S5 Stock Camera App & Children = Many missed moments

[ryetronics]

I've really enjoyed switching from iPhone to Android with the recent purchase of the S5, however, the one area the S5 fails repeatedly is with the stock camera app. Never have I endured a more sluggish camera interface on a smartphone. The reason I mention children in the title is because often when trying to snap pics of my kiddos, I will hit the button to take a picture and nothing happens. I'll hit it 3 or 4 more times and nothing happens, then a second or two later it will take a picture randomly. This is something I never had issues with on my iPhone 4s. Snapping pics was like burst mode all the time with zero lag.

Anyone with kids knows you have to be quick to get the shot often b/c they'll walk off or look away. I've even cleared out all active apps before taking a picture and I still get this lag.

My last gripe is opening the phone, opening the camera app and snapping a quick picture. This luxury is non-existent on the S5 once again because of lag. A crazy looking airplane was coming in for landing over my car while I was at a red light the other day and I tried to snap a pic using this method. It was a failure as it took a good 5-7 seconds to snap a pic after opening the camera app.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is there a go-to 3rd party app that is hands down the best and offers the same features as the stock app? I hate that my post is basically a ***** session but in this day & age I expect any high-end smartphone to be able to do these features with ease.

 

[dpham00]

Try to Restart the phone, save the picture to internal memory

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4

 

[5picker]

The stock S5 camera app seems to be an exercise in futility but I've been able to change a few thing that seems to help.

To address your wanting to take a quick pic. (such as you mentioned at a stop light) if you don't have the camera button enabled on your lock screen, you can do that and be able to open the camera directly from the lock screen.
This 'may' be quicker if you have pattern unlock or fingerprint scanner enabled. If you don't have either of those enabled it won't matter much as far as time to open the camera.

Once the app is open, go to settings and disable screen stabilization. Your pic should take instantaneously with no lag. The screen stabilization function seem to work just bass ackward from what you would think. With it enabled, you have to hold the phone even steadier for a much longer time for it to snap a photo.
(also note: there are more camera settings than what shows in the settings screen... you have to swipe up to see the ones hidden)

I also disabled face recognition and that helped getting a quicker shot as well.

Try those things and see if you see any improvement.
The camera does take pretty good pics (once you get there) so I have not tried any third party apps to know if there is anything better.

Added: forgot to mention I also have the flash set to off which speeds up the process a bit too.
Unless it's really really dark... the S5 takes pretty great pictures without flash.

Remember: you can rearrange the default buttons shown on the screen to show the ones you think you'll use the most. I put the flash mode button there so if i need it, I can turn it on quickly.

 

[diego.roscetti]

I agree. I have the same sort of issues with my camera app. Always a delay of 3 to 7 seconds between opening the app and trying to take a quick picture.

7 seconds is an eternity when trying to take a picture of kids.

Not too sure what saving the pictures to internal memory would do. Also, a restart has been done on my end. In addition to clearing partitions and all the other stuff.

I have just kinda accepted that this is what is normal for the s5.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[dpham00]

It could if you have a slow or defective sd card. Doesn't mean it will help but doesn't hurt to try.

My note 4 takes about 3 seconds from opening the app to taking the first shot. Guess that it was improved upon between the s5 and Note 4.

Sent from my Verizon Samsung Galaxy Note 4

 

[5picker]

My note 4 takes about 3 seconds from opening the app to taking the first shot. Guess that it was improved upon between the s5 and Note 4.

Not necessarily... with the settings I mentioned above... I can snap a picture the instant the camera app fills the screen upon opening.

 

[cindylike24]

My sister has this issue with her S5 too. Yesterday, when she was trying to take pictures of her 2-year old's birthday party, there was a lag of at least 5 seconds between when she hits the button to take the picture and when the camera actually takes it. She finally went to her husband's S5 and it didn't have the delay that her's did. Because of that, she was able to get some nice pictures. By the way, I took some nice pictures with my Moto X (2013) because it was almost instantaneous between my touching the screen and the camera taking the picture. Is there anything I could have her do to her phone to get rid of this lag or is it an issue with most Samsung Galaxy S5 phones and my brother-in-law just got lucky that his phone's camera didn't have the lag that my sister's phone has in it? It really needs to have no lag (delay) in it especially when you're trying to get pictures of young kids. They move a lot faster than what most people think.

Any help anyone can give me on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jkayakj]

Not sure if your phones have been updated to lollipop yet, but I saw a massive improvement in camera app speed when I updated.. The big issue for me now is how long it takes to save pictures ( but I'm saving to external storage and they are 12mb each, so I guess that's my own doing).. I have stock settings for the camera ( I think)

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[cindylike24]

Not sure if your phones have been updated to lollipop yet, but I saw a massive improvement in camera app speed when I updated.. The big issue for me now is how long it takes to save pictures ( but I'm saving to external storage and they are 12mb each, so I guess that's my own doing).. I have stock settings for the camera ( I think)

Posted via the Android Central App

This is for my sister's phone not mine. I have the Moto X Developer Edition. I know that she updated her phone to Lollipop because I was the one that told her about it and she was in the process of updating hers when I left that day. I believe that my brother-in-law's phone is also updated to Lollipop.