling up the pictures to the computer and auto adjusting it you'll be like wow...

yeah i know it's a hassle and i wish it was something that it would just do from the beginning.

 

[charliegrs]

I think a major problem is that its 8 megapixels. Thats just way too many, my canon 30D dslr has that many and it has a huge sensor whereas the EVO probably has a teeny tiny sensor totally crammed with little pixels. That is not a recipe for good pictures, with that many pixels on a sensor that small your low light performance goes to #$t and pictures are very prone to noise. The Iphone was smart to limit it to 5, though I think thats even stretching it. I think the Ideal amount for a phone camera is 3, my pre took some really lovely pictures. What are seeing now is a new megapixel war, instead this time its on phones. Digital cameras finally seem to be getting out of this awful trend, but its just starting for phones. Soon we will see phones with 10-12 mps and unless the phone manafacturers start putting bigger sensors in these phones they are going to look worse and worse yet people will think more=better.

Edit: Like any camera phone, the EVOs takes it best pictures in well lit areas. Even well lit indoor shots suffer so outdoor shots usually look the best.

 

[UTnick]

The dual flash works great when not on top of your subject. I would post a pic, but I lost em. Sad face.

 

[maduhbee#AC]

You got it! iPhone, (Steve Jobs) even distinctly mentioned that they increased the megapixels without decreasing the pixel size/pixel density. Hence, he was talking about a bigger sensor (that's back-lit a la sony). The Apple's camera is no joke: They are seriously looking at what photographers want in a camera: A bigger sensor, and a lower MP count (hence a lot of 5D Mark 2 users wished canon released a lower MP and without video)

A physical limitation of the sensor given a high pixel pitch is the issue of diffraction.

To me, I think the iPhone processes their images the way a standard wedding photog would process their images: highly saturated with protected Skin Tones a la Kodachrome/Ecktachrome. Velvia is just super saturated without the skin tone protection.

 

[UTnick]

And in HTC's defense -- here is a picture I took with my hero. I have had cameras that looked worse.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Just FYI, the EVO has a backlit sensor, too. And while it's low light performance does seem weak (but no worse than a lot of cell phones), it's daylight performance seems very good to me. I normally shoot with a Canon EOS 50D and a 20D, and have been a serious photo hobbyist for some 40 years now, so I do have a basis of comparison.

Note that the camera has some adjustments available. Learning how to use them will do as much to improve your photos as switching to any other phone.

 

[Raf]

Is there somewhere I can trigger that backlight sensor on/off? I don't see that feature in the camera settings.

 

[tlan]

the evo has the same sensor as the iphone4 ! the latest HTC update seemed to improve PQ on the camera. Video seems smoother and pics look cleaner !

 

[Darth Mo]

Is there somewhere I can trigger that backlight sensor on/off? I don't see that feature in the camera settings.

It's not a backlight sensor, the sensor itself is backlit. It's a different design in the imaging sensor, there's nothing to turn on and off.

 

[Holsum]

Probably a topic beaten to death (somewhere), but does anyone know why HTC makes such janky cameras on their phones? Historically it has been their weak spot - my old Cingular 8525 had a poor camera, my Touch Pro 2 had a bad camera, and now my HTC EVO has a very mediocre one. I probably wouldn't have noticed as much except now that the iPhone4 has come out, it's been all the rage. Apple finally has shown (although let's be honest, Nokia has been good at this for years) that a camera on a cell phone doesn't have to stink.

Now HTC has made huge strides in phones in the last 2-3 years and has finally become a tier 1 manufacturer. In terms of performance, development, and quality they are certainly up there. However, as I alluded to, the cameras in ALL of their phones are very average in terms of performance. It can't be a technical hurdle for HTC to make a better camera, and it sure as hell can't be cost (as iPhone4 has similar components cost as EVO and other smartphones in the high end). So what is it???

IT IS A PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the camera is an added feature, you arent going to be taking professional wedding photos with it. if you are buying the iphone over the evo for the camera you are a fool!

 

[dave12285]

I actually like the camera a lot. Especially coming from a photographer stand point, It's nice to be able to mess with the ISO and the other settings. I just took some shots of a few flowers at the fair and I thought they looked great. The only downside is trying to get the focus right but I like having the ability to choose what I want to focus on. I think its one of the better cameras in a phone out there. I'm coming from a d1 and a 10d.

 

[xxxehayesxxx]

Bad Camera or ?

Hello everyone, Great Forum!

UTnick,
When you took the picture of your Hero (JRT), was he or she sitting still? Do u have problems taking pics when he or she is bouncing of the walls?

I am wondering if this phone is just horrible at capturing moving subjects due to the HD quility or if I have a defective phone? For the life of me I can not get a descent shot of my daughter of 10 months, or any object that is not standing still. The shutter speed delay is 1-3 seconds, most of the time 2-3 seconds, causing blurry, grainy, and missed the shot pics. My Blackberry 8330 Curve and iPhone 3GS I have not had any problems getting pics. If I do have a problem, I just take a couple more, but this seems impossible with EVO.

This is one of the selling points "The fantastic camera". Please do not take this wrong way I love everything else about the EVO and I am newbe Android user.

Anyone have the same issue?
Any words of WISDOM?
Maybe an APP or settings changes?

Thank you

 

[Darth Mo]

Hello everyone, Great Forum!

UTnick,
When you took the picture of your Hero (JRT), was he or she sitting still? Do u have problems taking pics when he or she is bouncing of the walls?

I am wondering if this phone is just horrible at capturing moving subjects due to the HD quility or if I have a defective phone? For the life of me I can not get a descent shot of my daughter of 10 months, or any object that is not standing still. The shutter speed delay is 1-3 seconds, most of the time 2-3 seconds, causing blurry, grainy, and missed the shot pics. My Blackberry 8330 Curve and iPhone 3GS I have not had any problems getting pics. If I do have a problem, I just take a couple more, but this seems impossible with EVO.

This is one of the selling points "The fantastic camera". Please do not take this wrong way I love everything else about the EVO and I am newbe Android user.

Anyone have the same issue?
Any words of WISDOM?
Maybe an APP or settings changes?

Thank you

If it's taking that long to execute a shot, it's probably the auto-focus. The way around that is to tap the screen where you want to focus before the shot, then it will take photos almost instantaneously.

As for the blurry photos, the shutter time may be too long due to low light. You can manually set the ISO to a higher level, but that will introduce more noise (grain) but allow the camera to use a shorter shutter time which will reduce motion blur.

It's a compromise, but generally any indoor shots other than in a sunroom are too dark for the cell phone camera to take decent photos.

 

[turbodude]

my camera is not subpar.

reduce the resolution and you wont have a problem

I use 3.1 and was still able to print a nice 5x7. No reason you should have to go any higher.

 

[Eazy123]

Probably a topic beaten to death (somewhere), but does anyone know why HTC makes such janky cameras on their phones? Historically it has been their weak spot - my old Cingular 8525 had a poor camera, my Touch Pro 2 had a bad camera, and now my HTC EVO has a very mediocre one. I probably wouldn't have noticed as much except now that the iPhone4 has come out, it's been all the rage. Apple finally has shown (although let's be honest, Nokia has been good at this for years) that a camera on a cell phone doesn't have to stink.

Seriously man, enough with this already. The iPhone 4 has not been shown to take better photos than the Evo, so I don't exactly know what you're getting at. Videos? Yes. Photos? No.

What is it with people with 1 post tearing up the Evo and jerking off all over the iPhone?

EDIT: What did you use for that photo, turbodude? Is that some vignette app? Looks fantastic!

 

[epbb]

I think the camera is awesome for a cell phone. Took this yesterday. Bonus points if anyone can tell me where I live.

 

[eagle63]

@epkptp
Is that St Paul?

 

[Eazy123]

I think the camera is awesome for a cell phone. Took this yesterday. Bonus points if anyone can tell me where I live.

Arkansas.