Moto X: Camera Improvement Options

tmann202

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I am about to buy a Moto X and with all the talk about the subpar stock camera, it would be nice to have all the photo improvement options in one spot for easy reference, at least until the rumored 4.4.2 improvements come out (please, no arguments about that update here, there is already a thread dealing with that - only dealing with what is currently available in here).

Here is what I have found in this forum so far. Please add others or comment!

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Snapseed can rectify all issues with this phone's photo taking ability.

Also, Snapseed is an amazing app for photo editing (Google owned) for the Moto X and Droid Lines. I have found that making adjustments on the app works well. Also, snapseed is the only photo editing app that doesn't mess with the integrity of the photo. In otherwords, it doesn't downsample the size of the photo to enhance the quality (Changing the file size of the original photo from say 5mb to 1mb).

In the latest camera app, auto-white balance can be manually adjusted. I uploaded a video for demo purposes.... but try to fix the auto-white and then take a photo. As you can see in the video, dragging the focus circle will help adjust the iso white balancing.

Do you have HDR on? HDR is not meant to be used except in certain situations and not in low light and not with flash. If HDR is on in low lighting you will get exactly what you described.

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Has anyone tried the Camera Awesome app? Someone recommended it on another thread and it gets good reviews.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/e.../store/apps/d...aawesome&hl=en&token=x4OgX5Lt

http://phandroid.com/2013/11/12/came...ndroid-review/

Yes, I downloaded it and I can say that especially in low light, the pictures come out much better.
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All that said, this camera is capable of decent indoor shots. It actually did better indoors/low light on the original 4.2.2 software, but the newest updates bumps the ISO up to ridiculous levels. But the updates improved color reproduction, focus, sharpness, etc..., so its a trade-off.

My solution: For fast outdoor, ideal lighting shots, I use the stock camera. Love the wrist flick action and the very simple interface. For indoor/low light shots, I use FV-5 camera from the Play Store ($3.95 but worth it). I gives you manual control over the ISO, exposure, WB, and some other settings. If you take your time, you can really get a nice indoor photo. I find dropping the ISO down to 200 or 400 to take out the graininess and bump the exposure up to brighten the photo up a bit works really well.
 
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tmann202

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Re: Camera Improvement Options

So for the apps I listed above that people have mentioned - Snapseed, Camera Awesome, and FV-5 Camera - can these be used together or is it a choice between one or the other? If you can only use one, does anyone have any comments comparing them?? Pretend I have no idea what any of them do. :)
 

AndroidBIO

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Re: Camera Improvement Options

In my personal experience, I also agree that FV-5 Camera as well as the Stock Camera are a good combination. However it's just hard for me personally to access the FV-5 Camera when at the flick of a wrist, the stock camera automatically appears for me to easily access the camera.

I've tried SnapSeed and its definitely easier to use then my current app VSCO Cam. With VSCO Cam it does have some good settings but the problem is that it's all image dependent and you don't get titles like SnapSeed. SnapSeed also noticeably improves images but most image editors probably would do the same.

I really hope someone finds out how to edit the flick wrist motion to work with other camera apps.
 

clankfu

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Re: Camera Improvement Options

When I want quick picture and don't care about the quality too much, I use the stock camera with the twist gesture. When I want higher quality pics, I use Camera Awesome which has some good and easy to use features to fine tune your snapshots a bit more.
 

davidnc

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Re: Camera Improvement Options

I used Camera Awesome before as well and making adjustments ISO and WB it did make a difference.
However I had to manually make these changes everytime whenever closing/opening Camera Awesome before taking a picture.
I like the camera gesture to open the stock camera so I have been back to just using it again, just using the auto-white balance feature turned on.
 

Clocks

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Re: Camera Improvement Options

I used Camera Awesome before as well and making adjustments ISO and WB it did make a difference.
However I had to manually make these changes everytime whenever closing/opening Camera Awesome before taking a picture.
I like the camera gesture to open the stock camera so I have been back to just using it again, just using the auto-white balance feature turned on.

Where is the auto white balance at?

Sent from my XT1060 using Tapatalk
 

dmark44

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I'm going to download snapseed again to be sure, but I though Google rolled Snapseed functionality into the Photos app.

Sent from my Moto X
 

sixty_four

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Snapseed can rectify all issues with this phone's photo taking ability.

I don't agree with this. The problem I've seen with my Moto X when it comes to poor photo quality is extremely high ISO values in low-light conditions. No amount of post-processing can replace noise with useful information - unless you've got the same ENHANCE_IMAGE (TM) software that the forensics guys on CSI:Miami use. ;)

Also, Snapseed is an amazing app for photo editing (Google owned) for the Moto X and Droid Lines. I have found that making adjustments on the app works well. Also, snapseed is the only photo editing app that doesn't mess with the integrity of the photo. In otherwords, it doesn't downsample the size of the photo to enhance the quality (Changing the file size of the original photo from say 5mb to 1mb).

PicSay Pro also lets you fiddle with images at their original resolution but it's not a free app like Snapseed.

In the latest camera app, auto-white balance can be manually adjusted. I uploaded a video for demo purposes.... but try to fix the auto-white and then take a photo. As you can see in the video, dragging the focus circle will help adjust the iso white balancing.

I've never tried this. Thanks for the tip! BTW, I think you meant "auto white balancing" and not "iso white balancing".

I haven't tried the other camera apps you mentioned. I'm trying to stay as "stock" as possible and trying to reduce app redundancy on my X. Subjectively speaking, low-light indoor shots with automatic flash/exposure on my X rank a -1 on a scale of 1 to 10. If I take my time to fiddle with flash settings and exposure/focus circle placement, I can get a usable shot most of the time.
 

sixty_four

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I'm going to download snapseed again to be sure, but I though Google rolled Snapseed functionality into the Photos app.

Sent from my Moto X

From what I was able to find, only a small subset of Snapseed's features was available in the Photos app.
 

tmann202

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Are Snapseed and Camera Awesome only to manually adjust pictures after you take them, or can one or both of them improve the picture quality when you take the pic?

Just trying to get this stuff straight so I am ready when my phone comes.
 

clankfu

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Are Snapseed and Camera Awesome only to manually adjust pictures after you take them, or can one or both of them improve the picture quality when you take the pic?

Just trying to get this stuff straight so I am ready when my phone comes.

With Camera Awesome, you can make adjustments to improve the quality when you take the pics along with editing them after.
 

clankfu

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Re: Camera Improvement Options

For the stock camera in the settings. It looks like a little hand

The cool thing about Camera Awesome is that you can set the focus and exposure in separate areas like this:

oT8YrIB.jpg

There are also separate settings to fine tune the white balance and ISO.
 

Ry

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Re: Camera Improvement Options

Controlling focus and exposure in the Motorola Camera app has been enough for me.
 

davidnc

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Re: Camera Improvement Options

But can you separately adjust focus and exposure?

I don't think you can adjust them separately. But it works good enough for me.
Also another reason I just went back to stock camera was for the camera gester.
The Camera Awesome settings to adjust wouldn't stick so had to always adjust before taking a picture.
Camera Awesome wouldn't work with the gester .
So pictures took longer to setup and take over stock camera.
I even had purchased Camera Awesome ha.

sent from my Moto X
 

clankfu

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Re: Camera Improvement Options

I don't think you can adjust them separately. But it works good enough for me.
Also another reason I just went back to stock camera was for the camera gester.
The Camera Awesome settings to adjust wouldn't stick so had to always adjust before taking a picture.
Camera Awesome wouldn't work with the gester .
So pictures took longer to setup and take over stock camera.
I even had purchased Camera Awesome ha.

sent from my Moto X

That's why I'm using both. If I just want to snap a quick picture, I use the stock camera. If I want to fine tune things a bit more, I use Camera Awesome.
 

V10MPower

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Re: Camera Improvement Options

Very low indoor light at late afternoon/almost dusk. I'd say it was $3.95 well spent for low light and night photos. I would use stock camera app for daytime photos. FV-5 for night

Moto X stock camera
IMG_20140208_172256732.jpg

App: FV-5 at ISO 400, AWB
DSC_0008.jpg
 

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