Question about the camera

[Evilgoose]

Hi there AC community,

I've been researching this phone for about 2 weeks now and I'm loving what I hear about it. The only thing I'm concerned about is the camera. From all the reviews that people have done and comparisons to other phones the camera always seems to be lacking. I think some people went as far as to say that the camera itself was lacking. So I wanted to know if the camera itself is the cause for lower quality images and video, or is it the app? If it is the app are there hopes for it getting better, say by downloading a different app or with a ROM somewhere down the line? I'm pretty confident I'll be getting this phone but I would like a little more information on the camera other than it doesn't stack up with other camera's.

Thanks, Evilgoose.

 

[j_grouchy]

What I gather is that the camera is on par with the SGS3, but the expectation is what is the problem. People expect it to be so much more awesome because it's 13MP. Perhaps it SHOULD be more awesome than it is, but I'm not concerned. If I get this device (I'm leaning that way), that won't be a dealbreaker for me.

 

[isabel95]

My previous smartphone was a Droid 2 and this camera is far, far better.

To get the best out of it you have to know a little bit about manual settings on a digital camera.

As has been the case with EVERY digital camera I've owned since 1996, highlights will be blown (white and lacking detail) if you accept the camera's automatic metering. This is usually the case on a bright, sunny day. I know to use minus Exposure Value in the gear menu.

The hdr (high dynamic range) setting is very useful for dealing with situations where there is a great range of shadows and highlights.

The panorama mode is just plain incredible and easy to use.

Using the daylight (sun) setting in white balance has improved the sky color for me.

I have a gallery of pictures taken with the S3 here: Samsung Galaxy S3 Photo Gallery by Isabel Cutler at pbase.com

As with most small sensor cameras, low light pictures have visual noise, but are respectable.

The only thing I'd like to see in future smartphones is optical zoom. The digital zoom is just about useless as it seriously degrades the image quality.