Camera Concerns

[RocketFoot]

I've had my LG G4 for 1 month now and I gotta say that the camera is worrying me. I can get some decent photos when the light is just right but low light photos are coming out bad. Lots of noise and archiving...even daylight pics seem to have some noise around the edges of the subject when zoomed in on a PC. It also seems like all pics are a little rough around the edges when I take the photo while digitally zoomed in. Are my concerns typical or does it sound like I have a faulty camera? I expected this camera to shoot amazing near-DSLR quality photos every time right out of the box but maybe I am off base with my expectations. As I said, I do get some amazing pics when the lighting is just right. I have only been using auto mode with HDR on auto...flash off.

 

[stmax]

Unless you are taking landscapes or pics of adults who know how to keep mannequin still for a portrait try turning HDR AUTO off. Its just a hunch that I've been experimenting with lately.

I have had amazing results with the camera. But I think the HDR mode is best left to human decisions rather than auto. My gut tells me the fraction extra of time it takes to compute leads to softer pics.

Just my hunch right now... Not a scientific analysis

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[RocketFoot]

Unless you are taking landscapes or pics of adults who know how to keep mannequin still for a portrait try turning HDR AUTO off. Its just a hunch that I've been experimenting with lately.

I have had amazing results with the camera. But I think the HDR mode is best left to human decisions rather than auto. My gut tells me the fraction extra of time it takes to compute leads to softer pics.

Just my hunch right now... Not a scientific analysis

Posted via the Android Central App

I am already having better results with HDR off! As much as I want to like HDR, I think it is a gremlin for super clear photos!

 

[Funky Diver]

I've only had the phone a day and had a right good mess about with the camera this afternoon. Coming from iOS I was expecting something a bit showcasing from the camera and I was severely disappointed. The wait time from pressing the button through auto focus to taking the picture was pants. Turned off the HDR and all of a sudden it did what I expected it to. Now to try and figure out the contrast issues I'm having. Taking photos including the sky completely black's out the ground. Hi hum

 

[sunrat39]

Anytime you zoom in digitally you are going to lose resolution. I believe HDR on this phone does a lot of compressing and looks good from a distance but digital zoom wont look that great.

 

[sunrat39]

If you are able to use manual mode, do it. Change the format to RAW as well. It will eat more space but pics look better especially on the pc.

 

[iresq]

If you are able to use manual mode, do it. Change the format to RAW as well. It will eat more space but pics look better especially on the pc.

While processing camera raw can yield better results, it's more involved then just downloading the images. They will need processed using a photo editor.



G4

 

[sunrat39]

Yea, but regardless wouldn't the quality be better if you were viewing it on the pc?

If he were just sharing it on social networks then jpegs would be fine.

 

[greydarrah]

I've only had the phone a day and had a right good mess about with the camera this afternoon. Coming from iOS I was expecting something a bit showcasing from the camera and I was severely disappointed. The wait time from pressing the button through auto focus to taking the picture was pants. Turned off the HDR and all of a sudden it did what I expected it to. Now to try and figure out the contrast issues I'm having. Taking photos including the sky completely black's out the ground. Hi hum

As to the exposure issue, if you tap anywhere on the screen, it will adjust both the focus and the exposure to that particular area. So if you have a house on a hill that you want a picture of, and the sky above the house is bright, touch the screen where the house is, and it will expose the image for the house, not the sky. That, of coarse, means that the sky will likely be blown out (overly bright), but photography, like everything else, is a series of compromises. If you took that same shot in HDR, although your camera might take a bit longer to make the shot, it would probably better expose all areas (in theory).

 

[txsizzler]

Personally, I am blown away by the camera on this phone. It has far exceeded my expectations, and absolutely hammers my Note 3 camera. The Lumia 1020 is the only other cameraphone that has even remotely come close to the G4.

Given that thought, I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect this to match or replace a DSLR. The glass available for DSLR cameras is much better than what you can get on this, the DSLR internals are much better suited to doing their only job (taking pics vs. being a smartphone), and they use optical zoom vs. digital zoom, which the latter will always have noise and blockiness. Think of the G4 as a good stand-by, rather than an equal or a replacement to top-notch gear.

That said, play with your camera settings, and experiment. There are lots of cool tricks that the G4 can pull off, but you won't know until you try, and practice with it.

 

[RocketFoot]

Personally, I am blown away by the camera on this phone. It has far exceeded my expectations, and absolutely hammers my Note 3 camera. The Lumia 1020 is the only other cameraphone that has even remotely come close to the G4.

Given that thought, I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect this to match or replace a DSLR. The glass available for DSLR cameras is much better than what you can get on this, the DSLR internals are much better suited to doing their only job (taking pics vs. being a smartphone), and they use optical zoom vs. digital zoom, which the latter will always have noise and blockiness. Think of the G4 as a good stand-by, rather than an equal or a replacement to top-notch gear.

That said, play with your camera settings, and experiment. There are lots of cool tricks that the G4 can pull off, but you won't know until you try, and practice with it.

I agree...a cell cam will never equal a DSLR, I'm just saying that I still expect large and clear photos from a 16MP camera! I think HDR was hindering my expectations so we'll see how it does this weekend!

 

[Cool Jeff]

One word; RAW
If you don't want any noise or smudge just take the photo in raw and post edit it on PC with lightroom. This this the way DSLR users do btw

 

[jamielov]

Ill jump in on the convo. I've gotten some amazing, amazing shots. Im a converter. Im LG all the way now. My only issue, no matter how good the pic looks on my phone or posted on, say, Facebook... Why does it look so much like an oil painting when its enlarged at all? Im not talking about poster size, but simply when i upload them and click to enlarge to say, half screen on facebook? Is there a setting im missing?

 

[AndrewMelder]

In auto mode it does a decent job. Setting the HDR to auto is pretty useful as the phone picks when to use it pretty well. However I still think in auto it's not quite as good as the iPhone 6 Plus or Samsung S6 in terms of processing to provide the best shot.

Where this camera really shines is if you take control in manual mode and/or shoot and edit in RAW. The more effort you put into it, the better the results will be. Good thing about manual mode is that you can still leave all the settings in auto if you aren't in the mood, it just won't do auto HDR. So I just leave it in manual mode, adjust settings if I can be bothered and shoot JPEG + RAW so I have the choice to edit either one.