Camera Apps Redux

[Barry Adler]

Just bought the Droid Maxx and a day later received a software update that improved the camera, among other things. The image quality looks about the same as my daughter's iPhone 5, so this is all good. The one problem I have with the camera app is the forced 16:9 aspect ratio, which cannot be adjusted even just to crop for composing purposes. Annoying to those of us who rarely want to compose as wide as 16:9. After receiving helpful comments from others on this forum, I've experimented with two camera apps that offer a 4:3 aspect ratio option: Camera Zoom FX and Camera FV-5. Both work well (and almost identically, actually). I've also tried Perfectly Clear, but found this cumbersome and of little use given that I use Auto Update Enhance, which auto corrects more simply, and behind the scenes.

This leads me to my question. In comparing the output of Camera Zoom and Camera FV-5, I notice little or no difference in image quality right out of the camera. In a sense, this is not surprising, of course, inasmuch as each app uses the same hardware, as does the Motorola native camera app. I had thought, though, that there might be inherent differences in processing algorithms. Am I wasting my time looking for image quality differences? That is, post-processing programs such as Perfectly Clear aside, are the differences in these apps just in function, in which case I should stop looking if I'm happy with what I have? Thanks in advance.

 

[Einsteindks]

....in which case I should stop looking if I'm happy with what I have? Thanks in advance.

You answered yer own question! ;-)

lots of us here lament the lack of settings in the stock camera app. Nice bells, but no whistles. Typical Big Red.


fat-fingered and Maxx-ed out.

 

[russel5150]

You answered yer own question! ;-)

lots of us here lament the lack of settings in the stock camera app. Nice bells, but no whistles. Typical Big Red.


fat-fingered and Maxx-ed out.

Actually its not a Big Red issue, Verizon didn't develope the camera, its motorola trying to make a simple camera.

As many aops as you can find, such as camera apps its getting to the point IMO that phone companies realize your likely to use different apps. As long as they set a good base ( which the update helped with)

Using my Moto Droid Maxx

 

[Snareman]

I'm annoyed that the camera app doesn't have settings for taking other size pics so I have to send people insanely large pics. I think I was using Camera MX (or FX?) on my last phone and it had that option for sending pics to people. Where is the pic quality based? Is it the stock camera app that was updated or the camera in general so any camera app you use will have better pics?

 

[doogald]

The photos apps has some nice editing features, including the cropping tool, which has a square crop tool. I suppose it would be nice to have the feature in the camera, but you can still easily crop photos before sending them off on the phone, if you wish.

 

[Barry Adler]

I'm annoyed that the camera app doesn't have settings for taking other size pics so I have to send people insanely large pics. I think I was using Camera MX (or FX?) on my last phone and it had that option for sending pics to people. Where is the pic quality based? Is it the stock camera app that was updated or the camera in general so any camera app you use will have better pics?

That's not a function of the cropping options, not primarily, but of the multi-mega-pixel images the camera natively produces. The texting function on the phone, or some email apps, Gmail, e.g., by default reduce the size of the images before sharing.

 

[Snareman]

That's not a function of the cropping options, not primarily, but of the multi-mega-pixel images the camera natively produces. The texting function on the phone, or some email apps, Gmail, e.g., by default reduce the size of the images before sharing.

I didn't know/or thing that Gmail shrinks them. CameraFX asks what size you want to send them as when you click on one of the ways to send. I wish that was native on the phone.