Tips: Get faster camera focus (less blurry photos)

[sswitzer]

The thing that baffles me is why they would sort of backtrack with the hardware/sensor/software. The g4 did all the things the v20 could do, so they took the v20 and basically lost that feature. Its just frustrating is all. Was it for the "dual camera" that seems to be their new baby, that made the software incapable? Or is the dual camera a not fully realized idea, like the steady shot with video, same thing...people are getting earthquake looking shots due to focusing issues, and besides trying the "follow these 22 steps to get it to somewhat work" solution, it seems an incomplete project.

I agree... but for some users (me included), the wide angle is worth it. This camera does indeed have sensor issues.

(Interesting thought: have you tried different photo res settings? Maybe a reduced setting?)

One more note: I've come to realize that the steady cam for videos is meant for when you, the shooter, is moving... otherwise it does more harm than good. It should really just be ignored as an option.

 

[Mike Dee]

The thing that baffles me is why they would sort of backtrack with the hardware/sensor/software. The g4 did all the things the v20 could do, so they took the v20 and basically lost that feature. Its just frustrating is all. Was it for the "dual camera" that seems to be their new baby, that made the software incapable? Or is the dual camera a not fully realized idea, like the steady shot with video, same thing...people are getting earthquake looking shots due to focusing issues, and besides trying the "follow these 22 steps to get it to somewhat work" solution, it seems an incomplete project.

I don't think it is because of the dual camera. The G5 has a dual camera

 

[Almeuit]

Here is a low light in a pool hall on my Pixel XL (auto) for comparison purposes.

 

[Mike Dee]

What are we comparing it to?

 

[jamielov]

A few random thoughts/questions

Did the g5 face the same issues as the v20? It never seemed to catch on so not much written that ive found on the g5 camera/sensor.

The steady shot. Its odd that a feature thst wss a huge part of the marketing campaign, by most accounts, is better as completely ignored/turned off. The best we've heard so far is its ok when you are possibly walking. Poor planning by lg. So if halfway through the video you decide to stop walking, you get half a video that is steady with a second half that looks like an earthquake.

Now the g6. Curious if the camera will follow the g4/g5 path, or thr v20. Me personally... I'm still not sold on the whole wide angle thing simply because of the odd curvature you get around the edges of the photo. My personal opinion only... I would take one strong camera instead of two three or four gimmick cameras that aren't fully thought out.

 

[Mike Dee]

A few random thoughts/questions

Did the g5 face the same issues as the v20? It never seemed to catch on so not much written that ive found on the g5 camera/sensor.

The steady shot. Its odd that a feature thst wss a huge part of the marketing campaign, by most accounts, is better as completely ignored/turned off. The best we've heard so far is its ok when you are possibly walking. Poor planning by lg. So if halfway through the video you decide to stop walking, you get half a video that is steady with a second half that looks like an earthquake.

Now the g6. Curious if the camera will follow the g4/g5 path, or thr v20. Me personally... I'm still not sold on the whole wide angle thing simply because of the odd curvature you get around the edges of the photo. My personal opinion only... I would take one strong camera instead of two three or four gimmick cameras that aren't fully thought out.

I enjoyed the G5 and it's twin camera... In fact its one of the reasons I went with the V20.
My results with the V20 have actually been mostly positive. Occasionly I get a bad shot. Where I differ from most folks is that I use my phone as a camera for convenience to take snapshots. I'm not a real fan of using cell phones for photography. Yeah I know.... The best camera is the one you have with you.

Steady shot is not a cure all.... It is designed to assist in taking steady videos by compensating for hand movement. Its not perfect and certainly could be better on the V20. If you have very little hand movement you don't need it and it can actually be detrimental. That is the same reason photographers turn off image stabilization when using a tripod.
Curvature on wide angle lenses is normal even on high end lenses. That's just the nature of the beast. The fact that LG has a second camera feature has little to no impact on how strong the regular camera is but I get your point. The rest of industry is headed in the direction of multiple cameras if you are following any of the new model leaks by other companies so at this point it will be the new norm.
With regard to the V20: I'm hoping that some of the issues can be addressed through a software update but only time will tell.

 

[flyingkytez]

Coming from a Galaxy S7, I'm actually more satisfied with this camera. Though the S7 can shoot low light and focuses faster on automode, the 12MP seems like a drawback from the S6's 16MP (I felt like the S6 took better photos). For example, when you take a photo of a landscape, you can't see the fine details if you look closely or zoom in. The 12MP cameras seems like a trend for today's smartphones and I'm glad LG stuck with the 16MP. The V20 takes excellent photos if you know how to use it. I understand the automode can be frustrating at times but I hope that gets fixed in an update.

 

[Almeuit]

What are we comparing it to?

People can use it to compare to their low light shots since they were talking about it a few posts back .

 

[Mike Dee]

People can use it to compare to their low light shots since they were talking about it a few posts back .

Yeah...I tried that but since it wasn't a concert low light photo it wasn't a fair comparison.

 

[Almeuit]

Yeah...I tried that but since it wasn't a concert low light photo it wasn't a fair comparison.

It's just to help those who want to see is all. I wasn't at a concert so just snapped what I could .

 

[jamielov]

Appreciate the discussion and feedback. I certainly can say the V20 is a good possibly great camera. My weakness is simply that I'm comparing it to probably my fave camera ever, the G4, and simply went blindly into the V20.

Its by no means the end of the world. My next choices are go back to the g4 (but lose so many amazing features and that sound!!!), Wait and see a bit on the g6, or wait longer for the v30. LG as a whole has made me a fan, so no choice is really wrong in my opinion

 

[Mike Dee]

Glad to hear you like the V20....like I said earlier... Maybe they will take note and address concerns through an update.

 

[sswitzer]

I guess the deal with concert light is that it's only low light at the outside of the photo and then intense light in the middle. I can see how the sensor would get freaked out by it... not the usual scenario. I can attest that the g4 did great with this, but I haven't yet tried out the v20 in this situation, but will in mid March.

 

[Mike Dee]

Stage lighting is very difficult. Especially if it changes constantly. I've literally taken thousands of photos for dance competitions and its a nightmare.

 

[jamielov]

I would say you probably know a little bit more then myself or the common consumer when it comes to sensors and how cameras function. Once the announcement is made about the camera and what software and Hardware the G6 is using... It might be cool to render your opinion on how you think it will handle certain situations

 

[jamielov]

Though after reading a few more articles if the only changes they made were this square/instagram mode, and "food' mode, they will have made at least the g6 an easy no for me.

 

[recDNA]

how about some camera software from the playstore. Any of them help?

 

[milehigherik]

I am having a hard time getting clear photos on any movement in the frame. I feel like the performance is below that of the V10, and is far, far below that of my s7e. I am probably going to ditch this phone shortly.

I couldn't agree more. V20 photo quality in auto mode is horrible. Pictures looked better on the G4 that I had almost 2 years ago. I think my mom's iPhone 3gs takes better pictures. This is no exaggeration. Any photos that I take and then zoom in on it at a later time looks horrible. There's so much fuzziness of the picture. Not much detail to it once you zoom in on it. I'm not talking using the digital Zoom to take a photo. I'm talking about a photo that has already been taken in the highest resolution with the phone steadied on a tripod.

 

[Mike Dee]

I couldn't agree more. V20 photo quality in auto mode is horrible. Pictures looked better on the G4 that I had almost 2 years ago. I think my mom's iPhone 3gs takes better pictures. This is no exaggeration. Any photos that I take and then zoom in on it at a later time looks horrible. There's so much fuzziness of the picture. Not much detail to it once you zoom in on it. I'm not talking using the digital Zoom to take a photo. I'm talking about a photo that has already been taken in the highest resolution with the phone steadied on a tripod.

I wont say that it takes the best photos ever in auto but I'm doubting the iphone you mentioned can shoot as well. My V20 outperforms my daughters Iphone 6S on both photo and Video.

 

[Mooncatt]

I'm not talking using the digital Zoom to take a photo. I'm talking about a photo that has already been taken in the highest resolution with the phone steadied on a tripod.

For what it's worth, using digital zoom is the same as taking it normally and then zooming in after the fact. If you want to see this for yourself, zoom in and take a pic in manual that saves a RAW +jpeg. When you look at the RAW file, you'll notice it's at full view while the jpeg is just cropped and zoomed in on it.