Opinions Needed: Moto X Camera and "Future-Proofing"

[teamnowak]

Some quick background: I had a Nexus 4 and recently upgraded to a Nexus 5. The two things I don't really like about the N5 are the camera and the size (I prefer a little smaller form factor). Still...it's a great device. I like it a lot. But when the holiday deal for Moto X came out, I jumped on it. I've liked what I've heard about this phone since it came out and have always been interested in it. I had heard that the camera wasn't great, but figured it would be an improvement over the N5, plus I like the size and some of the enhancements - particularly the twist to activate the camera. I thought it would be my new phone and I'd sell the N5.

Before it arrived today, KK 4.4.2 came out on N5 and has made some dramatic improvements (in my opinion). The camera is sooooo much faster. I don't know if the pictures are "better" per se. I think it took good photos before, but the speed was maddening. The colors "pop" a bit more now though. Also, the volume on the device is significantly louder. It's actually kind of amazing how much louder it seems to me.

Anyway, the MX came today and I'm playing around with it. I absolutely love the size, feel, weight. Everything physically about it is perfect. But.....the camera absolutely sucks. No other word for it. It's almost as if everything has a hazy cast to it. It's so bad I checked to see if the lens might be covered by some protective plastic (it isn't). Is the camera on this thing just this bad? Do I have a defective unit? The N5 just blows it away in my opinion. No contest. And there are also supposedly other camera improvements that are coming the N5's way.

So assuming I have a bad unit and get it replaced with a good one, two questions:
1) Has anyone here done a comparison between the most up-to-date camera software for both of these? Thoughts?
2) My goal is to try to keep this for two years (probably won't make it, but that's the goal). Is the N5 better suited for that given it's higher end specs. I know the MX is optimized with software and everything, but it seems that with the bigger processor, Google may be able to push out some better enhancements - and they are already showing themselves capable and able to do it.

I don't know if I should just return the MX and keep the N5. Or get a new (properly working) MX to compare - hoping the camera performs better than this. It's really weird because this one seems to work fine, but these pictures are just bad. I just tried to take a picture of my Christmas tree with the lights on and all the lights came out as long streaks of lights. Like I tried to take a picture while moving. WTF?

Any opinions would be helpful.

 

[wsrobert]

I've compared the latest update to the moto x camera which just came out today to the latest update to the nexus 5 - 4.4.2. Both are actually vastly improved in slightly different ways. The motox always has opened and focused fast. The nexus, not so much. The nexus had pretty balanced colors and fairly accurate white balance. The moto x, not so much. I feel the update to both has brought each of them more in line with the other. Colors/saturation/contrast seems improved with the moto x update and speed to open and focus are much improved with the nexus update. Today I've actually taken some pretty fantastic photos with the moto x. Indoors and out. The low light algorithm seems to be a bit improved as well - backed off the aggressive iso adjustment. That said, I can still get a better low light pick manually adjusting iso and exposure in Camera Awesome.

I really just wish Motorola would include iso and exposure control. And preferably separate adjustment of exposure and focus points. I think with those updates, I wouldn't need any other camera apps on my phone.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[teamnowak]

Thanks for the input. I actually had already downloaded the new Moto X camera app and it didn't help things. Must be something hardware related.

 

[teamnowak]

Anything else? Bueller? Bueller?

 

[pstmstr]

Never mind, if you activate the controls on the left it's now an option. Somewhat better but needs more work b

So I keep reading that the camera update allows the separate focus and exposure settings but don't see that in mine. Does it, and if so, how to access the controls?

 

[Tom in Bristol]

Never mind, if you activate the controls on the left it's now an option. Somewhat better but needs more work b

So I keep reading that the camera update allows the separate focus and exposure settings but don't see that in mine. Does it, and if so, how to access the controls?

Once you swipe to the right to get the control arc, did you tap on the 'finger pointing into a square' icon and see the "Control focus and exposure on" message? When that is on, you can drag the aiming circle to whichever part of the screen you want 'in focus' and then it turns green (though it ain't instantaneous, by any stretch of imagination).

 

[blacksapphire08]

Once you swipe to the right to get the control arc, did you tap on the 'finger pointing into a square' icon and see the "Control focus and exposure on" message? When that is on, you can drag the aiming circle to whichever part of the screen you want 'in focus' and then it turns green (though it ain't instantaneous, by any stretch of imagination).

Yes! That's like the first thing I did when I noticed how horrible the pictures looked before applying that setting. I have no idea why Motorola didnt enable that setting by default.